The islands of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel give up huge flounder to anglers who work live bait over the rocks. Photo by Charlie Coates.

Virginia’s trophy flounder hunters probably thought fishing couldn’t get any better than it was in 2005. Anglers that year 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 Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament’s best year for flounder citations since the minimum qualifying weight was raised from 6 pounds in 2002. The bar had been set pretty high.

The Commonwealth’s flounder aficionados responded to the challenge with one of their best years ever in 2006, posting outstanding results for both numbers and size of fish throughout the summer. Although “only” 889 flounder citations were recorded, 78 of them weighed in at 10 pounds or more, compared with 65 double-digit fish the year before. Perhaps more importantly, the overall fishery was greatly improved. In 2005, fishing flourished at specific structures, notably the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT), but declined at most other locations. In 2006, more anglers got a piece of the flounder pie.

BRIDGE-TUNNEL BONANZA
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, which connects the Norfolk/Virginia Beach region to Virginia’s Eastern Shore, has been a major hotspot for flounder and other game fish species for decades. Its 17 1/2 miles of bait-holding structure and deep dropoffs provide habitat preferred by the bay’s true trophies that lie in wait to ambush a meal.

Only in recent years, however, have anglers perfected the specialized live-bait methods of catching the largest of flounder over the complex’s rock-covered tunnel tubes and along its islands and bridge pilings. Here, the traditional practice of drifting cut bait has been replaced by working large live baits over specific structure. This method and this structure accounted for the lion’s share of the state’s double-digit flounder in 2005, and they only got larger in 2006.

“The same pattern held last year, with live bait at the CBBT producing a disproportionate share of those truly giant-sized fish,” said Claude Bain, director of the state-run tournament. “The difference in 2006 from 2005 was that overall flounder fishing was very good, whereas 2005 had been a pretty mediocre year for fishing in general, with a very good specialized fishery for big fish. In 2006, the specialized fishery continued -- improved even -- but overall flounder fishing also was very good.

Having become spoiled by so many large flounder in 2005, most big-game hunters of the lower bay had little interest in the 5- to 7-pounders that were once considered trophies. Their fixation on double-digit fish may have contributed to the decline in the total number of citations in 2006. Their mantra of “bigger is better” was revved up a notch, as larger bait became available.

“We didn’t catch as many flounder this year as last,” said Captain Steve Wray, a Virginia Beach native who has been running charters out of the area for more than 20 years. “We were able to get bigger spots last year, and that might have weeded out some of the smaller fish. If you caught one, though, you had a good chance that it would go 10 pounds.”

Larger spots translates to even more substantial offerings than the 5- to 7-inch specimens employed in 2005, which in turn dwarfed the 2- to 3-inch menhaden and minnows that were formerly the standard when live-lining for flounder.

Other than using larger live baits, Wray’s game plan for putting doormats in the boat remained the same. While the entire CBBT complex holds big fish, Wray’s favorite location is the northernmost tunnel tube between the third and fourth islands, where huge flounder stack up on the rocks along the tube.

Wray rigs his live bait on a 3/0 Kahle hook, employing a three-way swivel with a dropper to a bank sinker that is just heavy enough to hold bottom. Then comes the hard part.