Summer flounder or fluke, (Paralichthys dentatus), are found in estuarine and coastal

waters from Nova Scotia to Florida. Summer flounder are most abundant between

Massachusetts and North Carolina.

 

Summer flounder exhibit strong seasonal inshore-offshore movements, although their

movements are often not as extensive as compared to other highly migratory species.

Adult and juvenile summer flounder normally inhabit shallow coastal and estuarine

waters during the warmer months of the year and remain offshore during the fall

and winter.

 

Once inshore during the summer months, there appears to be very little movement of

inshore fish to offshore waters. Tagging studies conducted on flounder released off

Long Island and southern New England revealed that fish usually began seaward

migrations in September or October. After September, their abundance decreases,

and the remaining fish are more common in deeper water.

 

Spawning occurs over the open ocean areas of the shelf. Summer flounder spawn during the fall and winter while the fish are moving offshore or onto their wintering grounds; the offshore migration is presumably keyed to declining water temperature and decreasing photoperiod during the autumn. Spawning begins in September in the inshore waters of southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic.

 

Adult summer flounder are opportunistic feeders with fish and crustaceans making up a significant portion of their diet.

 

 

 

Summer flounder  are well known for their aggressiveness.

 

Summer flounder can be found on sandy or muddy bottoms in many inshore habitats and are particularly abundant in fast moving water that can gather bait fish. Bridges, piers, and docks are flounder magnets during the summer and will hold the biggest fish.

 

Shoreline anglers use medium weight spinning gear spooled with 12 pound test, on 6 or 7 foot rods

 

Casting baited bucktails in red or white sweetened with strips of fresh or frozen squid, spearing, 4 to 5 inch strips of skin cut from the tails of a sea robin, the belly of a fluke or a bluefish. The bucktail should be retrieved with a slow pumping action bouncing the lure along the bottom.

 

Another good summer flounder bait is the Berkley Gulp, Alive, 4" Mullet. You can swim this synthetic imitation right along the bottom, basically crawling it through flounder territory on a jig head or a bucktail. John Skinner has a great video on rigging with the Berkley Gulp, although he uses a boat this same rig can be used on the surf or bank: How to Tie and Fish a Flounder Bucktail Rig