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Targeting southern flounder

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icarussound

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Thought I’d throw this out there, though I suspect it’ll not help!

 

periodically I’ll catch a flounder off the beach. I’ve got maybe 5 this year, all surprises on bucktails. I never know exactly how it happens. Yesterday after dawn and topwater was having no results I pulled out some 4” DOA shrimp and dragged them slowly with twitches along the bottom for no real reason except  I didn’t want to go home yet. Caught a small flounder. Cool. Maybe I can do it again... so I did it more deliberately and lo and behold I caught two more, one was out past the second wave and it was a big one.

 

so this morning I went out with flounder in mind and did the same thing, conditions were largely the same.  Not a one, and more irritatingly all my shrimp got shredded by little barracuda and blues.

 

So my question is simply is it possible to target flounder and not get your soft plastic shrimp bit up by other fish?! I only throw artificials and mostly use a scented bait oil or gel when I use the DOA plastics.

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I’ve read most of Skinners books, great resource but, frankly, I’ve found that the difference between NE and SE Florida fishing makes his techniques somewhat abstract in my experience. Rapid jigging for fluke doesn’t work well for me, and I’m too cheap to use gulp. Warmer water, different species, different baitfish behavior- I started with Skinner bucktail fishing and over time honed in on much better ways to catch here that don’t resemble his fishing style.

 

Anyway ive found the “targeting” concept is amorphous at best since there are so many species here and they mostly eat the same things which is why I figured this would be a difficult question to answer. 

 

Still there are are experts in this forum that might help glean something useful!

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You actually repeated something I said awhile ago when It comes to "Lure fishing" ….There is no "Magic lure" out there... it all depends on what they are hitting at that time and that can be all over the place LOL..different color/shape/weight/size and so on... even to the way "You" are moving it.... Its all up to you to figure out what to use on that given day in your area... Heck we will keep it just in Florida, I know guys up in Jacksonville area that swear by a spinner type lure for flounder and they kill it up there, same group of guys went down to Sebastian/Cape and couldn't even buy a bite with that lure...but we caught them on cheap old wally world jigs...same goes with fishing Sebastian and then going to the Cape...there's a learning curve for every area, sometimes luck hits and they jump on everything you throw at them...and you get set for the next day and "Nothing" LOL... it happens to everybody... hell it happens to me with using live bait at times...:beatin:…. that's why it called fishing... it sucks sometime, but heck you are doing fine... at least you are catching and learning... some folks would love to catch anything:rav:

Semper Fi > Always Faithful
"Everytime History repeats itself, the price of the lesson goes up"
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  • 1 month later...

I can assure you NE flounder tactics do not translate well for SE flounder.  I have no problem catching flounder in the bays of New Jersey, primarily on gulp and bucktails, but at least around Tampa Bay I can see flounder but cannot catch them.  I am also a fan of John Skinner.  Would be interesting to see him come to SE FL and perform as he does in the north.

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3 hours ago, kayak99 said:

I can assure you NE flounder tactics do not translate well for SE flounder.  I have no problem catching flounder in the bays of New Jersey, primarily on gulp and bucktails, but at least around Tampa Bay I can see flounder but cannot catch them.  I am also a fan of John Skinner.  Would be interesting to see him come to SE FL and perform as he does in the north.

John skinner actually created a course with salt strong dot com which is a southern states fishing website. His course is called fluke fishing mastery.

 

 

Id like to see what he says but I'm not giving salt strong any of my money.

Edited by Badtothebugs

(*member formerly known as 'Badtothebugs')

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8 hours ago, Badtothebugs said:

John skinner actually created a course with salt strong dot com which is a southern states fishing website. His course is called fluke fishing mastery.

 

 

Id like to see what he says but I'm not giving salt strong any of my money.

 

 

I watch a lot of his youtube videos that he says supports his fluke fishing mastery program but can't recall seeing anything relating to SE fishing.

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4 mins ago, kayak99 said:

 

 

I watch a lot of his youtube videos that he says supports his fluke fishing mastery program but can't recall seeing anything relating to SE fishing.

I dont see why a bucktail with a trailer and a teaser above bounced on the bottom wouldnt catch a flounder any where in the world. A flounder is an ambush predator that hangs close to the bottom no matter where its at. I think youre over complicating it

 

Listen to the salt strong podcast with him on it.

(*member formerly known as 'Badtothebugs')

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12 mins ago, kayak99 said:

A lot of fishing in SE Florida takes place on flats.  2-4 ft of water.  Not so much bouncing on the bottom like in the north.  

I live in Florida and catch a lot of fish bouncing jigs on flats. Including flounder. We also have passes with ledges that hold flounder. River mouths with drop offs that hold flounder. Flats with drop offs and pot holes that hold flounder. Skinner has a video of him catching fluke wading a flat using a bucktail. He does it from docks in bayous. Not vertical jigging but bouncing the bottom on a retrieve. When the flounder are moving offshore during winter and staging in the passes I'm certain that vertical jigging would work just as well as a baited Carolina rig. 

 

I dont really understand the point youre trying to make. If you are targetting flounder you simply present a bait on the bottom where you think flounder are present and a tipped bucktail is an excellent offering. Do you even live in florida?

(*member formerly known as 'Badtothebugs')

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1 hour ago, kayak99 said:

Yes I live in Florida, and I fish PA and NJ as well but I think this conversation is over. I stand by my comments, sorry you are unable to comprehend.

My thing is why is bouncing the bottom with a bucktail and trailer an NE tactic? That approach will catch fish almost anywhere. And catch multiple species. You seem to be putting the idea of bouncing a jig on the bottom in a box. Next time I catch a flounder on a tipped bucktail with a teaser I'll send you a picture. 

(*member formerly known as 'Badtothebugs')

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I guess you have difficulty understanding my comparisons.  Let me be more clear.  Most of the waters in FL I fish are 2-4 feet in depth.  Conversely most of the waters in the NE we drift are 6 to 20+ feet, as are John Skinners). Yes, one can drag thru the sandy patches between the grass on the Florida flats as I often do for trout, snook, ladyfish, reds and a host of other species however drifting and bouncing a bucktail and a teaser in waters (as done in the NE for flounder) where you can often reach the bottom just by bending over, well maybe you don't get it.  One could actually gig easier.  Thank you for your 'advice'.  Lets end this conversation and kindly don't send me any pictures.

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