It was an honor and privilege to participate in the Fluke versus Cancer benefit for another year with Bruno and Ryan. Each year brings a new opportunity to help a great cause and to bring people together to fish. I was excited to fish with a great crew on the August 5th trip.
The Crew
On board my boat would be Mark Skall (@mark40l), Rich Chouinard (@yakimshu), and Kevin Collins (@Kevin_Collins). I had randomly selected Mark from the list of 2025 donors. Mark had fished for fluke previously, but had never been out towards the Monomoy Shoals.
Rich was what I would call a special guest emeritus. Rich won the trip with me the very first year we did the benefit. He's a good friend and Bruno and I felt it was important to extend an invitation to him. Kevin was kind enough to take my brother Mark's spot. Mark couldn't attend this year. Kevin and I had fished together before but not for some time, and this was as good a time as any to renew that friendship.
The crew with our stellar haul after a long, beautiful day out off Monomoy.
Departure and Initial Concerns
We left Saquatucket Harbor at 6:30 AM on what was a bluebird weather day. We met up with Bruno, his sons Emir and Ali, and Joe Lucido (@jlm7847). I handed Bruno a couple of bags of local squid that I had personally caught earlier in the week. We had a quick discussion on the spots we would try to hit first and we were off into Nantucket Sound.
Important to note, I was concerned about the conditions the day would present to us. The weather was fantastic, almost too nice for fishing, one might say. We were also in the middle of the moon cycle with what was a weak tide below 3' for the morning. I was nervous that the drift would be slow and impact the fishing.
For fluke fishing, I am always looking for moving water, some turbulence to help with the action on the jigs and lures, and a drift that allowed us to cover water. In short, I was nervous that none of those things might be present, but there was a trip to make, and I thought that we would simply have to find the right conditions.
About the author
It was a privilege for me to be included with this crew! Not to mention, what a thrill it was for me to catch my first fluke with Monomoy Tackle gear from the deck of Eddy’s beautiful boat! Thank you Ed!!!