Flounder on Artificials

James Brooks with a nice flounder. Note the lure that he caught it on.

Photo by Ron Brooks It would appear that a flounder, lying on the bottom waiting for food, would not be a very aggressive fish, one wiling to reach out and grab a lure. I spend most of my time looking for flounder with live bait, but I was surprised at their aggressiveness when presented with an artificial bait like a grub.

We were looking for redfish in the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). My son had an upcoming redfish tournament and he was looking for fish. The tide was moving out and we had headed back into a small oyster bar laden creek. We had caught fish in this creek before, and the bait that was moving told us we would probably find fish.

We started out using topwater lures; popping plugs and mullet imitations. We also had a rod rigged with a jig head and plastic grub combination. We like the Bass Assassin saltwater series grubs.

The color we started with was called Electric Chicken, a swim tail grub with pink on the top moving to chartreuse on the bottom. We also used some pure chartreuse, pure pink, and some that were pink and white. All of them were rigged on a quarter ounce jig.

We worked the deep (this is a relative term in a small creek) side of the creek casting our plugs and jigs to the edge of the oyster bars. The water was about three feet deep up against the bar, and the boat was sitting back about forty feet in two feet of water.

As the tide moved out, schools of small baitfish, mostly mullet and glass minnows, made their way out. We used the trolling motor to remain stationary and cast behind the baitfish.

The retrieve was slow, something that let the lure have plenty of action and remain close to the bottom.

The first fish we caught was a seatrout, and while we fought that one, another one almost jumped into the boat chasing a second lure. These fish were not big, but they were hungry and aggressively attacked our baits.

After catching several trout, I saw a small commotion against the bank ahead of the boat. I made the long cast to that commotion and quickly hooked up with a nice flounder. He absolutely inhaled that Electric Chicken grub!

Seeing that the redfish were really not up in this creek (we only caught one in a two hour stretch), we changed out tactics and began pursuing flounder. As I said at the beginning, I usually opt for live bait for flounder. Today we had only artificials.

We began moving to the mouth a various creeks and cuts where they empty out into the ICW. If the water was running out and there was a good flow moving across the bottom, we stopped and made several casts.

Bang, bang, we would hook up tow flounder at a time. They were sitting on the bottom watching the current flow, waiting for a meal to come off the flat or creek mouth., Our grubs became that meal!

As a freshwater bass angler, I use artificials exclusively. Growing up fishing in saltwater with my father, I used natural bait almost exclusively. If we did use a lure, like a bucktail jig, it was tipped with a strip of cut bait or shrimp.

Staying strictly with artificials min saltwater is almost foreign to me, but this trip proved something. Flounder will aggressively attack an artificial lure if it presented in the right place at the right time. And at the coast of live shrimp these days, that, as one famous television personality puts it, “is a good thing.”

I have since emptied the racks of my local tackle shop of Bass Assassin grubs. There are other grubs by other manufacturers like D.O.A., but these that we used worked better for us. I’m not sponsored by any particular bait, but I believe in letting you know what works.

The Bass Assassin lures were longer and softer that any of the others we tried. That meant we could retrieve them slower and still get the swimming action we needed. Other brands were made with a harder consistency – meaning they would stay on the hook for more than one fish – but they had to be retrieved much faster to get any tail swimming action.

It may be that on another day the faster action will be what the fish look for, but today they wanted it slow and on or close to the bottom.

Flounder on artificial baits and lures – it doesn’t get any better than that!

What Makes a Fish Bite?

Anglers the world over have always struggled with that question. I know times when the fish were visible, lots of them, and they would not so much as nibble at even a live bait presented to them. What reason is there for a fish not to bite?

Perhaps the better question would be to ask what makes a fish bite rather than why they won’t bite. Fish are animals and just like all other animals they get hungry. Empty stomachs will drive a fish to feed. But the savvy angler knows that there are other factors that will entice a fish to strike, even when they aren’t hungry.

All kinds of projects and studies have indicated that fish feed more and better in a moving water situation. Tidal water movement and current are major keys to the feeding effort.

You may have experienced this yourself. On an outgoing tide, the fish are biting and you are catching them at a regular rate. Then as if someone turned off a light switch, they stop. If you paid attention you would probably see that the current stopped with a change of tides.

Current, or rather lack of current will turn off a bite. Even offshore, where you may not realize it, the current will make a difference. A slack tide with no current, while really good for getting a bait to the bottom with very little weight, usually means no fish. The fish finder marks fish all over the bottom, but with the exception of small bait stealers, you can’t buy a bite.

