It is a biological fact that fish must eat. In the spring, the shallow back bay waters warm quickly and attract a huge forage base for gamefish like fluke. Starting sometime in April large numbers of these great-eating gamefish inundate the shallows behind New Jersey’s barrier islands, and feed heavily in what is the most biologically productive ecosystem on the planet, the salt marshes!

   By June the summer flounder population in the back bays reaches its peak, in terms of overall numbers. The warming water speeds their metabolisms, and the amount of food available to them is just staggering. From crustaceans like crabs and shrimp, to spearing and rainfish, the fish are literally awash with food. This is what makes them absolutely perfect targets for light tackle and the age-old standby, the bucktail. We are not sure why, but in the hands of a competent angler, a bucktail fished with a strip of mackerel or squid as a trailer will often out fish a traditional killie/squid combo in the back bay waters. Perhaps it is the more substantial profile or maybe the action, but whatever the reason, June back bay fluke and bucktails are a combo that is hard to beat.

 

 

   Bill and Darren began the day by running their 26’ North Coast up the ICW from its berth in South Jersey Marina in Cape May. They first poked around a bit along the channel edges in Richardson Sound, behind West Wildwood. They made a few drifts, and missed a few smaller fish, but it didn’t take long for them to decide to pick up and look for greener pastures. They worked their way north along the channel as it slithers through Grassy Sound, but didn’t find what they were looking for until they entered Turtle Creek. There, the water was several degrees warmer and the fish were on the feed.

   After experiencing some steady action with mostly short fish on the incoming, the outgoing tide produced much better. This is very typical in the spring of the year, as water temperatures often rise 5 or 6 degrees as the tide begins to fall and drains all those sun-warmed flats into the deeper channels. Our hosts set up near the mouth of a small feeder creek and found the fluke stacked up and eating!  

 

 

   Bucktailing fluke is truly an art form. The technique is to lightly hop the bucktail along the bottom, always maintaining bottom contact. Once a hit is detected, gently sweep the rod toward the fish. The object is to give the fluke a few seconds to sink back down towards the bottom and mouth the bait further. Very often, the initial “tick” an angler feels is the fish grabbing the jig. A fluke needs a few seconds to settle back down and finish eating its meal before a successful hookset can be had. This is called a “drop back” and just a few-second count before setting the hook could increase your hookup ratio tenfold. Each day is different, however. On some days the fish hit full-on, requiring little or no drop back, and other times they are timid and need some extra time to find the hook.

   In the morning, winds were light and fishing was easy. But as is usually the case, these conditions didn’t persist. An afternoon breeze kicked up, and made drifting very difficult in the small channel where our hosts were fishing. The fish were feeding in 4 to 6 feet of water right along the edge of a very shallow flat holding no more than a few inches of water, and the wind wanted to push the boat into the shallows.  In order to keep the bucktails in the strike zone while safely operating the boat, Bill opted to power drift. Power drifting is a technique in which the boat’s engines are kicked in an out of gear to keep the boat moving in the desired direction. Said differently, the boat’s engines simulate the desired drift. This technique can be deadly during the slack tide, or when the wind and tide are cancelling each other out. On this day, it was just what the doctor ordered.  

 

  

   The tackle for this type of fishing is truly a light tackle angler’s dream! A light-action, graphite spinning rod, coupled with 15 or 20-pound Power Pro braided line is all that is needed. A short fluorocarbon leader is used to prevent chaffing and bite-offs, but that’s about all there is to it! Always use the lightest bucktail possible (1/4 to ¾ ounce, depending on conditions). If you can easily maintain bottom contact, then there’s no need to go heavier. Our hosts often joke about choosing white only, but over many years of experience, it really does seems that white out produces everything else.