Flounder Fishing Tips from the Virginia Chesapeake Bay
When flounder fishing along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel ( CBBT ) we use a double hook rig on our Fluke Killers
By Joseph Marshall Dodd
Posted Wednesday, May 25, 2005
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Flounder Fishing Tips
The 'bigga da bait' the 'BIGGA DA FISH' and when fishing for big doormat flounder this is especially true. Big Flounder love long slender flowing strips of squid, cut bait like flounder belly or the side of a croaker(my favorite), and even live baits like spot or pinhead croakers, but these big baits have a downside unless you fish them properly.
 Your baits may be different depending on your region, but the same similarity in all cases is that the baits are long which causes a problem for many anglers. So many times the flounder will not be hooked because they bite the trailing end of the bait, missing the hook altogether.
This has a lot to do with angler patience too as the average angler will feel the bite and their reflexive instinct is to yank back on the rod. This is the worst thing you can do when flounder fishing for the big boys. The flounder, especially when fishing long or live baits must be given a chance to get the hook in his mouth.
Or a better way for me that I have been using for quite some time is to get a hook in the tail end of your long baits. I have been using a double hook setup where I snell two 5/0 or 6/0 hooks about 4 - 6 inches apart depending on how large or long my bait is. I put this onto my home made fluke killer rigs which are like the store bought ones but 'industrial strength'. The store bought Fluke Killers aren't for very large flounder or 'doormats' and you will find that out the hard way if you use them to fish for big flounder.
Anyway once your rig is tied go ahead and use the first hook and bait up how you usually would. If you hook thru the mouth on a single hook rig then you would use the short hook and bait up the same way. Now take your other hook with the 5 inch line and hook it in the tail end of your long bait, make sure the bait still looks natural as possible. Now drift, or slow troll (bumping the boat along) until you get your next Big Flounder hit - your odds of hooking him will greatly increase and you will catch more big flounder.
***NOTE - Make sure your bait still swims or flows through the water properly, sometimes to large of a hook in the tail end of the bait will negatively affect how the bait swims through the water. The key is to use as large a hook as you need for a large flounder while still keeping the bait looking as natural as possible.
Good Luck - You will greatly decrease the amount of missed flounder due to long baits.
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