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00:00I'm Nick Honoshefsky. As a professional saltwater fishing journalist, I've
00:04explored the world's wildest fishing destinations. Now I'm bringing you there
00:09into the saltwater underground.
00:30Every fishing destination has a species that drives its coastal tourism. In New Jersey,
00:49that fish is the summer flounder, aka fluke. Millions of tourists flock to the beaches each
00:54summer to put fresh flounder fillets in the cooler. The thing is, fluke bridge a gap between
01:00hardcore fluke hounds who dedicate their lives to figure out their patterns, to day trippers
01:04just dropping down without a care looking to pull up a fish. I wanted to see if I could
01:09bring together both types of fluke anglers, so I set out with a salty fluke pro, Captain
01:14Lou Grazioso, to extract some pro intel. Then hopped aboard the gambler party boat with some
01:20lifelong buds and their kids to see who could catch more fluke, the pros or the young guns.
01:26I didn't know what was going to happen, and turns out, we were in for a big surprise.
01:35Alright, here we are in mid-June in northern New Jersey, and we're staked out on the Shrewsbury
01:41River here, specifically because I'm getting all these texts all week long from my buddy,
01:46Sweet Lou Grazioso. Now Lou has been pounding fluke, aka summer flounder, up here in the river
01:53systems, and the back creeks, the waters of the back bays up here in northern Jersey are
01:58holding a ton of big fish right now, so Lou got me up early in the morning, wants to get
02:04me out on some fluke. We'll see if he can put his money where his mouth is.
02:08Hey buddy, what's the word man? Not much, really good fluke bite going on. Alright,
02:25prepped and ready. Well, I'm ready to go. Let's go get some fish man.
02:30Now we're going to go fish up in the channel of the river here and see how the fluke bite
02:43is. What I usually am doing in these river and back bay situations is I'm usually using
02:48like the Ronzi jig heads or whatever and putting the gulp on it, but I guess today we're going
02:53to try and do a little live line with peanut bunker too, right? That's definitely one of the
02:57the best tickets for a big fluke, without a doubt. You can fool them with a lot of other
03:01things, but a peanut bunker will definitely catch a big fluke. Got some little peanuts, some
03:06nicer sized ones, which are like, that's perfect, that's perfect size for fluke. Let's do it.
03:12I'm ready to go. You know, we're going to make a couple of drifts between, you know,
03:21there's buoys right here and, you know, see how it goes. And, um, just do little short
03:26drifts and kind of stitch it until we find the pans, right? Until we find a little pile
03:31of fish and then once we do, you know, we'll start drifting over them. Alright, well, we'll
03:35get the, you know, the light, light jig heads with the Ronzies out, you know, I bought some
03:39Island X lures too, in case we find any of those bluefish out around, so. Oh, absolutely.
03:44A little fluke slayer here, this little Ronzi lead head. Get a little bait on there, or a
03:49peanut bunker, or your favorite grubtail. See what happens with that. There he is.
03:55Feeling him there. Oh, yeah. He's hanging on that. That was sweet.
03:59Bigger fish, feels like that. Alright.
04:04Yeah. I got the pepper. Alright. Good job. Nice. First one of the day. Yeah, light. Sweet, brother.
04:11That's a good start to the day, right there. How about it?
04:14Two between 17 and 18 inches, and then one over 18.
04:18That could be an over 18. Yeah.
04:20Look at that beauty fish, man. Inhaled that bait right there.
04:24Just like Lou was talking about, that fluke spit up the sand shrimp right there.
04:28That's what it seems like they're feeding on down there.
04:31I'll put that right on the hook.
04:37Is that fish? I think so.
04:39There he is. Nice work, Lou. Nice work, brother.
04:49Thank you. Thank you for that net job.
04:51Alright. Those are some meat-eating jaws right there.
04:55People don't think flounder are really aggressive, man.
04:58They got big teeth like that for a reason, man.
05:01Deadly teeth. Deadly teeth.
05:03They might seem like a subtle fish, but they're not. They're vicious.
05:0919 exactly.
05:13Beauty.
05:14Second over.
