Post your 2019-2024 Fluke Pix & Trip Reports Here!
- Thread starter Leprechaun
- Start date
Fluking Today 8/20
Had our humble host George and my good friend Mark/Bassman909 on the boat today, for an outstanding day's fishing. Put 11 nice keepers in the box, to Mark's 7lb9oz beauty, which now leads the "Boat Best Fluke" category. A really pretty specimen it was, too.
Right after that I had a fish that I hooked right on the bottom that immediately ran off most of my little Abu Winch's spool in a long, screaming run, then came close to the surface where I finally stopped him and had him coming our way - but of course as we drifted past a pot buoy the fish ran straight to it and broke me off. No idea what it was, except I'm pretty sure that it wasn't any kind of shark. I've had browns on those grounds to 6', so I'm familiar with how they fight. I'm thinking a big-ass Cobia, based on the one we saw taken a month ago, not very far from where we fished today. We'll never know, but that's what I'm thinkin' anyway.
Had our humble host George and my good friend Mark/Bassman909 on the boat today, for an outstanding day's fishing. Put 11 nice keepers in the box, to Mark's 7lb9oz beauty, which now leads the "Boat Best Fluke" category. A really pretty specimen it was, too.
Right after that I had a fish that I hooked right on the bottom that immediately ran off most of my little Abu Winch's spool in a long, screaming run, then came close to the surface where I finally stopped him and had him coming our way - but of course as we drifted past a pot buoy the fish ran straight to it and broke me off. No idea what it was, except I'm pretty sure that it wasn't any kind of shark. I've had browns on those grounds to 6', so I'm familiar with how they fight. I'm thinking a big-ass Cobia, based on the one we saw taken a month ago, not very far from where we fished today. We'll never know, but that's what I'm thinkin' anyway.
Snapprhead27
Well-Known Angler
Great job!!
captmike28
Well-Known Angler
A couple of nice weather days in a row allowed me to complete back-to-back full day charters for some of my long-term clients.
Sunday was a Montauk Fluke day which was supposed to be a 4-man crew but one tired angler missed his alarm clock! So, I sailed with the 3 remaining guys to find a steady westerly breeze on the ocean. However, a steady roll but that did not hold back the intrepid crew. Within a few minutes on our first drift on the south side John puts a nice 20” keeper in the box. Then the tide dropped out and things were quiet for about 30 minutes with only a few Sea Bass including one nice 3# keeper. Then as the drift improved so did the Fluke bite. Once again, the pattern was what we have seen all summer with a lot of short fish but some quality Fluke did appear from time to time. After the second Fluke finds the box, Frank gets a big hit and wrestles the best fish of the day, a fat 6.5# Fluke to the net. We tried several different drift lines in the immediate vicinity for the rest of the trip and after much sorting managed to put together 7 keepers with another nice 4 # fish in the mix. From what my intel says, on most days this season if you can find 2 keepers per man that is about par for the course. Thankfully there are still some quality fish in the mix to spice things up.
Yesterday I had my big crew of Tony and his 5 NJ buddies who are all die hard Porgy fans. With the ¼ phase moon and flood tide to start we were able to effectively work the north side of Plum for a very steady Scup bite. By noon we had reached the boat limit with mostly medium to large size Scup in the coolers and then set our sights on the Sea Bass in deeper water. Got on scene about 30 minutes too early and had to wait for the tide to slow down a bit. Once it did the crew did a fine job on the Sea Bass with a solid bite that lasted the final 90 minutes of the trip. Each man was able to add a pair of keeper Sea Bass to their box and it was a heavy lift to get everyone’s coolers back on the dock on the return trip!
Hard to believe but September is right around the corner and our Sea Bass limit moves up to 6 pp. Just in time for what is typically our best action of the season. Several good dates still available for next month. However, if Tog is your passion better call soon as my calendar is filling up fast for the fall.
Enjoy the rest of the summer and catch a bunch!
