Article by Sue Foster
“I felt a flounder bite, but when I picked up the rod, it was gone!” What should I have done differently?
Flounder can bite soft one day, and wham the bait the next day. You have to be very perceptive to how the fish are biting on a particular day and change your tactics if your “tried and true” technique isn’t working. Sometimes just changing the way you are holding your rod will make the difference.
Letting more line out so your hooks are closer to the bottom on a running tide can often be the answer. Flounder don’t have hands to grab the bait, so if the tide is running along, the flounder might grab hold of the bait with its mouth. When the angler lifts up his rod to set the hook, the bait is suddenly gone, and if the flounder does not see the bait immediately, the flounder will be looking for other prey.
If you haven’t hooked the flounder after setting the hook, always let the line back out immediately. How much line depends on how fast the drift is. If you’re moving pretty fast, the flounder can be back there several yards. If the current is moving slow, the flounder can be right down there below your rod tip. Many good anglers hold their rod tips up, when they feel the bite; they hold the rod and “feel” for the flounder to grab it again. If it doesn’t, they let out a little line. Then wait. Then when they feel the fish again, they point the rod tip towards the bite. Then set the hook.
Some anglers stand up in the boat, and fish with their rod tips down towards the water. If you do this, you usually have several extra yards of line out. When you set the hook, you pull the rod tip to the side, not straight up. If you fish this way, always make sure the line is going away from the boat and not towards the motor!
A slow troll works wonders almost all the time when you can’t get a natural tide or wind drift. The trick is to not troll too fast.
Sometimes, if the tide is slack, and you aren’t moving very much, you can try fishing straight up and down. Jig up and down three or four times, then let your baits sit very still. Keep your rod tip up. Then jig again. (Well, sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t!)
A lighter sinker that just barely touches the bottom may be the ticket on some days. A heavier sinker in a strong current might be the answer on another day. If one person on the boat is catching, and you are not, try to figure out what they are doing that you are not. See how they are holding their rod and when they are setting their hook. See what rig and bait they are using. Watch how much line they are letting out. Also note the sinker weight they are using. The other day I was fishing in VA with my husband and friend and they were catching more fish than I was. I noticed my husband had a lighter bell type sinker on his line while I had a heavier bank sinker on. We were in relatively quiet water, slow trolling along. I changed my sinker and my luck changed immediately. The next day, my husband and I were catching, and his friend wasn’t. We both had light bell sinkers on and his friend had a heavier bank sinker on. I told him to try changing his sinker to a lighter one. He put on a lighter bank sinker and he immediately started to catch more fish. (Some days it goes the other way—you might need a heavier weight!)
Some days you do better holding the rod and setting the hook. Other days good ol’ Rodney just does better. Put the rod in the rod holder, and watch the tip like a hawk. I am told that if you fish a rod in a rod holder you do better with a lighter tip rod. The rod tip bends over naturally and actually hooks the fish itself! If you hold your rod in your hand, a rod with a little more backbone is better. An 8-17 lb. line rating is the preferred flounder action rod to hold in your hand.
The rig and the bait of course are very important. In the spring, the basic baits available are live minnows and frozen shiners. Anglers hook the minnows thru the lips and the shiners through the eyes. Then the angler has the option to hook a strip of squid beside the minnow or shiner bait. Flounder are site feeders, so you always want to keep your baits straight on the hooks. If they “ball up” your rig may not fish right. It can tangle and then you’ll never catch a fish! Always look at your bait and rig when you pull it up. Make sure there’s no seaweed or slur on your bait. Also, make sure your minnow is alive and kicking!
One of the new techniques in town is using the new Berkley Gulp! minnow grubs, and swimming mullets. You can buy them in the packages or buy the Berkley Gulp! Alive tubs. Once you buy a tub, you can put your packaged swimming lures in the “juice.” Anglers slip the grub on the hook, and then attach a minnow or shiner. Sometimes they even work alone! Your grub gives a great visual plus it has scent! White and chartreuse are the favorite colors, but during the summer all kinds of colors get hot, such as pink, red, orange, or smelt.
We tried a new Berkley Gulp! last week that was very interesting. It was called Berkley Gulp! Alive 3-inch Crazy Legs Grub. It was a little grub with dangling legs. We used them with minnows and it had lots of action.
Whatever rig you use, make sure it does not tangle! You can use a single, one hook rig made out of a 30-inch leadered hook with a 3-way swivel and snap attached for your sinker. Always use a snap swivel at the end of your line to help eliminate line twist. Other favorite rigs are Aqua-Clear rigs, which have a built-in fish finder mechanism I like very much. Good ol’ wire top and bottom rigs with two hooks attached work fine. I like to use monofilament top and bottom rigs with two leadered hooks attached. These fish fine, and do not tangle.
There are hundreds, probably thousands, of flounder rigs, pre-made rigs available to buy. Some have bucktail skirts and some have beads and spinners. The two most popular colors are white and chartreuse. A little extra Mylar or flash never hurts. Sometimes pink can be very hot in the spring. Then, all of a sudden, the fish may want two plain hooks! I find that white or white with Mylar is a color that never offends.
Flounder can turn off as fast as they can turn on. So when you are flounder fishing and the bite is on, FISH ON! And FISH HARD! Watch your depth finder and note the water depth where you caught that last fish or had that nice bite. Go back to that depth. If the fish are biting in 9-feet of water, don’t waste precious time drifting 15-feet or 6-feet. If the fish are biting on a downward slope, go back and drift it again. If the upward slope isn’t working, don’t do it again. Pretty simple.
Flounder fishing is a lot of fun. Some days they hop on the hooks, and other days you got to work at ‘em.
Good fishing….
Sue Foster is an outdoor writer and co-owner of Oyster Bay Tackle in Ocean City, MD and Fenwick Tackle in Fenwick, DE.
