Disappointing fluking 7/4

[tolvo]

Not one bite!

Went on the Prowler5 yesterday and this has nothing to do with the boat & crew as they were very professional! And my kudos as it was a full boat and there were plenty of other folks catching fluke on the boat.

But I'm starting to think my set up for fluking the raritan bay has to change. I was using a tsunami hi low teaser fluke rig with a 3 oz. bucktail and later a spro 6oz. bucktail both tipped with gulp 3" swimming mullet in chartreuse(aka the john skinner fluke rig).

It was pretty evident the boat provided killies rigs outperformed the bucktail swimming mullet set up.

Feel free to provide any comments or suggestions.

[tjd24]

Conditions and fish's preferences are constantly changing. One day it's bait, one day it's white gulp, one day it's pink gulp, etc. Watch what your neighbors that are catching fluke are using and adapt. Don't be afraid to change rigs & colors throughout the day.
Don't hesitate to ask the mates what's been working best lately. They want you to catch fish & will often tell the hot bait/rig.

[Fat fish stick]

I was also out yesterday and I can tell ya right off the bat you were using too heavy of a bucktail IMO. Also I wouldn't put a 3in gulp on anything over 1 oz. A 4 inch is my preference up to a 2oz spro type but anything heavier I'm using a 6in gulp with a stinger hook. Come to find out the hard way that I was catching more fishing only holding bottom for a minute or 2 rather than being constantly vertice with a heavy weight...I know a lot of people that have great success with a 6 oz no matter what the condition but I feel that only works if you have the perfect rod. Also main line should be 15 or 20lb braid max and leader shouldn't be too heavy either unless u r in the sticky stuff. Just my thoughts but i watch a lot of John skinner also and those were the best tips I've gotten so far. Also idk how far up ur putting the teaser but I've had better success in the 6-8in level rather the 12in . I feel bucktailing is the most frustrating types of fishing at times but is the most rewarding . Keep trying and I hope this helps
Sam

[baetis]

tolvo:

I'm not an expert on Raritan Bay fluking by any any means since most of my fluking is done out of NY. I was a different boat on Monday, so I assume a lot of the conditions were similar to what you experienced.

At one point the guy fishing next to me caught 3 keepers in a row and a handful of shorts while I had nothing. The big difference in rigs at that time was that he was using red and pink color combos, and I was using white and chartreuse. When I switched to pink the hits started coming.

When the drift sped up I put a bigger bucktail on and the hits stopped. The entire time I used a 4 oz bucktail I had nothing. Switched back to a lighter jig, and even though I had trouble maintaining contact withe bottom, when I was on the bottom I had life.

My recommendation, FWIW, would be to keep an eye on those guys who are catching fish and switch it up if need be. Some days color and size don't matter, other days the fish can be picky. I'd also recommend donating some money to Berkeley to make sure you have a big variety of color choices for those days the fish are keyed into a certain color. Good luck.

[tolvo]

tolvo:

I'm not an expert on Raritan Bay fluking by any any means since most of my fluking is done out of NY. I was a different boat on Monday, so I assume a lot of the conditions were similar to what you experienced.

At one point the guy fishing next to me caught 3 keepers in a row and a handful of shorts while I had nothing. The big difference in rigs at that time was that he was using red and pink color combos, and I was using white and chartreuse. When I switched to pink the hits started coming.

When the drift sped up I put a bigger bucktail on and the hits stopped. The entire time I used a 4 oz bucktail I had nothing. Switched back to a lighter jig, and even though I had trouble maintaining contact withe bottom, when I was on the bottom I had life.

My recommendation, FWIW, would be to keep an eye on those guys who are catching fish and switch it up if need be. Some days color and size don't matter, other days the fish can be picky. I'd also recommend donating some money to Berkeley to make sure you have a big variety of color choices for those days the fish are keyed into a certain color. Good luck.

yes I did see someone else further up the port side reeling in fluke with pink gulp hanging out of its mouth. Thanks for all the advice as well!

[NoLimit]

Spearing

[SNAPS]

I was also out yesterday and I can tell ya right off the bat you were using too heavy of a bucktail IMO. Also I wouldn't put a 3in gulp on anything over 1 oz. A 4 inch is my preference up to a 2oz spro type but anything heavier I'm using a 6in gulp with a stinger hook. Come to find out the hard way that I was catching more fishing only holding bottom for a minute or 2 rather than being constantly vertice with a heavy weight...I know a lot of people that have great success with a 6 oz no matter what the condition but I feel that only works if you have the perfect rod. Also main line should be 15 or 20lb braid max and leader shouldn't be too heavy either unless u r in the sticky stuff. Just my thoughts but i watch a lot of John skinner also and those were the best tips I've gotten so far. Also idk how far up ur putting the teaser but I've had better success in the 6-8in level rather the 12in . I feel bucktailing is the most frustrating types of fishing at times but is the most rewarding . Keep trying and I hope this helps
Sam

