Contents - Your Guide to Flounder Fishing -... 2 Flounder Rigs.... 3 Flounder Fishing Bait.... 4 Where to Target Flounder... 5 When to Target Flounder... 6 Lure fishing for Flounder... 7 Flounder fishing set up... 8 Flounder fishing videos.... 9 Happy hunting... 10 Copyright all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the permission of www.fishingintheuk.com
- Your Guide to Flounder Fishing - Congratulations on receiving your new E-book in this book I am going to share with you some top tips for catching flounder from the shore. Flounder are quite wide spread around the UK and can be caught from the beach from piers and in some rivers. Above: Druridge Bay Beach in Northumberland is a haven for Flounder and other flatfish. I love catching flounder. In fact I would go as far as to say it s one of my favourite things to do on a nice calm summers evening on the beach. They are very curious and love a moving bait so to maximise your catch rate try not to use a grip lead so your bait can move freely along the sea bed. They will wait and ambush their pray and will also chase their pray. Don t be deceived by the size of their mouths they are more than capable of taking big baits and biting off more than they can chew. You can use shiny attractor spoons and beads of all different colours and while other anglers swear by them I have caught hundreds of flounder s without using any bling on my rigs. As well as catching flounder you will more than likely pick up other species of fish along the way such as Sand dabs, Plaice, Sole, Turbot and other fish that are in the vicinity. You might also get a bonus Sea Bass or Sea trout whilst fishing the beach for flounders.
Flounder Rigs. You can use a variety of fishing rigs to fish for flounder but for me there are a couple of rigs that stand out from the crowed and are my go to rigs for flounder fishing; You can make your own or buy them from your local tackle shop or off the internet. The first rig I would suggest is a pulley rig it keeps your bait close to the sea bed and it is one of the simplest rigs to use. The second rig I would suggest is a Paternoster rig. (A single hook flapper rig) The third rig I would suggest is a scratching rig. (A three hook flapper) with this rig it isn t uncommon to catch flounders and dabs together from the end of a pier. Hook sizes. The hook size you use will depend on the size of bait you use but I would recommend a size 1 sea fishing hook for regular flounder fishing. Fishing Weight. When choosing a fishing weight I would suggest a plain lead from 2 to 5oz (depending on what your rod is rated to cast) or a grip lead if you are fishing in a strong tide to help you hold bottom. If lrf fishing for them then 3 to 5g will do. Above: A three hook scratching rig on the end of Roker pier with two flounder and a sand dab. Snoods on the rigs do not need to be too heavy any breaking strain from 10 to 15lb mono will be more than enough to land a flounder and will allow the bait to move freely in the tide to attract them. Rig bling. If you want to use beads and sequence on your rigs to provide more attraction then I would suggest red and white coloured beads on the hook snood and silver for the sequence. You can buy metal attractor spoons or rigs with them all ready on that spin in the tide to act as attractants to the flounder. Left: Flounder caught on pulley rig with a 5oz plain lead, 15lb snood and size 1 hook.
Flounder Fishing Bait. The top baits I would recommend using when targeting flounders are; Mackerel Rag Worm Peeler Crab Squid Sand eel Lug Worm Bluey I have used every one of the above baits and caught flounder with them you can use them fresh or frozen. The worm baits can be put on your hook whole but the other baits should be used in slithers or sections a fillet of mackerel can be cut into numerous baits for flounders, into cubes or slices and held on the hook by using bait elastic. One of the best baits is a full Peeler Crab. The legs also make excellent flounder bait a couple of legs on a single hook can do the trick or tipping a worm bait off with a juicy claw can give you some good results. Above: a full peeler Crab on a size one bait holder hook. If I could only take one of the above baits with me for flounder fishing then I would choose frozen Mackerel because I have caught just about every type of flatfish using it from just about every mark I have fished. I like to cut a slither of mackerel off about 2 to 3 inches long and about a finger width wide and hook it by the top and leave the bottom free to flap about in the tide. Securing it to the hook with bait elastic. Above: Using a strip of Mackerel for Flounder bait.
