How to catch a flounder fishing Florida (The Ultimate Guide)
The best way to catch a flounder is with a 4 inch Berkeley Gulp Shrimp or a swimming mullet coupled with a 1/4 ounce up to a 1/2 ounce jig head depending upon the water depth. The slower you fish your jig the better and don't twitch it so hard that it bounces off of the bottom more than 12 inches.
The strike zone for flounders is 12 inches or less from the bottom. White is by far the best jig color for catching flounder followed closely by chartreuse.
Flounder are very abundant in Florida waters and are a favorite among Florida fishermen. They don't necessarily fight very well but they certainly fillet and release into the grease very well.
This article will help you learn how to catch a flounder fishing in Florida or wherever else you can find flounders.
Flounder are delicious but they can be difficult to fillet because of their strange anatomy.
Florida has two different species of flounder for fishermen to catch. The Gulf Flounder is the smaller of the two and are usually around 14 inches or so. The Southern Flounder is bigger and are usually around 20 inches long.
The ones that my nephew and his buddy are holding are Southern Flounders. You can tell by the multiple spots that they have all over them. The Gulf Flounder only has 3 spots.
Flounder are a lie and wait ambush predator which makes them pretty easy to target if you can find them. They will darken or lighten their markings to match the environment around them and maybe even bury in the sand or mud to further camouflage themselves.
Just about any food offering bounced or reeled within 12 inches above them will get attacked. You just have to figure out where they are.
I am an INSHORE FISHING GUIDE on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the grass flats and mangroves for over 40 years.
In the article below, I will teach you simple tips and techniques to help you learn how to catch more flounder. Let's get started.
Watch the video below and learn how to catch more flounder with the Berkeley Gulps.
The best way to catch a flounder is with a 4 inch Berkeley Gulp Shrimp or a swimming mullet coupled with a 1/4 ounce up to a 1/2 ounce jig head depending upon the water depth. The slower you fish your jig the better and don't twitch it so hard that it bounces off of the bottom more than 12 inches.
The strike zone for flounders is 12 inches or less from the bottom. White is by far the best jig color for catching flounder followed closely by chartreuse.
Flounder are very abundant in Florida waters and are a favorite among Florida fishermen. They don't necessarily fight very well but they certainly fillet and release into the grease very well.
This article will help you learn how to catch a flounder fishing in Florida or wherever else you can find flounders.
Flounder are delicious but they can be difficult to fillet because of their strange anatomy.
Florida has two different species of flounder for fishermen to catch. The Gulf Flounder is the smaller of the two and are usually around 14 inches or so. The Southern Flounder is bigger and are usually around 20 inches long.
The ones that my nephew and his buddy are holding are Southern Flounders. You can tell by the multiple spots that they have all over them. The Gulf Flounder only has 3 spots.
Flounder are a lie and wait ambush predator which makes them pretty easy to target if you can find them. They will darken or lighten their markings to match the environment around them and maybe even bury in the sand or mud to further camouflage themselves.
Just about any food offering bounced or reeled within 12 inches above them will get attacked. You just have to figure out where they are.
I am an INSHORE FISHING GUIDE on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the grass flats and mangroves for over 40 years.
In the article below, I will teach you simple tips and techniques to help you learn how to catch more flounder. Let's get started.
Watch the video below and learn how to catch more flounder with the Berkeley Gulps.
Where is the best flounder fishing in Florida?
Flounder can be found all through Florida's brackish and saltwater environments. I have even seen small ones miles up in fully fresh water rivers like the Santa Fe but I haven't heard of any one catching them in fresh water. The best places to find flounder in Florida are inlets; around docks; around tidal creek and river mouths that empty into salt water; sandy pot holes in grass flats and around near shore structure like piers, wrecks and reefs.
Inlets are a great place to target flounder. Flounder love to hide next to some sort of structure facing into the current. This can be a small clump of grass or a small rock as long as the fish feels safe and that it's found a good ambush point.
All of the inlets around Florida have large granite or limestone boulders protecting the cement sea walls on the sides of it. All of these little nooks and crannies are great places for small shrimp, fish and crabs to feed and hide at the same time.
The flounders know this too and will bury themselves near the boulders waiting for their prey to come their way. A finger mullet Carolina rigged and dropped right next to the boulders can be an irresistible offering for a hungry flounder. A shrimp tipped jig works really well in this situation too. The key is casting up current and letting your bait bounce along the bottom with the tide and hopefully past a hungry flounder.
In my opinion, the perfect all scenario, rod and reel combo for flounder is a 4000 series reel and a 7 foot medium/heavy strength, fast action rod. Fill the spool with 15 pound braided line and use a 20 pound leader.
I have used many different rods and reels over the last 40 years of fishing like Diawa, Shimano and Penn.
My favorite line of reels that are out now is the Penn Spinfisher series reels. They are smooth, tough; have great drag systems; and best of all a sealed body so sand and water don't get inside the reels.
Watch the video below and catch more flounder fishing around docks.
