Fort DeSoto Flounder 12/20/09

[SnookMook]

I went out to Fort DeSoto Sunday morning to do a little wade fishing. I had planned to meet up with a few other guys who work at The Ledger, including JettyFisher, but had some trouble finding them initially. I was gonna try for trout first, but when I got there my two best spots already had a couple of anglers working them. Scratch that plan I thought.

My second goal was to work a couple of flounder spots I know out there, so I switched gears and decided to concentrate on that instead.

I decided earlier on the drive over from Lakeland that I was gonna go strictly artificial, so I loaded up some jig heads, D.O.A. Cal shad tails and some Berkley Gulp shrimp and put on my insulated waders.

Fishing for flounder is sloooooowwwwww. Did I say sloooowwww, I mean slooooowwwww! I fished for about an hour before I had my first hookup. After that I must have been in the zone both geographically and mentally.

I spent about three hours total working some areas with some nice sandy patches. These are areas out there that I know flounder love as these spots have produced in the past. I have them marked on my hand held Garmin.

All total, I was rewarded with half a dozen nice flatties. The biggest fish went 16 inches and the rest averaged 13-14 inches.

Here's a couple of photos.





I consider this to be a very successful trip as I specifically targeted one species and caught a good number on two different types of artificial baits. Although one could argue that Berkley Gulp is not really an artificial bait. We'll leave that discussion for another day. I eventually found the other guys, they all caught some nice flounder as well and a couple of the other guys nailed some nice trout too.

You know I'm gonna be eating good the next few days.

[SeaSharp]

Nice flounder, i hope to find some of them in a little while.

[futch13]

Nice

Flounder eat much better than trout anyhow

[SnookMook]

Nice

Flounder eat much better than trout anyhow

No doubt about that. Trout are good, but flounder are downright delicious.

[The Fixer]

I love fishing for flounder with artificials. I always tell saltwater newbies that if they can fish plastic worms for bass, they should do just fine on flounder.

[SnookMook]

Fixer--You're right, they really are easy to fish for with artificials. It's nice to know you can confidently catch them and not have to mess around with shrimp or small bait fish and the bucket, aerator, etc.

Plus when you wading not having to lug a flow through on a rope is a big plus.

[JettyFisher]

SM--I love those photos. I haven't had a chance to be on the net much the last few days.