The center of Great Bay has a relatively deep basin of about seven feet deep. On a falling tide, it can be very productive for fluke fishing.

The Mullica River pushes into this area a vast smorgasbord with unending servings of shrimp, baitfish and crabs. Numerous small creeks enter Great Bay, and fishing the mouths of these creeks on a falling tide is the prime time to catch summer flounder on a leadhead.

Bounce the bottom or drift along with a live minnow or a sliver of snapper belly to see what happens.

ATLANTIC CITY
A hundred yards west of the Brigantine Boulevard Bridge, you'll leave the glitter of Atlantic City and enter the perfect wildness of the Absecon Wildlife Management Area. Here you'll find many square miles of interrupted marshes split by several finger-like deep cuts, creeks and channels. Bring bug spray because otherwise, the greenheads and mosquitoes will eat you alive. But it's worth it, since the summer flounder action here can be superb.

Facing west after you go under the Brigantine Bridge, the southernmost channel is Beach Thorofare, and then Absecon Channel and Broad Creek pointing right down the middle.

From these main channels, several smaller cuts penetrate the marshes, and some are deep enough to hold good numbers of flounder.

Big fluke tend to station themselves at the junctions where two channels meet, and local experts favor the junction of Broad Creek and Absecon Channel. Drift this area on the falling tide past the bridge and toward the inlet. The green 17 can marks a shoal just east of the bridge and the red 12 buoy and offers good bottom structure with high ground, dropoffs and deep fingers. Summer flounder like this spot. Big ones, too!

GREAT EGG HARBOR BAY
Tucked behind Ocean City, Jersey's favorite family beach town, is Great Egg Harbor Bay. Fed by the Tuckahoe and Great Egg Harbor rivers on the west and on the east by the ocean at Great Egg Harbor Inlet, this famous back-bay summer flounder hotspot has plenty of good bottom structure to hold fish and bait. The dramatic flushing of tides helps keep the pantry well stocked.