EP 72: 7 Key Tips for Catching Spring Flounder

If you’re chasing early season fluke and wondering why your “great spot” feels dead, the problem might be simpler than you think: you’re fishing the right area, but not the right spot. We break down a field-tested backwater fluke fishing approach built for spring conditions when water temperature swings, wind shifts, and tides can turn a bite on or off fast. From kayak fluke fishing to boat drifts, the goal stays the same: put your lure where an ambush predator can feed efficiently.

We start with location and timing, including why shallow flats can outproduce deeper holes early, and how to hunt the structure inside a flat like potholes, grass edges, shells, and mini channels. Then we dig into current strategy for spring tide periods around the new moon and full moon, focusing on current lines, rip lines, and eddies so you’re not wasting effort in the heaviest flow. You’ll also hear why thinner-profile baits and low profile bucktails can shine in early spring, how to fish as light as conditions allow, and how a deliberate cadence with pauses triggers more strikes.

Finally, we get into two topics anglers love to debate: hookset timing on artificials like Gulp, and what actually makes a “doormat” fluke worth celebrating. If you want more bites, better fish, and a clearer plan for backwater summer flounder, this one is for you. Subscribe, share it with a fishing buddy, and leave a review so more anglers can find the show. What’s one spring fluke adjustment that has helped you the most?

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Transcript

Welcome And Why Backwaters Matter

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 0:00

If you're out there to get more fish and better fish, you got to get active. And you're going to, you're going to have to, if you're in a kayak, pedal into that current and get back up and drift through that one small area, that one small, small spot, the one spot that's really funneling those fish and those bait. You're going to have to hit it, you know, 10, 15, 20 times in the next 25 minutes in order to make sure you hit the whole thing and you look for that really nice fish in there. Hello and welcome back to the Fat Dad Chit Fishing Show. I can't even get this straight. My name's Rich Natoli. I'm your regular host, and uh we're doing tonight a solo show, but we're talking fluke. We're talking seven tips for catching early season or early spring. Fluke or summer flounder or summer flounder or southern flounder or golf flounder, actually, because you can really use the same principles for all three. I have to apologize, I'm a couple of minutes late because I use a streaming platform called StreamYard, and for the first time ever after all these years, they wouldn't let me log in. They kept saying try again later. Well, I don't have much time when I uh log in only tried to log in, what, 20 minutes early, could not get in. So I just got in just seconds ago. So hopefully we're set up and uh want to welcome everybody to this show. I really like doing the solo shows, they're difficult. Um it's always easier when there's somebody else to talk to, but I've gotten a lot of feedback that people want uh because I guess because of the amount of time that I was off and not doing shows, they want to get back to some of these uh the solo shows. So here we go. Let's talk fluke. I've been really reluctant to do a fluke show because I feel like that's all I do. But as it turns out, I haven't done one in a very long time. So uh now's the time. We're just getting into the fluke fishing. I'm seeing you know some really good photos out there. I've seen the debates online about what's a doormat and what's not. People getting their panties in a twist about it because somebody calls something a doormat and they don't think it is. Uh so maybe we could talk a little bit about that too. But uh yeah, we're gonna jump in today and we're gonna talk seven tips for catching early season or early spring flounder. And it's going to be primarily focused on the backwater, and it's gonna be focused on the backwater for a very good reason. That's where the fish are at this time of year, including the doormats, no matter how you want to define them. If you want to go with the 10-pound or the 30-inch, whatever you want to say, those doormats are gonna be in the backwaters right now. Not all of them, but a lot of them. So before we do that, we're gonna jump

Sponsors And Kayak Setup Talk

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 2:52

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The Seven Tips Overview

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 7:03

Seven tips that I'm gonna give you for getting on to fluke at this time of the year. And I already mentioned this isn't a tip, but I already mentioned I'm focusing more on the backwaters right now because early in the season, if you understand the biology of a summer flounder, and again, this this does apply to the southern flounder and the gulf flounder as well. Now, you obviously have different conditions, especially once you turn that corner, you get into the gulf flounder. They do come out to the east coast a little bit, but you definitely have different considerations. However, you will find, and I know a lot of people in Florida from my days working for Salt Strong that tell me that they've started using some of the quote unquote northern and mid-Atlantic fluke targeting techniques that I use, and they're finding that it works really well down there as well. So surprise, surprise, just because you're in a different area doesn't mean that the same things don't apply with the same fish or very similar fish, which the Gulf, the Southern, and the summer are mainly just differences in size and salinity tolerances between them. All right, so we're gonna start off with the first one. This

