2up 1 down or 3 up?

When match fishing for flounder off surf beaches how do you decide what would be the best rig to target flounder with? I noticed while fishing the Daiwa Pairs this year that alot of anglers were fishing 3 up whereas I always go for a 2up 1down rig.

Is it a matter of the surf conditions on the day or whether the flounder generally take above the lead on certain venues? You wouldn't think it makes much difference but sometimes it seems to.[/u]

good question mate, i have had flounder on the bottom hook when the surf is clam and the other night i got a flattie on the took hook of a 3 hook flapper , i think it all depends on the venue,bait and how close your hooks are to the ground, but i could be wrong, i use both, but find that a 2up,1down is better for me, but i tie the bottom snood a bit longer

this year ive started using the two up one down and have noticed a decrease in flattie numbers, ive already moved back to the three up.

Hi John,

Not fishing matches a long time.... but for flattie's only, I would tend to lean towards a 3 up rig. Unless your snoods are very long, chances are that the top snood will be over the lead anyway... but not much. When there is a chance of another species like bass or Coalies, I tend to then fish 2 up 1 down. The down snood will be a little shorter and have a bigger bait & hook.

Kev

Hi

I tend to use a 2 up 1 down if I know I will be twitching it back in... typically with a watch lead to stir up the bottom. Flatties coming in to investigate the puffs of sand caused by the lead will find the trailing bait on the 1 down. Interesting to hear that others find 3 up better...

FWIW

In shallow water it sometimes pays to have a second weight at the top of the rig and let all the snoods drag along. In deep water Flounder will rise off the seabed to take a bait in an instant and settle down again without traveling very far.....if I get an early knock, I always leave it and wait for another to try and make it a double....like many I have had the same Flounder take 2 baits from the same rig :(

Tom.

if its flattie bashin you want.. gather all your beads and sequins throw them out the window... a 4foot 3hook flapper with 18" snoods and size2-4 hooks, place the bottom snood about 3inches above the lead link.. if your fishing in the suds like rockhopper says you can put a lead on top of the rig to keep it down... or just spread the legs on the tripod to get the tip of the rod low down,use 3" strips of mackerel or squid and hook once.. cast out and walk away for a few minutes.. the reason for walking away is so you dont strike on the first tap, you'll lose a good fish that way, its usualy the 3rd or 4th tap i set the hook..

if your fishing from a height i find a 3hook boom rig works well, the booms add the weight to the rig and help it hug the bottom a little better :idea:

snood below the lead can tangle in a surf too.

snood below the lead can tangle in a surf too.

try usinf small booms, along the likes of the hiro one, these give a good presentation and really minimise tangles

snood below the lead can tangle in a surf too.

only get that problem with gripleads.. and if flattie bashin i use flurocarbon snoods which is a bit stiffer than amnesia, so i have never had the problem of tangles :D

if its flattie bashin you want.. gather all your beads and sequins throw them out the window...

Don't agree with this, I find a bit of bling on flattie rigs gets me more flounder. Maybe if you're after dabs or turbot, but flounder definitely seem to go for the sparkly rigs. They are supposed to be visual feeders after all...
And i do recall outfishing you on more than one occasion with lots of bling on my rigs and none on yours :wink: :lol:

and i have won competitions with plain rigs when nearly everyone else was using bling...

personally the less there is on the rig the better the chance for more species :D

as long as there is a hook and bait.. you cant go far wrong after that :lol:

as long as there is a hook and bait.. you cant go far wrong after that :lol:

i dunno about that....i always have a hook and bait but some times they get disconnected from my main line :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

as for bling or no bling, i usually go with flurocarbon but in comps i will try to have a bling rig and a non bling rig so i can alternate and see which catches more fish.

whats a 3 up?

Alex

whats a 3 up?

its when all 3 hooks clip up :roll: :roll: :wink:


you might all dissagree with me.. but you have all seen me pick up flatties on my rigs :lol: :lol:

a three up is your bog standard flapper, paternoster.

wouldn't that be a clip down Eric...that is usually a paternoster is it not?

the terms 3 up, 3 hook flapper/clipdown, 3 hook paternoster can be used interchangably

snood below the lead can tangle in a surf too.

only get that problem with gripleads.. and if flattie bashin i use flurocarbon snoods which is a bit stiffer than amnesia, so i have never had the problem of tangles :D

Steve generally i would agree with you on this but have fished surf on more than one occasion were bottom snood has tangled around plain leads/ watch leads/ pyramid. it depends on the movement of the surf. when the snood is moving back it catches the lead/ link on way back and continues to do so wrapping around a few times. i dont think it has anything to do with the type of snood used as far as i am aware.

What i mean by a 3 up is a 3 hook flapper with all 3 hooks positioned above the lead.

I agree with pretty much all that is been said. Flounder will nearly always take the hook below the lead when twitching the rig in. This is a tactic that really works well. As for bling I think its an invention by the tackle industry to catch anglers and not fish. You never see any serious match anglers using it. I think as Steve said a 4-4.5ft flapper with 18" snoods is a standard rig to target flounder.

Getting back to the original question of when a 3 up works better that a 2 up 1 down flapper, I think it depends on the day. Some days you will catch all your flounder on the hook below the lead and others days you will notice that allot of flounder are taking above the lead.

Why do flounder generally take the hook below the lead probably 3 to 4 times more often than the two hooks above the lead? Is it because the flounder see the rig if going for the top 2 hooks and this puts then off whereas with the hook below the lead they don't see anything bit the bait?

John if you make your flounder rigs so they can be adjusted to what is working on the day it saves you a massive amount of time, it also means laziness wont stop you trying something different.