MVP
09-28-2014, 03:24 AM
That fat lady has finally song her last tune for 2014 fluke season. Consistency is how I can describe the 2014 season for me as only had 2 bad trips as weather was horrible on one trip and I just sucked on Tagged fish trip. Sorry Chad for not carrying my wait. With current size limit and regulations it was a pretty good year. Key to catching keepers for us was targeting structure.
53 fish were caught on bucktail rig with 2 caught deadsticking giant squid on 2hook rig. Only fished that rig once as we are normally fishing sticky stuff most of the year. My most effective rig was Custom bucktail rig I tie:
* 30 lb leader. I use fluoro but I do not think it makes a difference.
* Bucktail on bottom with stinger hook attached.
* 18 inches above bucktail on dropper loop a slide parachute mylar teaser to dropper and attach 6" inch Gulp grub on 6/0 Gami baitholder or 5/0 worm hook (Gami/VMC/Trokar) placed far back on grub. I caught on white/glow and plain bucktails and Glow/Shine/Nuclear chicken grubs. Not sure if color of grub or bucktail made much of a difference. Maybe others can comment on what worked best for them in regards to type of rigs and color.
Caught allot of bigger fish on the stinger, fishing long stripped baits or smaller strip on bucktail and 6" grub on stinger was most effective.
10 trips total for the year. Best trip 12 Keepers and worst trip 1 keeper. Only keeping boat limit so please no comments on trips where more than 5 keepers were caught. Lot of nice 3-5 lb. fish this year which look nice in the cooler but do not do much for tournament fishing. Not many big fish this year as best I could manage was 8 pounds.
RI Charter 9 keepers
RI Charter 12 keepers
Bacala 7 keepers
Legacy 4 keepers
Bacala 4 keepers
Bacala 2 keepers
Monger 5 keepers
Tagged Fish 1 keeper
Jersey Key - 6 keepers
NY Charter - 5 keepers
Total: 10 Trips = 55 Keepers = 5.5 Average
I am very blessed to fish with some great fluke fisherman and captains who work hard to put us on the fish. Many thanks to Dave and Stelli for allowing me to fish as part of their crew this year. It was a pleasure to fish on the Contender this year. Hopefully next year will catch the right fish on the right day.
Focus will now be switching over to my bucktooth obsession. Hopefully the powers above will not mess to much with fluke regulations next year as they have many of us brainwashed to think that ending up with a limit catch nowadays = a good day of fishing.
Best of luck to all this winter and for next years fluke season.
Alex
MVP
53 fish were caught on bucktail rig with 2 caught deadsticking giant squid on 2hook rig. Only fished that rig once as we are normally fishing sticky stuff most of the year. My most effective rig was Custom bucktail rig I tie:
* 30 lb leader. I use fluoro but I do not think it makes a difference.
* Bucktail on bottom with stinger hook attached.
* 18 inches above bucktail on dropper loop a slide parachute mylar teaser to dropper and attach 6" inch Gulp grub on 6/0 Gami baitholder or 5/0 worm hook (Gami/VMC/Trokar) placed far back on grub. I caught on white/glow and plain bucktails and Glow/Shine/Nuclear chicken grubs. Not sure if color of grub or bucktail made much of a difference. Maybe others can comment on what worked best for them in regards to type of rigs and color.
Caught allot of bigger fish on the stinger, fishing long stripped baits or smaller strip on bucktail and 6" grub on stinger was most effective.
10 trips total for the year. Best trip 12 Keepers and worst trip 1 keeper. Only keeping boat limit so please no comments on trips where more than 5 keepers were caught. Lot of nice 3-5 lb. fish this year which look nice in the cooler but do not do much for tournament fishing. Not many big fish this year as best I could manage was 8 pounds.
RI Charter 9 keepers
RI Charter 12 keepers
Bacala 7 keepers
Legacy 4 keepers
Bacala 4 keepers
Bacala 2 keepers
Monger 5 keepers
Tagged Fish 1 keeper
Jersey Key - 6 keepers
NY Charter - 5 keepers
Total: 10 Trips = 55 Keepers = 5.5 Average
I am very blessed to fish with some great fluke fisherman and captains who work hard to put us on the fish. Many thanks to Dave and Stelli for allowing me to fish as part of their crew this year. It was a pleasure to fish on the Contender this year. Hopefully next year will catch the right fish on the right day.
Focus will now be switching over to my bucktooth obsession. Hopefully the powers above will not mess to much with fluke regulations next year as they have many of us brainwashed to think that ending up with a limit catch nowadays = a good day of fishing.
Best of luck to all this winter and for next years fluke season.
Alex
MVP