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Flounder - Past, Present and Future
Article posted on: Dec/04/00
author: Ron Lulov
(howto@noreast.com)
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It was March of 1955 and I was ready for my first flounder trip. I was only six years old, but had discovered the hard way that you had to thumb a conventional reel and that sand worms bite. I was going aboard the Ventura II, a boat of the now extinct Soundview party boat fleet out of the Bronx. The adult fare was $4 and worms were free. GPS did not exist, few boats had radar, and forget electronic fish finders. Still, they sure put you over loads of flounder, many more than are possible today.
Like the buffalo hunts on the Great Plains in the 1800s, one could not miss. Ignorance was bliss, and greed was the seed of decimation of the flounder population.
Size and catch limits, sewage treatment, fry mortality, heavy metals, closed seasons, and conservation were not yet in the average flounder fisherman’s vocabulary. The mission was to bring home enough flounder to feed the entire block. It was common to fill several wooden bushel baskets with flounder. It did not matter if it was a roe filled female or a tiny runt. The good old days. They were productive, yet so wasteful. It would be wonderful to have yesterday’s flounder population with today’s tackle and conservation limits.
Flounder outfits of the 1950s were as light and as delicate as a telephone poll in the hands of a child. Even then, I could not help but wonder why such small fish needed to be caught on heavy rods, thick lines, and those absurd brass spreaders. The rods were made of solid fiberglass with ugly brass ferrules and thick wooden butts. They were not meant to cast. They flexed one-third up from the butt and had a dead tip. The thread designs on them were beautiful, as were the lathe work on the wooden handles. The stiff heavy mono of the 1950s was as flexible as a plastic spoon on a cold day. The brass spreaders looked like a medieval torture device with an absurdly heavy sinker in the center. Even the leader on the Chestertown hooks was made of a thick braided material. There was an obsession about keeping the bait securely anchored, and I could never be sure I had a fish until the rig was out of the water, but flounder were so plentiful that even those set-ups produced large catches.
Recently, I went deep into my closet and exhumed my 1950’s flounder tackle. It must weigh ten times more than the new custom, graphite outfit my brother, Eli, built for me as a birthday present. Frankly, I would rather get a great fight from fewer flounder on that light stick than meat with the derrick. Forget the good old days.
Flounder are much more fun on a modern light outfit. You feel and know the size, weight, and even species of the fish the moment you hook-up. The rite of spring for me is feeling that telltale tap-tap-tap, and setting the hook on the first flounder of the season. A sensitive graphite rod with a gel-spun, braided line and the lightest sinker possible is like having your fingertips on the bottom. You can sense how the bottom changes as you fish an area, and develop a keen sense of when to strike as the tap-tap-tap turns into a slight tug. A slight flick of the wrist with a low-stretch braided line will set the hook.
I prefer a 7-foot fast action graphite rod with a conventional casting reel and braided line for winter flounder. The braided line is joined to a 4-foot, 15-pound-test leader by a double Uni-Knot. This eliminates the annoying tendency of the braided line to tangle, and makes it easier to change the terminal tackle.
The usual dropper loop and two #6 Sproat hooks tied in tandem just above the sinker are on the business end. Use the lightest sinker possible, keeping tide changes in mind. The rule of thumb is the less hardware the better.
I use my trusty old Penn 160 for deep water and my new far-casting Evolution 250 for shallow water and shore fishing. They’re my favorite flounder reels, and, yes, shore fishing can still produce results.
There are flounder available from shore early in the season, if you are willing to look for them. I catch and release flounder right off the bulkhead in Stuyvesant Cove on the East River from late March to around the middle of April. It took a while to find the right patches of bottom to fish. Again, a sensitive outfit helped. The key word is explore. The flounder are there, but in fewer numbers.
Red-dyed clam is a great early season bait for shore fishing. Just save some clam from a bottom fishing trip. Salt it thoroughly with coarse (Kosher) salt and use a red food dye. It keeps a long time.
Once I feel a few solid taps and perhaps a hookup with a flounder from shore, I feel the water is warm enough to try a party boat. The water has to warm up enough for the flounder to become active in the deeper haunts. Of course, mussels and live worms are standard, but the red-dyed clams are great to pull out of the freezer and use.
The Coney Island Flats, Jamaica Bay, Raritan Bay, and the Shrewsbury River are popular target areas for Sheepshead Bay open boats. My early season party boat flounder trips are aboard the Dorothy B VIII and the boat’s runs up the Shrewsbury River are my favorite. It is light tackle heaven and the scenery is wonderful. Last year, I limited on two trips, using muscles and worms.
It amazes me how many anglers suddenly stop targeting flounder the second the first bluefish splashes or first fluke is caught. Just because party boats stop targeting flounder does not mean that the fish are gone. Stay alert for a target of opportunity. The shallow waters warm up and the flounder will move out with the stripers nipping at them. This is the prime time to stay alert for flounder on a bottom trip. In fact, some of my largest flounder have been taken on sea bass trips in deeper water late in the season. The braided line and graphite rod come into their own in deep water. You’ll be able to feel those times when your section of the party boat is off the wreck and over a sandy bottom. This is the time to stay alert for that tap-tap-tap.
Throw on a flounder rig immediately. There are usually bigger, thicker flounder on the outside in deeper water. Take a look at the picture of my brother, Eli, with a nice flounder that he caught in 60 feet of water aboard the Jet. We were targeting sea bass, but Eli stayed alert. This tactic works well into late July and even later. Every year, I seem to pull up a 2.5-pounder three days after the first half of the season closes. It’s frustrating, but back it goes. The regulations passed today will decide what will be left later on, but only if we fish by the spirit as well as the letter of the law. The pendulum can swing the other way, but you have to put, not just take.
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| Some of these articles have been gathered from the archives of Nor'east Saltwater and all references to size and bag limits may be out of date. Be sure to check the regulations section of our website for the latest regulations in your area. |
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