What to use for Flounders, Southsound

Any suggestions on what to use to tempt and catch flounders? I have no idea how to maybe catch them other than drop a line with a hook and stuff into the salty aqua - it is the stuff that is the puzzle. Jigs, Gulp, hook set up, size of jig etc??? Slip sinker?  Help will be greatly appreciated. Do they have small mouths thus need small bait, jig or???Thank you in advance. holt

A trimmed down gulp alive shrimp/crawdad on a jig hook works from what I've been told.

I think there was a write up about it on this site somewhere too.

They have pretty small  mouths, and will take just about any kind of bait---pile worms, clam pieces, herring chunks, etc etc.  Little curlytail jigs would probably work fine, too.

nightcrawlers....laying on the bottom...with a little jig now and then

They will bite most anything they can smell, or overpower. I have done the best on white saltwater Gulp curly tail jigs. The trick is finding a jighead heavy enough to keep it on the bottom, but with a hook small enough for their mouth. Braided line is a nice touch as well, because you can really feel them pecking your jig/bait. Not to mention it is easier to keep your jig on the bottom with the smaller line diameter. Be patient and fish slow.

http://www.berkley-fishing.com/prod.php?k=298610&sk=266216&u=GSSM3

nightcrawlers....laying on the bottom...with a little jig now and then

Yup.

Or nightcrawlers on a small spinner ... like a wedding ring night crawler combo.  You'd be amazed at what a little flash does.  Any bait really, like squid, herring chunks, prawn, clams, etc.

-Allen

Good info. I see them all the time around Port Townsend, but never really fished for them. I've got a night crawler factory in my back yard and will have to try this next time.

Hey can you post a picture of that and a brief explanation?  I'm thinking about making one since my GF goes through worms like they are going out of style.

Gulp! Saltwater is crack to flatfish.  I've used Gulp! shrimp, crabs, and curly tails, and could not keep them off, limiting in a couple hours.  The curly tails get their tails chewed off pretty quickly, and little flounders are hardly worth killing and cleaning, so after you find a good location you might try using larger, compact baits and larger hooks. 

Hey can you post a picture of that and a brief explanation?  I'm thinking about making one since my GF goes through worms like they are going out of style.

Where  you asking about my rigging, or someone else's?

sinker -> leader -> spinner -> worm on spinner.  Simple as that.

-Allen

Back in the 60's, I fished for sole once off of West Seattle when we were visiting someone who had a waterfront home there. We used bacon on a cheap bait hook, and just enough lead to get it down to the bottom in 25 to 30 feet not far off the beach. We got a few. We could even look down and see some take the bait in shallower water, maybe only 15 feet.

That saltwater gulp sounds like something that I'd use these days!

I think Lee was asking about the "worm facrtory"?

Yeah I was.  :-)   I want to build a worm factory for the lady.

This is good info...I have yet to try to fish for flounder/sole yet (I've always caught them fishing for something else) but I plan to sometime soon, perhaps even this week (I'm in Bellingham).

This may be a dumb question, but do flatfish show up on the fish finder?  Paddling over areas with a flat bottom (which is most areas) I can't see any fish at all on the finder, so I'm not really sure where to drop a line.  Is there something special I should be looking for other than a flat bottom or do I just kinda trust they are down there? And is there a certain depth I should be shooting for, say, 40 feet?  Deeper? shallower?

I second the Big Gulp products...I found out by accident...before I had a sounder I would go out in front of the house here at Fauntleroy ferry and jig for rock fish with the big gulp (white curly tails)...and I caught a few but because I didn't know what kinda bottom I was on I would drift and apparently end up on sandy bottoms...and bam the flounder bite was on...but be warned they will absolutely destroy whatever lure you are using...they would bite the tails off of the big gulps on the first drop....but you can keep dropping it...they don't care they will keep biting....i haven't tried it but I am pretty sure you could drop a jighead with scent on it and they would probably bite it...

I have caught probably 50 out in front of the house...that was in 2 or 3 days...

If you get into them they bite as long as you throw bait in front of them....but just because they are there today doesn't mean they are there tomorrow

I don't know much about the fish but from personal experience they must move in schools of some sort...and it seems to me if they are there they are biting if they are not biting they are not there

Also all of the lings I have caught have been on big gulp products...

After reading that post it seems like I used way too many there's...