Fishing Forum

Who has tried the plastic squid for fluke and what colors seem to work for ya?
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White is the all time go to color but chartreuse works well also when you use fresh squid its usually white after you clean it that is why I prefer white also when I use fluke belly strips I prefer the white side of the fluke but that is just my preference you may want to tip the plastic squid with a piece of fresh squid for the scent I do this with most of my teasers for fluke especially whe using bucktails for teasers I add a strip of fresh squid it works great I even add a strip on a live killie
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Before you can decide which colors and sizes work best, you have to consider what color and sizes are the natural local baits in the area at the particular time of year you're fishing. I know on the East coast here in SC, we change our baits up with what is most abundant at the time. If mullet minnows are running thick, we cast net some mullet. If the Mud minnows are the only thing around, that's what we use. Menhaden are my personal preference. They stink so good, and flounder love them. However, I don't know where you're fishing from, what area, or what time of year. My question to you is why in the world would you want to use "plastic squid" when on a normal basis fresh, live, FREE bait is readily available? I could understand the theory behind it if flounder were finiky and pecked at your bait until it was gone. But flounder's are verocious predators, and if you're skilled in the art, 65% of your bites are fish in the boat. The thing about flounder/fluke is they aren't going to come to you, you have to find them. They bury themselves in the mud and sand until something swims above them and they suck them up. They have excellent vision and sense of smell. Any soft plastic would work. Flounder like shiney things too, infact, I don't know too many saltwater species that don't like a little bling bling. White is the color of choice, especially one with the glitter inbedded in it. They make artificial squid that is designed to inject with that stinky fish smell that we all love so much. I'm thinking those would be hot shit when live bait is hard to come by. Personally, i've never had a problem finding live bait, however, there are vast inlets and side channels flowing with mullet, menhaden, and shrimp all season long and are found easily. It's pretty easy here in south carolina. I use an Abu Garcia 7000 on an Ugly stix rigged with 20 big game. Tie up a Carolina rig and slap on a 5 to 6 inch menhaden or live shrimp. Drive the boat up stream and drift down the channel during falling tide, bouncing your bait slowly off the bottom. Before you know it, you've got a cooler full of Flounder and a belly full of beer.
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Hey Tarpon
we are fishing in the northeast NJ and Conn area and squid is one of the prefered baits here for fluke which is a little different then the flounder in the southern waters we also don't get live shrimp mullet or mudminnows here we use live Killies, frozen spearing live small snapper blues also fluke belly strips and plastic squids are a prefered teaser here I know what you are talking about I have fished in the gulf in texas and did all of what you said another thing we do here is drift for fluke if you are stationary you won't catch many at all different areas different styles and baits
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Thanks for your input Tarpon 4me, but up here if you move to CT., you don't have the option to get free live bait unless you use a minnow trap. Squid you'll never get but is the preferred bait for fluke. I'm just feeling the waters to save a few bucks on bait. I've been fishing them for 43 years now and they still teach me something ever year. Caught one on a swimbait last year. Sad to say we haven't seen a bucket of flounder in many years.
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Ahhhhhh, now I understand. "Hutch" was just explaining the perdicament of the CT. waters. In that case, i'll let you in on a little secret my self and some of the locals around my way do. Since you don't have the bait availability that I have a few states down, try this out for size. Get yourself an ultra-light, a standered 2 hook rig W/ small hooks, and some shrimp or small chunks of cut bait.(preferably mullet, which you should be able to buy at any bait and tackle store frozen very cheap) Sit on the dock or any where people often clean fish and fill your live well with the local trash fish.(pinfish, spots, croakers, etc...) Though, to the untrained eye, they are nothing more than a pain in the butt bait thief. To a flounder fisherman, those 4-6 inch ankle biters are diamonds in the rough. There is nothing better than the local bottom feeding species to fish for a bottom feeding flounder. Most people over look that much untapped resource. Not to mention it's fun and easy catching the bait, and there is plenty of it. Go for the bait on the end of your rising tide, then, by the time you've got plenty of bait, it's falling tide and you're ready to spank some fish booty. I'm prior Air Force and have fished all over the world for just about every species of fish. And there is one thing that still holds true, there is no substitute for live bait. Well........... I think lures work better for Wahoo, but that's a whole other story. Live bait caters too all the fishes senses: Sight, smell, taste, feel, and how can you compete with the natural presentation of the real thing? So...... Just because you can't go out in the creek and catch a net full of Menhaden or Mullet doesn't mean you don't have a resource of fresh, live bait at your finger tips. It's always been there, sometimes you have to think outside the box. Infact, the biggest flounder i've ever caught was on a pinfish. I'm not shure if you get that species of fish up there, they are in the porgy family.(like a saltwater bream) If I use a Pinfish(porgy) for bait, I take a pair of sissors and cut the sharp dorsal fin off the top and clip the tail fin slightly so the fish will swim in an injured fashion. If i'm drifting, i hook the fish throught the eyes. If i'm stationary, I hook him just behind the dorsal fin, above the latteral line(to stay away from the spine), in the meaty part of the back. This way the bait can swim naturally away from the boat or dock. Khale hooks are a must, but that's a given for any flat fisherman. That extra wide stance of a khale hook increases your hook up rate by atleast 40% for the simple fact of the size of a flounders mouth. A grown man can just about stick his entire fist in the mouth of a 5 pound flounder. 3 to 5 pounders grown on trees down here, and the occasional 10 pounder(the largest i've caught) will pop up. I only wish we had Halibut down here, I hear those are a blast. Don't know much about halibut fishing or cod fishing. Fill me in on it, i'm comming up to CT. for a wedding later on this year, maybe i'll bring my fishing pole. [cool]
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