Article by Sue Foster
“I’m going out in my boat and want to target flounder.”What bait should I use for flounder?? What bait catches the larger flounder??”
Whether in a boat, or from the shore, flounder like live minnows hooked through the lips or frozen shiners hooked through the eyes. Always put one minnow on, but if you are using shiners, you can put more than one on a hook. I usually use two. Always buy extra minnows and shiners, and pick out the largest ones and use them first. Many anglers use what we call a sandwich bait to give them a bigger bait.
“Is it lunch time?”
Only for the fish! Sandwich baits present two baits on the same hook. Once the angler puts on the minnow or shiner bait, he or she may also add a strip of squid beside the minnow or shiner ON THE SAME HOOK.
“Which do you put on first?”
Always put the shiner or minnow on first. The squid strip will actually help keep the other bait from falling off the hook. But if you lose your minnow or shiner bait, and the squid is still hanging on the hook, don’t go to all the trouble of pulling off the squid to put the minnow on first. Just hook it on there! It’s all about visual anyway. The flounder wants the minnow, but the squid strip trailing alongside it, helps the flounder to notice the bait and gives the appearance of a larger bait. Flounder are site feeders, and sometimes a bigger, (but attractive), bait will entice the keepers to your hook.
Squid isn’t the only sandwich material to use with your minnow or shiner. It’s like when you go to the Royal Farm Computer Screen to order a sub. You can have American, Swiss, or Provolone Cheese, mustard or mayo or both! So for a sandwich bait for flounder, you can use a squid strip, a Fish Bite bloodworm cut into a 1 ½ to 2-inch piece, a strip of bluefish, flounder, or spot fillet, or you can put on a Berkley Gulp minnow or mullet grub or jerk shad.
“Wow!”
You can bring something along like finger mullet, and fillet the side off one and hang it on the hook. A fresh bunker makes good strip bait. I usually wait until I catch something fresh like a small bluefish or croaker (make sure it’s legal and keep the carcass). Scale and fillet it, and cut it into three inch long strips.
“Don’t ignore the trash fish!”
Sea robins and lizardfish make great strips of bait for flounder. Again, flounder aren’t crazy about scales, so knock them off first. Use a sharp knife and cut the strips into attractive tapered lengths. Some anglers totally skip the minnow or shiner and only fish with the strips. I like to keep all options open and fish with both!
“I heard live spot is good flounder bait?”
It’s one of the best! Anglers can catch live spot with little size #8 to #10 hooks with bloodworm, Fish Bite Bloodworms, or night crawlers. Keep them in a live well or aeratored bucket. Hook them in the mouth and out the hard part of their nose. There’s usually a good amount of spot around the Rt. 90 Bridge in around 4-feet of water.
“I caught spot, but they are just too big! No good at all!”
Hold on now! A spot is a spot, and fresh spot is great bait! If it is too big to use live on the hook, fillet it and cut some strips out of the spot. This is great flounder bait!
“I keep hearing all the stuff about Berkley Gulp!. Is it really that good?”
We in the tackle stores can barely keep it on the shelves, and the Berkley Company can’t make it fast enough, so I would say, “It works!” But many people are using it in place of real bait, and it is working for many anglers without using real bait as well, as long as they keep it moving. But I like to cover all my bases and use it in combination with real bait to make the ultimate sandwich bait!
Anglers are using the grub type Gulps!, such as Gulp! minnow or mullet grubs, and sliding them on their hooks, just like putting a grub on a lead head for striper fishing. Once the grub is on the hook, you can add your minnow or shiner and/or a strip of squid or cut bait. Berkley Gulp! is smelly and it also has action, so you need to keep it moving like any other lure. Simply raising your rod tip and pulling your rig off the bottom and then letting it settle back down to the bottom is all the action you need.
Others like to fish the Gulp! lures on a lead head when fishing shallow water areas. They cast out, and work the Gulp! just like a lure across the bottom floor. Most anglers that use Gulp! prefer to use the live minnow over the frozen shiner because the action of the minnow also keeps the Gulp! moving.
“There are so many SMALL flounder out there!”
Some of the locals out there trying to catch dinner are using a very large bait to weed through the small flounder and only target the big ones. They are using the biggest Gulps that can get their hands on, like 5 to 7-inch jerk shads and even 8-inch grubs! Wow! Most of these anglers are using long strip baits along with the Gulp! to entice the big flatties.
Again, large baits such as live spot will always give you the best chance to catch keeper flounder.
We just heard this week that there are some small finger mullet in the bay. Anglers are casting their cast nets close to the sand bars in the bay and catching these and putting them in aerated buckets or live wells and catching nice flounder. You can also use dead or frozen finger mullet on your flounder rigs to catch big flounder.
When using a larger, dead, previously frozen finger mullet, I would stick to a single hook rig and hook it under the chin and up through both lips like a live minnow. Keep it moving a little bit by lifting the rod tip up off the bottom once in a while and give it some action. I’ve caught my share of big flounder on finger mullet, both dead and alive. When using finger mullet, I use it by itself and don’t try to “sandwich” it with another bait. It’s big enough on its own!
Anglers fishing from the shore are learning about larger baits, and capturing live bait. I see anglers throwing their cast nets all the time. Even the easily caught alewives or bunker make good flounder bait if you can keep them alive. You can usually see them flashing under the water in the canals early in the morning. Cast net a couple dozen, let the rest go, and keep them alive in an aerated bucket or live well. If you try to keep too many, they will all die! Hook them just like you would a live minnow.
Bigger bait, bigger fish? Not all the time, but a lot of the time. It’s better than waiting around for “dumb luck.”
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.