Question for the DD Fluke Pros

[dales529]

OK so granted I am putting a target on my back BUT I have caught my share of 7-9.5 Lb fluke. Grabbed 2nd place in the PP Elks last time they ran it .

I am hoping for some intel here rather than you suck on that "hit" and "fight" you know is GOOD!

I have been blessed to fish with a couple of the TOP captains in PP and here is the deal. I hook set good I think and get on a drag pulling fish. Play it slowly letting the fish do what it needs and lose it 5 to 10 cranks from surface where it just goes from drag pulling to just gone. Capts tell me you did nothing wrong its just the game but I have missed my DD more often than I care to admit over the last few years but trust me have hooked a few!

Typically it has been on a 3 or 4 ounce Spro Green / white tipped with sea robin and gulp. Penn Battle 3000 reel coupled with a Penn Star Stellar Light
7 foot 12 to 20LB line / 5/8 to 2 Oz Lure

Is this tackle wrong for DD fish? but yet it gets the right bite!
Thanks

[hammer4reel]

IMO 2 scenarios play out .
One is the fish was never hooked . Big fish can engulf a bait and hold it the whole time in their mouth without ever having the hook in them .
Have seen that with fluke as well as halibut .
Just open their mouth to let the bait go .

Second is slight hesitation once it’s close to the boat .
Someone says you need a net , the instant you even think to answer the slight hesitation is all the fish needs to use the weight of the bucktail like a disgorger and off they go .
.
Big fluke need to not know they are in a fight until the net is being lifted from the water .
.
.

Dave I was hesitant to post this but I think it's time to let go. You need to upgrade your equipment. I honestly think your rods too short. And no I didn't hear that from Mrs. Daly. Sure Jerry could catch 3 DD's from the cockpit while smoking 4 cigarettes on one of these outfits but don't hate me for saying this "You're not Jerry!" The rod traditionally has to weigh more than the spro your using so get yourself a new outfit and go win the Elk's my friend!

[Gerry Zagorski]

Not in the DD Fluke club either so as Shrimpman Steve used to say... "I only have one word for you..... Tennis"

Great advice from Dan above, be prepared because eventually you'll get your shot...

Only fish I've ever had that I think was over 10 was down around Long Branch... I was on a buddies boat, fishing a live snapper and my pole doubled over. I got over excited, horsed the fish up to the top and asked for the net... Not net on board and with a few shakes of the head she was gone.

Also to Dan's point me and my older and less handsome brother were fishing up off Sandy hook... It was one of those days where we could do no right and he was driving the boat the whole time.... Told him OK time to let me put us on some fish.. Made a move on the edge of the nice drop and wham... He get's absolutely SLAMMED... He got a good 5 or 10 reels on the fish and all of a sudden noting but slack... The fish didn't get the hook...

I hit the Man Overboard on the GPS and we wasted no time and immediately headed back to that spot.... We weren't there a minute and this time he was more patient and let the fish take the hook and we were ready with the net...

Not sure what it weighed but we have a tape measure on our cooler and it was 2 inches over the 32 inch mark so we assumed probably 13 pounds. https://www.google.com/search?q=how+...client=gws-wiz

On a serious note, more guys have dropped DD's than landed them, me included. Aside from their obvious ability to throw a big piece of lead with their over-sized mouths and crazy headshakes, you've seen them swim backwards on the surface and go ballistic when they see the boat. Their tactics, as you mentioned, change in that last 5-10 foot of water column. Have you ever watched the John Skinner videos? He catches more than his fare share of large fluke and you'll notice his retrieve is always very smooth and deliberate. Seems like he accelerates a bit when he gets near the surface but he only uses the reel and not the rod. Rod stays motionless. It agitates big fluke and usually results in head shakes, the fish turning and peeling drag and lost fish. Slow and smooth retrieve and when you get near the surface try reeling a bit faster before the doormat has a chance to turn and dive. Doesn't hurt to have your rod tip high as well so when she runs you have a buffer before the drag kicks in but hopefully you have the big girl in the net before that happens.

[reason162]

Originally Posted by hammer4reel

One is the fish was never hooked . Big fish can engulf a bait and hold it the whole time in their mouth without ever having the hook in them.

This happens way more than people think with all kinds of gamefish when you're
dealing with jigs - they clamp down either on the jighead or engulf the whole
thing and if you don't remove every last bit of slack in your system before
hammering home that hookset all they have to do is open their mouth and the
jig flies out. A big fluke opens its mouth and the jig is sucked in 6 inches deep,
if you set the hook on slack all you're doing is flossing its teeth and sliding that
jig up against the inside of its jaws.

Esp the 3oz+ jigs we use for fluke in deep water...you really have to reel down
until that rod tip starts to load before hitting them. After that it's having your
net guy ready and not letting the fish break surface when they do all sorts of weird
dance moves lol.

[damnyankee]

Maybe take the ride to Nantucket 1 day where DDs are fairly common and get an idea what they do as far as tackle and technique?

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by damnyankee

Maybe take the ride to Nantucket 1 day where DDs are fairly common and get an idea what they do as far as tackle and technique?

That would be cheating

[rwp2101]

Originally Posted by reason162

Esp the 3oz+ jigs we use for fluke in deep water...you really have to reel down
until that rod tip starts to load before hitting them. After that it's having your
net guy ready and not letting the fish break surface when they do all sorts of weird
dance moves lol.

This right here. And if you're using mono it's that much tougher than with braid. Your gear may also be a little light. If you have a 4oz jig tipped with a 6" swimming mullet plus bait and you're fishing with mono on a light rod you could have a tough time getting that hook home into the hard mouth of a bigger fluke. A captain I fished with out of BL years ago had us fishing medium power 7' 1/2" rods with 4k size reels spooled with 20# mono. When we had to move up to the 4oz jigs because the current picked up he stressed that we had to take all the slack out and really hammer that hookset because the mouths on the 4-7 lbers we were catching were tough to penetrate and they could really clamp down on that jighead.

[jakesdad]

Time and effort and being in the right place.
After last summer, every time we where on nicer fish we tried to stay close to our numbers. Also by having more time on the water helped. In your case, add to all this a shirt with a longer shirttail, coming from someone that is usually fishing the other side of the boat.