Capt. Mike
Sunday was a Montauk Fluke day which was supposed to be a 4-man crew but one tired angler missed his alarm clock! So, I sailed with the 3 remaining guys to find a steady westerly breeze on the ocean. However, a steady roll but that did not hold back the intrepid crew. Within a few minutes on our first drift on the south side John puts a nice 20” keeper in the box. Then the tide dropped out and things were quiet for about 30 minutes with only a few Sea Bass including one nice 3# keeper. Then as the drift improved so did the Fluke bite. Once again, the pattern was what we have seen all summer with a lot of short fish but some quality Fluke did appear from time to time. After the second Fluke finds the box, Frank gets a big hit and wrestles the best fish of the day, a fat 6.5# Fluke to the net. We tried several different drift lines in the immediate vicinity for the rest of the trip and after much sorting managed to put together 7 keepers with another nice 4 # fish in the mix. From what my intel says, on most days this season if you can find 2 keepers per man that is about par for the course. Thankfully there are still some quality fish in the mix to spice things up.
Yesterday I had my big crew of Tony and his 5 NJ buddies who are all die hard Porgy fans. With the ¼ phase moon and flood tide to start we were able to effectively work the north side of Plum for a very steady Scup bite. By noon we had reached the boat limit with mostly medium to large size Scup in the coolers and then set our sights on the Sea Bass in deeper water. Got on scene about 30 minutes too early and had to wait for the tide to slow down a bit. Once it did the crew did a fine job on the Sea Bass with a solid bite that lasted the final 90 minutes of the trip. Each man was able to add a pair of keeper Sea Bass to their box and it was a heavy lift to get everyone’s coolers back on the dock on the return trip!
Hard to believe but September is right around the corner and our Sea Bass limit moves up to 6 pp. Just in time for what is typically our best action of the season. Several good dates still available for next month. However, if Tog is your passion better call soon as my calendar is filling up fast for the fall.
Enjoy the rest of the summer and catch a bunch!
Capt. Mike
Snapprhead27
Well-Known Angler
Nice job!!
After putting in a few true sweat-equity hours yesterday, diagnosing and repairing an ignition miss (bad wire on #4, as I originally suspected), George, Kevin and I headed out to the deep, for a full session of getting our asses bounced off in the morning (8 and 10oz sinkers required), and then fished thru a gorgeous after-10:30 ocean for a full boat limit to 5lbs. Had to stay on the grounds longer than I cared to, but we got it done, which is the goal, after all.
Days that are fishable are gonna be at a premium over the next week/10 days, so any day we can go, we will.
Thanks for a great effort today Kevin and George, all kidding aside, you guys rock.
Days that are fishable are gonna be at a premium over the next week/10 days, so any day we can go, we will.
Thanks for a great effort today Kevin and George, all kidding aside, you guys rock.
Snapprhead27
Well-Known Angler
Great catch!
captmike28
Well-Known Angler
Catching a limit of Fluke this season is a real chore. Congrats on the effort and results!
That place is paved with 18-inch fish. You really need to pay attention at what's attracting the keepers. Pete had us on a great drift all day. There was never a time when someone didn't have a fish on. And being they were so close there were many bad calls for the net. More than once we all had a fish on and we weren't sure who should get the net. And some of those throwbacks were fat and probably weighed more than a few of our shorter keepers.
It was such a perfect day. Fishing with theses guys is always a great time. The only downside for me was I had a gulptasrophy. My bucket holding all of my gulp dumped over in the bed of my truck. Time to go buy some recharge.
That is gulp juice.
It was such a perfect day. Fishing with theses guys is always a great time. The only downside for me was I had a gulptasrophy. My bucket holding all of my gulp dumped over in the bed of my truck. Time to go buy some recharge.
That is gulp juice.
Attachments
Feast to Famine
For the most part this season's offshore fluking has been pretty good. Better than good actually. Limits and near-limits every trip. Until today. Headed out with George and his buddy Westchester Steve for another round of quality fluking on the offshore grounds. But it was not to be.
