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fluke migration

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hholt

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Interested in when they usually come in off the shelf into Mass waters, water temp info, and early season habitat.



 



Are they in by early June? 



 



I'm planning a June fishing trip with my two sons (born and raised in Iowa and Illinois) and neither have caught a fluke..........want to fix that!!!!!!!


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1849622


Yup, I have a boat, and I'm familiar with the waters, just never targeted fluke. I'll be there fishing from June 9-20 then it's back to Illinois. I'll be fishing mostly out of a friend's place Madaket on the west end on Nantucket


Given the time frame should I be targeting deep water, rips or what? Sand bottoms? I have the tackle and have jigs and 4" gulp mullet, but I don't know what kind of habitats and water depth I should target given that time frame in June.


Would chumming help?

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Fish the rips by drifting threw them, the fluke will be laying-in-wait on the lee side of the bar. When you drift, depths will vary but generally in that area you want a sand bottom, and rips with 15-40ish feet deep. Now as far as bait, ditch the "Gulp" stuff and go with combinations of squid strips, chubs, and/or sand eels. No chumming req. but make sure you have enough weight to stay on the bottom once you drift over the bar and into the trough. Hope this helps, good luck ...

" When it comes to fishing, I`d rather be LUCKY than GOOD"

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hholt Capie makes some good points as to using fresh bait if you can get it . The likely hood that you would get fresh sand eels in the local shops early in June is questionable. It is more likely that you will be able to obtain fresh native squid at some of the local shops , but you may need to buy that before going over to Nantucket. For me fresh native squid by far in strips is a killer on a jig or fluke rig with a hook.

 

Drifting is the preferred method , rather dropping your anchor . If you have the electronics to define the bottom , attempt to get a drift that may allow you to drift along the whole down side of the underground high points or as Capie mentions above you can drift across it to get into the holes on the down side. That will require that you reset your drift more often to keep in the prime locations :D

 

Keeping glued to the bottom is paramount to hooking up and having an assortment of lead weights would be a consideration to maintain the touch to the bottom.

When using a jig , and I have had great success with this method over many years is to use a jig, with the head of a squid and keep your spool in free spool and simply allow the jig to drag along the bottom. Once you get a feel when they pick it up , it becomes only a matter of setting the hook at the right time. ;)

 

You have plenty of good rips located not to far from Nantucket that should have some early fluke in skinny water, but do not be afraid to look for the deeper areas, between Nantucket and Maratha's Vineyard. for a more consistent bite. The size of your boat will determine how far you can venture into the sound itself.

 

Whenever we fluke fish we use both bait on a spinner and hook and a long leader over 24 inches with enough weight to keep it on the bottom no matter how Fast the drift may be. WE dead stick the rod in the holder and simply watch the tip , once you get used to what to look for when the fluke take the bait its fight on. We still will use a jig at the same time, it is possible to hit a pocket of fish and all rods will be bent over.. If you mark a pocket of fish , you can then use your motor to stay on top of the pocket as you fish, If the drift is to fast for you, even with large weights simply have two five gallon buckets attached to ropes and tied off to the boat, it may help keep the drift in a more manageable place.

 

You also will have an-opportunity to catch some sea bass, striped bass and scup during that time frame [all good eating] Just check on the regulations on what ever you choose to keep, that it is legal to keep during your expected time of visit.

 

Have a net on board to lift the fish into the boat, or expect to lose them when you come out of the water with them, they will shake their heads like no other fish to get away and by using a net you can at least insure that you come away with something for the day, should you get lucky enough to hook up with large. :D

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hholt, I would like to offer you some more advise. The weights we have found to be better when drifting has been the Diamond shape ones, rather then the normal bank in sizes from 8,10,12,14 and 16 ounces. You may encounter many variations between drifting from wind conditions, changes in the tidal flow effect and also how deep you fish. One thing to also keep in mind is that large baits catch larger fish. We have used small whole tinker mackerel 4 to 6 inches with great success. Another bait that has its moments is the bellies from salmon cut into strips and thinned. This bait will stay on the hook no matter how many hits you may get from other species. Your local fish market normally throws that part of the salmon away and you could get it free :D Cut salmon belly strips as well as any other baits should be prepared ahead of time in small plastic containers [Less time is spent cutting bait and more time in the water fishing. You can pre cut and prefreeze any bait and simply though it out once you are underway from the dock. Make up any rigs prior to going out and having them in individual bags will also help increase your time fishing.