Start Shallow Then Slide Deeper

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 8:14

is the number one, and I see that the water temperatures are all over the place right now in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. They're up today, they're down tomorrow. I've seen swings of up to nine degrees in one day, and that's the warm water moving in and out and the cold water coming in top. The wind has a lot to do with it. So the first thing that I'm going to tell you is start shallow, especially when the water is cooler. If you start shallower, you're going to have a better opportunity to get into the optimal feeding zone as far as the temperatures, and you're going to find that these large fish will go into the shallower waters. So I would start at the beginning of the day, somewhere on or very near to. And when I say near to, I mean an area that benefits from the warmer waters of a flat. So a four to eight foot flat is going to be a good spot for the water to heat up, especially on a sunny day. So if you're going to fish up on a flat, don't fish the you know, the non-structure areas. You want to look for the structure within the flat. Now, flats can be a little bit, I mean, that the the name is a little bit confusing. Flat just means it's flat. Well, it's relatively flat. All flats have potholes, all flats have vegetation areas, even shells, some rocks, some old pilings, anything like that that's going to add structure. That's what you want to look for on a flat. Because keep in mind the the flounder or the fluke, whatever you want to call them, they are pure, true ambush predator fish. So they need to set up somewhere where the bait's going to come to them. If they're out in the middle of this big flat with no structure, nothing at all, there's nothing that's going to bring the bait directly to them. So they're setting up an ambush where nobody's likely to go. So you need to set up in an area where they're more likely to be waiting for something to come by. So in a lot of these flats, I'm thinking one specifically in South Jersey right now, that I hope to fish soon. It is really shallow. I mean, shallow enough that you sometimes have to walk your kayak because you can't, you just can't go. Even with a paddle, you can't get through certain areas. But there are channels in there. And the channels will take it, let's say, at a high tide from two and a half feet deep into the channel, which is about three and a half feet. That channel is going to be the spot where that water is going to flow. So on the outgoing tide, as an example, that warmer water is coming off of that three feet or the two and a half, two feet, let's say, and that's going to be dumping down and running through that channel, which is only three feet deep, but that's where it's all going to come down into. So you're going to have the warm water coming down. It's also going to be flushing the bait. So think about crabs, think about shrimp, think about minnows or killies, whatever you want to call them. They're more likely to travel and traverse the deeper water with the faster currents, which means that you're more likely to have in that area a predator setting up to get those fish. Now, one of the things that I did mention, it's not just quantity of fish, but also quality of fish. You're going to often get the best quality fish in the exact best spot within that area. So a spot is not like I use this as an example in the past a lot. I'll just say Paddy's Hole behind Avalon. Everybody, not everybody, most people refer to that as a spot. Well, it's about a half a mile wide, big of water in Paddy's Hole. That's not a spot, that's an area. There are hundreds of spots in and around Patty's Hole, and they are not all created equal. So you can drift down the middle where it's really flat. That's not a good spot to go, even though it's in Patty's Hole and it's actually the deepest area. But there are areas along the outside that are better. And I'll tell you, Paddy's Hole is a good example. There are flats just to the west of there. And those are great spots to pick up fluke at this time of the year, especially when it's colder water. They will warm up when it's a sunny day, and you will find these 23 to 26 to 27 inches up there. I can tell you because I've pulled them out of there. I have video of me pulling out in about three feet of water as I'm drifting my kayak, pulling out, I think, a 23 and a half, 24-inch fluke in in late May. So you want to look for that. So start shallow to take advantage of the warmer water and then start moving deeper. The 15 to 40 foot holes, they can be good, but you want to, again, make sure that you're fishing the right spot of those holes. So I would fish the downward slope from where it's coming from shallow into those deeper holes. They're probably not going to be sitting in just the flat areas that are typically the middle of those holes. All right, that's number one. Start shallow, then move deeper.

