flatties in the inlet

[Harry Hood]

Fished all of the 4th of July weekend in the OC Inlet and behind Assateague. Caught tons of flounder mostly in the 12"-15" class. Would be getting tugs on almost every drift. Probably caught in excessive of 20 fish each trip, with keepers being few and far between. Best catching was on the incoming tides. Used gulp and live minnows on high/low rigs. Caught at least 2 flatties on gulp for every one that was caught on minnows.

[spurgeon]

I did the same thing.Fished all weekend tons of flounder mostly on gulp baits.The 19" limit is a joke however i did catch one 22" on a swim shad while rockfishing.Other than that ive caught probably hundreds of flounder this season with only one other keeper.Im all about conservation but a 19" flounder is a pretty rare site in the bay at least.

[chipsyukon]

Love that GULP!

[pvtpilot]

Same story... fished outgoing yesterday. Great conditions! Water was clear. Sky was overcast. Not much boat traffic. Caught lots of flatties up to about 16 inches. No keepers! I never saw a boat bring in a keeper.

As I thought about it last night, I have been fishing for flounder for about 30 years. Used to fish Chincoteague years ago when the numbers of fish were crazy. I don't know if I ever caught more than a couple fish in all that time that met the 19" minimum.

Maybe in another year we will have a bumper crop of legal fish, but right now they are few and far between!

Best regards, Glenn

[rocksteady]

Trying early tomorrow. Will let you know how I do. My friend Mark caught a few keepers on weds.

[rgminer]

I did the same thing.Fished all weekend tons of flounder mostly on gulp baits.The 19" limit is a joke however i did catch one 22" on a swim shad while rockfishing.Other than that ive caught probably hundreds of flounder this season with only one other keeper.Im all about conservation but a 19" flounder is a pretty rare site in the bay at least.

There was a study posted on TF a while back that said well over 90% of all flounder 17" and larger are female. Why they would set the size limit to make the harvest nearly all breeders is beyond my comprehension. I would love to know why they won't consider a slot limit say of 15-17" and a creel of 3...There appear to be maybe 20 times the number of smaller fish than keepers. Commercial size limit is something like 14 inches...

[gwaud]

There was a study posted on TF a while back that said well over 90% of all flounder 17" and larger are female. Why they would set the size limit to make the harvest nearly all breeders is beyond my comprehension. I would love to know why they won't consider a slot limit say of 15-17" and a creel of 3...There appear to be maybe 20 times the number of smaller fish than keepers. Commercial size limit is something like 14 inches...

There is a public meeting and opinion held every year. Get enough people together to select the smaller size limit / shorter season option. most folks want the larger size longer season option for when they move offshore on the wrecks