Over the past couple of years, the northeast has seen a miraculous revival in winter flounder stocks.
Although winter flounder seem to be thriving north of Cape Cod, they have yet to make much of a recovery in the southern end of their range. These fish were once abundant in the back bays and estuaries of New York and New Jersey and, sadly, they have fallen on hard times. But, there is a glimmer of hope. The past few years, anglers have been able to scratch up a few fish early in the spring, and in some areas they appear to be on the upswing. The Island Current fleet, which steams out of the Bronx, has been making trips targeting winter flounder, and Captain Chris Cullen recently told me that they’ve had some very good days this year. But, he also stated that the restrictive regulations (2 fish per angler) have kept a lot of fishermen at home, and the fishery is still nowhere near what it was back in the 80s.
Luckily, for anglers fishing south of Cape Cod, there is another tasty flatfish that is widely abundant. The fluke, or summer flounder, is a ferocious flatfish that can be found just about anywhere. These fish are easy to catch, taste great, and are very abundant.