Weather conditions definitely affect the feeding habits of fish. As the barometric pressure drops, indicating a storm or low-pressure condition, fish will feed. Storms and low-pressure areas (hurricanes are the ultimate low pressure) mean that the water will be stirred. Fish seem to realize that the dropping pressure, sensed by their lateral lines, means stirred water. They tend to feed ahead of the storm because they will not be able to feed as well in the murky water following the storm.

You can witness this for yourselves ahead of a major thunderstorm. These are low-pressure cells in their own right, and as they approach, the fish will turn on and begin feeding.

After a cold front passes through, high pressure invades the area and the fish seem to get lockjaw. That is probably because they feed heavily as the front and low-pressure center passed through. Now full, they tend to ignore baits presented to them.

In a shallow water setting, water clarity can play a huge part in getting a fish to bite. Long casts from a position well away from the fish are usually required to keep from spooking the fish. As a rule of thumb, if you can clearly see the fish, you will probably have a hard time getting them to bite. Remember, they can see you and your boat as well.

So, if the tide stops running and the fish stop biting, take a break, eat some lunch, and get ready to move to an area that will hold fish on the opposite tide. Learning to move and change with tide and weather conditions will help you put more fish in the boat.

Penn Slammer 460 Spinning Reel

This is one of Penn's top spinning reels with six ball bearings and an all metal housing. The feel of the 460 on my rod is a heavy one. I was a bit perplexed at first because I am used to 9 ounces or less for a reel this size. But the weight proved to be something I could handle. It definitely threw my balance off on the rod I was using. I tried the 460 on a seven foot Hurricane Red Bone, normally reserved for a lighter reel. Perhaps on a Penn Slammer spinning rod the balance would have been better.

The reel performed superbly. I was able to crank off some rather long casts with little effort. The spool allows the line to leave with very little friction.

The 4.6 to 1 ratio is a little slower than I like. It makes me work harder on a fast retrieve lure to obtain the action I want.

One very nice feature is the HT 100 drag. It is as smooth a drag as I have encountered and works without any loping or surging. I was impressed by the way it handled a large redfish on this trip.

The reel has a metal housing, which is why the total weight is more than other reels in these dimensions. But that housing will go a long way toward making this one last for a long time.

What Kind of Leader Do I Need?

Leaders can be the difference between a successful fishing trip and one that ends up in the tank. Yes, in saltwater, they are that important.

But the importance is not so much whether to use one or not (we almost always need one), rather it is what kind of leader to use. Three basic choices are monofilament, fluorocarbon, or steel, or some combination or derivative of these three.

For lots of fish, monofilament leaders will work very well. The idea is to use a leader long enough to provide protection from either the rough mouth of a fish or from the sharp gill plates. Anglers fishing inshore with fifteen pound test line will have that line cut unless a leader with a heavier strength is tied to the hook.

Gill plates on most saltwater fish are extremely sharp, On fish whose teeth are not sharp enough to cut a line, their gill plates are most certainly sharp enough. Used as a defensive mechanism by flaring the jaws, gill plates will cut anything they contact. A good leader helps prevent you from being cut off.

Fluorocarbon, which looks just like monofilament, has a special property that makes it almost invisible to the human eye under water. Whether it is invisible to a fish is another question, the answer to which is – we think so. Fluorocarbon works well in clear water situations and with wary fish. The disappearing quality is the issue on this leader.

Steel leaders are used where the fish being pursued has sharp teeth. Sharks, barracuda, mackerel, and bluefish all have razor sharp teeth that will easily cut monofilament and fluorocarbon. Generally, stainless steel wire is used, sometimes stained brown to reduce reflection. These leaders are popular for trolling, since the movement of the bait through the water masks the leader. I have seen some anglers bottom fishing with wire leaders – heck, I did it myself back in the fifties before monofilament. But for the most part, steel or wire leaders are for trolling.

There are derivatives and combinations for all these leader types. Monofilament can be made with fluorocarbon content, the combination being less expensive than pure fluorocarbon. Wire leaders sometimes come as a plastic coated braid of wire. This version is more flexible and less likely to kink than straight wire leader.

But, whatever your choice of leader, let me make one thing very clear. Even with fluorocarbon, if you have a wad of junk, like snap-swivels, snaps, etc, on the end of your line, the entire leader arrangement will spook wary fish and reduce your catch. I’ve seen some terminal tackle that looks like a clothesline, full of junk.