Where to Target Flounder The best place to target flounder is from a beach although they can be caught from a variety of places they tend to live over clean ground a sandy bottom of a beach or a muddy bottom of a river or estuary. They hunt all manner of small animals and fish that live in or over sand. They prefer a clean bottom so they can easily hide under the surface to get away from predators or to lie in wait for pray often with just their eyes protruding. The beach is just one place to target them. You can catch them from most piers river and some rock marks. The flounder in the photograph to the right was caught a few miles up the river Tyne well away from the coast. The flounders will quite often travel miles up a river. In the river Tyne flounders can be caught as far up the river as the Tyne Bridge and Scottswood Bridge. The ground of the Tyne is mainly mud where various worms and marine animals live and are hunted by the flounder. A modest cast towards the middle of the river will put over the fish. Fishing from a stone pier you can expect to get some decent flounders. My local stone pier throws up some good size flounders throughout the year. In the summer as well as catching flounders from the pier you can expect other flatfish such as plaice, turbot, dabs and sole. Above: Flounder from South Shields Pier at marker 44 a popular flat fish mark.
When to Target Flounder The best time to target flounder is throughout the summer when they are close to shore. They can be caught day or night at just about all states of the tide but some times and tides are better than others. If I was to pick a perfect time and set of conditions for when I would go out and target them I would pick an incoming spring tide that coincides with dusk and I would fish into the night. You will be surprised at just how close they will come in to shore during the night and they are usually one of the first species to follow the tide in often in very shallow water. Casting a distance to reach the fish is not needed a short cast will give you the best chance. If you are fishing from a pier or jetty where there is always water at all stages of the tide you are in with a chance of catching them at any time of the day or night. Left: This flounder was caught at night from a pier at low water. Above: This flounder was caught at night from the beach. First light can also be a good time to target flounders as long as the tide is flowing. My least likely set of conditions to fish for them would be slack water during the day or night. I think the flounder like a bit of tide movement to help them along when they are hunting. Also a bit of tidal pull will help move your bait around on the sea bed and help your spoons move better if you are using them. Flounders can tolerate a bit of fresh water so a little bit of rain wont effect fishing for them as said previously they can be found quite far up rivers where the salt levels of the water are quite low.
Lure fishing for Flounder Flounders will take a lure; they are known to take Meps, power isome worms and other scented lures used by LRF anglers. Flounders on LRF rods will put a decent bend in your rod and put up an excellent fight. When I am targeting flounder with my LRF rod I tend to drop the lure or bait as close to the wall or structure that I am fishing off because even during the day these fish in the river will come right in close to the edge to hunt and will attack your lure with vigour. If you are struggling to catch them on lures you can tip your lure with a little bit bait just to give it that extra little bit of extra attraction. Above: Flounder caught using an LRF rod at Mill dam the River Tyne. Above: Summer caught flounder in the river Tyne.
Flounder fishing set up Most rod and reel combos can be used to fish for flounders from Beach casters rated for casting 5 to 6oz weights to LRF rods rated at 3 to 12 grams and everything in-between. You don t have to go out and buy a separate rod for flounder fishing but stepping down to a lighter rod will give you a better fight off the fish. If you are coming into sea fishing from fresh water fishing your carp rod is also an ideal option for flounder fishing. My go to set up for flounder fishing from the beach is a pike rod and a fresh water fixed spool reel loaded with braid and a mono rubbing leader of 20 to 30lb breaking strain. Above: My setup for flounder fishing from the beach. This set up is light weight and able to cope with flounders caught from the beach as well as the odd bass. The rig I usually use with this rod and reel is a one or two hook paternoster rig with size 1 hooks and a 2oz plain lead. I will step up to a beach caster and multiplier reel to cope with the bigger weights and longer casts involved in fishing different places with deeper water or stronger tides where a heavier weight will be needed to hold the bottom to stop the rig being dragged into snags. And step up the hook size to a 1/0 to target bigger fish.
Flounder fishing videos. Click the photograph to be taken to the video or click the link https://youtu.be/8ltpiuvydde Below: Fishing Mill Dam for Flounders https://youtu.be/ks7lugu6xco Check out my YouTube Channel for more fishing videos Click the YouTube logo to be taken there or click the link>>>>> https://www.youtube.com/channel/ucryjkkakxlsv34erfixryza
Happy hunting I hope this ebook helps you in your flounder fishing adventures. Tight Lines www.fishingintheuk.com