Focus on Fluke (Go Light or Go Home!)
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 9:09PM by Capt. Steve Horvath
One of the most frustrating fisheries in the area is about to kick off as the waters warm by the end of the month. Not only is the Summer Flounder or Fluke one of the tastiest fish that swim in our waters, but at times keepers can be elusive. Anglers routinely go to the same places and fish with the same bait and rigs with exactly the same results. Imagine that if you will!
How does an angler avoid the pitfalls of few fish and no keepers? It might seem overly obvious, but the easiest way is to catch more fish! Before you flip to something else, keep reading and you may indeed see that I’m not just being a wise guy. Today’s Fluke fishing is a numbers game, and the more fish you catch the more keepers you will land also.
Here’s my .02 cents on this subject. Most anglers I see on the water are using tackle much too heavy for the largest Fluke out there, let alone anything they are likely to run into. Let’s talk about bay anglers for instance. I see many anglers using tackle more in line with Party Boat Blue fishing than fishing 10’ feet deep with a ¼ or 3/8ths ounce buck tail. Most anglers have a light freshwater rod they use in the local ponds and streams that will work just fine.
Take that light rod and fill the reel with either 10 or 15LB test braided line and you have tackle that will handle even the largest back bay Fluke you will ever encounter. The next thing you will need to do is use a lighter leader. Most rigs are tied with 25 to 40LB test leaders which aren’t exactly stealthy if you know what I mean. I recommend a leader no heavier than 15 LB test fluorocarbon unless there are a lot of small toothy Blue fish around.
The next change I make is to go to smaller hooks on my rigs and lighter wire hooks on buck tails. Store bought rigs are tied with either a 3/0 or 4/0 hook in a gold finish. By using a #1 or 1/0 hook in a black finish we are again using tackle much more difficult for Fluke to detect.
What does all of this mean to the Fluke angler? It means that you can use a lighter weight to reach the bottom, your leader is much less visible and your baits will be much more natural looking as they pass by a hungry Fluke. All of this adds up to more fish caught and more keepers in the box. How many more will an angler catch? Our average catch for a day of Fluking is 50 or more fish for 3 of us with days of over 100 Fluke quite common. The average angler can expect their catch rate to at least double by going with lighter tackle.
For more details remember to check out our “Catching a Flounder is no Fluke” DVD which goes into details on tying your own rigs, Slip Bobber fishing (top secret) and other methods we use to catch many more fish than most anglers on a regular basis.
