That's a very big fluke. Beautiful There's just nowhere
like Nantucket shoals for fluke fishing it is so much fun and fluke fishing is a very social
kind of fishing. Escpecially when you tangle up All right. You know what? We don't have to be
nice to each other. You know? When you tangle up It brings 2 people even
closer together. Nantucket Shoals are a long run. From the south side of Cape Cod, running the same distance
to a different bearing on the Compas would put an angler
and range of bluefin tuna. Yet every year, hundreds
of fishermen visit the cape from as far away as southern New Jersey
to make this run not for tuna, for a shot of catching
their biggest ever fluke. That's exactly what
Chris Megan Anthony DeiCicchi, and I are
hoping for As we load Chris's 32-Foot
Regulator In the blue hour of a
beautiful mid-June morning On this trip, we're
leaving the bait at the dock and targeting Nantucket's Fluke with jigs, tipped
with scented artificials. We got the Gulp on there that should give
me plenty of scent, I'm not going to bother
tipping it with any bait. Basically, what this is
going to do along the bottom, is I'm going
to keep it in constant motion is going to hit bottom. I'm going to lift and drop just not big sweeps
like you would jigging a diamond jig for Bluefish,
Just smaller little taps it's going to bounce its way along the tail is going to kick and up top. Most of the bites
today, I guess, are going to be on this The teaser up top
that that does the same thing, but for whatever
reason, the fluke, it's like the jig calls them in and then
the teaser seals the deal. And all lines in. What's our speed over ground?
1.7, it's good. Yeah, we're moving good Yeah, the moving water
is important. Not only I mean, the Fluker are going to feed
more when the water's moving and you're covering more ground
too, because, it's funny. You will go through a patch where you know you'll drift 100
yards, you won't do anything. Then you go through a 50 foot stretch where the fluke
must look like a like a roof, like a
tile floor down there. This is a good fish. Cheech, you like it? we got to get something in the
box, boys. If it's the right kind,
it's a nice one. Good fluke! Good fluke! Oh, yes. Nice fish. all right! That's a good one , that's what
we came here for boys! That's a real good one. So we got the Penn Fathom On the Battalion Slow Pitch Rod. Very fun fight. Absolutely love the feel to it. And I'm fishing a Backwater
Bait's ball jig with a glow head and a little pink
and white skirt on it. So this is what you come to the
shoals for, these nice fluke. Nantucket Shoals are a vast area of wildly fluctuating
depths and strong currents. Their position extending off the
southeast corner of Nantucket puts them at the confluence
of the cold water from the back side of Cape Cod and the warm water
from south of Martha's Vineyard This makes them a bait
fish factory. The nutrient rich waters attracting species
like sand eels, mackerel and squid. With those species
attracting predators. Like the summer flounder. But what these shoals are also
known for, is just giant fluke. And there's just
so much water to cover. And unfortunately, a lot of times the captains end up pretty much
within the same area. And one of the things that all captains are looking for on here
is that 80 to 90 feet of water with the right bottom. Oh boy.
Jimmy, I saw that. Oh boy. Ohh, Ohh, Ohh, Cheech Net? Yeah I think he's going to be... (Hits Jimmy's head with net)
Haha, what are you doing? Oh, nice fish Jimmy Nice man! Nice fish dude That's a beautiful fluke. It's a little bit
smaller than Cheech's. not quite as big, but man on this light gear,
they are so much fun. And what I like about having kind of a softer
rod too, is you're you're less likely to pull
the hook out of the fish too. So you do want to rod,
that's a little bit softer. You saw I took my time
with that fish. Getting him up there, and this is another one
that is just one of the perfect sizes to keep. And he hit that teaser. All that was on there was just
a Berkeley Gulp On a 5-O Gamakatsu bait holder hook Man, I'm going to get
back down there because we've definitely gone through a patch
of some better fish. Close it up, close it up. You see the one jump. That thing almost
came out of the box. So this gulp is still in
good shape It's still good enough to fish but I'm actually going
to switch it up. And Chris, this is
something that they they say you can do with these
is, you see we've got basically I've got one of my wife's
leftover Tupperware's Right there, And you can put the bait
back in there and reabsorb the scent. So I've been fishing this one
all morning so far. Not that we've been here
for that long, but I'll put this back in there. It'll re absorb all that,
that gulp scent, which is that that kind of oily
liquid you see around in there. So just taking a fresh
one out of there. Same bait. This is the swimming mullet. And what's nice about
these, are the teaser hooks. we got the two little
barbs right there that'll keep the bait in place while I'm jigging it, help it
resist sliding down the hook. Jimmy, saw that. Man these rods are fun though Man, I just love how the little
bait caster casters just fit
right in the palm of your hand. It's basically like large mouth
bass gear No, don't bother Oh OK. Jimmy! You on? Yes By mid-morning, we have several
beautiful keepers in the box anywhere else, and we'd be in the midst of a banner
day of fluke fishing. Ah, Little fella. However, we've yet to see a fish
that would justify Our 4 hour round trip to
Nantucket Shoals. I'm going to let
Rodney Rod holder do that Cheech, you're all set with
this, right? You're forked over Chris! Wahoo! Shabooya! Rodney Rod holder coming through Taking the fluke for a walk! Is he there? Oh yeah, she's there all right! Going for my PB, on Rodney
the Rod holder For delicate situation like this Chris, there's no one you want
on the net, more than me. Cheech swats away PB's,
like flies, with nets. That's a big fluke. Slowly, slowly Guy's what happened there, was I was getting ready to rig up another rod ther because we're
covering some water. And one of the things you want to do is old, Rodney Rod holder
answers about the bell many, many times. Chris, look at the size
of the cheeks on that one I mean, that's That's the part of the fluke
I like best. And, it's almost as if he knew he's going to lose
his cheeks later today. Sometimes I cheek and release. No, man. I've got
that one right now. You went to. It. I went to the real light one. Well, you mean this is it
right here, isn't it? That's the one I was just fishin No, so that's a 350,
this is the 250, And then I've got the 100
right here So this is
the super, super light. "Ohh I'm on you." - Cheech We're linked up?