 

Should you see any lobster markers around try to use them for a reference point when drifting to judge how fast you are drifting if your electronics does not provide you with that information. Every one has there own drift speeds they like and we have had more success when we can maintain our speed around three knots in the deeper water up to 100 feet, A little less when we are in the shallow waters between 30 and 60 feet. At times you may run into conditions when the current movement and the winds are just not moving , that is a good time to have something to eat as you wait for the fish to start feeding again ;)

 

As you must know the fluke stocks have been on a decline, but with perseverance and a little patients good fortunes may just occur. if you are a little prepared before hand, As the time gets closer give a shout and perhaps we may be able to give you a few spots to try that may be productive. Fish move, just like spots move from year to year. Who knows what will happen in the locations that were hot last year,only the man upstairs knows for sure and he is not telling.:D

Life member M.B.B.A #509

Life member Izaak Walton Fishing Association

Life member Cape Cod Canal

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Hey thanks for the advice guys, that's the kind of detailed info I was looking for.


When the forecast and wave conditions are right I take that skiff all over. I have circumnavigated Nantucket 5 times in the past 2 years and last summer ran from Madaket to the Vineyard, to Hayannis and Monnomy, then back to Madaket by way of Great Point. Seas were 1 foot or less and we flew..........


There is some great looking water between Muskegat and the Vineyard that I think I'll try and I caught fluke from the beach on squid (decades ago) around Great Point.


I'm looking to invest in a fishfinder but haven't decided which one is best for saltwater.


And thanks for the bait advice. I used to use store bought squid, then fluke belly strips after I caught a keeper. I assume bluefish belly would work too. 


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I should have added that I mostly have been fishing for blues from my boat then night fishing from shore for srtipers. I'm hoping to expand some this year with fluke and using 3-ways drifting for stripers. I was going to try 3-ways with live eels and jigs in front of Sankaty and maybe around Muskegat Rock in the daytime, and a couple of other spots where I cansafely fish from a small boat at night.


Should be fun my boys will be 11 and 16 this summer.


I didn't know bait shops even sold sand eels???? 


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hholt some shops if they can get them will stock them over a weekend at times. The guys raking them for what ever reason do not seem to always get to the shops in and around the canal as the supply has been hard to get at. Now On the other hand should you have a sand eel rake you just might be able to rake a few at Nantucket should you be looking for a different adventure :D What is the name of the shop over at Nantucket , do you recall ?? perhaps they may have some one that supplies them during the season. If they are not hard forget about buying them as they will only be removed from the hooks as soon as you drop them down

 

Another bait that may be also fresh when you show up are Pogies[Crunchies] they also can be very good as well. Unfortunately for the most part Mand D, Red Top and Cape Cod Charlies, Makeo's , which are all on the mainland side of the canal will have them fresh from the water in most cases. . Again verify that they are local and not frozen from the wholesale bait dealers. Unless the shops freeze them while they are still fresh they will not last on the hook for very long.;)

Life member M.B.B.A #509

Life member Izaak Walton Fishing Association

Life member Cape Cod Canal

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The oldest tackle shop on the island was Bill Fishers. I'm 55 and bought from Bill when I was just a kid. He built surf rods on lamiglas honey blanks by the hundreds. He sold the shop to Bill Pew, who then sold it to the guy that owns it now, Randy something I think. The shop moved to a smaller location across from Island lumber. Then Barry Thurston started up a business downtown but that store closed. The only other shop I know of is Nantucket tackle, and that's where I buy live eels.


For stripers, guys used to use a liveline  a herring or alewife a lot (not sure what species it was exactly) they ran up Hither Creek into long pond. Serious striper cow candy fishing the ebb tide at the end of the eel grass beds before Smith's point.  Most of those fish off that spot were 40 pounds and up. Not sure if you can use them for bait anymore legally. That was before Esther's Island reattached though, and it's all changed now, and the "current" Smith's point (at the west end of Esthers is crawling with seals.


I thougt pogie was same as scup??? I was thinking of catching them in the harbor this summer and livelingin them for stripers but to do that I'd have to set up a small aerator cooler to keep them alive. Eels are pretty easy to keep alive. I use wet eel grass in a wicker basket over a frozen water bottle in a small cooler and they last for days. 


I'll have to put some of those bait shops on my GPS but at this point I have a 5 hr drive planned before a noon ferry and probably wont have time.


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hholt [crunchies] Manhaden, pogies all same fish Scup [porgies] different spelling. They also at times can be good chunked for Large Fluke. :D

 

With out question the seals have made a dramatic impact on any species that swims in the shallow waters, given there population growth over these many years with out any controls. That is until recently when we have had a few more great whites searching them out and even hanging out a little longer then usual.

 

Some of the islanders have been making attempts in legally finding a way to control the growing population, but that will be unlikely in my life time to see come to a conclusion.

 

The government wins this battle ;)

Life member M.B.B.A #509

Life member Izaak Walton Fishing Association

Life member Cape Cod Canal

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