# Fluke/Flounder Rigs



## solid7

I am looking to upgrade my fluke/flounder tackle from a basic fish finder with live/cut bait, to something more "enticing". I am going to be fishing these rigs at an inlet with medium to fast moving current, and possibly the surf surrounding the mouth of the same inlet. Part of the time, I will be spending over sand, and another part of the time over rocky ledges.

I have researched various types of rigs. Everything from the Carolina style rigs, to double droppers, to squid rigs, and everything in between. So, basically, what I want to know is, what works best with the combination of a spinner and some kind of bait to tip it? What action do you use?

I prefer Kahle hooks for flounder. (not the old "gut hook" rigs) That is one compromise that I don't want to have to make. I am currently considering a custom rig using the old Worden's "rooster tail" lures, tipped with squid or bluefish strips, and attached to single drop "chicken rig" (2 oz. bank weight to hit the bottom, and about a 10-12" leader to attach the spinning lure) I would swap out the treble hook for a #4 or #6 Kahle.

Anyone care to post pics of their hand-tied or experimental (not store bought) rigs? 

Thank you.


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## Charlie2

A 'Road Runner' or pony head lure, works quite well. A short arm spinner bait will also work. C2


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## solid7

Charlie2 said:


> A 'Road Runner' or pony head lure, works quite well. A short arm spinner bait will also work. C2


I have a couple of those from my Striped and Hybrid Bass fishing days back in the midwest. (Lake Texoma/Beaver lake) I use them tipped with a twirly tail plastic worm, (not grub) which is cut in half. Catches snook and reds, but no luck with flounder yet.


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## Rockfish1

keep your rigging as light as possible to prevent hang ups... I use a Carolina rig, 3' leader, sometimes add a float in the middle of the rig... spinner ahead of 4-5 beads and a home tied bucktail on whatever hooks you're comfortable with... for bait I'll use a finger mullet or a white belly strip... as for weight just enough to keep it tipping the bottom as it drifts... if I'm fishing a back wash on an outging tide I may throw a bait out without any weight and just let it work in the wash... fish as light as you can, keep it moving and don't be to quick to set the hook...


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## solid7

Mind you, I am bank fishing... But when Carolina style rigging, I have always used 12-15" leaders. (which works) It seems to me that a 3' leader from the shore might be a bit long, especially over rocks and/or rocky ledges. Do you fish the long leader in the bumps?

I'm still also curious to see some pics from you guys who use spinny things to catch doormats... I've not ventured much into that territory, but I want to have some idea what works. (again, inlet fishing from the shore)


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## Rockfish1

I'm loaded with sharp ledges and oyster beds... that's when I use the light weights and floats mid leader to keep the hook outta the snags, and yes primarily bank/shore fishin...

not sayin you can't catch a doormat on a small bait but when we're on the boat fishin for the bigguns we use bait's 9-12" long... big bait for big fish...

if you want "spinny" things, add a row of beads and a spinner blade and clevis ahead of your hook...


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## solid7

Rockfish1 said:


> I'm loaded with sharp ledges and oyster beds... that's when I use the light weights and floats mid leader to keep the hook outta the snags, and yes primarily bank/shore fishin...
> 
> not sayin you can't catch a doormat on a small bait but when we're on the boat fishin for the bigguns we use bait's 9-12" long... big bait for big fish...
> 
> if you want "spinny" things, add a row of beads and a spinner blade and clevis ahead of your hook...


What size float? How many?

I've been experimenting with different rigs, lately. I've been using whole squid as my bait of choice. Problem is, I now no longer catch the smallers ones that I used to pull up. One could argue that a few small ones is as good as one big one...

Will try the longer rigging. Sounds hard to cast. Are you straight dropping from a catwalk, or can you get a decent cast? (not comparing to a beach cast, BTW)


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## Rockfish1

I have a selection of floats from round 3/4" in diameter to 2 1/2" oval shaped in yellow and red, one per rig... it all depends on the situations involved as to how I build them... sometimes when I think I have the ideal rig I wind up rebuilding mid day... I also have a selection of spinner blades, willow leaf and colorados in different sizes... 

my rods, depending on where I'm fishing are 7 1/2' musky rods for boat fishing to 8 1/2' steelhead rod for in the river bank fishing, so casting a 3' leader isn't a problem... if I'm in the surf I'm using an 11' rod, either an Estuary, or one of the Century 2-5oz rods...


