By Dr. Ken Neill, III
Flounder are among the most sought-after fish in our waters. They are great to eat and fun to catch. In Virginia, it is primarily an April through November fishery though some are caught in March and December.
Early season action is found in the seaside inlets of Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Wachapreague has a world-class fishery that peaks from April through June. Summer and fall are the times to fish the lower Chesapeake Bay. Flounder can be found throughout the bay and in the rivers feeding the bay. Certain areas are known for producing numbers of big fish. These include the area near the Cell, 36A off of Cape Charles, the Hump, Back River Reef, the channels at the mouth of the bay, and of course, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. There are also good fisheries that develop at the mouth of Back River and at the mouth of Lynnhaven Inlet.
The key to these areas is deep water. Flounder can be found in skinny water, many are caught by speckled trout fishermen on Poquoson Flats, but most of the bigger fish are caught at least adjacent to deep water.
The most common method of fishing for flounder is drifting bait on the bottom. The rig most often used is the high-low bottom fishing rig. The classic bait is a strip of squid and a minnow placed on each hook. More serious flounder fishermen use different rigs. They consist of a three-way swivel attached to the main line. There is a short line from the swivel to a sinker heavy enough to bounce along the bottom as you are drifting. A longer mono leader, 2-3 feet, goes to the hook. Above the hook will often be added beads, a bucktail skirt, and a spinner blade to aid in attracting fish. A Kahle style hook is the most popular.
For big flounder think big bait. Small live spot are great, though most any small fish will do. Long strips of cut bait work as well. The favorites are shark, bluefish, ray, and flounder belly.
When the flounder bites, your line will feel heavy. You can feed out some line to let the fish get the hook in its mouth or you can just drag the fish along. It will work its way up the bait to your hook. How long you wait to set the hook will depend on the size of your bait and the size of the flounder. If you miss the fish, drop back, often they will latch on again. Drifting in deep water is an area where the braided lines shine. You can feel a lot more and you can use less weight to hold bottom.
Trolling is another method of catching flounder. This method is used extensively around the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, though it will work wherever there are flounder. Around the CBBT, wire is the line of choice. It is attached to a three-way swivel. A 3 to 4-foot mono dropper goes to a large sinker and a 10-15-foot mono leader goes to a bucktail, 1/4-1/2 ounce. A piece of pork rind and a strip of fish or squid is placed on the hook. Troll slowly, working the rod to keep contact with the bottom.
A less often used way to catch flounder is to chum from an anchored boat. Place a weighted chum pot down near the bottom, filled with ground menhaden, and place your baits just down current from it. Many flounder are caught this way by cobia fishermen each year.
The classic way Virginia anglers catch flounder in structure has been by trolling with wire-line tackle. While most flounder fishermen are drifting around, wire-line trollers have caught the largest flounder for years. This technique can be used to fish any structure. The Cell and the Cape Henry Wreck are two good locations to catch doormats while using this technique. The structure which seems to have been created for this method of fishing is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT). Dr. Bob Allen has been wire-line trolling for decades. When fishing for flounder, his terminal tackle consists of a 3-way swivel with a 3-foot dropper to a sinker heavy enough to stay on the bottom. He likes to use a long, 25-foot, leader to his bucktail jig. A long strip bait is placed on the jig. Any fish can be used to make the strip bait, bluefish and flounder are both good.
Wire-line trolling is a lot of work. It takes good boat handling skills by the captain and a deft touch by the angler. If your bait is not on the bottom, you will not catch fish. If you just drag your sinker in the structure, you will be hung up all of the time. The angler must maintain contact with the bottom without getting hung up too much. It takes a lot of effort. You must “feather” the bottom, constantly letting out and reeling in line as the depth changes. The captain must maintain proper boat relationship with the structure.
Many beginners who try this technique find it to be too much work and very frustrating and they soon give up on it. This is becoming a lost art, but if you are in a flounder tournament and see an old salt with wire-line tackle, don’t bet against him. Better yet, see if he will take you fishing. Once mastered, this technique is deadly.