Flukin tips

[shucker]

Maybe some fluke fishing tips to go along with the bass tips.I'll share mine if you share yours

[fishon42]

I chum with guts from chickens,cows, and lamb from the local Meat store (buddy owns it). I drift 2 poles(both hooks with the little hair skirt on them), and i use 1 DEAD SHINER, and a strip of squid, the white strips that come in the containers, not the frozen full pieces. And i do very weel with that late summer. Good luck.



Fish On

[Luna Sea 5]

My tips and suggestion are... First off, I don't chum for fluke while drifting.  I only chum when I anchor to draw the fish to the boat.  I can't chum and draw the fish to the boat if the boat is moving.

I bring everything from killies, squid, gulp, sand eels, peanut bunker.

The most productive thing I do is, I use a 3 oz. spro striped with a 4" long, slim piece of squid and a killie or any other of the aboved mentioned.  The killie keeps the squid moving.  I put a second hook off the spro jig about 3' long and tip that with a gulp mullet, or gulp sand eel (new this season). 

My last tip is, I only use on rod.  The fluke need to be hooked, especially if your using large bait for large fish.  Most of the time the dead stick rod gets nothing but lost bait.

When you fluke you have to feel every bounce and every tap, dead sticking doesn't work.  What I do with the dead stick is live line a bunker with no weight just incase a large striper comes along.  You have to give the striper a chance to turn the bunker around as it grabs it from the side then takes it head first, so the delay of reaction with the deadstick will work for stripers using live bait. The largest fluke I got last year was with a spro tipped with a large mullet while bouncing it along the bottom.

I hope this helps.

[Capt. Wayne]

Luna Sea makes a good point. I know him from another site and he has produced some decent catches.

Capt. Anthony

[GregB]

I always dead stick one rod with a whole small squid by itself with a double hook rig that is adjustable for length. I forget the name. I buy the squid frozen at Shoprite. This rod will bring big fluke or a big seabass occasionally. I just started my own 55 gallon Killie bait tank in the basement. I am fattening up about a dozen(soon to be more) for the year. I always use Killie/squid combo. I always drift the channels. No chum.

[Luna Sea 5]

The best and first thing you should do is find the fish.  Mark each and every drift you take with your GPS.  When you catch a few fish, narrow down the length of your drifts to the particular spot that you hooked up and continue going over the same area that produced. 

Late August last year I had the honor to have Captain Vic, at the time from Andrea's Toy Charters and Al Ristori with me.  We had every bait possible that day.  We had to hook up with over 50 fluke that day, but the keeper ratio was horrible.  We double hooked rods with various baits and believe it or not, the Gulp Mullet caught more fish then even the live Peanut Bunker... Go figure.. Berkley may have gotten it right this time....

[shucker]

I've been using big baits and fish deep water or around wrecks and rockpiles.Ambrose channel holds very nice fish in june and july,the tc bouy is also great on a outgoing tide.I will also concentrate on the sandy hook reef,shrewsbury rocks and the rattlesnake you lose allot of rigs but the fish are quality and you can spice up the catch with a few sea bass also.My common rig is a standard fishfinder rig with a 4/0-5/0 gammi octopus.I like to get my squid from a asian supermarket they usaully have extra large squid already cleaned strips are cut into 6-10 inch strips then soaked in shedder oil I combine this with a big spearing that come prepacked 10-12 pieces per bag.I have tried dying the strips in food coloring also with mixed results.A new set up I've been using is a spro jig then 16-18inches above that tie a dropper loop use 5/0 baitholder hook and a gulp shrimp it has been deadly.  

[captmatt]

Hey Guy's, I like to get My squid at the Asian market, the squid their are fresh,large and seem to hold togather and last longer then the stuff you get at the bait shops. and not to mention a lot cheaper, I am sure Capt Bob will attest to the same  . and like Luna Sea said " use the chartplotter and mark your drifts "

[Angela Rose Charters]

Ohh come on guys.. you work way to hard at this.. I just follow the party boats...

Yeah right... lol...

 I have 20-25 spots that have always treated me well. Like Ed mentioned, I try to fish a new spot every now and again to see if it is holding fish or not. Sometimes it does work out.. If you remember what I wrote in my flounder atricle

3. Don't be afraid to go off away from the fleet. After a congregation of boats or anglers sit on one spot, the stock will eventually diminish. Find a spot where nobody is fishing or hasn't fished. There may be fish there and no one even knows about it.

This is so true..

As far as bait goes, I have not yet used any of the gulp artificials yet. I will give it a shot this year though. I get my squid from Spring Lake Freezer who carries good health stock but it comes in quantity. Sand eels, peanut bunker, snapper, sea robin belly and the occasional fluke belly (shhhh) are some of the baits you will find in my bait box. Looking foward to the gulp sand eels though. We will see what happens.

