Winter Flounder
 

I honestly have not seen 1 caught in over 20 years here on Long Island, do you guys still get them up north?

What happened to their population? Overfishing? Seals? Hungry stripers?

Thought about this when I stumbled across old hooks in my tackle box (complete with yellow corn kernel looking piece of plastic just above the hook!).

It has been great the last several years in the Boston area and South shore. Not like the late 70's before it died off but it is getting there. You should make the time to come up and make a trip. Starting late May, June would be good. Easy to get your limit of 8 per person for the freezer. My favorite eating fish.

cant wait to catch some flatties - they're getting pretty big too. most of the harbors up this way have a pretty good bite with boston being the best

Yup, going again Bahston harbah,,,, soooon

I think we have had 3 or 4 in my boat in the last 25 years ><>

Come on up clammer, I'll put you on them
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Blame the Cormerant.
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And the seals, and Brayton pt, even the thumb splitters eat baby flounder..
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I agree with everything /except Maybe Brayton P/P .....................................But whatever they are using to cleanse the water from the sewerage tunnel is really screwing up all kinds of Marine life in the bay ...................last time there was a large set of little necks in the bay ?????????????????? 95% of the diggers are all catching chunky stuff ................I dug two moon tides last week ..the places are around 15 miles apart .......in neither place did I see 10 or more undersize :huh:

Mt Hope is a major spawn area, the cooling water intake, before the cooling towers had to have a big impact, as did the warm water discharge. Could be better now with the towers. Not sure about the treatment stuff Mike....
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As said, Boston/Quincy area is the best bet here in New England. I will say, however, that there are still some very good catches being made in Connecticut waters each year. For the most part this goes unnoticed thanks in no small part to the 2-fish limit, but when you add a pair of flounder to a blackfish or two in the spring, you've got one of the best inshore fish dinners you're likely to find around here. I get some pretty reliable and regular reports of flounder being caught cross much of the Connecticut coast from one of the Sound to the other both from boat and by shore.

One of my first salt water fishing experiences as a young kid was sitting on my dads 27 foot sailboat in Scituate Harbor dunking sea worms for flatties.

We do good May- July on them in Boston harbor-Quincy & the last few years we are seeing more & more Black Sea bass, tog and an occasional fluke.
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. . . and me, sitting on my grandfather's boat at the mooring in LI Sound catching them. Two years ago I caught one about 10 inches long during the summer in Fishers Island Sound while scup fishing. Only the second one that I have seen in years, since I worked in New Bedford. The other one was legal sized but out of season, caught while cod fishing on Coxes.

Back when I was a kid growing up in NY (1960s/70s) I would read advertisements in the Friday edition of the NY Daily News of bus trips from NY to Quincy to fish for winter flounder.

I've looked a few times here on the Cape, not enough for a serious effort, but I don't know if I've ever heard of them taken on the South Side with any reliability. The only one I've ever caught was snagged with a bucktail while kayak fluke fishing in July.

Most that I hear about are in Cape Cod Bay. I'll have to give it another go this spring. There have to be catchable numbers somewhere from the shore or kayak around the Cape.

I grew up in hull, I can't even imagine how many we caught. id come home with a bucket of flatties and my father would shake his head knowing he'd have to fillet them all. "Sure, you do the fun part"
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I hear that, I'm not a fan of filleting fluke, although last year I did become very proficient at it; but smaller flatties are just that much more challenging.

slice and dice

My first boat fishing was done at the mouth of the Housatonic River in central CT. We could rent a small boat with a 15 hp motor, and catch flatfish double headers all day long, on these big, clunky, spreader bars that looked like huge coat hangers.

We would chum with cat food and kernel corn. Lots of the fish we caught would have corn in their stomachs.

Haven't caught one in over 30 years, closer to 35. Hoping to get to Boston Hahbah this year to change that.

[QUOTE=Jim in CT;1118702, on these big, clunky, spreader bars that looked like huge coat hangers.[/QUOTE]

My buddy still uses them
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back when i grew up on LI late 50's and up until 81 when i left Moriches bay,mastic, patchogue bays were hot grounds for winter flounder, moriches had many boat rental yards that thrived on the flounder business.

As a Quincy kid in the late 60's, we'd fill buckets with flounder from the wall of the raw sewage outlflow at moon island.
Them's good eats ! 😳
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maybe we'll put together a little flounderfest for early june in boston harbor

Moriches Bay - Tadsen Fishing Station.

I was a flounder pounder machine. I haven't changed a bit.

Chumming with mussels was the key.

Growing up in NYC we would take a boat out at te mouth of the east river under the Throggs neck bridge and hammer them every spring. Some of my fondest memories growing up fishing with my dad. I was less than 10 and could still take you to our hot spots.

I'm in, great idea, I'll bring the coat hangers....:wave:

Grew up fishing Moritches Bay a couple of times a year, out of Silly Lilly, fished for them every weekend during spring in Jamaica Bay.