Shake the cobwebs off the gear folks…. It’s spring, the water temps are rising, the ice is gone and it’s time to go fishing again!

Flounder season is basically the start of our entire fishing season in this area and although the Flounder population, in our bays, have been at historically low levels, people still can’t wait to get back out on the water. Many people use the Flounder season as a “shakedown” for the boats and gear… to get everything ready for Bass fishing and Fluke fishing, but for those that still try, there ARE some Flounder to be caught in our area!

Here on the south shore of Long Island, the Winter Flounder season is basically the first fish we can fish for in the spring and although everyone would love to fire up the boats and blast off to their fishing spots, too often the best spots are simply overlooked. The water temps are still cold in the early spring, so those Flounder are going to be hiding in areas that warm up fastest, like the northern sides of our bays. Typically, like any other body of water in North America, the north side gets the most sun, therefore heating up faster. What also helps the water temps are the dark mud bottoms. These conditions can commonly be found in the mouths of back bay creeks and canals. We here of more people catching flounder right from their docks, than from those who venture off into the bays. The canals typically have thick, mucky, mud bottoms and subsequently hold all kinds of bait creatures that the Flounder love to eat… worms, mussels, grass shrimp and crill, to name a few.

The usual Flounder baits are Sandworms, Bloodworms, Clams and Mussels and I know that if I were going Flounder fishing I would absolutely have a little of each. One day they’ll eat the sandworms and the next day they may want the mussels, so I like to have a selection with me… because you just never know! I can recall a number of flounder trips where I was catching fish and others around me were simply watching, because I had one particular type of bait that they did not.

Once you find a good looking spot, START CHUMMING and DON’T STOP! Put the chum pot on the bottom… loaded with clam or mussel chum , break up some mussels, crush some clams or clam shells and don’t forget the corn… yes, corn. Spread it all around the boat, especially up-current from where you’re anchored, to make sure it’s on the bottom where your lines will be. We sell dried corn in the shop or you can swing by any grocery store and pick up a couple cans of corn. The theory behind the corn is that the yellow color resembles part of the inside of a bank mussel and attracts the flounder. I remember working on the party boats as a kid, spreading corn all around the boat while we were fishing and then finding the corn in the bellies of the fish when we fillet them…. so we know they eat it!

Rigging for Flounder is quite simple, one or two hooks with a 12″ leader tied a couple inches above your sinker. Flounder are flat fish that live on the bottom, in some cases buried in the bottom, so make sure whatever rig you choose, it’s the one that will keep your bait laying on the bottom! There are a wide variety of hooks that can be used and there is NO right or wrong hook, so to speak. Flounder have very small mouths and no teeth, so the hooks should be big enough to hold the bait your using and small enough for them to suck it all in, in one bite. Personally, I like a size 6 or size 8 sproat style hook but Flounder hooks with beads on the line, above the hooks, seem to be very popular as well . The yellow beads, for example, seem to have a similar effect as chumming with corn, looking like part of a mussel. Red beads are thought to look like part of a worm and theoretically attracting fish to your bait. Working in a tackle shop affords us the benefit of listening to what everyone is using, even if it seems like a gimmick. People go as far as to paint their sinkers yellow and red, looking for any advantage they can get. Over the past few years we’ve seen rigs with rattles in them, small yellow and red twister tails, blades and about a million other types of hardware too. I don’t know, I’ve used about every hook imaginable and don’t ever recall any beads making a significant difference in my hook up ratios… but it certainly can’t hurt, that much I can say. Pre-tied, ready to fish flounder rigs are also readily available and we stock a wide variety of them. Again, in our opinion, there is NO wrong or right rig to use as long as that rig will keep your bait ON THE BOTTOM!

These are just some of the basics, and it really is a kind of “meat and potatoes” style of fishing. Anchor the boat, chum like crazy, keep those baits on the bottom and have plenty of patience.

Go Get Em!!

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