Fish Off The Hard Current

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 13:22

And the next one is an interesting one. This is this is going to be big, especially when you have a lot of water moving, a lot of wind, a lot of current. So think new moon and think full moon, also called springtide moons. That's where you get a lot of current. Now, current, as I mentioned, is absolutely critical if you're looking for an ambush predator because it starts to funnel everything into a predictable area. But not all currents are created equal. And when you think about, again, the biology of a flounder or any other fish, they're eating to survive. They need those calories in order to live. They're not just out there, you know, picking up a snack. They're actually trying to stay alive. So they don't want to stay in the strongest of currents. So when you have a spring tide, again, a spring tide is not a seasonal thing. It's twice a month, the new moon and the full moon and the days around it. That's when more water moves per tide cycle, which means stronger currents. So if you see a great spot, but you also see that that's right in the middle of the heaviest flow of currents, alter your approach. So don't try. I mean, you can try it, but I wouldn't start in the middle of that heavy flow current. What I would do is come straight off to the side of it. So right where it goes from the fastest flow to a slightly less flow, that's typically where you're going to see them. They're going to be eating everything that kicks off to the side of these currents because it's much easier for them. Think about when a flounder lifts up off the bottom and they turn. They're exposing a very wide body to that current and they're going to get pushed hard. Now it can make it easier to feed, but they also typically will turn around and fight their way back up current to reset their ambush for the next bait that comes through. So if you stay just off that current, not only will you have less snags, less debris piling up on your line, but you're going to be in that water where they want to be. So look for the current lines, the rip lines, and fish slightly off to the side of those. And especially if you can find an eddy coming off of those. An eddy is a great place to find it. And you'll actually, in the best eddies, you'll see the current actually reversing. And that's a great spot because it will funnel the bait around in a circle. It'll start coming back up towards you. So stay off that main current, and you're going to be in much better shape than if you're fishing in the middle of those currents. That's why people always say, yeah, the the uh the full moon sucks. Well, it doesn't suck. It's just you're fishing the the places that may be awesome in a regular in a regular moon. You know, think about a quarter moon. Maybe it's a great spot, it's great structure, it's great flow, but then once it really picks up, it totally changes the entire spot and it can just get blown out. So the fishing could be great, but you're not in the right spot for it. You you may be in the right area, but not the right spot. So experiment with that. It's gonna happen two times a month, plus the days around it, and don't waste time just going directly to the highest flow areas that you may normally go to on other days. All right, so that's tip number two.

Thin Profiles And Early Season Baits

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 16:33

Tip number three, I'm gonna use this tip number three. I wrote them down. This is one that I've actually, this is more of a personal thing that I've kind of determined over the past uh few years. I'm not saying don't use gulp. I'm not saying that at all. What I'm saying is start looking. And what I have found, other people that have been on have found is earlier in the season, it's those smaller baits with the thinner profiles that seem to be working better. So start looking for jerk shads, the gulp jerk shads. You can use those. A soft plastic that doesn't necessarily have that big twister tail and all that motion. It's the thinner profiles that will typically pick them up. And along with that, the smaller hooks and the smaller baits. We've seen this from multiple people that have been on the show. Dan Mankari, I think Skinner even talked about it. And if you didn't, we we did talk about that. I'm pretty sure we talked about that live. But it's those thinner profiles early in the season that seem to work, which is kind of counterintuitive because you have the biggest girls in the backwaters right now. They're in there right now. So you you have these legit shots at these 10 pounders, and you think go bigger, go bigger, go bigger. But that's not necessarily the case, especially because if you're doing anything to match the hatch, you're gonna want to stay on the smaller size earlier in the season and then upsize as the season goes on. So as I head out, for example, this weekend, if I if I make it out with Mike, I'm going to be bringing jerkshads and low profile bucktails. I don't know if you guys have them, but I have low profile bucktails and I have regular bucktails. And then I had the really big bucktails, but I typically use those for striped bass. So I'm using the lower profile baits at this time of the year. It seems to work better. I'm not going to say it's it's rooted in science, but I and several of the guests over the past four years have all mentioned that either live on the air, on video, or behind the scenes before or after the shows. As far as the colors, I'll just throw in there. I'm always going to say white and something natural. Those are the those are the colors that I typically start with. Pink Shine is a good one. It's not quite white, but it's not over overbearing. Other popular ones, nuclear chicken and chartreuse, have been mentioned. There's a lot of them. There's a lot of them. So the colors I don't think really matter that much, but I do always recommend to people start off, especially if you're if you're not necessarily using gulps, start off with the whites. I also always start because I I run a two hook rig when I'm fluke fishing, whether I'm casting or I'm vertical jigging. I'm I typically have a teaser hook on there. On that, I'm putting a new penny shrimp. New penny seems to work awesome. If you can get new penny in any of the other profiles of baits, those those really work. I have some jerk shads that are new penny. I think I still have a few. I hope I have a few left. If not, I'm gonna be heading to the shop this week. But yeah, so the colors, I don't know. I think sometimes the colors are for us and not the fish, but white is definitely what I would recommend and some new penny to start off with. They're just more natural and they seem to outfish everything else. All right, so I'm gonna stop real quick because there have been a couple of questions in here. There was one, I think, that Joe Bill ups said. Okay, I'll put it on the screen from Joe Bill Ups. Joe, good to see you. I can't wait to get on the water with you, by the way. And it's my understanding your kayak is almost ready. So I hope that we'll be out soon. What is a low profile bucktail? Okay, so when Ed was making bucktails, he would he would tie them with it's simple, just with less hair. It's just less. It's it's a slimmer profile. What a lot of people do, especially when they make their own bucktails, is they they just load a whole bunch of fur on there. So you can't see the hook. And that's not necessary at all. We're putting something on the hook, we're not fishing bare hooks when we're going for fluke. I guess you can. I wouldn't, because oftentimes it's it's the profile of the bait that you have on there, the gulp, which is why I talked about using the jerk shads or at least considering them. So low profile is just less fur. If you're going to buy bucktails, I just shave them off with scissors. I just, you know, the actually the line cutter scissors, I just kind of trim them so that it's just less fur that's on them so they're thinner. I still want them to be, and here's the thing, I shouldn't say low profile. It's low profile from the top and the bottom. So if you look down on it when it's sitting in the proper direction, I wish I had a bucktail right here, but I think I just moved them. Yeah. When you look from the bottom and the top, that's that's typically where I want it to be thin. From the side, I do want it to be tall, but I want it to only be as tall as the bait that I'm trying to mimic. So I don't want a ton of I don't want a ton of fur on there. I I just don't. I don't want the the bucktail to be overwhelming the hook or anything like that. You'll find a couple of things that it does. First of all, it just makes it just this big mess of a thing moving through the water. The second thing is it picks up a lot of drag uh in the water and in the currents that we're fishing. And And if you go back to well, it's a thing that I'm going to bring up later, another tip, but you don't want that. You you want to kind of keep that lower profile. So when Ed was making the bucktails, the Fat Dad bucktails that he was selling, they were made very specifically to have a thin profile from the top and bottom and a thicker, taller profile from the sides. So that's basically what it means. You can shave them down. Most people don't want to because you're spending way too much money on bucktails nowadays, but I do it and I do recommend it, especially for the early season. All right, the next one, and that this kind of goes with what I was saying.

