Revealing Flounder/Fluke Fishing with Live Bait Underwater View!

Supports my book StriperPursuit.com, chapter 19, Fluke Fishing. A spectacular underwater view of flounder striking live killie minnows shot with a Water Wolf Camera.

[@EliasVFishing]

Amazing. I hope we get to see a few drifts with live eels for stripers at some point!

[@MudBuddyHarrison]

John, what keeps the camera from spinning? It seems to stay level and focused.

[@LHSportfishing]

John, love these videos. Any plans on doing a video with live bait (snapper, peanut bunker, etc.) on a bare hook? Would be super interested in seeing that because I always give them time to take it just like strip baits

[@CrabberPA]

Great video once again! Would love to see a video of just a plain hook and minnow (no teaser) or a plain hook and gulp. Seemed like the fluke were trying to avoid the teaser. Also, how is your camera setup on your line? Thanks!

[@Raider243270]

Love it! Subscribed.

[@SOFishing]

Wow, amazing how long they just keep following and following the jig. Awesome underwater footage. That kind of footage will surely help you learn a lot about how they react to how you are fishing your jig/bait.

[@absogrey5008]

Hey John. I was watching your video and I observed that almost all of the hits you had on the killies seemed to come from larger fluke. Is that correct? If so, would you say that the live killies are more effective at catching bigger fish than the bucktail? Thanks for the video as always.

[@richardgallo3500]

Hi John Great video! Question for you. do you have the water wolf camera weighted?

[@MedicRNMike]

Great video as usual! Would you advocate using a circle hook on fluke? Seems like it would work very well with them.

[@JohnSkinnerFishing]

MedicRNMike I haven't tried them on fluke, but I agree they would be interesting to try for bait fishing.

[@SnoozeButton37]

I deadstick with strip baits and a circle hook while bucktailing, works great very rarely misses.

[@WierdGuy9701]

Do you think that the Gulp Bucktail/Teaser rig would work for European Sea Bass? I have used it for years for fluke and stripers and have produced nice fish, but I am trying to find out if it would work for other species of fish.

[@davidgarcia6374]

how could you thumbs down this video????

[@cliffhregis]

the fish

[@PierFishingNewYork]

John Skinner Fishing Will you be doing a live snapper video? That would be awesome to see how the fluke take a live snapper. Great video

[@cathysandersmusic]

These videos are very fascinating! I’ve watched several so far and it shows me a lot about the behavior of flounder (I’m in FL). I surf fish and have started to catch more flounder from the beach so these videos are helping. I unexpectedly caught a 12 inch flounder on the top hook of a double drop rig yesterday, which baffled me.

[@domenicosalvatore1303]

Gotta love the sea Robbin hate 😂😂😂

[@ea67nova]

Awesome video!! I've never been flounder fishing so I've been watching videos to learn how to fish them before I go to Galveston this June this video helps me understand how they strike and gives me a idea what bait I'm going to use

[@heathensoutdooradventures8726]

I was wade fishing for flounder around SeaWolf Park in Galveston, Texas. A slick popped up maybe 20 feet away. I cast a gulp ripple mullet into it and got a hit within a couple seconds. I give it a moment to get the bait into it's mouth and the darn thing nearly swam into me. I set the hook vertically right above the fish, I had maybe 5' of line out. The fish did exactly what you see here, takes the bait on the move, and then continues in that direction. My assumption is that that's how they keep a lively bait from wiggling out, the drag of the water forces it down the throat to the creepy second set of teeth.

[@FishYourWay]

cool underwater stuff! Just got into goproing myself hope to extract some good stuff from your vids, wanna get a early model to cast and drop with soon!!! thanks for sharing!

[@nymetsfan912]

About the comment you’ve heard about dropping back after a hit I also disagree. Keep drifting the bait along the bottom n they’ll chase it down. I used to flick the rod up n down every 2-3 seconds but now I just let the boat drift the line then reset your drift once you’re out of the pocket.

[@clamboni9]

Mono leader I'm guessing? Do you ever use fluorocarbon? Wondering if they were a little line shy that day.

[@nymetsfan912]

Gulp is the best bait for fluke. Cut those worms down by about half of the thick part and leave the long tail. I also like using the Gulp Keelies

[@alangonzalez3296]

I bought a small bucket of gulp shrimp and i tip on on a bucktail teaser rig bbcvut i never get any hits.Any tips?

[@jaredburke1521]

Love the videos btw

[@nymetsfan912]

I find the best depths for fluke are between 30-40ft in the river. In the ocean 50-75.

