Drifting Easy By Sue Foster

Fishing seems to be starting early this season, but it’s all centered on the
weather! We have one or two nice days, and then three or four days when the
wind blows and blows. If you have your boat in the water, watch the weather
and when the wind falls out, GO FISHING!!!!

“I want to catch a flounder!”

When you fish the early season for flounder you need to fish the extremities
of the bay. To the north, fish around the Route 90 Bridge. The main channel
runs through the bridge where the green light and wooden pilings are. Drift
across the channel, or along the bridge in either direction until the water
gets to shallow. Look for water that is 6 to 8 feet deep and start another
drift when the depth comes up to 4 feet. Anglers catch fluke on either side
of the east span of the Rt. 90 Bridge. Apparently, there are a few little
channels that run just West of the main channel, so putt around with your
eye on the depth finder and look for them.

Flounder like changes of water depth and it doesn’t take much of a drop off
or underwater slope to hold a fluke. Drift or “slow troll” and cover as
much territory as possible until you find out where the fish are biting.

Anglers “slow troll” when the drift doesn’t take you the way you want to go
or when the water is totally slack. We always “slow troll” during slack
water, and some anglers “slow troll” all the time. Many buy “trolling
motors” so they can do just this. I was just in Virginia fishing, where the
bay waters are a lot deeper and anglers there can really catch the fluke
while trolling. Since the water is deeper, the anglers go to 5 to 8 ounces
of sinker weight when trolling there, but it’s all the same technique. In
our shallower bay, you wouldn’t need quite as much sinker weight.

If you decide to “slow troll” increase your sinker weight. If you’ve been
using a one to one and a half ounce sinker, increase it to a 3 or 4 ounce.
Let out extra line and set the rod (or rods) in the back rod holder(s). If
you don’t have a trolling motor, work the boat in and out of gear so you are
slowing moving along the bottom. Make sure you see your sinker bouncing the
bottom. Watch your rod and when you see a strike, grab it and drop the rod
tip down and wait for the heavy feeling of the flounder on the hook. Then
set the hook.


It was kind of interesting when I was fishing in Virginia with friends “slow
trolling” for flounder. They were much better at it then me, I think because
I wanted to hold the rod and I think “ol’ Rodney” sometimes does a better
job! But anyway, the guys were making a double rig out of two simple
dropper loops and putting 3 or 4-inch twister tails two to three inches up
the line away from the hook. (I have always put the grubs right on the
hook.) These were acting as teasers I would assume, and when I went on the
Internet and read about slow trolling up north, this is what they do. Use
either small grub bodies or teasers on the brass sleeve and position them up
the line. I saw another flounder fisherman with a Xmas tree looking rig
with three teasers crimped up on his line followed by a single hook baited
with a nice strip of flounder belly. Capt. Monty on the “Morning Star” does
something similar with the grubs and the bucktail teasers, so it’s all
making sense. Experiment around! I sure plan to next time I go “slow
trolling” for fluke!

Anyway, back to the Route 90 Bridge… Sometimes the wind will “not” go the
way you want it to and you have to do a lot of short drifts, slow troll, or
anchor and cast and retrieve. (Try to stay in the deeper water.) And then
sometimes you get that perfect drift down the bridge where the water is
consistently deeper and life is perfect.

The reason the first “bite” is at the Route 90 Bridge and other areas south
behind Assateague is because the water is warmer! Cold water comes in from
the ocean on the incoming tide. As the water comes into the upper reaches of
the bay, the sun (if it comes out that day!) warms it up. By the time the
high water starts to turn and begins to go out, the water can be 15 degrees
warmer and the fluke will be biting!

As the tide goes out, anglers can also catch the flounder in the “flats”
north of the Thorofare. There is a skinny little channel that goes all the
way back to buoy #16 and the entrance to Ocean Pines. Flounder can be back
here anywhere around the channel, and also in some mini-channels that good
flounder fishermen have found just north of the Dog Island. (You have to
know this channel or you will go aground!) Sometimes you catch a flounder in
water as skinny as 4-foot, but you can be sure that “bite” was close to the
channel where the water is 6 to 10 foot. (The flounder came out of the
channel to chase bait.)

Whether the fish just bite at Route 90 or whether they are biting north of
the Thorofare too is anyone’s guess on a particular day. I would say if the
sun has been out all day, the chances are that the fish will be biting in
the Thorofare areas as well. If it has been cloudy and not much sun, stick
to the Route 90.

“Where are the flounder biting in the South Bay?”

The bay behind Assateague can be great in the spring. Offshore of the
Airport is the first place to try. If the water is clean and clear, go on
back offshore of Frontier Town in the area of buoys #10 through #13. Some
flounder are even caught as far back as the Verrazano Bridge.

“What baits are good in the early spring?”

The usual live minnows, the bigger the better, with or without a strip of
squid always work well. Frozen shiners with or without a strip of squid
would be my second choice. Strips of mackerel can be good in the spring.
Flounder belly always works, but you have to have a carcass of a legal
flounder on board if you use it and it counts towards your creel limit.
(Word of warning… If the skate or dog shark action begins, take off the
squid!!!) Fishbites bait alternative works good as strips of bait next to
the minnow or shiner. I like the bloodworm flavor to use as a strip. Not
necessarily for the scent but for the color. It turns blood red in the
water. Some anglers like the Berkley Gulp Minnow and put it on a lead head
with a minnow and toss it around in the shallower water. Spec rigs also work
wonders in the spring in the shallower water (5 to 8 feet). Pop two minnows
or shiners on the spec rig, cast ‘em out, and jig them along the bottom on a
light rod. Lots of fun!

The traditional flounder rigs we all use and love always work well.
Aqua-clear rigs with plain hooks or white beads and blades are good. I
absolutely fell in love with the Aqua-Clear rigs with the little silver fish
last year. I like any rig with the white bucktail and white Mylar.
Chartreuse blades all work. Plastic squids are very popular. And in the
spring, I always carry something in pink because I think it looks like grass
shrimp in the water. And when you catch a flounder, those grass shrimp come
piling out of their mouths sometimes! Use wide gaps hooks in the #1/0 to
#3/0 range for these larger flounder so there is less likelihood of gut
hooking them. For sinkers, use 1 to 3-ounces in the bass cast or bank styles
depending on the depth of the water. If you try “slow trolling” go to 3 to
6-ounces of weight.

Good fishing….