Go Light On Weight And Line

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 22:38

Fish as light as the conditions allow. So if you can, if you're back in the waters at this time of year and you're going with the first tip of going into the shallow water first, you should be down at like an eighth of an ounce or a quarter of an ounce bucktail, or even just a naked jig with a gulp on it, something like that. You're typically going to be casting in that water and not necessarily just drifting over three feet. You can, by the way, a fluke will still bite something if you drift over it in two to three feet of water, as long as you're not scraping the bottom. They'll still pick it up right next to the kayak. Again, there's video proof of that, not only on my channel, but on other channels. But you're typically going to cover more water in the shallow when it's shallow just by casting it out and doing a slow retrieve. So go as light as you can. You get a couple of benefits from that. The first thing is you get the more natural presentation. And that's the most important thing. It's more natural. It's going to move more as you're lifting and lowering as you're putting the cadence into your retrieve. And that's what you want. If you just have something stagnant and sitting out there and it's not really giving you any action, it's really not going to work out well for you. The other thing is in deeper water, and this kind of goes to the profile, when it's lower profile and there's less fur on there, it'll sink better. So it'll actually get down with lower weights. So you'll often see if you take a one-ounce bucktail that's I can't remember the name of it, it's a it's a popular, let's say a spro. I'm not a fan of spro, so I'll use spro as the example. They put a lot of fur on those things. Well, a one-ounce spro is not going to sink as well as a one-ounce big head used to when those were being made, just because it had a lot more to catch that water coming through and it kept it up off the bottom. So the lower profiles, the lower weights can actually sink better. And as, and it's not just about the weights. All right. When I say fish as light as you can, I'm also talking about your leader and I'm talking about your line. Because as you as you start moving to the deeper waters, especially, those leaders are going to pick up drag. That line is going to pick up drag. So you want it to be as thin as possible for the conditions that you're fishing in. Now think about this. People say, oh, well, I need to have, you know, think about bass fishermen. They go out with like 30 to 50 pound braid for these little four pound, five pound, maybe, you know, 10-pound fish if they're lucky, but they're they're throwing 50. 30 to 50. Well, you don't need that because for the most part, we're not dealing with structure that's really going to matter in the backwaters. You use the leader for the structure, not for the teeth. No flounder's going to bite you off. You can have a six-pound leader, it's not going to bite you, and it's not going to bite the line and take off on you. It's for when you're fishing around heavy structure. That's where you need the leaders. And the line, I don't know. I I landed a 50 plus inch striped bass on 15. It was either 10 or 15, let's call it 15-pound braid. I mean, it was if it wasn't a 50-pound fish, it was really close. And the reason I could do that is because I had the right rod and I worked it the right way. I didn't try to horse it in. And, you know, there was nothing there to cut me off. I mean, a striped bass's mouth wasn't going to cut me off. There's nothing there that was going to destroy it. So as long as it didn't have too much, you know, grinding on the on the back of it and on its scales, I was in good shape. And you got to keep that in mind. A lot of people like to go too heavy. And going heavier, it's it makes it easier because there's less changing out of gear. There's less that you have to think about, but it makes it more difficult. I only would recommend going heavier when you have to in order to maintain contact with the bottom. Again, flounder fishing, it's a bottom sport. It's a bottom fishing sport. You got to be down near the bottom. The tip that I will say is don't keep bouncing it off of the bottom. You don't need to do that. A lot of people get snagged a lot. I hear people saying I got snagged a lot, so I was in the right spot. Yeah, okay, maybe you're in the right spot, but there's no need for you to get snagged a lot. You don't need to be right on the bottom. They come off the bottom to feed. They will come up and they will follow it. So I don't know why people pound the bottom. I'd go, I'd let my line out, let it hit the bottom. I bring it up about six inches and I jig there, six to twelve inches off the bottom, and I do fine. I won't say I outfish everybody, but don't lose a lot of lures at all. I'll often finish the season with the same bucktails that I entered the season with. As a matter of fact, I still have some from four or five years ago that I use. Uh, I actually still have some from when my grandfather was still alive, and that was 20 plus years ago that he passed away. Well, I think 96. Wow. Yeah, so I still have those bucktails. So fish as light as possible, as light as the conditions allow. You're gonna feel it better, you're gonna work the lure better, and it's probably going to result in more strikes and more hookups. All

