7/23 Fluke Improve, Bonito Arrive

We had a few days on nice weather lately that allowed me to get my boat out into the ocean for more Fluke fishing. I expect the ocean bite to pick up usually around mid July as water temps climb, and it has finally happened. Also fished the Bay a bit, with less success.

One trip in the Bay resulted in tons of shorts and just 2 Keeper Fluke. Also Striper fished that day for a moment catching a couple shorts when we started to mark them on the fishfinder. The Stripers proved to be finicky that day and we didn't give them much effort after finding they generally didn't want to chew.

The bigger news is the Ocean Flukin picking up. Made it out into the 50-70' depths one morning and while it took awhile to get going, eventually we had them chewin pretty good, betwee 3 of us we had 14 keepers with several being nice slabs in the 24-25" range. A variety of rigs and gulp and strips caught the fish, with the seabass limit being taken on the same rigs. We also had a few Stripers and Blues before and after the Fluke fishing. Next day, same nice weather, same zone, same results. Another 14 keepers, this time we released half of them, mainly the nicer fish in the 24"-26" range. That was after running out and trying for Tuna first thing, which after one hour of no Tuna action we decided our time would be better spent Flukin. This day I also got my first 2 Bonito of the season, one on a 40g metal caught on the outskirts of a Bunker School, the other hit my fluke rig as I was reeling in at the end of the drift. Mackerel continue to be around in good numbers.

One more day oceanside, we only had a few hours to fish, and caught the Biggest Fluke of the season at 27". Handful of other keepers before calling it a day.

This action was all taking Place at both Block Island and along the beaches in depths from 50-70'.