OFFSHORE ADVENTURER FISHING www.offshoreadventurer.com INSHORE FISHING FOR FLUKE & SEA BASS Introduction: Although offshore fishing is our true fishing passion (few things compare to going toeto-toe with a good sized Big-Eye or Bluefin tuna), we spend more Summer days (typically 12-20 trips per season) fishing inshore (within 15 miles of our home inlet) targeting Fluke (with bonus catches of Sea Bass, Porgy and Bluefish) than any other quarry. We hardly ever waste our time fishing in the local bays or inlet locales (sometimes we have no choice, as even with a 32 Blackfin, Jones Inlet is, on occasion, impassable) because the big fish (5 lb+) just aren t there in any significant numbers you may catch a few keepers in the bays or inlet, but a real trophy fish (over 10 lbs) isn t going to happen. Our boat is a 32 twin diesel inboard, but our methodology can be used on any boat large enough to safely go 2-12 miles offshore from your inlet (we won t suggest what minimum size that is, but rest assured, the 14 wood skiff with a 15 hp outboard we saw 9 miles out is too small) in reasonably good weather. A word about weather in our experience, the nicer the better, as it allows you to drift consistently with the current and you and your baits aren t bouncing all over the place; our worst days are when it is blowing 15-20+ kts and seas are running 3-5 +. In the ocean, wind direction doesn t matter much (other than if the wind is directly against the current, which will cut your drift speed down below a productive velocity) because there is little bottom current; but when fishing in the inlet or bays, you must be able to drift with the current, so, unless winds are very light, it often that means finding and fishing a channel or other area where the wind and current are going in about the same direction. The ideal drift speed is between 0.5 and 1.5 kts we are not saying you can t catch fish while going slower or faster, but those speeds will be most productive if the primary quarry is Fluke. Boat: Your vessel needs to be configured to drift fish effectively for Fluke. Keep in mind inboards drift predominantly beam to the seas, while outboards drift stern to the current, which in either event limits the number of rail spots available 6 anglers is about all we can comfortably fish in our 85 sq.ft. cockpit it may be less on a smaller boat (or more on a big center console). Knowing how your boat drifts is the big key to setting up a proper drift. Drift/bottom fishing requires some basic electronics, including a gps chartplotter and fish-finder (Fluke have no swim bladder, so they won t show up on the fish-finder, but their prime bait, squid, will as will Bunker, Sea Bass, Porgy, Bluefish and Stripers) for locating and managing the prime drifting grounds, especially if you fish areas with structure like reefs (in addition, safety requires having at least one vhf radio; and radar is a nice to have as well (we won t discourage you from adding XM or Sirius weather, AIS, and full back-ups); you should also have enough type 1 offshore vests and a fully stocked ditch bag). You will also need: either a good mid-sized (48 or 72 qt.) cooler or (in our case, an onboard freezer), for storing all the bait necessary for a full day s fishing; a decent sized (70-120 qt.) cooler or built-in fish box (we have two 40 gallon in deck boxes) to keep your catch in; gunnel rod holders to allow all those fishing to set their rod down on occasion (we have 11) to either take a short break, release a caught fish or re-rig (rods on the floor are an invitation to sustaining damage, because invariably someone will step on it); and an easy to reach place for your nets. If you have some out of the way rod holders (our boat has 17 on the hard top), that is an added bonus because it allows you to bring a selection of extra rods/reels that are out of the way when not needed.
