Flounder Fishing with Lures Tips and Techniques (The Complete Guide)
The best colors for flounder fishing lures are white and chartreuse and the best lures are listed below.
The Top Flounder Fishing Lures are:
Flounder will hit shrimp like lures but they are definitely fish eaters. A live mullet, mud minnow or threadfin herring will definitely get more bites than a shrimp. This means that lures that mimic fish will work the best.
Flounder fishing with lures can be tricky because a flounder has such a subtle strike that many fishermen can't feel it. You will need to set up every time that you think you felt something or you will often miss your chance for a nice flounder.
Flounder are a very plentiful species all over the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Many fishermen are obsessed with them because they are elusive, fun to catch and a delicious entre for the supper table.
I am a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the mangroves, oyster bars and grass flats all over Florida for more than 40 years.
In the article below I will teach you all that I know about flounder fishing with various lures and baits. Let's get started.
Watch the video below and catch more flounder with lures.
The best colors for flounder fishing lures are white and chartreuse and the best lures are listed below.
The Top Flounder Fishing Lures are:
- Berkeley Gulp Swimming Mullet or 3" Gulp Shrimp
- DOA CAL 3" or 4" Shad with Paddle Tail
- Shrimp Tipped Feather Jig
- DOA 3" Shrimp
- Weed Less Gold Spoon
Flounder will hit shrimp like lures but they are definitely fish eaters. A live mullet, mud minnow or threadfin herring will definitely get more bites than a shrimp. This means that lures that mimic fish will work the best.
Flounder fishing with lures can be tricky because a flounder has such a subtle strike that many fishermen can't feel it. You will need to set up every time that you think you felt something or you will often miss your chance for a nice flounder.
Flounder are a very plentiful species all over the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Many fishermen are obsessed with them because they are elusive, fun to catch and a delicious entre for the supper table.
I am a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the mangroves, oyster bars and grass flats all over Florida for more than 40 years.
In the article below I will teach you all that I know about flounder fishing with various lures and baits. Let's get started.
Watch the video below and catch more flounder with lures.
Flounder Fishing with Lures off the Beach
Flounder can be found along the beaches from New York to Texas and everywhere in between. Flat fish like the flounder and other similar species have conquered the entire Earth from the north pole to the south pole. My point is that their body type and hunting style is a very successful one but you can use this characteristic against them.
Flounder will bury in the sand, mud or gravel somewhere with a decent amount of current to bring its food to it. It won't actively pursue its prey like most predators but will use a lightning fast attack when something good tasting comes too close to them.
When you are fishing for them along the beach a great ambush spot for a flounder is any structure like a rock or a whole near shore reef. The pilings of your local pier are another great spot.
Once you find a potential hiding place for the flounder, the next factor is flounder food. If there are shrimp, baitfish or anything else that a flounder will eat in the area, then that is a good place to start fishing for them.
The best lures for flounder are Gulp Swimming Mullet or Gulp 3" Shrimp. You will want to rig those with enough weight to get it to where you think the fish are hiding. Usually an 1/8 to a 1/4 ounce jig head will do the trick.
The best retrieve is a very slow one with a bounce or two every 5 or 10 feet. The strike zone for a flounder is only about 18 inches from the bottom. You have to keep your lure on the bottom or within that range to catch flounder effectively.
Another great lure for fishing off of the beach is a shrimp tipped feather jig. This is especially true if you need more weight like 3/4 of an ounce or more because of heavy current or surf. You will want to fish this lure the same way as the Gulps.
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Flounder Fishing with Lures Around Mangroves
Mangroves are another great place to catch flounder. Flounder like to move in and around the red mangrove tree's roots for shrimp, crabs and small fish.
Mangroves are usually rooted in sand or mud near some sort of tidal creek, river or channel. That is what flounder like. They like current, food and a good place to ambush their prey.
The key to fishing the mangroves is to get your lure as close to the roots as possible. That is where the flounder will be hiding usually. You can rig the Gulp Shrimp with a weed less hook and fish it just like you did with the jig head.
This is a spot where the DOA 3" Shrimp or any similar products will excel. Shrimp are one of the denizens of the mangrove roots that the flounder, sheepshead, mangrove snapper, snook, redfish...…. like the most. It is a good day when you cast for a flounder and get a monster redfish instead, right?
You will want to fish the shrimp the same exact way that you fish the jigs. You will very slowly work it on the bottom with a bounce or two every few feet. There is no such thing as working your lure too slowly to catch a flounder.
This is another great place to use a weed less gold spoon. Flounder will readily hit spoons too. BUT they tend to hold onto them for a shorter time so you had better be ready to set the hook quickly. They tend to hold onto soft lures a smidge longer than the hard ones.
Watch the video and catch more flounder around the docks.
Flounder Fishing with Lures Around Docks
Flounder love to ambush their food around docks. Docks are one of my favorite places to find flounders. Docks almost always have some sort of bait around them. Dock pilings are buried in mud, sand or gravel and there is always current there too. This is a flounder trifecta.
Remember all that a flounder wants is a place to hide, some good food and some current to bring the food right to them. Docks have all of these characteristics.
I sound like a broken record by this point but use a Gulp Swimming Mullet or 3" Shrimp if you have them. They are your best bet for dock fishing. A close second would be a shrimp tipped jig.
I like to use a DOA CAL 3" Shad with a paddle tail around docks because they are a favorite of snook and redfish too. I tend to cover more water more quickly with them too.
The technique is always the same though. It goes something like this: bounce, bounce, reel a few feet, bounce, bounce, reel a few feet...….. The only difference from when I am targeting snook or redfish is that I will increase the speed somewhat but the technique is the same.
