Southern Flounder

A fish built like a doormat and wired like a trap. Southern flounder lie flat on the bay bottom, half-buried, waiting for something to swim over them. They are not a conventional fly rod target, which is exactly what makes them interesting.

The method is simple in outline and difficult in practice: fish a slow, bottom-hugging fly — a Clouser or a small bucktail — along drop-offs, drains, and dock edges, and expect the take to feel like snagging a wet towel. The strike is subtle. The hook set should not be.

Fall is the time, when flounder move toward the passes on their way to the Gulf. A falling tide at a marsh drain is as close to a sure thing as flounder fishing gets, which is to say, not very close at all.