7-5 DB: Flounder Alley

[Flatfish]

I launched at Port Mahon this morning about 8:30. I'd heard lots of good reports from flounder alley. Once I got to the cross ledge I could see the fleet over on the Jersey side. I started drifting west of the fleet in about 26 feet of water. I started catching flounder right away, a few were close but no keepers. I caught a dog shark and then a four foot brown shark.

I pulled up and moved east of the flattop. I had a nice slow drift down the edge of the channel for two hours. I ended up catching about twenty flounder withy two keepers at 25 and 20"

Chicken, minnows and salted peanut bunker all caught fish. Combination baits did the best. I ran out of bait around noon and shot back in at full throttle. I love calm seas.

[Flatfish]

cough cough cough


well I think I caught a little case of the 'Flatty Flu' on Sunday so I had to call in today

I launched at 8:00 a.m. and was fishing by 8:30. Today started off almost exactly the same as yesterday. A couple of throwbacks then another large shark screaming my drag. He circled my boat three times before I got him to the surface. He was about five feet long and looked to be the same type I hooked into yesterday. Brown with a large tail and a big mouth full of teeth.

I pulled up and moved to some marks I had made over by the Oyster Grounds in about 24' of water. The tide stopped moving and the fishing was dead for about an hour. As soon as the tide picked up so did the fishing. I made three long drifts from the Crossledge down to the Flattop with nonstop action. I caught about 35 flounder with three Delaware keepers. I threw back half a dozen that were Jersey legal. I caught a few small blues also. I think this area has gotten picked over quite well. All of the keepers were caught on strips of bluefish. Chicken, minnows and salted peanut bunker all caught fish. Winds were calm and seas were flat. WT was 72^

[Flatfish]

I got back out this morning and started fishing by 7:30 a.m. I started out drifting east of the Flattop. Tide was dead low but the wind was creating some drifts. The fishing was slow and once again my drag started screaming. This time it was a 20 lb ray. I got him to the side of the boat and cut him off. Fishing was slow and it took about an hour to get my first fish. I had a slow but steady pick the rest of the trip. I caught 12 flounder and two blues. I ended up with three keepers to 20.5". 1 and 2 oz chartreuse ball jigs w/t various colored ZOOMS fished tandem, tipped with chicken caught all of the fish today. Bluefish strips did not even get a sniff. I bailed about noon knowing that the outgoing tide against the strong S. winds was going to be a sloppy mess. I couldn't believe all of the small boats leaving to go out about 12:30 when I got back to the ramp.

[fishinzak]

Hey Flatfish,

Three of us fished up there on the 10th and caught about 50 flounder with 7 keepers. We didn't get ther until around noon and the tide was just starting to go out. We were pulling right up to the Cross Ledge Light and drifting along the edge to the flat top. Drift about 1/2 mile then start over again. Burkley Mullet and Bluefish were the top baits on Aqua Clear rigs. the 6.5 punder came off of bluefish. Going to try to get out this weekend again up there. I will let you know how I did.

[Flatfish]

Zak,

Nice catch. 6.5 lbs is a nice fish. 7 keepers isn't bad either. I've been on vacation for a few weeks and I'm itching to get back out there. I'd been fishing a few miles east of where you were. Word is the fish are spreading out and possibly moving north of the ledge. There's a nice slough just to the n.e. That's where I heard the headboats have been fishing lately. Who knows this year, because the larger fish are usually just coming in to the bay. I'm hearing of a few large fish being caught on the structure around brown shoal in the lower bay also. I'll be testing out the anchorage soon.

[Flatfish]

I took my 9 year old son out this morning. The bay was as flat as a pancake. We shot down south and joined the fleet by Miah Maul Light. Fishing was slow all morning we had about twelve fish with three being NJ keepers but only 1 Delaware keeper at 19.5". Bluefish strips were the ticket today. I only caught blues on jigs. I had one striper about 25" right up next to the Flattop that I could have kept if I was in Delaware waters. Loads of bunker and rays breaking water all day. We saw two large turtles surface near the boat. Fishing really slowed around the low tide and my boy started getting real hot so we took a cruise up the shipping channel to check out the lighthouses.

[fishinzak]

That is a realy good picture of the light house. Fishing has slowed incredibaly up there. Alot of small ones. Site 6 and 7 are producing nice fish early in the morning. Just need to get through the croakers. Slack tide directly over the rocks are producing big flatties. Make sure you take plenty of tackle with you. About your Striper, I thought all of Delaware bay was ok for the slots. As long as you are bringing them back to Delaware port. I will find out for us. I do not want to see you throw any more good eating fish away. I don't know how big your boat is but the catch at the "B" can at he old grounds is on fire right now.

[Flatfish]

The fish have just moved deeper, there's still plenty of nice fish up around the flattop. I fished today for two hours after work. I caught 16 fish with two keepers 21.5" and 20". The keepers were caught on 5" peanut bunker. The wind picked up strong about 4:00 and was going with the tide making for a super fast drift. Even with my sock it was over 2 mph.

The peanuts are so thick in the Mahon River you can almost walk across on them.

[Flatfish]

Got back out saturday and fished the deeper water at the edge of the shipping channel. I couldn't catch any peanuts today. Fishing was slow until I caught a few blues for bait. I cut up some long strips and started putting some fish in the box. I caught 12 fish with three keepers. The largest was a nice 24" fish that took a jig tipped with a strip of blue. I had seven blues and a few sand sharks.

[fishinzak]

Great fishing Flatfish. Keep me posted up there. I want to try to get up ther this weekend. Since I live in souther Ddelaware I may just put in at Bowers.

[BREEZY B]

Those are some nice flatties. I never knew you could use chicken for bait can't wait to to get out there catch some flatties myself

[SAW_Angler]

I'm trying to make up my mind as to wether I go north (32, 34, Crossledge area) or go south and hit the lower bay reefs. Or perhaps the ocean and site 10 or the "B" buoy/Old grounds area. Anybody been on the water during the week that can give me a good report? I'm fishing on Friday, so any news will be appreciated!

SAW_Angler

[SAW_Angler]

I decided on the Mid-bay again. The fish are still all around the Crossledge. My nephew and I fished north of the Crossledge on Friday, 8/14 and had solid sucess. We had to outwait the long change of the tide and a period where we had 0.0 drift on the incoming, but once we did we were very busy. We caught nearly 40 flounder and brought home 6 nice keepers, 4 of which were between 20 and 22 inches. We were fishing between the 17' shallow water and the 30+ adjacent to the channel. I'm going to keep going there until I hear the fish are moving south.

[Steve]

Nice catches on the Flatties!

[Flatfish]

I got back out for a few hours this afternoon. The flounder fishing is still very good. I fished just N. to just S. of the Flattop again. The fish have definitely moved closer to the channel. I was bummed out that I couldn't catch any peanuts or minnows in my throw net so I was glad that I had brought a chicken breast. I started out in about 25' of water jigging up a lot of TBs. I caught a few small blues and sandsharks which I turned into bait strips. I jigged up a 20" flounder at dead slack. About an hour into the high, the bite got crazy. I ended up with my limit all 20-21". I released at least 6 fish that were legal in Jersey waters. I'd like to go fishing somewhere else for a change, but I can't pass this action up since it's only 20 minutes from my house and 7 minutes from work.

There was lots of traffic in the shipping lanes today. At one point, a large ship was heading northbound. Most of the boats fishing in the channel were smart enough to get out of the way, but there's always one guy...... I could hear the guys on the ship yelling at him to get out of the channel......