What's the deal with flounder fishing? What makes such an ugly creature into such a highly sought out fish. I mean, you can't even consider this thing a sport fish, so what gives? What exactly is it about flounder that make so many anglers want to target them? It can't be their looks, people regularly call them "doormats". They aren't very sporty, putting up hardly any fight at all when you catch them. Still haven't figured it out yet? I'll tell you.

So why do so many people go flounder fishing?

One word, taste. If you hadn't figured it out from the introduction, then there it is. Flounder are one of the best, if not the absolute best tasting fish that you can throw onto heat and eat. I am telling you this from my personal experience. Like I said, these things are ugly, people call them doormats, and they don't put up a fight, but if you are wanting to taste an excellent species, flounder is it. You can find the fish in resturants around the globe, being served up in so many completely different ways. Start by finding a resturant in your area, who cooks it to your locale. What I mean, is southerners cook it a certain way, northerners another way, etc.

When you begin seeking out to catch your first flounder, you are obviously going to have to look for some saltwater. These are not freshwater fish. The problem is though, that where there are flounder, there are usually a lot of other fish, hundreds of different species to be exact. All of these fish eat the same type of bait, fish or mullet, so this eases your choices when it comes time to pick what type of bait to use.

In the saltwater, you can get away with using either live bait rigs, or even soft plastics, usually with scent impregnated into them. This helps the fish to locate the bait, using these types of scents. When I speak of the small fish, I am really talking about the bait thieves. They will irritate you if you are using live bait, so bring extra of whatever type you choose, you are gonna be feeding the small guys. My advice, is if you get on a stack of small fish, move, quickly. You are going to waste money.

A personal favorite of mine is trolling fishing the float and jig setup that most saltwater anglers are familiar with. If you haven't ever seen this setup before, let me explain it a little bit for you. It is a piece of wire, with a round bright orange float, and a couple beads on each side of it. It looks like a larger version of the bobbers you used as a kid. When you jerk on your rod tip, the orange float bangs the beads up against the loop at the end of the wire, and alerts fish in the area to the presence of your bait. It's like a fish call for the water. They will find your bait, and proceed to run. This is when the fun begins.

If the float and jig technique isn't panning out for you, another method that you can use to catch a boat load of flounder for the table is the straight up, classic jighead tipped with your favorite bait. When you have found some fish, or found a nice oyster bed or inflow to target, strap some of your favorite bait on a jighead heavy enough to fight the current. Throw it around your fishy areas, and fish it very slow. Give it a hop about once a minute. Trust me, when you think you are going slow enough, slow down.

The smaller fish that I was talking about earlier, or the bait thieves as I call them, will seriously interupt your flounder fishing. Especially if you are using live bait, the smaller fish will empty your bucket before you know it. This is why I say to you, if you get on a stack of small fish, move. It is that simple. There are flounder to be found, and there is definately no need to be wasting money on trash fish that you aren't going to eat or use for bait. For this reason, I typically prefer to use soft plastic baits when I am flounder fishing.

If it isn't clear to you by now why I prefer artificial baits over live bait, it is because of the bait thieves. Those little fish can cost you more money then it will cost you to take the boat out for the day in shrimp or mullet. With soft baits, they are molded to look exactly like a shrimp, and when you insert a jig head through it, it swims through the water like a fleeing shrimp. Some manufacturers have also injected fish oils and other scents into the baits as an attractant. I know these scents work great in saltwater, unlike freshwater where they fail to perform. All I can say, is that it must stink underneat the saltwater. So keep this is mind when you are out flounder fishing!