Flounder in November Isn’t a Fluke

By Scott Lenox

Flounder in November Isn’t a Fluke

We had much more seasonal weather today with high’s only reaching into the low 60s and wind cranking out of the north and northwest.  We had mostly sunny skies so there were some anglers fishing the Oceanic Pier, the route 50 bridge and the bulkheads behind Ocean City, but I didn’t see anyone on the bay and I’m pretty certain no one was fishing in the ocean.

Flounder being caught in Ocean City in November isn’t rare by any stretch, but the amount of flounder being caught in November so far this year is crazy.  I’m sure the warm conditions that we’ve seen have delayed the flounders mass exit to the offshore canyons, but I’ve never seen flounder fishing this good in November….ever.  Usually by this time of year most everyone has switched over to casting for school sized rockfish at the bridges or bottom fishing for tautog.  This year however, I’ve seen several boats drifting north of the route 50 bridge with Gulp baits, live mullet and live bunker because the flounder fishing is still that good.  The water temperature is going to be on a quick decline as we start to see cooler day and night temperatures, but we should see flounder until the water temperature reaches the low 50s.

Matt Ellis of the Ocean City Fishing Community has not only been having great luck with flounder in November, he’s also having great luck with them at night.  Flounder are sight feeders so it’s not common to catch them so well at night.  They will eat around piers and bridges with lights, but they will definitely be caught more during the day.  Matt has got his system figured out and was at it again last night.  Here’s his report from the route 50 bridge…..

Flounder are still stacked up in the bay. There was no lull in the action from 6pm to midnight last night. So many hook ups that I plowed through a bucket of Gulps and had to hand craft the chewed up nubs into little fish shapes to keep the fun going. Flounder still ate ’em up like the originally packaged product. I released over 20 throwbacks from hand size to 15.99″. Only three legal fish all night from 16 1/4″ to 17 1/2″. I tagged and released the 16 inchers and took the 17’er home. The wx was perfect up until 11pm, then releasing little flat fish from the windward side of the bridge was like throwing a Wham-O frisbee into a stiff 20+mph wind. I also caught taylor blues, shad and a 25″ish rockfish that put up an unusually spirited fight in very shallow water. Really thought I had a keeper, but not to be. BTW, if you ever catch a tagged fish, please take the time to report it back to the tagging organization listed on the tag. I’ve tagged several flounder, rockfish and tog inside the inlet & bay, and would love to see and share any sort of recapture data.

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The Jade II out of the Talbot Street Pier had their final trip of the year yesterday and had a great trip to the Rockpile for some bottom fishing.  The crew ended the day with a nice pile of tilefish and sea bass.

jade-ii

Bear at the Oceanic Pier is still seeing some great fish come in from the pier this time of year.  Today it was a couple of anglers with a keeper black drum and a keeper red drum.

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