Drifting Easy- Flounder, Inside and Out

Flounder is the most sought after fish in our area. Flounder are the most 
talked about, wrote about, have fisheries meetings about fish around. 
Anglers want to catch them, people want to eat them, consumers want to buy 
them, and environmentalists want to protect them!  Flounder! Let’s talk 
about them!

What most of us call flounder and others call summer flounder are actually 
fluke. The scientific name is Paralichthys Dentatus. The ideal water 
temperature that it prefers is 65 to 80 degrees and the IGFA world record is 
22 pounds 7 ounces and was caught in NY. Monica Oswald of Neptune hauled in 
a 38 inch, 24.3-pound fluke off Monmouth County from 55 feet of water this 
past summer but was disqualified as an IGFA record for a number of reasons. 
The party boats offshore Ocean City saw some of the best summer flounder 
catches in their history this past summer and fall with doormat catches 
close to 10 pounds!

The largest summer flounder ever caught and measured was 4 feet long and 
weighed 30 pounds!  The oldest flounder ever recorded was 20 years old! But 
don’t expect to catch a flounder that big around here. It seems that as 
fluke get larger, they tend to migrate more north.  Young summer flounder 
are fast growers. It seems that a summer flounder can reach 9 to 12-inches 
in their first year of life. They are sexually mature at 2 to 3 years old 
with larger fish baring many more eggs than smaller fish. A large summer 
flounder can release 4 million eggs in a season. A 15-inch summer flounder 
is typically 3-years old and weighs one to two pounds.

“Where do the summer flounder go in the winter?”

Summer flounder begin their migration offshore in the fall when the water 
temperatures start to decrease and the days become shorter. They spend their 
winter offshore in 100 to 600 feet of water. They spawn on their way to or 
during their winter stay offshore.  In the spring, when the waters begin to 
warm and the days increase in length, the flounder come to shore once again!

MD DNR’s Mike Luisi tells up the importance of measuring and reporting your 
summer flounder: “Participation in the Volunteer Angler Summer Flounder 
Survey is VERY important to summer flounder management along the East Coast. 
Anglers who participate in the Summer Flounder Volunteer Angler Survey will 
help guide the Department’s management approach for both the Chesapeake Bay 
and Atlantic Coast populations. To participate in this important survey, 
visit URL http://www.dnr.maryland.gov/fisheries/survey/sfsurveyintro.shtml 
or contact DNR at 1-877-620-8DNR, ext. 8311. A packet with forms and postage 
paid envelopes is available to anglers that do not wish to participate 
through the Internet.”

In 2006 we only had 50-some participants. In 2007 we have over 180! 
Participation in this important survey has helped Maryland keep a smaller 
size limit than surrounding states because it gives the DNR the most 
accurate data. Every year, even though flounder numbers are coming back, we 
are subject to a lower (TAL) Total allowable landing. That’s because of the 
newly amended Magnuson-Stevens Act and the 10-year rebuilding requirement. 
Summer flounder MUST be totally recovered within 10 years. So even though 
summer flounder are rebounding, we are looking at an 8 per cent cutback in 
flounder we are allowed to keep in 2008.

So now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about catching some of 
those 15.77 million pounds of summer flounder!

We first see summer flounder in the bay around Ocean City the first or 
second week of April. It’s all about water temperature in the spring, so the 
best days to go fishing are sunny days when the sun heats the water. It is 
also important to fish the outgoing tides in the spring. The water comes 
into the bay on an incoming tide (between low and high). The sun beats down 
on the water in all the little creeks, lagoons and other shallow areas of 
the bay and heats up the water. When the tide starts going out, (between 
high and low tide) all this warmer water heads towards the inlet. This 
outgoing water can be 10 degrees or more warmer than the incoming tide!  If 
the flounder are there, this is when you are going to catch them.

