Fluke - when to set the hook

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by PeteyHD

Set that hook like it's your job! Fluke are very aggressive and will chase the bait if you miss on the first few swings.

Yes they will.... Was out the other day and they'd let go after a hook set and 20 cranks and hit it again while I was reeling it in to check the bait.

However, that's not the case every day....Sometimes all you are going to feel is a extra weight and no shake at all and they just lay on it and won't chase it if you pull it away. This is when dead sticking works, even with bucktails.

Different every day...

[Fisherman120]

Set the hook once you feel it every time when fishing with Gulp. When fluke hit they either take it from the get go or just nibble on it, no inbetween with fluke. I've never had better hooksets by letting them eat it with Gulp personally. Of course I've seen them lay on it many times/be sluggish, but letting them just sit on it for a bit never helped. This is for just gulp, not bait fishing.

[PeteyHD]

I agree with the above 2 posts. Gerry has a good point which I have experienced on some days where the fish just were not being aggressive. On those days a nice bait presentation dead sticking in a rod holder would be a saving grace to a picky bite.

Happened at least a dozen times where I was bucktailing and could not keep up with the dead stick rod dragging strip bait while the jigs weren't producing much. I like to rely on the bucktail since I swear by the gulp but sometimes old school rig with a strip of bluefish or squid out fishes the jigs.

[Halibuttech]

we had a nice day fishing off the wharf today me and my mom, the flounder really like the fresh clams on the hook. the largest fish was 17 inch at 2.56 lb. a nice fish to catch in our waters. we caught 12 nice flounder.