never caught a flounder

Hey I have never caught a flounder and was wondering if anyone knew any good marks for them around North Dublin area or techniques for them to help me catch one

Thanks

im not sure about your location but if you use a 3 hook flapper with small hooks, i use size 4's, and mackerel and lug or rag or whatever you can get for bait, mackerel works best over here, dont need to cast to far to get them, you should get them on most clean beaches where a bit of a surf is common, hope this helps

thanks for reply i normally use size 2/0 or 3/0 on rigs il have to get some small hook flappers now

flounders are got on nearly every beach.as kaylem said a flapper rig shud do it.even a size 1 hook is fine.flounders have big mouths and tend to swallow well.they can be hard to detect their bite detection cause there small.i made a rig up sat with spoons and size 3 aberdeen hooks.im sick of the small flounders

one of my favourite fish everything will catch flounder, the skill in fishing for them is picking out what works on the day and sticking to it, sometimes they will have a preference for long snoods, plenty of movement etc... sometimes they want it hard on the bottom. by far my most succesful rig i use, is a rather simple 2 up one down flapper, snoods are 60cm long tied from 12-15lb maxima or a good qaulity flouro, the rig body is constructed from 40 grauvel super natural or 40lb grauvel tecklon gold. hooks are either a size 4 kamasan or size 6 owner pint (bait will dictate what size you use, for heavy crab baits in an estuary a size one hook will be need to present the bait properly) and a little small floaty bead is often added to give my bait movement. golden rule keep rigs tidy and neat.

sometimes you will find long snoods will bump the catch rate up , ive used snoods up tp 4 foot with good success. they tend to fish the best on those calm, balmy days, little movement in the water etc.... combined with a light lead and a bit of twitching here and there they can work wonders. having said that ive also found short snoods as rediculous as 15cm have caught fish in comps where other who failed to experiment blanked. no idea why they worked? but when my traditional approach wasnt working, i switched over and reaped the rewards??

in some cases such as estuaries or flat beaches a clip down rig will be necesary as to get out to the fish holding areas such as channels, mussel beds or gulleys. for this i use a three or two hook loop rig, tied with 60b sakuma rig body or 60lb suffix superior. 45-60cm snoods, size 4 or 2 kamasan standard (dont use match hooks on clip downs as the force from the cast and ine stretch can bend fine wire hooks out)

lead wise. im a huge fan of the pyramid lead,they offer nearly the right amount of resistence everytime. i really dont like using grip leads for flounder thats just me i prefare to keep the bait moving, no need to trip the wires when i feel like a twitch or to gently lift into the fish when i want to reel in. saying that sometimes you have to use them, when its rough or theres a fierce rip of tide, and you want your bait to stay where you think the fish are feeding thats what youl have to use. coloured leads have come into play recently and i have to admit i like em. i dont know if they help attract the fish, they certainly dont put them off and best of all they make finding a spare rig on the ground easier to find

what bait you use will depend entirely on the ground and venue you choose, estuaries traditionally fish best when using crab, open beaches lug and rag. mix and match baits on the day till you find what they are feeding on. maddies and wrigglers work very well in clear seas or in calm coloured water (the fish can pick up on the moving bait in coloured water by its lateral line) tipping off with fish baits like mackerel and herring can be the killer touch. shellfish baits like mussel, razor and clam can also be devastating on sandy beaches and shingle beaches after a good blow, but make sure their stinky.

by far the most important thing youl have to learn is water craft, its something ive had to come to terms with over the last year. flounders are fish that love features!! learning to identify and use features on what seems a barron beach will make the difference between blanking and catching. the easiest place to start would be the gutter (the depression made by the wave as it laps up on the beach, yes that close) work your way out. creases indicate a run of tide and waves breaking at distance indicate a bank of sorts, fish on the edges of these. keeping trying different spots till you find em, flounder are a shoaling fish where there is one there is often others.