[@brandonduran5283]

I love catching flounders when I fishing on bay bee and the pier but the beach is not my favorite place to catch

[@seeinstripes]

12:12 - That moment you're so focused on eating that minnow, you don't care a piece of grass smacks you in the head. Mesmerizing videos, awesome!

[@alexboatingfishing9103]

I used to fish jbay and would destroy fluke. I moved down to jax florida and cant catch crap out of the st johns river. Gotta go to vilano to catch anything

[@jaucone]

Are you drifting or trolling? Can list the conditions (depth, water temp...)? Great videos.

[@MrMigido]

+Jeff Aucone @ 11.39 there is a scene of the surface that is relative, would be corrected but looks about 15-20 feet?

[@verynicehorse]

this video blows my mind...lol sea robins tho

[@jamesfenerty4638]

John, I will be fishing out of the atlantic highlands this weekend, I know I will hae to be using heavier jigs 5-6 oz would you fluke rig with the dropper loop with the tsunami glass jig work using the rapid jigging method?

[@Baseballheaven21]

Hey john I live on Long Island and fish mostly on the north shore on hallock beach and or cedar, just wondering where this was shot and if you've fished either beach above. Thanks

[@relaxandfish]

Very educational. Great footage John, thanks for sharing!

[@roberthillis548]

Good

[@EpiCSteeeveyGiffy7]

where do you ctach all these flukes, i have trouble catching keepers in the fire island inlet and off of ocean beach? where are some of your favorite spots in the gsb or anywhere???

[@PhongMike]

This underwater camera is amazing.. We can see how the fish attack the bait and their behavior.. Rare videos.. Thank you for sharing... You are master fisherman.

[@tlepree1309]

Awesome Video! One Questions, when your reeling a fluke up, do you pump the rod? Or do you use a slow easy retrieve up to the boat. Whenever I pump the rod, I feel like I lose fish, but I have seen others on youtube pumping their rods. What do you recommend?

[@MrDwharton]

I've been dealing with the twister tails being bitten off, especially if porgys are in the area. Too bad gulps aren't a little more durable.

[@seanverlas2360]

Hi John I live in NY, just outside of long island and quite often when i go fluke fishing i catch mostly sea robins and was wondering if you had any tips of how to avoid them and catch more fluke.

[@JamesKing2understandinglife]

Thanks for showing flounder behavior that has never been known.

[@j.r343]

Great video as always I was wondering how you set up your rig in this video, I was a little confused with the audio. Do you set this rig up with bucktail on the bottom of the rig and then a dropper loop with the candy teaser above the bucktail? Also what color do you recommend for the teasers? I generally fish the Long Island Sound I use a pink spro bucktail with a plain hook above it, then i hook a Berkley Gulp sand eel (new penny) to the hook and the bucktail, its pretty effective for me.

[@dufuss93]

Just if anyone is wondering, when the camera first goes down, those things that wash up on the beach that look like shark skin are shark eye snail egg cases.

[@SnoozeButton37]

I'd argue that really fast drifts require the drop back method and more conventional fluke rigs. I definitely prefer bucktails/gulp but once the it starts ripping out there I'm using a spinner rig. If I don't I just end up losing gulp tails.

[@JohnSkinnerFishing]

***** Thanks for that feedback. By any chance can you define "really fast" in terms of mph? I'm just curious. I find the light tackle sweet spot to be around 1-1.2mph on the GPS, although some of the best bites I've had were on drifts that never broke .5 I try to avoid above 1.5mph by either putting out a drift sock or moving.

[@SnoozeButton37]

John Skinner Fishing Agreed, I'd say one knot is about the perfect drift speed for light tackle. I usually hang a bucket off both the bow/stern cleats (poor mans drift sock) if it gets above that 1.5 mph mark...sometimes even less if the fish are highly concentrated in an area. And I switch to the typical 3-way swivel rigs with a blade or one of those tsunami holo-squids if it's in the 2-3 mph range, but usually still use gulp. Granted you are much, much more experienced than me, but this seems to work around here where a lot of the fluke fishing takes place in fast moving channels.

