Tips To Catching Sebastian Inlet Flounder

These little flat bastards are one of the easiest, and hardest fish to catch! I have two main techniques that work pretty consistently.

1. Jigging
2. Live bait

Lets talk about Flounder jigging. This is the easiest way to catch a Flattie. All you need is a light action fishing pole and some jig heads. Then you need to tip your jig head with a jig, shrimp, mullet strip, or artificial bait. Here are some examples;

Jig head with live shrimp.

Berkely "Gulp" shrimp. Its scented and more durable than live shrimp.

Skirted jig head with mullet strip.

Artificial alternative to mullet strips, also scented and more durable.

 

Lets get jigging. Now your going to take your new jig shrimp/strip/artificial combo and catch some fish. Location is key when jigging. The main thing to look for is a low current area. You need your jig to make it to the bottom, not get swept away. Next, If the bottom is too rocky you will loose a lot of tackle. My top jig spots are the tidal pool and the entire south side of inlet west of the T dock and fish cleaning tables.(across from the campground).

 

The technique used for jigging is simple, Just throw it out and on the retrieval lift and drop your rod tip. This makes your jig jump along the bottom on the way in. When it lands next to a flounder... Bam!

 

When jigging, Its not uncommon to catch 10 fish before you find a keeper. The small flounder stack up in these sandy areas and they love jigs. Some days the bigger ones prefer a jig too. So jigging will be part of my plan on every trip!

 

The other main flounder attack is live bait.

This is the preferred method for the large fish, although you might only get a couple chances at fish. The most popular baits are mullet and mud minnows.

Finger mullet

Mud minnow.

 

I use a #1 hook, 30lb leader and egg sinker. The size of weight depends on the particular conditions. Usually a 3/4 oz weight will suffice.

This is a great example of the rig I use.

 

You can fish this rig along the edge of the inlet or out of a boat. I prefer to leave the boat at home when flounder fishing. The flounder like to sit along the rock edge and ambush unsuspecting baits. Remember to hook your live baits in the nose so they stay alive. Tail hooked baits don't do well in current. Again patience is key to live bait. It can pay off with some fat flatties.

I always like to have as many options as possible when fishing. Baits, colors, locations, and techniques. If you have any questions feel free to comment on this post. Ill see you at the next tournament!

 

 

 

 

Heres a video I just put together of my last dive.

FAT DADDY FLATTIES BY THE FOOT Official report.

This one started cold. 39 degs with 15-20 knot winds makes you think twice before you put your hand in the bait bucket! Besides the cold, it was a beautiful morning. The fishing was a little slow. The Trout and Sheephead seemed to be thicker than the Flatties in more than one way. My total catch was one barley legal flounder, 3 decent Trout, and a few Jacks. My long time friend Bobby was with me the whole day. He landed a couple flounder but they were all small. Bobby also lost one that would have put him in the running.
   The tournament winner was Casey Starck, brother to our reigning champ Gator. Casey traveled from Tallahassee to be apart of the tournament. Our victor caught both his fish on live mud minnows in two different locations. Ill let him tell the full story when he submits his report!

Thanks to everyone who donated their catch to some fresh fish tacos.

After we ate, we gave away some great raffle prizes. Thank you STRIKE ZONE for your generous contributions.

Congratulations to all our winners! It was a great day with fellow fisherman. I'm looking forward  to the next tournament. Lets keep this going and continue to support this sport we love.

I love winter diving!

Its been a while since I posted. A new position at work has been challenge and time consuming. I have had the pleasure of diving the last two weekends and I finally have a minute to report.

12-30-11 New years eve,

My family and I kept up our tradition by camping on an island for the last and first day of the year. I woke up in a tent and went out with some of the usual suspects. The conditions were perfect and it was the last day of grouper season. 3 dives in 80-90' we had our limit of lobster and some decent fish.

My last Grouper of the season.

We had about 20 people join us that night on the island, so we had an all you can eat seafood buffet.


1-8-12 First weekend of the year.

Since I had not been diving since last year I was excited to go. Same boat, same crew. We even went to the same location, we affectionately call MAYHEM. The spot lived up to its name. We had our limit of bugs right away. My next goal was to fill the box with fish. On my second tank I stuck 7 fat flatties without pulling the trigger. Dale and Bobby shot some nice mangos on their last dive. That left Chris and myself with one tank to go. We knew exactly where we wanted to go. when we arrived someone was diving our secret ledge.... we went to a spot that Chris had in his GPS. As soon as we hit the bottom I hear his gun go off. I turn and see a Cobia with a spear through it. As I move in to assist I notice a second cobe within striking distance. Now things get fun. We manage to get both fish under control, and Chris motions me that he is going up with his prize. As I follow him to the surface I remove my spear. It was a mistake. As I hand my fish up to the boat it pulls a ninja move and makes its escape... one cobia on the boat. It was an exciting end to a great day.

       5 person limit. Thank you Poseidon!