I agree yesterday I shulda had a stinger hook missed several hits what are U using for stinger hook?? and how do you tie/set it up ??
The Fluke are after the flutter and the Gulp not the jig .
AA) I dont use the spro style anymore.
BB)Just use a ball or bullet lead head jig with the 6" grubs looks more natural.
CC) Dont use the Mullet ( any size) on a Jig head or the guppy spro style jig , try the gulp SWIMMING mullet on a plain bait holder hook, the Jigging world ones are great, cheap and sharp, example : 3" or 4" or 5" or 6" mullet use 3/0, 4/0,/50 or 6/0 bait holder hook as your teaser above your jig.
DD) Try reversing it use it as a trailer style rig, place the jig head above the baitholder hook tipped with the Gulp swimming mullet. Guy next to me yesterday had 10 keeps using that rig and the chartreuse 3" swimming mullet. all his fish were on the trailer, guy just quietly put a beating on em.
Also dont be afraid to try bait and gulp but not on the same hook I see so many peeps do that and it defeats the purpose of the gulp.

[dakota560]

Tolvo,

A couple thoughts that might help you out in addition to the great advice you've already gotten, this is at the risk of Capt. Sal accusing me of being a fluke expert which I'm not. Just my .02 to someone asking for advice. I agree with one poster that basically said switch it up, what fluke are feeding on and as a result what works can and in many cases changes day to day. Whether it's the offering itself, size or color or all of the above, they can all factor into the equation. The type of bottom your fishing on will impact your offering as well. Meaning I learned a long time ago that buck tailing is good on hard bottom, not so much if your fishing an area of the bay with mud. The erratic movement of the bucktail in many ways imitates a hurt or struggling fish, fishing a bt in mud will not give your presentation the same action and my experience is it's not nearly as effective as bait when fishing muddy bottom conditions. I think as far as size in general in the bay versus ocean it seems like smaller presentations work better. I would assume this is because bait in general in bays, spearing, killies, shrimp etc are smaller than most baits found in the ocean as in squid, bergalls, baby blackfish, baby sea robins etc. Tide will influence bt size as well since you have to be on bottom. Stronger drift, bigger bt. I know a few guys who fish gulp shrimp in the bays with a high degree of success. Believe they fish a standard bt on the bottom and teaser a foot or so above the bt with the gulp shrimp or a 3 inch gulp swimming minnow. In the ocean I almost always use 6 in. swimming shad and or 6 in. grub with a 3 oz bt, most days larger baits work better but even in the ocean some times that not the case. Definitely as others have mentioned, keep an eye on whose catching. Color sometimes doesn't matter but there are days were it's the most important factor in catching. Bait might cause this or more so I believe water clarity. If the water is stained, go with colors which stand out more, chartreuse, pink, orange etc. In clear water, white, glow, work very well but in dirty stained water these colors sometime are difficult for fluke to see. Most important pay attention to wind and tide. Fluke, like trout, will feed into the current. If you have a wind against tide situation and the wind is the dominant factor of your drift, you need to account for that in your presentation. Meaning if you have an outgoing tide (north to south) and a southeast south or southwest wind strong enough to cause a south to north drift, your presentation based on your drift will come up from behind the direction fluke are facing. In those conditions, try casting north and work your bt back to the boat which will keep your presentation in the fluke's strike zone. That's hard to do on party boats if railed unless your fishing the bow pulpit but on a private boat I've seen many days when this makes all the difference in the world. Your presentation needs to be approaching fluke in the direction the current is moving as they're waiting for bait to be swept to them. Pay attention to tide. Fluke will feed on different parts of a tide and sometimes depending on water temperature only one tide. In my opinion, a strong tide congregates bait fish and typically they hug the bottom or stay around structure to stay out of the current. This is when the bait is most balled up and near bottom. When the tide slacks, bait disperses and in many cases the bite will stop until the tide turns the other way and again that is greatly impacted by temperature swings in the area your fishing. In the spring on flood tide, colder ocean water will be brought into the bay and at times kill the bite. Outgoing will have the opposite effect. Later in the summer when water temperatures rise, it's the reverse.

If you fish the bay primarily, overall I'd go smaller with your presentation and understand your bottom structure and water temps. Hard bottom I'd bt with as small a bt as needed to hold. Consider using 3 in gulp swimming minnows and or shrimp. Have different colors and try them until you find one they like that day. If your on soft or muddy bottom, live bait (snappers, peanuts, killies, with or without a strip) might be a better choice. The exception would be if you're fishing the bay but in the channels like Ambrose or Sandy Hook. Strong currents will require bigger presentations and definitely more weight. The other bait we always have on board which I think is one of the best fluke baits there are is salmon belly strips. If you buy salmon and skin it, cut the skin into strips. If you buy the salmon whole, use the skin and belly flaps for strips. They are great baits for the bottom bt. The oil they give off is unreal and fluke love them.

