Bucktailing Back Bay Fluke

By Nick Honachefsky

Late spring and early summer was legendary in the flatfish books. Since Superstorm Sandy relocated me to Ocean City, I had some new territory to learn, and applying some tried and true tactics, I targeted the OC backwaters and bagged more 2 to 8-pound back bay fluke than I had in my lifetime of fishing. I was absolutely floored. The Ocean City flounder pipeline of Rainbow Channel, Elbow Channel, Ship Channel and Kennedy Park continually pumped keeper fluke into my cooler. But the action wasn’t an all day affair – it was more of lining up a specialized time and tide scenario, but above all, I had to use my magic talisman – a light 3/8 to ½-ounce bucktail. Always when fluking out oceanfront, I employ a heavy duty 2 to 6-ounce buck for big boy fluke around the structure piles, but in the shallow backwaters of central and south Jersey, you need to lighten it up big time, with 3/8 to ½-ounce offerings in the arsenal. Light tackle bucktailing puts up heavy duty numbers of flatfish in the icebox if you dial up all the right conditions.

Bay fluke are suckers for bucktails

FLUKE FRIENDLY WATERS

Early season baywaters become magnetized hot spots for fluke as the dark, black mudflats of the shallows absorbs the sunlight, warming up the surrounding waters and attracting fluke to sun themselves in the May and June when water temperatures average in the low 60 degree range. In central and south Jersey, perennial fluke haunts include Oyster Creek and Double Creek Channel in Barnegat Bay, the channels of Ocean City, Ludlam’s Bay in Sea Isle City backwaters, Grassy Channel in Great Bay, and the Cape May Harbor area. All of these locales contain expanses of shallow flats and slightly sloping channel edges where fluke can grab energy from the sun and feed with some aggression. Ideally, you’re looking at 4 to 12 feet of water for optimal depths to conjure up the magic of the fluttering light bucktail, but you can dive and plumb the 15 to 20 foot depths so long as you give right attention to detail of the tight connection between reel to bucktail. Clean and clear waters outproduce dirty water conditions, as fluke can get a good look at the bucktail, and generally the last of the incoming water is clean, whereas the outgoing tides will begin to flush out sea lettuce and other debris. Optimal water temperatures would be in the 56 to 61 degree range for the early season, and much of the best action I’ve found is in the 5 to 9 foot depths.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

Timing the tide is a factor of utmost importance that can determine a bang up type of day or a mediocre outing. The number one factor to ensure success in light tackle bucktailing is to have a vertical approach. Slow drifts allow for the best up and down presentation, and thus, premiere tides revolve around the last hour of the incoming, the slack and the first hour of the outgoing. Avoid mid-tide when the current really begins to rip. Successful light bucktailing in shallow backwaters is heavily dependent upon minimal tidal flow. Even a little too swift of a current will be detrimental to the action of the bucktail, you can get away with a 30 to 45 degree angle if the current starts ripping, but when tides start really pouring in or out, anything past that angle will virtually alter the action of the bucktail, and you will simply be dragging it horizontally and it will not work its magic motion. Perfect conditions would generally be light winds, 5 to 10 knots, flowing with the tide, with clean and clear water and a lot of baitfish around such as rainfish, spearing and peanut bunker. The lightest drifts at the end of the top of the tide flow are excellent for presentation, but you don’t cover much ground. Once the waters begin to really slack up, start prospecting the area around with long fan casts and work the bucktail back to you, hopping it back to the boat. Another advantage is that in the late springtime, the outgoing waters generally are a few degrees higher as the back bay waters warm up quicker, and that outflush will be a good 4 to 5 degrees warmer than the incoming. High water at the top of the tide, light winds, and clean water equals bucktailing success.

TO HIT OR NOT TO HIT

When working a bucktail back on a fan cast you’ll feel the aggressive pop of the hit and you can set immediately as the fleeing bucktail usually gets the fluke committed to inhale it wholly, rather than tapping at it or hanging on it. Strikes can be very aggressive, and you want to set the hook when you first feel the jarring hit, but other times, especially around the slack tides, fluke may just simply inhale and hang onto the lure. If you do feel a hanging dead weight as you are drifting back, its probably not cluttered seaweed or a snag, but a nice doormat, with his jaws clamped onto your bucktail. Whenever you feel weight, you can hit immediately, or drop a little bit of line back to it for another second or two to make sure he isn’t simply hanging on the strip bait and has the hook in a position to plant into its jaw. Fluke will tend to inhale the teaser with reckless abandon as it flutters a foot above the bucktail, but noticeably will grab and hold onto the bucktail, possibly to get a feel for it and crush its prey as the fluke may think it is a mantis shrimp or crab which are predominantly around in the spring and they may want to kill it first before they swallow the potentially dangerous meal. Whatever the case, if you do feel weight, but no fight yet, release the bail and let out more line, giving the fluke time to really commit and get another chomp on the bucktail. Then click over the bail and set the hook.

ULTIMATE BUCKTAIL SETUP

The optimal bucktail shape for shallow water will be the standard roundhead style in 3/8 to ½-ounces, with most productive colors being white, chartreuse, white and yellow, and orange/black (when mantis shrimp are predominantly around). ½-ounce shad darts in red/white, or straight silver can also be used with success. White 2/0 to 3/0 bucktail teasers on a dropper loop are also a must have as the unimpeded fluttering action of the teaser elicit aggressive strikes. Light tackle set ups include a 6-1/2 to 7 foot medium to fast action spinning rod, matched with a 3000 to 4000 class Shimano Sustain reel. Spinning outfits allow for really whipping out such a light bucktail and covering a wide span of angle. 8 to 15-pound class baitcasting rods also allow for longcasting with light tackle, but I prefer to use spinning for greater casting control in the shallow water environments. Spool with 12 to 20-pound braided line, then tie on a low profile Spro barrel swivel, a 30 inch section of 20 to 25-pound fluorocarbon leader for stiffness, with a dropper loop tied up 16 inches down for the teaser, and then a loop knot on the bucktail. The loop knot allows for an enticing jarring action every time you lift and drop the buck. Procure and tip bucktails with strip baits cut in half inch wide and 3 to 4-inch long ribbons, such as fresh, early season mackerel or bluefish, hickory shad, or other store-bought offerings like squid and spearing. Berkeley Gulp! white 3-inch Swimming Mullets threaded on the hook are also a sure fire attractant.

If you have all your ducks lined up in a row, truly dialing in and combining an early morning high tide, shallow water back bays, light winds, clean water, and an arsenal of light bucktails and fresh strip baits to trick the fluke, you literally can have your limit of flatfish before you get in to work for the morning. Set out on a strategic plan, every day following the tides, and you’ll only need two hours of fishing to catch more fluke than you would in an entire day drifting around. Light bucktailing is hot. Give it a try this spring!