Catching Flounder

We use various rigs and tactics when targeting flounder in Ocean City. When fishing in the bay, our spring begins in the shallows, when the water reaches 50 degrees, the flounder are here. The flounder migrate into our bays in the spring time, usually by mid April but with a warm March they could arrive earlier. The fish are cold, slower moving and laying up in the flats hunting for an easy meal. Their primary food this time of the year is minnows, grass shrimp, sea worms, and small crabs. I feel the best success is achieved with small presentations. Using simple rigs and small profiled live or artificial baits will produce. If you head toward the thoroughfare you will see boats trolling very slow for flounder, dragging baits along covering as much ground as possible. As I mentioned above, the flounder are cold and laying in the shallow flats, sometimes just a foot of water, absorbing the warm sun. Outgoing tides will produce a better bite as the cold ocean water of the incoming tide will usually cause them to stop feeding.

Rigs used can be a simple as a three-way rig, fish finder sliding rig, or a multi hook rig with some jewelry such as beads and spinners.

To be continued...