I keep hearing locals talking about filling buckets with 2 lb flounders back in the 60-70s, just like LI. I've tried a few times with no joy, fishing aggressively with chum and sash weight pounding. I've seen flounder on a few occasions, so they do exist, just not in any numbers.
- An osprey diving down in front of me while bass fishing and coming up with a nice flounder, although during my kayaking with my head down, I've yet to see one on the bottom
- A dried, 1" flounder on my boat's deck one morning
- Two, 3-4" flounder in an inshore cod's stomach
Not saying warming isn’t a cause, but it’s not the sole reason northeast Atlantic coast's flounder crash. Don’t forget that Quincy crashed too, but saw a recent resurgence, only to have another demise when the state of MA encouraged small draggers to work inshore 2 years ago.
IMO this equation is multi-variant and doesn't have a single root cause and I hope we can actually figure it out. I'd kill for a plate of fresh, fried, flounder fillets...
