# Where/When to fish for flounder in Garden City next week?



## ajcannon (Aug 5, 2014)

Hey everyone, I've been reading these forums for a while now and have found a ton of great info. Thanks!

I will be visiting Garden City next week (August 9-16) and would like to catch some flounder while I am there. I will be staying at a house off of Dolphin near the south end of Garden City (just a little ways before you get to the private section). I will have easy access to both the waterway and a canal, both with fishing piers/docks. I'll also have easy access to the beach for surf fishing and I know I will want to go down to the pier a time or two. 

I have a few questions about the best way to target flounder. I've got some rigs set up but was wondering where the best spot to try to catch them might be? I'd prefer to fish from the surf mostly, but is there any chance of catching flounder out there? Is this even a good time of the year to fish for flounder? Would I be better off fishing from the dock by the house trying to fish around some of the pilings? Or at the pier?

Also, I know in the beginners thread posted at the top of the forum, it says to use live bait whenever possible. I will be doing that - I plan on catching some of my own with a cast net but can also buy some if needed. But what about the Gulp Swimming Mullet artificial bait? I've read lots of really good things about that. Is is worth giving those a shot? If so, what's the best color to use?

Thanks for everyone's help!


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## madmax (Jun 13, 2012)

I'd use fresh mullet on a Carolina rig. Fish one spot for a while casting in a fan pattern and keep moving down the beach. Flounder are ambush predators which means they're sitting in one spot waiting for something to swim by. So you'll have more success if you try to find them instead of waiting for them to come to you. I've never used the Gulp Mullet. Let me know how they work for you if you decide to get some.


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## ajcannon (Aug 5, 2014)

Thanks madmax, I will give that a shot. I probably will try some of the gulp mullet also, so I will let you know which I have better luck with.

Thanks again, and if anyone else has any tips feel free to pass them on. 

I am also planning on going down to the jetty's at some point, but probably not everyday since it's still a decent walk with all of the gear. But I will make it down there at least once to see if I have any luck down there too.


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## ntizda (Sep 5, 2012)

You are lucky that you get to stay at a rental house . We had one rented for September but the in-laws didn't want to have to walk up stairs everyday 😒. It had a dock that I can have my boat at and it was one block from ocean.. 

Now I have to drive daily from OceansOne on the grandstand to murrells inlet to get to my boat


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## ajcannon (Aug 5, 2014)

Well I've got an easy solution for you ntizda. If you'd like me to watch your boat I'll be more than happy to. Ha!


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## Michigan1 (Oct 24, 2013)

ajcannon said:


> Thanks madmax, I will give that a shot. I probably will try some of the gulp mullet also, so I will let you know which I have better luck with.
> 
> Thanks again, and if anyone else has any tips feel free to pass them on.
> 
> I am also planning on going down to the jetty's at some point, but probably not everyday since it's still a decent walk with all of the gear. But I will make it down there at least once to see if I have any luck down there too.


I've had my best luck this year using the 4" white gulp swimming mullet on a white 1/4oz jig head. Throw shattering up current, let it hit bottom, and reel it in slow keeping it just on or above bottom. Every now and then let it hit bottom and give it a few short hops. They'll thump it pretty good. The best thing I've found about fishing the gulp/artificials it that when you get a hit you only need to count to 10 and set the hook. With carolina rigs, I tell people to count to 60-75 before setting the hook.
Try the north or south end of Pawleys Island. My buddy has had decent luck there this year and my biggest flattie, a thick 20 incher, came from that area.


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## ajcannon (Aug 5, 2014)

Thanks Michigan1, I will give those a shot along with live bait and will report back as to which was best for me.


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## ntizda (Sep 5, 2012)

ajcannon said:


> Well I've got an easy solution for you ntizda. If you'd like me to watch your boat I'll be more than happy to. Ha!


Lol well if you are going to be down first 2 weeks of September I'll do a quick background check on you and then let you watch over it lol. It would be nice to save $250 on a boat slip 😃


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## RjTheMetalhead (Dec 3, 2011)

Flounder are plentiful in the inlet, but you catch many more shorties than keepers in my experience, I still love catching them too though. I caught 30-40 flounder last year in the inlet with a single keeper.
Lots of bait stealers and crabs as well.
Live mullet or shrimp on a Carolina rig(use 1/4 to 3/4ths oz in the inlet, 1 to 3 pier or surf) are what I like to use, as I am an unskilled meat fishermen.

Flounder move around quite a bit in the surf... Up and down with the tide always trying to best position themselves to ambush mullet. They love piers, as do trout and spot tails. They love easy meals as well.
Last Saturday I caught a 4 pound speckled trout in well under a foot of water. I dropped a mullet between the pilings and she must have been laying behind one waiting.

Still fish one bait in a foot or two of water and drag the other around the pilings and under the pier on a pier.

Surf fan cast like madmax said. Inlet: chunk one under the dock, work the other all around sea walls, other doxks , oyster beds, under boats.

I use circle hooks, give him about 10 or 15 seconds and engage the reel. Larger ones will sometimes swallow the bait whole and swim off to next spot hooking themselves
. If you lose one due to impatience, send another mullet his way. I have lost 3 mullet to one flounder before I finally gave him a one way ticket to grandmas frying pan.

And as I type this I'm stuck in a box truck around Cincinnati.


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## ajcannon (Aug 5, 2014)

Great tips RJ, thank you very much! I am looking forward to getting down there and giving it my best shot. Of course I am aiming for keepers, but even the ones I throw back will be fun.

Thanks again for the tips everyone!


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## tymcneely (Jun 4, 2014)

Remember. Catch and release... Into hot grease.


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