First flounder on softbait
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: Soft Bait Fishing
Forum Description: Anything to do with this latest and greatest way of catching our favourite species
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=138580
Printed Date: 10 Jun 2026 at 4:43am
Topic: First flounder on softbait
Posted By: Keith C
Subject: First flounder on softbait
Date Posted: 14 May 2024 at 3:29pm
 Who could imagine that you could get a thrill from catching a flounder.  Makes a change from throwing light lures for kahawai from the river bank. |
Replies:
Posted By: Telecaster
Date Posted: 14 May 2024 at 4:30pm
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I'm really keen to give this a crack. What sort of jigheads and lures should I buy? |
Posted By: Kandrew
Date Posted: 14 May 2024 at 5:04pm
| I’m keen on this as well, I thought up by the weti boat club could be a good spot. |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 14 May 2024 at 5:55pm
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That's wicked! Very cool. I have never tried lures for flounder but for 5 years or so I'd take a fly rod or a spin rod with a weighted nymph when ever i went spearing. Every single time I saw a fish I'd go spear it. I have no will power. Well done Keith, the would go real hard on 2kg line
------------- Best gurnard fisherman in my street |
Posted By: Keith C
Date Posted: 14 May 2024 at 5:57pm
Look for Albert Lyu on YouTube. He knows what he is doing and I’ve just gleaned off his videos. You can get heaps of cheap, small sofbaits off The Warehouse online. Otherwise, you have to try some of the international online places like Alibaba or Temu. Jigheads I use are 1/16 or 1/8 Oz. You can find these sometimes in the freshwater fishing sections of local stores. Australia carries both suitable jigheads and soft plastics because they use them for bream. I am fishing 2 or 4 lb braid and 6 to 8 lb fluoro leader. Hooker on TradMe is very reasonable for light fluorocarbon. |
Posted By: Telecaster
Date Posted: 14 May 2024 at 6:00pm
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Thanks for the info. Are you sight-casting? or just twitching along the edge of the channel? I am thinking Wenderholm or Waiwera might be worth a stalk. |
Posted By: Keith C
Date Posted: 14 May 2024 at 6:08pm
Bit of both, as the water is so often dirty, but I know the flounder frequent the target zone. Dry on dead low but I fish when it is about 30 cm on outgoing or incoming. About 1 km upstream of the mouth. Can’t see what they are eating either, and their guts are full of mud. |
Telecaster wrote:Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 14 May 2024 at 6:13pm
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Do you think a weighted nymph would work Keith? Do you fish during the day or at night? Incoming tide?
------------- Best gurnard fisherman in my street |
Posted By: rowboat bob
Date Posted: 14 May 2024 at 6:22pm
| Line fishing for flounder could become the new squid fishing . I'm keen to have a go too |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 14 May 2024 at 6:33pm
| Well done! I follow Albert Lyu, but have yet to emulate his success. |
Posted By: Keith C
Date Posted: 14 May 2024 at 7:25pm
Don't know about the weighted nymph but you could try Smudge. Fishing incoming or outgoing in daylight (was middle of the day today). |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 14 May 2024 at 7:53pm
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I know flounder are around all day but they get very wary when there's a lot of light. Pretty sure my 'skills' would send them scurrying anytime I don't need a head lamp
------------- Best gurnard fisherman in my street |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 14 May 2024 at 9:20pm
Good thinking. Quite a while ago I watched presumably the same guy on YouTube and it looked like upper Waitemata or one of those estuaries just north of Auckland - Stillwater etc. there was a walking path in the background, old tyres in the mud, bush lining part of the far bank. I think it's sight fishing if the water is clear and dead still, and blind if not. You'd need a reasonable ratio of flounder to make it worthwhile - any place where spearing is good at night, the fish will be there in daytime, but more wary. It was about this time of the year when I did some spearing in the Covid era, and I was just thinking that this morning when it was like a millpond as I waited for the ferry to work, that I should do a spearing mission.