[@mlywowo]

Hi John, As I am watching this video, I wonder if occasional short lifts on the rod while drifting can trigger a bite from the fluke(s) following the bait. I think one of the reasons the fish are so cautious might be the fact the bait does not flee even the fluke is so close. Short lifts creates a darting effect on the bait making it seems more nervous and it might just trigger a strike. Also in the cases seen in this video when a fish swallows the bait and swims along, a short lift will feel the weight of the fish, so the angler will have a chance to set the hook. Mark

[@justindamirgian1088]

great videos!!! I noticed that the flounder did leave the bait ounce the sea robins came up. Did you notice that it's the same way with sea bass and other types of fish that are caught while fishing for flounder?

[@ff75]

We use killies all the time. If they dont seem to.be working or stop working we switch to bunker strips

[@bobbirdman3620]

John, Not only are you a man of wisdom you make amazing videos. Your videos are so helpful and have lead me in the direction to catch big stripers and flounder. I encourage you to more videos. You are so amazing!

[@alash3719]

Many thanks for the video ! Even though I fish in the Pacific, we have also flounder here and I caught a few thanks to your videos, this one in particular made me understand how these beautiful creatures react, and I even got a 28 cm one in Chile and made a nice dinner with it!

[@johnnats794]

John, at about 1:35 to 1:37 I noticed. Pretty big fish on the left hand side of the screen. Is that fish as big as it looks or is it just the angle?

[@trayse_jordan552]

Mr. Skinner, I love your videos. Very informative and entertaining! But has anyone ever told you that you sound identical to Ray Ramono?

[@buddywhite9890]

Hi John, How long a leader do you tie the teaser to, also do you add a sinker to the snap swivel at the end of the line with the teaser rig? Thanks, Buddy

[@glennkrzeminski7539]

Nice video. Are those all keepers? They all seem to be about the same size.

[@wl1903]

This is the coolest flounder fishing video i ever saw. i never knew how flounder attacked the bait. This was awesome. Thanks for sharing.

[@MichaelFlenderson]

My friend Kevin Malone introduced me to this fish. Thanks Kev!

[@dufuss93]

Can you do a video comparing bucktail jig tipped with gulp vs normal rubber twister tail

[@TenRingShooter99]

I caught my pb fluke from dead sticking while i was working and i lifted up the rod felt the weight and drilled it home.

[@ImBarl]

What state do you live in and what area do you fish for fluke in your state.

[@gains7207]

I think the hole drop back thing made more sense when we would use conventional bait back in the day.

[@specfever2]

speaking of gps, what do you use? (it's a combo gps/depthfinder I assume)

[@abelwaite2016]

My favorite part was the sea robin just chilling with the flounder

[@ATREZ0123]

Love the underwater videos. The insight is awesome! Thanks

[@CaptDavesSportfishing]

wish flounder fishing in Florida was so easy as just drifting around. It's not, where I fish for a living.

[@FutureGamingMasters]

***** up in new york though flounder fishing became extremely popular, and everybody fished them so the size limit went up. so you may catch 50 fluke in a day and only keep 5

[@CaptDavesSportfishing]

FutureGamingMasters Same here.....Florida is the tree hugger state of the deep south....ya can't keep diddly.

[@Charles120Guy]

liberals owning the ocean

[@777AndrewR]

Nice video as always! Hey just ordered some candy teasers. Do you have any video with candy teasers with gulps? Do rattle buck tails work with fluke? Do you think candy teasers are more effective than spro style bucktails?

[@JohnSkinnerFishing]

Andrew Reichel The fluke candy is for above the bucktail, and you might need to trim the hair back a bit if it interferes with the gulp tail. The S&S rattling bucktails have worked very well for me.

[@papabear1126]

Thank you John, At times, often after a storm has come through, I see/catch fluke and their white bellies have far more dirt on them. Have you noticed after storms fluke behaving where they are buried more in the sand? Anything you have observed with their behavior after storms? Various tides or moons affect bite? Anything else you noticed? Again, Thank You For All Your Efforts!

[@juliocuevas7366]

Oliver F Johnston 91iuuiioi

[@Johnfor3]

I think you passed over an old ship wreak did you see all those clay pots?

[@MasonCanner]

what area are you fishing? is it the inlet

[@vintage1art137]

Do these same techniques work on fluke in southern water's?

[@oceannavagator]

Tremendous video John, you've given me a PHD in fluke fishing. Thanks again

[@TowMan127]

Love these videos!

[@johncastagna3097]

azing video this has put a whole new light on fishing for them

[@6.7yeti]

What about jigging on a party boat will it work for fluke and what size bucktail should I use?

[@JohnSkinnerFishing]

Artie Bellini It depends where. By me the partyboat patrons do great with 1-ounce-ish, but in deeper faster water that won't work. Ask the mates for advice.

