Scattered thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy overnight with thunderstorms likely. Low 74F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..

Scattered thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy overnight with thunderstorms likely. Low 74F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.

With this year’s flounder season compressed into September, I wanted to share some local expertise on how to catch the BIG ones.

Last week, I used a recent interview with Capt. Lee Winkleman who targets citation flounder and was showing off a 10-pounder landed on a charter trip earlier this month. He speculated on how flounder fishing was like a game of chess, and I agree wholeheartedly.

Here is the rest of that interview, along with then WTKF 107.1 radio host Mike McHugh:

Capt. Lee Winkleman: Flounder fishing is like a game of chess, that’s why I love it. I explain it a lot to my friends that a lot of species of fish, when you are out there fishing and if you catch a school, they just hit and run. Where with flounder, you have to finesse. If you are using live bait, you have to give it time to eat, have to give time to think it out. A flounder will actually have to hold its bait. Let’s say you have a 4-inch finger mullet and you’re fishing structure, 90 percent of the time you have a flounder, you think it’s snagged. You really think it’s snagged, but it’s really a big one. And you think it’s snagged, and as you pull up on that weight and give it enough time to eat, then you start feeling him move around.

Dr. Bogus: How long do you like to wait?

Capt. Lee Winkleman: You know that’s why I love fishing because throughout the years, it’s so transitional, it changes, sometimes you think you have your game on…and I’ve pulled some of the biggest bait out of the biggest fish mouth…I’ve seen them come up to the top of the boat with the live bait right in their mouth and let go right there, and they were never hooked. I’ve brought them from 40 feet deep, a 4- or 5-pounder, but generally I wait about 30 to 45 seconds to let them eat. And what I have learned is that if you give them a chance to eat and you set the hook hard, you’ll get ’em! You’ll get ’em.

Dr. Bogus: What kind of hooks do you like to use, what size, and did you ever try circle hooks?

Capt. Lee Winkleman: Never on flounder. We use the Kahle hook (aka the flounder hook). I strictly like live baiting. I like using live bait. For personal reasons, I don’t get into jigging. I want the feel, I want to get in the battle, I want to play the chess game when it comes to flounder. So, I use a Kahle hook which is good for live bait, and it saves the fish from getting injured as well. Ninety-nine percent of the time basically you are hooking the fish right in the jaw, the upper jaw. And you know right now it’s catch and release up until the season starts, and you want to be able to put this fish back as safely as possible so it will swim away.

Dr. Bogus: You mentioned the turning basin. We know if you’ve ever tried to fish there, most of the time it’s like a river going through there, deep river. What is your best timing to try to fish that effectively?

Capt. Lee Winkleman: With today’s technology, you know, you have these trolling motors called “Spot Lock” and they keep the boat hovering right in the self-position GPS coordinates, so that helps a lot. But even so, the port area has a tremendous amount of current, so we time…when you’re fishing for big flounder and you’re fishing the port wall, time your fishing right at the peak of high tide, which I call a lull, or the bottom of low. You have about an hour of doorway between the two changes of the transitional tide, and that’s the best bet, because when you fish for flounder, you want to be vertical, you want to be right above them, straight down. You don’t want to be casting out to come forward, so when the tide is slow and low, that’s when you want to be.

Dr. Bogus: We were talking a little bit earlier, one of the problems is if you have ever tried to net a flounder either on the pier – the pier is a nightmare sometimes – or from a boat, that is tricky. What are some suggestions of successfully netting…’cause they get frantic when they get near the surface.

Capt. Lee Winkleman: First rule of thumb is to make sure who you are fishing with is your friend. Make sure they want that fish in the boat as much as you do. I’ve gotten to the point that when I fish for big flounder, I just buy an excessively bigger net. It’s the safest bet in the long run. Because trying to get down, you lean over the boat and the flounder is making that first dive, and you want to give him only one shot because the tail hooks, if you have a weak hook-set, he can get off just like opening his mouth. A flounder can spit a hook, spit a bait right out of his mouth, I’ve seen it happen. So bigger nets, fish with a friend!

Dr. Bogus: What size Kahle hook do you use?

Capt. Lee Winkleman: I use a 2/0. Going into the fall season, the finger mullet are really nice and big, and this is true – the bigger the bait, the bigger the fish. When you use a finger mullet that’s 4 or 5 inches long, you actually set aside some of the small flounder and strictly go for the big ones, so I go to a 3/0 Kahle hook.

Dr. Bogus: I usually use the 2/0 Kahle hooks. I found the No. 2s were too small.

Mike McHugh: How can people hook up with you, Lee? What’s your contact information?

Capt. Lee Winkleman: I can be reached if someone wants to go flounder fishing on my own Facebook Fishing Page, which is called Pier Precision Fishing, or another great way is from the NC Fishing Hole, which is a Facebook fishing site. We have over 29,000 members all over North Carolina. Call 757-761-2167 to contact me directly.

Dr. Bogus: What are the flounder seasonally…spring, summer, fall seasons, and how do you fish seasonally?

Capt. Lee Winkleman: A couple years back, I started to fish year-round just to try to get the frequency, because I love the flounder so much, but I found out that in the spring – March, April and May, up till May – we have a really good spring season inshore. Guys at Marine Fisheries have it down pat, the scientists, because when they close off a season, the last two years literally, about two days after the season closed last year, we were catching flounders in tremendous amounts. I was at the Cape Lookout Rock Jetty two days after the season closed last year (which was at end of September 2020), and I’m 40 fish on my boat alone, 40 flounders in about two hours, and the boats around me were pulling them in nonstop. Of course, when the water gets cool. you’ve got the prime time, October and November…

Dr. Bogus: They are going offshore to spawn that time of year.

