Flounder Food

[Old Smoothound]

For flounder I have found "Maddies" an excellent bait bunches of 10 at a time two up the line the rest in a bunch, failing this small rag, one or two up the line then in bunches so they "wriggle".
This being for attraction in clear water.

The addition of a small slither of squid helps in the scent stakes but is for coloured water. I have never tried Mackerel. I have used small pieces of Black lug as a tipping medium which is good for most flat fish especially Plaice.

I have also tried slithers of Cuttle fish, but find this is just the same as squid and there is no real benefit.

One thing i do use is a swim feeder filled with chopped or minced fish and worm, excellent when rolled around above your lead. Can only be used a few times to get the flounders into your area from downstream. It must be cast into the same place a few times then put to one side once the fish are in your area, if you don't, there is a danger of the fish following your feeder bait downstream.

Cheers
Shaun

[JuanPablo]

nice tactic! would be perfect for low tide gulley fishing while theres no tidal movement


***checks tidebook to see when next estuary tides are***

[devondave]

lol only trouble is in the harbour where i fish it is full....and i mean FULL of crab if i could find a way of trapping the peeling crab (as the harbour never empties now they have this cill in place) i could make a fortune! the harbour puts the teign to shame for crab numbers!
i dropped a baited net down for prawns and must of had 60 in 10 mins can you imagine how many of these peel every so often? so if anyone has a device i can put down on a rope to catch the little buggers let me know and i will try it.
anyway back to the subject we float fish 1 or half of 1 rag 4-6 inches off the bottom and it is surprising what we catch in the harbour i have had flounders over 2lb bass over 3lb red mullet grey mullet whiting pouting pollock (most of which is small) silver eels gurnard all on a tiny float and a carp rod its great fun or can be if you get amongst the fish even had gilthead bream this summer!

[JuanPablo]

dave the best way to collect common shore crab is with a half sunk car or tractor tyre.....sneek one onto the mud one night and after the next tide scoop the crab out from the inside of the tyre....then keep the crab moist and cold - with popper seaweed in with them (provides good moisture so they dont dry out). when you wanna induce to peel bring outta fridge and wetten them up - should start peeling quicker then.
hope this helps

[devondave]

havent you got to get them in a semi peeling stage anyway when you collect them? my problem is the harbour doesnt empty so i cant sink anything in the mud whatever i use would have to be just tossed in on a rope but it is FULL of bait pinchers!

[JuanPablo]

yes whilst in the very early stages of peeling the crabs hole up for protection - they are quite inactive at this time. the tyre provides excellent shelter from fish and tide and so as long as the season is right (i believe there are two main peeling sessions one around april and one around august / september) the crab will find the tyre. they will move around to a degree looking for safe cover. a local collector in my area only ever goes collecting at night because he says the peeling crabs come out into the pools from wherever they were hidin - so this is probably when they move into the tyre!
general indication that the april peel has started is the inclusion of bass within estuaries and rock marks and thornbacks come inshore around the same time. not to be mixed up with bass feeding at the mouth of estuaries for sandeel in the sandbanks...
it does vary region by region and year by year but i would say april is main moulting time and then late august for a few weeks!

[devondave]

hmm so maybe toss a large tyre into the harbour on a piece of rope and see what happens? got to be worth a try i guess

[JuanPablo]

bit late this year in my parts anyway (NO I DONT MEAN IN MY PANTS!!!!) but if its still mild enuff down south dave give it a go - leave it out for 24hrs at least -

[devondave]

hmm well they get peeler up the teign most of the year round i think dunno i will tie a piece of rope to a tyre a fling it out see what happens

[charliekemp]

when i fish the beach up here at aberdeen i use a trace with two booms, i have tried using different bates on the hooks when going for flatties/place with only lugworm soaked in pealer oil to work. rag, pealer, squid, fish, mussel, etc don't work, only the lug in oil works here. lug on its own get the small fish while soaking in oil gets the bigger ones, average is 3/4 of a pound with the quite occasional 1 to 1.5lb coming through. The place are here in abundance at the moment and its the same for them too