Everything about Flounder Fishing

Flounder fishing is very popular and fun provided you learn some valuable flounder fishing techniques.

There are many reasons behind its popularity and the main reason when I asked around is because of its tasty firm white meat. It is one of the best saltwater fish to put on the table, whichever way you cook it!

One of the other reasons why flounder is a popular gamefish is that they can be taken all-year round. Depending on location it is a matter of where to find them during certain seasons when they move to where the water temperature that suits them. They prefer cooler waters.

Places to find them

The best places to find them are places where the tides are changing. The best action is during the flood and ebb tide.

Flounder are bottom-dwellers and they like to hide behind any structures on the bottom of the sea such as pier, bridge and jetty pilings to ambush their prey. They can be found in bays, estuaries, channels, in shallow flats with sand, rock, mud or grass beds. And do not overlook the bottom of mussel and oyster beds as well.

On sandy bottom they will buried themselves with only their eyes visible waiting for an easy meal. These ugly-looking fish with their eyes on one side survives on its ability to disappear and blend into its surroundings.

Bait

Depending on your fishing location and the part of the world you are fishing in flounder can be caught with a wide range of baits and artificial lures. Live bait and natural bait are the best. Some of the natural baits anglers use and accept are squids, shrimps, clams, mussels, worms, finger mullet, mackerel, sardines or anchovies. As for lures some small soft plastic lures hook them Texas-style with shrimps and minnows-look are effective.

Remember that flounder has small mouth, so bait live or dead got to be small, cut them into long and thin strips such as squid and mackerel.

Fishing Rigs

Again the rig-style for flounder fishing very much depends on each individual taste and location of fishing as well as the condition of the fishing grounds. 2 common rigs used by flounder fishermen are the running sinker rig and the paternoster fixed sinker rig.

Running Sinker Rig

This rig consists of an egg, ball, bean or barrel patterns which allowed to slide on the mainline and stop above a ring or swivel. A leader of heavier line of about 15 inches long with a long shank or circle hook is tied to the ring or swivel.

The weight of the sinker depends on the current-flow and the depth of the water. Try to use the smallest sinker as possible because the running sinker is used to let the fish to pick the bait without feeling the weight of the sinker.

The hook-size and line poundage largely depends on the bait-size and targeted fish-size.

Paternoster Fixed Sinker Rig

This rig consists of a sinker tied to the end of the line, often with a loop which allows the sinker to be changed or removed easily. Hooks are attached to short droppers of about a foot long on the mainline.

Tackle

Both spinning and conventional bait-casting outfits can be used for flounder fishing. A 7 feet or below, medium-action rod with a matching reel spooled with 10-15 lbs test mono or braid line is more than sufficient if you are fishing on a boat.

Techniques

Flounder are bottom-dwelling species, they usually don’t move away far from the bottom. And so the fishing rig and bait must stay close on the bottom to catch them.

The best times to fish for flounder is an hour before and after the change of tide. Drifting with bait hugging the bottom is the best bet.

The bite of a flounder is very subtle. Sometimes you don’t even notice it at all until your line starts peeling off. Flounder has a habit of carrying the bait back to its hiding place to slowly enjoy the meal. When you feel a bite do not strike immediately, lift the rod gently and slowly reel it in your line. By doing this technique often ended with a solid hook-up because its causes the fish to bite solidly on the bait.

Flounder fishing is always full of fun and really, really good to eat. Beware that some countries and states have bag-limit and some restrictions with this species! Find out the catch limit before going out to fish. Please bring back only what you need and leaves some for tomorrow!

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