It’s often said that the English language is one of the most difficult to learn. There seems to be some truth to that; because after all these years I’m still trying to master it. I’ve dabbled in Spanish over the years, at one time I thought I could get by, but now I’m out of practice. There really isn’t any excuse; I have a few fluent Spanish speakers in my family that I could tap into, guess I’ve just been a bit lazy. Italian, sure I know a few words, although some of them aren’t the nice ones. In college I took a class called “The History of English Words.” It was interesting, and I learned a lot. It's amazing how frequently Latin and Greek are at the root of a lot of our words. It’s crazy when you think about all the words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings like: wear, where, ware or to, too, two; the list goes on. There are also those words that are spelled the same but when pronounced differently they mean something different? More relevant to a Tackle Tuesday; Bass. Is it a fish, a low singing voice, or a musical instrument? Maybe a word that names a part of an anchor, or a lobe of a whale’s tail, maybe a stroke of luck… a Fluke. It’s been a hot minute since one of our local fish was covered. Volume 11 the Striped Bass took center stage, Volume 16 Blue fish was chopping for a showcase and now another toothy fella is making themselves known. I hope everything is easy to understand and you don’t flounder your way through this edition. Before we dive in, first a little background on the Flounder. They are a group of bottom dwelling, flatfish that are found around the world. A unique adaptation of flounder is their eye migration. When in their larval stage they have one eye on either side of their head like most fish. As they grow into juveniles one eye migrates to the other side of their body resulting in both eyes on the side of the fish which faces up. There are a few different species that fall under the name Flounder, I won’t name all of them, but the following are significant in fisheries around the world. The Witch and European flounders are found… you guessed it; in Europe. In the North Pacific you’ll find the Olive flounder, read on just for the Halibut; their one too! (see what I did there?). Here in the Western Atlantic you’ll find the Gulf, Southern, Winter and Summer flounder. Local to our waters you’ll find both the Summer Flounder and Winter flounder. The range of both species stretches from Nova Scotia to Virginia. At around the start of North Carolina the Southern Flounder joins the Summer Flounder extending their range further south to the beginning of Georgia. The rest of Georgia and about half of Florida’s Atlantic coast you’ll only find the Southern Flounder. On the West coast of Florida as well as along the Gulf states you’ll find both the Southern and Gulf flounders. Since we are all counting the days to warmer weather let's focus on the Summer Flounder. Paralichthys dentatus The Summer Flounder aka Fluke is a sharp toothed, rather aggressive and solitary fish. Primarily bottom dwellers, on occasion they have been known to chase a potential meal to the surface and over short distances they are rather quick swimmers. They are referred to as a “left eyed” fish with both eyes on the left side of its body when viewed from above with the dorsal fin facing up. They have a white flat bottom with shades of brown and gray, accompanied with some spots on top. A cool feature that Fluke possess is that they can change their color and markings to match the surroundings. They use this to their advantage quite well by burying themselves in the sand with just their head sticking out to help protect them from predators. Another perk of their camouflage while hiding under the sand is that when their prey is close by they ambush them. They are quite fast and have long teeth lining both their upper and lower jaws, most prey don’t stand a chance. Fluke don’t migrate like some of our other local species. They typically winter in deep ocean waters along the outer edge of the continental shelf. This is also their usual spawning grounds. They begin to spawn at around 2 or 3 years old with females having between 500,000 to over 4 million eggs depending on her size. In the Spring they make their way to our inshore waters usually staying until fall or early winter before heading back to deeper water. Sizes and Style Their average lifespan is 6-7 years, with a maximum reported age for a male at around 12 years and 14 years for a female. They do have an estimated 90-95% juvenile mortality rate meaning they rarely survive to adulthood. On average they grow 15-20 inches in length and weigh in at 3-6 pounds. The IGFA record for weight is 22lbs.7oz, landed 9/15/75, by Captain Charles Nappi out in Montauk. The record for length was caught this past summer on 7/15/23 off the coast of Jersey by Paul Marzolla measuring in at 22.5". If you’ve heard someone say they “caught a doormat”, that’s the slang term for a large fluke. Here in New York the season runs from May 1st until October 9th. You’re allowed to keep 4 per day and they have to be at least 18.5” in length. Side note: the NY state regulations for Winter Flounder(sometimes called Lemon Sole)is a minimum length of 12”, with a creel limit of 2 and their season is only from April 1st until May 30th. Method to the Madness Fluke are quite a delicacy. There's lots of recipes for them and they are often found on many restaurant menus. This leads them to be one of the most popular recreational and commercially fished species on the Atlantic coast. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) states that the 2023 assessment indicates that while the species is not officially overfished, it is experiencing overfishing. In plain terms, the stock is in trouble. Data compiled by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center states that the amount of new fish entering the population has been below average for more than a decade. Fluke are maturing earlier at a smaller than normal size, indicating the species is under stress. Although the biologists are not sure exactly why, there is speculation that the cause is that the ocean is becoming more acidic due to CO2 in the atmosphere. Closer to home the New York Marine Resources Advisory Council is paying close attention. At a meeting last month it was discussed that for 2024 a few possible changes were touched upon to figure out a way to reduce the keep by 28%. Nothing is official yet, but it’s safe to say that we can all expect some regulatory tweaks in the very near future. So what can you do to help the Fluke population? Catch and release is the simple answer. Try to take extra precautions when releasing them, by keeping them in the water instead of dragging them on the beach. It also helps to be prepared and have your pliers in hand when you approach them, so you’ll have a quicker release, not to mention getting grazed by those teeth isn’t enjoyable. If you are going to keep your catch, and you have every right to do so, maybe take home one or two instead of the allowed 4; every little bit helps. I hope you enjoyed the read.Joe Pellegrini“The wise fisherman knows that satisfaction is not always measured in the size of the catch.” -Lao Tzu