I have asked many times what is the most popular fish in the Chesapeake Bay? The answer is maybe stripers or maybe flounder, depending on what statistics you use or whom you ask the question to. Both are good answers because for the most part you are looking at different seasons altogether and different type of fishing as well. I would say that most of the spring, summer and into the early fall, flounder is king. In the late fall and winter striper is king. For the lower bay this is true. In the middle and upper bay the season is earlier for stripers both beginning and ending. In other words by late fall and into the winter the stripers are gone whereas down in Virginia Beach and the Ocean starting January 1 it is just getting in high gear. Both fish have a tremendous economic value to recreational fishing in Virginia according to the VIRGINIA MARINE RESOURCES COMMISSION.

I have always resisted bottom fishing as a method of fishing other than catching bait. I've been schooled in offshore fishing and trolling is the primary method of presentation. As a kid I always liked to cast for bass in the freshwater arena. I still think casting for fish is probably one of the most exciting methods of catching. Drifting and live baiting, chunking, pitching, and various other methods of presentation are very exciting in the offshore arena as well.

In the past couple of years I've watched some fellows who charter primarily inshore build up a great clientele of customers by doing nothing but flounder fish. Many days in the middle of the summer the weather is not right for offshore fishing or there is not enough interest due to the cost (primarily due to higher fuel cost) of running offshore trips for the average group of anglers. Every captain has their "specialty" so to speak and mine has always been stripers for many years. I am a run and gun type of fisherman; find the fish, catch the fish. Either method of trolling or casting makes no difference as long as we get the results. This last year has been a great year for both stripers and flounder. I have always referred business to the guys who really are the flounder pounders and do it almost daily. This year because it has been a slower than usual year for many reasons I decided that I needed to change my M.O. maybe a little bit.

Recently, some guys called me from up in Maryland and wanted to go flounder fishing. I told them that I really did not do that much of it and I felt more comfortable referring them to a guy that specialized in it. Well my guy was booked up solid for like 30 days straight! These fellows from Baltimore really wanted to go, and they understood the deal. They insisted that I take them, "because they had heard I was a good fisherman". I told them on the phone what the deal was and that I did not spend much time bottom fishing. The bottom line is, I do not have enough patience to bottom bounce. They were persistent and seemed like a good bunch of guys who would have a good time regardless of the number of fish caught. I told them to go ahead and come we would schedule a trip anyway.

The day of the trip only three guys showed up, and to tell the truth I felt a little bit of relief because there would not be quit as much pressure. The fishing had been good right before this scheduled trip, but I was still nervous. It was kind of like your first date in high school, know what I mean? We had spent the day before catching live bait (small spot) and had my pickle barrel loaded up. After transferring about 50 spot into my live well on the boat I felt a little better at the beginning of the day. The next thing to worry about was if I had enough hooks and sinkers to last through the day. You have to remember this is not something I have done every day like some of these other guys who do it every day and are set up for it. You have to push the clutch in pretty hard to shift gears from offshore to flounder in a days time. They told me they were all experienced fishermen, which made me even more nervous.

The fish had been on the structure around the pilings. My rig is kind of big to be maneuvering in and around the pilings of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, but after dropping the riggers to a low position and getting up on my half tower where I could see the bow and cockpit better I was ready to get down and dirty with the serious power drifting technique of flounder pounding the pilings. It was a hot day and so the shade under the bridge felt good to me since I do not have a buggy top on my tower. My 32 foot center console got a real workout moving in and around the pilings with the strong tidal current that runs through there. The single engine diesel is not designed for that type of work, but we somehow managed and it actually worked better than I had anticipated.

We actually caught fish between hang-ups on just about every drift. As the tide slowed down it got even better as flat browns came around for us. We ended up with 18 fish up to 6 pounds and one trigger fish that must have been lost. I am happy to say that my attitude toward flounder fishing has improved and as the old saying goes, business is business.

Thank goodness for the flat brown coming around for a great season. The good news is this month coming up is supposed to be one of the best months for this action to even improve some more!