The last of the rising tide and the falling tide seem to produce the best flounder fishing.

Farther west, where Sandy Hook Bay meets Raritan Bay, lies another popular fluke spot known as the Keyport Flats. These flats lie between the green 1 buoy off Keyport Harbor and the Conaskonk marsh on the west side and the green 11A buoy off Keansburg Point to the east.

NOAA chart No. 12327 shows all the good bottom structure that holds fluke all season long.

Another favorite summertime hotspot is the Borrow Pit, located about midway between the beach at Keansburg and the 11A buoy. The pit is about 25 feet at its deepest, surrounded by sandy flats of four to five feet. North of the pit, the sandy point jutting into the bay off Keansburg drops from five to 10 feet, then to 20 feet or more.

It's well known as a good fluke location. The cool, deep water of the pit often holds exceptional numbers of fluke in midsummer when nearby shallow waters heat up and become uncomfortable to flatties.

MANASQUAN RIVER
There are dozens of good places in the Manasquan River to fish for summer flounder. Two of my favorites are the main channel just inside the inlet along Gull Island to the railroad bridge, and at the channel elbow at the green 7 marker.

Both locations are close to the ocean and can be sensitive to temperature. A south wind tends to cool the river, while a west wind warms it. It's not unusual to have a well-defined temperature break move up and down the river, pushed like a wall by the incoming and outgoing tides.

Locals anglers will often start their fishing at the start of the outgoing tide and then work the temperature break from the 7 marker, toward the 5 marker at the state Route 35 Bridge, finally ending up at the last of the tide, working their drifts from the railroad bridge toward the inlet.

They reverse the sequence on the rising tide and as the temperature moves back upriver.

Off to the south side of the 7 marker, outside of the main channel, is a hole slightly deeper than the surrounding water that often holds plenty of fluke on the falling tide. To the west, the channel narrows in front of Clark's Landing at the 9 marker and 10 buoy. And on the second half of rising and first half of falling tides, many flounder fishermen will work the sandy flats in front of the marina.

BARNEGAT BAY
The huge expanse of Barnegat Bay offers some of New Jersey's most interesting fishing opportunities for summer flounder. Here are wide grassflats, deep channels bordered by sandy shoals and marsh sedges, and several creeks and small rivers that pump vital nutrients and food into the bay's waters.

Twisting, snaking Oyster Creek Channel is the main entrance to Barnegat Bay from the ocean. It gets busy with boat traffic, which can make it an exciting place to fish.