Winter Flounder Fishing for a Great Time

If you’re dissatisfied with the cold weather and want to start fishing, you’re probably considering ice fishing. If you live in New England, you’ve got plenty of opportunities just waiting for you. Striped bass are available as early as March and in April you’ll have the opportunity to begin fishing for fluke (also known as winter flounder).  The reason they are so plentiful at this time of year is that they are spawning along the coastline.

Winter Flounder Fishing Season is just 6 or 8 weeks

Modern restrictions have newly been placed on winter flounder owing in large part to over-harvesting and incompatible reproduction habitats.  These restrictions have shortened winter flounder fishing season to just 6 or 8 weeks, but this still offers plenty of time for a great winter fluke season.

Unlike summer flounder fishing.

You can easily fish for winter flounder with relatively light line (8-12 lbs) and a rod as small as six or seven feet will be adequate.  Remember, these fish only range from 2-3 lbs each.  Crafting a rig for winter flounder can be as simple or as complicated as you care to make it.  Regardless, you’ll have great success provided you use the smaller hooks that are an essential component of successfull winter flounder fishing.  Small hooks and weights (to keep bait at the bottom) help accommodate both the habitat where you’ll find winter flounder and their small, nearly toothless mouths.

Your next step is to combine bait for winter flounder fishing with yellow grubs or beads fastened to the shaft.  Winter flounder rigs are well known for their bright yellow bait. Regardless of whether you choose to fish with mussel, sandworms or bloodworms as bait, the bright yellow helps catch the attention of winter flounder.

Chumming is another successful means of fishing for flounder.

Whether you opt to fish while anchored in a boat or from the shoreline, and this method attracts large schools of winter flounder.  To have all the equipment you need to take full advantage of your winter flounder fishing event, just pick up your chum pots at a local bait and tackle shop.  You need simply attach the pots to a nonflexible object near the shoreline or secure them to the boat.

For those who prefer to cast dual rods, you can use one behind your boat (in the same direction as the current) and one along-side the boat near your chum pot.  This method not only helps you catch more flounder but it helps you get the most out of your chum pots.

Winter flounder have a habit of gathering together in areas where they can find food in abundance.

So it is likely that you will catch a bunch of them in somewhat shallow water.  As a rule of thumb, the more shallow the water, the warmer it will be, and therefore the more abundant the fluke’s food source.   Consequently, you can usually find a school of winter flounder near an area of sand and gravel that easily becomes to mud on a regular basis.

If you’re a saltwater angler, winter flounder fishing is a great way to break back into it after a long and cold winter. These delicately flavored fish also help restock your freezer after the winter and before the summer fishing season gets underway.

When winter flounder fishing you want to make sure that you have the proper equipment, some products to consider are Shimano Fishing Reels and Penn Reel

Tags: Cold Weather Fishing, Fishing Hooks, Fishing Season, Fluke, Great Time, Grubs, Habitats, Ice Fishing, Line 8, Mouths, penn reels, Plenty Of Time, Rig, Sandworms, Shaft, Shimano Reels, Shoreline, Striped Bass, Time Of Year, Weights, Winter Flounder Fishing