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| Author Keith Kaufman, with the catch of the day. |
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Flounder, Fluke, Flatfish info from Flounder Fishing Tactics and Techniques, and Rudow's Guide to Fishing the Mid Atlantic
From Flounder Fishing Tactics and Techniques:
Flounder are aggressive predators. They feed by sight and by ambush, lying flat and camouflaged on the bottom while waiting for an unsuspecting meal to swim by. Then fluke explode off the bottom to attack and devour. There is an incredibly long list of fish and shellfish on the fluke menu, including (but not limited to) minnows, silversides, bunker (menhaden), eels, shrimp, worms, blue crabs, sand dollars, spot, and small bluefish, seatrout, white perch and winter flounder.
When a flounder opens wide to eat, its large mouth displays very menacing teeth. It only takes one look at a big flounder's huge, toothy mouth to realize that these fish are very capable of super-sizing their meals. Fluttering strip baits that are six, eight, even 10 inches long will be attacked by hungry fluke. Big fluke also have a hankering for big, juicy live baits. "Big baits for big fish" is especially true when it comes to catching doormat fluke.
Squid (and Squid Substitutes):
Squid strips - used by fishermen everywhere to catch practically everything that swims on the inshore grounds. Squid strips are very popular and productive fluke bait. Fished alone, a long squid strip provides a seductive fluttering action that fluke find irresistible. However, most flounder pounders choose to further enhance their squid strip with a live minnow. The squid-minnow combo is unquestionably one of the most widely-used fluke baits, and with good reason, as it catches tons of fluke each season. The white squid strip provides eye-catching flutter that triggers a fluke to grab the bait, while the minnow provides a mouthful of meaty taste that makes a fluke want to swallow the bait. It's a deadly combination!
Look over squid carefully when buying it in a bait and tackle shop. You want the biggest and whitest squid you can find, so it can be sliced into long strips that will provide tantalizing flutter when drifted on a bottom rig. Do not buy squid if it appears small, yellow or inferior in any way. If it’s all you can get, use it to catch croaker, spot, perch and other fish you can then cut into strip baits for fluke.
To prepare squid for fluke fishing, pull the head and tentacles off the squid and save them as they too make productive baits. Then run the point of your knife into the open end of the squid body. Cut open the squid body and lay it flat. The reddish membrane on the outside of the squid should be scraped away with the knife blade. Then cut the squid into long, narrow strips that are slightly wider at one end and taper down to a point. Don't make the wide end too wide, or the strip may spin instead of flutter through the water. Hook the strip only once through the wide end.
Squid head and tentacles should be fished on some sort of rig that features dual, or tandem hooks (two hooks tied several inches apart that will pull a bait straight through the water), as they'll prevent the bait from balling up and spinning as the rig moves through the water.
From Rudow's Guide to Fishing the Mid Atlantic Whachapreague’s waters are made up of deep channels cutting through marsh and shallow, flat bays. At different times, each will hold fish. But there’s little argument that two spots are the most popular among anglers: the channel in front of the old Coast Guard station, and Green and Drawing channels. Getting to both of these spots can be somewhat trying. You can’t depend on the markers, especially since it’s very tough to tell whether you’re heading is considered inland or not at any given time. When you leave the marina, for example, and take the shortest route to Green channel, if you keep the red marker on your left (red, right, returning…right?) you absolutely, positively, will run aground. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find any angler who has fished here without running aground at one time or another.
To get to these two popular areas you’ll first want to stop in at the tackle shop by the boat ramp and ask for one of their charts. They have copies on a 10” by 12”piece of paper, and if you don’t get one of these (or a NOAA chart) there’s a good chance you’ll end up lost in the marshes. That said, take a right as you leave the boat ramp, and take your first right into Bradford Bay. Follow the markers to the far side of the bay, and turn left to re-enter the marsh at Millstone Creek. Take a right at the next marker into Seal Creek, which will take you into Swash Bay. Green and Drawing channels run through the bay, and depending on the tide you may be able to run into Green Channel by heading east at the fifth fixed marker. On a low tide, yes, you’ll run aground again attempting this maneuver. And if you see a stake sticking out of the water, stay clear—they mark spots where you’ll ground on oysters, which do a heck of a lot more damage to gel coat and propellers than the surrounding sand and mud. If it does happen to be low tide you’ll have to follow the marked channel all the way to the end, then swing into Drawing channel near the southernmost portion of the bay.
There’s a small island where Green and Drawing channels split, and most anglers focus their effort in this general area. The south/east side of the island has a great drop-off, and flounder will often stack up here during low and mid tides. Along the marsh to the south-east of the island you’ll find a small creek. The drop-off is very close to shore here, too, and when a flood tide begins to ebb and that creek starts draining out, try casting right up near its mouth.
On a flood and rising tide you’ll want to move up out of the channels, and fish the shallows. These early season flounder like sunlight, and they’ll move up out of the channels to enjoy the shallow, sun-warmed bay water. Any of the shoals off the edges of these channels can be productive, but the edges of the oyster bars and flat between the little island and Green channel to its north are two particular hotspots to check out.
Another good area to try on a high tide, especially if you want to get away from the crowd, is the small shallow flat on the edge of Black Rock Reach. To get here you’ll want to stay in Wachapreague channel when you leave the marina (instead of taking that first right) until it dead-ends in a “T” at Black Rock Reach and Hammock channel. If you take a right here, you’ll find some flats up near the marsh, with several small creeks draining the sun-warmed marsh water. Fish just outside of these on the very beginning of the outgoing tide, and you’ll have an hour or two of good action.
On a low tide, you’ll want to fish the edges of the deep channels and out in front of the Coast Guard Station. You’ll spot the old buildings on shore just inside the south side of the inlet mouth. To get here from Green and Drawing channels, follow them north-east from where they meet at the little island, and continue up the main channel until you see the inlet and buildings on your right. If you’re coming here from Black Rock Reach head east, and you’ll see the inlet out ahead of you.
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