Captain Steve Wray finds trophy flounder by drifting large live baits over the rock-covered tunnel tubes of the CBBT. Photo by Charlie Coates.

Virginia's saltwater anglers dearly love their flounder. Despite intense competition from a host of worthy game fish, these bottom-dwelling delicacies reign uncontested as summertime favorites of the brine.

It hasn't always been easy for the Commonwealth's flounder-pounders. Less than a decade ago, keeper-sized fish were hard to come by. But sound management practices along the Atlantic coast have spurred a recovery in recent years. Nowhere is that recovery more noticeable or appreciated than in Virginia's portion of the Chesapeake Bay. During recent seasons, the state's anglers have been rewarded for their patience and persistence with huge numbers of flatfish that are not only keepers but true trophies.

In 2005, anglers earned citation awards for 902 flounder weighing 7 pounds or more, and another 35 awards for releases measuring a minimum of 26 inches. This was by far the state's best year for flounder citations since the minimum qualifying weight was raised from 6 pounds in 2002. The largest flounder registered last year weighed a whopping 17 pounds, 2 ounces, just 6 ounces under the 24-year-old state record. Sixty-five entries tipped the scales at 10 pounds or more during the best big-fish season in memory. Making those numbers even more impressive, this all happened in a year that actually produced fewer total flounder than in 2004.

"Flounder fishing in the bay was down from prior years, although citation numbers went up," said Claude Bain, director of the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament, who was kept busy last summer processing citation applications.

Indeed, recreational catch surveys indicate that overall flounder numbers were lower in 2005 for most areas of the bay and its tributaries. Meanwhile, specific structure, notably the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT), provided more and considerably larger flounder than usual.

Bain feels much of the increase in trophy flounder catches is attributable to refined techniques used by knowledgeable anglers in specific locations.

"The surge in citations, particularly the increase in double-digit fish, was fueled by the CBBT, and was probably technique-oriented," Bain opined. "Many anglers learned to use big live bait to catch big fish."

By big live bait, Bain is referring to spots, croaker and menhaden of 5 to 7 inches, markedly larger than the 2- and 3-inch minnows and "peanut" bunker (small menhaden) traditionally employed. Drifting with the tide, another time-honored tradition, was often scrapped as well.

"Rather than long drifts along or through the bridge or dropoffs, the baits were fished right in the pilings," Bain said. "Skippers would hold the boat against the tide to keep it positioned under the bridge and let the live baits swim around. They would anchor around known flounder-holding structure associated with the bridge, or use the motor to hold the boat against the current to keep baits in the productive zones longer."