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

Leprechaun said:

Seems we have two Matts on this thread. MakoMatt - good luck with your tests!

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Thanks Pete

Sc42 said:

So true. I’ve come to accept that keepers are going to be far and few between for me. Whether it is the state of the fishery or lack of skill (I hope not!), I’ve adjusted my expectations. More than enough gets spent on dockage, repairs, maintenance, etc…, but those days on the water are well worth it.

Last Saturday I took out my crew (the wife, her cousin & hubby, and their 12 year old nephew) out to the AB reef. The goal was to have the young man hook up with a few fish. The kid is super interested in fishing. His last few tries to get out have been cancelled. Good weather and mostly calm seas. Lines were in just a couple of minutes and sure enough he hooks a short. After a quick dehooking lesson, back it goes. A few more just like the first come up quickly for him, and he’s over the moon about it. The reaction when he caught his biggest of the day at 16” - you’d think he won the lottery. The trip was cut short due to a case of sea sickness, but it was a win already at that point. Back at the dock, as we were saying our goodbyes, I let the youngster have the Uncle Mo’s dehooker. His expression was priceless. It’s days like this that make it worthwhile.
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The photo and the story are priceless, Steve! I believe many of us have the greatest experiences of all when it comes to fishing with kids. It's one of the biggest reasons I loved running the kids camp trips on the Orient Star.

You will forever remain a giant in the heart of your nephew all for the cost of a fishing trip and a dehooker!!! Well done.

One of my buddies had decent fish yesterday to the West and another had some keeps on a local reef, so maybe the Moon did bring in a shot of better fish, as some believe. We shall see. . .

Leprechaun said:

One of my buddies had decent fish yesterday to the West and another had some keeps on a local reef, so maybe the Moon did bring in a shot of better fish, as some believe. We shall see. . .

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I heard and saw some reports in my area from yesterday that were much better than what me and my guest experienced firsthand on Tuesday
Figuring out when I can get back out to confirm firsthand

Interesting, got a call yesterday that a friend fished in the bay for 4 keepers on a short trip, ei. couple hours

Headed back out to Montauk with some of the HIU crew, for my third Saturday trip in a row out there. This time we sailed with Capt Paul Bruno onboard the Elizabeth II. We had 9 people fishing and we ended with a full boat limit! I only had 1 keeper to contribute, but it was lock and load fishing all day even with a bunch of shorts.

Snapprhead27 said:

Headed back out to Montauk with some of the HIU crew, for my third Saturday trip in a row out there. This time we sailed with Capt Paul Bruno onboard the Elizabeth II. We had 9 people fishing and we ended with a full boat limit! I only had 1 keeper to contribute, but it was lock and load fishing all day even with a bunch of shorts.

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Good News Matt!!!

Fished today - Monday

Lost my crew for today - broken car and sore back, so sailed solo. Decided to stay inshore for a change, hitting a couple of local reefs. Great drifts right over big piles, and tons of fish - resulting in a good news/bad news situation. Finally got a limit, YEAH! But it was a July limit, BOOO! Whatever, I'm just about done with this lost fluke season and so now its sailing for the peace of mind, not the box. Sux, but it is what it is.

Yep, peace of mind - my 2 year old AM/FM died today, so no sports radio - it nearly killed me. This is the second "marine" Jensen that didn't make it three seasons - does anyone have a recommendation for a brand that might actually last past a few seasons? I do my own installs, so that's no issue. Just need a better choice.

Leprechaun said:

Fished today - Monday

Lost my crew for today - broken car and sore back, so sailed solo. Decided to stay inshore for a change, hitting a couple of local reefs. Great drifts right over big piles, and tons of fish - resulting in a good news/bad news situation. Finally got a limit, YEAH! But it was a July limit, BOOO! Whatever, I'm just about done with this lost fluke season and so now its sailing for the peace of mind, not the box. Sux, but it is what it is.

Yep, peace of mind - my 2 year old AM/FM died today, so no sports radio - it nearly killed me. This is the second "marine" Jensen that didn't make it three seasons - does anyone have a recommendation for a brand that might actually last past a few seasons? I do my own installs, so that's no issue. Just need a better choice.

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Sorry to hear Pete
How about a portable bluetooth speaker to pair with your phone?

JBL makes a water ‘proof’ Bluetooth mini speaker. Sound is pretty darn good. I only use it indoors or to the occasional BBQ in a friends backyard

Fished Saturday with 5 people on my boat. No pictures, leave the phone home, lol! Fished the bay for a good part of the day. The wind was whipping. Those who ventured out only spoke about drowned baits and fast drifts along with lost rigs so I know where they went. Tons of fish, with a bunch of micros, but my brother did land a 21 inch fish. But that was it. Squid, meat, spearing, some of the nicest peanuts the net could grab along with every rig known to man. That was it. THE worst bay year ever in my memory. Probably will get a brief shot in September of what few quality fish exist as they run the gauntlet to leave the bay. Maybe.

longcast said:

Fished Saturday with 5 people on my boat. No pictures, leave the phone home, lol! Fished the bay for a good part of the day. The wind was whipping. Those who ventured out only spoke about drowned baits and fast drifts along with lost rigs so I know where they went. Tons of fish, with a bunch of micros, but my brother did land a 21 inch fish. But that was it. Squid, meat, spearing, some of the nicest peanuts the net could grab along with every rig known to man. That was it. THE worst bay year ever in my memory. Probably will get a brief shot in September of what few quality fish exist as they run the gauntlet to leave the bay. Maybe.

