Flounder on a Fly

[EdD]

I am not yet a pirate, but I hope to become one some day. I plan to go down to the Mississippi Gulf coast (when they are again ready for visitors) and fish the channel between the mainland and the barrier islands for the plentiful flounder there. I have a 9 wt. Redington Wayfarer and a thouroughly suitable reel for the task. I have two questions.
First is what sort of flies should I tie? I assume some sort of shrimp patterns, but what else.
Second question regards leaders. Is there anything tricky that I need for flounder? The water where I plan to fish is seldom over 6 feet deep. Do I need some sort of a shock tippet?
Thanks in advance. Some day I might qualify as a pirate. I already know how to drink rum (and bourbon, and scotch, and etc...)
Ed

[Chuck S]

Flounder are the Crappie of the salt and like Crappie, love minnows. They'll go for a minnow above all else and especially one hopping along the bottom. Enter the Clouser a fly made for Flounder. My favorite here is an Olive over light Brown sort of imiting a mud minnow one of their favorites.

------------------
Good Fishing
Chuck Scheerschmidt
"I've traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved."

[SkipS]

Just nailed a 21 incher this morning from the surf.My best flounder flies are Clousers in tan/white,chartreuse/white,and crab colored( white-tan-olive with gold crystal flash and copper flashabou).A white crystal minnow(white marabou tail,pearl crystal chenille and lead eyes)is a killer fished slow on the bottom.

[Micropteris]

Any minnow type fly dragged along the bottom works well. I find a slow retrieve with a sinking line works well.

------------------
Who has time for stress when there are fish to catch.
Nick

[josko]

Here are a couple of tricks that worked well for me:

1. Use a booby fly size 1 to 1/0. Think of it as an upside-down clouser. A hook that size will need some foam wrapped around the hook shank, as well as large eyes. Then cast it out with a fast-sink line, let the line settle onto the sand, and let the fly bob up down.

2. Try a cork/foam 'strike indicator' and a regular clouser, also on a fast sink-line. This should bring the clouser up off the bottom on each jerk. This obviously works best in clear sandy areas. I think a red indicator (I use one of those with a rubber0band tube inside) also works as a fish atteactant.

[SkipS]

Regarding your second question,all my SW flyfishing is done using a straight piece of 15 or 20 lb test mono or floro.I usually use about 4-5 ft on an intermediate and about 3 ft on a sinking line.You dont need any shock tippet but long shank hooks work well as flounder tend to inhale a fly and you might have to go digging after a short shank hook.

[EdD]

Thanks for the replies. I hadn't thought that minnows would be that good for flounder, but I'm 450 miles from the ocean so what do I know. I appreciate the help. I'll be fishing over a mud bottom. I doubt that I'll need more than a sinking-tip line, since I'll seldom be fishing in water much over 4' deep. In fact, I might just keep my floating line on and go with a leader 7-9 feet long. Because of the numbers of stingrays, I might not do too much wading. I know that it's just a 'lubber's fear of them, but I had a friend who got stung. The wound was pretty vile and oozed for weeks.
That brings about two more questions. My first question has to do with tides. Should I fish a rising tide or an ebbing tide? Does it matter all that much?
The next question has to do with cleaning flounder. Are there any special tips, or should I handle them like some sort of super-sized bluegill?
thanks again,
Ed

[SkipS]

Some areas fish better on a rising tide and some better on a falling tide.I like a falling tide better for the areas that I fish.The important thing is that the tide be moving.Once the tide slows or stops,the bite usually falls off.As far as cleaning the fish goes,I make a cut straight down the middle of the back to the spine.Then work the tip of the knife along the rib bones all the way out to the edge of the fish,peeling the fillet as you go.This gives you 2 fillets from the back and 2 from the belly.

[Jed]

Flounder are bottom fish and Clousers are weighted... Its like a marriage made in heaven. Josko's ideas sound interesting. Its a nice way to give some "lift" to the fly action.

jed

This is amazing! I never knew that there were so many fly rod flounder fishers.

The first reference to this sport that I can remember was years ago in one of the outdoor magazines titled "Flyrod Flatties", a how to article about fly fishing the Long Island bays.

What little I did was during beach vacations in the 50s and 60s and those who observed my flogging the surf and back bays thought I was nuts! Many had never seen a fly rod before.

My mother considered the flounder the best of all fish. That gave me an excuse to persue them with the fly rod while my father was going for stripers with the usual surf equipment.

The skinny water you are going to be fishing would allow a lightly weighted streamer or streamer split shot combination to be used. A sink tip or sinking line would be of advantage in anything deeper.

I would probably use a three piece leader of about 8 feet. 20, 15, and 10 lb test would work OK. I'd add tippett if very small flies were to be used.

I share your angst about stepping on something bad in unfamiliar surroundings and therefore would use wading shoes, at least at first.

My limited knowledge has probably been superceeded by that above but I found the best fly at the time was a plain white Maribou palmered around the shank with Jungle cock eyes and no topping.

I fished the waters of Cape Cod, the Indian River area of Delaware, Ocean City Maryland and the Chincoteague area of Virginia.

The flyrod did as well as any other method at the times I was fishing especially in very shallow water. I suppose that the heavily weighted Clousers might be better now But I hadn't heard of them at the time. Maybe they didn't exist.

This may not have been very instructive but It was meant to elicit enthusiasm for flyrod fishing for flounder more than anything else. Wish I could try it again!

Ol' Bill
1932