8/1 Fluke Report

[Skolmann]

Jason and I ran to the Axel Carlson today. Good action to start with rod bending action from short fluke & sea robins. Made a wiggle and had more of the same before Jason put the first keeper on ice. Came upon some solid readings, so we both picked up pre riggged rods with jigs (his was a plain A17 & mine was a 1.25 ounce Epoxy). Jason boated 2 cocktail bluefish and a pair of chub mackerel (one of which we had to pull away from a 4 foot spinner shark) and I had a pair of chub mackerel and a sea bass. When we both returned to fluking it didn’t take Jason long to achieve his limit. Meanwhile, I had no problem catching shorts and the bottom. In fact I snagged the bottom 5 times, breaking off each time (been a long time since I lost that many rigs). Jason was gracious enough to offer to tie on another topshot for me, so I fished his rod. Wasn’t long before I dropped a good fish, so I dropped back down and got bit immediately. Had some solid headshakes so I was confident it was a nice fish. Jason was ready with the net and just before he went in for the scoop he yelled, “doubleheader keepers” and scooped them both up. Now I’ve caught doubleheader fluke before but never a doubleheader of keepers. Unfortunately, I could not find another keeper the rest of the trip. So our day ended with 5 fluke in the box, @30 shorts, 2 bluefish, chub mackerel, sea robins, sea bass and a lone ling.

4 out of the 5 keepers came on a 3 ounce white Spro tipped with a 6 inch GULP New Penny grub with the 5th off a teaser hook tipped with a 5 inch pink GULP mullet.

#JustBendTheRod, #FatherAndSonFishing, #BucktailingFluke, #JiggingFluke

[Duffman]

Nice report Doc. Good to see you guys getting out often this season.

You keep the chubs? Curious if you ate them or not? Seeing all the catches on the head boats and wonder what everyone does with them. Similar to Boston’s ?

[Skolmann]

I have not heard of anyone eating chubs (but I’m sure someone out there will say they are delicious). I wanted to save a few for fresh strip bait or to brine & salt for later use as strip bait but Jason said they are not as oily as Boston macs and are very mushy even when fresh. So who knows ?

I might save the next one or two and see for myself...at worst I’ll stick them in my crab traps.

[flukeyou]

Great report buddy! That double-header must have really surprised you. Sounds like a great day on the water!

[Jigman13]

Not like Boston/atlantic macks at all. Not table fare