Waterlands

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Summer flounderPeak season

Bay · Virginia

Sandy Island Bay

37.48°N · 75.70°W · Bay · Chesapeake Bay from Little Creek VA to Cape Henry VA including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel

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Best score today · 7 AM · Summer flounder

61/100Good
Now
487 AM EDT
Best window
7-11 AMEbb tide
Tide now
Ebbing3.7 ft ▼

Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + NDBC + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 7 AM · now

Time7ANOW
Score48Good
Tide3.7 ft ▼Ebbing
Current0.5 knmodeled · toward SSW
Wind16 kn NEgusts 27 · steady
Sea stateRough4.7 ft · 7 s
Air temp66°Mild
WeatherOvercast39% chance of rain
Water72°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Summer flounder is on file here yet, so its status is unknown, not closed. Confirm limits with VMRC before you keep a fish.

Source: VMRC · synced yesterday

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Summer flounder is best here

Peak season for Summer flounder · 1 more week at peak

Summer flounder season by week of the year. Peak season for Summer flounder · 1 more week at peak.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • Not here
  • This week

Summer flounder in Virginia

Spot profile

Sandy Island Bay

Depth
About 2 ftFlat bottom
Structure
Bay · Inner · Semi-exposedBay · flat bottom
Season
Peak seasonSummer flounder

NOAA NCEI DEM, sampled Sep 13 on a 3.4 m grid. Depths are feet below NAVD 88, not chart datum (MLLW), so they can differ from a chart by a few feet. Not for navigation.

About this spot

Fishing Sandy Island Bay

Sandy Island Bay is a bay in Chesapeake Bay from Little Creek VA to Cape Henry VA including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, Virginia. Depth is about 2 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads bay, inner water and semi-exposed.

Waterlands scores 17 species here; the best right now are scup, little tunny and bluefish. It is peak season now for scup, little tunny, summer flounder and Spanish mackerel, and shoulder season for bluefish, black sea bass, striped bass and king mackerel. Scup peak from June through October. Little tunny peak from September through October. Bluefish peak in May and from October through November.

Tackle & technique

Summer flounder
Summer flounder lie half-buried on sand and shell bottom and ambush bait along channel edges, inlet bars and ocean reefs, from a few feet deep in back bays to about 100 feet offshore. Drift with the tide and bounce a bucktail tipped with a squid or fish strip along the bottom. The bigger fish move to ocean reefs and wrecks in late summer, so follow them out.
Scup
Scup school over hard and mixed bottom, rock piles, mussel beds, piers and jetties, usually in 10 to 60 feet of water. Fish a high-low rig with small hooks and squid or clam strips on the bottom, and chum with clam to hold a school under the boat. If nothing bites within 15 minutes, move to the next piece of structure.
Little tunny
Little tunny travel fast in schools that pin bait against inlets, points, jetties and tide rips, usually within a few miles of shore and often in less than 60 feet. Stay off the school's path, wait for it to surface within range, and cast small metal or epoxy jigs with a fast retrieve. When fish stay down, troll small feathers along bait edges and color changes to find them.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • The Straits

    Channel · 1.1 mi

    62
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 62
    • Summer flounder 51
    • Little tunny 50

    16 kt NEL 12:07 PM · 0.6 ftH 6:39 PM · 4.7 ft

  • Little Camp Channel

    Channel · 0.9 mi

    61
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 61
    • Summer flounder 51
    • Little tunny 50

    16 kt NEL 12:07 PM · 0.6 ftH 6:39 PM · 4.7 ft

  • Sandy Island Channel

    Channel · 1.1 mi

    61
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 61
    • Summer flounder 51
    • Little tunny 50

    16 kt NEL 12:07 PM · 0.6 ftH 6:39 PM · 4.7 ft

  • Black Duck Cove

    Bay · 1.4 mi

    61
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 61
    • Little tunny 50
    • Bluefish 49

    16 kt NEL 12:07 PM · 0.6 ftH 6:39 PM · 4.7 ft

Scores and forecasts are for planning only and can be wrong. Conditions on the water change fast; check the marine forecast before you go. Regulations change during the season, so confirm limits and closures with VMRC before you keep a fish.