Post your 2019-2025 Fluke Pix & Trip Reports Here!

Had KenScot and Kevin/Longcast out to my local offshore grounds today. Early morning was flat calm, but a bit of a tide drift had us moving more than it appeared. Very deceptive, due to the total calmness. The fish were there, though they were real picky early. As the morning progressed the breeze slowly increased, causing our segue from 2oz all the way to 6oz bucktails by the time we finished up.

Results were a full boat limit by 1 PM, with NICE fish to 5lbs. Only needed a single drift line for the entire trip - no need to look elsewhere, the fish were waiting for us, right on my fav SE/NW drift. Kevin was hot today, with some real quality making it to the net. Nice offshore breeze behind us for the trip home - what more can you ask for?

My happy crew, back to the dock early (for a change):

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And the filleted booty:

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For ocean fluking in NJ, a West wind is best. Today was our best day of the season as a light West wind with outgoing water pushed us from the wash out to 45 feet deep. They were chewing good today, even the shorties hit with attitude. It was easy to repeat our drifts at the most productive depths, today it was 37'. Surprisingly no sea bass, but we may have been too shallow for them. We got our biggest fluke of season, pictured but couldn't find that last slot fish. We threw back many overs looking for something smaller
 

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Ran my first 2 Montauk Fluke charters of the season yesterday and today and both trips were highly successful.

Yesterday found the Joe party who traveled all the way from Delaware to fish with myself and another well-known charter Captain. Their plan was to take advantage of the typically larger sized Fluke found in our waters. Initially the forecast of fairly strong winds had me concerned about what limited areas we could fish but fortunately, for once, mother nature gave us a break and the west winds stayed around a steady 10-15 for most of the morning before kicking up a bit by afternoon. We still had to deal with a consistent 3-foot roll but the wind worked in our favor by blowing slightly against the tide allowing us to maintain an ideal drift speed of about 0.7-1.0 knots.

So, we were able to hit one of my favorite drops on Montauk’s south side and within just a couple of minutes on the first drift Joe is putting a nice 20” keeper in the box. Soon after that his wife, Yvonne, shows off her own skill by landing a fat 23” fish. And so, it went for the next 3 hours with a nice consistent pace of several shorts and 2-3 keepers per drift. A couple of nice 4# fish were part of the mix but the real excitement happened around 10 a.m. when Joe’s rod doubles over with plenty of weight and some serious head shakes. After a spirited battle I find myself slipping the net under a great 9# Fluke. No sooner did that fish hit the deck then Virgil also has a huge hit and he wrestles his PB 7# Fluke to the surface! The action continued until about 11 am when we had a tally of 14 keepers in the box as we lost the tide. With almost no drift the fish turned off so we went searching for new grounds. Moved out o the 100’ mark but surprisingly not a single Fluke and only a few Ling were caught for about 45 minutes of effort. Decided to finish the trip in close to the point where I knew there would be a steady drift. Of course, in here the tide was ripping with over 2.5 kts. of speed. The crew managed to deck a few more shorts among a couple of mean Bluefish before we decided to call it a day.

Today I had a split charter scheduled but only 2 anglers signed on, Chef Nader and long term regular, Frank. So, it gave me a rare chance to fish on a charter. Back to the South side that was so good to us yesterday and within 5 minutes I got things started with a 20” keeper. The drift today was a bit slower than yesterday, but we enjoyed a very steady bite the entire day right up to our 2:30 pm departure time. Early on we saw mostly shorts make up the catch although I managed to slip in 2 more 20-21” keepers. About 10:30 Nader drops a real god one on his tiny “trout” rod that literally took him into the rocks. As usual, the Chef only sees a loss like that as added motivation, so he breaks out a heavier rod. On the next drift he nails our first quality fish of the day a beautiful 6# Fluke.

The bite then returned to a lot of shorts for about another hour until Frank finally comes to life and nails 3 nice keepers in a row, with his best going slightly over 5#. Then, shortly after that I hit my own limit with another 6# Fluke. This only encourages Nader to work even harder and on the next drift he bests a 7.25# Fluke. A couple more smaller keepers find the box and now we are only one fish shy of a boat limit. While I am cleaning the catch, Nader strikes one more time with the best fish of the day a hefty 8.25# Fluke!

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captmike28 said:
Ran my first 2 Montauk Fluke charters of the season yesterday and today and both trips were highly successful.

Yesterday found the Joe party who traveled all the way from Delaware to fish with myself and another well-known charter Captain. Their plan was to take advantage of the typically larger sized Fluke found in our waters. Initially the forecast of fairly strong winds had me concerned about what limited areas we could fish but fortunately, for once, mother nature gave us a break and the west winds stayed around a steady 10-15 for most of the morning before kicking up a bit by afternoon. We still had to deal with a consistent 3-foot roll but the wind worked in our favor by blowing slightly against the tide allowing us to maintain an ideal drift speed of about 0.7-1.0 knots.

