I ran back to back Montauk Fluke charters this weekend and while the results closely resembled the title of this report, the sequence was actually reversed.

Saturday, I had just a 2- man crew of John and Ricky, a couple of very loyal customers and “tough as nails” fisherman. I cautioned them that the ocean report called for a 3-4’ roll with the winds building to 25kts. by afternoon but that did not deter them from taking a shot. Actually, the ride out to the grounds was pretty smooth with just a light west wind in the morning although the predicted roll was quickly apparent as soon as we turned the corner at Montauk lighthouse.

We started at some of my mid depth drops to the south that have been so good to me over the years and were immediately greeted by hoards of hungry Sea Bass, some nice sized ones too. We put together a nice limit of Bisquits to 3.5# pretty quickly with a few short Fluke mixed in. We did a lot of shifting around in the same vicinity and picked a keeper here and there but a solid bite never seemed to develop. By 11 a.m. we only had 3 keeper Fluke in the box to 4#.

I was thinking about heading further south but just around the time the breeze started to freshen considerably and soon we were looking at breaking rollers on top of the groundswell. So, based upon a tip I got saying the Fluke bite was better in close to the lighthouse we headed north and tried to salvage the day in somewhat better sea conditions. However, all we could manage for an hour’s time there were a few more short Fluke and some additional Sea Bass to be returned. By the time we pulled the plug to head home the West wind was cranking at 25kt’s with some higher gusts making for a long and uncomfortable ride back to port. So much for the “Bad and Ugly” part of the weekend.

Thankfully, this morning turned out to be the “Good” (actually exceptional) part of the weekend. Had Sal, Frank, and John as the crew, my longest -term customers on board today. The NW breeze heading out was a bit stronger than originally predicted and there was still some leftover roll on the ocean but overall conditions were much better than Saturday. This time we began fishing in front of Montauk Lighthouse but on the end of the flood towards the change we again only found a few short Fluke, a ton of Sea Robins, and a few small Blues. After an hour of frustrating action, I decided that the better sea conditions would allow us to fish my deep drops that have been so productive for me this season, especially when it comes to quality Fluke.

On the first drift both Sal and Frank quickly hooked up to what were obviously quality fish but in each case the fish came unbuttoned about half way. I was a little concerned but not deterred. We kept working may favored numbers and soon the bite began to develop consistently, For the next 2 hours we put quality keeper Fluke in the box to the tune of 1 or 2 fish every drift. The fish seemed to have a preference for the 6” Gulp worms, both Nuclear Chicken and Salmon being the hot colors today. However, a number of nice fish did show a preference for the traditional fish strip/spearing combo baits. In fact, the top fish of the day, taken by Frank, was a beautiful 8# Fluke that inhaled his Bluefish stirp bait.

So, on the “Good” day of the weekend we limited the boat with half the keeper Fluke falling in the 5-8# class. Equally enjoyable was the fact that on the deep drops there were virtually no trash fish caught, We topped off the Fluke catch with a half dozen Sea Bass to 3#, 5 nice Ling, and a small Whiting. Easily our best Fluke trip of the season so far. Once again, we observed that during this less than stellar Fluke season, having good drifting and sea conditions make all the difference in the world when to comes to putting fish in the box.

I only have a couple of weekend dates left for Montauk Fluke action so if you want to cash in it would be best to act fast.
Capt. Mike
516-317-5423 cell
[email]plumgut@optimum.net[/email]
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