How to Catch Fall Flounder: The Ultimate Guide

Fall fishing is exciting, but don’t overlook flounder as you’re making your plans. In this guide, I’ll show you how to catch fall flounder. I’ll walk you through where they’re going to be, what they’re feeding on, what baits and lures to throw, and how to present them.

If you have any questions, drop them in the comments below. Enjoy!

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How to Catch Fall Flounder Video

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Recommended Setup

• Reel: 2500 Series Spinning Reel
• Rod: 7’6″ Medium Action Spinning Rod
• Mainline: 10-lb Braid
• Leader: 20-lb Mono

These two combos are perfect for inshore flounder fishing:

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Recommended Lures

• 4″ Mulligan Paddletail
• 5″ Bomber Paddletail
• Jerk Shad
• Dr. Juice Inshore Slam Formula
• Hoss Helix Weighted Hooks
• Hoss Weedless Football Jigheads
• Hoss Round Eye Jigheads

Key Takeaways

• Target points around creek mouths, passes, and other funnel areas that empty into larger bodies of water that head out to open water
• Flounder feed by sitting on the bottom and waiting for prey to come to them, so current is critical
• An outgoing tide is the easiest tide to catch flounder on
• Look for structure that provide current breaks like dock pilings, rocks, oyster beds, and drop-offs
• Baitfish is the primary food source during the Fall with shrimp as a secondary prey
• Keep your lure or bait in contact with the bottom and always work it with the current

Best Spots to Catch Fall Flounder

In the spring and early summer, flounder trickle in from their offshore haunts and push way up into bays and even rivers. Fall marks the time when these migrate back out in large numbers, making them abundant and predictable.

Look for points and creek mouths that feed into the bays, large rivers, and Intracoastal Waterways that lead to open water in the Gulf and Atlantic.

Flounder will concentrate around those funnel points where they can sit on the bottom and wait for the bait to come to them. Since the outgoing tide flushes bait out of the backwaters, that’s the best tide to catch flounder on. Because they’re relying on the current to bring food to them, current is key.

Once you find a likely area, home in on current breaks where flounder can sit. This can be obvious structure like dock pilings, rocks on jetties, and oyster bars. Underwater, steep depth drops are sometimes overlooked but highly productive, especially at creek mouths and in passes.

Pro Tip: The 1-foot contour layer in the Smart Fishing Spots app makes it easy to see where drop-offs are.

When you catch a flounder, keep working the area thoroughly. These are community fish and where you find one, there are usually more.

Best Baits and Lures to Catch Fall Flounder

Baitfish are a flounder’s primary food source this time of year, and they’ll go after surprisingly large prey for their size. If you’re fishing live bait, match the hatch and go with the bait that’s in the area.

Many flounder are caught on shrimp as well. In the fall, baitfish are large and abundant, relegating shrimp to a secondary choice.

If you’re fishing artificials, larger paddletails in the 4″ to 5″ range are highly effective, especially in stained water where the extra disturbance helps fish find it. In areas that have larger flounder species, you can go even bigger.

Jerk shads are another excellent choice. While they don’t make as much disturbance, they fall to the bottom faster and can help you stay on the bottom better in heavy current.

Pro Tip: Add a scent, such as Dr. Juice Inshore Slam Formula to improve your chances when using lures.

How to Present Your Bait to Catch Fall Flounder

As a flatfish, flounder sit on the bottom and attack upward when bait comes by. Flounder rarely chase down food over any real distance. Understanding this is critical to your presentation, whether it’s live bait or a lure.

There are two main keys to presenting your bait or lure: bring it to the fish with the current and make sure it contacts the bottom. This ensures that it comes to them in the direction they’re facing and low enough in the water column to make it easy for them to grab.

Using a jighead is the way to go for both live bait and lures. You can twitch your rod tip up to bring your lure and foot or two into the current and then let it come back down to the bottom.

If you’re using a paddletail, you can also use a straight retrieve. Just be sure to use enough weight and a slow enough retrieve that your lure is running across the bottom.

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