Drifting Easy by Sue Foster

“You must be paid by the Chamber of Commerce! We can’t catch any flounder!”

Flounder are out there and if you are a new boater, you have to spend some 
time on the water learning where and when they are biting. Flounder are site 
feeders and it is very important to find clean, clear water and sometimes 
you have to wait for the “bite.”

We were out fishing a couple weeks ago on the last of the incoming tide. 
This is a tide when flounder will usually be biting. The water was crystal 
clear and we could see the bottom in seven feet of water. No one was 
catching any flounder.  We tried the flats North of the Thorofare, drifting 
down the ledge immediately north of the Thorofare, Harbor Island, and the 
channel north of the Route 50 Bridge. We weren’t even getting any bites. We 
didn’t see anyone else catch any flounder either. Finally we caught one baby 
10-inch flounder.  We had fished for over two hours with no luck. If we had 
quit then and there, we would have said: “There’s no flounder biting today!”

The tide turned slack, we tried a slow troll just south of the draw of the 
Route 50 Bridge. We noted that the water temperature was 68 degrees. This is 
well warm enough for the flounder to be biting close to the inlet.  We 
noticed several boats moving to the south of the Route 50 Bridge so we 
decided to try there. This would be our 6th move.

We saw a bay party boat working behind Assateague but we had heard on the 
radio earlier that he was only catching a few small flounder and a lot of 
skates. We certainly didn’t want to catch skates!

Note: We were looking for clean water. We were fishing a good tide. (Two 
hours before high tide and two hours after high tide.) We tried a couple 
different spots. We were keeping our eye on other boats and seeing what they 
were doing. Since we have a heavy workload we don’t get out on the water 
every day like some anglers. We are noting where the bay party boats were 
fishing. And we had the radio on listening to other boaters as well.

We moved up just south of the Rt. 50 Bridge and saw a couple nets go down. 
Finally! We immediately started to fish and caught several 10 ½ inch 
flounder. We saw one keeper caught on another boat. What turned the flounder 
on suddenly?  The tide had just turned and started to go out. We noticed the 
boat catching the most flounder was doing a slow troll and jigging with a 
light rod. The wind is bucking the tide and if you didn’t kick the boat into 
a slow troll, the boat would stand still. It’s always best to be moving a 
little!

Since the water wasn’t moving much, I tried a simple half-ounce lead head 
with a little chartreuse twister for color, and added my shiner and squid to 
the hook. (Chartreuse is a good color to use in clear water.) I noticed that 
every time the bait went down, and the shiner was stolen, the fish would 
quit biting it. That told me the fish didn’t care if there was squid on the 
hook or not. I experimented around with some Berkley Gulp and Fishbites, but 
all the fish cared about was the shiner, so I made sure I checked my bait 
often to make sure shiners were on the hook.  I continued to use squid or 
Fishbite strips so my bait would look attractive. Flounder are site feeders 
remember.

We caught at least a dozen undersized fish and said, “Oh well, at least we’re 
having fun and catching fish and it’s a beautiful day, but we may not catch 
any dinner!”  We noticed a strip of really clean water a little closer to 
the Old Shantytown and decided to try that. Immediately, more small 
flounder. Then finally, a keeper!  Dinner.

We heard the Bay Bee had some nice keepers on the beginning of the outgoing 
tide  behind Assateague so decide to try a drift over there. When we get 
over there, the tide had already started out hard and the water was getting 
dirty. We were too late for that spot so we didn’t waste any more time 
there.  (The tide happens earlier behind Assateague.) We decided the grass 
wasn’t greener on the other side, and go back to where we had just been.  We 
caught more small fish and another keeper. Good, now we really had supper! 
Then we catch a huge 5-pound fish!  Wow! Where did she come from! That blows 
the theory that all the fish in a school are the same size!


We listen to all the chatter on the radio and hear there was a pretty good 
bite in the Thorofare as well.  It was ALL ABOUT THE TIDE.  Since the 
flounder were not biting on the last of the incoming, we HOPED they would 
bite on the beginning of the outgoing. And they did!  But after catching 
fish after fish, it suddenly quit after about 2 ½ hours of the outgoing 
tide. It was like someone turned off a switch.

We decide to just take a boat ride behind Assateague. That beautiful clear 
water of three hours ago was the color of chocolate. It was a south wind and 
the tide had come off the land and gobs of grass was floating in it as well. 
(The high tide had been extremely high.) These conditions are really bad for 
catching flounder. We saw one bluefish caught. When we came back to the 
inlet we saw one of the bay party boats drifting between the Rt. 50 Bridge 
and the Inlet, where the cleanest water was. If you wanted to continue to 
fish after the “bite” was over, this would be the best place to fish.

Several boats were still fishing and even though the best tide was over, as 
long as the water was clear and they could troll against the tide to keep 
from moving too fast, they might pick up some more. Then, when the tide 
slows towards the low ebb tide, there may be another “bite.”  This low tide 
bite usually happens in the deeper water because the “flats” north of the 
Thorofare become too shallow and the water becomes too dirty. “Flats” and 
Rt. 90 Bridge areas are usually best on high tides. Low tide fishing is 
usually best around the Rt. 50 Bridge and the Inlet. On nice days, anglers 
also catch flounder on the south side of the south jetty on the low tide.

“Why didn’t the flounder bite on the last of the incoming?”

Could be all kinds of reasons. There had been a big crab shed and the 
flounder might have been feeding on soft crabs all night and were full? Just 
a theory… But one thing is for sure, if the conditions are perfect and they 
don’t bite on one tide, they are VERY likely to bite on the next tide. So 
always wait it out whether fishing from a boat, or fishing from the shore.

We were happy to catch a couple keepers but were we totally prepared?  NO. I 
did screw up and didn’t bring enough bait. The small flounder were biting so 
fast and eating up our bait that I should have brought along three packs of 
shiners instead of two so we could have picked out the larger baits. Near 
the end, we were fishing with some REALLY small shiner baits. In retrospect, 
we decided we should have taken live minnows because the fish were really 
biting “short.”  One bite and they were gone.  And in our haste to get out 
on the water, neither one of us brought along any money!  We could have 
ducked into a local marina and bought some more bait!

BUT, we stuck it out and worked an area where the fish were biting and 
finally caught some keepers. We waited for the tide. And once the tide was 
RIGHT, we stayed and fished it. That’s when you want to fish hard and catch 
the fish, because, like a light switch, these fish can turn off as quickly 
as they turn on!

Good fishing….

(When I got home I immediately went online and filled out my  Summer Flounder 
Volunteer Angler Survey!)


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