[@timher5149]

Did you use a gopro.

[@alexboatingfishing9103]

Cant wait to see u do this with porgies

[@liamcolotti6824]

Fellow long islander

[@bobbirdman3620]

Also, I have every one of your books and they help a lot!

[@anon-e-mouse988]

what do you think of circle hooks john?

[@JohnSkinnerFishing]

It depends on the target species. I don't think it makes sense for fluke or blackfish. Not the way I fish them. Absolutely for something like grouper.

[@andrewhouse1795]

Do u plan on doing any striper underwater

[@JohnSkinnerFishing]

andrew house Doubtful. I'm not too keen on the idea of running the $200 camera in the rocks. Although I've barely missed a couple of ghost pots and it has teeth marks all over it so I'll probably lose it soon anyway.

[@nymetsfan912]

I live in NJ too!

[@bobbirdman3620]

What combo and line would you recommend for fluke/flounder fishing of a kayak?

[@logancooper2326]

Bob Birdman he uses 20 pound Flurocarbon for leader and 15 pound braid for main line

[@scrappyclappedoutfoxbody4174]

Awesome video well done! I enjoyed this a lot!

[@IslandOutdoors]

Excellent work, nicely done!

[@mattc3562]

Hey John great video. I also use a vertical jigging w gulp for my fluke fishing. In my experience it seems that I go through a lot more short fish than keep size fish when jigging w gulp. I was wondering if you had similar experience and if this presentation produces larger fish for you? I fish out of kayak mostly so I cannot make it to the wrecks. Most inshore fishermen near me insist upon using spot for "doormat" fish however they are costly. Thoughts? Thank you for your videos.

[@JohnSkinnerFishing]

Matthew Carrara For me, jigging with bucktails and gulp far outproduces on keepers as compared to bait fishing

[@antzzz111]

Use the 6" swimming mullet

[@elblitzb]

This evening i caught my first shore flounder....i did it retrieving imaginating the speed in your videos! Thanks for everithing. (It was a little one so i liberated him, it was a good picture thoug)

[@frankstein497]

Have you ever had a buck tail that didn't allow the gulp to swim properly? I got some cheap bucktails off of ebay and I was wondering if some bucktails have longer hair and don't work right...Thanks!

[@JohnSkinnerFishing]

Good question - I trim the hair back on those.

[@frankstein497]

Ok, will do. Thanks for your reply and all the videos that you post!

[@mzbean86rickman59]

Your videos are AWESOME!

[@joem5469]

How deep?

[@madmullet1990]

👍👍🐟🎣😎

[@fishingwaters2899]

What kind of Kayak do you use

[@RH421939]

your videos are great

[@steveng.c.8524]

Awesome job with the camera,!

[@paulklaynes3066]

I have fished with the gulp and buck tail rig with outstanding results over traditional bait but, what do you do when you are fishing deeper water or a quick drift and can't keep your line vertical without using 4+ oz buck tails that are unreasonable for fluke?

[@JohnSkinnerFishing]

Paul Klaynes When the drift is >1.7mph, bait on a conventional rig might be better. I plan my trips to avoid those situations.

[@Engineer_Heathen]

Paul Klaynes I've caught fluke on 8 ounce spro bucktails in the ocean.

[@paulklaynes3066]

Thanks for your response. I tend to use somewhat lightweight setups for fluke and I guess I could see larger 4+ ounce buck tails working in some situations but I stay away from them because they aren't realistic for me personally. I would love if they made them with the hook size of a 1 ounce buck tail. Like you said, it is easier to plan ahead and avoid those situations. Thanks for your input and keep up the great work. Love the videos!

[@11joebro11]

About how far of shore /how deep

[@foreveryoung4581]

Thanks for the vid

[@sebastiantoney3373]

What kind of camera did you use for that?

[@JohnSkinnerFishing]

***** water wolf

[@seeinstripes]

***** You seriously didn't just ask that.

[@kayakjohn9665]

That is a good spot

[@chdecoys]

great video John!!!

[@texasfishingonline]

awesome!!!

[@victoririzarry750]

That was awesome

[@alexisd2587]

thanks for sharing!!

[@jpminer19k]

Great video!

[@SteamControlValve]

Great video

[@louispaguay9931]

Nice one

[@katherinepoindexter4380]

there are no fish in the sea uglier then the flounder..it's like the cyclops of the fish world even though they have two eyes..that being said they are also the coolest fish in the seas. well that's my opinion..