Yellowtail Flounder Question

[likwid]

sabikis @ 300ft?

[Christian]

i snagged a bunch while cod fishing 2 yrs ago. put down some clams on flounder hooks and got a few. just a few miles past the bbouy heading straight for the nw corner. around 200 ft. draggers all around. they were pretty big, and their mouths didnt seem that much smaller than a winter flounders.

[JackK]

I asked a few co workers who are doing some flounder studies about this, and got some interesting info.

For one, my comment on prey selection was close, but not entirely accurate. While most of the YT diet consists of smaller prey (amphipods, gammarids, tiny polychaetes/annelids/WORMS) they have seen some big polychates in the fish (think clam worms), and even whole sand eels in large specimens. So while they don't seem to be the gluttons that winter flounder are, they still will take large prey.

Also, I guess that years back there used to be a strong YT party boat fishery right in Boston Harbor... Not sure if any boats still go and target them. They're also commonly caught with hook and line near the mouth of the Merrimack.