Some people think that flounder are lazy and just lay on the bottom waiting 
for a morsel of food to drop in their mouths. This is far from the truth! 
Flounder wiggle their fins and partially cover themselves with sand.  Like 
chameleons, their color changes to blend with the bottom floor. There they 
wait, disguised, ready to scurry for any baitfish, crab, shrimp, squid or 
other food to their liking.  Flounder are anything but slow!  But! Very 
important! They are sight-feeders. They must be able to see the bait!

That is why water clarity is so very important when fishing for flounder. 
That is also why presentation of the bait is important.  Color of the rigs 
can make a big difference on certain days. Tides are also a big 
consideration when fishing for flounder.  Working with the wind is a tool 
good flounder fisherman practice when drifting in a boat. Some anglers swear 
by the “slow troll” when the breezes do not work in their favor.  Working 
areas of bottom change is a very big consideration when casting or drifting. 
If you have a boat, the depth finder is your most important tool!

Presentation of the bait:  The most popular baits inshore for flounder are 
live minnows (hooked thru both lips) or frozen shiners (hooked thru the 
eyes.)  Anglers then add a strip of squid next to the shiner or minnow and 
let it dangle off the hook next to the minnow or shiner. Never ball your 
bait up! Flounder like to see their bait dangling off the hook! They are 
looking, not smelling!  In the late summer and fall, anglers “match the 
hatch” and use larger “live bait.” Live spot, live finger mullet, and live 
alewives catch the big ones. In the fall of 2007 “live mullet” was the king 
of baits for anglers fishing from boats and from the shore! Cast net sales 
went through the roof! As flounder started to migrate out of the bay in late 
summer and early fall, anglers caught them with these larger baits in the 
deep channels close to the Route 50 Bridge.  Summer flounder actually 
stacked-up near the draw of the bridge!

 Offshore, anglers did extremely well with strips of bait. Attractive strips 
of cut flounder fillet (you must keep the carcass), bluefish fillet (my 
favorite), croaker or sea robin fillet, squid, spot, mullet, or even bunker 
fillet. Some anglers carried live spot or finger mullet offshore and did 
excellent!  Anglers fishing offshore had a great thing going this past 
season with a bait strip attached to a 3 to 6-ounce Spro Prime Bucktail. 
Jigging this bait brought party boats and private boats alike some real 
“doormats!” Limits of flounder were not uncommon.

The Color of the rig or jig can sometimes make the difference between a good 
day and a bad day of flounder fishing!   White is the all time best color. 
The color white can be seen further down into the water column than any 
other color.  Chartreuse can be deadly in clear water. Pink can be “hot” in 
the spring when the flounder are eating grass shrimp. Sometimes just a plain 
hook and a live bait is the answer to the day when the water is just average 
or a little murky. Yellow can be good on a cloudy day but not work at all on 
a sunny day!

Sometimes, in shallower water, (3-6 feet) anglers do really well with a 
light rod, a jig head (one of the above colors) and a live minnow.  Others 
add one of the new Berkley Gulp Swimming Minnow grubs to the lead head 
before hooking on the minnow. Experiment around with the different colored 
Gulps and Lead heads. The combinations are endless!


Water clarity is one of the most important factors when fishing for flounder 
inshore. As the tide changes, you need to continue to look for the cleanest 
clearest water. For example, take the bay behind Assateague. It can be the 
greatest fishing around on an easterly breeze and an incoming tide. Go down 
there on a south wind and an outgoing tide and it is chocolate milk with 
gobs of grassy muck floating in it! Impossible fishing conditions.  Keep 
your eyes open and look for the clean water. Sometimes it’s in the east 
channel, sometimes the west channel. Sometimes it’s in the inlet or the 
south side of the south jetty!

Tides!  In the spring, the outgoing tides will give you the warmest water. 
In the summer, the last two or three hours of the incoming and the first 
hour or two of the outgoing is usually the best. On the low tide, you need 
to be fishing close to the Rt. 50 Bridge or the Inlet. The last one or two 
hours of the outgoing and the first hour or two of the incoming is the tide 
of choice. Off tides?  Slip out the inlet on a nice day and fish the south 
side of the South Jetty. The tide is two hours earlier here and often times, 
the water is clearer!