        The one that made it on the boat. Great job Chris                                                               
                                     

 Total catch: 30 Bugs, 13 Flounder, 7 Mangos, a Trigger and a nice Cobia

The fat daddy flatties are here.

12/10/11
Its Saturday morning, I feel a kick to my ribs followed by the sound of crying. Its 6:00 am and my daughter just climbed into my bed. She falls asleep but I'm up. After a quick assessment of my day and things that need to be done (including a full shift at work) I decide to go fishing. I jump in my truck and head for the beach. As I cross the causeway I have the urge to check out my bait spot. A few quick casts and I have about 2 dozen finger mullet. I drive right past my beach spot and head for the inlet. Half way there it starts raining. When I get there its still raining. I pull into the north side parking lot and my favorite rock is abandoned, probably because its pouring. I make my move. I head out in the rain get wet, cold, and 3 FAT Flounder within a hour.

I didn't have anyone to take a pic so I leaned my phone against a shoe on the hood of my truck with a timer. It didn't turn out too bad.

Monday:
I planned on having the day off but my schedule got changed the day before...Trigger says lets just go early. I'm down, so he picks me up  at 6:00 am. Another rainy cold morning. Bait was a little harder to come by but we caught enough to make the trip south. My favorite rock was occupied. Plan B; Get in the water and wade. It was cold, wet, and windy. I caught a small flounder and a trout. Trigger caught a Beast of a flattie and a big bluefish. The weather was getting to us, so we made it home in time for me to get to work.

Great job Santa... I mean Trigger!

FLATTIES BY THE FOOT!...Official Report.

Gator wins it all!

The flounder run is in full swing. The day started off cold, wet , and windy. Bait was scarce and the best spots were taken. Contestants had many different game plans and techniques to get their fingers on some flatties. Most of the focus was on the tidal pool with jigs. It payed off for our tournament top dog Gator Starck. Gator won the tournament by finding two fish of legal size. This was quite an achievement since approximately 47 flounder were caught during the contest. 42 of them being undersized and released unharmed.

                    Just over 2 foot of flatties took first.

            By the end of the day, the sun was out, we all had fun and there was fresh flattie fillets on the fire.

THIS JUST IN!!!!!!! Our tournament winner just submitted his report and secret to success!

This contest was so much fun!!!! We got to it a little late but no worries because the flounder bite was on the whole day…constant action. How did I win, LUCK and a little instruction from Capt. Trigger but mostly luck. It was hard fishing next to ole trig, he pulled in a flounder on almost every cast. We both caught a keeper early in the game and it felt as though we would limit out early. We were wadding in the tidal pool casting out towards the middle deeper section. The flounder were biting on mud minnows and some cut bait hooked on a jig head. Late in the day we each still had only one keeper and rumors were flying that other contestants only had one as well. Whoever caught the next keeper would win the contest. 30mins left and Ken gets a nice hit and starts walking back to the land yelling at me to get the net. As he walks past me he looses the fish and jokingly blames me for it, then all of a sudden I get a small hit and start reeling it in, it feels small but just to be sure I pulled it in and as I pulled it past ken he says its too small and to double check because the game wardens are very strict. I measured the flounder and it was 13” good enough for me! I yelled down to Ken, its time to go to the weigh in and he tried to tell me it was at 3 but thankfully there was a contest representative close by to tell me the correct weigh in time. It was close but I made it back just in the nick of time…I think. I thought for sure Jimmy would have limited out and would be just hanging out, but no as I ran up he only had one. I had two so it made me the winner. It was truly anyone’s game I got lucky at the very end and it was awesome! Jimmy cleaned the flounder in 2.5 seconds as we got the fire going we ate fresh flounder as the sun set while listing to Ken yelling at me about him loosing the winning fish…CLASSIC!!! This was well organized and very family friendly and an overall great day to fish with friends. I can’t wait for the next Florida fish killer fishing tournament.

-G.R. Stark

The next tournament will be in January, keep your eye on the " upcoming tournaments" tab.

Flounder are here!

Its been a full week of fishing.

Monday: Hit the inlet with My Dad and Brother in law. We caught around 25 flatties almost all undersized. It was fun and action packed but not very productive for table fare.

Tuesday: Had so much fun Monday, I decided to get Heather and the kids out for some flounder jigging. Everyone caught fish, but again not much meat for the freezer. My daughter Marina caught her first Flounder and that was priceless!

Only Two years old!

Wednesday: Decided to try my luck off the beach. Caught 8 small bonnet heads, some croakers and jacks. The ocean looked great with the offshore winds.

Sunday: Finally some decent flounder! Almost everyone at the inlet was pulling them in. Here's the best part, They were keepers. I think I have my strategy figured out for the tournament this weekend. here's a clue.... I'm leaving my boat at home.

Here's 7 Flatties that would of scored 8'4" for the tournament.

don't forget to send in your reports & pics to have them featured on this blog!