We all have heard stories of monster winter flounder reaching sizes of 4-5 pounds off the East End of Long Island. Tobacco Lot and Bostwick Bays off Gardiners Island, the Hooter Buoy off Block Island, Three Mile Harbor and Fishers Island are some of the better known areas that have produced trophy size flounder. The season usually begins in late April and runs through the middle of May.
This is not your typical flounder fishing. You will be usually fishing in deeper water with a fair amount of tide to deal with. Some of the areas mentioned can only be fished around the change of tide, since the tidal flow is too strong. Standard tackle consists of a medium boat rod capable of handling up to eight ounces of sinker and a conventional reel loaded with 20 lb test line. Spiderwire or Fireline is my choice due to its sensitivity, low stretch and thin diameter.
Terminal tackle consists of a two hook tandem tied rigs using a # 4 heavy wire Chestertown flounder hook or my favorite is a #4 Mustad bronze accupoint baitholder hook. The larger and heavier hooks are not only for the larger flounder. At this time of year there is always the possibility of taking a good size blackfish or school size codfish since you will be fishing on both broken bottom and mussel beds.
Mussels are the preferred bait, but sandworms and clam necks can also be effective. Chumming is essential with frozen clam bellies or crushed mussels. Depending on the tide, wind conditions and how thick the concentration of fish, you can either anchor or drift.
The one thing that always amazes me about these big flounder are the way they bite. Most of the time there is no bite, just added weight on the line. Just reel down until the tip of your rod is pointed at the water and all the slack in the line is gone. Then slowly lift the tip of the rod to feel for the weight and smartly set the hook. Reel the fish up slowly and when you get him up beside the boat use the net to bring him in. DonŐt try to lift him into the boat.
Several years ago, while at Montauk in May, I was invited out by one of the better bottom fishing charter captains. He had a cancellation and was going out to fill an order for bluefish for one of the local restaurants. There were rumors of early season blues on the south side of Montauk. The plan was to troll umbrella rigs on wire to fill the order, than do a little mixed bag bottom fishing for what ever was around.
After catching the needed amount of bluefish, we headed back around to the north side of Montauk light. We anchor up inshore just west of the lighthouse, when the captain pulled out two bushels of skimmer clams. He asked me if I would help him shuck the clams for a codfish charter the next day. I said okay and began shucking away following his lead and tossing the shells over the stern off the boat. It took us about and hour to shuck, wash and bag the clams. Then we washed down the deck and the captain said to go up to the bow and let out about fifty feet of anchor line. He then said to rig up the rods with the heavy flounder rigs he had already tied. We then baited up with the clam necks and started to fish.
In simple terms, it was like fishing in the proverbial barrel. That pile of clam shells rang the dinner bell. As soon as we hit bottom there was an immediate bight of big flounder from 2-3 lbs and blackfish from 4-8 lbs.
The season for these large flounder is short, so keep checking the east end reports. Try to fish off the full and new moon phases to fish the weaker tides. Hopefully you can get a bluebird weather day in May when the bite is on.
|