Cadence And The Power Of Pauses

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 27:51

right, along with that is tip number five: work the lure with a deliberate cadence. So the best retrieves are typically cast it up current, let the jig hit the bottom, pop it a couple of times, and then let it sit for a second. Keep the same cadence on the same retrieve. Now, if you're just vertical fishing, I'd still recommend a cadence with a break. So you can do the rapid John Skinner jigging, but then pause, and you'll often get the strike on the pause. If you want to do like a twitch, a twitch, a twitch, and a pause, that's fine as long as you have that pause in there. But I try to keep it consistent on the same drop. If I'm vertical jigging, if I'm going to switch it up, I will leave one real long pause and then just restart it differently because once you change it, the fish that you interested that's following it is probably going to bug off and take off to a new spot. So you just you're basically resetting your cast if you're changing up the retrieves. You will see that quite often with striped bass fishing, who are also ambush predators when they're not on the migration and when it's not the run. Once you change up that cadence, that will often be the trigger to make them leave and turn around and uh and now you got to toss it out again and and try to interest them again. So keep your deliberate cadence and keep it consistent on each retrieve. Feel free to change it up in between, but that's that's something that I truly, truly believe in. And I've seen it on some underwater cameras where you know if it's if it's changed, they just kind of like they get spooked and they move off. So try to be consistent. Now I say that I I I'm not always looking I'm the biggest offender to some of these things. Yeah, I don't always do it either, but it's something that definitely I do recommend. All right, here's one tip number

Set The Hook Faster On Artificials

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 29:41

six. Here's one that a lot of people don't agree with. When you're fluke fishing, the old thing when I was growing up was variations of this explanation on how to set the hook. So you feel the weight or you feel the strike, and you just sit back and you don't reel, you don't set the hook. You turn around and you grab a sandwich and you start eating the sandwich. Wash it down with a little bit of beer or Pepsi or Coke or whatever you have, put it, put your drink in the drink holder, light up your cigarette, and on the third puff, set the hook. That's how a lot of people do it. They're like, don't rush it, don't rush it, don't rush it. I'm gonna tell you, start rushing it because if you're using artificials, especially if you're using artificials, they do know that they're artificials. And I am a very firm believer that that gulp only has the it may be a great attractant for them. It attracts the bite. But what it does not do, based on everything I've seen and all of the experience I have and talking with a lot of other people, it doesn't make them hold it very long. It'll get that strike, but it won't necessarily get them to hold it. They don't eat the gulp. I don't remember ever. Now, maybe other people have, but I don't remember ever opening up the stomach on a fluke and seeing gulp in there. With the amount of gulp that we're dropping down as fishermen, there should be gulp in their pocket or in their in their stomachs if that's what they're actually feeding on. So little pieces, it's it's in them. No. I I've never found that unless it was part of the bait that they, you know, swallowed of mine. Natural baits, sure. If you're fishing a minnow, yeah, I think they're going to take it and they're gonna, they're gonna down the whole thing, they're gonna swallow it. But I I just don't see that with these artificials, whether you're putting smelly jelly on it, you're putting menhaden oil, you're using gulp or using any other type of attractant. Those are typically to get them to hold it for just that fraction of a second longer. So my technique, and if you've watched my videos, you've seen it. I get the bite, I confirm it, I confirm a little bit of weight, and then I slam it and I try to break, I try to break it through their jawbone. You know, cross their eyes and set it hard. And all of that takes about a second, a second and a half, which is not as fast as some other types of fish when I'm fishing, but it's definitely faster than most people do it. Yes, it is possible you will catch more small fish that way. But it's also possible that you're gonna keep that doormat on your hook and you're actually gonna get it hooked up and landed if you're setting it quicker. So I do not subscribe to the belief that you take your time when setting the hook on a fluke. I it's just not the experience that I've had, especially with the artificials. Yes, you can do it if you're fishing natural baits or live baits, especially, but I still I just don't recommend it. It's I've lost way too many fish screwing around, waiting, waiting, waiting, and then I go to set it and it's not there. So I think you're getting out of these gulp and and other baits just the just the initial strike and them holding it on from holding on to it for maybe a half a second to a second, and then they're gone. They're just gonna they're just gonna get rid of it. So go quick. Don't sit around and wait, go quick. All right, number seven, and I'll give another one after this, and then I'll go through and see if there are any questions that I miss.

