Wade Fishing for Flounder in Florida
To wade fish for flounder effectively you will need a 3500 series reel filled with 15 pound braided line and a 20 pound leader. You have to master a bucktail jig or a soft plastic scented jig like a Berkeley Gulp. Keep the jig within 12 inches of the bottom and work it slowly to maximize your results.
Flounder are a very popular species of fish all over the United States of America. They are often referred to as fluke up North but in Florida we call them flounders.
If you want to learn everything about wade fishing for flounder in Florida, then this is the article for you. You will learn the best baits, lures, tips, techniques and tackle to catch a whole bunch of grouper.
There are two species of flounders in Florida waters. There is the Southern Flounder that can get pretty big. These flounders have multiple spots all over their backs and are common catches around 20 inches or so.
The Gulf Flounder is usually smaller than the Southern Flounder and have 3 distinct black spots on their backs. The Gulf Flounder are commonly caught around 14 or 15 inches or smaller.
I am an INSHORE FISHING GUIDE on the Treasure Coast of Florida and have been fishing the oyster bars and mangroves around Florida for more than 40 years.
In the article below, I will teach you all of the tips and techniques that I can think of to help you catch more flounder when you decide to go wade fishing again.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below and catch more flounder with lures.
To wade fish for flounder effectively you will need a 3500 series reel filled with 15 pound braided line and a 20 pound leader. You have to master a bucktail jig or a soft plastic scented jig like a Berkeley Gulp. Keep the jig within 12 inches of the bottom and work it slowly to maximize your results.
Flounder are a very popular species of fish all over the United States of America. They are often referred to as fluke up North but in Florida we call them flounders.
If you want to learn everything about wade fishing for flounder in Florida, then this is the article for you. You will learn the best baits, lures, tips, techniques and tackle to catch a whole bunch of grouper.
There are two species of flounders in Florida waters. There is the Southern Flounder that can get pretty big. These flounders have multiple spots all over their backs and are common catches around 20 inches or so.
The Gulf Flounder is usually smaller than the Southern Flounder and have 3 distinct black spots on their backs. The Gulf Flounder are commonly caught around 14 or 15 inches or smaller.
I am an INSHORE FISHING GUIDE on the Treasure Coast of Florida and have been fishing the oyster bars and mangroves around Florida for more than 40 years.
In the article below, I will teach you all of the tips and techniques that I can think of to help you catch more flounder when you decide to go wade fishing again.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below and catch more flounder with lures.
Wade fishing for flounder--GEAR and TACKLE
Waders: You might want to get yourself a pair of bib waders to stay dry while you are stalking the flats looking for flounders. You can get a decent pair for between $200 and $300. My idea of a pair of waders is board shorts and some old tennis shoes but I've been doing it that way since I was around 6 years old. It's all about what you are used to.
Polarized sunglasses: You must get yourself a pair of polarized sunglasses to go wade fishing for flounder. There are two main reasons for this. Number one, they protect your eyes from the sun's harmful rays. Number two, they take the glare off of the surface of the water.
This enables you to see what's under the water. ie. a big door mat sized flounder waiting for you to catch him and then fillet and release him into the grease.
A high end pair of polarized sunglasses will run you about $250 and a cheap pair with glass lenses will cost about $25. There are some all plastic el cheapo glasses that you can find for $5.
I got a pair of the $250 ones for my birthday this year and they definitely out perform the cheap ones. They let you see into the water better and they are sturdier.
Performance fishing apparel: You will also want to stock up on UV performance fishing apparel. These fishing shirts have built in sunscreen to protect you from UV rays and they are moisture wicking. This means that they evaporate your sweat quickly to keep you cool.
Tackle: You will want to get yourself a 4000 series reel and fill it with 20 lb. braided line. I would also suggest getting a 7 to 8 ft. medium/heavy rod to go with it. A decent set up will cost you about $150 to $200. You can definitely find them cheaper and much more expensive but that price range is what I use as my guide.
This set up will let you get the flounder in from around dock pilings and rocks at the jetty. It will also get the flounder out on the grass flats. BUT you may want to loosen your drag some to make it more fun.
