[seaslug44]

Hello Crazy-Al.

Hope all is well.

There's been a question in the back of my mind that I know you have the answer to (since you are my favorite travelling fisherman).

When I was a kid I remember making the annual trip up to Quincy Bay for the massive flounder bite. They would send us up there by the bus loads. Every rented skiff was given an entire flat of worms and by days end every last one was gone. It was non-stop action with double-header snowshoes and more pollock than we knew what to do with. Then one day, the organized trips ended.

What happened to that fishery?

Was it pollution?

Was the bay overfished?

Is there still such a thing as a massive flounder bite up there?

(This post edited by DoctorFish on 03/04/2003)

 

[gmorhua]

Hi Doctorfish alot happened to the Quincy Bay flounder. Pollution and overfishing took a toll on the fish. I heard the stories of hundreds being caught per skiff during the Quincy Bay hay day. I think flounder numbers started to dive during the mid-eighties but I could be wrong. During the mid eighties to early nineties many of the flounder caught had tumors and other ailments. I can tell you that now the flounder are healthier than a decade ago and that there are good sized ones out there but no wide open bites like yesteryear.

 

[616787]

I used to hear about those trips, I wish I coulda been there. Is it true you also could catch small cod and lobsters on those trips too?

 

[KILSONG]

The flounder fishing in Quincy Bay is coming back mainly because of the ban on the gillnetter on the Georges Bank and other area. I made a trip last late June and found the flounder fishing was excellent. We caught some legal size cod at the same spot in shallow water (20 -30 ft). But it was about time when cod moved out. If you go from late May to mid June you can limit out with flounder and cod at the same spot while anchoring. Also we had non-stop action with striped bass with live eel before dawn.

 

[Crazy-Al]

Hello Doctorfish,

How are you? It's been a long time!

Okay, there is no doubts that flounder fishing in Quincy Bay is not what is used to be. Unfortunately, some reasons are obvious and some are still leaving us scratching our heads.

According to some, it is the pollution, the over harvest and a bad cycle.

I think it is a combination of all of the above! Similar to what happened to our (LI) flounder fishery too. Do you remember what Moriches and the Great South Bay flounder used to be? Do you remember the incredible Montauk Lake fishery? Gosh, I remember the days we could practically walk on them, catch plenty without the help of a chum pots. We even caught a bunch by drifting and even having a hard time working two rods… but those days are by gone days.

This fishery was phenomenal up until the mid 80's… and now the majority of those flatties disappeared!

These days, in order to have a decent flounder "pick", you really have to know what to do, where to find the last pods and when is the right time. Like KILSONG said… with some sound restrictions, a few flounder are showing but you really have to know when is the "right" time to target them.

Also, I noticed that the previous years, in our LI waters, there was a decent bite during the first week of June (just before season closing). Nothing like what used to be… but it was a decent pick.

"Crazy" Alberto
[email protected]

 

[BD001]

I thought flounder were extinct.

All kidding aside, in recent years the pick has been so slow it hasn't been worth the effort.

 

[meandtheboyz]

Quincy Bay flounder

My granfather lived there, he go would with two older buddies(My grandfather was 80 at the time)they would have a 100-150 flounder by noon 3 days a week.He used to complain about the nuisance Pollack and Cod, this was in seventies. The last trip I made was there in the 80's, fishing was horrible and the ones we caught, had tumors and growths all over them. I hope Quincy does make a comeback, there is something very special about that place,

 

[seaslug44]

Thanks Crazy-Al and everyone for your responses. It's a sad, sad day when something as spectacular as those Quincy Bay trips are nothing more than faded memories from childhood.

Al, I also remember and have pics somewhere of incredible flounder trips from Great South Bay, Moriches and Lake Montauk. There was a time when one could fill a cooler with flounder in a few hours by renting a skiff in Babylon and anchor behind one of the clam boats working in front of the Good Samaritan Hospital. The rental place was where the Hi-Hook restaurant has been standing for the past 20 years or so.

Catching flounder in Lake Montauk was something we did as a "last resort" trip when the wind was blowing too strong out of the North to safely venture outside. Chum didn't exist and worms/mussels weren't necessary. All we needed to do was slice our skimmer clams into extra thin slices. Once the bite started the fish were drawn to the boat in a frenzy.

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones because a few of my less-known honey holes around the island are still good for a dozen flounder per trip under the right tides/conditions/timing. I guess it's only a matter of time before they fade away too.

 

[614048]

I will not say that pollution doesn't exist, but was there a significant increase in pollution between the late 1970's when flounder fishing was great and the late 1980's when it wasn't? If anything with clean water standards in place there may have been slighty less pollution in the late 1980's.

 

[seaslug44]

I know that the Quincy fishing stations actually sued the City of Boston and the State of Mass for the decline in their business as a result of the Boston Harbor pollution (at one time Boston Harbor was known as one of the most polluted bodies of water in the U.S. as result of poor sewage treatment). I just wasn't sure if the pollution had everything to do with the decline in the Quincy bay fishery.

 

[skatemaster]

Saw a report last year on Quincy flounder where one capt complained that they were stealing the striper baits

Are there any open boats there? ie is the Capt Mac a partyboat?

 

[614048]

Capt Ed III, No one knows for sure, but that explanation makes more sense to me than all of the others combined.