The best advice I can give for leaders, is first, to simplify. Use only a swivel between your line and the leader, and tie the leader directly to the hook or lure. On light tackle, I would use a blood knot to tie the leader to the line and avoid even the swivel. Yes, I believe it spooks the fish that much.

Second, use a leader long enough to protect your line from a tail kick. If the fish you are catching are two feet in length, make sure your leader is slightly longer than that.

Take care in tying your leader. Smaller fish are easy to catch and the leader can be in almost any array. But, big fish didn’t get big by being stupid. The bigger the fish, you more tricks you need to fool them and make them strike.

Sloppy leaders with extra, unnecessary stuff tied into them will prevent the larger fish from biting. Be smart and take the time to build your terminal rig, including your leader, so that it will be as unseen as possible. You will thank yourself at the end of the day!

Gulf Grouper Fishing

Fall means a change of weather with cooling temperatures, and cooling water temperatures mean fish. While lots of anglers opt for football, the savvy Gulf of Mexico rouper fishing anglers are sharpening their hooks and getting ready to jerk some grouper off the bottom.

From Florida to Texas, anglers from Naples around to Brownsville sharpen the treble hooks on their Mann +30 magnum diving lures, and set GPS numbers in their new GPS units when the cooler weather begins to arrive. They know how to catch grouper, and they are ready for the fun to begin.

Trips from places like Steinhatchee, Florida, can be made with relative ease in a comparatively small boat. This time of year it is not uncommon to find good quantities of gags in water less than thirty feet deep. That means you are less than ten miles out and still in sight of the shore.

As water temperatures moderate, gag and red grouper venture in from deep water to the relatively shallow areas from five to thirty miles offshore. Ledges, wrecks and artificial reefs will all become havens for these bucket mouths. Some anglers like to bottom fish with live bait, and pinfish are preferred over most other baits. Grunts will work, and cigar minnows or Spanish sardines will also work. But pinfish just seem to have that “big grouper” look to them. Grouper fishing on the bottom is pretty standard fare. Live bait on an 8/0 hook sent to the bottom. Anchoring is key in that you don’t want to end up directly over a rock pile. Fish to one side or the other. Be prepared to crank the drag down as tight as it will go to keep the fish from taking you into the rocks. Trolling with deep diving lures becomes an exercise in following a ledge or rock pile. A very good GPS with mapping capability will allow you to traverse the same territory over and over. Some ledges are a few feet long. Others, apparently like a fault line, can run for a half-mile or more. Natural rock outcroppings dot the seabed along the Nature Coast, and the grouper love them. Red and white along with chartreuse fire tiger are good colors for these diving lures.

Gulf grouper can, at twenty inches, legally be two inches shorter than Atlantic grouper. I think that may be because the population is more stable in the Gulf. Whatever the reason, a limit of grouper on every trip is not only possible; it is the norm this time of year.

Fifty-pound tackle, heavy monofilament leaders and a strong back can be the ticket to some good eating. Try marinas and guides in places like Galveston, New Orleans, Biloxi, and Orange Beach. In Florida try the Steinhatchee, Horseshoe Beach, Suwanee or Cedar Key areas for some great grouper fishing. These areas are smaller and the shore waters receive less fishing pressure. You success rate is more likely to be higher from these locations.

Make sure you release undersized fish. A nineteen-inch grouper looks awfully big and, yes, it will feed about four people. But maintaining the resource for future generations is key to all of us being able to fish a lifetime.

Write me when you get back and I’ll give you some grouper recipes that will knock your socks off!

Before You Buy a Casting Rod

Buying a new rod can be an exercise in futility if you don't do your homework before you shop.  Whether you are looking for the best rod or the cheapest rod - and they are not necessarily mutually exclusive - you need to think about how the rod will be used.  Here are some ideas to consider as you search for the rod you need. 

Casting Rods
Designed for a baitcasting level-wind reel, casting rods can range from the six foot freshwater bass variety to eight foot jigging rods and lots of sizes in between.  Casting rods are best for topwater plug applications.  They present a relatively stiff backbone with the spline on the same side as the guides, and fast taper tip that provides a long cast.  Deep jigging rods are the heaviest and are intended to pull a big fish off of bottom structure.

• Top Bait Casting Rods

Popping Rods
These are the most popular casting rods on the market, primarily because they work well with a popping cork.  Popping rods are also built with the spline of the rod on the under side of the guides, and are generally designed for long casts and sharp hook sets.  Guide sizes need to match the reel that you plan to use.  The rod needs to be balanced about three inches above the reel seat for the best performance.

