Enhance your kayak fluking with these shallow water bucktailing strategies.
One of the best ways to reach summer flounder, also known as fluke, is using a stealthy craft such as a kayak. And, just like fluking from a powered craft, the bucktail is a great weapon for the task. When bucktailing for fluke from your kayak, you should keep some things in mind to increase your fishing production.
Fishing a bucktail from a kayak has proven to be a deadly method and has accounted for some of my biggest fluke off a kayak, too. One thing to remember while using a bucktail off a kayak for fluke is to have a selection of different weights on hand to stay in touch with the bottom where fluke are feeding. A lot of my shallow water success comes in depths anywhere from 2 to 10 feet deep, so I typically will carry a series of 1/4- to 1-ounce bucktails with me. Yes, I have used a quarter ounce from the kayak with a lot of success when the conditions allowed. Using such a light weight gives the most natural presentation possible and will grab the interest of more fluke.
You should also have your baits available for easy access when bucktailing from a kayak. Many of the baits I’m using for fluke are typically soft curly tails from Gulp, Fishbites, and Z-Man. The reason is that these non-natural baits are easier to deal with in the limited space of a kayak. Having your selection in front of you in a waterproof container or hatch is the best move. Make sure you have your go-to lures close at hand before you start your drift, having to turn around and rummage in your tankwell can be cumbersome and may result in dropping something in the water!
One of the best things about fishing a bucktail from the kayak, aside from the fact that they flat-out catch fish, is the fact that a bucktail is a castable lure. This means that unlike a fluke rig, a bucktail can be casted precisely and worked back to you with action imparted to draw more strikes. I’ll paint the picture for you; you’re fishing inside a bay or harbor and find a productive piece of structure that seems to be holding a good amount of summer flounder. Instead of drifting over the piece of structure with the kayak repeatedly, you can always anchor up downcurrent of the structure, cast the bucktail over the piece, and work it back towards you. You won’t be wasting the time having to travel back upcurrent again. More time with your lure in the water means more fish caught.
Another scenario where this casting tactic becomes useful, is when the current completely slacks out, and you have no more drift. You can still anchor up or float stationary, cast your bucktail away from you, and work it back to your kayak to simulate an artificial drift. You can also do this with a pedal-controlled kayak, but my experience says that that once I’ve found a productive spot, the ‘anchor and cast’ technique works better most of the time. One location where I used this technique successfully was a channel situated right next to a sod bank with a dropoff. Instead of drifting the dropoff over and over, I would back my kayak into the sod bank and work my bucktail through the channel like I would work a bucktail through an inlet while surfcasting from the rocks.
Another technique I’ve used is taking a kayak to a sandbar flat inside the bay, anchoring up, and using a bucktail to cast and retrieve along the edge of a dropoff. This might not technically be considered kayak fishing since the fishing isn’t done while sitting in a kayak, but it’s close enough since the kayak is being used to reach these out-of-the-way spots. Of course, I’ve found the best way to fish them is with a bucktail jig.
Kayak fishing is great for fluke in itself. Add a bucktail and some creative techniques like the ones mentioned above, and you’ll instantly increase your catch rate.