A little bouncy in the morning with the W breeze working against the incoming tide - which really affected the drift, pushing us down and away from the natural drift and motion we should have had. Pulling the baits past the fluke tail-first is never good, then throw in the (Blue) Moon tide, dirty water and what must have been the after effects of the offshore storm that slammed the South before turning to the offshore Atlantic, and we had the "Perfect Storm" of negative factors.
Nothing but a handful of shorts thru the incoming (my preferred late Summer tide), and so we looked forward to the outgoing aligning with the breeze. During the HWS I got out the Grappler/Ballistic spinning rig and went to work casting about with a 3oz bucktail, carrying a GULP! 6" pink jerk shad and thin strip of squid. On the third cast the lure stopped dead - and I thought damn, yet another snag.
Nope, a VERY athletic 7lb6oz "bath mat" had inhaled the lure and gave an excellent account of itself, diving against the little spinner's drag multiple times. Got it to the boat, Georgie slipped the net under it, and though the hook came unbuttoned in the net, that was that. Things were looking up!
Yeah, not so much. Despite us fishing our butts off, that was it, ONE keeper in the box for the day. Geesh, have we been spoiled by all the recent off-the-hook trips, or what?
An alternate view is that after commenting earlier on that we had not yet seen a fish over 5.5lbs, the past five trips have given up three fish of 7+lbs. So, at least there's a positive to relish.
Anyway, I think we'll let the ocean calm down a bit before heading out again. How long we wait depends on how long the Captain can stand staring at his boat tied in its slip.
For the most part this season's offshore fluking has been pretty good. Better than good actually. Limits and near-limits every trip. Until today. Headed out with George and his buddy Westchester Steve for another round of quality fluking on the offshore grounds. But it was not to be.
A little bouncy in the morning with the W breeze working against the incoming tide - which really affected the drift, pushing us down and away from the natural drift and motion we should have had. Pulling the baits past the fluke tail-first is never good, then throw in the (Blue) Moon tide, dirty water and what must have been the after effects of the offshore storm that slammed the South before turning to the offshore Atlantic, and we had the "Perfect Storm" of negative factors.
Nothing but a handful of shorts thru the incoming (my preferred late Summer tide), and so we looked forward to the outgoing aligning with the breeze. During the HWS I got out the Grappler/Ballistic spinning rig and went to work casting about with a 3oz bucktail, carrying a GULP! 6" pink jerk shad and thin strip of squid. On the third cast the lure stopped dead - and I thought damn, yet another snag.
Nope, a VERY athletic 7lb6oz "bath mat" had inhaled the lure and gave an excellent account of itself, diving against the little spinner's drag multiple times. Got it to the boat, Georgie slipped the net under it, and though the hook came unbuttoned in the net, that was that. Things were looking up!
Yeah, not so much. Despite us fishing our butts off, that was it, ONE keeper in the box for the day. Geesh, have we been spoiled by all the recent off-the-hook trips, or what?
An alternate view is that after commenting earlier on that we had not yet seen a fish over 5.5lbs, the past five trips have given up three fish of 7+lbs. So, at least there's a positive to relish.
Anyway, I think we'll let the ocean calm down a bit before heading out again. How long we wait depends on how long the Captain can stand staring at his boat tied in its slip.
captmike28
Well-Known Angler
That is one serious Fluke on a spinning rod! Nicely done!!
Did you have much short action today or was it very lean altogether?
Did you have much short action today or was it very lean altogether?
Maybe a dozen shorts for the day in total. Really a tough trip, other than the above fish. Had to happen sooner or later.
Chinacat
Well-Known Angler
Nice Fish!!
I guess its all perspective
If I came back to the dock with that one and only fish I’d be pumping my fist in excitement of a successful trip ?
Days like that make the great trips all the greater and I’m sure we’ll see pics of one of those trips for you again soon?
I guess its all perspective
If I came back to the dock with that one and only fish I’d be pumping my fist in excitement of a successful trip ?
Days like that make the great trips all the greater and I’m sure we’ll see pics of one of those trips for you again soon?
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