Atlantic highlands capts

[John D.]

Taking my son down for a day of fluke fishing. Is it mostly a bait thing in the bay now (ie should I bring killies?) or is it mostly bucktailing in the ocean?

I know the answer is it could be both and you supply killies, just taking an early crack at the fluke.

Thanks

[Gerry Zagorski]

Party Boats are fishing the ocean and I’d say you’d be better off with Gulp and Bucktails.

[bulletbob]

Killies are better in the bay than in the ocean, same with tidal rivers and creeks that hold fluke,, They love killies , but the problem is the vast majority of what you catch will be shorts.. No reason to fish with killies in the ocean really. I would say to watch where the majority of head boats are fishing. Most are not in the bay these days.. Its hard enough finding a lot of keepers in the ocean, the bay is even tougher.. If you just want to bend the rods all day near shore than killies will certainly get you a lot of smaller fluke in the bay.. Look there are guys in the know that catch keepers all season in the bay, and some do it fishing from shore, and never use bait. Killies will catch fluke, so will spearing, squid, clams, sea worms, bacon, and a million different lures. However at this time, most guys targeting keeper size fluke are fishing structure in the ocean as opposed to fishing the flats and channels edges in the bay.. If I wanted keepers I would fish the ocean right now, but you never know. There are plenty of fluke in the bays as well... Might be worth a shot and just see how you make out.