When fishing estuary channels and creeks, use a lead weight that the tide flow can slowly swing round towards the bottom edge of the creek side. You can often get a flounder to take the hook end by adding a couple of peeled crab legs or adding a small square of mackerel to add an alternative scent. Use just enough bait to fill the hook shank and bend, but leaving the hook point well clear. Mackerel strip is a great autumn and winter bait, with the bigger fish having a liking for black lug tipped with crab, squid, ragworm, or razorfish. On the beaches, black or blow lug work well, as will razorfish and mackerel strip. An alternative reel is a 6500 sized multiplier loaded with 15/18lb line and shock leader. Couple this with a size 7000/8000 fixed spool reel like the Banzai FS8000 loaded with 20 to 30lb of X8 Power Braid and a shock leader for a balanced outfit. Tackleįor general beach fishing, a lighter rod around 13’ in length and rated to cast 3-6ozs will cover all situations, such as the Tronixpro Banzai Light. On the beaches, a night tide with the first of the flood in the dark usually gives the very best fishing. They feed well in daylight, especially if the water is carrying a tinge of colour and suspended sediment to cut the light levels down in the shallower water. Some fish will still feed on the ebb as they drop back with the tide, but not in the same numbers. You’ll catch fish as the flood tide starts to flow, but it’s the middle hours of the flood when the fish feed best before slack water returns, and bites ease back. The new flood tide is always the trigger for the flounder to start feeding, both on the beaches, and in the estuaries. When heavy flood water is evident, the flounder move back into the main channel and can go off the feed until the flood water runs off, and more natural conditions resume. The flounder will be widespread in all the channels, creeks and even found well upriver beyond the freshwater divide line. In the estuaries, the best fishing is during periods of more settled weather with little rainfall. In the late autumn and winter, bigger fish can be caught in much rougher seas, but they stay out in deeper water holding well behind the main breakers and longer casts will be needed to reach them. Weather and Tidesįor general fishing, a light surf on the beaches with winds off the sea to Force 4 are ideal for flounder, typically working tight to the tide line. Another good area to try is where cliffs or rocky ground is found in the corners of beaches. Bigger flounder are regularly found close to seed mussel beds and sit on clean patches of sand among more bouldery ground. Bigger fish will move inshore in increments and sit in depressions in the sand, but also like to investigate gutters and channels that run parallel along the beach, as these will bring and hold food drawn in by the tide flow. On beaches, they move in with the new flood tide, often hugging the tide line just a few yards out. In harbours, expect to find them again in any boat access channels, but also up tight to harbour walls, breakwater rocks and even close to mooring anchors. They also like the steeper edges of the channels where It's muddy with rocks and weed for added cover. They favour the main channels and side creeks of small and middle-sized estuaries, with the bends in the channels and creeks where deeper holes are scoured out by the tide being especially good. Smaller juvenile flounder remain inshore right through the winter and spring period. The first spawned out flounder return usually in March with numbers building through to June. The bigger flounder tend to be caught in the late autumn and especially either side of Christmas through to the end of February or so, just before moving out to deeper water to spawn. By September, they are back to their prime condition. The summer months to September sees them feeding heavily and gaining weight. Flounder Fishing SeasonĪs mentioned, they can be caught everywhere throughout the full 12-month period, but the peak season for flounder is from June to February. 3lb fish are always possible, especially from the west Wales estuaries, the southwest estuaries, and in more remote places such as Orkney and the Scottish harbours and beaches. For the more serious anglers the specimen weight is 2lbs, but generally a 1.5lb fish off the shore is classed as a good flounder.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |