Saltwater Strategies, Part 2

Feature Story by CHESTER MOORE

LISTEN: (6 minutes, 55 seconds)

 

AS SPRING BLOSSOMS on the Texas Gulf Coast, large numbers of flounder start moving back into bay systems from their spawning period in the Gulf of Mexico.

From now through early summer flounder fishing can be really good but I have found as the flounder fishery has been under more pressure, I have to try more tricks to catch them. Here are some of my favorites for spring through early summer.

1. Current lines: Big current lines in the Intracoastal Canal and in the river systems connecting to bays will have pronounced current lines where baitfish congregate. They are usually clear on one side and murkier on the other. If you find a current line with shad or shrimp work the current line from the murky to clear side. Many times, big flounder will be on the edge of the murk. 

2. Start Late: Dissolved oxygen levels are at the lowest level at daybreak. I believe this is why flounder fishing particularly in the summer tends to be slow early in the morning. By starting an hour or so after daylight anglers can avoid the super slow early bite and focus the best efforts at a key time. Summer is the time of fish kills on the Gulf Coast and the bulk of it has to do with low dissolved oxygen levels. This also has an impact on fish metabolism and I believe since flounder are relegated to the lower portion of the water column, they are more impacted by oxygen levels. 

3. Follow the Shad: The river systems on the Upper Coast are inundated with large populations of shad (menhaden) and flounder in these systems will follow the menhaden. Fish that bite at point x one day may be 1⁄2 mile away at point y if the shad have moved. Very few anglers target these flounder, so you have a chance at catching big specimens. 

4. Depth: The last big flounder I caught was using a drop-shot rig, which is one popular with bass anglers fishing deeper water. There were baitfish holding on a ledge in 14 feet of water and I lowered down the drop-shot to see what I might be able to catch there. It ended up being a flounder and was not the only one we caught in the same area in two days of fishing. Flounder will feed in deep water but tend to concentrate around depth changes, so look for drop-offs and try the drop-shot rig. 

5. Summer Highs: When tides are running extra high in the summer, I seek flounder along the main shorelines of bay systems. Attacking vast shorelines would be a waste of time and end up in dogged frustration so you have got to have a strategy. Instead of looking over eight miles of shoreline, narrow your search down to 1/8 of a mile. You must eliminate water to successfully bag flounder. The first step I take while eliminating is to once again look for a shoreline that has stands of roseau cane. 

Roseau cane has an intricate system that is somewhat like a smaller version of mangrove, and it gives menhaden a place to linger, hide and dodge larger predators. 

6. Live Croaker: Croaker is available at many bait camps during the summer months. It is a phenomenal live bait for flounder especially when fished on a Carolina rig. Pick out the smallest croaker in the tank and avoid the extra big ones anglers often used for big trout. 

7. Alligator Connection: When you see alligators with their heads positioned toward the bank a few feet off a bank (several at a time) fish there. They are typically feeding on shad pushed against the bank and often flounder are feeding with them. This can work anywhere but you are most likely to encounter it in the Intracoastal Canal or a river system. 

8. Chrome Sinkers: Flatfish fans in California use bright chrome sinkers to key in on flounder. They say the bright chrome draws in fish. And since flounder are visual, I believe this can offer an advantage in Gulf Coast waters. 

9. Surf Jetties: There are small jetty systems in the surf at various points along the coast. Notable spots include the stretch between Cameron, La. and the Texas state line on Hwy. 82 and the Galveston Seawall area. There are strong numbers of flounder in the surf, and they stack up at any kind of structure. Seek out these spots using live bait on popping corks or by fishing live bait rigged on football head jigs and move along the edges of the rocks to score on big surf flatfish. 

10. Sunken Barges: During summer months, flounder will stack up around sunken barges in the ship channel and along the Intracoastal Canal. Making precision casts into tiny pockets stacked with baitfish and working a live bait with a popping cork anglers can score on big flounder. 

11. Live Shrimp. Yes Shrimp!: Last year I watched a man absolutely smoke me using large live shrimp on a modified free line rig. He had a wide gap hook with an 1/8- oz split shot rigged above it and he pitched into the current toward a point allowing the current to push it into the key bite zone. The flounder hammered it! Since then I have used live shrimp several times (including jumbo shrimp) and caught many flounder including big ones. The key to this seems to be the rig. The flounder do not seem to want the shrimp if it is on a heavy Carolina rig but cannot resist the free swimming action of this setup. 

12. Deep Shorelines: Looking back over the last few years of flounder fishing, my biggest fish in the bays have come from stands of roseau cane and the deep shorelines in the interior of marshy cuts. 

When moving into a marsh, use a side-viewing depth-finder to scope out deep shorelines with major drop-offs. As Capt. Skip James taught me years ago, they are often in the “S-turns” of the cuts where heavy currents rushing against the sudden change in topography creates a washout. I have found these spots hold a lot of fish, and usually more big ones than surrounding areas. 

Taking your flounder fishing to the next level requires more than just fishing harder; you have to fish smarter. 

These areas receive very little angling pressure and therefore the fish do not get caught and thrown into an ice chest. 

Also, these spots often coincide with eddies or small ditches feeding into the main cut, giving flounder serious bang for their buck in exchange for lying there. Having been involved in early tagging studies of flounder, I do believe they are territorial and primarily stay around the same drainage once they enter in the spring. You will probably be the only angler targeting these kinds of cuts in your area, and therefore will have real hotspots to yourself which is always a plus.

—story by CHESTER MOORE

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