Post by Steve Sutton on May 2, 2010 14:33:41 GMT -5
By Capt. Rick Reynolds of Miss Judy Charters
Even though the trout bite has not emerged to be strong just yet, I typically do not catch trout in large numbers until the bonnet head sharks show up here. I have not caught one of these( bonnet heads) this year, however I have not been concentrating out in the sound as much as normal due to the water temp and winds. I have heard of some bonnets being caught last week so that indicates that the trout bite is just around the corner if we are going to have one. I know there have been scattered reports of some trout, but in the big scheme of things not a whole lot have been caught in the areas that I normally fish. So hopefully that bite should start any day if it’s going to. Just keep in mind that we had nine days of below freezing weather in mid December and we might have lost more trout to the cold temperatures and dolphins than predicted. On another note, the flounder being an apex predator in its on right was probably not so affected by the extreme cold as they are a bottom dwelling species. You find trout up and down the water column, but the redfish and flounder are caught closer to the bottom. Due to the flatness of a flounder and the fact that they live on the bottom, I think they tolerated the extreme cold water much better than a lot of other inshore species.
So what do you look for and how do you catch them? I have the greatest success during the last 2 hours of the outgoing tide and the first 2 hours of the incoming. I am sure they can be caught at all stages; this is just the tides I like. You can normally expect to catch flounder at a lot of your inshore trout and redfish drops. There are plenty of different ways to rig your tackle for flounder, but I have good success with a regular Traditional trout rig. That would be an adjustable float with a 2 foot fluorocarbon leader and a number 1 kahle hook.
Even though the flounder is flat, he is an ambush predator. You can expect to find flounder lying in eddying water. This could be in a small channel that drains out of the marsh into the main river. Sometimes you can find a large oyster mound and where those channels cut thru the oyster bank, you can expect to find flounder. I have noticed that when you catch one flounder, there could be upwards of 6 or more lying almost on top of each other. Another place you can expect to catch flounder inshore is out in the jetties. If you find where a rock or two is missing, don’t pass up that area. A lot of the times when trout or redfish hunting, you anchor next to structure like a long oyster rake and you float your bait with the tide, and just let it go until you get a bite. That is a great way to cover a lot of water trout fishing. However when I am trying for flounder, I often cast up current and reel up as the float and bait is coming towards me.
Many people use a commercially purchased flounder rig that is similar to a chicken rig or dropper rig. I will display a picture of a commercial flounder rig. Some anglers will simply put their bait on a jig head and this will work fine. What is the best bait? My favorite flounder bait is the mud minnow. The next best choice for me is a finger mullet, followed by a live shrimp. When your bait is floating towards you and it just stops and slowly goes underwater like if you were stuck on the bottom, you probably have a flounder trying to eat your bait. If you think you are having a flounder bite, just wait until you count to 15. The reason being is the flounder will try to scale those mullet and mud minnows before they swallow them. If you strike too soon, you will be reeling in a half of a mud minnow or mullet.
I am not an expert at flounder fishing, but I have found that if you catch one, you can catch another. To do this cast your bait exactly where you did before and hold on. By the way flounder is easy to clean and can be prepared many ways and is excellent table fare.
Another piece of structure that often produces flounder is around dock pilings. They tend to be very near the poles. Again, any time you see water eddying, give it a fair try especially if you can see a gullet or some dips in the bottom.
Even though the trout bite has not emerged to be strong just yet, I typically do not catch trout in large numbers until the bonnet head sharks show up here. I have not caught one of these( bonnet heads) this year, however I have not been concentrating out in the sound as much as normal due to the water temp and winds. I have heard of some bonnets being caught last week so that indicates that the trout bite is just around the corner if we are going to have one. I know there have been scattered reports of some trout, but in the big scheme of things not a whole lot have been caught in the areas that I normally fish. So hopefully that bite should start any day if it’s going to. Just keep in mind that we had nine days of below freezing weather in mid December and we might have lost more trout to the cold temperatures and dolphins than predicted. On another note, the flounder being an apex predator in its on right was probably not so affected by the extreme cold as they are a bottom dwelling species. You find trout up and down the water column, but the redfish and flounder are caught closer to the bottom. Due to the flatness of a flounder and the fact that they live on the bottom, I think they tolerated the extreme cold water much better than a lot of other inshore species.
So what do you look for and how do you catch them? I have the greatest success during the last 2 hours of the outgoing tide and the first 2 hours of the incoming. I am sure they can be caught at all stages; this is just the tides I like. You can normally expect to catch flounder at a lot of your inshore trout and redfish drops. There are plenty of different ways to rig your tackle for flounder, but I have good success with a regular Traditional trout rig. That would be an adjustable float with a 2 foot fluorocarbon leader and a number 1 kahle hook.
Even though the flounder is flat, he is an ambush predator. You can expect to find flounder lying in eddying water. This could be in a small channel that drains out of the marsh into the main river. Sometimes you can find a large oyster mound and where those channels cut thru the oyster bank, you can expect to find flounder. I have noticed that when you catch one flounder, there could be upwards of 6 or more lying almost on top of each other. Another place you can expect to catch flounder inshore is out in the jetties. If you find where a rock or two is missing, don’t pass up that area. A lot of the times when trout or redfish hunting, you anchor next to structure like a long oyster rake and you float your bait with the tide, and just let it go until you get a bite. That is a great way to cover a lot of water trout fishing. However when I am trying for flounder, I often cast up current and reel up as the float and bait is coming towards me.
Many people use a commercially purchased flounder rig that is similar to a chicken rig or dropper rig. I will display a picture of a commercial flounder rig. Some anglers will simply put their bait on a jig head and this will work fine. What is the best bait? My favorite flounder bait is the mud minnow. The next best choice for me is a finger mullet, followed by a live shrimp. When your bait is floating towards you and it just stops and slowly goes underwater like if you were stuck on the bottom, you probably have a flounder trying to eat your bait. If you think you are having a flounder bite, just wait until you count to 15. The reason being is the flounder will try to scale those mullet and mud minnows before they swallow them. If you strike too soon, you will be reeling in a half of a mud minnow or mullet.
I am not an expert at flounder fishing, but I have found that if you catch one, you can catch another. To do this cast your bait exactly where you did before and hold on. By the way flounder is easy to clean and can be prepared many ways and is excellent table fare.
Another piece of structure that often produces flounder is around dock pilings. They tend to be very near the poles. Again, any time you see water eddying, give it a fair try especially if you can see a gullet or some dips in the bottom.
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