05:15Second over.
05:16Alright, we got two in there.
05:19We're getting the full experience here on the Shrewsbury River.
05:23Going for summer flounder.
05:25Finding some blue claw crabs.
05:27Make a good dinner for tonight.
05:33Blue claws in there.
05:34That's awesome.
05:35That's some big old blue claws in there.
05:37And that's at least a dozen crabs.
05:39There was a few females in there which we'll let go.
05:41But that's definitely a nice haul.
05:43Oh, yeah.
05:44Let it soak a little longer.
05:46And now we'll try another drift for flounder.
05:49Alright, Lou.
05:50We've got to slow this drift down.
05:51So let's use that bucket.
05:53Use it as a drift sock.
05:54Put it behind the boat.
05:55It'll slow our drift down.
05:56And we'll be able to stay vertical on those fish.
05:58Going beast mode here, Lou.
06:00Hang on.
06:01Got two rods working.
06:02If they're busy.
06:05Alright.
06:06Yep, he's on there.
06:08Head shaker.
06:11Look at the colors on that fish.
06:14Flat fatty.
06:16That might be a slot.
06:18Could be.
06:19That could be our slot fish.
06:20Another beauty fish.
06:21You can see the contrast between the black,
06:24I mean the brown and the white contrast of the fluke.
06:28Such an unusually cool fish.
06:31Captain Lou showed us how to finesse the back bay fluke.
06:35Now I want to see if we can apply his tactics for success with some brand new anglers.
06:40Saltwater Underground with Nick Honoshefsky is brought to you by, at Nick Honoshefsky on Instagram, Yozuri, Bubba, Island X Lures, Fisherman Supply, Grumpy's Tackle, Brundon's, and Ron Z Lures.
06:57So today I think we've got a real fun one planned.
07:02It's the middle of the summertime here at the Jersey Shore and I got a call last night from my buddy Big Irish.
07:07He said he called all our old school buddies to come together and come fish down at Point Pleasant to hit the gambler for fluke today.
07:14Now we got Lido, Fancy Pants, Arcateuthis, Big Irish, all fishing today like old school buddies.
07:31hit the gambler for fluke today. Now, we got Lido, Fancy Pants, Archituthis, Big Irish,
07:37all fishing today like old school buddies. But the thing is, they brought all their
07:42kids down today too, so we're going to have multiple generations fishing on the boat today.
07:47We're going to see how this transpires.
07:53Everybody has their own fishing crew, but in this case, I invited not only my hardcore fishing
07:58buds out on the party boat gambler, but ask them to bring their kids to see who can win
08:02the battle of the so-called pros versus the newbies.
08:08All right, Captain Bobby. What's up, brother? How you doing, all right?
08:12Good to see you.
08:13What are we expecting today? Any good fluking?
08:15Well, we had a good fluking this morning.
08:17Right.
08:18We had the perfect conditions, the perfect drift.
08:20And the same place we've kind of been fishing, but they were really firm on today.
08:24Oh, okay.
08:25Nice, like, one-knot drift. Like, a little less of a knot.
08:29And it's just perfect to cover good ground.
08:32He's just cutting squid strips up, making it happen.
08:35Squid and spearing are as old as peanut butter and jelly.
08:39Right.
08:40Ham and eggs. Laurel and Horty.
08:42Friend and gingers.
08:43Should I keep going?
08:44Three spearing juice for my guys.
08:45Should I keep going? Yeah.
08:46Wait a minute. That's three, man.
08:49Oh, Captain Bob's firing up the diesels.
08:51Here we go.
08:52We just left Madison One Inlet, headed south.
09:08So we're headed to the, uh, the actual Carlson Reef, which is one of New Jersey's artificial reef sites.
09:14Everything from old boats to ridge rubble to rebar and concrete have been put to attract fish.
09:22It's an artificial habitat, and we live off them.
09:25There's, uh, fluke, sea bass, blackfish, all manner of fish. Grab it, grab it.
09:30Ready to rock and roll. Here comes the first drop.
09:33All right.
09:34It does have a fluke on.
