With this rig, you're all set to use big live baits. Live spot are very popular in southern New Jersey and can be caught on hook and line, or purchased at many coastal marinas. Live snapper bluefish are also very good. Both baits may be hooked through the lips or through the back just forward of the dorsal fin.

ROUGH BOTTOM OFF SEASIDE HEIGHTS: A GOOD PRODUCER
Some anglers use a second, or stinger hook, when using this rig with strip baits. Six- to 10-inch strips of squid, mackerel belly, or fillets of bergall all work extremely well. Anglers using these strips regularly score while fishing aboard Capt. Bob Bogan's Gambler out of Point Pleasant Beach, which often fishes the rough bottom located off of Seaside Heights.

"Tell your readers that the most important thing when fishing with this rig in 50 to 70 feet of water -- which is where we hook many big fluke -- is to use sufficient sinker weight. On a windy day, it sometimes takes 16 ounces to hold bottom. And if you're not keeping your bait on the bottom, you just won't score with the doormats."

FLUKE GROUNDS OFF ELBERON & DEAL
Captain Joe Bogan's a veteran party boater who sails his Jamaica II from Brielle. He sails half-day trips throughout the summer, except on Mondays. Monday is an all-day fluke marathon, when he and his patrons target the heavyweights. Indeed, it's not unusual for daily pool-winning fish to weigh in at 8 to 12 pounds. I recall one day when an angler landed a 12-pound beauty in the morning. He thought he had a lock on the pool money, only to see another angler catch a fluke a few ounces heavier later that same day!

"Don't be skimpy on the size of the bait you use," advises Capt. Joe. "Also, it's important to keep the line as near perpendicular to the bottom as possible. And when you feel a pick-up -- especially when fishing with a big sand eel, spearing or strip bait -- lower your rod tip, even relinquishing some line, then locking up, which gives the fluke plenty of time to get the bait well into its mouth where the hook's in position to penetrate."

BARNEGAT'S RIDGES & REEF, HOME TO HEAVYWEIGHTS
The party boat and charter fleet sailing from Barnegat Light have great fluke habitat at their artificial reef, plus both the North and South Barnegat ridges. The ridges are much shallower than the surrounding water, and concentrations of sand eels, herring, bergalls, small sea bass and porgies take up residence there. In turn, big fluke move in to take up residence, since they know there's always a good meal in the offing. Capt. Frank Fuhr, veteran Barnegat Light skipper, regularly scores on this rough bottom.