Funnel Zones And Repeating The Drift

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 33:16

Focus on those areas that funnel the fish. I mentioned this earlier at the very beginning. They're ambushed predators, they're sitting up, setting up where the current is going to bring the bait towards them. So think about the areas that you're gonna get most of this. Don't follow the boats. If you're following the boats in the early season, you're you're following people that don't necessarily know what they're doing. And I have said this on video. I said they're fishing in the wrong spot on video, and then I turn around and say, here's the spot, and then I'll hook into a five or six pounder. And I'm only like, I don't know, 20 feet off to the side of them, but I'm explaining why. And here's an example a creek mouth, a creek mouth emptying into a larger channel. So as that water comes out on the outgoing tide, it's going to come out of that shallower creek and it's going to fall down. Think of it as a waterfall underneath all the way down to the deeper bottom. So I'm thinking one specifically right now. It goes from about eight feet in the creek and it drops down to about 40. That ledge is almost a sheer drop. It's almost a cliff, but it's not quite. The biggest flounder that I have ever caught in the backwaters have all been on drops that are similar to that. Maybe not down to 40 feet, but it goes from something, you know, maybe eight to 20. Maybe it's uh 15 down to 30, something like that. A severe drop, and right where it gets to the very bottom is where you're typically going to find those bigger fish. And if you don't believe the bigger fish are going to push the smaller fish out of the way and take the best spots, you're absolutely wrong. That's how they got to be the biggest fish. So, yeah, so so do that. Look for things like that, the creek mouths, channel edges, look for troughs. Look for if you're fishing out front, look for the tips of the jetties, places where it's going to change the currents, it's going to change the bottom. Look for any bottlenecks in inlets. A lot of people like to fish the inlets at this time of the year. I actually would move further in if I were you. I suggest working the sounds, if you have sounds in your area, but but look for those structures that are going to funnel the fish. And some people have some people have a little bit of difficulty with this. Look at the topographical maps that are going to show what the bottom of the waterways look like. Look for bottlenecks in there, look for the big drops. The more severe, the better. And don't just fish the deepest spot or the one little spot. Start ahead of it, go with the current over it and go a little bit past it. Remember, these flounder will pick up, they will follow your bait and then they will strike. It's not always immediate. They'll watch it for a little while. I'm sure most of you have had the case where you've reeled up and a fluke has actually followed it all the way to the top. It happens. So they will travel in order to feed. So start ahead of these, but make sure that these best areas where that funnel is really working is part of your drift or part of your cast. A lot of people just skip that. And look, I get it. I had a boat for a long time, fish boats for nearly my entire life. And sometimes you just want to set up with the longest, easiest drift, knowing that you have a quarter of a mile between a good spot and the next good spot, and you're just going to drift it. If you're out there to get more fish and better fish, you got to get active. And you're going to, you're going to have to, if you're going to kayak, pedal into that current and get back up and drift through that one small area, that one small, small spot, the one spot that's really funneling those fish and those bait, you're going to have to hit it, you know, 10, 15, 20 times in the next 25 minutes in order to make sure you hit the whole thing and you look for that really nice fish in there. If you just want to get the long drifts, that's fine. Just know that you're not setting yourself up for the best success for the day. If you're just out there, you know, hanging out with friends and you know, any fish is good fish, that there's nothing wrong with that. And I don't mean to suggest that there is. I do that quite a lot where I just go out and I don't really care if I catch anything. I just want an easy day just out on the water. But if you're looking for the bigger fish and you're looking for the numbers of the fish, really focus on those areas and and I mean really focus on them. Spend the time on those little small areas, and you will be absolutely shocked at how many big fish you can pull out of a three-foot area. Yeah, so that's that's that. Focus on the areas that are going to funnel the fish and the bait towards you and into that spot where you can pick up those fluke. All right. So those are the those are the seven. I'm going to throw one in there that I've mentioned before, but I think people miss quite often.

