Bait combinations can lead to increased flattie catches.
Like many fishermen, I grew up learning my first fishing strategies from my father. He and my grandfather spent decades catching all the fluke they could handle in the back bays of Brigantine, New Jersey. Their personal bests of 12-1/2 and 13 pounds highlighted summer flounder careers that saw them master a variety of strategies that were passed along to me.
One such strategy, that is no stranger to any serious fisherman, is putting together the perfect sandwich baits. My childhood mentors used fluke belly ribbons and minnows on the back of a shad dart or a bucktail. On any given outing, the first summer flounder they caught was instantly dispatched and turned into ribbons and pennants. Before the 90s, there weren’t restrictions on using fluke parts for bait, therefore anglers were able to maintain a supply. That’s in contrast to the current era that allows one keeper fluke in a creel to be stripped for bait purposes.
Nonetheless, my predecessors emphasized that when the minnows were on the small side, the addition of a ribbon would enhance the bait’s size thus attracting larger flatties. In fact, the minnow would give a little wiggle to the belly strip. White ribbons were their favorite and they preferred the striations where new meat was growing. That’s the edge where the meat displays small parallel bars that, when cooked, fall right off, but taste great. The dark side also worked well despite not hitting the water first on their vessels. If a pattern established itself, then more of that color was sent to the bottom. Their glory days were many moons ago, but everything I learned still applies today. Moreover, sandwich baits have expanded in other directions and while extending their popularity and effectiveness to many new, fishing circles.
Squid and minnow tandems have always been a mainstay combination and became more so after fluke regulations tightened over the last 30 years. Squid is readily available to buy and just as simple to cut into lengths of any size. I was always taught to tether cut bait to the hook before the live bait when using such combo. Other fish that produce strips of meat for sandwich baits included but are not limited to: sea robins, bluefish, false albacore, mullet and menhaden.
Over the decades, I’ve broadened my horizons, fishing waters along the entire East Coast compared to when I was a child locked into local waters. I have observed, utilized and added to my arsenal a number of sandwich combinations. When Berkley Gulp originally hit the scene, it slowly gathered momentum then took bait presentations by force. Gulp could be cited as one of the biggest revolutions in fishing, let alone within fluke nation. As time passed, doormat hunters began using combinations utilizing Gulp 6-inch grubs as the first bait threaded onto the bucktail, jig or hook. Dressed on top of the grub exists a 5- to 8-inch piece of fluke belly. And as if that wasn’t enough, a piece of squid and/or several spearing topped out a meaty offering that I could never have imagined many years ago. That’s a lot sandwiched into one offering! Other substitutes for the Berkley Gulp grubs that have shown marvelous success include the Swimming Mullet, Jerk Shad and Nemesis.
Obviously, plenty of hook gap is required to put this much bait out to sea and still allow the bite needed to properly impale the fish. Berkley, Mustad, Spro, Joe Baggs, Backwater Baits and others make presentations specifically for fluke fishing. Furthermore, the bait must main streamlined and not get so chunky that it forms a triangular shape. Captains fishing Montauk’s offshore waters were the earliest pioneers with sandwich baits that employ three or even four different kinds of bait due to the port’s well-earned reputation for producing many doormats. Huge fish have huge mouths so toying with bait ideas adjacent to Montauk was always the right place. Then the doormat discovery on the Nantucket Shoals played a large part in pushing the appearance of today’s truly supersized, sandwich presentations a step further. Fish averaging 20 inches or greater with no shortage of mat material allowed fishermen to present enticing sandwiches for the brown fury on the bottom.
No matter where one fishes, experimenting with multiple baits on one hook can lead to revelation or bust; however, the only way to know is to try.