09:36First one of the trip for young, young boy Peck.
09:38Hey, Robert, is this your first time fluking?
09:39Yeah.
09:40Nice.
09:41I see, uh, Dad's giving you some, uh, intel over there, you know?
09:42Whatever I can do.
09:43Well, I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what.
09:44Dad hasn't caught one yet, but young Jonathan Jr. has.
09:48so, maybe we gotta listen to Jr.
10:02Hey!
10:03Get that fancy, there's a gift мик-
10:07Yeah.
10:08We got leetatting one up there.
10:11Now you gotta split the tips with me.
10:14Keeper fluke for fancy pants over here.
10:18Gonna make a great meal.
10:21John was just saying, I've never caught a keeper fluke, and on the first trip of the day, he's got his first peeper shot.
10:28That's the gambler of luck right here with Leto on deck.
10:32Got him, Ash?
10:34Nice fluke. It's not a big one.
10:36Swing it, Ash.
10:38It's a nice one.
10:41Swing it right to me, Ashlee. Point the rod tip straight up in the air.
10:45Grab him gingerly behind the gills.
10:48And then let's see if this one wants to do a backflip.
10:51We'll do it.
10:55Nice work.
10:57Back-to-back hurley-hees catching fish.
10:59Ashlee now, the hurley-hee kids have two fluke, and Papa Big Irish has zero right now.
11:05Zero.
11:07Nice work, baby.
11:08That's how we do it on the gambler, man.
11:10All right.
11:13We got the Architeuthis.
11:14McDermott's on a fish right now.
11:16We call Pat the giant squid because he's reminiscent of the Architeuthis.
11:21Because he's so thick.
11:22With his tentacles.
11:24He's like six foot eight with arm like that span of a pterodactyl.
11:29And a really sharp beak.
11:30Yeah.
11:31Look at that.
11:32Look at that.
11:33Looks like a keeper.
11:34Finally.
11:35That's a keeper, Lino, right?
11:36You got the giant squid, I call it him.
11:37You got to sneak up on him, man.
11:38You do.
11:39You're my sperm whale.
11:40How's fishing today?
11:41Fishing's fantastic.
11:42We're doing it Jersey style today.
11:43We're catching flatties.
11:44We're getting it done.
11:45Check out my girl fishing.
11:46First time.
11:47That's what I love to hear.
11:48Yeah.
11:49This is a treat.
11:50I love it.
11:51The Architeuthis and Carly's lighting them up.
11:52All right.
11:53Out fishing.
11:54We're learning from the McDermott's today.
11:55Just like I planned, the old school pros got the fluke bite started.
12:12But the question is, would the kids come up big?
12:15When a fluke is born in the larval stage, it actually is like a regular fish.
12:27It has one eye on each side of its head.
12:30And as it grows older, one eye actually migrates across the top of the head to reach the other
12:37side.
12:38Looks like Ashley got a nice fish here.
12:41We'll see what happens.
12:42Ashley.
12:43Ashley.
12:44Uncle Lito.
12:45And Pop's not catching anything in the background.
12:47Big eye.
12:48Yeah, girl.
12:49I swear.
12:50See you Robin.
12:51John's got the moodle.
12:52It's like 520.
12:54And it seems like the later it's getting in the day, the fish are starting to really
12:58bite right now.
12:59Everyone's starting to get more hits than bigger fish.
13:02Small dude.
13:03It's like a double release for the brothers.
13:05Double one, two, three.
13:06Oh, we got some ball.
13:07Carly's got the keeper fluke here.
13:08Alito's getting done.
13:09And her dad's got the sea bass in the back.
13:23Oh my gosh, that's a keeper all day.
13:24That's what you do.
13:25She's talking about how she wanted to get her first fluke.
13:30There it is.
13:31Her first fluke.
13:32That's what she was talking about.
13:33Carly's fluke.
13:34Peck's going to have her fancy pants going to run for the money in there.
13:35Come on, car.
13:36Don't rush.
13:37Don't rush.
13:38Don't rush.
13:39Don't rush.
13:40She's like, I'm really sorry.
