In early 2021, Jimmy Fee and I had the opportunity to board headboats in five different states, targeting five different species as part of the On The Water video series, At The Rail. On one of those trips, we opted to do some Block Island fluke fishing. What greeted us aboard the Gail Frances, and each boat along our journey, was a piece of the vibrant party-boat fishing subculture that, unless you seek it out, could be easy to miss entirely.
Along this journey, if I looked in the right places, in the salty ports frequented by watermen earning an honest living fishing commercially, party-boat fishing is alive and well.
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As we embarked on our sophomore season of At The Rail back in August 2022, we couldn’t think of a better way to kick things off than with a fluke trip. Anglers near and far flock to party boats that chase these feisty flatfish. When it comes to bottom fishing, many find it tough to beat the combination of strategy, skill, and deft touch that it takes to tempt a fluke. However, the challenge doesn’t end at getting the bite. Give a fluke an inch of slack and it’ll kick it in reverse and shake the hook free. Reel too aggressively and it will fire up the afterburners while undulating its entire body, leveraging that pressure into a pulled hook.
If you’ve made it through all of that, and rush a big fish to the surface before the mate is ready with the net, here’s how it usually plays out …
The fluke’s head breaks the surface, and the fish unleashes violent, lightning-fast headshakes while swimming backward like only fluke can, freeing itself of the hook just as the net approaches. The fish then slinks back to the depths in slow motion as if to rub it in.
On a warm morning, Jimmy and I boarded the Gail Frances, one of four boats in the Frances Fleet that has operated out of Port Galilee in Narragansett, Rhode Island, since 1978.
Owned by the Blount family, the Frances Fleet offers a variety of trips, including half- and full-day fishing, whale watches, overnight tuna trips, and private charters. While the half-day trips cater to anglers newer to the sport and fish productive waters closer to shore, the full-day trips attract avid anglers seeking more fishing time on more distant grounds. The full-day trip I boarded with Jimmy was bound for the storied fluking grounds south of Block Island.
The Gail Frances motors past the southeast corner of Block Island, headed for the Wind Farm. (Photo by Jimmy Fee)
Flukin’ Tackle
When it comes to going after fluke on a party boat, anglers should have at least two rods on hand. The first is a longer, moderate-action conventional rod that offers plenty of length to work a rig while having the forgiving action to absorb headshakes, keeping a fluke buttoned. The next is a spinning rod to work a bucktail jig by casting it when on the up-current side of the boat.
Every fluke boat captain will advise you to watch those around you who are catching the most to pay close attention to what colors they are using, how the business end of their offering is constructed, right on down to the “hop-in-their step,” the cadence they’re imparting to bring the rig to life.
My conventional rod was set up with a popcorn rig outfitted with ½-ounce Spro Squidtail jigs, while Jimmy’s featured two colorful bucktail rivet teasers above Gamakatsu 5/0 baitholder hooks. We planned to tip them with a concoction of bait including squid, spearing, and freshly caught chub mackerel, and trailers. My spinning rod had a Spro Prime Bucktail tipped with a Spro Wavetail grub.
The Gail Frances provides frozen squid and spearing for all anglers on board. The squid-and-spearing combo is a classic for fluke.
A fluke has jaws lined with sharp teeth and two eyes atop its head that are always looking up, so abrasion-resistant fluorocarbon leader can be a big advantage. I used 30-pound-test Seaguar Inshore on my conventional rod for its extra abrasion resistance and 20-pound-test Seaguar Gold Label for its thinner diameter and high breaking strength for my spinning rig because the smaller diameter would help me hold bottom and keep the jig vertical with less weight.
Pool-Winning Strategies
From the onset of At The Rail, winning the pool on camera was one of my goals. Taking home the money would be almost as sweet as lording yet another victory over Jimmy. To date, I’d never lost a head-to-head wager against Jimmy in a winning streak that spans nearly a decade, including fishing calcuttas, rock/paper/scissors contests, and even a weight loss challenge.
Most party boats have a big fish pool, where interested anglers throw in money. Typically, for somewhere between $5 to $20 a head, patrons are invited to participate in the pool for that trip. It’s optional, but the only thing worse than losing a pool-winning fish boatside is catching a pool-winning fish and not anteing up ahead of time. While filming the first season of At The Rail, I saw total beginners and seasoned veterans walk off with the pool money. It was usually enough to cover their fare and generously tip the mates, with enough left over for a future trip and, best of all, bragging rights.
As we pulled up to the grounds, I chose to start with a chicken rig, and Jimmy headed for the opposite side of the boat to work a jig-and-teaser combo. I instantly snagged bottom, losing my entire rig, and because time is pool money on a headboat, I grabbed my spinning combo and went to work alongside Jim with a bucktail. That ended just as fast as my first choice because I snagged bottom on my first cast while other anglers began landing the first wave of jumbo black sea bass.
Forced to re-rig both rods, my quickest path to getting back in the game was to set up the spinning rod with a single bucktail jig and no teaser. Since a fluke hadn’t been caught yet, it seemed we were in sea bass country, and I’ve found that a single large jig tends to be most successful at culling out the biggest sea bass.
