As the Jersey fluke season winds down for good on September 22, large and in charge flatties have moved in big time off the coast.

This past week I was out to the Axel Carlson reef on the Killer Bea with Brian Keating and we had a five man boat limit by 10 AM, the cooler filled to the brim with 4 to 8-pound fish. No doubt, this is the time of year to leave the small stuff at home and simply go big.

Two hot rigs produced for us to target fluke with more size and stature. First was a simple 3-ounce Spro Bucktail with a dropper tied 16 inches above, rigged with a size 5/0 Mustad Baitholder hook and lanced with a 6-inch Berkley Gulp! white grub. The leader is made of 30-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon line and the rig is “tap-danced” off the bottom but can even be dragged so long as you are not fishing around any high relief structure where it can get caught and break off.

The second top rig was to drift long 6 to 10-inch fluke belly strips and consisted of a 3-ounce egg sinker, a red bead on the running line, tied to a 130-pound Spro Barrel Swivel, then a 30-inch section of 30-pound Seaguar Fluorocarbon line to which a tandem size 4/0 Octopus hook snelled together the top hook pierced once at the tip of the strip, and the other hook pierced down about 2 inches.

The slide rig allows for the fluke belly to undulate enticingly and look natural as it drifts through the water column near the sea floor. With only three weeks left in the Jersey fluke season, its now or never to get your game on and fill the cooler.

The 60 to 75 foot depths seem to be holding the bulk of the fish at the moment, but look for them to move even deeper to 80 to 100 feet the further we get into September. Load up that cooler, its gonna be a long wait until the season reopens in May next year!