13:41I'm really sorry.
13:42I'm just cleaning house here.
13:43I'm good.
13:44Yay.
13:45So proud.
13:46So proud.
13:47Got him.
13:48Carly McDermott, two, five, seven.
13:53The kids win.
13:56Carly.
13:57The kids win.
13:58Carly.
13:59The kids win.
14:00Alright, so Carly won the pool.
14:03Carly McDermott, 2, 5, 7.
14:10The kids win!
14:15Alright, so Carly won the pool!
14:18Rock and roll.
14:20How does it feel to beat your dad with the pool?
14:23Um, really good.
14:26Really good.
14:28How does it feel to have your dad?
14:29It's proud.
14:30It's all proud.
14:31That's awesome.
14:32I feel pride.
14:33Yeah.
14:34And a little shame.
14:35Probably a little shame out here on The Gambler today.
14:39Yeah, Cars!
14:40Woohoo!
14:41Carly!
14:42Yeah, that's right.
14:44It took Archituthis' daughter Carly to show us so-called pros how to bring home fish for
14:49the dinner table.
14:50Now it's time to reap the rewards with some Alita's home cooking.
14:55Saltwater Underground with Nick Honoshefsky is brought to you by, at Nick Honoshefsky on
15:00Instagram, Yozuri, Bubba, IslandXLures, Fisherman's Supply, Grumpy's Tackle, Brunden's, and RonZLures.
15:13Alright.
15:14We're going to go kind of old school now, so I just pulled up to Lito's house and Chris
15:25and I have known each other since we were five years old.
15:27And man, you were like old school fishing buddies.
15:30One thing that we always used to cook, well actually Lito used to cook, was fluke stuffed
15:34with crab meat.
15:35So, we're going to see if you can make some magic out of the fluke we caught and some of
15:40the crab meat and see if you still got what it takes.
15:47Lito!
15:48Yo!
15:49What up, Jake?
15:50Good to see you brother.
15:51There's my brother.
15:52How you doing?
15:53Welcome to Fox Chase Farm.
15:54Let's do it, man.
15:55Let's get started.
15:56We got some stuffed fluke like we used to make when we were younger, right?
15:59We would go out all day in the party boat, we'd get our fluke, we'd go to Bayside, right?
16:04Yeah, yeah.
16:05Get our crabs.
16:06So, let's get to the preparations.
16:07Bring us the old school love and the magic that you used to cook when we were in high
16:11school and grade school, you know?
16:12Some people roll stuffed flounder.
16:14I'm going to do it kind of like a sandwich.
16:16Alright.
16:17I'd like to hear.
16:18Let's get rolling.
16:19Take the old sturdy Normark Rapala knife.
16:22You want to talk about old school, right?
16:24So, this old school thing here, I think Lito's had this since we were in like 50
16:29grade, you know?
16:30Right?
16:31Old Ironsides is the name.
16:32Old Ironsides.
16:33In fact, this is Old Ironsides.
16:36So, this was from my father.
16:39So, let's cut this piece right here.
16:41We'll cut it nice here.
16:44Nice in half.
16:45Right.
16:46And we're going to make our stuffing now.
16:49Put a little bit of mayonnaise in here with the crab meat.
16:53Eh, two, three tablespoons.
16:54And we'll throw some Old Bay in there, right?
16:57Now, we'll bring it over here to our filet and we'll stuff it.
17:02Put this thinner slice on top.
17:06So, this will go right on top.
17:09Right?
17:10Just like a sandwich.
17:11Now, what I'll do is I'll coat it with a little breadcrumbs.
17:15Fluke is a very fine textured, fine flavored fish.
17:20It doesn't have a lot of its own oil and juices like mackerel or even striped bass which has
17:25a lot of moisture content.
17:27So, I'm just going to add a few pats of butter going in the oven.
17:31We'll toss her in there and we'll set a timer for 18 minutes.
17:36Yeah, Leeds.
17:37Hey.
17:38Let's go look at some of the old photos of us fishing when we were kids, alright?
17:40While we were waiting for the fluke to cook.
17:41There's a few of those memories out there.