Don't be afraid to change things up as others have said what works one day might not work at all the next. Keep an eye out around you and pay attention to the details for those catching, there's usually something they're doing a little differently that might not be completely obvious. And one last point when buck tailing, try to stay as vertical as you can. if you have a lot of line out and are pulling the bt at too much of an angle, it won't have the same action as having it right below you vertically. That's where having the right size bt based on your drift is important. Stay as vertical as you can, you'll have a better presentation of a crippled or hurt bait fish and more control over the bt. If you're out too far, reel in and start over or when you can cast up current and give yourself more time to work the bt properly.

Hope this helps you put more fish in the box. GL.

[Irish Jigger]

Been posting weekly about how well nuclear chicken gulp and shrimp have been working!! Many fish between 6 and 9 lbs. Thise who listen catch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fluke are full of shrimp!! Match the hatch!!

[frugalfisherman]

Next time you'll catch them and the other guys won't. C'est la vie.

[njfisherman1975]

All great advice...what works one day might not work the next. Sometimes u gotta think outside the box and peek around those that are catching and copy what they're doing.

[SaltLife1980]

Match the hatch! Fish 5in to 6in gulps. And fish as light as you can. Might have to start out heavy then work your way down or vise versa. Remember to try every color till you find what works. Then another good thing is to change your gulp every drift or every other drift. Put them back in the juice and get out a fresh set. The juice washes off after a whle IMO.

[bulletbob]

I find it funny that guys are saying use smaller, more natural prexsentation, etc.. I was out a few weeks back on a PACKED AH party boat.. I was very lucky to get one keeper.. Guys alongside me were KILLING the fluke, we are talking keeper after keeper, all day long.. these guys had each caught like 20 keepers each.. They were using titanic 8-10 oz pink jig heads with 6 inch pink shine Gulp globbed with bait... another guy was doing very well using 2- 4 ounce heads about 4 inches apart with Gulp and bait.. These guys were using massive, ugly alien looking rigs unlike anything a fluke has ever seen in its environment.. Guys using bait [killies, spearing] or smaller bucktails caught less than 10% what the guys were catching that had MASSIVE rigs.. Never even saw jig heads that size until that day... I see guys report here they limit out on their own boat with 1 or 2 oz Spros with squid.. maybe its a party boat thing, and when the fluke see 50 rigs coming at them they go for the biggest and weirdest, but boy were my eyes opened.. I will never venture aboard a fluke party boat with 3 oz jigs or less again.. It wasn't a bottom contact thing.. For a while we had no drift, and still the guys using giant pink 8 to 10 oz or huge shiny chrome jigs with pink shine Gulp made most of us look like fools... bob

[Duffman]

All good advice


If your fishing on your own, you can't take a look at what the guy next to you is hooking up on.....YOU are the guy. Like others said, match the hatch.

Fish been puking up 2" nuts all over. I went the stubborn route and tried everything last weekend until I got close to what they wanted.

Don't hesitate to try everything ya got drift to to drift.

[dakota560]

Bullet,

Maybe it was a new body of fish which came in on the June full moon from the east which were gorging themselves on whole squid a few weeks earlier. 8- 10 oz pink jigs might match the hatch. There was a reason they wanted that the day you went, might be completely different the next day. As many have said, what works one day for whatever reason may not work the next for a completely different set of reasons.

[Duffman]

What I had that finally worked.....couple of peanuts flies my buddy tied....

[makosnax]

It's true that big fish hit big baits, but it's also true that ALL fish hit small baits. I use a medium light spinning set up with 10# braid and almost never fish larger than 2ounces. Some days it's just a matter of color

[bulletbob]

Bullet,

Maybe it was a new body of fish which came in on the June full moon from the east which were gorging themselves on whole squid a few weeks earlier. 8- 10 oz pink jigs might match the hatch. There was a reason they wanted that the day you went, might be completely different the next day. As many have said, what works one day for whatever reason may not work the next for a completely different set of reasons.

Good theory, and a valid one.. The boat only had spearing for bait, so the regulars brought their own squid, or belly strips, and it seems that was the profile the fluke wanted. .. HUGE lures. and the more and longer bait globbed on the better.. If I had known, I would have grabbed a box of squid. My 2.5 oz Spro simply could not compete that day. I guess I can't complain.. Although a lot of guys killed the fluke, a bunch caught all shorts. At least I was able to bring home one keeper and a Bluefish... bob