From everything I've seen reported and heard first-hand, the 2019 fluke season inside of the Long Island Sound has been dismal to say the least. I kept on thinking that it was early, temps were low, I wasn't seeing a lot of bait. But I kept the hope that it would come alive any day now. At the same time I can remember when Charlie “Flatfish” Burke would like clockwork bag a double digit right in Smithtown Bay. It was always the first week of May.
It very well could still come alive, but there have been many obvious indicators signaling that things may be changing in the sound. I first became concerned when I heard draggers weren’t finding enough fish. Then party boats in the region stopped targeting them. That has been an indicator everywhere from Sheepshead to Captree to Moriches and Montauk. If there aren’t enough fish for an open boat to catch them, then the fishery is changing.
When I was a child fishing these same waters, - 50 years ago - there were no fluke. Or if there were we didn’t know about them. It was all about flounder, blowfish, weakfish and of course the great blackfishing. We also had great clamming and blueclaws were abundant. Let's not forget the huge run of mackerel we would get each year. The only one left of those is blackfish. Not to mention the demise of the lobsters.
Sure sharpies are finding fluke, just as sharpies did in the late 70’s and 80’s with striped bass. But there has undoubtedly been fewer and fewer fluke making it into the sound.
It very well could still come alive, but there have been many obvious indicators signaling that things may be changing in the sound. I first became concerned when I heard draggers weren’t finding enough fish. Then party boats in the region stopped targeting them. That has been an indicator everywhere from Sheepshead to Captree to Moriches and Montauk. If there aren’t enough fish for an open boat to catch them, then the fishery is changing.
When I was a child fishing these same waters, - 50 years ago - there were no fluke. Or if there were we didn’t know about them. It was all about flounder, blowfish, weakfish and of course the great blackfishing. We also had great clamming and blueclaws were abundant. Let's not forget the huge run of mackerel we would get each year. The only one left of those is blackfish. Not to mention the demise of the lobsters.
Sure sharpies are finding fluke, just as sharpies did in the late 70’s and 80’s with striped bass. But there has undoubtedly been fewer and fewer fluke making it into the sound.
)
. I keep fishing Cormorant Reef, which should hold lazy bass, with no result. When I fish, it's usually at night - unless I'm taking someone's son out for some bluefish action (in which case I don't bother with eels)
