In Rhode Island waters, the delicious flounder is a fantastic sport fish to pursue. Hundreds of boats go out every day throughout the summer chasing this magnificent fish. You may improve your flounder fishing skills by following a few simple guidelines. Summer flounder have a strange brownish appearance with a completely white underbelly.
They have two eyes on one side of their heads and swim with their eyes up, cruising near the bottom and without straying too far away from it. They travel approximately 1-3 feet above the base, searching for food, generally exploiting the tides’ movement to cover ground. As they approach, they frequently scare some little living thing, and a small puff of dirt or motion is sent into the water, attracting the flounder to that location, where he will pounce on the unfortunate creature. When we go fishing for them, we take advantage of this tendency.
So, you’re looking for some flounder. They aren’t usually in the same spot, though. You’ll have to search deeper and deeper as the season goes to discover them. With the tide, they might migrate east or west. They like sandy bottoms, so that’s where you’ll find them and where you’ll constantly drift. When looking, never spend more than 15 minutes on a drift; this is a lesson that many anglers overlook; instead, keep moving until you locate a decent drift where you can catch four or more fish.
Then keep drifting until you’re no longer getting good results. I may have to move ten times before I find them. The flounder fishing will be slow if the drift is slow. If the drift is too fast, use a drift sock or a sea anchor to slow the boat down or give up.
Now it’s time to talk about rigs and techniques. A standard flounder rig consists of a three-way swivel with sinker snap and a 30-inch leader with a fluke rig attached. It may be as basic as a naked hook or as complex as spinners, tiny squids, and beads, among other things. Because you must have your rig on the bottom to capture these fish, the sinker is crucial. The rig itself generally consists of a basic green squid and a spinner blade. The size of the spinner blade and the hue of the catching colours may adjust. However, a naked hook doesn’t always work. We always put bait on the hook, of course.
It might be squid, smelts, peanut bunker, or flounder belly strips. It all depends on what’s functioning on that particular day. Bringing squid is generally a brilliant idea. Before laying it down, cut it into long strips and hook it a couple of times. Use the most negligible sinker weight that will hold your rig on the bottom and allow you to jig it. Never let the rig drag on the bottom; you should constantly jig it. Gently jigging with the rod tip, lifting no more than 12″ and then lowered until the sinker hits bottom. What occurs down below is that your rig travels together with the boat, and each time the sinker strikes the bottom, it creates noise and a puff of sand or mud. The flounder is drawn in by the commotion and puff of mud, and the bait on the hook is tasty. This is what attracts them.
Now it’s time to hook the fish. Everyone wants to haul back immediately as soon as they feel a hit, which I believe is a significant mistake. This is a terrible idea because the flounder will grip the bait’s end and pull it away from the hook. When you jerk the rod, the bait comes out of his mouth or falls off the hook. The idea is to steadily raise the rod tip until he gets hooked or releases the bait. You can begin reeling him in once he has been hooked. Use a light-tip rod; a heavy-tip rod makes it challenging to feel strikes and determine whether you’ve hooked the fish. Place two anglers, one with a heavy rod and the other with a light rod, side by side. Given the same degree of ability, the angler with the light rod will always outfish the angler with the heavier rod.
Put out a large bait, and be patient if you want to capture huge ones. As a result, if you follow some of these tips, you’ll have more flounder in the boat.