Tackle & equipment: We have the luxury of fishing on a well built, mid-sized, boat that is fully rigged for offshore fishing, which makes it ideal as an inshore platform too. It allows us to carry a large complement of rods & reels, plus copious amounts of tackle (all our tackle is in a handful of dedicated tackle storage bags with multiple Plano 3600 or 3700 boxes (or in the case of sinkers, its own small bag with (8)-16 oz plastic jars), that we carry on/off the boat every trip - so our tackle inventory can be gone through and missing items replaced before every trip) for everything that might be encountered (Fluke, Sea Bass, Porgy, Bluefish, Squid, Bunker and even the incidental shark or tuna). Having your tackle in dedicated bags (no two of ours are the same style or color) loaded before each trip, makes it easy to check that you will have everything needed before you depart the dock. We bring enough Fluke rods (see our Fluke & Sea Bass Checklist) for everyone aboard plus two extra (up to 8) to, as much as possible, avoid having to re-rig during a drift if one rig gets broken off (we do that, as well as cutting squid and tending to the catch during drift repositioning moves). Our Fluke rods are nothing special we have 4 UglyStik 6 12-25 lb casting rods plus 4 UglyStick 6 6 12-20 lb casting rods all with AbuGarcia C3-5500 reels (because they are very light, durable and have good action for only $140 per set-up) all spooled with 12 lb Sufix mono. We carry 3 to 6 Sea Bass rods that are 6 3 UglyStik Customs 12-25 lb rated with Shimano TRN-100 levelwind reels (which, because they are filled with 30 lb Sufix 832 braid line are set for double duty by being used for bucktailing Fluke), 2 to 4 Bluefish casting/jigging rods (6 6 Penn Torque Jigging 30-80 lb with Penn 975CSLD reels spooled with 25 lb Sufix mono), 2 larger sized spinning rods (ours: UglyStik 7 15-40 lb rated with Penn 750SSM reels spooled with 20 lb Sufix mono) and one or two offshore tuna jigging or trolling type rods (ours: Penn 12 VSX s on a custom 6 XH (400g) jigging rod rigged with 500 yards of 80 lb braid and a 50 60lb mono wind-on) in case a shark (Threshers have been pretty common around the Fluke grounds the past couple of seasons) or some Bluefin Tuna (when we are at the further offshore areas) shows up. If you don t have the space for all those rods, rods can be made to do double duty; and if you and your crew aren t experienced shark fisherman don t bother with the big tackle (big sharks and novices are a recipe for someone getting hurt). Although seemingly different, our Fluke and Sea Bass rods are actually the same size and power (12-25 lb mono (20-40 lb braid) rating, 6 to 6 6 long) and have level-wind conventional reels of similar size (AbuGarcia C3-5600 s (Fluke) or Shimano TRN-100 s (Sea Bass)), the only significant difference is that our Fluke rods have 12 lb mono (which we strongly prefer for Fluking the stretch prevents pulling hooks), while our Sea Bass rods have 150 yards of 30 lb braid (over a 30 lb Dacron backer) and short (4 ) 20 lb Flourocarbon hook/sinker rig leaders on them (lighter weight to break before the braid if there is the almost inevitable occasional snag); so you could easily get away with just one set of rods for both Fluke and Sea Bass. Same with the Bluefish rods a pair of 7 15-40 lb rated rods with large spinning reels will do the job. Terminal tackle for bait fishing Fluke is pretty simple hooks (3/0 to 6/0 wide gap style Fin Strike, Gamakatsu, Eagle Claw and VMC are all good), 3-way #55 or #56 sinker swivels and an appropriate sized bank sinker (3 oz to 10 oz); or for bucktailing, either a single rig or double rig of bucktail type lures (all listed on the Checklist) rigged with a heavy one at the bottom or when fishing just a single (3, 4 or 6 oz for 50 or deeper water) and a smaller one on top (3/4 oz or 1 oz) in the same exact color (we mostly stick to Spro s in white, day-glo, chartreuse or the white/chartreuse combo), both with either pork rind and/or squid pennants (we run small pork rind on the upper bucktail and 6 squid strips on the bottom bucktail (on a single bucktail, use 6-8 squid). We should also touch upon knots here we keep it simple and the highest strength: the snell for all hooks and the Palomar for all connections between running line and swivels. Nets we bring 3: two for Fluke: large (22-24 hoop) & extra-large (27-30 hoop sized), plus a small mesh squid net (squid is pretty often found on the local reefs, and fresh squid is excellent bait). We also carry two 3 hook gaffs for Bluefish. That is about all you need.
Consumables: Bait and ice are the two main ones. For ice, we prefer quart sized blocks (we bring 8-12 blocks depending upon how long we plan to stay out), which we use to chill our fish in combination with sea water in our fish box. If you don t make your own quart blocks, cubes will work too. We chill our landed live Fluke & Sea Bass down to about 50F degrees, which slows their metabolism, but doesn t kill them there is nothing better than the taste of Fluke that is filleted immediately after it dies and is kept chilled. The fillets go immediately into ziplock bags and then into refrigeration. On the bait front, don t get caught short if the bite is really on, it is not unusual for each angler to pull 10-15 fish per hour, so for a 6 person, 6 hour trip we bring: Peruvian Spearing (4 2.5lb packages); Domestic Spearing (2 1lb packages); Squid Jumbo 12 (4 packages) cut into 8-9 large pennants; Squid 6 (2 1lb boxes) used whole and/or cut into 3-6 small pennants (the precut 7-8 strips works well too if you don t want to cut your own); Bunker (6); Clam Bellies (1 1.5lb bag) that it is probably more than you thought (notice there are no Killies they don t work outside the bays). Also, don t overlook