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## Charlie2

Has anyone tried using a Doc's Goofy Jig, Silly Willie, et al, for flounder/fluke. A strip of squid helps also. C2


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## OceanMaster

My go to flounder lure is the H&H Cocahoe minnow body coupled with a red lead head jig (1/8 - 1oz). It swims like a live fingerling mullet or mud minnow (small fish) and I simply cast, settle to sink, and then bounce retrieve tipping the sand. Any shell, rock or even sand will make contact sound from the lead head bumping the bottom with a slight dust cloud each time the lure touches sand. I work it painfully slow, exactly like worming for large mouth bass Texas rig style. Once I feel the hit, which feels like a crab bite...tension with a little pulse, I drop my rod tip down giving about 3ft of slack.....immediately reel the slack up and as I feel the flounders weight, the tip goes up with a quick hook set. I don't miss many....the slack trick gives them time to suck the bait in. Flounder will bite and hold (the crab feel, not much movement...just that little pulse) that bite is the kill and flounder will hold with teeth to ensure it's killaed which is when I give it slack, after the bite down, they suck it in = I've reeled my slack out and it's hookset time. It's all timing....at least that's how I do it. If I miss the hit with my lure, and the flounder spits the bait out. I don't reel the lure in. I immediately grab a second pre-rigged spinning rod rigged fish finder style (14" leader, with black barrel swivel - with a split shot weight or two only, tied to a 2/0 or 3/0 Kahle hook tipped with a live fingerling mullet. I toss that out eyeballing my first line and cast that live fingerling as close to my first lure still left on the bottom near my missed flounder hit. I leave the bail open on the spinning reel, setting that rod down and immediately reel in the first missed lure. During this entire process, I keep my eyes peeled on the spinning rod watching for the line to start pulling off the spinning reel. It typically doesn't take too long since flouder that miss slow swimming lures typically do not run off....they simply ignore the plastic lure but.....overtime they can't resist the fingerling mullet and the line typically starts flipping off the spinner....I simply drop the bail there and make my hook-set on my missed fish. 

Using the above mentioned technique, I can fan cast prime flounder water locating them on the swimming cocahoe lure...picking them up there and or missing hits and cleaning up with live bait. At times I will tie on two cocahoe swimming tails, no 3 way swivel (conventional reel) with one short and the other long. The short cocahoe gets a small tip of fresh cut mullet skin and the trailer gets nothing. Both lures are contrasting colors with typically, yellow, white or chartruese up front with a dark color trailing and down low from behind. If I hook up a fish, I will freespool the line and let the fish run the bait around dragging the second lure behind....this typically gets a double hook-up since most of the action, when it's on like Donkey Kong means the fish are in competition with themselves on the feed or in the case of specks and or redfish, there is typically more than one fish working in a small school on the feed. 


Years ago, when I lived on Chincoteague Island Virginia working for the US Coast Guard, I used this technique. The locals used bucktails and or double drop rigs with mud minnos and plastic bead\spinners with 2 - 3 ounces of weight on bottom with both spinners up high, drifted over flats into the Channel making bouncing motions till you cleared the far side of the channel. Fire the boat up and sail back upwind for another drift. They all used this technique but I didn't. My technique was 1ounce - 1.5 ounce red lead head with a solid white 6" Mister Twister tail. On my leadhead hook, I would tip a small strip of squid, flounder belly or small cut bait...very slim and small enough to not mess up the swimming style of my jig. Same deal, make the drift with a very vertical hold on the jig bouncing off the bottom as if I was fishing Texas rigged plastic worms for bass. Each hit, drop the tip.....letting the boat's drift take the slack out....slack out raise tip and set. Since my technique was a first there (this was 1983 - plastic baits in Chincoteague was literally unheard of) I would literally out hook my fishing partners using the old time tested techniques. I honestly think with so many folks fishing the same darn setup and my setup being absolutely different....bouncing action, clicking sounds when lead head was on the bottom then no click as lure was lifted up to flutter back down again, my hookups were literally always on the fall, the flounder simply hit the strange bait with the different action. I literally could have guys on both sides of me fishing the local deal and I'm the only one getting solid hook-ups with the Gulf Coast style setup. This technique got noticed big time and the local Chincoteague boys went nuts trying to find these new plastic baits LOL! I used this technique at Oregon Inlet during the same time frame, 1983-84, and I literally had one guy cast over my line to snag me, reeled my lure up into his boat to check my setup out and cuss and moan when he realized he had nothing like that in his boat. I caught so many fish compared to the others around me...it got noticed LOL! That same setup in Oregon inlet scored a limit of specks and gray trout with a limit of flounder all sitting in a darn 18 ft canoe anchored on the south side of the bridge, ocean side, right on the edge of the Coast Guard Station Oregon inlets boat channel. Tide was coming in, I would simply cast as far out as I could into the channel letting the lure sink all the way down to the bottom. Without reeling it in, I would let the lure simply swing on the quick incoming current and simply raise the rod tip up lifting the jig off the bottom and drop the tip, letting it fall back down without turning one crank on my old ABU 5000. Once again I would nail all three species on the fall and I would only reel back up once my lure swung all the way over to my left nearly pointed to the bridge pilings with the lure lifting up off the bottom due to the water's current. Reel in quickly, turn to the right and cast another 45 degrees or so toward the north point of the inlet to start the process all over again - tore them up that day!

