Family Trip to Fortescue!

Beautiful morning at Fortescue!

Every year, my family (usually my cousin Trish and her husband, Neffer) plan a family bay fishing trip to Fortescue, “The Weakfish Capital of the World.” Sadly, Fortescue really hasn’t lived up to that reputation for at least 20 years, but still. We usually get about 10+12 family members and close friends to go on this trip, and usually catch something – whether it’s bluefish, flounder, sharks, skates, or sea bass – hey, like the old saying goes, “A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work.”

Last year, we didn’t have quite as good of a time – the boat we normally take was kind of crowded, and filled with some questionable individuals (a.k.a., jerks). We decided that this year, we would actually charter the boat, which means, only my family and friends would be going on the boat – we hoped this would increase the amount of fish we would catch.

Just to backtrack a little bit, Fortescue sits on the Delaware Bay-side of New Jersey – not too far from the inlet. Many, many years ago, this was THE place to fish in New Jersey – my dad told me stories of packing the cooler with 30 or more fish, and having to actually throw back a bunch. He said, they were catching so many fish that he actually stopped fishing, because he was getting bored. I find that very hard to believe, as I’ve never experienced getting tired of catching fish.

The bay has been overfished, and with commercial fishing boats scouring the area, the fishing is nowhere near as good as it used to be. Still, we’ve had some moderately successful fishing trips in the past. We’ve done pretty well with flounder and bluefish, and on a few occasions, croaker and sea bass. Once in a blue moon (great beer, by the way), we’ll catch a stray weakfish (many of you may call them sea-trout), but usually, they aren’t keeper size.

Currently, the keeper size for flounder is 18 inches – this is a huge fish, by the way. I’d be VERY disappointed if I got a 17 ½ incher, and had to throw it back. Keeper weakfish go at about 13 inches, and bluefish, you can basically keep any size.

It was a beautifuly day on the bay, and even though we didn't "kill," we did pretty well. Sure, we only caught one keeper flounder - my brother hauled in a 21 incher (the captain hooked into one about that size, too), we had decent action all day. We also ran into a few bluefish schools, and were able to pull out around 20 or so. But, hanging out with close family and friends is always a good thing, and more than makes up for some slow fishing. I had a blast, and can't wait to do it again!

Enjoy some of the pics!