Watch the video below for the best lures for flounder fishing.
Wade fishing for flounder--GRASS FLATS
You can find a lot of flounder out on the grass flats. They are usually hiding in some sandy spot waiting to ambush any unsuspecting fish or shrimp that come by them. They can change color to lighten themselves or darken themselves to better match their surroundings. But most of the time they just cover themselves in sand so that only their eyes are sticking out.
They are hard to sight fish because they are usually covered in sand but you can see their outline in the sand. That is why I told you that a good pair of polarized sunglasses is so important. They will bury themselves so that they are facing into the current.
You have to present your bait or lure to them from up current for best results. The best live bait on the grass flats is either a shrimp or a pilchard, scaled sardine or any other white bait. You just reach into your bait bucket that is tied to your waist and cast your bait up current.
An even better option is to let the bait swim with the current to the pot hole where you think a flounder is hiding. This method is usually better because there is less of a probability of you spooking the flounder. A popping cork with just enough leader to keep the bait out of the grass will be your best bet.
A free lined live mullet is another good bait but the water depth has to be 3 ft. or less. I have had an obviously extremely hungry flounder swim up about 4 feet to hit a shrimp before BUT that is the exception to the rule. The flounder's strike zone is the bottom 2 feet of the water column.
That is an advantage that comes with using free lined mullet. They will stay at the surface of the water as long as your hook is not too big or until they get tired. A fresh mullet usually doesn't require a cork to keep them out of the grass.
The best lure for flounder is a Berkeley Gulp 3 inch shrimp imitation or swimming mullet. (PERIOD END OF SENTENCE) Some fellow flounder pounders will argue that a shrimp tipped feather jig is the best. Yes that works very well but you have to add the stink to that lure. You have to go to the store and buy frozen shrimp and cut them into pieces. The gulp is ready to go right out of the package.
A white DOA CAL shad with a red 1/8 ounce jig head is another great flounder lure. A weed less gold spoon will work too. So will a feather jig tipped with a piece of shrimp.
The best colors for me are white and a natural color combination like gray and white or copper and white. I always use a red jig head. The weight depends upon the depth of water that I am fishing and the amount of current I have to deal with. Most of the time I use a 1/8 ounce jig head.
I wrote another article on this website that is all about how to catch a flounder. You can read that article by clicking here right now.
The best presentation for jig fishing for flounder is a slow bouncing retrieve with a lot of pauses. So cast your jig up current and bounce, bounce as you are reeling and every 10 feet or so just let it sit on the bottom for 10 seconds or so. Then bounce, bounce as you are reeling and repeat the process.
Flounder like to follow the lure for a while. The movement after the pause is often the trigger to get them to finally bite.
WANT TO CATCH FLOUNDER? BOOK YOUR FISHING CHARTER TODAY!
Watch the video below for more simple flounder fishing tips and techniques.
Wade fishing for flounder--Oyster Bars/Mud Flats
Flounder love to hang around oyster bars and mud flats. There are plenty of mud minnows, shrimp and crabs for them to munch on and around oyster bars and mud flats.
My favorite topography for catching flounder in this environment is a deeper cut between two oyster bars or an oyster bar and a mud flat. This set up funnels the fish to you if you can find it. That is why the flounder are there too. It funnels food right into their ambush point.
The best live bait for this environment is live shrimp. The set up that I like the best is a tail hooked shrimp with a split shot about 6 inches above the hook.
Cast your shrimp up current and bounce it on the bottom with the current back to you and repeat. The good news for is that there will probably be redfish and black drum looking for food in the same cut. It's a good day when you catch a redfish, a black drum and a flounder in the same cut.
A mud minnow works well in this scenario too. Just lip hook it and cast it up current with a split shot and bounce it back to you and repeat.
I wrote another article on the website that covers in great detail the best baits and lures for catching flounders. You can read that article by clicking right here.
The best lure for this scenario is, wait for it....... GULPS!!! Yes it is the gulp 3 inch shrimp again. The white and natural color combinations work best for me. A 1/8 ounce or 1/4 ounce red jig head depending upon the strength of the tide.
