flounder

[4objwinn@googlemail.com]

hi everyone im only a novice but could anyone tell me of a good place to try to catch some flounder in portsmouth and surrounding areas,and the best tackle to use manythanks

[ctwhitelaw]

Welcome to the forum mate
cant help you there but im sure someone can

[4objwinn@googlemail.com]

cheers mate niceto meet ya

[geejayy]

hi m8, i dunno the pompey marks at all coz sotton was my old stamping ground , i did fish fareham creek with some success, 30 odd year ago though .

flounder should be in the estuarys most of the year bar about feb/march when they seem to head for deeper water to spawn.
most people tend to target them during nov/dec/jan due to either rough weather keeping anglers off the open beaches or fewer fish generally about at that time of year+ crab activity will slow down in the cooler months so you stand a better chance of catching as opposed to crabs nicking yer bait.
but the flatties should be back in from spawning by may/june and hungry.

tackle- just about anything that can cast about 2oz or more will do depending on local conditions from freshwater carp rods up to full beach casters if the mark requires a long cast or battleing strong tides/weed.
my carp rods do ok on some venues in sotton where the tide run and weed are no problem.

bait - ragworms are top choice, blow lug , peeler crab or cocktails of them as alternates.
fish or squid baits rarely seem to work for flounder along the south coast.

rigs- good old flowing trace is what we always used to use , but just about any rig will do , hooksizes to match the size of the worm- size 4- size 1 should do . fairly long snoods of 12'' or more help to give a little movement to the bait . flounder are inquisitive, beads and spoons may help .

check venue at low water to search for gullys running across the mud flats or other features that the flounder will use to run in with the tide as it rises and fish into these .

above all don't worry about not being able to cast far enough, by high water they may be right under your feet in just a couple of foot of water maybee only 20ft out.

hope this helps, gj.

[4objwinn@googlemail.com]

thanks very much some very usefull infomation. Iwill be certainly giving them a try.