"Where in the bay should we go flounder fishing?"




If you are fishing from the shore, there are only so many choices in Ocean City. If you fish too
far up the bay into North Ocean City, you won't catch many flounder. Places like the pier at 127th
Street behind the Recreational Center; and the pier behind Convention Hall at 41st Street; are too
shallow to have productive flounder fishing. You may catch small ones, but very few "keepers."


One of the most popular and productive places to flounder fish is the Route 50 Bridge. It is located
south of First Street. Anglers either walk up the steps on St. Louis Ave. or they park on the West
side of the Rt. 50 Bridge. When fishing from the Route 50 Bridge it is a good idea to have a
medium-heavy rod in the 6 to 8-foot range with a reel spooled with 14 to 20 pound test. There are
two major channels in the bay here. One is just past the draw of the Bridge and is quite
productive. The other is on the West side of the Bridge near Shantytown. The waters have cut
several smaller channels here and there over the last couple years. A keen eye and a pair of
Polaroid sunglasses will help you find the deeper water. It is always good to fish deep water close
to an underwater sand bar. This is where the baitfish are, and this is where the fish will be
feeding. Fish the deepest water when the tide is slowing. Go shallower and look for the smaller cuts
closer towards the center of the Bridge when the tide starts raging through so hard you can't hold
bottom.


The Oceanic Pier is a pay pier at the southern most end of Philadelphia Ave. To get to the Oceanic
Pier, go as far as you can drive to the south end of Ocean City. You will see the Pier and the
Oceanic Motel. Park in the Motel lot, buy your ticket for the pier and you will receive a pass for
your car. Be sure to go back and put the pass in the window of the car!


The best fishing is from the very end of the pier. If you can't get to the end, find a spot that is
the closest to the end that you can find. The trick to flounder fishing here is to cast out as far
as you can, and then very slowly retrieve in along the bottom. Tides here are pretty important as
well. Fish two or three hours before high tide and one or two hours after high tide for flounder.


(High tide doesn't last long, maybe only 20 or 30 minutes. The rest of the time the tide is either
"coming in" or "going out". High tide is the very peak high when the water stops for that 20 or 30
minutes. Before this tide peaks, the water is coming in to the bay, and we call that an "incoming"
tide. After the high tide peaks, the water in the bay will start going out towards the inlet. That's
what we call an "outgoing" tide.)

Water is cleanest and clearest on the last of the incoming tide and the beginning of that outgoing
tide. Once the outgoing tide starts to run harder, the water gets dirty, cloudy, or murky, and
sometimes clumps of grass pass by and hang on our hooks. When that starts happening, it's usually
time to "pack it up!"


Flounder are "site feeders." If they can't see the bait, they won't bite it. When the water does
get dirty and you want to keep fishing, your best bet is to cast and retrieve slowly and often.
Cover more territory. Cast to different spots. You may actually, "hit the flounder on the head" with
your bait and catch one!


Shantytown Pier is actually a bulkhead on the west side of the bay. This is a "fee" area. To get to
Shantytown, cross over the Route 50 Bridge going west and make a left at Shantytown Road. Go to the
Shantytown Village and walk to the water. There is plenty of free parking. Shantytown Pier is one
of those places that do best on that incoming tide. When the tide first turns and starts out,
fishing can be good. But when the tide hits its second hour of going out, the water often gets dirty
and grassy.


"Can I fish the whole incoming tide here?"

Sure. If you plan to make a day of it, fish the incoming here over the outgoing for sure. To find
out what time the incoming tide will be, look at your tide chart and find low tide. For example,
let's say the tide chart says low tide will be at 7 A.M. The first thing you want to do is add two
hours for the bay because most tide charts are for the ocean. So, you know that low tide will be at
9 A.M. This will be dead low tide. From that point on, the tide will come into the bay and be an
"incoming" tide until it reaches its peak high tide approximately six hours later. So in this
instance, high tide will be around 3 P.M. The "incoming" tide will be between 9 A.M. and 3 P.M.
Around 11 or 12 o'clock, the tide may run fairly hard and you may have to add more weight to hold
bottom, but by 1 P.M. it will start to slow down.


When fishing Shantytown Pier, cast out either towards the main channel in front of you, or cast
towards the Route 50 Bridge and slowly retrieve back in. Watch out for boat traffic though. If boat
traffic gets intense, don't cast out so far. If a boat gets close to your line, reel in quickly.
When the tide runs too hard to hold bottom out further, just flip it out a little ways, and let it
sit or simply jig it up and down once in a while.


The Ocean Pier runs parallel to the Ocean City Inlet. You can get to the pier from the Inlet
Parking Lot. There's not a tremendous amount of water depth from the Ocean Pier, so you best bet
here would be to fish two hours before and two hours after high tide. Since this pier is in the
ocean, you do not need to add any hours to your tide chart. "What you see is what it is!" Cast out
and retrieve in slowly from the end of the pier, or cast and retrieve in slowly just behind the
crests of the breaking waves.


Ninth Street Pier is a public pier at the very end of the street at Ninth Street on the bayside. It
is free but not very big. Two hours before and after high tide is your best tide here. Remember;
add two hours to your tide chart. If the chart says high tide is at 10 A.M. add two hours so high
tide would be at Noon. Fish from 10 A.M. until 2 P.M. for your best chances. Cast from the left
hand corner of the pier out diagonally as far as you can. Stay away from the pier pilings to your
right. There are snags there!


There is public access to the bay at 2nd through 4th Streets. There is a bulkhead that runs the
length of the bay here. It's very nice and convenient, the water is deep, but it is full of snags.
If you drop straight down, the water depth is between 8 and 15 feet. If you cast out 25 yards, the
water depth is 25 to 30 feet. It is on this underwater ledge that anglers get hung up. So you have
to do either of two things here. Fish straight down or cast out there, and stay out there! For
flounder fishing, you really need to fish the channel, so your best bets are to fish the tides here.
Fish two hours before and after high tide and fish two hours before and after low tide. Take some
heavy sinkers, up to five ounces. Once you get it out there and are holding, just leave it out
there. When you check your bait or reel in, reel in fast with your rod tip up so you won't snag.


Some anglers fish the Ocean City Inlet for flounder, and they are there. Take the same advice as
above for 2nd through 4th Streets. If it won't stay out there, the tide is running too hard, and
you need to go somewhere else like the Route 50 Bridge or one of the piers.

Oh, and the most important thing! The bait? Use either a live minnow hooked through the lips with
a strip of squid attached to the same hook. Or use a frozen shiner hooked through the eyes with a
strip of squid on the same hook.