Fluke, and a Few Surprises

First, shop news. 

Rakes!  We have had a lot of demand for all sorts of rakes.  We received another shipment of sand flea rakes and they are flying out of the store.  There are a few left.  There has also been plenty of inquiries for the Killer Clam Rakes.  They are the best clam rake you can get, so we understand why there is a demand.  We are waiting on our next order to arrive.  We will announce here when they arrive, but to get a more up to the minute tip-off that they are in stock, follow us on Instagram or Facebook. 

And in more good news, you can see from our featured photo the sand eels have arrived.  This is a good sign for many fish, and pretty much everything eats sand eels, including fluke, bluefish, striped bass, weakfish, and even tuna. It might be time to get your sand eel imitations out, like ava jigs, Hurley Sand eels, and Tsunami Sand Eels.  

The fishing remains really good locally.  The biggest talk of the town is the fluke fishing, which remains somewhere from “Very Good” to “Excellent”.  Now, we have had a few anglers come in saying they got skunked fluking, and, just like the striped bass fishing this past spring, not every hole and cut on the beach is holding fish.  If you are not getting any action in 30 to 45 minutes in one pot, make a move.  Sometimes it only takes moving 100 yards down the beach, but don’t plant yourself in one spot.  

And, since it is summer and we have some new and less experienced angler trying for fluke, we will go into some basics for fluke fishing from the surf. 

• First, this is not a bait & wait game. If you want to throw out a bait, put your rod in a sand spike and go grab a sandwich and a beverage from your cooler, get mullet or clams and go for bluefish and striped bass respectively.
• When using bucktails for fluke, use the lightest one you can get away with while still reaching the bottom. You don’t want a bucktail so heavy that it drags through the sand.  Ideally you want the bucktail to swim in the fluke kill zone that is about 6 to 12 inches off the bottom (sometimes more in clear water).
• Fish the edges of the structure. Fluke are ambush feeders and while they will chase down something that interests them, they prefer to wait for something to swim by so they can grab it.  They tend to find these things getting washed off the edges of sandbars and drop offs in the surf, so work your bucktail there.   
• Use a teaser. While just a bucktail with a piece of Gulp! will get a fair share of fluke, having a teaser doubles your chances.  The MaiTai fluke teaser rigs are perfect for this.

Follow these tips and you will get fluke.

In other areas, there have been bluefish in the surf.  They have been hitting mullet for the bait anglers, and poppers and metals for those who prefer lures. 

The striped bass bite is still occurring.  It has slowed down from the excellent fishing we had in the spring to a level that we would expect for summer fishing.  Smaller fish and not as plentiful as the spring, but they are still there.  Sand fleas are working the best, with clams a close second. 

The blowfish have made it into the bay.  Currently, you need a boat and you need to head to the south to find them, but we have been hearing of some good blowfish catches. We have clam chum logs to bring them to you, and clam, squid or Fish Bites to catch them

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there was a good tuna bite and it wasn’t in the canyons.  By the amount of tuna jigs we sold, it seems like it was a jigging bite in the early morning. 

And the surprise of the week, the Spanish mackerel have hit the surf.  The first we heard of was taken on a teaser on a fluke rig, but some anglers targeted them with epoxy style jigs and did well.

Here are some recent notable catches:

Jerry and his crew had another successful day fluking.  

Guess who? It’s Larry again slaying the fluke.

Chris Marble with a lunker fluke almost 5lbs on our scale. This big fluke came out of the surf.

This is the biggest Fluke off the surf we can recall from recent memory. Here’s Jason Porzl with a 24.5” 5.40LB flattie that took a Gulp! in the surf. Congrats Jason.

Raymond Nasto found some Spanish friends Sunday. This is the first heard of mackerel showing up, so don’t forget to pack some metals and epoxy jigs!

@hookedonlunkers found some Mack’s hitting epoxy jigs in the wash Monday.

 With the red hot fluke bite in the surf, Ray is planning to go to the beach…