For many anglers, saltwater is synonymous with live bait.
Ask them why, and you’ll get a variety of answers, but it all comes down to this: it works.
While lures like bucktail jigs and soft plastics imitate prey items, shrimp, finger mullet, crabs, and other live bait options are the real thing. And there’s nothing like the real thing for drawing fish in for a closer look, triggering a strike, and getting them to really take your hook with no hesitation.
Think about it for a second: live bait has the right appearance, the perfect scent, and the ideal taste to attract attention. And from a scent trail that leads fish back to your hook to movement that demands a reaction, live bait gets bites when even the best lures come up short.
Flounder are simply suckers for live bait – if you’re throwing the right kind.
If you want to know more about the best live bait for flounder, keep reading!
Table of Contents (clickable)
Related: Best Flounder Lures
The Best Live Bait for Flounder: Bait Fish
With what we’ve said about habitat and diet, you won’t be shocked by our live bait picks.
Whatever your choice of live bait, you’ll need strong, sensitive main line and a tough leader, as well as the right hooks.
For my flounder fishing, I like to use 20-pound Sufix 832 in conjunction with a 10-, 12-, or 15-pound leader.
And you’ll need a bigger hook than you might expect. I like to run a 3/0 to 5/0 Owner 5314 Mutu Light Circle Hook as they’re just perfect for holding live bait, prevent gut hooking, and set themselves with just a turn of my crank.
Rig your bait fish by passing the hook up through the lower lip and through the upper lip well forward of the eyes. This will lock it to your hook, but allow it to swim freely.
Small bait fish are king!
There is no more effective live bait choice than a small fish for catching flounder.
Period.
And whether you offer mullet, menhaden, croaker, spot, mud minnows, or something else, as long as you throw a natural prey item in your area, you’re going to catch flounder.
Catching your own bait with a castnet is probably the best way to ensure that you’re offering what the flounder are eating, and I’ve spent a few minutes throwing a cast net under a bright lamp at night to get ready for the next morning.
In no time, I had plenty of bait – and a very good sense of what the flounder were looking for.
The trick, then, isn’t in bait selection but rather in rigging, and to get the most from those finger-sized fish, you need to know a few excellent options.
The Fish Finder Rig (A Modified Carolina Rig)
The Fish Finder Rig is my go-to flounder setup. It casts like a dream, holds tight even when the current is strong, and presents my bait perfectly.
About the only thing the Fish Finder Rig doesn’t do well is fend off crabs, and floating rigs are the way to go if this becomes a problem.
The Fish Finder Rig is easy to assemble. Just follow these steps:
- Slide a sinker sleeve onto your main line. Attach a pyramid sinker to the clip.
- Follow it with a bead. This will protect your barrel swivel from the heavy sinker.
- Using a Uni Knot, attach a barrel swivel.
- Wet your knot, tighten it, and trim the tag end.
- Cut 18 to 25 inches of leader.
- Using a Palomar Knot, attach a circle hook to one end of the leader.
- Wet your knot, tighten it, and trim the tag end.
- Using a Uni Knot, attach the other end of your leader to the barrel swivel.
- Wet your knot, tighten it, and trim the tag end.