17:42Yeah, I don't think people will believe that we've known each other this long.
17:43Yeah.
17:44So, again, we met in kindergarten, preschool even.
17:45Yep.
17:46Right?
17:47Yeah.
17:48Clinton Presbyterian.
17:49We've been fishing since kindergarten.
17:50Right, we've been fishing since kindergarten.
17:51Getting dropped off at each other's houses and going to the river at my house.
17:52That's right.
17:53Or at the reservoir at your house.
17:54That's kind of where it all kind of starts, too, is ice fishing, right, Leeds?
17:55You know, plenty of days.
17:56Yeah.
17:57What happened on that day, remember?
17:58I think you know.
17:59I think you may have tied that Pepsi can to my line and then told me I had a hit and
18:16I went over and I was like, I got one.
18:18You're reeling in.
18:19You thought that was like a huge fish.
18:21One of the classic gags of our childhood.
18:23Right, right.
18:24Right here is the man that got us on it.
18:26That's my dad right there.
18:27Yep.
18:28Man, I can't believe you got this picture.
18:29It's so awesome.
18:30That's, yeah, Big Bill in front of the Jefferson house at Lake Apatokong.
18:32Yep.
18:33Those tip-ups right there, man, that's my granddad's tip-ups.
18:36Yeah.
18:37Those things were from the 40s.
18:38Yes.
18:39I can still see your sled and the old auger with the ether and getting the ether in it to
18:45start.
18:46Yeah.
18:47The auger would never start.
18:48Yeah.
18:49Oh my gosh, this is awesome.
18:50You're doing Wagner, dude.
18:51Yeah.
18:52Look at the mullet on Wagner.
18:53Oh my gosh, dude.
18:54Oh yeah, that's all party in the back, right?
18:56That's right, dude.
18:57Yeah.
18:58I think the flute's ready, right?
18:59Yeah, I smell it.
19:00Looks like it's good.
19:01Timer just went off.
19:02Let's get that.
19:03Let's eat it right now.
19:04Let's take a peek.
19:05All right.
19:06Oh, wait.
19:07Man, that's smelling good.
19:08Sizzling, yeah, right?
19:09It looks good.
19:10Yep.
19:11Don't lose that stuffing.
19:13There you go.
19:14Crabby coming right out.
19:15Crabby coming out.
19:16Let's throw a few fries on there.
19:18I think the dogs know we're cooking right now.
19:20Let's dig in.
19:21It looks great.
19:22Oh man, it's just like old times, brother.
19:24Totally.
19:25Yeah.
19:26Totally got that flavor of the sea.
19:27Yep.
19:28Cheers it up.
19:29I appreciate it.
19:30I'm happy to cook for you, brother.
19:32I always liked being the chef, just like your dad and Uncle Greg always liked being the
19:36chef.
19:37But when they weren't around, I was like...
19:38They passed it to us.
19:39We passed it to the next generation.
19:40They passed it on, yep.
19:41But I'm glad you're passing this to me right now.
19:42Yep.
19:43And now those kids are going to be able to get their fluke and cook it up and have a nice
19:46home-cooked meal like this.
19:47That's right.
19:48Can't beat it.
19:49Anything from showing us how to catch the fluke to how to cook the fluke, brother.
19:53Hook them and cook them.
19:54Alright.
19:55Yep.
19:56Fluke fishing has an uncanny ability to bring family and friends together.
20:01For some reason, that flat little fish opens the gateway to where many saltwater fishing
20:06lives begin.
20:07They start you out when you're young, prompting two adventurous kids like Lito and I to start
20:12our saltwater pursuits on party boats and build our angling bonds.
20:17Eventually, you end up growing older, having kids, and passing the torch to the new generation.
20:23And then somehow, in a sneaky sort of way, it comes full circle.
20:27You may have gotten a bit older, but when that line drops down in the water in anticipation
20:32of a fluke to bite, you find yourself as a kid again.
20:35And at least even for a moment, the world is full of pure excitement.
20:39And yeah, maybe if you're lucky, your kid can give you a cut of the pool money.
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