Florida Flounder

Other common names: Fluke, flat-fish. Distribution: From North Carolina to the Gulf of Mexico and up to Texas.

Size: The usual size of this species is 12-20 inches. IGFA All Tackle: 20 lb 9 oz Nassau Sound Florida.

General: The southern flounder is similar to the summer flounder of the great North East coast. They are caught on the bay and along the coast. They will take all live baits and artificial bait fished deep. We catch them all year long but some times we have concentrations of them on the offshore reefs. Southern flounder is one of the best eating fish in the Gulf. We also have a smaller flounder that is called Gulf flounder and is not as common in this area as the southern flounder.

Fishing: Flounder can be caught all over the Bay and Gulf but when they are running, all of the reefs will hold flounder! The reefs are listed on our website, and is generally the only place to catch large flounder. We use live bait and fish the edges of the reef on the sandy bottom. It takes a feel for flounder. Unlike grouper and snapper, it takes a slow, steady pull to hook a flounder and it may feel like you’re snagged at first. They have a very subtle bite and may not move until you pull them out of the sand. Flounder will take artificial baits that are fished close to the bottom and also moving cut bait. You can catch them on the grass flats but I have found them in large schools in eight to eighty feet of water.

Bait for Flounder

The bait I use will vary, but by far we prefer a finger mullet between three and four inches long. Smaller mullet are too small for the hook, and larger ones are too large for some of the flounder to get a hold of easily. As the migration moves from September, these finger mullet get hard to find. We have seen Flounder hit everything from Squid to Cut pinfish so just because you don’t have shrimp of shiners or finger mullet don’t get discouraged.

The pic’s on this article were caught off of squid in 14foot of water off of Honeymoon island.

Here are some recipes for Flounder fillets, stuffed flounder and whole flounder

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