10% of the Bottom Catches 90% of the Big Fluke!

[Savvy18]

captmike28 said: I don't know, Eddie. With your tackle obsession, is it possible for you to ever have "exactly" the right rod in your hands? If so, you will be disappointing a lot of reel manufacturers and rod builders!!

Mike, I didn't wanna have to think about that too seriously, but you force me to. What ARE the odds that I'll have the right rod in my hands when the 10+ comes on the jig?

Let's just say, it's not likely

 

[Savvy18]

My friend Howie tags fluke for the Littoral Society. Has been for many years. He keeps NO FLUKE regardless of size. He's a master at jigging them too. Uncanny, truth be told. Never seen anything like it. He has two passions. Catching, filming and releasing fluke. The other is tagging them and tracking his results.

Howie does 100% of his fluke fishing from the Statue of Liberty area to the Rockaway Reef & the areas surrounding Sandy Hook. Most of those grounds are overlapping the bottom we fish. Matter-of-fact, we used to see him fishing ALL of the exact same bottom we were fishing at exactly the same stages of the tide! Over the years we have caught NUMEROUS fluke, of all sizes, that he had personally tagged. Every time we catch one, we report to him and get a little background info as to where HE caught it and released it.

You wouldn't believe how many tagged fish that we caught were caught AGAIN, years later, in the same areas that Howie tagged them. It's astonishing, to be honest. What I "used" to take from that is we were seeing "repeat" migrations of fluke that would make the same journey year after year to virtually the same bottom. My guess was that there was something specific that drove them to re-visit our area with such precision. Bait, bottom, water temp? Who knew? But the fish would show, in waves, every season. New bodies of them as the summer went on. We were extremely fortunate because not only were the numbers impressive but the quality of fish was VERY consistent!

The last 3-5 years, these patterns have changed. We are NOT seeing these fish. NOT catching those tags. Not seeing multiple bodies move onto our "hard-target" areas like they once did. Same story on the North Shore...

So, what the hell happened?

 

[Savvy18]

So, what I have done to try and "remedy" this situation is I've begun to buy & build some "beefier" rods to add to my considerable array of ultra light sticks. Rods that can handle 3, 4, 5 & 6 ounce jigs without doubling over

With my new weapons I can venture out to deeper water (to me that's anything more than 50 feet) and still feel confident that I'll be able to deploy the heavier jigs when necessary. I don't like it, but it must be done.

In our immediate area here to the west, outside of Jamaica Bay, that would mean heading south. Or, I could get an invite out to the 70-90 foot drops that Pete fishes to the SE...if Frank or Ken isn't fishing with him, of course.

Will I derive the same satisfaction from catching a 7 lb. fluke on a 5 ounce jig as I would a 10 lb. fluke on a 1 ounce jig? NOOOO, but my options are dwindling!

 

[missberylcharters]

Hello Boys. Just some food for thought. A good friend of mine is a diver and regularly dives local wrecks and bottom as those are super convenient and easy to get some quick trips in for him. He routinely tells me about giant fluke laying underneath rocks/wrecks at certain spots and certain times of the year. Most of these spots are nearly impossible to get via a rod and reel unless you are willing to burn through a ton of tackle. I cant take clients there, they would cry. I hit them up in my skiff. True giants laying underneath rocky chit right under our noses ! The pictures he sends of fish over 10 he shot are just crazy. So guys, they are down there on every day stuff. Someone has mentioned getting out super early - yes, most of my bigguns come early before the boat traffic starts! These big fish are around, they are lazy and like to chew when they are inclined, early am and perhaps during certain tidal or other conditions turn them on. Takes a lot of trial and error to figure things out. Yes I agree with Mark, good tog spots are fertile ground for finding large fluke.

 

[NYSharpie]

Hi Rick,

Appreciate the intel. The big ones are definitely down there. I think picking your days to target smaller, less fished wrecks and rock piles, is key too. Since these pieces are not too big, technique to stay in the "kill zone" can be tricky and damn near impossible some days. I find when we fish this way, we need a condition that produces a very slow drift. This also allows you to hold with the smallest jigs possible, which I have found catches big fish better. Also, we are all fans of fishing the GULP grub on the high hook, but if you are hunting doormats, many have agreed that a small single bucktail, tipped with a nice strip bait is your best bet. I guess the flutter of a lighter jig is more natural. Also, when you are drifting slower, you have less chance of getting hung up.

Lastly, I have simple painted jig heads, no hair, made for these types of trips when we donate a ton of tackle. I find a 1 1/2 -2 oz plain lead head, with a 6 inch Gulp Grup and a strip of belly is a good bet when fishing this way. Light braid and a sensitive tip fast rod (such as the Diawa Proteous M or MH) are also important to keep a constant feel on your jig and bottom.

Also, short drifts and working the piece inside and out, using your track line to judge, are methods which help zone in on the target. Lastly, we use the man overboard button on the GPS when we hook up; anything we can do to make the strike zone smaller and smaller.

Frank

 

[Chinacat]

Thank you all for the great info!!

 

[missberylcharters]

Frank, Put a little helper on my skiff last year. Works well for calm days and weird conditions. Here is one over 8 me and Skip decked thanks to mothers little helper last summer when it was dead calm on a local reef and nothing was happening for most.... slow slow trolled over some nasty I like and we wailed on em.

 

[NYSharpie]

Very Nice Rick! Those are the days we live for! Nothing better than being the only boat on the grounds, dead calm and getting those hard up and down thumps.

Awesome dog! Wish my dog liked the water but he rather be chasing squirrels. Lol. Every time I bring him on, all he wants is off .... Frank

 

[NYSharpie]

Really like the trolling motor idea! You can pretty much power the drift any way you want

 

[Savvy18]

Frank, why isn't the Theresa V equipped with a trolling motor?

 

[missberylcharters]

Really like the trolling motor idea! You can pretty much power the drift any way you want

Yup they are very cool. Give me a call if you would like more info or to see up close. Mine also has spot lock which I put to good when fluke jigging edges also tog fishing. I've seen guys using them on boats up to 25' now.

 

[NYSharpie]

Thanks very much Rick! Really appreciate.

 

[NYSharpie]

Frank, why isn't the Theresa V equipped with a trolling motor?

Something to look into

 

[Savvy18]

Something to look into

Frank, sounds like you need to get together with Rick and see how we could make that happen on the TV2!