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That stinks LC
Far too many similar stories from people just like you who know how to put fish on the deck
No offense towards any of them and I am not going to specifically name any in particular, but it seems awfully odd to see the reports from the headboats with results that are completely different from what are seeing and doing

I fished next to two very well know head boats yesterday. Heard almost zero calls for the net, and saw maybe five times (combined) the nets went into the water - for what looked (to me) to be short fish. This went on for better than four hours. And this was with one of them, a so-called "super cruiser," being both sides railed.

So it turns out a very good friend of mine has donated a Poly-Planar AM/FM that he took out of his boat some years ago, to upgrade to a fancy Fusion head unit. Its too damn hot right now to do the install - soldering/shrink-wrapping a bunch of tiny wires in a tough location while laying on my belly, and then fixturing the radio in the Pyle protective box that I use would probably kill me right now. It'll need to wait 'til Fall, at the earliest.

Its good to have friends. Especially one that has the most gorgeous Downeaster in the area (hint, hint!). He's always been a solid dude and good friend!

Leprechaun said:

So it turns out a very good friend of mine has donated a Poly-Planar AM/FM that he took out of his boat some years ago, to upgrade to a fancy Fusion head unit. Its too damn hot right now to do the install - soldering/shrink-wrapping a bunch of tiny wires in a tough location while laying on my belly, and then fixturing the radio in the Pyle protective box that I use would probably kill me right now. It'll need to wait 'til Fall, at the earliest.

Its good to have friends. Especially one that has the most gorgeous Downeaster in the area (hint, hint!). He's always been a solid dude and good friend!

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RS?? That's my answer to the hint hint lol

Leprechaun said:

I fished next to two very well know head boats yesterday. Heard almost zero calls for the net, and saw maybe five times (combined) the nets went into the water - for what looked (to me) to be short fish. This went on for better than four hours. And this was with one of them, a so-called "super cruiser," being both sides railed.

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This weeks stretch of good weather allowed me to run a couple of trips to Montauk searching for the elusive keeper Fluke.

Monday found Bruce, Steve, and young Brady join me for the first outing. Started at one of my favorite south side drops and on the second drift Bruce lands a nice 20” keeper to start us off. Steve managed to find a nice 18” keeper Sea Bass and then Bruce puts another similar Sea Bass in the box. Many more shorts of both species followed over the next hour before the tide and drift slowed up along with the bite.

So, we moved a bit further north and as the tide picked up so did the bite. First Bruce boxes another 20” Fluke then Steve’s rod doubles over and after a short but spirited battle he lands a nice 25” plus Fluke pushing the scales to almost 5.5#. As the balance of the day progressed, we had a steady pick of Fluke and Sea Bass with the occasional keeper finding the box during that time frame. Brady managed to catch the largest Fluke of the day, one just a bit larger than his dad’s fish. Plus, we found a good quantity of keeper Sea Bass in the mix as well. Final tally for the day was 6 keeper Fluke and 7 keeper Sea Bass, contributing to healthy bags of filet for their efforts.

Wednesday’s trip had my super experienced crew of Chef Nader, long time regular Matt, and other regular Bill join in for another stellar weather day on the ocean. So, based upon Monday’s results, I stopped at the more northern drop first and within a few drifts Bill puts the first 19.5” keeper Fluke in the box. A bunch more short Fluke and Sea Bass follow for the next hour until the tide dies as did the bite.

So, we mover further south and with a little boost from the tide the action resumes and we did manage to cull 3 more keeper Fluke to 21” from a ton of shorts. Lots of small Sea Bass as well but no keepers to this point on this trip which was kind of disappointing. Then the bite dies here so we head back north again and Bill lands another keeper Fluke of 21” pretty quickly so we are all encouraged. However, the balance of the day turned into a continuous stream of short Fluke and some small Sea Bass with just one keeper biscuit pulled by the Chef close to the end of the afternoon. Final tally yesterday only 5 keeper Fluke and 1 Sea Bass in the box. Just another testimonial to how difficult the Fluke fishing has been this year. Despite landing well over 75 Fluke the keeper ratio was really small. Friends I spoke with also out in the vicinity yesterday had even more meager results.

So, it looks like one of those “grind it out” types of years for our summer Fluke fishery. I have my “A Team” lined up for next Wednesday and we all hope the waters off Montauk will be willing to part with a lot more sizeable Fluke and Sea Bass. One thing is for sure; you can’t catch them from your couch, so we will persist in trying!

Thanks again for a great day on the water!!