Lets Catch Some Flounder

My wife has asked if I would go catch her some flounder this weekend and of course as any good husband would do I told her yes.  This is really not an issue as fishing for flounder is very similar to fishing for bass.  They really relate to structure just like bass, however they generally don't hide in the cover as they have a way of camouflaging themselves in plain sight so to speak.

As you can see from the picture above they can blend right in with the bottom and is some cases bury themselves in the sand, gravel and mud.  They lay there and wait for their dinner to come in range and then very quickly pounce.  So you need to find structure that is holding bait (shrimp, shad, finger mullet or mud minnows) and fish near that structure.   In a lot of cases around coves, inlets or feeds into or near a main body of water.  In the larger bays you will want to look for oyster reefs, sand bars and mud holes as the structure that will hold flounder.  However if there isn't any bait present at the structure, then you need to move on as there will also not be any flounder there. Your fish finder is really only good for locating the structure and sometimes telling you if there is bait on the structure.  It is highly unlikely you will see flounder on your fish finder because they are laying on the bottom and even camouflaged to the most high tech fish finder.

One of the methods that has worked for me time and time again is to fish tide flooded grass flats.  When the tide is high and these grass flats are flooded the bait will move up in the grass to feed and hide from the game fish.  If you can find a grass flat that also has a drain or feed into the main body of water you will find flounder there almost 100% of the time.  In the below picture you can see me fishing such a spot. This weekend will find me at this exact spot looking for some flat fish.

As the tide turns and starts going out the bait fish will start leaving the flooded grass so they are not trapped.  Waiting for them will be flounder staged along the grass.   Other than feeds coming out of this flooded grass what you will be looking for is a drop-off  a few feet from the grass line.  The flounder will position themselves just over the drop-off to gain just a little more of an advantage on their prey as shown by the red "X" in the drawing below.

Now the trick is to get your bait in front of the flounder and make it look like something they want to eat.  There are a wide range of baits that you can use to do this including baits intended to catch bass.   However for this weekend I'm going to cheat a little bit and use Berkley Gulps and a Rattling  Cork.  So what do you need to make this rig?

1. Berkley Gulp Shrimp/Curly Tail Grubs or both - Assorted Colors (Nuclear Chicken is my favorite)
2. Fluorocarbon Leader (I recommend 15-20lb test)
3. Rattling Corks (I prefer Cajun Thunder Rattling Corks)
4. 1/8 to 1/4 ounce jig heads.  (Make sure the hooks are sharp)

I generally will buy one of the Berkley Gulp "Alive" containers with one color of the the Gulp then buy the packages of the Gulps in other colors and remove them from the package and put them in the Gulp Alive container.  That way you are sure they won't dry out and are coated good with the Gulp juices.

Now what you do to build this rig is very simple in general.  If you know how deep the water is where you will be fishing you want to cut a piece of fluorocarbon leader line in a length that will keep your bait within 12 inches of the bottom, dragging the bottom is just fine when fishing flounder.  As a general rule for me fishing the Bayous that length is about 2 feet but in some cases might be a little longer.   You want to attach the leader to the bottom of your rattling cork.  The bottom of the corks is the end with the metal/brass beads. 

After attaching your leader to the bottom of the rattling cork you can then tie on a jig head.  Your rig is now ready to be tied to the end of your fishing line.  Don't put a Gulp on your jig until you are ready to make your first cast as they do dry up and once they do they are no long good for fishing. (Note: The leader line in the picture below is Green Mono and used only so it would show up good for an example picture.)

Now what type of rod and reel combo should you use to fish this rig?  I really prefer to use a Medium Light to Medium action 7 foot rod and a baitcasting reel loaded with either 10 or 12lb test Monofilament line. You can use spinning tackle in the same setup if you prefer as there is nothing wrong with spinning tackle. In fact if the wind is blowing very hard I'll switch to spinning tackle so I can make my casts.  Why such a light setup and monofilament line you might ask?  Well if you have ever fished for flounder you will know they are escape artist and I mean they can get off a hook like no other fish I've ever caught.   I have my ideas as to why they can do this and I know there are a lot of other ideas out there as well.  What ever the reason for them being able to get off a hook so easy I've found that if you apply as little pressure as possible when fighting them you tend to land a lot more.  In most cases 80-90% of the ones you hook and folks will tell you that is a great percentage.  Using this light tackle helps keep you from putting too much pressure on them during the fight and will help you land a lot more fish.

So how do you fish this rig?  Simple, cast the rig up close to the grass line and let the Gulp sink to the bottom or close to the bottom.   Then give it a couple of quick short jerks to rattle the cork and move it closer to the edge of the drop off.

After the short jerks let the bait set there and allow the current to move the bait closer to you while keeping most of the slack out of your line.   After a minute or two repeat the couple short jerks to move the bait.   When a flounder hits it will take the cork under and generally straight down, but maybe only a couple of inches and it will sit still.  This is because they hit the bait then settle back to the bottom to eat their prize.  Wait for a 5 count before you set the hook, but if you miss the flounder or it isn't hooked well or comes off, then give a 10 count on your next strike.  If you don't hook the flounder the first time it hits, it will likely only move a little to the left or right and settle back down on the bottom and hit again. Now don't be surprised if you cork takes off really fast.   If it does this set the hook immediately as it is likely a Speckle Trout or Redfish and if you are fishing the bayous like me and brackish water it could likely be a bass.  Hope you have a blast landing a big redfish on the light tackle, I know I do when it happens and it will.

Until next time, Tight Lines and Take a Kid Fishing!!!