baits that you can t usually buy: Peanut Bunker, Snappers and small live Bergall. Squid must be carefully cut (nice clean pennant shape no more than 1 wide at the top for 8-9 baits and 5/8 for 4-6 baits) and put on the hook (3/16-1/4 from the top, in the center of the strip), or it will spin the hook. With fuel costing upwards of $5.00/gallon, an extra $10-15 to make sure you have enough bait is cheap compared to the cost of going back to port for more; or worse, cutting a trip short while the hot bite is on. We keep ours frozen (and defrost as needed), and you can do the same with a dedicated bait cooler holding bait and either block ice or those plastic re-useable ice substitutes if you have bait freezer at home you can bring back whatever you don t use and save it for the next trip. If you are married, never ever put bait in the family s kitchen freezer it really does stink. We consider terminal tackle (the hook, swivel & sinker rig) a consumable; we fish around a lot of reefs, wrecks rocks and other bottom structure, and expect to lose a couple of dozen bait rigs and sinkers per trip. We chalk those losses up to part of the cost of fishing the most productive grounds for big fish - as a note, you will rarely find party/head boats fishing those areas as they don t want their customers becoming irate as they lose rigs and sinkers at an alarming rate. The trip: It all begins with deciding when and where to go. When is easy the season off NY/NJ starts in earnest around Memorial Day (out on Long Island s East End and in NJ, the Spring run starts in early May) and runs hard until the season closes on September 30 th. Fluke are not really time of day feeders, but a moving drift is important. Most of our trips leave early to keep our options open (see below) and work the Fluke around the moving tide. Slack water isn t really a bad thing, because over the right terrain, you will catch Sea Bass and Porgy during the slack. The key to successful fishing for any species is to know where they are after 30+ years fishing out of Jones Inlet, we can say with certainty, that year to year Fluke are pretty predictable, so we fish the same areas as starting points most every season. Hopefully you have some fishing buddies who have been out and willing to share where they fished and what they caught (if they won t, are they really friends?). The other source is party boats if you know which head boats fish for Fluke, follow them they are out almost every day and know where the fish are (if they didn t, they wouldn t stay in business); keep in mind Fluke schools are very large and you will be drifting (in the ocean - short drifting (500 or less) is never necessary), so you don t need to crowd the party boats (or any other boat for that matter), so do the right thing and lay off them by 200 or more. Once at your first chosen spot, there is little more to do but add your sinker, put the bait on the hook and drop it down (all our rods are rigged for the first drop before we get there) to the bottom. A few words about baiting the hook we believe bait presentation is the key to success, so if you are using a squid & spearing combination, it is critical the squid go on properly first, and then add the spearing baited through the eyes. You will know within 15 minutes if the Fluke are there, as if you have 2 or more rods fishing, it is rare not to get a bite in 15 minutes and have Fluke present in any quantity. If you do get a bite and it turns out to be a Skate, get concerned; if the second and third fish is also a Skate, move off that spot as we have found schools of Skates and schools of Fluke
rarely co-exist. Our plan when Skates are there is to move at least a mile from that location most times it will to be to one of our multiple alternate locations (either deeper or shallower) 3-5 miles away. If the spot we picked holds Fluke, unless it is a channel edge (like Ambrose), we will cover the area in a grid pattern to see if some areas hold more fish than others often, the fish are in covering a far larger area of bottom than would be expected. Channel edges require you to try the upper flat, slope and deep to see where the fish are on that day (they are usually more prevalent on one of the three). If we are fishing around a reef or rockpile, in addition to the Fluke rod in each angler s hands, we will also set up a Sea Bass rod or two that is fished from the rod-holder invariably we will land a half dozen or more keeper Sea Bass on every trip on those rods (and maybe some Porgy; or small Bergall to use as bait). Unlike Blackfish, Sea Bass and Porgy surround wrecks/reefs, but rarely keep station inside. When you land a Fluke, unless it is under 15, carefully net it so you don t cause it harm if you plan to release it or lose it if it is a keeper. Keep only as many fish as you will utilize (while it might seem cool to show off to your dock mates, a cooler of going to waste fish, not only gives fisherman a bad image, but in the minds of most of us who work hard to put a catch together and cringe at the thought of killing a fish that won t be eaten, should be considered a high crime punishable by death), and never take more than the legal limit (currently in New York, four fish 19.5 or larger). Hooking, fighting and landing: Once you arrive at the chosen location and the boat is properly positioned for the best drift, it is time to get the baits in the water. When possible, it is much better to have the anglers fish on the up-drift side, as it keeps the line out from under the boat. Catching starts with dropping the bait down in a steady controlled decent any bait will spin if you just let it free-fall as fast as it possibly can. Once you feel the sinker hit the bottom, take a three second count and then lock it down. That 3-second post bottom drift will