Photo by Mike Marsh

While recreational creel limits for summer flounder have been cut to the bare bone, minimum size limits seem to constantly increase for recreational anglers. This particular set of circumstances would tend to make avid anglers believe that their chances of catching a legal-sized flatfish range from slim to none. However, there are still a few locations in the Mid-Atlantic where keeper-sized flounder were taken last summer.

Many of 2004's flounder hotspots were completely overlooked by both local and visiting anglers, individuals who opted to fish for more glamorous species, such as striped bass, red drum and weakfish. Ironically, most of the stripers caught nearby were undersized as well, while many weakfish were smaller yet -- and sizable numbers of red drum did not arrive on the scene until late fall.

MARYLAND HOTSPOTS
Hooper Island Area
While most Chesapeake Bay anglers were busy trying to catch striped bass, a small contingent opted to try their luck drifting live minnows along the bay's eastern channel edge between buoys 74 and 76. This particular location is nothing more than a vast expanse of relatively deep sand flats that stretches from Barren Island south to Lower Hooper Island.

Depths here range from 5 to 26 feet along this edge; however, the most productive locations all seem to be along the outer perimeter of the flats, between the main channel's eastern edge and the abrupt dropoff closer to the Eastern Shore. Tidal currents here are fairly swift; there are loads of small lumps and bumps, scattered wrecks, and at the southern end, Hooper Island Light.

"The secret to success here is to use extra-large, live killifish, and only those that are very lively," said Ken Lamb, owner of The Tackle Box in Lexington Park. "We try to keep big minnows in stock all the time, but it's not always possible, especially at this time of year. I fish those flats for flounder every day the weather cooperates, and most of the keeper-sized fish we found range from 20 to 22 inches long; but there were a few flounder of 24 inches or more caught in the same vicinity through much of the summer. The biggest I heard of last year was a 28-incher, and it was taken just a few hundred feet from buoy 76."

Lamb said that most of the larger fish seem to concentrate along the steep dropoff closer to the bay's main channel edge, mainly in depths of 26 to 32 feet.

"Last summer, the magic depth seemed to be about 27 feet, and as long as the wind or tide would carry the boat along that edge, you caught lots of keeper-sized fish. However, there were times when flounder were right in among the crab pots in just 12 to 15 feet of water. Under those circumstances you would line up on a particular pot marker, then establish a drift toward another marker. If you caught a couple of fish, you would slowly motor to deeper water, head upwind, and renew the drift. Usually, when you find larger flounder at a location, it's likely that they'll be there for the rest of the tide."

Lamb said he prefers fishing during the ebb tide, and that most of the feeding activity takes place during the first two hours of falling water. He rigs using a flat, pan-shaped 4-ounce sinker attached to a Chincoteague Flounder Rig, which is made locally from a piece of heavy leader with a barrel swivel at the top, large snap at the bottom for the sinker, and a pair of dropper loops rigged with size 1/0 wide-gap hooks. Some folks use a similar rig; however, bright red beads and a Colorado spinner blade adorn the hook's leader to provide a bit of enticing flash in the bay's often-murky waters.

Holland Island Flats
The vast expanse of flats stretching between Holland Island and buoy 72 can be highly productive for summer flounder action. Captain Mike Murphy, who runs from Lower Hooper Island, said, "There are a lot of flounder there through much of the summer months, and I've even taken them on jigging spoons while fishing for stripers and bluefish. Most of the bottom is completely flat and featureless, but there are a number of troughs that can be found southeast of buoy 72. This is where we usually come across the largest flounder of the season, despite the fact that we're not usually fishing for them."