FLOUNDER Flounder inhabit the shallow waters of inlets and tidal areas where the current breaks from manmade objects and natural features. They are a tasty fish, targeted by skilled and novice anglers...Read More View All Flounder Tips

 

Trophy flounder anglers do not want to be bothered with small flounder that are not capable of swallowing super-sized bait. They arrive at a location and fish it for several hours before moving. Many trophy hotspots are best on a particular tide stage or certain time of year and consistently hold fish year after year. Many are so good that if a big female (trophies are always female) is caught from the area one day, then there will be another to take her place the next day.

The trophy flatfish angler begins by finding a school of mullet or menhaden from 6 to 9 inches long. These would be considered smallish-sized king mackerel baits by most anglers. The fish are caught in a cast net and held in a livewell. They are replaced whenever they have reddened mouths from friction with the tank or when the buttery feeling of the slime coat deteriorates. Ideally bait is replenished every couple of hours, but during a tournament or busy weekend, an angler who leaves a hotspot may lose it to another angler.

The fisherman then heads to a spot he has found that shows evidence of a consistent food supply. Docks with deep channels that have fish-cleaning stations or crab-pot lines dangling into the water are good bets. Commercial fish and shellfish operations are also good choices. Places where baitfish consistently school are also good, as long as they also have deep-water access and hard structure.

The angler heads close enough to cast accurately then drops the anchor as quietly as possible. He may re-position the boat several times to get good casts to the same piece of structure as the tide and wind shift. He knows that the big one is lying there, waiting for a meal to swim within easy reach.

So structure-oriented are big flounder that most trophy anglers now use superbraid lines. Hard structure grows oyster shells and barnacles that easily cut monofilament. Superbraids also make the strike easier to detect. Their low stretch qualities help offset line-bow in a current. They also help the angler get a big flounder away from structure before he has a chance to tangle the line.

COMMENTS

NAME *
EMAIL_VERIFICATIONS_REPLIES
CODE   

SUBMIT_COMMENT