Docks are another great spot to use your fake shrimp lures too. Just pitch them under the docks or as close as you can get to them and work them slowly within 18 inches of the bottom for the best effect. I like to use the natural looking shrimp or the gold glittery ones the best.
This is another lure that the snook and redfish around the docks love too so you might want to beef up your tackle a little bit when dock fishing with fake shrimp. You never know when you will go from catching 16 inch flounders to catching a 30 inch redfish.
Flounder Fishing with Lures Around Inlets
Inlets have a lot more current than most of the other good flounder spots so you will need to use a lure with more weight. You will also be fishing a little deeper than the other spots that I have covered so far.
I think that your best bet for inlet fishing is a shrimp tipped feather jig. You will probably have to go with a 1 ounce or more jig to compensate for the extra current and depth. The best colors for outgoing dirty water is pink and chartreuse. The best color for incoming clean water is white.
It is important to cast up current when fishing the inlets and bounce your jig slowly back towards you with the current. The flounder will be hidden by rocks, boulders, grass clumps or whatever facing into the current. You don't want your lure coming in from behind them and spooking them away.
Flounders go offshore to spawn in the winter months. They will move to the inlets from their summer haunts in the Fall. That is a great time to find them in the inlets BUT you have to be quick.
Flounders will ring the mating bell and all of the inshore fish will move into and out of the inlets within a few weeks. So keep your ears open for the flounder migration so that you can get to the inlets when they start to move out to see for the winter spawn.
They will come back through the inlets in Florida around March. That is another great time to target flounder in the inlets.
Inlets have a lot more current than most of the other good flounder spots so you will need to use a lure with more weight. You will also be fishing a little deeper than the other spots that I have covered so far.
I think that your best bet for inlet fishing is a shrimp tipped feather jig. You will probably have to go with a 1 ounce or more jig to compensate for the extra current and depth. The best colors for outgoing dirty water is pink and chartreuse. The best color for incoming clean water is white.
It is important to cast up current when fishing the inlets and bounce your jig slowly back towards you with the current. The flounder will be hidden by rocks, boulders, grass clumps or whatever facing into the current. You don't want your lure coming in from behind them and spooking them away.
Flounders go offshore to spawn in the winter months. They will move to the inlets from their summer haunts in the Fall. That is a great time to find them in the inlets BUT you have to be quick.
Flounders will ring the mating bell and all of the inshore fish will move into and out of the inlets within a few weeks. So keep your ears open for the flounder migration so that you can get to the inlets when they start to move out to see for the winter spawn.
They will come back through the inlets in Florida around March. That is another great time to target flounder in the inlets.
Flounder Fishing with Lures Around Oyster Bars
Oyster bars are another great place to fish for flounder. Those clumps of oysters hide little crabs, shrimp and fish that the flounders love to eat. They will bury in the mud next to the bar anywhere that there is some current to bring them something tasty.
Your job is to offer them up something tasty like a Berkeley Gulp Shrimp or a DOA CAL or a fake shrimp or a gold spoon. The best way to fish this scenario is to cast up current and slowly bounce your jib on the bottom as close to the oysters as you can without getting hung up.
PRO TIP: Remember that white and chartreuse are the only colors or color combinations that you need to know. Flounder are not too picky but they definitely like those colors the best. Give them what they want.
Usually around oyster bars that are in tidal creeks there will be spartina grass or some other kind of grass lining the creek. During the higher parts of the tide the flounder will hug the grass line facing into the current waiting on shrimp, mud minnows, crabs or anything else to come close enough for them to eat it.
A cast parallel to the grass line within a foot or two of the grass line can turn any newbie into an official flounder pounder. Just make sure to work it slowly and bounce it on the bottom a lot.
Never let the jig be higher in the water column than 18 inches. That is the top of the strike zone for a flounder laying on the bottom.
Oyster bars are another great place to fish for flounder. Those clumps of oysters hide little crabs, shrimp and fish that the flounders love to eat. They will bury in the mud next to the bar anywhere that there is some current to bring them something tasty.
Your job is to offer them up something tasty like a Berkeley Gulp Shrimp or a DOA CAL or a fake shrimp or a gold spoon. The best way to fish this scenario is to cast up current and slowly bounce your jib on the bottom as close to the oysters as you can without getting hung up.
PRO TIP: Remember that white and chartreuse are the only colors or color combinations that you need to know. Flounder are not too picky but they definitely like those colors the best. Give them what they want.
Usually around oyster bars that are in tidal creeks there will be spartina grass or some other kind of grass lining the creek. During the higher parts of the tide the flounder will hug the grass line facing into the current waiting on shrimp, mud minnows, crabs or anything else to come close enough for them to eat it.
A cast parallel to the grass line within a foot or two of the grass line can turn any newbie into an official flounder pounder. Just make sure to work it slowly and bounce it on the bottom a lot.
Never let the jig be higher in the water column than 18 inches. That is the top of the strike zone for a flounder laying on the bottom.
Conclusion:
Flounder fishing with lures is pretty fun. They are not the best fighters in the world but it is nearly impossible to sight fish for them so it can be hard to find them at times. That is what makes flounder fishing so challenging.
Just about anywhere that there is salt or brackish water you can bet that there are a flounder or two around. These successful predators are just about everywhere on the planet.
Another great thing about flounder fishing is that you do not need a tackle box full of gear. All that you really need is a couple of packs of jig heads and a couple of packs of the soft plastic lures of your choosing and you are good to go.
I hope that you enjoyed this article. Good luck and tight lines!!!
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