With tail-nipping sea bass and porgies in abundance, you can never have too much Gulp when fluke fishing over rough bottom. (Photo by Jimmy Fee)
As the boat repositioned for the second drift, I re-rigged my conventional with a popcorn rig. Jimmy switched to his conventional as well, so that he could fish more effectively on the down-drift side of the boat. Captains often alternate the way the bow is pointed during each drift, giving patrons equal opportunity to fish away from and under the boat.
I noted that the first few fluke were falling to the chicken rig. Jimmy broke the ice for us with his first-ever Block Island fluke, and then followed with two more on successive drifts, putting him three-quarters of the way to his limit before I had a single keeper fluke in the box. However, I’d managed to make quick work of my sea bass limit, selectively choosing to retain only quality ones despite keeping with the same chicken rig Jimmy was hammering fluke on. Starting to feel left out, I overheard a mate say a fluke had spit up sand eels after the third drift of the morning. I took that bit of insight and rifled through my gear to choose two greenish/blue skirted teasers that I felt would best match the hatch. That move, coupled with my next decision, would soon pay off.
Due to the abundance of squid and sand eels, greens and pinks were the most productive colors for jigs and teasers. However, as always with fluke fishing, having a variety of colors on hand can help tempt more and bigger fish. Sometimes, larger fluke fall to outlandish colors like salmon red, blaze orange, or purple.
As Jimmy was preparing for the rain showers the captain announced would be imminent, the fact that I had forgotten my Grundens bibs in the car gave me the opportunity to sneak into the cooler. Digging through a limit of sea bass and Jim’s trio of 20-inch-class fluke, I felt a small zip-top bag of forgotten fluke snacks. Jimmy had gone out in the wee hours of the morning ahead of our trip to seine, spending an hour gathering fresh spearing, with a few finger mullet and needlefish for good measure.
Fresh is best. Always. So, I grabbed a few fresh “select” spearing and the lone finger mullet, and put those on each hook with a boat-provided squid strip to help keep the secret weapons on the seats of my chicken rig hooks. Jimmy got whacked as soon as we both got down, then I got a hit. As soon as I set the hook, that suctioned-to-the-bottom weight of a big fluke followed by telltale headshakes told me that I had a good one!
Once the mate’s net dropped the fish at my feet, it was clear that I had just taken a sizeable lead in the pool. But, would it hold up this early in the day?
Adam Eldridge with a keeper fluke caught in the shadow of the turbines. (Photo by Jimmy Fee)
As the rain intensified, we caught a few chub mackerel while reeling in our rigs. I thought I had my next pool-winning strategy when I carved a few belly strips from them and pinned them to my rig. Again, fresh is best, especially when it’s forage taken directly from where you’re targeting fluke. I instantly caught a few more keepers with this strategy to round out the day, but since this move wasn’t as quietly executed as my first one, Jimmy asked if he could use some of the mackerel strips. It wasn’t long until Jimmy set the hook and I knew it was a good one.
Late-Summer Block Island Fluke
August is prime time for a fluke trip off Block Island. As the end of summer draws near, fluke begin migrating offshore, where they meet up with dense schools of sand eels. The fluke stop to feast on these baitfish (as well as squid) in the area around the Block Island Wind Farm. Also attracted to this sand-eel feast are thick schools of chub mackerel, a species that’s become more abundant in southern New England in recent years.
Unlike their coldwater relatives that are common from Cape Cod north, chub mackerel like warmer water. They are also larger and fight harder. They will greedily attack fluke rigs being dropped to or retrieved from the bottom; cut into strips, they make a deadly bait for fluke.
In fact, lots of species like to eat chub mackerel. Midway through our trip, we watched a large fish, either a giant bluefin tuna or a thresher shark, charge through a school of chub macks 100 yards off the bow.
Chub mackerel have become a regular late-summer bycatch in Rhode Island and Montauk. Cut into strips, they make excellent bait for fluke and sea bass. (Photo by Jimmy Fee)
As the final three horns sounded, we believed we had the pool-winning fluke in our cooler, but we didn’t know which one. As we both held ours up and measured them, mine was a hair longer, but Jimmy’s seemed to be little fatter, so it was too close to call. As we carried our fish to the scales of justice, mine went on first, eliminating a nice fluke caught at the back of the boat. Then Jimmy’s fish went up next to mine, and the scales ended the discussion. Jimmy’s had won the pool. I thought I had clandestinely used Jimmy’s secret weapon to take the pool money, but Jimmy’s polite request to use some of my fresh-caught chub mackerel strips earned him the win.
The author with his biggest fluke (left) and Jimmy Fee with the fluke that knocked it out of pool contention. (Photo by Adam Eldridge)
Regardless of who won, it was an excellent day of fluke fishing, and just about everyone on board went home with fresh fillets. We gained a new appreciation for the productivity of the Block Island fluke grounds, and I personally can’t wait to get back there.
Jimmy used his winnings to treat On The Water video producer Adam Eldridge and me to a feast of Narragansett’s finest fried seafood and frozen mixed drinks, both of which made it easier to endure his boasting about ending my pool-winning dreams after all these years.
Frances Fleet Port of Galilee, Narragansett, RI 401-783-4988 francesfleet.com
