What has happened to the fluke fishing??

Hey, when I used the fish the sound in the late 70s and early 80s, we never even heard of a fluke in the sound.

That is true. Scupper brought out many good points. I too wonder what happened to the bluefish. I recall when it took a fish in the high teens and 20’s to win the bluefish tourney.

Grew up fishing the western sound often. Glen Cove, Port Washington Hempstead Harbor area. Scupper is correct. I can remember the Sheepshead Bay Fleet coming up the East River to fish macs in the western sound.. This would be right around Memorial Day every year. No real fluke around until the mid 1980's. I moved to the Port Jeff area in 1986. Been fishing there since. Fluke fishing has been nothing special the last few years. Bluefish very poor. Used to jig the drop off at B11 and catch all the blues you wanted. As stated above. Things change from year to year

Long ride for the Sheepshead Bay fleet Mackeral run .. Some of the Boats jerked off the customers stopping short around Execution , some tried really hard , Bobby Sap of the Brooklyn worked hard for his fares .......... Tampa was a worker too ........ Run was on by the time of the Kentucky Derby ...........
Chummed just right and the fish would follow the boat , a decent breeze always was welcome .....

The 110 ft Palace out of New Jersey would go to Oyster Bay for the early season Flounder run ............... Lester Belletti ran that boat ..........

I caught my biggest fluke in R.I., funny thing about that fluke, I was not targeting fluke at all, I was supposed to head out to the Butterfish Hole, there was an unprecedented showing of yellowfin tuna 35 miles off of Point Judith, that day back in 1986 was a little too rough for my passenger who was my wife, so I decided to stay inshore, I had stopped at Snug Harbor marina and loaded up with butterfish and hook bait and started to head out with my 25 cc Hydra Sport, I could take the rough stuff, my wife was afraid so I anchored up just west of the west wall, I had a spinner on board, I only had short shank tuna hooks, I figured what the h3ll, took a small butterfish buried the hook and tossed it over, I layed the rod in the back rod holder and paid no attention to it, my wife and I broke out sandwiches and drinks and relaxed in the bow of the boat, about 40 minutes later I noticed my spinner was doubled over, thinking I had a bluefish or some other ground fish I grabbed the rod and started fighting what ever was on the end of the line, this fish felt like no other fish I have caught before including fluke, when I finally got the fish to the boat I couldn't believe my eyes, I never caught a fluke before and this fish was huge, this part is going to make some people made but whatever, lol, I had no net, the only thing I had was tuna gaffs.
I picked the smallest one I had and gaffed the fish in the head, to say I was excited was an understatement, I immediately pulled anchor and headed into Snug Harbor Marina, I walked into Al Conti's tackle store with my fluke and everyone's mouths dropped open, I'm like , what you never saw one of these before, as I walked up to the counter I noticed a mounted fluke on the wall, that fluke was 20lbs plus, I looked at mine and thought to myself wow, that fish on the wall was huge, the kid behind the counter asked what he could do for me, I lifted my fluke up and he said @#$$%%%, lets way him, I put the fluke on the scale, when it settled, it weighed 14.2 lbs, like I said I never caught one before, I was into offshore stuff big time, but the following weekend my brother and his wife came up and we went fluke fishing, had to buy all new equipment, from that day on I was hooked on fluke. Now it's really my targeted species, to this day my biggest fluke was just shy of 10lbs, I am determined to beat my personal best, maybe I should buy a flat of butterfish.😀

Great story !

Thanks for that story Fluke Whisperer. It's something how we can forget where we put our keys, but we never forget the details of catching a trophy fish. That is big fluke!

There are fish on the South Shore and at Montauk. For some reason the fish are not swimming into the Sound like they did years back.

I've been fishing @Leprechaun land by boat for the past 5-6 years. Even there I notice the seasons are getting shorter and later and the bay bites are slowing down each season. Yes, the fishing is still very good but I am observing a shortening peak season.
Maybe it's the abnormal amount of snowfall we have been seeing the past few years.

P.S. I think February is very snowy for us. Hopefully, March and April are a torch.

As stated above. Things change from year to year

As far as the western sound, probably more accurate to say decade to decade...

