A 1/0 to 4/0 size Kahle–style bait hook is a good choice, with the minnow hooked through the lips, nostrils or eyes. Simple rigging is preferred, with a fish-finder sliding-sinker set-up employed with a short leader and a barrel swivel connecting leader to fishing line. Generally, however, small live local minnow baits are preferred, with menhaden, mullet, mud minnows, juvenile shad and other finfish baits popular. Flounder feed mainly on small fish, though they can be caught with live shrimp or sometimes jigs tipped with shrimp. How to catch flounder: the best rigs and baits for flounder fishingĪ jig head and soft plastic lure is one of the best ways to catch lots of flounder (Image credit: Angler's Mail)Ī wide variety of baits, lures and styles of fishing are effective for flounder, including fly fishing. But it’s effective and popular, especially with party and charter boats in the Northeast U.S., particularly off New York and New Jersey. Offshore–style boats are needed to fish such flounder. Inshore ledges and drop-offs in 4–20ft of water also are prime flounder feeding spots.įlounder are also abundant near reefs and wrecks offshore, out to 100ft depths and more. Inlets and jetties can harbor big numbers of flounder, offering anglers choice opportunities for casting lures and baits, drifting and even trolling. Jetty rocks and shell bar edges can be good too where there is sufficient current flow to deliver prey food to flounder laying on bottom. Places where current is deflected around and through bridge abutments and dock pilings and near bulkheads and over rocky bottoms can hold schools of stationary, ambush-ready flounder. Such spots can be the small mouths of inshore creeks where they feed into bigger tidal streams and rivers.įlow junctions where two or more streams or marsh run-outs merge can be choice for flounder. Places where river or tidal current narrows or concentrates in flow are prime spots for flounder to station and feed, making them ideal places for anglers to target. Locations where tidal flow or current is found are generally preferred, as flounder are aggressive ambush predators, positioned flat on the bottom, watching and waiting to strike prey as it swims by. These are some of the best flounder fishing areas. While flounder are commonly found in deep water out to 100-feet or more around reefs and wrecks, for most anglers, flounder are usually targeted when they move into shallow water bays, inlets, river mouths and inshore creeks and marsh areas. Shallow water bays and inlets are some of the best flounder and fluke fishing locations (Image credit: Angler's Mail) How to catch flounder: the best places to go fishing for flounder Following these trends and migrations, asking at local tackle shops and generally following catches will all help to work out when these local runs occur.įor the average angler wanting to catch a few flatfish for a succulent dinner, what’s really important is where to look for them, and how to catch flounder once runs of fish are ongoing. And different subspecies of flounder can overlap, with Summer Flounder caught by anglers at the same time and place as Southern or Gulf flounder, for example. For example, a great run of Summer Flounder may be underway in Southeast Georgia, while South Carolina’s run of the species that year is poor. Some years runs of flounder are huge, other years may be lean, and runs can be very localized. Such “runs” or migrations of flounder are tied to many things, including spawning preferences, water quality and temperature, bait availability, and species abundance. Throughout the coastal range of flounder, there are seasonal “runs” of fish, meaning that large schools of the species move into and scatter across coastal regions through the seasons. How to catch flounder: the best times to go fishing for flounder For average anglers, flounder are flounder, wherever found and whatever their hue.Īlong the East Coast, especially off New York, New Jersey and parts of New England, flounder are called fluke, but for practical fishing purposes they’re much the same as flatfish caught in other regions of America. The Atlantic and Gulf Coast species of flounder typically are caught in the same type of coastal habitats, and identifying one subspecies from another is best left to biologists.
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