• Top Popping Rods

 

The Versatile Jig

Ask a freshwater bass fisherman what his choice would be if he were limited to fishing with only one lure and his answer would likely be a plastic worm. A saltwater angler when asked the same question would likely say a jig. Arguably the most versatile lure in your tackle box, a jig can be fished in any variety of ways for almost any saltwater fish.

Jigs - from one-eighth of an ounce to as heavy as eight or ten ounces, they span almost every hook size. Literally every angler on the water uses them at some time or another, and for very good reason – they catch fish!

Bucktail Jigs

Named for the hair that comes from the tail of a deer, these jigs are a mainstay in any saltwater angler’s tackle box. The hair moves, expands and contracts in the water in such a way that it imitates a live fish swimming. White hair with a white head and red wrapping is the most popular color scheme, but they come in almost any color combination. Variations of the bucktail include artificial hair, nylon, Mylar, and marabou hair.

Many, many years ago, anglers could order real polar bear hair from the old Herter’s catalog. It really worked well on a jig. I still have several I tied myself put away as collector’s items.

Bucktails are worked like any other underwater lure. Cast to likely spots and normally retrieved with a jerking motion that gives the bait a darting appearance. Some of the bigger bucktails, those in the 3-ounce and larger range, are used exclusively for deep jigging. Tipped with a strip of bait or plastic worm, the jig is dropped to the bottom in water as deep as 180 to 200 feet and then worked along the bottom in an up and down motion – appropriately called “jigging.”

Nylon jigs are used to troll for Spanish mackerel, bluefish, or king mackerel. The nylon “hair” stands up very well to the razor sharp teeth.

Plastics

Many jig anglers use a plain jig head and some type of plastic grub or swim tail (Georgia anglers call them screw tails). Grub fishing is a particular kind of fishing where the jig is usually worked along or close to the bottom in relatively shallow water. The grub tail imitates baitfish or shrimp, and the color variation is once again almost unlimited.

One popular method of grub fishing is to slow troll the grub in tidal creeks and rivers. Seatrout in particular are sought with this trolling scheme. Some grub tails or swim tails come in larger sizes, and are often trolled offshore.

Once again the method for fishing these grub jigs is very similar to that of the bucktail. Put your bait where you think the fish should be and give it some action on the retrieve.

Jig Heads

By far the most popular jig in my collection, the plain jig head provides versatility to the live bait angler. Live shrimp, mud minnows, menhaden, and mullet – the list goes on, and all of them can be fished with a jig head.

I keep four different sizes in my tackle box, including ¼ ounce, 3/8 ounce, ½ ounce, and ¾ ounce – all with a 2/0 or 3/0 hook. I fish all sizes depending on water depth and current conditions. The rule I follow is to use the smallest weight that will get the bait down. Deeper water and heavy current demands the largest jig. Conversely, shallow water allows me to pitch a very light jig head.

The jig head allows me to fish live bait on the bottom or to work it up into the water column. Because the lead head is right there with the bait, I get an instant feel when a fish touches the bait. If I do hang up and break a line, I only need to retie one item, instead of rerigging a hook, swivel and sinker. It’s quick, easy, and most importantly, it catches fish.

Going back to the question at the beginning of this article, I can answer it for myself in only one way. If I had only one lure to choose from, it would be a jig head. Day in and day out, I consider them to be the most important part of my tackle box.

Black Drum Fishing

Every spring – actually late winter and early spring, the black drum make their way into the inlets up and down the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. This is the time of year that the big breeder fish come in to spawn.

Black drum fishing enthusiasts make plans months ahead of time, tuning up their tackle, and their boats. Although the average “big” drum catch is around 40 pounds, these fish can reach weights over 100 pounds, and annually many fish that size are caught.

This is really a relatively simple fishing experience. You don’t really need any special tackle other than a heavy rod and reel with 50 pound test line. Simply put a bait on the bottom and wait.

Each inlet has specific spots that anglers have found over the years that seem to produce more fish. The easiest way to find one of these spots is to get out there on a weekend and look for the gaggle of anchored boats. With channelized inlets, they will generally be anchored along the edge of a channel that is often the deepest water in the inlet. Sometimes they will be just inside the inlet, around an eddy that slows the current a bit.

