How To Catch
Flounder
From St. George Island Florida
Flounder are taken by rod and reel or by
gig. When fishing with rod and reel, light tackle offers both the greatest sport and best
chance for catching flounder. Both artificial lures and natural bait can be used. Over
barren bottoms, leaded plastic worms (worm jigs) are often very effective. In heavily
vegetated areas, shallow-running spoons are best.
Flounder prefer live to dead bait. Live
shrimp retrieved slowly along the bottom often produce excellent results. Killifish
(referred to locally as mud minnows) fished in a similar fashion, is good bait. These fish
can often be taken in large numbers with the cast or minnow seine.
Although many are taken by rod and reel,
"floundering" or gigging offers the best challenge for this species. The flounder is
vulnerable to this technique because it often enters the shallows at night to feed. Both
the skills of the angler and the hunter are called for here.
Lanterns are used in searching for
flounder and gigs ranging from single-pronged to modified hay forks are used to spear the
fish. The anglers wade quietly along the shallows looking for flounder. Once the flounder
is within the light from the lantern, normally it will not move, affording the fisher a
chance to "gig" the fish. Although this sounds like a sure-fire method, many
fish are missed because they go undetected until they swim away or because of inaccurate
gigging by an overanxious angler.
The more sophisticated flounder fisher
may mount his lanterns (or battery-powered lamps) on the front of a flat-bottomed skiff.
The skiff is then poled through the water in search of fish or is pushed by a small air
motor. Floundering from a boat is much easier than wading. It allows the angler to cover
more area and search bottoms that are too soft for wading.