Article by Capt. Lance Smith
The arrival of summer flounder in the spring has always meant the beginning of a new year’s fishing season to me, and it makes me antsy! I find it hard to concentrate on preparing our offshore boat for the season and I am constantly day dreaming about big flatfish pouncing on my bucktail in clear, shallow waters. I sneak out into the bay at every possible break in the day because I know that this incredible fishery won’t last very long. Soon, the seemingly endless caravans of rental jet skis and pleasure boats will be zipping through the little channels and flats that I love and the flounder will have dispersed throughout the bay. I look forward to this all winter, so no bull or creative commentary this week. I’m going to be as specific as possible in the space that I have.
Flounder fishing in the spring can be nothing short of spectacular if the conditions are right. So what specific conditions should you be looking for? Well, to begin with, the wind can be a huge factor on how flounder will bite in the spring. Regardless of the direction, try to pick the days (or time of day) when the wind is at a minimum. I like to check the NOAA marine forecast (www.NOAA.gov) for the Fenwick Island to Chincoteague area. A favorable forecast of 10 to 15 knots is preferred and anytime I see a forecast for winds less than 10 knots I do my best to get out on the water. If the wind is blowing hard against the tide it can cause your boat, or your bobber from the Route 50 Bridge, to stay in one place, ruining the correct presentation of your lure or bait. More importantly however, wind can affect the clarity of the water.
Water clarity may be the single most important factor when fishing in the bay, regardless of the species you are targeting. Flounder are primarily sight feeders so always keep in mind that even if the spot you are currently fishing is muddy and full of weeds, only 200 yards away the water may be blue and the fish willing to bite. The sun is also important this time of year. Sunny days, because they warm the shallow waters of the bay, are favorable in the spring. Water temperature is also influenced by the tide and flounder are cold and hungry when they first enter the bay. An outgoing tide will move the warmer waters and bait from the shallow, dark-bottomed upper reaches of the bay towards the Inlet, while an incoming tide will bring colder water from the ocean up into the bay.
So, you have managed to get free on a day with perfect conditions, what now? There are two methods of flounder fishing that consistently produce in our coastal bays; the active and the passive as I refer to them. Passive flounder fishing consists of long drifts up or down a channel edge or over a flat while dragging baited hooks along the bottom and waiting for them to pass directly over an immobile, lazy flounder. Active flounder fishing on the other hand, means short, specific, repetitive drifts over the most productive bottom while constantly jigging a bait-tipped lure for an aggressive, lightning fast predatory flounder. Both methods have their positives and negatives and it is up to you to decide which one you prefer on a given day. When fishing with children, try to gauge their interest from the start. Some will jig their rod alongside you all day while constantly asking questions while others prefer to throw a bait over and let it drag while they play with their cell phones.
Passive flounder fishing entails using live bull minnows or frozen shiners, often accompanied with a strip of squid. To begin with, hook a 3 to 6-inch strip of cleaned (no skin) squid on to a #2 Kahle style flounder/fluke hook. The squid should be cut so that one end is about 1/2 to 3/4-inches wide and tapers down to nothing in an elongated triangle. Hook the squid only once through the wide end and allow it to dangle in a streamlined manner from the hook. Do not, and I cannot emphasize this enough, ball the squid up by passing the hook through it multiple times. Finish by hooking a minnow through the lips or a shiner through the eyes one time. Your bait must be hydrodynamic and drift along the bottom as though it were alive.
When fishing in this manner your baited hook should be attached to a 16 to 24-inch leader with a swivel at the top. On your main line, above the swivel, slide on a 1/2 to 2-ounce egg sinker (depending on tide and water depth) and use your favorite knot to connect the line to your leader. Leaders should be in the 20 to 30 lb. test range, and in super clear water, fluorocarbon can out-produce monofilament. This is also the preferred rig (usually with a bucktail and a flashy spoon attached) to slow troll for flounder. This is something you may see some of the “local sharpies” doing in the spring and which an entire book can be written on alone.