How to catch flounder when fishing around docks:
Docks are one of my favorite places to target flounder. They love to lie in wait for passing prey under a dock or just outside the dock pilings. Again it is important to remember that they will be facing into the current and your bait presentation should come from up current for best results. Most docks have tons of barnacles and oysters attached to them. They also have sponges and an assortment of sea grasses.
All of these marine creature attachments attract small shrimp, crabs and fish for the flounder to prey upon. The good news is that snook, red fish, and trout will be there too. It's not a bad day if you can catch all of those species as well as some big flounders.
Read this article that I wrote about the best baits and lures for flounder fishing to learn more about catching for flounder.
A shrimp on a split shot or a white bait or a finger mullet properly placed near or in between the dock pilings will not be ignored my a hungry flounder. This is a good place to bounce a scented imitation shrimp or paddle tailed shad jig to get a flounder.
Watch the video below for more flounder fishing tips and techniques.
How to catch flounder when fishing in tidal creeks and river mouths:
Tidal creeks and river mouths that flow into salt water are excellent hunting grounds for flounder fishermen. One of my favorite places to target flounder is the outgoing tide at the mouth of a tidal creek or river emptying into salt water. Flounder will take up ambush points all along the mouth from the very shallow edges to the deeper parts of the mouth.
It all depends where the bait fish or shrimp are. If they are finger mullet they will be in the top part of the water column. If they are targeting croakers they will most likely be in the deeper parts of the mouth. I am a inshore kayak fishing guide in Florida so my optimal water level is 10 feet and less so I don't know much about catching deep water flounder.
A flounder's world is on the bottom to maybe two feet above the bottom so your bait and lure presentations should exploit this fact. If the water is only two feet deep then you can use a top water lure to catch a flounder. If the water is 4 or 5 feet deep then you would be crazy to target flounder with a top water presentation. There is no way that they will swim up that far for a bait unless they are starving.
Read this article that I wrote to learn more about wade fishing for flounder in great detail.
I like to bounce and pause my lures for 5 to 10 seconds then reel a few feet and let it settle and so on and so on. Becoming a flounder pounder is a patient man's game. The slower the retrieve, the better you will do in my opinion.
How to catch a flounder when fishing on the grass flats:
Flounder love to set up ambush points in the sandy pot holes that dot Florida's grass flats. One of my most productive places to catch flounder is the sandy pot holes environment. I like to bounce a DOA Gulp scented shrimp imitation jig slowly from up current right through the middle of the pot holes. A scented shad with a paddle tail works very well here too.
If the water is 4 feet or less I like to send a shrimp under a popping cork through the middle of the pot hole. Put a small split shot a few inches above the shrimp to keep it within a foot or so of the bottom. The key is to make long cast so the bait is presented to the fish before they can sense your presence.
The funny thing about flounder is that they have a habit of following your bait for a long time before striking. Often you will get your flounder right at the boat or kayak that you are in. Sometimes right at your feet if you are wade fishing and don't make any sudden moves.
WANT TO CATCH FLOUNDER? BOOK YOUR FISHING CHARTER TODAY!
How to catch a flounder when fishing off of the beach:
The largest flounders that I have ever caught were around the pilings of a pier that was destroyed in a hurricane. The flounder were ambushing finger mullet as they came by the pier's pilings. The flounder rig was a simple Carolina style set up with about a leader about 24 inches long.
The bait was a lip hooked finger mullet on a 5/0 J hook. A Carolina Rig has the hook at the end of your line and a sinker tied about 18 inches higher up on the line. This lets the bait swim up in the water column but not so high that they are out of the flounder's strike zone.
Visit the article that I wrote and learn more about getting the right tackle to maximize your flounder fishing fun.
The key to catching flounder is to make sure that you give them time to get the bait into their mouths. They like to grab the fish and hold on for a few seconds before swallowing it. I usually count to 4 or 5 before setting the hook once I feel the hit.
Lures are a different story however. As soon as you think that you felt a hit from a flounder set up on it. You will not spook the flounder if you miss most of the time. If you do miss, then wiggle your lure around a little bit and the flounder might come for it again.
Just about any structure on the beach will hold flounder. There can be a lone rock or coral head surrounded by sand and there will probably be a flounder lurking around it.
When the bait runs occur around Florida the flounder become much more brazen. They can be found in the trough just a few feet from shore. Floridians are lucky enough to get sardines, mullet, glass minnows and many other baits species that run down the beaches during different times of the year.
No self respecting predatory fish will miss one of these bait runs. This includes the flounder. They will be around all of the inlets and piers throughout the state of Florida.
How to catch a flounder when fishing offshore:
Flounder can be caught offshore around any reef or ship wreck. They can be found around just about any underwater structure.
My nephew and his buddies go to an offshore wreck and limit out on flounder in 30 feet of water. I have never fished for flounder that deep but the same rigs, baits and techniques work in that depth as well. They usually use a finger mullet with an egg sinker sliding free on the line above the hook.
This technique is simple and very effective for most live bait fishing scenarios.
Fun Flounder Fact: Flounders start out life just like other fish with an eye on both sides of its body. The right eye migrates to the left side so it can begin its life of looking up from the bottom. That is how it works with a flounder but a fluke has the opposite eye migration.
