- April 28, 2024
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Right now, the Intracoastal Waterway is loaded with bait, and the mullet run hasn’t hit its peak yet. I suspect that will happen in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, this is a great time to get out and wet a line. At any given time of day, it’s not unusual to see schools of bait being blasted out of the water by predator fish.
Most of the bait schools consist of menhaden, mullet and glass minnows. There are small and large jacks, big ladyfish, redfish, trout and flounder all feeding on migrating bait.
You have to be quick with casting in order to hook up with some of these fish. You’ll see them bust bait, and by the time you cast to them, they are gone. The thing to do when you see them bust bait is to try and figure which direction they are headed and cast out in front of them. It really doesn’t matter what you throw at them because when they are feeding like that, they will eat almost anything. Live shrimp, live mullet, jigs rigged with soft plastics and hard plastic lures will all work when thrown at blitzing fish.
Last week, I got a call from Steve Carl telling me that he and his dad, Phil, worked the banks of the Intracoastal and landed 17 flounder. They kept seven of the largest fish, with the biggest topping out at just over 5 pounds.
Taking in the information relayed to me, I headed out with a charter the following day and we targeted the shallows of the Intracoastal for flounder. Matt Hallas, from Chicago, and Jacques Benchimol, from Palm Coast, landed five flounder with the two largest weighing in at 4.75 pounds. They also had two reds at 18 inches and 19 inches, a couple of jacks, a ladyfish and a few trout.
When working the shorelines for flounder, there are certain things I like to look for.
One of the main things is shallow water that goes from the channel dropoff and extends to the shoreline. I use a 5-inch Berkley Gulp jerk shad rigged on a 1/8-ounce weighted 5/0 worm hook. I’ll cast my bait as close to the bank as I can, then begin working it back to the boat. I like to drag it slowly across the bottom while twitching it softly as I retrieve it. A small bait stealer will feel like fast-pecking on the bait and flounder will feel like tap-tapping, and then biting. When you feel that tap-tap, point your rod at the fish and give him some slack so it’ll eat the bait.
When you learn the difference between the pecking and the tap-tap, your catch ratio is sure to increase.