Slow troll or drift?  Work the breeze and tide, so you cover areas of bottom 
change. Watch that depth finder!  If you catch a fish, go back and hit that 
same hole!  If there is no tide, no breeze, a wrong drift, or if you are 
drifting too fast, try the “slow troll.” Let your lines out and troll 
slowly. If the tide and wind are moving you too fast, troll against or 
across the tide to slow you down.  You’ll be surprised what you catch!

The year of 2007 saw some of the best offshore summer flounder fishing we’ve 
ever seen. The summer flounder were biting offshore at all the usual wreck 
and artificial reef sites where we catch sea bass. In Del, anglers caught 
summer flounder at the Barge, B- Buoy, Site 10, Site 11 and other Artificial 
Reef sites. Offshore Ocean City had great summer flounder catches all the 
way through November at the Bass Grounds, Russell’s Reef, the African Queen, 
the Great Eastern Reef, and other Artificial Reef sites and secret spots the 
party boats go. In the years to come, offshore summer flounder fishing can 
only get better. Capt. Monty of the “Morning Star” tells us about a “once in 
a lifetime” opportunity…

“In The Years To Come... our coastal fishing will be greatly enhanced -truly 
improved- by the artificial reef program.  The Ocean City Reef Foundation 
(OCRF) has been building reef with great success for a decade. In fact, many 
are beginning to encrust with coral! Now, through the efforts of the 
Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative (MARI) and especially the determination 
of MD DNR's Marty Gary, the coast has an opportunity to more than double 
it's artificial reef footprint with 600 stainless steel subway cars from the 
New York City Transit Authority. Many of these units are to be sunk on brand 
new, undeveloped, nearshore reef sites.

From the groundwork I did some 9 years ago with the commercial trawl 
community and a lot of effort from the Town of Ocean City's reef liaison, 
Gail Blazer, we have 3 newly permitted reef sites plus 5 existing ones that 
are perfect for these units. Spread out over these 8 sites; I anticipate 
that marine growth will be swift. The fish will follow suit.
This project is it. This is a chance to double our region's artificial reef 
habitat footprint in the space of a couple years. Quite quickly I would 
anticipate an absurd improvement in the fishing for boats that stay within 
10 miles of shore. I base that assertion on experience from the Great 
Eastern Artificial Reef site. Now well developed; 15 years ago there were no 
fish caught there. None. Now it accounts for almost half of the full day 
party boat effort.  This started from nothing. So perhaps, given time and 
surgical fishery management, we can return the near shore fisheries to their 
former glory.



The potential for improving flounder, sea bass and tautog fishing is 
unparalleled in our coast's history.
But it won't -can't- happen without sponsors helping to purchase the cars. 
Varying in price from $400.00 to $700.00, depending on which reef site they 
are delivered too, the cars are to be deployed over a 2 1/2 year period. To 
help out with this project you can contact the OCRF at 410 208 0064 or go on 
the web at http://www.ocreeffoundation.com/ . Send inquiries or donations 
to: Ocean City Reef Foundation, P.O. Box 1072, Ocean City, MD 21843. 
Specify the subway car project and the donation will go into an escrow 
account solely for this project. (The Ocean City Reef Foundation is a 501c3 
tax deductible non-profit.)” Fishers well into the future will benefit ~ We 
can be the first generation to leave a legacy of improved fisheries!”

Summer flounder, fluke, flounder, whatever you want to call them, are coming 
back. They’re not that hard to catch with a little knowledge of the fish and 
how to catch them.  Even with “cut backs” and larger size limits, they’ll be 
plenty summer flounder for us to catch in 2008. And with the help of the 
Ocean City Reef Foundation, they’ll be more places for us to go fishing for 
them!

Good fishing….






 

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