Flounder are flatfish that lie on their pale side and look up from their brown side with both eyes fixed on the water above them waiting to ambush their prey. To catch them, you need to be fishing a slow-moving bait at the very bottom of the water column.
To learn how to cook the flounder you catch see my article Easy Flounder Recipes.
On the Atlantic Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico, flounder start biting in the spring and continue through the warmer months. They become more active as the water temperature rises. But even in their most aggressive moods flounder will not chase a bait far.
Most flounder anglers troll, drift or cast a live bait to flounder, hoping to roll their offering right above their nose and cause a quick reaction strike. Flounder move fast and decisively to take their prey into their mouths, although they do not run with it after the hit and bites are not as easy to detect as they are for more mobile game fish like striped bass, speckled trout or red drum.
The four best live baits for flounder are all minnows that travel in small, skittish schools around structure and over flats. These minnows make up a great part of a flounder’s natural diets. Flounder will also eat shellfish like shrimp and crabs, but small live baitfish are usually the best way to get their attention.
Mud Minnows
Mud minnows are not really one species, but a group of small killifish and mummichogs that live in tidal pools and creeks and can be kept alive in fresh water. That is one reason they are so valuable to anglers-mud minnows can usually be purchased at tackle stores and bait shops, since they don’t require saltwater to remain alive.
Mud minnows are very hardy and active on the hook. They should be holed through the lips for use on flounder rigs. The first instinct of a mud minnow is to attempt to hide or bury itself, so it is better if the angler moves the rig a little bit to make sure the minnow is in sight of any hungry flounder.
Finger Mullet
Sort of like the opposite of mud minnows, finger mullet are a frisky, skittish fish that seek the higher water column and will even jump out of the water to avoid predators like flounder. They cannot be purchased at tackle shops because they do not survive out of saltwater. You can catch them in your cast nets.
Hook finger mullet just above their eye sockets and they will stay alive much longer. Finger mullet do a flashy dance on the hook that really attracts flounder.
Pogies
Pogies are small menhaden, the very oily fish that is caught in large bunches by commercial oats for use in fertilizer and cat food. Flounder love to eat them but they are the hardest of all minnows to keep alive. They will not live out of saltwater and die quickly in a minnow bucket if not aerated constantly.
For the short time they are alive, however, pogies are a deadly flounder bait. If you are trolling or drifting hook them through the upper lip, but if you are casting hook them through the back and let the silvery fish flash around any likely flounder territory.
Small Pinfish
Pinfish are a bait stealing nuisance for bottom fishermen, but small ones are a surprisingly effective flounder bait. They are a hardy fish on the hook and flounder expect to find them around structure. For extra effectiveness, clip off the top fins of a pinfish before you send it down on a flounder rig. Hook them through the lips, and the payoff may be a surprisingly large flounder.
Other minnows can be used for flounder, as they will eat almost any small fish such as croaker, spot or perch. But these four main baitfish are the most available and effective live baits you can use when looking to put a few thick flounder in your cooler for dinnertime.