No, were not Yes, we are. Oh boy, those guys are out of
the game. Meegsey's still in. No, don't do that.
Yeah, you do that. That's not what you do, you're
making it worse. "Pop, Pop, Pop." - Cheech You're just cinching it You reeled my line into your
reel. So this is why I love
being on my side. I may not catch as many fish. "Oh Boy." - Cheech But, I'm not going to get into
what I like to call a cluster Oh boy. See, right now Mart and Jeff, over there,
getting into it, pretty good. That's why you, You tell me what time you're
picking me up in the morning. Cheech, what I like to do, is...
Oh, Jimmy, You tight? No, I'm still dealing
with this. Figure it out. "Are you kidding me right now?"
- Cheech Get out of here. How ya doin? What are you doing? What are you doing? We're coming through the zone. I'm not the one who reeled
his line into the reel, rendering it unusable. Oh boy. Slow pitch Jimmy Is going to be right in
front of me He's going to be
coming down on me. So Jimmy just shut
down the port side and now he's over
to the starboard. I did, I just Shut it down. He's there. Little one. I like Jimmy culling out some
of the smaller fish. I did just get this
one out of the way. Just keep that tight! I'm just trying to reel down on Just trying to reel down on him. I can't get him off the bottom This is what I cleared
out for you. Thank you. So, guys, when I'm fighting
this fish, I'm trying to get him off
the bottom right now and first thing I want to do. I'm not going to do
a lot of pumping. I'm really just going to keep
a steady reel on this fish. Got him, got him, got him,
got him! Haha, yeah That is a gorgeous fish. That's an extra large fluke. Use this scale right now. Cheech, for some reason has it i
Kilograms so we'll have to do
the conversion back of the dock I'm thinking, 7 or 8 pounds.
Maybe a little bit more He might be a little bit
more than that, Chris. You got it. I got to take this out. You can add
the extra 8 ounces. Well, you know what
the weight is, right? We can just take that right out. Yeah, we will need to add
that to our conversion later. So it is. Looks like it's about
4 and 1/4 Kilograms. Chris, it's probably close
to a 9 pound fluke That is beautiful. I just had a bite right there There we go, I'm on again Cheech see if you can walk him
over to the portside I think I'm going
to need that net. Feels good, yeah. Yeah, I need that net. Turn him towards me. Towards me. There you go. Nice! Cheech, that's a nice fish This is a little bit below
average for a fluke out here, That's a real big one. That's...that might be 10 man Look at that. Barely in. Put weight on it. 10.2 10.5 10.2 I'm going to go with 10.2 Yeah, that's a 10
pound fluke, right there. It's become common
practice for captains and fishermen to release. Large fluke to help preserve the trophy
fishery on Nantucket Shoals after taking a look at his first 10 pound plus summer flounder. Anthony decides to do the same. While I'm happy for him, I
have to admit, Cheech's doormat Fluke wasn't the only green eyed
monster in our midst with my biggest fish
of the day at only 5 pounds I can't help but be a bit
envious of Chris and Cheech and their new personal bests. Shortly after Cheech's big catch the tide slacks out
and the fishing dies off, we break for lunch and wait for the water to start
moving again when it does. Chris positions the regulator back over the area
where we began the morning and I start working my jig
with a little extra pizzazz. Hoping for a big bite
before it's time to go home. There we go. Jimmy! That's a fish, Jimmy got one. Hate those headshakes,
hate them. I love them, but I hate them. Jimmy, that seems like it's
saying right on the bottom man. "Is that a Halibut?" - Cheech Shhhhh "I would turn the handle a
little bit more." - Cheech Huh? Dude, I'm babying him. He's close, I got leader here. Nice Jimbo! Oh, man. Jimmy!