Active flounder fishing is much more labor intensive but is often the best way to fill a limit in the spring. Tandem bucktails or jig heads in the 3/8 to 1/2-ounce range are constantly jigged up and down while drifting in shallow waters. Adorn your bucktail with either a strip of squid or a GULP! Swimming Mullet (which is also the preferred jig head bait). Day in and day out, the most productive color for flounder fishing is white. Chartreuse and pink are also good choices, with some people swearing by pink in the early spring. I prefer to keep my bucktails and leadheads white and use various colors of the GULP! artificial baits to see which produces. The quickest and easiest way to tie a tandem rig is to tie a bucktail or leadhead to each end of a 3-foot section of leader material. Hold the middle of the leader in your hand and allow the lures to hang side by side. Slide your hand toward one lure or the other so that they now hang about a foot or slightly more apart. Form a large overhand knot with the doubled line you are now holding and pass it thru the knot loop three times. This is called a surgeon’s knot and animated instructions can be found online. You should now have a loop to attach to your main line. If you have braided line on your fishing reel, use a swivel to attach the rig. As for braid vs. mono, I prefer monofilament for its stretch in shallow waters, but either will suffice.
When fishing in this manner, a baitcasting reel is often preferred because it is far easier to “feel” the bottom with your thumb on the spool than it is with a spinning reel. In either case, 6 to 7-foot light to medium action rods paired with a reel capable of holding 12 to 20 lb. test line will work. When actively jigging for flounder and drifting from a boat, it is imperative that you DO NOT cast your rig. Simply drop your lure/bait straight over the side until it hits the bottom and put your thumb on the spool or close the bail. You want to keep your line as vertical and as close to the boat as possible while still bouncing bottom when you lower your rod. You may need to occasionally let line out or wind some in to maintain contact with the bottom as the boat drifts over varying depths.
Sometimes, a slow jigging motion is preferred over a more frantic one and you must let the fish dictate which they prefer. Do not allow your lures to just drag along the bottom. If you are doing it correctly, your wrist will hurt at the end of the day. Unlike passive flounder fishing, where you must give the flounder a few seconds to swallow the bait before setting the hook, you need to be ready to rear back at the slightest obstruction to your jigging motion. Flounder will absolutely pounce on a jig and swallow it whole because they fear that it is escaping. Flounder will also leave the safety of the bottom to chase a bucktail/jig for many feet, often right to the surface as you check your rig for weeds. On a clear day, in shallow water, with polarized glasses, it is possible to actually watch flounder strike your lure! Once you have seen this, there is no going back!
How shallow should you be fishing? Depths from 3 to 8-feet of water will hold the majority of flounder for the next few weeks. I have a spot that I love to fish where as soon as my depth finder reads 4-feet, rods begin bending all around the boat. Flounder can be caught in water as skinny as 16-inches or less (gotta love the pontoon boat!). Remember, it doesn’t take much water to cover up the design of a flounder and they will often lie at the heads of small channels, waiting for bait to be flushed off the flats toward them. This is why, although it is a nuisance, you must constantly move your boat to readjust your drift and focus on these particular areas. In some locations that I fish, especially if the wind is blowing across the channel, I may only get a 10 to 20-yard drift that lasts a minute or less. The worst aspect of this style of fishing is hearing your crew complain as you constantly give the order to “wind em’ up!”
Small channels and flats can be found throughout the bay and some of the most productive areas are north of the Thorofare, around the Route 90 Bridge, the area on either side of Skimmer Island (just north of the Route 50 Bridge), and various locations in the bay behind Assateague. Possibly the most productive area to fish from shore in the spring is the west end of the Route 50 Bridge. Watch the locals carefully as they use baited hooks with spreader bar rigs and bobbers to float their rigs naturally out along the shallow bottom. This is a highly specialized fishery, and your float must be accurately placed above your weight so that your bait stays within inches of the bottom while not stopping or getting snagged as it drifts. I am by no means an expert at this, but I have watched it done with outstanding results for years while drifting below the bridge. Any of the local tackle shops in the area should be able to point you in the right direction, so please do not expect to cast a hunk of squid off the bridge and catch a flounder.
There are quite a few boats such as the “Get Sum”, “Lucky Break”, “Bay Bee”, “Flatty Caddy” and “Whatever Guide Service” that advertise in the Coastal Fisherman offering full-day and half-day flounder trips for very reasonable prices. All of these boats are captained by men who have turned flounder fishing into a science over many years of trial and error.
So if your boat is still in storage, get to work. If you have a day’s vacation to use and the weather looks favorable, take it. Regardless of whether you have your own boat, hop on someone else’s or have the patience and determination to master bridge fishing, avoid the crowds of summer and go fill your stringer this week.
For questions or advice please feel free to check out my Facebook page @ Bucktails to Ballyhoo.
Lance Smith is an outdoor writer and Captain of his family’s boat, the “Longfin”.