Bonus Tip: Rain And Salinity Moves Fish

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 38:04

And I'm going to use, I'm going to talk again about any one of the three species of flounder that you're going to find on the eastern coast of the United States. So Gulf Flounder, the the Southern Flounder, and the Summer Flounder, they all have different tolerances for fresh water and salinity. Okay. So let's talk because this is where 90% of the audience is. Well, shockingly, we actually have a growing audience in Portugal. I don't know why. I don't know if they have the same species over there. But for all of you, I don't know what it what your species over there are doing. But the summer flounder, as an example, because of their tolerance and their intolerances for changes in salinity, especially the more fresh the water gets, the less likely that they're going to be fully active. Now, they are very resilient to it. You can catch them in the rivers. But as you get a lot of rain as an example, and it's rushing into these backwaters, that drop in salinity will push these fish closer to the ocean. So if you go through a period of time where you have extended periods of rain and you know that you're just going to have a lot of runoff, the rivers are high, and all that runoff is ending at a certain area near where you want to fish, start out closer to the inlets or in the inlets because that that change in salinity makes it uncomfortable for them. Again, it's a it's a basic biology thing. There are different tolerances for different species. The Gulf Flounder is the one that is the most resilient and it it almost doesn't care about salinity, but the other two do. The southern flounder and the summer flounder absolutely do. So it's just a it's just a tip that you should know. If you know, if you insist on fishing and you've had heavy rains for multiple days in a row, start closer to the inlets. Just start out there and then move back in on an incoming tide, perhaps as the the you know, the the saltier water is coming in. But if you get a an area with a ton of freshwater runoff, that could just blow out that spot just because of the salinity. Um, so keep that in mind. Don't waste your time going to these spots first because they look great. You have to understand the other conditions, right? We have to know the wind. We have to know what that's doing to the currents. You have to know where the currents are, what the moon cycle is. You also have to know the salinity. And you don't have to know exactly what it is, but you should know where different areas might vary in salinity and set yourself up for more success by making an intelligent choice about where you go. So closer to the inlets, if you get a lot of rain, that's that's where I always recommend that you start. And you'll find that quite often it is a big difference in the fishing, and that could just be a quarter of a mile difference. You know, more salt, the better the fishing is. All right. So those are the tips plus the bonus. Let me go through real quick and see if there is anything in here. Feel free to repost them too. Help me out a little bit if there's any other questions. Mostly I think it's just people talking with each other in the chat. Bowtie killer, Rich Late again. Yes, I was late. I'd be interested to see who's been out. A lot of people have been kind of blown out. The people that have been out in the wind have done pretty well, though. In New Jersey and Delaware specifically, New York, I am seeing a very mixed review at this point. A very mixed review. People are saying it's not good, and then some people are saying it's okay. Yeah, so let's see. Any questions? Yeah, I don't see that many. I'm gonna have to go through and read these comments because people are catching me up on what they've been doing. All right, bow tie killer. Uh, I'm gonna mention this, even though it's not fluke. I'm gonna put this up here. But getting stripers and nice drum from the beach, 51 inch and 53, a few 36 to 42 inch bass, and drum to 37 inches. Not bad. Not bad at all. I the the striped bass is going crazy, especially in New Jersey. I'm seeing most of the action in New Jersey. A buddy of mine from high school, his name is Ben. Uh, he put up some some really nice solid surf fish in Atlanta County today. Definitely, definitely great for the fish, especially especially off the beach. You know, a lot of people are thinking that they have to go in the backwaters, and you you absolutely don't. Tim Murray had a keeper in there today. A lot of people talking about the price of fuel. Nothing we can do about it. Just gotta kick back and and relax, I guess. Let's see. Yeah, and digging it. Hope you feel better. I know what it's like to go through chemo and radiation. I know why you're not on the water. I'm with you. Give me a call. I'll hit to the hit the water with you if we're anywhere near each other when you're feeling better. Yeah, so a couple of people are pulling some in. So yeah, so there aren't a lot of questions, but I I'm not sure I'm not shocked by that. These are these are some things that are basically reminders for a lot of people. And and keep in mind that the fishing does change as the seasons change. Early spring presents a big challenge with the water temperatures because we're looking for that warmer water. So look it's sunny days, especially, go back towards that that shallower water and look for that difference in water temperature. Just a degree or two can really make a big difference when you're out there on the water. Where we get into summer, we're gonna then start talking about damn, the water's 85 degrees. What are we gonna do? And then there's different strategies for that. So keep that. In mind, fishing now is different than fishing in June and July, and August is definitely different in September. So make sure that you adjust your approach, make sure that you set yourself up for success. But again, if you just want to go on the water and just have fun, just floating around and doing your thing and hanging out with buddies, there's nothing wrong with that. I don't want it to sound like I'm saying that. But if you want more fish and bigger fish in the backwaters right now, I'm telling you, these these are the seven plus that salinity tip, eight tips that are really going to help you out. It's going