Yeah Buddy! Yes, thanks for the net
man! No problem Several years ago,
we received a strongly worded handwritten letter scolding us for our liberal
use of the word doormat. That designation, it said, was reserved for
fluke, larger than 10 pounds. I don't agree. When it comes
to big fish nicknames like Cow Striper, Gator
Blue Fish or Doormat Fluke. I think it's meant to refer to more of a look
than to the fish's exact size, so I'm going to go ahead
and call this fluke a doormat, no matter what the scale says. If you don't like it,
I'll be awaiting your letter. "9.15? 9.15, and a
broken scale?" - Cheech We're going to go ahead
and keep this fish, it's late in the day. We've let a lot of fish go and uh we're going to keep
this one. We've talked about
how these fish are, how predatory they are, and kind of the dental equipment
they're packing. I mean, that gives you
a pretty good example. I mean, that's that's My jig didn't look like that,
until after that fish, all scraped up
from those big teeth and just they're
such awesome fish. I did check my leader. Like we said earlier,
they're not going to bite through your line
like a blue fish will, but they'll still chafe it and you want to make sure
that everything's looking good. No chafe's, no abrasions. So if you do hook a
hook a real big one, you want to eliminate all the
possibilities for losing it. With fish in the box and one
big fish apiece, we'd entered the part of a fishing trip
that I think of as bonus time. Nothing that happened from that point forward could change
our perspective of the day. Or so I thought. I'm going to clear these lines. Well, I'll leave two... All right, maybe I won't
clear em. Decent fish. Yeah? Pecking away Jim?
Down on the bottom, huh? The best thing you can do
when fighting a big fluke is to maintain steady pressure,
not pump the rod and hope against hope
that the hook hangs on. Don't horse the fish,
but don't baby it either. The longer you fight
a fluke, the more likely it is to get away. I'll grab the net Jimmy. Tell me when you get close. Yeah, we're drifting
so fast. I'm worried to horse them too much. All right, here we go. Just reel in the troughs... Ohh.... Did you ever move him off the bottom?
Not by much. Man, that was a big fish. That was a really big fish. I couldn't do much with him, because it's... That was a big fish. That was a really big fish. You saw those headshakes,
I mean, that was... As I handled the loss of that
fish with grace and aplomb I thought about how knowing that
there's always a bigger fish is what draws us to places like
Nantucket Shoals, even though there's plenty of fluke,
much closer to home. two hours later, we returned to Falmouth Harbor
with a cooler full of fluke, a couple new personal bests
and a one that got away story. What could be better than that? Well, actually catching the fish
would have been better, but only by a little bit. one of the overlooked cuts of a
fish that I've really started that I've really enjoyed over
the last couple of years has been the cheek section. So that area is basically the muscle that controls
the jaw of the fish. And it's a really dense
piece of meat actually has consistency closer to a scallop than it does, you
know, the rest of the fillet. And obviously, you get
two off each fish. You know, they're about
that big, you know, if you have enough fish
and they're big enough and it makes sense
to cut them out. It is probably my favorite part
of the fish to eat. That's true with fluke,
sea bass, tautog, cod. If you get enough codfish,
that's another good one. So I'm going to show how
I cut the cheeks out of the fish right here.
So you start by feeling where you're kind of the gill plate. The bone of the gill plate meets up to the muscle, so there will be a little soft
edge right there. I'm going to start by just
placing the knife into that edge and going to work it around there, and I'm just going to try
to trace that little edge one way, and I'm
going to go back the other way, just kind of feeling for as deep as possible,
running against the bone there. So. You can go all the way out
around here now. Flukes unique because normally
you use the eye on like a tog or a sea bass as a gauge
for where you should go. But both of the flukes eyes are on one side of it. I'm going to go right down
through there around there and make
sure I've got deep enough on it You don't need to skin the cheek meat, actually. Once
you get to about that point, I missed a little meat there. Sometimes it takes a little bit
to get get it going. But once you have that part mostly separated
from the rest of the fluke, kind of work your fingers
under their peels right off. And that is going to be
the tastiest piece of meat that comes out of this
fluke. I guarantee it. When I'm carving out the cheeks,
this is usually what I eat the same day I'm fishing. Spend a long day on the water, You don't really want to make an elaborate meal
out of the filets. So quick, easy, fried
cheeks and fluke ribbons. We're going to put it in
some cornmeal, deep fry them. That's going to be a great,
easy to make meal that I bet a lot of
you guys have been throwing out when you're cleaning your fluke. First thing's first though,
Just going to let them soak in buttermilk just for a couple of minutes before I drop them in the cornmeal
that's going to let them cornmeal a little
something to stick to. Beautiful. Look at the cheeks. Never overcrowd,
never overcrowd.
