Best winter flounder lakes in Maine
99 Maine waters list winter flounder (official records or labelled estimates), 99 mapped with survey or official-chart depth data. Ranked below by size and depth-data quality, leading with the waters in our reviewed search catalog — open any water to see exactly where to fish it: depth contours, scored spots with plain-English reasons, seasonal windows and bait picks. A cold-water inshore flatfish of Northeast harbors — spawning in protected shallows, then settling along mud, sand and channel edges.
- Eggemoggin Reach — 169 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #1: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Blue Hill Bay — 338 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #2: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Sheepscot Bay — 251 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #3: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Saco Bay — 282 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #4: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Broad Sound — 244 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #5: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 3 public access sites
- Frenchman Bay — 309 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #6: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Jericho Bay — 127 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #7: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Saint George River — 66 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Brown Trout, Brook Trout, Winter FlounderWhy #8: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Muscle Ridge Channel — 184 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #9: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Cobscook Bay — 149 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #10: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Luckse Sound — 132 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #11: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 4 public access sites
- Eastern Passage — 338 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #12: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Booth Bay — 173 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #13: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Hurricane Sound — 195 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #14: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Portsmouth Harbor — 84 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #15: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 5 public access sites
- East Bay — 45 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #16: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Eastern Bay — 121 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #17: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 2 public access sites
- Fore River — 67 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #18: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 2 public access sites
- Blue Hill Harbor — 78 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #19: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Toothacher Bay — 106 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #20: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 2 public access sites, 1 carry-in or shore-oriented
- Hussey Sound — 122 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #21: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Casco Passage — 90 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #22: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Stave Island Harbor — 89 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #23: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Robinhood Cove — 55 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #24: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 4 public access sites
- Johnson Bay — 52 ft max · real survey depth contours · Striped Bass, Winter Flounder, Bluefish, Atlantic HerringWhy #25: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
…plus 74 more Maine waters holding winter flounder.
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How to use this ranking
The order is a map-planning ranking, not a claim about today's fish population. It favors larger mapped waters and gives survey-backed contours a three-times data-quality boost. Agency population surveys, current regulations, access and recent conditions should make the final decision.
Compare maximum depth across 37,233 lake records · See Maine waters with public access data
When to fish winter flounder in Maine
- Spring 2–18 ft — Fish soft mud, sand and the shallow side of measured channel shoulders with a slow bottom presentation; the exact Setauket assessment identifies spring as the local fishery season.
- Summer 8–30 ft — Most fish favor cooler, deeper water or leave small warm embayments; treat summer marks as low-confidence holding-water searches rather than a dependable bite.
- Fall 6–25 ft — As water cools, probe mud-to-channel transitions slowly and confirm fish locally before repeating a drift.
- Winter 3–20 ft — Winter flounder use protected inshore spawning habitat; use a slow bottom rig and avoid treating a mapped zone as proof of current concentration.
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Winter Flounder elsewhere: New York · Massachusetts · Connecticut · Nova Scotia