My first two 1999 spring flounder trips on the Codfather out of Freeport were weathered out during the peak of the flounder run at Raritan Bay and Roamer Shoals. I missed my third flounder charter out of Orient Point due to a family emergency and my friends had a great trip with everyone limiting out.
It was now the Saturday before Mother's Day. As my friend Rusty, his son Richie and I drove to Freeport through fog and rain, the prospect of getting to Roamer Shoal for flounder did not look promising. We arrived at the dock to find fog, light rain and southeast winds about 25 knots.
Fortunately we had arranged a back up plan with Captain Mike Barnett of the Codfather the night before. Mike said that the fluke were in early and
Hitting bucktails and teasers very aggressively. So, I came prepared. My tackle bag had a box of Chrome Bullets from 1-3 ounces and an assortment of feather teasers. I was ready.
Since the original plan was to go to Roamer Shoal, we scheduled a
6 AM departure time. Everyone was there by 5:45. Whether we were going to fish for fluke or flounder, it didn't matter. We were getting out. We left the dock promptly at 6 AM and were fishing at 6:15. The tide was ebbing, with wind against tide, which resulted in a slow drift, ideal for bucktailing.
This being my first trip of the year I was eager and ready. Harvey got the first fish and the second. Then Richie hooked up. The first five fish were keepers between 17-19 inches. Things looked very promising and my anticipation grew.
For all my anticipation I could not buy a bite. Everyone was hooking fish around me and I was fishing in the "Dead Sea." Then Capt. Mike spotted the problem. He had run short of 2 ounce Chrome Bullets and asked if he could rig up everyone from my supply. I said sure, since I made some small modifications to the bucktail over the winter and I wanted to test my handiwork.
I had rigged my bucktail and teaser with chartreuse green and silver flashabou. Captain Mike rigged everyone else with Chrome Bullets with white bucktails and white teasers. Only the white seemed to work in the overcast and foggy conditions. Also, the fluke were spitting up grass shrimp which were a whitish cream color. After quickly changing my rig I began to catch fish. As I began to get my rhythm down, out came the hook file to make sure the hooks were razor sharp.
We were tipping both the bucktail and teaser with small spearing and were catching well. When someone brought up a sundial I asked the mate Frank to filet and strip it for bait. Both Captain Mike and Frank said to forget it since the strips were not working yet. Back went the sundial.
We had a very good early morning bite and then disaster struck. One of the guys hooked a fish, and in his excitement to remove the fish from the net ended up with the teaser hook in his finger past the barb. We made a small attempt at trying to get the hook out, but then decided it was best to run back to the dock and have him go to the local emergency room. We were back at the dock at 9:15 and dropped him off. We went back out and fished a short distance from the dock and continued to catch fish. He was back at the dock in an hour all fixed up and we all went back to fishing.
The tide started to flood mid morning and we began to catch lots of shorts just under 16 inches. We tried different spots and continued to experience very fast fishing, but the keeper ratio was one out of four. We had plenty of keepers. It was fun fishing on light tackle and the kids were having a great time.
We arranged to be back at the dock by 3 PM since some of us needed to get home a little earlier. As the clock moved past 2 PM Captain Mike made a move to a deeper spot to fish the top of the flood tide. Wouldn't you know, we began to hit keepers immediately. Every time we drifted over this edge at least three of us hooked up. Captain Mike announced the last drift of the day, and as everyone dropped there rigs one last time, our anticipation was very high. I hooked the first fish, than Richie hooked the second and a third fish was hooked. Five more keepers came up and then Harvey had a hit and his line took off. I thought it was a schoolie bass. But as the line quickly came to the surface it turned out to be two small bluefish, one on the bucktail and one on the teaser. Lady luck was with us and the mate netted them both. What a way to finish the day. We ended up with our limit of keeper fluke up to three pounds with many shorts that went back.
As we headed back to the dock our discussion turned to planning our next trip the following week and the anticipation ran high. I hope this early season action is an indication of the rest of the season. Last year's fluke season was spectacular.
I have already received confirmed reports of hot fluking at Montauk with fish up to nine pounds. I guess I will be heading east the next few weeks to get in on this action. I almost forgot, on the way home I handed ten year old Richie the pool money, his first ever, and he wanted to know when we were going out again. I guess he could get used to this. I know the feeling well.
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