Flounder fishing has always been exciting for me over the years, but I would not call myself a pro on the subject at all. The great thing about fishing is it’s always changing and so should the fishermen. This is something I am working on every time I go fishing, which can be hard. I am hard headed, anyone that knows me will tell you this. But if something is not working or you have been doing the same thing over and over again with little or no results, it’s time to change. My fishing partner Lee has fished for Flounder a lot more than i have since his family visits Sunset Beach, NC regularly. That being said, I went to school this week and I surprised myself on how i adapted to the conditions and caught more fish than usual.
Now in the past we have had a great spot to fish for flounder down in Sunset Beach, NC. We found years ago a 15ft hole on an edge of a point with the point being very shallow. Imagine a 2 ft flat at high tide then dropping off into this hole which made a great spot to fish. The rest of the creek is probably 8-10 ft deep. This creek attracts the Manhaden bait fish which in turn attracts the Flounder. We would drag the Flounder rigs described in previous posts over this hole and fish on. Almost every pass we would make, a flounder would be caught off of this hole. So I thought flounder fishing was easy, just drag these baits behind the boat with a live mullet and get ready. Not so anymore in Sunset beach. This great hole we counted on for years is now the foundation of a rich mans dock. I am not joking when I say that this dock is sitting right on top of this hole.
So what do you do when the man takes away your best hole? You make a change on your technique and learn a new way to fish for the flat fish. Now I have fished from piers and bridges for flounder and have had some luck. But simplifying the rig and using light tackle, you can literally Carolina rig fish for these flounder. With a very simple and inexpensive rig, a avid fisherman can have great luck. All we would use is light action spinning outfits (8-10lb test line) to a 30# swivel, up your leader line to 20 lb test to a GamakatsuShinerHook #5. 
We use these types of hooks with striper fishing so this is something we have a lot of. But your hook can be many different types, just make sure it is very sharp at all times. This particular hook is very sharp and stays sharp. Hooking a mullet through the lips or head can dull a hook very easily. You can loose many flounder if your hook is not sharp, I even started changing my hook out just for piece of mind.
Casting these types of rigs around docks, points, and grass beds can produce flounder and even pick up a nice trout sometimes. Work the bait on the bottom, like fishing a worm bass fishing, and prepare for the bite. The bite though is going to be very slow and may feel like a single thump. Other times I would not feel the bite at all just a constant pull. These fish bite slow, I mean very slow. Feeling the bite can be a trick and takes some time to get used too. As any type of fishing, you need to be on the water and get the time in to learn to prefect this technique. Jerking early will get you no where. Best of luck and fish on.
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