The Doormat Debate And Being Nice

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 44:33

to help you get on better fish. I do want to bring up the one thing I want to give this opinion because this has come up in, I've actually seen it in New Jersey, and I saw it in Maryland in a group that I'm in. People really excited about the fluke that they caught, and they're calling them doormats. And I think the one in New Jersey from a local shop was six and a half pounds. The one in Maryland, I think, was about seven and a half to eight and a half. Oh no, I think it was eight point two pounds. And they were calling them doormats. And man, did these comments go crazy about how they're just placemats, they're not big enough. You know, people need to stop trying to get clout by saying that they're doormats and they're not. I'm just gonna share my opinion. I think you need to calm the hell down. Somebody caught a six and a half pound flounder in the backwaters in early May. Congratulations to everybody who caught it. I think that's awesome. If you think it's a doormat, it's a doormat. It's not a double digit. Okay. It's not. It's still a it's still a really nice fish. There are people that catch routinely eight plus pounders in the backwater. That's what they do. That's what they're really, really good at. Congratulations, man. I think that's awesome. I I don't do that myself. I wish I could. But I think this is just my my up on a soapbox right now. We gotta stop with all this bitching and complaining because somebody was happy about something they caught. And I think quite often the people complaining are the ones that are upset because they didn't get to go fishing that day. I'm one of those that hasn't been able to go fishing very often, and I am cheering on every single one of you that's catching 18 inchers, 17 inches, knowing they're not keepers just because you got some tight lines that day. And I think it would be nice if more people did that. Six and a half a doormat, you think it's a doormat? Then I'm gonna agree with you. Good job. Hat off to you. Great job reeling in a really quality fish in the backwater. The 8.2 pounder was it looked, I'll tell you what, man, it looked like a double digit when I saw the picture of it. It was almost 30 inches. And man, to me, that felt like it it probably qualified, but people are screaming it needs to be 30 plus and 10 plus pounds, whatever. Um, I just wanted to share that because it really bothers me, and I don't like fighting on social media. I am not a uh look-at-me influencer. I don't pretend that I know everything, but I do have some opinions on it. And my opinion on it is uh let's be a little bit nicer to each other about these fish because uh it doesn't matter. It maybe that person needed that 18-incher that day, and maybe it's the biggest fish they ever caught. So, congratulations! It's a memorable fish. I'm glad you get some fish tacos out of it. Glad you get a good dinner and you had a great day on the water. And uh thank you to everybody for sharing them, even if they don't quite hit the technical doormatus. Here's here's a good James Flynn saw 32 inches from the surf. That's awesome. That is an awesome surf flounder right there, surf fluke. That's awesome. I have never caught one that big from the surf. Actually, I don't think I've ever caught one over 30 inches. So uh yeah, that would be uh I would consider that for myself to be a doormat. So yeah.

Upcoming Shows And Final Takeaways

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing 47:53

Everybody, thank you for tuning in. Um, trying to get some guests together. It is really, really tough. I think, I think you guys have seen the social media on fishing has changed in the past year or two. Where um, and it's probably for the better, but it's more difficult to get the the people that are not full-time captains uh to come on, just people that are really good at fishing have something to share. But I'm working on it. We'll keep these episodes coming as much as possible, minimum of two per month. I'm still hoping to be getting four in. I appreciate you coming by. We're gonna have uh one announced actually soon. We should have a setup for this upcoming week. Um, it might be another solo show, but uh we're going to be talking about setting up for tournaments coming up because a lot of people are really interested in doing tournaments this year for some fun. So uh I will as well, by the way, purely for fun. I don't expect to win any. I'm still gonna try, but I don't expect to win any. So we are gonna cover that in an upcoming show. So everyone, it's a little windy, but it looks fishable. So uh all the way up and down the coast in the mid Atlantic. So if you can, make sure you get out there, get on the water, and get some tight lines.