In the first episode of season 7 of My Fishing Cape Cod TV, I had the opportunity to go fishing with captain Derek Barber and MFCC member Bruno Demir of Cape & Islands Mitsubishi.
The weather during this trip (which happened on May 8th of 2023) was nothing short of spectacular. The winds were light and the skies were clear. The air temperature hit 70 degrees and I actually applied sunscreen for the first time!
For me, flounder fishing brings back memories of dropping sea worms to the bottom off Scusset Beach with my dad when I was a kid, fishing from our 12 foot boat. We caught some flounder back then, but what I remember most were the skates.
So as I hopped onboard Bruno's boat the Gaviota, I couldn't help but be a little excited about targeting a fish I have somewhat neglected since starting My Fishing Cape Cod.
Plus, if all went well I would be going home with fresh fish for dinner!
Over the winter, Bruno had added an additional 3 feet to the length to his boat, and the Gaviota was riding very well as we headed out onto the flat calm seas.
For this trip we departed from the harbor shown in the map below.
Also onboard was Bruno's friend Derek Barber, who is a professional captain here on Cape. Most of Derek's time is spent offshore chasing pelagic species, so this was definitely a change of pace for him.
The next task was to setup a drift.
For information about the tide, the type of bottom we fished over, and the water depths we targeted, please login or start a membership.
For bait we tried an assortment of clams, mussels and sea worms. Bruno also used a chum pot with crushed mussels to help draw the flounder in.
Fortunately Derek had given us a few good flounder fishing spots to try, and it didn't take long until we had our first "customer" of the day. However, it wasn't the right species...
Throughout the morning we battled with sculpins, which are a unique looking, thorny fish with an assortment of hard spines.
Several minutes later we had another customer and this time it was the right species. Flounder do not fight as hard as bluefish or stripers, but they still give a nice little battle.
The fish was over the 12 inch minimum size so it went into the box.
Throughout the next few hours we tried several different areas. We left fish to find fish, which is always risky business.
We ended up returning to where we began and enjoyed a fun pick of flounder which were almost all keeper-size.
We kept 8 fish and returned the rest to the bay, including the last flounder of the day, which was also the biggest flounder of the day, measuring in at a hair over 17 inches.
Aside from the flounder and sculpin, Derek thinks we might of marked some sand eels on the sonar, and while reviewing underwater footage I did see mackerel. Bruno also reported catching mackerel the weekend before this trip, so they were definitely in the bay by May 3rd of last year.
Before heading back to harbor we spent a little time trolling along the edge of the Brewster flats for stripers without any bites. However, with all the herring that were around I am sure there were some at least some bass in the area.
In fact, captain Steve Leary of Wingman Sportfishing sent me a photo last year during the first week of May of a 37 inch bass he caught in Cape Cod Bay on live mackerel, so they were definitely already around.
I hope you enjoyed this post and special thanks to everyone who watched today's episode of My Fishing Cape Cod TV!
Spring is now right around the corner and saltwater fishing will be heating back up before we know it.
Tight lines! 
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Great to hear about your Flounder Trip! We had a great trip out of Sesuit yesterday too. I was excited to catch my first Flounder ever and we also had a chance to catch a bunch of stripers.
That’s awesome Gretchen. It must have been beautiful out there! The weather this past week has been as good as it gets.