During the spring time, the one fish that is often forgotten or over-looked inside Narragansett Bay is the summer flounder or "fluke" as it is more commonly known as. Last season the majority of anglers in this area of Rhode Island couldn't't fish for fluke until the 17th of June, which put us out of the best time for the really big guys who move into the bay during the early part of the spring. For 2010, the fluke season will be open from May 1st until the end of the season. The part that matters to those of us who fish the bay is that special part of the early fluke season of May and June.

 The likely reason fluke aren't thought about too much at this time is probably because of the striped bass. This is also the best or prime time for striped bass fishing inside Narragansett Bay and a lot of anglers want to have the opportunity to tangle with a monster sized striper more than a smaller fluke. But keep in mind that fluke fishing during the early part of the spring can produce some very big fish, likely the biggest fish of the season. It is at this time when fish from seven to well into the teens are available at the mouth of Narragansett Bay and there are few if any anglers taking part in this fishery, with the exception of the commercial rod and reel anglers.

 Fishing for fluke accomplishes two things; first, they are a lot of fun to catch especially when you are drifting and jigging for them off the bottom. Fluke fishing is not what many people imagine, that being just dropping a line on the bottom and waiting for a fish to eat your bait. Nothing could be further from the truth. To be successful at fluking takes working a jig and squid combo off and along the bottom to make it look like a good meal that is trying to escape from any fish that are down there. Maintaining bottom contact is critical to being successful when fluking. The second thing is they are delicious to eat, freeze pretty well if taken care of properly and are great cooked on a grill. So not only are they fun to catch but they are good to eat as well. You can't beat that combo for sure.

 Some of our clients who fish with us during the spring time opt for a combination trip of striped bass and fluke. We leave early in the morning and go looking for our pogies for bait for the day and then go try and locate some monster striper's. If we can' t find any bait or any striper's we then go south to the deeper water at the mouth of Narragansett Bay and jig for some big fluke. On many occasions our clients get to take home both striped bass and fluke at the end of the day.

 At this time of the season we usually fish with bucktail jigs and fresh squid strips, as the squid are usually present in the spring time as well. The squid is cut into long-narrow strips and placed on the back of the jig to trail-out behind it.  The jigging process is a series of short lifts and drops ( up and downs) as we drift along. Again, it is vital that you maintain contact with the bottom when fluke fishing. You want or are looking to achieve as vertical a presentation as possible while drifting. When the wind  is too strong we employee a sea anchor over the side to slow down our drift.

 One of the most important aspects of fluke fishing is having the wind and tide in the same direction. Nothing is worse that having the tide and the wind oppose each other as this can cancel almost any productive drift when fluking. Once this happens you have two choices, either quit for the day or try slow-trolling so that your jig and squid are being presented in the same direction as the fluke are facing and feeding. Fluke will face into a moving current. If your bait, lure or jig comes from behind them, they will usually refuse to strike at it as this is not a normal thing for live bait to do.

 When fluking we use mostly conventional fishing gear, which consist of Quantum casting reels and rods loaded with braided line. Braided line offers a lot of sensitivity when bottom fishing, especially for fluke and you get to feel almost anything that the jig comes in contact with. We did our own testing on this over a three year period. We had one rod rigged with braided line and the rest with mono. I gave the braided outfit to whom I considered or was told who was the least experienced angler in the party for that given day. The results were amazing. The person using the braid out fished all others by a margin of 7 to 1. It also didn't matter who it was either, young, old, man, woman or child, that person caught more fish when using the braided line. I believe that there are two reasons for this. One is the extra sensitivity you have when fishing with braided line and the other is there is no stretch to the line, once you set that hook, if a fish has it in his mouth you pretty much got him on the first set.

 Covering different types of bottom structure is also vital to success. This is where a good electronic unit (fish finder) comes into play.  On our boat for this season we have the new Lowrance HD-10 Side Scanning Unit with 3-D map. This unit is incredible to say the least. It allows us to see the bottom of the bay like never before. On preliminary test runs we were shocked at what we found out there and how that will hopefully help or allow us to put more fish in the boat for our clients.

 Other baits that work when fluke fishing are larger plastic lures. Don't forget these lures or think that they are only for striper's or other species of fish because you'd be wrong. Big Fin-S Fish, Slug-Go's, Zoom Flukes, Shad Bodies, plastic squids and shrimps all will work when fluking. The smaller sizes can be used or rigged as droppers above a jig and squid strip for added attraction and motion as you drift along. When fishing is tough or slow, try using different combinations of soft plastics and jigs to see if the fish show a preference to one or the other. Many times we've stumbled upon some pretty effective combinations while doing this and they've worked for a week or two or more when everything else failed to take fish.

 So this season if you book a sport fishing charter for Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, look into the possibility of doing a combo bass and fluke trip during the early spring when the really big fluke are present in our bay. This year the size limit should be 19-1/2 inches in length and a six fish per man bag limit. There are a lot of 19 to 20 fluke around, especially last season so finding and catching this size fish shouldn't be much of a problem.

Captain Jim White