A “spoon man” feels the rhythm in his hands, and steals a few fluke while he can.
“It looks like the wind will be cranking this morning, we’ll be drifting much faster than yesterday.” said Capt. Matt as we motored out of port in Narragansett, RI heading towards the south side of Block Island for another try at chasing fluke. We’d fished the Wise Kraken Charter’s Laura Ann boat with Capt. Matt the day before when the drift conditions were painfully slow at the start. There was basically no wind and the tidal currents that morning were weak, drifting at less than 0.3 knots.
The only presentation pattern that seemed to be somewhat effective was a single dropper weightless teaser tied on a short dropper loop about a foot above the sinker. This rig was baited with a 5-inch Gulp grub and the presentation pattern that seemed to appeal best to the fluke was almost a dead stick, no-jig-action routine. Even as the drift speed picked up a bit in the afternoon, the low action presentation strangely seemed to bring fluke bites more frequently than one with any jigging action involved.
Fluke typically like a presentation with a fair bit of action, and at slow speeds the angler generally needs to jig and twitch his presentation in order to trigger a fluke’s predatory instincts. Countless underwater videos show a tendency where the fluke will follow behind a bait – sometimes for a fair distance – when it is just being dragged. But they do not attempt to attack or bite on the bait and often just fade back away from the bait.
Even as the drift speed picks up, there is most often still a need to present your bait with an erratic action to trigger a fluke to commit. Problems begin to emerge as the drift speed starts to get noticeably above 1 knot; this speed causes the line to scope back on a flatter angle which makes it harder to maintain good control of the vertical twitching action that sparks the fluke to bite. Line scope can be abated by using a lighter line (thinner diameter) and/or going to a heavier sinker or bucktail. This will keep the line more vertical and allow the angler the opportunity to continue to jig the bait to trigger the bite.
Heavy Metal
At times a sizeable wind will combine with ocean currents, in the same direction, to produce boat drift speeds in excess of 1.5 knots. Depending on the depth of water it becomes virtually impossible to effectively present a bait rig or bucktail in the controlled fashion, without troubling line scope. That’s when a properly rigged fluke drift spoon presentation becomes effective. I keep my eye on drift speed of the boat to help determine when I should think of deploying a fluke spoon; somewhere around 1.2 to 1.4 knots is when I start eyeing up my spoon rod.
A 4-1/2- to 6-inch flutter spoon attached to a properly proportioned drift rig produces a tantalizing wobble-action that often seems to drive fluke batty to bite. Drift speeds of 1.5 knots or more get that spoon-wobble going best. The spoons and rigging produce a lot of drag and cause the line to scope to a certain extent. Line-scope isn’t as much of an issue when running a fluke spoon as it is when running the bait rigs or bucktails; the reason being that spoons don’t have to be jigged or twitched in order to produce that tantalizing action needed to trigger the fluke to bite. A spoon will wobble and produce that action, when moving at the right speed, without any additional action required of the angler.
A special rod and reel, MH to H conventional with 20- to 30-pound braid dedicated to running a fluke spoon rig is the ideal way to go about it. M3 Tackle offers what’s called a Spoon Rod, a 7-footer that’s rated heavy/fast action. This rod is rated for 1- to 6-ounce lures but can readily handle the much heavier sinkers utilized at times on a spoon rig. This rod teams well with something along the lines of Siegler Small Game conventional lever drag reel loaded with 30-pound PowerPro. The extra drag of the spoon/rig/sinker necessitate this boost in rod weight needed to stay in control of the presentation. Sinker size needed for fast drifts in deep water can exceed 20 ounces, but 6 to 12 ounces is most common.
The basic rig used for drifting the fluke spoon consists of monofilament leader material from 20- to 80-pound test. Fluke do not seem to be leader shy when chasing down a wobbling spoon on a fast drift. One basic premise of using a spoon is that we want it to wobble, not spin. Most spoons that I’ve seen (M3 Tackle and Jigging World 3- to 6-inch spoons for example) have a good natural wobble with no tendency to want to spin, even at fast drift speeds. I like to hedge my bet and tie my own rig with no swivels in line with the spoon. The rig is “L-shaped” with the short end leg, anywhere from 12 to 18 inches, going to a 4-inch loop for the sinker. The longer leg, anywhere from 24 to 30 inches ends with a size 3 or 4 snap to which the spoon will be attached. The snap attachment to the spoon allows the angler to change color/size patterns at will with ease.
I often tie my own rig, using some stiff 80-pound mono leader that helps keep the rig from tangling. I start with about a 5-foot section of line and tie a 1-inch perfection loop that when finished results in a 20-inch tag end (sticking out at 90 degrees from the knot which is why I use this knot). This shorter leg will be used for the sinker loop (4-inch surgeon loop which you don’t need to tie until just before fishing it so that you can adjust/shorten the length if conditions/fish preference dictates). I tie a small half-inch perfection loop at the end of the long end of the L and thereafter attach the small end of the snap. The snap connection allows for free wobble of the spoon and also allows for easily trading out to a different size or color pattern spoon if desired. If drift conditions show a need for me to shorten this leg of the rig then I cut off the loop and re-tie at the preferred length.
