Fluking has been a little better, with a few more keepers showing up in the bays and the ocean! Believe it or not, we would have to say we heard of more keepers caught in the bay this past weekend than in the ocean. For example, 6 year old Mickael Liebow weighed in a 7lb 4oz Fluke he caught in Seaford area on a live Killie! We had reports from Rowboat Alley, East Bay and Merrick Bay, with a few people catching their limit… yup… a limit caught in the Bay! The most popular Fluke Rigs are still anything white, like the Pro Series Bucktail rig or the Pro Series Squid Skirt rig, the 568 Hi-Low Rig and the 559 Bucktail rig… to name a few. Spearing and Squid remain the more popular baits but Killies have caught their share too. More and more people are adding one of the Gulp baits to their Fluke rigs too… ESPECIALLY the 4″ Swimming Mullets. People who NEVER vary from their real bait are starting to buy this stuff and making comments like “hey, this stuff really does work”. All we can say is that we told ya so! We’ve said this a number of times this season, but these things WORK. The Sandeels and the Strip Baits are selling like mad too!

In the ocean it sounds like the keeper ratio is better, not great, but better than it was. Sounds like the deeper you go, the better the ratio has been. We’ve heard of Fluke caught as shallow as 20 feet of water and as deep as 90 feet. Slightly West of Jones Inlet seems better than anywhere to the East… unless you go WAY East… like East of Fire Island Inlet. The larger baits like Sandeels, whole Squid and the Peruvian Smelts seem to work well in the ocean, but it’s still hard to beat the Spearing. Like the Bay fisherman… LOTS OF GULP BAITS being used in the ocean too! The heavier jigs like Fluke Bullets, Thumper Jigs and Spro Bucktails seem to be the ticket in the ocean… especially if you have some kind of a teaser tied above it. Some of the more popular teasers these days are simple white or pearl teasers, the Capt. Bills Floaters and more and more people are using the small Spro Baby Bucktails for teasers now too.

Spoke with a charter captain, from Montauk, on the phone the other day and he reported that the fishing was GREAT…. BUT… hard to find the keepers there too. Rumor has it that there was some better fishing outside Shinnecock Inlet this past weekend and Moriches Bay has been on fire… probably the best keeper ration on the South Shore right now!

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