Flatfish lives on the bottom of the ocean and often waits on the sand or mud for foods. Because of there need to sit and waiting for food, flatfish will often ignore an lure if the movement of the lure is too fast or doesnt resemble the foods that the flatfish eat. The size of the lure that you use will need to be the correct size for the flatfish that you is targeting; the flatfish will ignore a lure that is too large, as will a lure that is too small.
Different species of flatfish requires different lengths of lures. You can use a chart to determine the correct length for each specific type of flatfish. For instance, Pacific halibut and Atlantic halibut is large flatfish that require large lures.
How to Pick the Right Lure for Flatfish
Winter flounder and yellowtail flounder, in contrast, are small flatfish that require more smaller lures. Summer flounder and California halibut are of the middle-sized flatfish. The size of the lure that you use should match the mouth size of the flatfish as well as the depths of the water.
The conditions of the water will change the way that your lure will behave while fishing for flatfish. For instance, in shallow bay and clear water, a small lure will be effective at tempting the flatfish to bite. However, a small lure may not be effective in areas where the current of the water are strong or where the water is cloudy.
The lure chart has five different bands of lure sizes for specific water conditions. Therefore, you will need to change the lure that you use when the tide strength or water clarity change. The retrieval speed for your lure should match the size of the lure and the type of flatfish that you are targeting.
A heavy lure that is targeted at halibut will require a slowly retrieval speed. Such a slow retrieval will ensure that the heavy lure does not move too fast for the halibut. A light lure that targets winter flounder will also require a slow retrieval speed to the same extent.
However, the speed of the lure should be faster if the water is bright and clearer than deep and murky water. The type of fishing rig that you use will need to match both the type of flatfish that you are targeting as well as the depths of the water. For instance, a fish finder rig with a sliding sinker will be useful when targeting halibut in depths of the ocean that a fish finder can target.
A Carolina rig with an egg sinker will be useful for summer flounder that live near the ocean floor. You should use these types of rig pairings with the specific flatfish species according to the lure chart for flatfish species to reduce the number of variables when fishing for flatfish. The color and scent of the lure that you use is another factor in catching flatfish.
White and pearl colored lures are best in most instances, though chartreuse and pink colored lures will work betterer for cloudy water or low light levels. The use of scent on the lure will help the flatfish to finding the lure. Adding oil such as shrimp oil or squid oil to the lure will improve your chances of success when fishing for flatfish, even if you have selected the correct size and color of lure.
If the flatfish stop biting on your selected bait, you should change the size of your lure prior to changing your location in the ocean. You should change the size of the lure to either the next size band up or the next size band down on the lure chart. The change in size of the lure may require that you restart the fishing process for the flatfish.
You should of checked the lure charts first. The flatfishs size matter a lot.