Capt. Anthony

[Luna Sea 5]

Oh Yea,
 Thanks Capt.Anthony.....I did not mention that when I try to find a new spot, the rule is no other boats close by........Avoid the fleet,find your own fish. LOL
                              Ed   

And if you do decided to fish with the fleet, make sure you drift in front of the party boat and not behind it as the party boat will act like a large rake in front of you and you will catch nothing....  I know this is a no brainer, but sometimes people have to be reminded of this..

[Skolmann]

Picked this tip up last summer from a well known charter captain who fishs out of Shark River and is a consistent top finisher in fluke tournaments.

He uses 6" mahi strips for bait. They can purchased 5 to a package from the Reel Seat in Brielle.

Seeing is believing as I took my biggest fluke to date fishing with him last August with a #9.5 almost door mat using a mahi strip tipped bucktail. We also caught another #9.5 that day to go along with an #8.2 and a #7.5. Unfortunately the person who invited me on the charter decided not to enter the Belmar Elks fluke tournament that day  .

[Hotrod]

Hey Skolman!!  Great Tip..

Nice to hear from you on the board.

Welcome


Hotrod

[Skolmann]

One of my favorite fluke rigs-especially for Raritan Bay-is a rig I've been tying for several years now.

Start with a 36" piece of mono. Snell a 3/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook to one end. 14's above this hook make a 2" dropper loop. To the dropper loop attach a small #56 black duo-loc snap. To the snap I'll attach a clouser minnow tied with either a 1/0 or 2/0 hook ( my favorite color is chartreuse/white). The snap allows me to do several things; 1-It allows me to change teasers/clousers with ease without having to retye. 2- Makes it ease to get out of the net. To date I have never had a snap fail or open on me and I've taken fluke up to #7.5 on the clouser.

I'll bait the bottom hook with a strip & medium spearing and the clouser with a small spearing. 75% of the fluke taken on this rig is on the clouser.

Rig is best fished using braid and using a very gentle jigging motion. Any small little tick, I'll give a 3 second drop back before engaging the reel and if any extra weight is felt a hook set is given.

[Kahoots]

never chummed for flounder.have to give it a try

[Mate Mike]

I have tried many different methods but the one I have the most success with is - a chrome ball in different weights; to the chrome ball I tie a stiff 8" piece of leader with a feather over a large hook.  On the hook I put a 8 to 12 inch piece of squid.

[Flukedood]

My tips and suggestion are... First off, I don't chum for fluke while drifting.  I only chum when I anchor to draw the fish to the boat.  I can't chum and draw the fish to the boat if the boat is moving.

I bring everything from killies, squid, gulp, sand eels, peanut bunker.

The most productive thing I do is, I use a 3 oz. spro striped with a 4" long, slim piece of squid and a killie or any other of the aboved mentioned.  The killie keeps the squid moving.  I put a second hook off the spro jig about 3' long and tip that with a gulp mullet, or gulp sand eel (new this season). 

My last tip is, I only use on rod.  The fluke need to be hooked, especially if your using large bait for large fish.  Most of the time the dead stick rod gets nothing but lost bait.

When you fluke you have to feel every bounce and every tap, dead sticking doesn't work.  What I do with the dead stick is live line a bunker with no weight just incase a large striper comes along.  You have to give the striper a chance to turn the bunker around as it grabs it from the side then takes it head first, so the delay of reaction with the deadstick will work for stripers using live bait. The largest fluke I got last year was with a spro tipped with a large mullet while bouncing it along the bottom.

I hope this helps.

I almost use this same rig except I use a hi/lo rig with a about a 2-3 ft leader that I tie just a plain hook about 8" to a foot above the weight and use a gulp pogy. Then I tie a  dropper about a foot above that with a teaser and strip bait..

I have never used a chrome ball or spro jig as my weight.. I will have to try it..

OH man May 26th can not get here fast enough..Im like a kid at Christmas counting down the days...

[fishraiser]

Skollman has the right idea Mahi bellies on Spro jigs.Stop in & see Dave @ The Reel Seat & he'll be able to set you up with all you need. 

[CAPT. JOHN K.]

Just 2 thoughts to consider:
 1:Make sure you have enough weight to stay in cotact with the bottom,
 2:Try using Smelts (look like spearing on steroids)on a stinger type rig. Can be bought in most B&T's.

               Capt. John K.
               TAT-TAT TOO III 

[rugman]

lot of good tips here have to try some t^dont forget the best pl to fish , buy the nuddy beach at the hook

[CapBob]

Like Capt Matt I buy my Fluke bait at the local Asian market, the squid is fresh and cleaned and I pre-make up 4-6" strips  forking the tail, they sell Smelts which look like jumbo spearing 5-6" long and of course large kellies........

There is a rig I tie which had a dropper on the bottom for the sinker then three droppers coming off the main lin starting 6-8" above the sinker spaced 6" apart....thread a hook in and bait all with Kellies, looks like a mini school and has worked real well.

As has been said use the chart plotter to mark the drift and hit the MOB when you get the bite.....

I am also not a dead stick fan, while we catch fish on the dead stick, far more are lost, and when you have the doormat mouthing your bait, you want to feel it to react......