With either setup, you can add weight with a bottom weight as you mentioned, and leave the lure(s) up high to get the same effect as those using double spinner live swimming minnow drop rigs. I usually use tandom rigs with short-long and add a teaser...small bucktail in front of both lead heads....no hook on the bucktail...just there for attraction. So many ways to rig and mix up offerings....never been one to not experiement with things new. Flounder will hold a fat plastic bait a few microseconds longer than feathers or fur....it's chewy and probably feels more like a real bait fish to them...don't know but I've noticed a difference through the years and that microsecond hold makes all the difference in the world in deeper water, longer casts and or moving water.


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## bigjim5589

> I am currently considering a custom rig using the old Worden's "rooster tail" lures, tipped with squid or bluefish strips, and attached to single drop "chicken rig" (2 oz. bank weight to hit the bottom, and about a 10-12" leader to attach the spinning lure) I would swap out the treble hook for a #4 or #6 Kahle.


I've had a similar thought, although haven't tried it. I saw a lure somewhere that was like this. I think it was a lure the tournament guys use for Redfish & thought it might be a great rig for Flounders, or most anything inshore where you need to keep hang-ups to a minimum. You could also use some of the various offset worm hooks used for bass baits, if you don't mind changing them frequently due to rust, but a plated or stainless kahle would last longer. You could do this two ways, the rooster tail lure could have a foam float body, which would reduce weight & help keep it up off the bottom, plus it would likely flutter in a stronger current, or you could use a metal body or even a plastic body. I've seen some cigar shaped plastic bodies, shaped like some used on that type of spinner. With a rig like this you can use various cut baits, like you've said, or even plastic baits, which can be fished over snags with less hang-ups.

Cool idea! If you do this, I would be interested in seeing what you come up with!


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## Ryan Y

I grew up fishing the inlets, sounds and wrecks around North Carolina for flounder. I still say you cant beat the old tried and true carolina rig. I certainly almost always use a live minnow though. If not that, Ill use a white gulp curly tail in its place.

I'm with you on the drop. 12" inches in darker/stained water, or 14-16" in clear. I also tend to use lighter weights then most. The standard for me is a half ounce egg sinker. I dont need to make long casts or get it to the bottom super fast unless im on a wreck of the beach. Then Ill bump the weight up to an ounce. In skinny water Ill even drop down to a quarter ounce if there is light to no current.

Flouro carbon is a must for the drop. I get away with using 20lb leader then. I dont know whay but Ive always used the gold eagle claw kahle hook in size 2. I've sometimes went up to a 1/0.

This light stuff with a light fast action rod has been my go to flounder gear for years. Even fishing around rock/oysters and docks. I tend to fish it delicate so if I feel like Im in a tough spot, I just fish it easy; lift the rod tip lightly when you feel like your coming over something instead of pulling along normal.


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## bigjim5589

*I did some looking around today & here's a lure that's similar to the one I recall seeing. This is made by Bayou Buck Lures.*









*This is the lure I remember seeing! It's made by Terminator Lures.*


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