Flatties and Shad

[nushagak]

So... myself and some buddies found a bunch of flounder the other day but we could not get them to eat anything we threw at them.

We were fishing inside a muddy drain on an incoming tide and there were flounder everywhere just 1-2 feet off the grass chasing and hammering tiny shad/menhaden. At first we assumed it was redfish chasing the bait until we started seeing some of the flounder come completely out of the water like those videos of great whites eating seals in South Africa. It was incredible. There were flounder everywhere. These flatties were ambushing schools of tiny shad (the shad were somewhere between the size of a nickel and a quarter) but we could not get them to bite any artificials. We tried everything we had including gulp and even tried biting our baits in half to give a smaller presentation. They werent interested. We didnt have a cast net with us, but even if we did, it would have been total guess work on my part to figure out how to fish such a small delicate live bait. I'm more than happy to fish with bait, just didnt have any that day.

Curious if any of you old salts have figured out how to catch flounder in that type of situation? If you give any really good ideas, I will PM you with the location where we found all the flounders.

Good fishing to everyone. Thanks in advance for any help or advice you are willing to share.

God Bless.

[Root Canal]

Small Bass Assassin Sea Shad.
Clear body with glitter.

[Baby Tran Cat]

norton bull minnow

[Jhua]

I usually use a mini trap (small rattle trap) or like you did, take half of my Hackberry and try and get them with that.

[KennyWayne]

I've seen that too last couple of weeks, it is actually a late April thing. It seems everything is 2months late. I was able to catch them on tiny shad imitations from the crappie section. Use Procure and tip hook with a tiny piece of shrimp. Moving water is key! Check your tide charts.

Shad exploding and hitting the water like raindrops and flounder jumping up and doing flips is one of my favorite things to see.

[buoy37]

@nushagak - ibtsoom put me on a spot like that one time and the flounder wanted nothing to with my arties or GULP! The flounder were launching out of the water.

Go back to the spot with live shrimp and a cork with a real short leader (8" or so). They'll knock the hell out of it.

[SCHU]

Don't know what they are called, but they have two fluttering tails. Seems like I have used them before in that situation and they ate it. Also try 2-3" cocahoe minnow or a curly tail grub...something small is the ticket.

[Moe]

Always carry a small box of crappie jigs with curly tails(chartreuse, clear, black, and white are good) for situations like this. I've caught trout when they were hitting glass minnows and NOTHING else. Match the hatch as they say!

Moe

[Curmudgeon]

I always liked the Gulp swimming mullet for flounder .


Curmudgeon only pawn in game of life.

[plugger]

Yes , match the hatch but you more than likely won't have a bait like that in your circumstances unless you come prepared based on foreknowledge . They might take a 1/4 ounce silver or gold spoon which should always be in your wade box when working the flats .

[nushagak]

Thanks everyone for the input. these are all great ideas. All of our arty baits that day were just too big. We will carry some smaller imitations in the future

Anyone ever use live shad as bait? If so, how do you like to rig it.

thanks and be safe on the water

[Gulfcoast13]

@nushagak - ibtsoom put me on a spot like that one time and the flounder wanted nothing to with my arties or GULP! The flounder were launching out of the water.

Go back to the spot with live shrimp and a cork with a real short leader (8" or so). They'll knock the hell out of it.

Ding .ding. Ding...

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

[mgstei1]

Live shrimp with a barrel weight and plenty of slack line. Free wheel your spool, have a drink and a snack, and then set the hook.
Also works with TR's if you desire them too.

[WadinMoron]

Yes , match the hatch but you more than likely won't have a bait like that in your circumstances unless you come prepared based on foreknowledge . They might take a 1/4 ounce silver or gold spoon which should always be in your wade box when working the flats .

SPOONS CATCH FISH! There's a reason it's one of the oldest lures and still popular.

[SUPER SPOOK]

take a cast net with you next time. lol