A freshwater bass technique can help anglers winch flatfish out of any kind of cover
The angler nosed his boat into thick canes, stripped out a few feet of line with his left hand and swung a worm toward the reeds.
As he released the line, the succulent morsel slipped into a pocket of open water between two cane clumps. The worm never touched bottom, although it was barely 24 inches below the surface. Feeling an almost imperceptible nudge on the line, the angler set the hook.
“Another flounder,” he said, disappointed. “How am I going to win this bass tournament if I keep catching flounder?”
Long ago, bass anglers fishing tidal waters discovered that flounder will slurp up just about anything that a bass will eat and commonly attack the same forage, sometimes at the same time. When fishing weedy shorelines, many bass anglers flip jigs, creature baits or other soft-plastic temptations into heavy cover. Few methods can probe thick cover as effectively as dropping baits into tight places with pinpoint accuracy at point-blank range.
Buried treasure
This standard bass technique also tempts weed-loving flounder. Flatfish regularly enter extremely shallow water along marshy shorelines. They can stay in water barely deep enough to cover their gills.
Rather than chase baits, flounder bury their splotchy, brown bodies in the soft muck to hide. With only their eyes protruding above the goo, they wait for the current to wash food past them. Then, they erupt in a silty cloud to grab anything that passes temptingly close. Believing nothing can see them, the masters of camouflage also hide from danger. Rather than flee, flounder typically allow a boat to float right over them, even in very shallow water.
To tempt these camouflaged, shallow predators, move quietly along weedy, ragged shorelines. Using a long rod almost like a cane pole, strip off a few feet of line and hold the excess in one hand. Then, swing the rod toward a likely ambush spot. When the bait appears to momentarily hover over a tiny pocket of open water, release the offering. It should enter the water with barely a ripple.
“I like to target areas laden with structure, like irregular shorelines in 1 to 3 feet of water,” said Mark L. Wright of Legends of the Lower Marsh Fishing Charters and Guide Service (228-324-7612) in Pass Christian. “I look for gaps between any structure or between patches of grass and canes. I fish those gaps. When the tide isn’t moving much, we get reaction strikes from flounder. With soft-plastic baits, I can cover a lot more water than with live bait. For plastics, I like chartreuse, white and clear colors.”
Cover shots
A skilled flipper can penetrate very thick cover with incredible accuracy, even slipping lures between individual cane stems. Sometimes, the smallest hiding places hold huge flounder. For flipping thick, shoreline cover, many anglers use weedless jigs tipped with craw trailers to mimic crabs. Texas-rigged worms, lizards or tubes and other soft baits can also target flounder that few people ever try to catch.
“People who fish a marshy shoreline the conventional way with a popping cork or with jigs tipped with plastics probably leave a lot of flounder untouched,” said guide Sonny Schindler with Shore Thing Fishing Charters (228-342-2206) in Bay St. Louis. “By flipping, people can more thoroughly work a shoreline and target more fish. Not many saltwater fishermen use the flipping technique, so flounder don’t see it very often. It might take them by surprise.”
For shallow-water flipping, many people also use wacky worms. To rig a wacky worm, run a hook completely through the middle of a straight worm instead of “down the throat,” as in a Texas rig. Leave the hook exposed rather than inserting it back into the plastic like in a Texas rig. With nearly neutral buoyancy, a straight worm rigged wacky style makes a very natural horizontal presentation that mimics a dying sand eel, one of a flounder’s preferred meals.
“I use floating, straight-tail worms with neutral buoyancy,” said angler Ronnie Addison of Robert, La. “When rigged properly, the worm should be flat with the hook in it. The hook needs to be crosswise to the molding seam in the worm.”
Fish a wacky worm without a weight. Unlike weighted baits thrown from a distance that plop into the water, possibly spooking skittish fish, a wacky worm makes a very subtle entry. Drop a wacky worm as close to reeds as possible, and let it sink naturally with no artificial action.
Meals from above
With both eyes on one side of their heads, flounder must constantly look up. They see objects silhouetted against the bright sky. With its subtle, horizontal presentation, a wacky worm sinks slowly while the flounder watches from below. As the morsel approaches the fish’s hiding spot, the natural action of a wacky worm triggers its predatory instinct. Even a flounder not feeding aggressively might snatch something that almost lands on its head or that looks like an easy meal.
“When it enters the water, a wacky worm goes plumb crazy,” Addison said. “It has sort of a swimming motion when it sinks; both ends kind of wobble. It has all kinds of natural movement, with a lot of shimmy and shake. The ends of the worm kind of fold back and almost touch each other in sort of an undulating motion when the angler twitches the rod tip.”
In shallow water, flounder usually strike swiftly as the bait falls — or not at all. Don’t waste time in an unproductive pocket. If a bait hits bottom without a strike, pull it up and out, go a short distance and let it sink again or swing it to another likely hiding spot, perhaps only a few inches away. An experienced angler can probe just about every hiding place along a reedy shoreline.
For fishing particularly thick cover, rig a wacky worm weedless. Anglers can use pre-rigged, weedless hooks with weedguards that slip under the barb of the hook. Otherwise, string an intact rubber band from the barb to the eye of the hook, creating a simple, flexible weed guard.
When flipping soft plastics, pay attention to your line. Flounder often simply suck in a sinking bait. You might not detect a subtle strike, only feel a slight tug on the line or maybe a bit of extra weight. An angler might simply notice the line moving in an odd direction. If in doubt, set the hook.
Add a little meat
Although soft-plastic baits look and feel like natural prey, sometimes fish need a little extra incentive. Some anglers add a sliver of shrimp or a postage stamp-sized piece of fish to the hook for extra smell and flavor. Some cut strips from the white bellies of flounder they have already caught to make natural versions of wacky worms.
“I like to keep the white belly meat of fish I catch and use them on a jighead,” said Bill Hancock with Reel Outlaw Charters (601-807-5811) in Gulfport. “I tip the hook with a thin strip, along with the soft-plastic bait. Using belly strips is a great way to catch flounder.”
Flipping plastics into shallow reeds can catch flounder any time, but it works particularly well when high tides flood marshes or waters turn murky. That’s when flounder get into the weeds. Also, look for good tidal flow and abundant bait. Flipping also works best at first and last light or on overcast days. As the sun rises higher, flounder tend to drop into deeper water to avoid staring at the sun. Sometimes, they burrow under matted grass or into the thickest, shadiest cover as the sun grows more intense.
Moving water
“When doing this type of fishing, I want a high but falling tide that’s pulling bait out from cover,” Schindler said. “I really like seeing rain minnows up against the shoreline. I always cut up fish we’re going to keep to see what’s in their stomachs. What I’ve seen most in flounder are rain minnows. I also look for an ambush point, like the mouth of a ditch, a bar or a point. I like the water a little murky, because it hides a person, and the sun doesn’t bother the fish as much.”
Anglers can catch flounder by flipping any weedy shorelines in coastal Mississippi. They can also flip baits under docks or next to bulkheads and other structures. Some of the best flounder fishing occurs in the Pearl River and Pascagoula River deltas or the tributaries flowing into Back Bay, also called Biloxi Bay. Old Fort Bayou flows into the eastern end of Back Bay and holds flounder. Also try the Davis Bayou area, Bayou Caddy marshes, Heron Bay or the area where the Jourdan and Wolf rivers flow into Bay St. Louis.
Some bass anglers bring their techniques to saltwater. Others use flipping as a backup technique when other methods don’t work or when they can’t reach their favorite honey holes. However, when done correctly under the right conditions, flipping can put many flounder in a boat quickly, and it’s just downright fun to do.
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