The Business End
Fluke spoons have a trailer hook, some, like the M3 Tackle spoon offer two hooks in series attached by wire with a complete teaser/bead assembly above the upper hook. It’s important when attaching bait to the hooks that it be done with strips, usually 4 to 6 inches long, by hooking the bait only once at the wider end of the tapered strip. Squid and fish strips like sea robin belly, mackerel or bluefish fillet strips sliced thin work well. The idea is to keep the bait trailing behind the spoon like it’s a fluttering ribbon. This flutter and scent of the bait is what attracts the fluke to bite it. Gulp baits 4 to 8 inches long with fluttering tails can also be used as bait, but if you have a two-hook trailer then attach Gulp only to the back hook.
One trick, that I learned early in my fluke spooning efforts, is to place a dark skin fluke ribbon to the upper hook of a twin hook rig, going through the meat side of the ribbon first. Next, a white fluke ribbon is attached to the bottom hook by going through the skin side first. This results in a presentation that looks like a baby fluke swimming behind the spoon. Big fluke are attracted to this presentation. Just make sure you know the state regulations for using bits and pieces from a fluke rack. Also be sure that when attaching baits to the hook that ample hook gap remains (more than half of the bottom of the U-bend is still visible). This is needed to ensure proper hooking potential of the fish.
Once you’ve determined that you might have a good drift speed to run a fluke spoon then rig one up with bait attached and ease it into the water next to the boat without letting it go to the bottom. You want to see the spoon trailing behind the sinker the full length of the line almost horizontally. The spoon should be wobbling nicely, which is how it will be running down close to the bottom. If it’s not wobbling then the drift is too slow for a fluke spoon presentation. With a good wobble in the spoon, allow the rig to reach the bottom while thumbing the spool to prevent backlash. Once the rig reaches the bottom you will likely need to let additional line out to keep the sinker tapping the bottom on the drift.
It’s okay to have some scope in the line. In fact, I’ve run it successfully with a 45-degree scope and caught well. The basic idea is to drift along and tap/check the sinker on the bottom periodically to insure that the spoon is running near where the fluke are. Sometimes you will feel a sharp tap-tug of a fluke hitting the bait; sometimes the rig will just feel extra heavy when you go to lift tap-check the sinker. Either way a fluke is showing interest in the bait. Keep tension on the line as you turn the rod and point the tip towards where the line enters the water. Gently start to lift the rig off the bottom. If the line feels heavy then lift the rod sharply to set the hook.
As with all fluke fishing, it is best not to pump the rod to reel the fish in. Keep the line in good tension with a decent bend in the rod and reel steadily. If the fish starts to head-thump strongly stop reeling and let the bent rod absorb the head-shakes. Swim the fluke right into the waiting net with a slight lift to pull the sinker over the hoop of the net so that only the spoon and fluke ride into it. The guy running the net can dip it slightly as the sinker rides past, then raise it again as the fluke enters the hoop. Keep the fish below the surface of the water at all times to minimize its tendency to flop around crazily.
Size & Selection
Fluke spoons come in various sizes from 3 inches to 5-1/2 inches long. I’ve found that the 3-inch spoons don’t wobble as readily at certain drift speeds so I reserve their use for possible add-on to a hi-lo rig at slower drift speeds. The angler-added hopping action of this rig provides the attractive spoon flutter of the smaller spoon that gets fluke to bite. Drifting fluke spoons as described here is basically done with 4-3/4- to 5-1/2-inch long spoons, the smaller of this size range is available from Jigging World, either as a plain spoon (with no hook or rig) or fully rigged with a single hook and attachment rig. They offer spoons in eight different colors, with dimpled chrome seemingly the most popular. M3 Tackle offers spoons in sizes 3-, 4-3/4- and 5-1/2-inch in a much wider array of colors from various metallic finishes (shiny) to various painted finishes which mimic various baitfish. M3 Tackle spoons come fully rigged with twin hooks or just the plain spoon, to which you must attach your own trailer hook.
Spoon fishing for fluke is a great way to add options for your day on the water. It allows for an effective presentation to the fish under fast drift conditions when other methods become less effective. Drifting fluke spoons under these conditions is a great way to introduce kids and newbie anglers to fluking. It basically entails lowering a properly baited spoon rig to the bottom where the lure’s wobbling provides all the attraction needed to provoke a bite from a fluke. No intricate/tiring jigging is required of the angler, like other slower drift speed presentations require, which makes it easier to be successful. And it can catch some powerful fluke.
By the way, that second day of fishing aboard Wise Kracken Charters was completely different than the slow speed drift on the previous day. Sure enough, Capt. Matt reported we had a drift speed near 1.4 knots when we set up for the first drift. I told my friends that I had spoons to share but no one took me up on it initially. They wanted to use what they had some success with the day before. I rigged up my spoon rod with a 4-3/4-inch M3 Tackle red/white Dare Angel spoon baited with the white and dark fluke ribbons. As wind and drift speed picked up to 2.2 knots I continued to catch fluke regularly. Capt. Matt had a chrome Jigging World spoon on and was catching fish pretty good as well. The other guys weren’t fairing so well with their hi/lo rigs drifting too fast.
I’d caught about 15 or so fluke when one of the other guys finally tied a spoon rig on and baited it up and started to catch fish almost immediately. It’s a sure bet that I will always have some fluke spoons/rigs in my tackle box on the next trip as well, probably enough for the other guys I fish with as well, especially when the drift speed picks up to that high speed that gets those spoons wobbling and the fluke on the attack.
