“I have company to entertain on the pontoon boat today. What
should I use and where should I go?”

It’s been the year of the “small flounder” so you can always go
flounder fishing on the incoming tide and have pretty good action catching
and releasing flounder. There are a few “keepers” mixed with the throwbacks
so there’s a good chance of catching a flounder dinner. With the flounder
ratio of “keepers to throwbacks” being about one in 35, you have to do a lot
of fishing. But with a whole group of people aboard your boat, it is likely
to happen.

The best area for flounder fishing is the whole east channel
from buoys #13 down to #8 when the tide is running hard. When the tide is
slacking, anglers are doing well on either side of the Route 50 Bridge. On
the incoming tide fish the North side of the Route 50 Bridge. On the
outgoing tide, fish the South side of the Route 50 Bridge. Watch for the bay
“party boats” and see where they are drifting. They are easy to spot. The
“Bay Bee” is bright yellow and the “Tortuga” is black-green.

“What about the bay behind Assateague?”

We find that the bay behind Assateague is productive if the wind
is coming out of the North or the Northeast. If the wind is blowing out of
the South or Southwest, the water can be dirty down there. If you start
running in the bay behind Assateague and see dirty brown water and grass
floating, don’t waste your time.

“What about Route 90?”

Route 90 was good on flounder in the spring and early summer,
but seems to be dwindling on the “flounder front.” It’s a good spot for
other fish such as croaker, spot, blowfish, and crabs. If you fish this area
with kids, fish with small hooks and bloodworm and squid combinations, and
fish for “whatever is there.”

“What bait should we use for flounder?”

Use a frozen shiner with a strip of squid on the same hook, or a
live minnow and squid on the same hook. It is very important to use the bait
on the same hook. If you use them separately it does not have the same
effect on flounder. If you have inexperienced anglers, live minnows are
probably better for you than shiners. Hook them through the lips, then hook
your squid on the hook and let it dangle beside the minnow. (Flounder are
less likely to steal your minnow bait than your shiner bait.)

“If we use shiners, how do we hook them?”

Simply hook them through the eyes. Unlike minnows, you can use
more than one on a hook. If the shiners are on the small side, put two on
the hook and then add the strip of squid. The squid helps to keep the shiner
on the hook.

The other reason you want to use squid with your shiner or
minnow is croakers! Yes, there are croakers in the bay and they are great
sport for your company on the pontoon boat. You can catch them on your
flounder rigs (though you will catch more on smaller hooks) but they do bite
squid better than just plain minnows or shiners. If you get into a school of
croaker you can make the same drift over and over again and catch croaker
after croaker. They fight much harder than small flounder and are pretty
tasty for dinner as well. (As long as you don’t mind a few bones.)

“What if I just want to fish for croaker?”

Croaker bite the whole outgoing tide even when the flounder
slack off. The past couple weeks, the croaker have been biting best just
south of the Thorofare drifting between the Dog Island by the Thorofare and
Drum Point (just south of the Thorofare.) Some days they bite North of the
Thorofare for anglers drifting along the green marshes from buoys #10 to
#13. Some anglers report catching nice croaker drifting near the rocks in
the Thorofare.

On the east channel, croaker bite pretty consistently near buoys
#8 and #9. Sometimes they are in the inlet. The south side of the South
Jetty is a popular haunt of croaker. Since croaker run in schools they can
move around. If you are flounder fishing with squid and feel some very
aggressive jerks on your line, you can be pretty sure there’s croaker
around. Water depth is important when looking for croaker. They tend to hang
in rough bottom in 8 to 15 feet of water. When you get into those 20 to 30
foot holes in the bay you are less lightly to catch the croaker.

“I can feel them stealing my squid but I can’t hook them!”

Then it’s time to break out the smaller hooks. A top and bottom
rig with size #4 hooks; either straight shanks or wide gap style is fine.
Most anglers fishing for croaker specifically use hooks with beads and
spinner blades on them. They always help attract the croaker to the hook. If
you are only fishing for croaker, you can skip the minnow and shiner and
fish with just squid. OR, you can fish with shrimp and squid combination. To
bait a shrimp, pinch off it’s tail and thread it on the hook. Then add a
strip of squid to the hook. Use a sinker that will go to the bottom such as
a 1 or 1 ½ ounce. Don’t use more sinker weight than you need. A lighter
sinker will help you feel the bites and set the hook.

If you still can’t hook the croaker, just put your rod in the
rod holder and let the croaker hook itself!

“Can we use worms?”

Sure, thread any kind of worm on the hook (bloodworm, sand worm,
red worm, or night crawler) and then add a strip of squid to the hook.
Combination baits are crucial to catching good-sized croaker. Like most fish
you catch in the bay or ocean bigger baits produce larger fish. You will
also find that if you have more bait on the hook you are more likely to hook
the bait stealing croakers. It takes longer to steal a strip of squid than a
piece of worm. That’s the other reason you want to use combination baits.

If you decide to play around the Route 90 Bridge, fish close to
the pilings (but not under the bridge) with size #6 spinner hooks on top and
bottom rigs with one-ounce sinkers. You may catch croaker here, but you also
might get into some good-sized Norfolk spot. To catch spot, you should have
some kind of worm. The bloodworm or the sand worms have the most scent. The
red worms are your third best choice, with night crawlers following by a
close forth. Once you catch a spot, you can fillet one and cut it into tiny
strips and use it in combination with your worm bait. You can also use
little strips of squid with your worm bait for spot. (This also makes a good
trout bait.) Though the pre-cut squid strips are convenient, they are cut
too big to use for spot. Use box or local squid, or if you do use the
pre-cut variety, slice it into smaller strips.

It’s easy to entertain company on the pontoon boat this time of
year, as there’s a variety of fish to catch including flounder, croaker, and
spot. Just keep as many as you feel like cleaning and eating and release the
rest.

Good fishing….