A Fluke Cocktail That Will Enhance Your Catch

Summer flounder or fluke is a great fish to catch and eat. They can be caught from a boat (usually while drifting) or from shore with little knowledge, so they are an ideal catch for beginners and children. This year the fluke season starts June 17 in Rhode Island and runs through December. To keep a fluke it must be at least 21” and the catch limit is six fish per person per day.

Use these fluke facts and strategies to enhance your catch and keeper ratio.

In May, fluke move in shore from deep Continental Shelf waters where they spend the winter. They stay inland until October and then move back to the deep water. They are a flat fish with two eyes on the same side of the fish. They are bottom fish that do not look aggressive, but they will chase bait aggressively and eat the same bait that blue fish and striped bass eat. The difference is that they eat off the bottom.

I have caught several blue fish, particularly when retrieving my fluke bait rig as I brought it up through the water column. Last year, on a light tackle fluke rig, my brother-in- law hit a monster blue fish that nearly pulled both of us overboard.

A rubber squid with a wide gap hook, color beads and a spinner blade is my favorite bait. I have found florescent green to work best. This bait has a float inside so the bait hangs just off the bottom and it attracts a lot of attention as it has to, because it is fished on the bottom, where the fluke are, where it is often dark.

I spice-up the artificial bait with what I call a Captain Dave’s fluke cocktail. This consists of a previously frozen minnow or silver side (ideally the size of a finger) placed on the hook horizontally so it would appear to be swimming horizontally when on the bottom. (This tactic was taught to me by Gary Leatherberry of Ericson’s Bait & Tackle of Warwick a couple of years ago). This simple change in bait position has doubled my keeper ratio.

Next, I place a three to four inch squid strip on the hook and top it off with a three to four inch strip of fluke belly (the white skin of the fish). This completes the fluke cocktail. Be careful not to stack so much bait on the hook that the fluke cannot bite it. One may ask where you get fluke bellies. Next time you clean your catch, cut the left over fluke belly into strips and freeze them in zip lock freezer bags along with a bit of salt water. Fresh fluke bellies would be ideal, but frozen ones can get you going until you catch a fish that can be used for this purpose.

Water movement or bait movement is essential to catch fluke because they often stay in the same place for a while and you have to go to them. From shore, bait should be slowly dragged across the ocean floor (so rocky areas are out of the question for shore and boat fishing). From a boat the wind and/or current will move the boat and bait on the bottom. If slack tide or no current/wind, boat movement created by starting the engine can enhance your odds. Slowly put the boat in and out of gear to create movement. A good tactic is to move the boat in a circle; this slows the bait movement and allows you to cover a favorite area or hot spot over and over.
So when you get a bite on a drift, you should mark the spot and recreate the exact drift line again. Because remember, the fluke are often stationary and you want to go back to where they are if you are getting hits.

Sometimes there is too much wind, current or boat movement and your bait is not holding bottom and you are blowing by the fish. In this case shore and boat anglers should increase the sinker weight until you can keep the bait on the bottom. Often times, boat anglers employ underwater parachutes that fill with water to slow the boat speed (these can be found at local boating/fishing /bait & tackle shops).

When you feel a bite wait and let the fluke eat the bait, if you jerk the rod to set the hook you may pull the bait out of the fluke’s mouth. So after you feel the fluke bite and then the line tightens, move the rod upward to set the hook and start reeling in, keeping the pressure on the fish as the fluke will try to shake the hook loose.

Where’s the Bite
Striped bass continue to be plentiful in the Bay. The East Bay area from Bristol Harbor to Providence is hot with a few fish in the 40” range and fish in the 30’s fairly common. Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle, Bristol/Coventry/Providence, said customers were catching fish by live lining menhaden and chunking with menhaden, with eels and with tube & worm. Dave related customer Mary Sokolowski of Providence caught her first salt water fish (a keeper striped bass) last Tuesday. Ray Ferrara of Ray’s Bait & Tackle Warwick weighed several customers’ fish in the 40” range this week. I had the privilege of taking publisher John Howell fishing this week and he caught a 41” striper on the shipping channel bank just off Poppasquash Point. Craig Mancini of Continental Bait & Tackle reports that customers continue to land big fish off Gaspee Point. Mike Shepard reported that his son Ian caught a 25 lb. bass off Breton Reef. Mike related that the fishing off Newport is now fantastic with a lot of bait in the water. Surf fishing is still one day on and one day off on Aquidneck Island. Big bass are also being caught on Block Island. David Appolonia and his friend Brian Hogan caught a 48”/42 pound striped bass this past week on the Southwest Ledge, other big fish were caught during the outing too.
Fluke (or Summer Flounder) season starts next week, June 17, 21” minimum size, six fish per person per day.

Caption Dave Monti has been fishing and shell fishing on Narragansett Bay for over 40 years. He holds a captain’s master license and a charter fishing license. Your fishing stories, comments and questions are welcome… there’s more than one way to catch a fish so e-mail Captain Dave at ­­­dmontifish@verizon.net .