“People say to go flounder fishing in the Thorofare, Convention Hall Channel,
or in front of “the Airport.” I don’t know where these places are!”

These are places you need to get to with a boat. If you don’t own your own
boat, you can rent a little motor boat from several different marinas in Ocean
City. Just flip through the Coastal Fisherman and you will see the different marinas
advertised. These three areas mentioned above are good “flounder and trout” fishing
holes. It is very important to buy an ADC Ocean City Maryland Visitor’s Map for the
small price of 3.50.
One side of the map shows the whole bay, while the other side of the map shows the ocean.
The map also shows public boat ramps, piers and a very general idea of which species of
fish bite where. Most importantly, the map shows the buoys, points of land, crabbing
areas, and where the sand bars are.

“So where exactly is the Thorofare?”

The Thorofare is located in the West channel just offshore of Captain’s Hill and
Cape Isle of Wight. If you are traveling from North Ocean City, go through the main
channel of the Rt. 90 Bridge and bear towards the right. Look for a RN buoy #16 in the
distance, just offshore of Ocean Pines. Follow these buoys North and you will be in the
Thorofare when you reach buoy #12. Drifting between buoy #10 and the marsh on the western
shore is an excellent fishing spot. If you pass buoy #6 you will soon see a little green
island with birds nesting on it. Right next to this green island and the sandy bar just
north of the green island is the “real” Thorofare. Many people consider the Thorofare
anywhere from buoys #16 to buoy #4. That’s why it seems so many flounder are caught there,
because people are calling a broad area of water, the “Thorofare!”

“So what part of the Thorofare is best!”

The whole area is good for flounder because there are many changes of bottom depth.
This is where flounder like to feed because bait is being moved with the tide from one
level to another. We find that the flounder feed in any of the areas where you go from
deeper to shallower water, or from shallower to deeper water. On the incoming tide, it
is good to start fishing just offshore of the green island and drift back towards the “flats.”
When you find yourself in only 3 to 5 feet, it’s time to move again. Some anglers like to
drift along the edge of the underwater sandy bar just North of the Thorofare, while other
anglers like to drift along the buoys along the western shore. Either one of these tactics
are good. Try one area. If that doesn’t work, try another spot. If you catch fish on one
drift, go back and make that drift again!

On the outgoing tide, it is best to start up in the shallower water, which we call
“the flats,” and then drift into the deeper water. Once the deep swift tide of the “Thorofare”
gets you and the water gets extremely deep and fast, go back and try another drift.

Just South of the Thorofare is also good flounder territory. This would be the area
between buoys #4 and #7. Look on your map and you will see a little point of land called
“Drum Point” which is near buoy #7. There is a nice hole, almost 13 feet near that point
of land and I have always been able to pick a flounder or two out of that hole.

“Where is the Convention Hall channel?”

The Convention Hall channel is another one of those “broad” areas that encompass a
lot of area. . To get to this channel from the North Ocean City area, go beneath the Rt.
90 Bridge main channel and veer towards the right. Look for a RN buoy #13 in the distance
and head towards it. Once there, you will see buoys 13, 12,11A, 11, 9A and 9. Anglers drift
between these buoys or they drift from the buoys towards the land to the east, or they drift
from the bulkhead at 33rd Street North towards the Rt. 90 Bridge, until it gets too shallow.
Many people call any of this area, the “Convention Hall” channel. It is called that because
you can see the Convention Hall at 41st Street. The “true” Convention Hall” channel is
in the east channel right in front of 33rd Street where the town houses jut out the furthest.
At one time, a ferry boat was parked there and the area was dredged so it would float.
That’s why there is such a deep hole there.

If you catch the tide and wind just right you can drift from the point of land right where
the townhouses jut out in three different directions. You can drift from the point of the
last townhouse out towards buoy #11, or you can drift along the inside of the townhouse
area near the docks there. (It’s a very short drift because it get shallow fast! But it
can be worth these little short drifts when the fish are biting!) Or you can drift from the
townhouses North towards the Rt. 90 Bridge. Again, this is a very short drift because it
shoals up fast. It is sometimes very well worth these little short drifts though. The
flounder sit on these underwater slopes and feed. Whenever there are quick changes of
bottom depth, you will find flounder.

Some anglers also duck in and hug the bulkhead along 26th Street as well. They drift
from buoy #9 towards the townhouses at 26th Street and then continue to drift close
to the townhouses until the water shoals up. Many a big flounder has been taken here.
And guess what! Anglers call this Convention Hall channel too, even though it is quite
far away from the Convention Hall at 41st Street!

“Where the heck is the “Airport.”

The “Airport” is the Ocean City Airport that is located off 611. You can see it from
the water in the bay behind Assateague. The buoy closest to it is buoy #6 and between
#6 and the marsh is good flounder territory. It is also good further down the bay between
buoys #10 and #13. Anglers drift between the buoys, or between the buoys and the land on
the western shore. This area is best on the higher tide. Tides happen an hour or so sooner
than they do in the Ocean City bay, so time this accordingly. We have made the mistake of
leaving the Thorofare at high slack tide to try behind Assateague, only to find the tide has
already been going out for an hour there and that the good fishing was essentially over.
By the time we decided to go back to the Thorofare, well, we missed that magic half hour
of good tide when we usually catch a big one!

And yes, that’s usually when the largest flounder are caught. One hour either side of the
high tide seems to produce those big ones. Even if you are fishing in shallow water, if
you are fishing near some deep water, your chances of catching a big fish are greater.

So go fishing, study your ADC Recreational Chart, and when someone asks you where you
caught your flounder, you can say, Oh, I caught them in the Thorofare… or Conventional Hall
Channel… or behind the Airport…..

Good fishing….