So, we were able to hit one of my favorite drops on Montauk’s south side and within just a couple of minutes on the first drift Joe is putting a nice 20” keeper in the box. Soon after that his wife, Yvonne, shows off her own skill by landing a fat 23” fish. And so, it went for the next 3 hours with a nice consistent pace of several shorts and 2-3 keepers per drift. A couple of nice 4# fish were part of the mix but the real excitement happened around 10 a.m. when Joe’s rod doubles over with plenty of weight and some serious head shakes. After a spirited battle I find myself slipping the net under a great 9# Fluke. No sooner did that fish hit the deck then Virgil also has a huge hit and he wrestles his PB 7# Fluke to the surface! The action continued until about 11 am when we had a tally of 14 keepers in the box as we lost the tide. With almost no drift the fish turned off so we went searching for new grounds. Moved out o the 100’ mark but surprisingly not a single Fluke and only a few Ling were caught for about 45 minutes of effort. Decided to finish the trip in close to the point where I knew there would be a steady drift. Of course, in here the tide was ripping with over 2.5 kts. of speed. The crew managed to deck a few more shorts among a couple of mean Bluefish before we decided to call it a day.

Today I had a split charter scheduled but only 2 anglers signed on, Chef Nader and long term regular, Frank. So, it gave me a rare chance to fish on a charter. Back to the South side that was so good to us yesterday and within 5 minutes I got things started with a 20” keeper. The drift today was a bit slower than yesterday, but we enjoyed a very steady bite the entire day right up to our 2:30 pm departure time. Early on we saw mostly shorts make up the catch although I managed to slip in 2 more 20-21” keepers. About 10:30 Nader drops a real god one on his tiny “trout” rod that literally took him into the rocks. As usual, the Chef only sees a loss like that as added motivation, so he breaks out a heavier rod. On the next drift he nails our first quality fish of the day a beautiful 6# Fluke.

The bite then returned to a lot of shorts for about another hour until Frank finally comes to life and nails 3 nice keepers in a row, with his best going slightly over 5#. Then, shortly after that I hit my own limit with another 6# Fluke. This only encourages Nader to work even harder and on the next drift he bests a 7.25# Fluke. A couple more smaller keepers find the box and now we are only one fish shy of a boat limit. While I am cleaning the catch, Nader strikes one more time with the best fish of the day a hefty 8.25# Fluke!

View attachment 65381View attachment 65382View attachment 65383View attachment 65384View attachment 65385
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Thats some great fishing there!
 
captmike28 said:
Ran my first 2 Montauk Fluke charters of the season yesterday and today and both trips were highly successful.

Yesterday found the Joe party who traveled all the way from Delaware to fish with myself and another well-known charter Captain. Their plan was to take advantage of the typically larger sized Fluke found in our waters. Initially the forecast of fairly strong winds had me concerned about what limited areas we could fish but fortunately, for once, mother nature gave us a break and the west winds stayed around a steady 10-15 for most of the morning before kicking up a bit by afternoon. We still had to deal with a consistent 3-foot roll but the wind worked in our favor by blowing slightly against the tide allowing us to maintain an ideal drift speed of about 0.7-1.0 knots.

So, we were able to hit one of my favorite drops on Montauk’s south side and within just a couple of minutes on the first drift Joe is putting a nice 20” keeper in the box. Soon after that his wife, Yvonne, shows off her own skill by landing a fat 23” fish. And so, it went for the next 3 hours with a nice consistent pace of several shorts and 2-3 keepers per drift. A couple of nice 4# fish were part of the mix but the real excitement happened around 10 a.m. when Joe’s rod doubles over with plenty of weight and some serious head shakes. After a spirited battle I find myself slipping the net under a great 9# Fluke. No sooner did that fish hit the deck then Virgil also has a huge hit and he wrestles his PB 7# Fluke to the surface! The action continued until about 11 am when we had a tally of 14 keepers in the box as we lost the tide. With almost no drift the fish turned off so we went searching for new grounds. Moved out o the 100’ mark but surprisingly not a single Fluke and only a few Ling were caught for about 45 minutes of effort. Decided to finish the trip in close to the point where I knew there would be a steady drift. Of course, in here the tide was ripping with over 2.5 kts. of speed. The crew managed to deck a few more shorts among a couple of mean Bluefish before we decided to call it a day.

Today I had a split charter scheduled but only 2 anglers signed on, Chef Nader and long term regular, Frank. So, it gave me a rare chance to fish on a charter. Back to the South side that was so good to us yesterday and within 5 minutes I got things started with a 20” keeper. The drift today was a bit slower than yesterday, but we enjoyed a very steady bite the entire day right up to our 2:30 pm departure time. Early on we saw mostly shorts make up the catch although I managed to slip in 2 more 20-21” keepers. About 10:30 Nader drops a real god one on his tiny “trout” rod that literally took him into the rocks. As usual, the Chef only sees a loss like that as added motivation, so he breaks out a heavier rod. On the next drift he nails our first quality fish of the day a beautiful 6# Fluke.