Cast the jig up current and bounce it back to you slowly with the tide. I believe that one of the problems that most fishermen have is working their lures too fast. I have found that most inshore fish like it slow with a few exceptions like Spanish mackerel and blue fish.
The DOA CAL is another good choice for this scenario but unless the store is out of Gulps use them.
The video below shows jig fishing a dock for flounders and trout.
Wade fishing for flounder--DOCKS
Docks always hold fish. It's really that simple. When the fish aren't biting on the grass flats and mangroves I will head to the docks. BUT all docks are not created equal.
When you are choosing your docks look for the older ones with big boats moored to them. The older docks will have accumulated lots of marine creatures on their pilings. The pilings will have sponges, barnacles, oysters, marine plants and lots of other stuff.
That attracts little shrimp, crabs and fish that the predators like to come and eat. That's what is so great about docks. They are an artificial reef of sorts that attract all kinds of creatures.
The bigger boats tend to dig trenches with their propellers when the come and go from the dock. Those underwater trenches are a great place for a lie and wait predator like a flounder to set up an ambush OR a snook or a redfish for that matter.
The best live baits for this scenario are a shrimp and a pilchard, sardine or any white bait under a popping cork with the leader just short enough to keep them off of the bottom. If it is too deep for a cork then use a split shot to get the bait down to the fish.
The best lure for docks is GULPS. They really are the best. I am not sponsored by Gulp if that is what you are wondering by this point. They just work the best. That is all that there is to it.
Cast your gulps under the docks or as close to the pilings as possible and slowly do the bounce, bounce pause retrieve that I mentioned earlier. It might take me 2 or 3 minutes to get the jig back to me after each cast. When I say slow I mean sloooowwwww.
I wrote another article on this website that covers in detail the best tips and techniques for fishing around docks. You can read that article by clicking right here.
The DOA CALs and the gold and silver weed less spoons are another good choice for docks. The shrimp tipped feather jig is probably the NUMBER TWO choice of lure behind the gulp but as I mentioned earlier, you have to have shrimp with you somewhere in your waders or your pockets.
The rules for wade fishing the docks are:
- Don't touch anything that is not yours like the dock or anything on the dock.
- Don't walk on the beach higher than the high tide line.
- Don't be a douche and fish a dock with people on it.
If you follow these rules the dock owners probably won't give you a hard time for loitering around their property.
The video below is about the importance of stimulating a fish's sense of smell.
Wade fishing for flounder--MANGROVES
The mangroves at high tide are another great place to target flounder. Flounder love to hide just behind a fallen mangrove branch or just a point where the mangroves stick out further from the rest.
They will be facing into the current as usual waiting to ambush some unsuspecting fish or shrimp. So all that you have to do is give them one. The good news is that yours has a hook through its face which makes it even easier for the flounder to catch.
The best live baits are shrimp and white baits. You can just pitch it right to them if you can see them. If I can't see them I will use a popping cork and float the bait parallel to the mangrove roots with the current. This presentation will also get you snook and redfish. Just keep the bait as close to the mangrove roots as possible without getting tangled on them.
The best lure is the GULP. You might want to rig it with a weed less hook this time. You will lose a lot fewer baits that way. You have to get the bait right up to the roots or even in the roots a little bit for best results.
The shrimp tipped jig and the DOA CALs are another good choice for this scenario. Just send them up to the roots and slowly work it back to you on the bottom.
Watch the video below to see the tandem Gulp set up
Conclusion:
Wade fishing for flounder is a great way to catch them. Flounder are such a popular fish to catch all up and down the East Coast of the United States and all throughout the Gulf of Mexico too.
There are a few good reasons for their popularity. They are delicious to have on the dinner plate and they are a whole lot of fun to catch. You can find them just about anywhere there is saltwater. You can even find them up in freshwater rivers that flow into salt water.
They are a very aggressive predator and if you can figure out where they are them you can usually catch them. They are not usually very shy about hitting a lure or a live bait that is presented in the proper way to them. The key to catching a flounder is a very slow presentation that is within 18 inches of the bottom.
Flounder are one of my favorite fish to catch and are probably the favorites of many of you too.
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