give the line proper scope and allow it to sit on the bottom where the Fluke are. Fluke are a true bottom fish; other than when they move either inshore or offshore, which they do with the current, usually at night, they spend the majority of their time sitting on the sea bottom, and even when they move, they rarely get more than 12 off the bottom (that is why both their eyes are on top). There are two schools of thought on managing the rod and reels to get the hook-up: keep it in free spool and let out a few feet (3-5 ) of line every 40-60 seconds and then periodically reset, by reeling it up and re-dropping every 5-6 minutes (assuming no fish); or lock it down and bounce the rod up and down 1x (2-3 ) every 20-30 seconds; in our experience, both work, so whichever you are most comfortable with is fine. We keep the drags set light (at about 2 lbs) as the strike setting, which is plenty to set the hook (if you are fishing sharp wide gap or kahle style hooks, they will set themselves with a little pressure) and then tighten down the drag as needed during the fight, keeping in mind, too much drag (more than 4 lbs) will pull the hook more often than not. Once the fish is on the line, you want to reel with steady pressure, keeping a nice bend to the rod and even pressure on the line jerky motions, pumping the rod and any slack will result in lost fish. As the fish makes its way to the surface, keep focused, more fish are lost on the top, than anywhere else. Once the fish is 5-8 from the surface, the net should be out, heading toward the water and ready to land the fish. It is the angler s job to steer the fish to the net and the net handler s job to net the fish from below. You always want to minimize the time the fish is at the surface, in fact an accomplished netter usually has the fish in the net while it is 6-12 under the surface. Once in the net, bring the fish aboard, determine whether it is a keeper, and if not, get the hook out and the fish back into the water as quickly as possible to maximize its ability to survive. If the fish has swallowed the hook, which even with wide-gap hooks does happen, don t try to get it out (you will harm the fish) just cut it as close to the hook eye as you can. If the hook is caught in a visible location, those small ARC de-hooker s work well.
Options: If you looked at our checklist, in addition to our Fluke and Sea Bass rods, we carry rods, tackle and equipment to jig Bluefish and to baitfish for Bluefish or Striped Bass (keep in mind possessing Stripers in outside state waters is a federal crime ($1,000/fish and up to 30 days in jail), so if you are going to the deeper water areas don t keep any), in addition to at least one rod capable of landing a 200lb+ Thresher Shark or small Mako Shark (which can also be found in the 40-90 water depths, which although rare, is not unusual if pods of Bunker or schools of small Bluefish are around (many times they will be feeding on the surface and sometimes can be enticed with a small Bluefish or Bunker fillet, or even better a live-lined bunker). There are few things that make young anglers happier than seeing a school of Bluefish breaking water in or just outside the inlet as the early morning sun is rising, and then getting a few in the boat before you even get out to the Fluke grounds. Especially in June and September, we will often come across Bunker pods and make a quick stop to live-line some for the either the Bluefish in mid-water or the Striped Bass that are often underneath. Keep in mind, if you keep a Striped Bass, you cannot, under any circumstance, go beyond the three nautical mile (shown on every chartplotter) New York or New Jersey state territorial seas limit as Striper possession is illegal in any federal waters - if the USCG, NJ Marine Police or NYS DEC boards, they will check your chartplotter for evidence of a Striped Bass violation and ask the crew where they were caught lying to law enforcement is a felony, so don t compound the bad judgment of keeping Stripers in prohibited waters (which is only an expensive fine). Care for your catch: Immediately after hauling the first keeper fish aboard our boat, the fish box gets filled 1/3 with sea water and two blocks of ice with a little Kosher salt go in to begin chilling that fish. We split our fish up Fluke and Sea Bass in one box and Bluefish and Striped Bass in the other. As the trip progresses, about once an hour we change about ½ the water and add another block of ice and a little salt. We try to keep the water between 45F and 55F, which will not kill the fish, but lower their metabolism. It is illegal to fillet Fluke at sea; it is also not very safe (we like to keep all our fingers attached), so all our filleting is done on our fillet tables back at the dock. If you plan to store some of your catch for a couple (1-2) of days in the refrigerator before cooking, ziplock bags are just fine, but if you plan to freeze the fish, it needs to be done in a vacuum bag. We have a commercial grade Cabela s vacuum sealer (about $400), which works really well. The fillets will last vacuum sealed in the freezer for six months or more. In addition to the myriad of ways it can be cooked, Fluke makes excellent sushi/sashimi. Frozen fillets shouldn t be used for sushi/sashimi, so if you want to enjoy some of your catch raw, only do so if it is properly cared for after being caught and is the refrigerator for 2 days or less. Final thoughts: Fluke fishing is a true family activity. The fish are big enough to challenge a teenager, plentiful enough to keep the interest of a youngster, can be done close enough to shore that anyone with a 20 or larger boat can fish most of the local areas, multiple anglers at the rail doesn t present an issue, and few people don t enjoy eating their light, tender, tasty meat.