THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

available evidence which suggested a disaster waiting to happen, only to have it all over turned for
reasons as yet to be explained.
The general theory of snow melt, low salinity and too much run all still hold true. But sometimes you
just have to go and try things anyway, and occasionally, the gamble can pay off.
Moving out of the estuaries onto the beaches now, flounders become less of a proposition as the
freshwater influence ceases to be a factor. I don't think it's the freshwater per se so much as a particular
beaches proximity to an estuary. Over in Ireland it's common place to catch flounders on the bass surf
beaches, more so than it is over here.
Nothing changes in terms of tactics. It's still a case of dropper rigs with 1/0 to 2/0 hooks. Bait on the
other hand is another matter altogether, with peeler crab the number one hook filler when the main
spring and autumn moults are under-way. Frozen crab is also useful when for whatever reason live
peelers are not available.
Crab if you have access to it is excellent. But so too are a number of other offerings, including white
rag, red rag, and probably best of all, creeper rag or 'maddies' which are the tiny things found in heavy
estuarine muds which you need half a dozen of just to fill a hook. These can be lethal where flounders
are concerned.
Mackerel strip is also a bait which can have its day, for which reason it can pay to tip off worms baits
with a tiny sliver, or even a piece of squid which serves the triple role of adding to the overall edible
attraction of the bait, acting as a visual flag to grab a bit of extra attention, and helping keep worm baits
in place, particularly when small fish unable to get the hook inside their mouth start pulling and tugging
at them, ragging and ripping them from the hook.
Strange as it might sound, me being primarily a small boat angler, I rarely fish for flounders from the
boat, and I just as rarely pick them up accidentally as a result. The only time I expect to see a few is
when I'm fishing for early plaice inside the River Wyre estuary at Fleetwood. Otherwise, they are a
rarity.
In other parts of the country,
particularly where there are large
natural harbours based on
estuaries, small boat fishing for
flounders is a much anticipated
event. Never having trailed down
to the south coast and tried it, I can
only throw in what I've heard
about or read on the topic.
Devon and Cornwall seem to be
the front runners in all of this, with
the Fowey and Teign right at the
head of the list, both having
produced flounders in excess of
five pounds, and in the case of the
Teign, also from the shore.
John Greenfield & Mick Duff, Mersey Flounders
Back-end and winter is the time
to be in there, drift fishing with a
bottom trailing rig such as a six foot flowing trace to an attractor spoon ahead of maybe six inches of
bling laden monofilament hook length.
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