In non-channelized inlets, they can be found fishing the deep holes on the inside of the sandbars. The breakers are crashing the bar in front of them, and they have baits down in the deeper holes.

Speaking of bait, there are two primary baits that the “experts” use. While anglers usually prefer one or the other, both baits will work equally well. These baits are clams and crabs.

A whole or half blue crab on an 8/0 hook is about as good a bait as you can get. If the crab is small, use the whole crab. If it’s a big crab, cut it in half or even quarter it. Some anglers say that the cut crab works better because it can be found easier with the scent in the water. Some of them will crunch a whole crab to release those scents.

Clams have to be cut out of their shell and tied to the hook. Bread tie twists work here. If the clam is big, you only need one, but smaller clams mean using the meat from several of them.

While these are the primary baits, these fish can be caught on other baits. Sometimes whiting fisherman , fishing with small shrimp will hook into a big drum. I think about the only bait I have not seen work well is cut bait. That said, I will now get a ton of people telling me that cut bait works just fine. Maybe so, but not in my experience.

The technique is simple. Anchor over the fishing spot and put a line or two on the bottom. Set the clicker on the reel, and then sit back, drink a cup of coffee and wait for the bite. It is really a relaxing fishing experience – until that reel goes off!

Fighting a big drum is something akin to fighting a big rock. You have to pump and grind and get them off the bottom. They fight hard, but they also fight slow. You won’t have any long fast runs. You will have a slug fest to get him to the surface.

The fishing is fun, but the fish itself is, in my opinion, not so much fun. There are anglers out there that swear by the meat from these big fish. Many of them ‘pickle” the meat and can it for later meals. In my experience, the meat is extremely fatty and coarse. I had a hard time getting past the smell after I cleaned one – and all it took was one for me.

I do eat smaller drum – those under ten pounds. They are actually quite good. But, the big boys are not even on my radar. I will take someone drum fishing for the experience, but I do everything in my power to convince them to take a picture of it and let it go. Some of those who kept one anyway ended up calling me and telling me I was right.

But – as the saying goes – to each his own. To all you folks out there that love them, I say more power to you! I hope you catch a record fish! To those who don’t want to eat them, I say take care of them and release them to fight again another day!

Making Custom Fishing Rods

Everyone has seen them. Those hand wrapped beauties in the rod holders just begging to be handled. A snakeskin butt wrap glistens in the sun. Custom made rods: who wouldn't give just about anything to have one.

In my early fishing days, a loose thread on a guide wrap getting caught in my line frustrated me so badly I tried to rewrap the guide. After several attempts I actually got pretty good at it. That gave me the urge some years back to build a rod of my own. It was before all of the components were available to make building a rod easy. I literally hand wrapped the first one, with a spool of thread coming through the pages of a heavy book for tension and a rod blank in my lap. I knew nothing about backbones or splines. Had no idea where the guides should be placed or why a wrap should be clockwise in once instance and counterclockwise in another. But wrap one I did, and you know, I actually caught fish on it.

Over the next couple of years I purchased several rod building instruction books and learned the theories and rules behind good rod construction. I built a number of rods for myself back then. Components were reasonably priced and the rod was not that much more expensive than comparable commercially built rods. The difference was the pride factor.

I even began to get some requests to build rods for friends. One Christmas all of the guys chipped in and paid me to build a matched pair of heavy spin rods for the boss. It was time consuming, but fun building them. I figured I might be able to make some money at this!

Let me tell you about work versus fun. Sometimes what you like to do can become a real burden when you suddenly have to do it. Rod building had became a real burden. Everything was manual ( the great wrapping blocks we now use were nonexistent). I was spending five hours building one rod, and selling it for $20 more than the parts. That's $4 an hour folks! It didn't take much of that for me to revert back to "fun" building.

I still mess with building rods every now and then. Its good stress therapy. I even came up with my own snake skin pattern for my butt wraps. But mostly now I simply put my own butt wraps on store bought rods. Even at wholesale discount prices for parts, I can't approach the price for these store rods, and most are really well built.

There are a lot of places to get quality parts for building your own rod. Lots of them are here on the Internet, and I've linked to a number of them for you on the Custom Rod Building Page. Try building one for yourself. Start by rewrapping the guides on an "old but good" rod. Perfect your wrapping skill there and take on a whole rod. Even if you don't want to get that involved, it's really nice to have people look at the butt wrap on your rods and drool!!

Ever made a rod? Still making them? Got a question about rod building? Tell me about it. Email me your experiences and questions.

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