A fluke's other eye migrates to the right side of its body. That is how scientist categorize flat fish. They call them right sided or left sided depending upon what side of their bodies are facing up after the tranformation.
Watch the video below for best flounder lures tips and techniques.
How to choose the best flounder baits and fishing lures:
I have always had the best luck with smaller flounders using live shrimp around docks, creek mouths and pot holes. The bigger flounders that I have caught have been with live finger mullet around piers and inlets. I am sure that crabs, white baits and pin fish will work just fine but I have never used them. A Carolina or Texas rigged weighting technique works great (the weight above a swivel up the line or a weight just above the hook). Those rigs are called many different things but I like the bass analogy best.
What is the best lure for flounder fishing? The answer to best flounder lures question is different every time that you ask a flounder fisherman. I think that the GULP shrimp or a GULP swimming mullet on a 1/8 ounce jig head is the best by far.
HOWEVER, there are many flounder fishermen that will tell you shrimp tipped feather is the way to go. The bottom line is: Find a lure that you can bounce on the bottom that smells delicious to a flounder. If the flounder are around you will most likely catch some if your presentation is correct.
A weed less spoon works very well for catching flounder too but it is really hard to get a good hook set because of their sideways mouths. They will readily hit spoons but you miss them a lot of the time.
How to choose the best gear for flounder fishing:
If you are going to be fishing for speckled trout all day you will definitely need to protect your eyes and skin from the sun's harmful rays. Polarized sunglasses are a must for for anyone that wants to be referred to as THE FLOUNDER POUNDER. A high end pair of sunglasses will run about $250 and a lower end pair will run you about $25 with glass lenses. You can find them with plastic lenses for about $5 at Walmart.
Whatever price range you decide to go with you must wear polarized sunglasses or you can not sight fish for flounder on the flats. The polarized lenses eliminate the glare on the surface of the water so that you can see under the surface.
The best color lenses for inshore and dirtier water scenarios are amber, rose and copper. If you are fishing super clean and clear water or you are fishing offshore a blue or a gray lens is best.
You will also want to stock up on UV performance fishing shirts to protect your skin from the sun's harmful rays. These shirts have built in sunscreen and are moisture wicking which means they evaporate your perspiration more efficiently keeping you cool on those hot days on the water.
Watch the video below and catch more flounder with DOA CAL 3 inch paddle tails.
How to use smell to catch more flounder when fishing for them.
I think that smell is one of the most overlooked senses by fishermen. No, not the fishermen's sense of smell. I mean the fish's sense of smell.
Just think about how a fish finds prey. It can feel/hear is with its lateral line. It can see it with its eyes. It can smell it with its olfactory system.
Now think about where you are catching your fish. If you are fishing for flounder in some dark and murky tidal creek you can bet that sight is not going to be the primary sense that the flounder uses to find food.
It will have to use its lateral line to sense vibrations or its sense of smell. Now think about the lures that you are using to catch a flounder. Are you using a spoon or a feather jig bounced on the bottom? If so, you are only using one of the flounder's senses in the dark water scenario mentioned above.
Why not incorporate smell into your lure presentations? Add a piece of shrimp to the feather OR use Pro Cure to add scent to your lures. Pro Cure is a sticky liquid that comes in many delicious smells but the shrimp and mullet will probably work for you.
Now if you are fishing with a spoon you can add smell to the list of senses that the flounder can find your lure with. Pro Cure sticks to plastic better than metal but its better than not adding any smell at all.
Why do you think that Gulp shrimp work so well? They don't really look like a shrimp or move like a shrimp, so they must smell good like a shrimp.
I am not sponsored by Pro Cure, DOA, Berkeley Gulp, Mirro Lure or any of the brands that I mention in my articles. I mention them to you because they will help you catch more fish. BUT if any executives from those companies wants to send me a lifetime supply of their products...… I will happily accept those gifts.
Watch the video below and catch more flounder fishing with smell.
Conclusion:
Flounder are one of those fish that are hard to catch if you fish for them the same way that you fish for other species. They are slow and patient and you have to be slow and patient to catch them.
In my opinion, the reason some fishermen struggle to consistently catch flounder is because they fish too fast. Bass fishermen seem to be able to catch flounder well because they appreciate how slowly you have to move a Carolina or Texas rigged worm to consistently catch bass.
Your lure presentation has to be very slow and within a foot or so of the bottom to catch lots of flounder. There strike is sometimes indiscernible so it is hard to know when to set the hook. My theory is if your lure has any resistance as you are reeling it in, set that hook. You will mistakenly set up on lots of oysters and rocks but that is okay. You will catch lots more flounder.
If you are ever down in the Treasure Coast of Florida book a flats boat charter with me. One of our charters specifically targets the docks in my area. Those docks have lots of flounder, redfish, snook and sea trout around them.
I hope that this article helps you catch more flounder or at the very least have more fun fishing for them. Let's get some lines wet Florida.
Want to catch more flounder?
- Learn the best baits and lures.
- Learn when and where to find flounder.
- Learn how to catch more flounder more consistently.
Get 1 new how to fishing article or video every week!
Just fill in your email below and check your inbox once a week.
Bonus Video: Catch and Release Ethics and Techniques