100% You’re not the first person to tell me that you don’t Bother with fluke anymore. The sticks off the tip of the hook and where the old orphanage use to be on Staten Island are all fished out. I don’t even waste my time anymore in thay area for fluke. I have had luck at strawberry rocks and (like you said) the doughnut hole at the entrance to the Ambrose channel. On a rough day you’re not making it out there on my boat.
The trade off has been some real good striper seasons. The last two falls have been amazing by the tip of the hook and up the Raritan bay by Keyport