I've been fishing @Leprechaun land by boat for the past 5-6 years. Even there I notice the seasons are getting shorter and later and the bay bites are slowing down each season. Yes, the fishing is still very good but I am observing a shortening peak season.
Maybe it's the abnormal amount of snowfall we have been seeing the past few years.

P.S. I think February is very snowy for us. Hopefully, March and April are a torch.

I know Jbay got a shot of quality fish early last season, but like RB the summer patterns just fizzled out. RB is in serious trouble...you know something's wrong when all the party boats are steaming into the ocean first week of June. That was prime back bay fluking in the past, but for some reason it seems the main body of fish are not moving in these past 2-3 years.

I remember catching literally hundreds of short fluke off Fort Totten and Maritime College. In the last 5 years I’d be lucky to catch a handful of shorts combined in that area. Could be cyclical, but who knows.

I remember catching literally hundreds of short fluke off Fort Totten and Maritime College. In the last 5 years I’d be lucky to catch a handful of shorts combined in that area. Could be cyclical, but who knows.

Yes, and in those years, the limits were 20" and 21" at one time and we would throw back dozens of 18.5"-19.9" today's keepers.
Today, we are lucky if we caught 20 total fish all day in the same spots.

Yes, and in those years, the limits were 20" and 21" at one time and we would throw back dozens of 18.5"-19.9" today's keepers.
Today, we are lucky if we caught 20 total fish all day in the same spots.

I honestly think the tail end of those 20"/21" seasons produced some of the best quality fluking in the Sound. I remember limiting out multiple times off Jack's skiffs...no sonar or even navionics app, just drifting around "known" landmarks and jigging gulp.

It certainly took out a chunk of angling pressure in RB, which was ridiculous from a fairness POV but man...RB was on fire during and a couple years after those draconian NY limits.

I honestly think the tail end of those 20"/21" seasons produced some of the best quality fluking in the Sound. I remember limiting out multiple times off Jack's skiffs...no sonar or even navionics app, just drifting around "known" landmarks and jigging gulp.

It certainly took out a chunk of angling pressure in RB, which was ridiculous from a fairness POV but man...RB was on fire during and a couple years after those draconian NY limits.

And there were tons of 14" fish around too.
I've heard people say that Sandy was the start of the fluke not returning to the Sound. I don't know if that's true, but it's possible.

And there were tons of 14" fish around too.
I've heard people say that Sandy was the start of the fluke not returning to the Sound. I don't know if that's true, but it's possible.

Maybe. How about the Prospect bite? A few years ago a 5 hour trip could yield 100+ fish for 2 guys with 15-20 keepers to 7 pounds. The last couple years have been very slow there. 10-20 total fish, with effort.

Maybe. How about the Prospect bite? A few years ago a 5 hour trip could yield 100+ fish for 2 guys with 15-20 keepers to 7 pounds. The last couple years have been very slow there. 10-20 total fish, with effort.

Prospect, Peacock, Matinecock, Hewletts, Barkers, west side of Execution, Hart Island, The Blauzers, Chimney Sweeps.

All these areas produced enough to be able to run a local trip out of City Island and have a limit for 10 guys by 11am. Not to mention all the shorts you can handle (Alla Captree).

I hope this type of fishing comes back. It was really glorious when you reflect on those times.

I remember we had such a great trip one morning by Sands Point we had 5 guys limit by 9am then we went out for a crew trip and were tossing back 3-4 pound fish like shorts.

I sometimes think to myself is this what it’s like for the old timers that talk about filling up buckets with flounder, mackerel, whiting, etc.

I could tell you stories about fishing for Mackerel in LIS in the 70s and early 80s.

I could tell you stories about fishing for Mackerel in LIS in the 70s and early 80s.

I believe it. I’ve heard many stories over the years. Captain Kevin picked up a codfish off a piece in the middle a few years back.

After we filled the garbage can we went to spinning rods with 3 lb test!

After we filled the garbage can we went to spinning rods with 3 lb test!

I would take out trout snobs and have them tie into macks on 4 lb test spinning gear. They were astonished!!!