Started at one of my favorite South Side drops on the last 2 hours of the ebb tide. We were immediately greeted by steady Sea Bass action with mainly shorts but a keeper or two on the first few drifts. Then Frank gets us on the board with a nice 21” keeper Fluke to break the ice. Turns out he had the hot hand today as on the very next drift his rod doubles over with a nice fish and soon I slide the net under a fat Fluke that tipped the scales at just under 8#, our best of the season so far!
From here we began to enjoy a steady Fluke bite with plenty of Sea Bass mixed in on this same drift line which wound up carrying us through the entire day. Frank’s wining form continued and before anyone knew it, he had his third keeper in the box another beauty in the 6# range. As we sorted through the smaller Sea Bass and put a few nicer biscuits in the box, Steve found his first keeper next with a sweet 22” fish. Sal exhibited great patience with a ton of sorting today and eventually was rewarded with a pair of keepers in the 21-22” range. Steve struck back again with yet another Fluke in the 5 # class and Frank finally capped the day with yet another fat fish close to 5#.
So, the final tally found us just one fish short of a limit with 8 really fat Fluke in the box along with 7 nice Sea Bass to top it off. Easily the best Fluke outing of the summer for us so far. So now my faith is restored and I look forward to the upcoming Montauk Fluke trips scheduled over the next 2 weeks. Don’t forget thee are 3 spots open for next Thursday, 7/25 if you want a shot at some quality Fluke for the dinner table!
Capt. Mike
