Three Key Tips for Jigging for Flounder

Traditionally most anglers fished for flounder with bait, but as times have changed so have the preferences of many fishermen. Today, vertically jigging for flounder with soft plastics gives bait a run for its money in the popularity contest. Why? It’d downright fun, especially when you feel the sudden smack-down as a flatfish slams your jig. But just as important, jiggers have proven over time that they can be just as effective if not even more so than bait anglers. If, that is, they remember these three key tips.

1. Keep your offering active – very active. Jigging motions should be fast and aggressive, and your lure should never just hang there or sit on bottom. Allow either to happen and any flounder that may be eyeballing the jig will quickly lose interest. Obviously you’ll want to keep the jig near bottom when flounder fishing, but fast, aggressive upwards jigging motions that do take the lure outside of the fish’s striking distance for a second or two will often trigger an attack when the jig falls back into range. So jig constantly, and broadly.
2. Keep on the move. Unless the fish are utterly stacked upon one another in a very tight area, you’ll want your boat to be moving at all times. Once you’ve covered a certain section of the bottom it’s useless to keep pounding that very same spot over and over again. And flounder don’t just sit there waiting for their food to come to them – they will and often do cover ground and follow a jig, darting along the bottom, before deciding to eat it. When there’s no current or wind to keep you moving, bump your boat in and out of gear or slow-troll to maintain some motion.
3. Stick with plastics that fall without spiraling. Many paddle-tail jigs and some twisters will spiral as they sink, and that has the tendency to turn the fish off. That’s not to say you won’t catch flounder using paddles and twisters – you certainly will. But if you opt for a straight or split-tail jig that darts up and down without spiraling on the fall, you’ll catch more.

Along with these tips, all of the flounder fishing basics still apply: look for the fish along drop-offs and sheer edges; focus your efforts on clean water and sunny days; try different colors but expect white and chartreuse to commonly be top producers; move shallower on incoming and high tides and move deeper during falling and low tides. And always remember that unlike fishing bait, when you’re targeting flounder with jigs you’ll want to set the hook the moment you feel a take. Give jigging for ’em a shot, and we’d bet you find it’s one heck of a lot of fun – and every bit as effective.