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Posted By: Mc Tool
Date Posted: 12 Jun 2024 at 2:17pm
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A while ago I bought some old boys fishing kit and he had heaps of limerick hooks ..... really long shank and I didnt know what youd use them for ....... now I do . get one with the gape you want ( I think most small jig heads have to big a hook ) and bend to length ( like a normal jig head hook ) and clamp a 1, 1.5 ,2 ,3, 5 or 7g split shot ( just ordered them off Temu ) Should check out their soft baits too ..... some you could just chop in half / fillet them and get two nice small flounder sized ones Cunning plan ( 1st attempt  )I have sussed out a bit of water ( google earth is your friend ) that just must be crawling with flounder limited access from road , ,last km by 4wd quad which is good coz most peeps dont bother, ( only got one leg so walkin is out ) on a semi formed riparian track ( look it up   ). Problem is that to get there on my quad I have to sneak 10km's down back roads ( cant be arsed trailering it ) and the handbrake wont have a bar of that ( i have history  ) so I have to wait till she goes to work ..........and the tide is about right next couple of days . Im going to try red, green and pink 30mm softbaits with a bit of sauce on it and raw prawns on a jig head , and Im also going to try just dragging a metal lure along the bottom . If I have a good day you wont be able to shut me up ( pix an everything )..... bad day and you wont hear a thing ------------- I wish I was young again .... Id be heaps smarter than this time |
Posted By: Mc Tool
Date Posted: 12 Jun 2024 at 2:51pm
Well I was thinking that a flounder aint that easy to see when your standing on them so sighting them at any distance thru water would be nigh on impossible ..... unless it moved and then youd be lucky . I reckon after a bit of a reccie to find a fishy looking spot , its chuck and chance from then on . Im thinkin that creating a bit of a trail or sand puffs will be seen at some distance by the flounder and they are more aggressive feeders than I thought so I think they will "chase " the lure a bit .  ------------- I wish I was young again .... Id be heaps smarter than this time |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 12 Jun 2024 at 4:46pm
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I took a fly rod with me every time I went flounder spearing for two whole years (it was only 5 times Smudge). The idea was to spy a flounder from the shore at night, which is pretty easy. I was rigged up with an unweighted nymph which I figured looked like something a flounder would eat. The trouble is every time I saw a flounder worth taking I would go and spear it. I've seen quite a few flounder in the daytime but they are very wary (poet). Good luck Mr Tool, I hope you get some ------------- Best gurnard fisherman in my street |
Posted By: Mc Tool
Date Posted: 12 Jun 2024 at 5:15pm
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yeah I figured Id be lucky to see one before it saw me in daylight so Im going for a bit of distance . I wonder if chucking in a few berley pellets upstream a bit might concentrate them up a bit ------------- I wish I was young again .... Id be heaps smarter than this time |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 12 Jun 2024 at 8:05pm
I've thought about doing the same thing, but with softbait gear, then I had a word with myself!
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Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 12 Jun 2024 at 8:06pm
Good luck Mc Tool, would love to hear a happy end to this story!
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Posted By: Mc Tool
Date Posted: 12 Jun 2024 at 10:05pm
Oh , so your not bothered about it being true😁 ------------- I wish I was young again .... Id be heaps smarter than this time |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 12 Jun 2024 at 10:07pm
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Posted By: Swainsnow
Date Posted: 03 Jul 2024 at 5:38pm
Used to catch flounder with ordinary earthworms from small boats in Great Bay, NH on the east coast. Often used a coat hanger with a hook off each end and always seemed to catch more than enough. Have not tried here but little wormy looking jigs would be nice if they worked out of the kayak. Hope someone keeps going with this as I wouldn't know where to start her in BOP.
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Posted By: Kandrew
Date Posted: 03 Jul 2024 at 9:16pm
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Some Asian supermarkets and some 2 dollar shops carry a range of soft baits and micro jigs that might be alright for flounder. Zman bring in micro soft baits and bait Junkie have 2.5 curly tails in a range of colours as well. |