The bite then returned to a lot of shorts for about another hour until Frank finally comes to life and nails 3 nice keepers in a row, with his best going slightly over 5#. Then, shortly after that I hit my own limit with another 6# Fluke. This only encourages Nader to work even harder and on the next drift he bests a 7.25# Fluke. A couple more smaller keepers find the box and now we are only one fish shy of a boat limit. While I am cleaning the catch, Nader strikes one more time with the best fish of the day a hefty 8.25# Fluke!

View attachment 65381View attachment 65382View attachment 65383View attachment 65384View attachment 65385
Click to expand...
Wow!! Some nice fish, can't wait till end of July!
 
captmike28 said:
Ran my first 2 Montauk Fluke charters of the season yesterday and today and both trips were highly successful.

Yesterday found the Joe party who traveled all the way from Delaware to fish with myself and another well-known charter Captain. Their plan was to take advantage of the typically larger sized Fluke found in our waters. Initially the forecast of fairly strong winds had me concerned about what limited areas we could fish but fortunately, for once, mother nature gave us a break and the west winds stayed around a steady 10-15 for most of the morning before kicking up a bit by afternoon. We still had to deal with a consistent 3-foot roll but the wind worked in our favor by blowing slightly against the tide allowing us to maintain an ideal drift speed of about 0.7-1.0 knots.

So, we were able to hit one of my favorite drops on Montauk’s south side and within just a couple of minutes on the first drift Joe is putting a nice 20” keeper in the box. Soon after that his wife, Yvonne, shows off her own skill by landing a fat 23” fish. And so, it went for the next 3 hours with a nice consistent pace of several shorts and 2-3 keepers per drift. A couple of nice 4# fish were part of the mix but the real excitement happened around 10 a.m. when Joe’s rod doubles over with plenty of weight and some serious head shakes. After a spirited battle I find myself slipping the net under a great 9# Fluke. No sooner did that fish hit the deck then Virgil also has a huge hit and he wrestles his PB 7# Fluke to the surface! The action continued until about 11 am when we had a tally of 14 keepers in the box as we lost the tide. With almost no drift the fish turned off so we went searching for new grounds. Moved out o the 100’ mark but surprisingly not a single Fluke and only a few Ling were caught for about 45 minutes of effort. Decided to finish the trip in close to the point where I knew there would be a steady drift. Of course, in here the tide was ripping with over 2.5 kts. of speed. The crew managed to deck a few more shorts among a couple of mean Bluefish before we decided to call it a day.

Today I had a split charter scheduled but only 2 anglers signed on, Chef Nader and long term regular, Frank. So, it gave me a rare chance to fish on a charter. Back to the South side that was so good to us yesterday and within 5 minutes I got things started with a 20” keeper. The drift today was a bit slower than yesterday, but we enjoyed a very steady bite the entire day right up to our 2:30 pm departure time. Early on we saw mostly shorts make up the catch although I managed to slip in 2 more 20-21” keepers. About 10:30 Nader drops a real god one on his tiny “trout” rod that literally took him into the rocks. As usual, the Chef only sees a loss like that as added motivation, so he breaks out a heavier rod. On the next drift he nails our first quality fish of the day a beautiful 6# Fluke.

The bite then returned to a lot of shorts for about another hour until Frank finally comes to life and nails 3 nice keepers in a row, with his best going slightly over 5#. Then, shortly after that I hit my own limit with another 6# Fluke. This only encourages Nader to work even harder and on the next drift he bests a 7.25# Fluke. A couple more smaller keepers find the box and now we are only one fish shy of a boat limit. While I am cleaning the catch, Nader strikes one more time with the best fish of the day a hefty 8.25# Fluke!

View attachment 65381View attachment 65382View attachment 65383View attachment 65384View attachment 65385
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Nice quality fish hitting the deck. That is some good fishing!!!
 
longcast said:
Nice quality fish hitting the deck. That is some good fishing!!!
Click to expand...
Yes, some real solid fishing and worth the long ride out to Montauk.

If you can make it, I still have the one spot on 7/27 and just posted 2 openings on my Saturday 7/22 Montauk trip. you might want to consider them if you are available.
 
Had KenScot and Kevin/Longcast out today. Pretty big ocean in the morning, with some serious ones in the 5' class to go over - and so steamed out at a stately 13kts. Once on the grounds, not bad at all, only need 3's for most of the morning. It was a truly tough bite - with noncommittal takes all day. Between the early roll and the New Moon, I was not surprised, though it was really frustrating.

We had at least 4 sure keepers come unbuttoned right at boat-side - in fact Ken netted a free-swimmer that had already shaken off Kevin's hook - I gave Ken 75% and Kevin 25% credit for that one. Many other good-sized fish were hooked, but for some reason would not stay attached. Very frustrating. Fog rolled in late morning, then cleared, then returned with the 2PM tide change. No mention of fog in the 4 forecast sites I kept track of all week. But that's par for the course, it seems.

Big kudos to Ken, who fought thru a gout attack in his knee to stay at the gunnel all day, never missing a beat. A true trooper. Anyway, we stayed late to fish thru the afternoon change and ended the day with 8 fat keepers to Ken's 5lb fish. Better than not catching, but we should have limited today - based on the volume of hits and dropped fish. They will pay the price next weekend, on the quarter-phase, this I can safely predict.

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