Capt. Lee Winkleman: That was at the (Cape Lookout) Rock Jetty, but soon as the water temperature drops and the fall kicks in, the flounder is at its prime. Summer, it’s a great fishery, because actually you fish year-around, but you have these primes which is early spring and late fall.

Dr. Bogus: I usually like when the mullet come out along the beach, the “mullet blow,” then you get them right along the beach in the surf.

Capt. Lee Winkleman: It’s a sign of the season when the mullet show up. It’s fishing time.

Dr. Bogus: How about hurricanes? What do you do then?

Capt. Lee Winkleman: Hunker down, we all do it, watch TV and drink some beer. Unfortunately, our area has when it comes to rain, any time the freshwater hits the ocean puts a damper down…I always thought the big flounder would be one species that could withstand, even after a big storm, but I noticed that they are gone! They must have gone to better salinity waters.

Dr. Bogus: What’s your best by-catch when you are flounder fishing?

Capt. Lee Winkleman: That’s a great question. Usually if you use a bait that’s big enough – that’s why I always try to get 3- or 4-inch range of finger mullet – you stay away from things like the trash fish, small black bass, the pinfish, lizardfish, but by-catch would be those. Lizardfish will attack it all, and this season (2021, the year of the interview), the ribbonfish.

Next week, I will report on other locations to fish for flounder, not only from a boat but for those of you who are “islandically” challenged, from the bank and surf too, so get your nautical charts ready.

This past week, we had our first break in the weather in a while, going from soggy to crisp, from hot to summer comfy, almost fall-like, and on the northeast wind, the surf finally is Crystal Coast clear.

And thoughts of our first mullet blow now running through my brain. I looked this morning (Monday), but alas, no migrating mullet in the surf this morning. The earliest I normally see the FIRST mullet blow is Aug. 24 with the surf at 81 degrees, and the Bogue Sound temperature is at about 80 degrees.

As one can see from reports, the flounder bite is still hot, both in and out, and everybody is tying their Carolina rigs and sharpening their Kahle hooks to be ready for Sept. 1 to arrive.

Inside, the trout and drum action is still very good, and the early morning bite of big specks is still excellent. During daytime, live bait is the ticket, and this appears from the New River citation fish to the Swansboro and Emerald Isle marshes to the Neuse River. Of course, the New and Neuse rivers also have the old drum bite on.

Cut mullet or menhaden is traditional, but these days, a raft of artificials is now common, whether soft plastics down deep or softies and flies on a popping cork, popularized by Capt. Gary Dubiel (Spec Fever Guide Service), if you like that kind of action (and who wouldn’t). And these days, it seems topwater baits are also effective in hooking your trophy red. That must be a sight!

Last week around the full moon high tides, which ruined any chance in seeing the meteor shower, there was some good tailing redfish action “in the grass” around the Core Creek feeder creeks. Speaking of the Neuse, the topwater rockfish action is heating up as the water cools.

I’m always interested in the surf action at Radio Island at the public beach. Recent reports are NOT encouraging…slow! But in the fall, it’s often one of the first places the exiting speckled trout show up, especially as you go down that beach to the submerged rock jetty near the military landing area.

The nearshore Spanish mackerel and bluefish fisheries are still doing well too, with some Spanish over 5 pounds, and I’ve heard of some of the big chopper blues moving into the Beaufort Inlet area. I would love to see them back into the Emerald Isle surf. Topwater action is great fun for those blues in the surf as well.

Nearshore bottom fishing is also excellent with flounder, many in the 5-pound range, all over the live bottoms and wrecks, along with triggers, groupers and sea bass. Live bait and bucktails with Gulp! Shrimp will do the job.

Speaking of surf action…I don’t have much to say except maybe around Fort Macon which sports blues, Spanish and flounder. What is holding up in many venues is the sheepshead, with every week, fish pushing double digits being weighed in. Those are way above my personal best!

For the piers, the summer heat hash-bash continues, but there are signs of life as the water temps fall to near normal in the low 80s.

Oceanana Pier reports an uptick in blues and Spanish when the water clears a bit, otherwise, it’s bottom fare of croakers, pigfish and flounder.

Bogue Inlet Pier action has picked up noticeably as the water cools and clears, with speckled trout, blues, Spanish, croakers, pompano and flounder. The flounder are being caught mostly on live mullet or shrimp, and the biggest ones are out in the deeper water near the king mackerel gate. Speaking of kings, a 25-pounder was caught on Sunday in the pretty green water.

Seaview Pier reports black drum, mullet, a few Spanish and blues.

Surf City Pier reports blues, pompano, croakers and flounder.

Jolly Roger Pier reports scattered croakers and sea mullet at night, and basically nothing during the daytime. That’s likely to change as the weather improves and the water chills out!

By the way, I saw my first yellow butterflies over the weekend, so can fall fishing be far behind?

Anyone want to bet if we have a good speckled trout season in the surf? Will the yellow-bellied spots show this year?

As for the Emerald Isle turtle update, there are now at least 30 nests as I write this report, and at least seven nests have hatched out already.

It’s a busy year for 2022 turtles in Emerald Isle. Thanks to all the volunteers who make this program possible!

1) Check me out at www.Facebook.com/Dr.Bogus.

2) Log onto my website at www.ncoif.com. It’s now better than ever.

3) I’m located at 118 Conch Ct. in “Sea Dunes,” just off Coast Guard Road., Emerald Isle, NC 28594. Mailing address is P.O. Box 5225, Emerald Isle, NC 28594. Don’t forget a gift certificate for your favorite angler for fishing lessons or my totally Bogus Fishing Report subscription. Please stop by at any time and say “Hi” (252-354-4905).

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