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What is Flats fishing?
Flats fishing is generally referred to as fishing in shallow water with boats
designed to scoot you across a flat in as little as 8" of water. Flats are
the shallow water off of channels that are from 100 yards to several miles long.
The flats support an enormous amount of marine life, oysters, clams, crabs and
various baitfish. During low tide the flats can be dry, no water at all and on
high tide they can have four feet of water! Our target game fish move up on the
flats to feed on the crabs and baitfish as the tide rises, and as the tide drops
the game fish will be in the deeper water adjacent to the flat to intercept the
crabs and baitfish fleeing to deeper water
The water on the flats is generally gin clear, and for the sight fisherman
(seeing the fish in the water, and then stalking the fish) this is what it is
all about. The Redfish give themselves away by waving their tail around in the
air when there nose is on the bottom rooting for crabs, this is when we can make
our approach. The boat will be poled into position, you will make the cast in
front of the fish, twitch it a few times and then the Red will pounce on it.
Hold on! On the flats there are "potholes". These are depressions in
the flat that are circular and have a sandy bottom. This is a great place to
find a Snook waiting in ambush position in the turtle grass surrounding the
hole. Other great spots for Snook are up against the mangroves on islands, the
fish will move in and out of the mangroves depending on the tide. Snook eat
anything that swims and are very aggressive when hooked, usually providing a
great air show.
The Trout like grass bottoms,
depending on the tide they might be up on the flats or in 8 feet of water. Trout
like flies and are a great fish to start with if you want to learn to fly fish
in the salt. Whether you fly fish or use light tackle big trout love top water
lures, especially early in the morning on overcast days.
Tarpon don't show up on the flats until late April - early May thru
June for the peak period. Better known as the Silver King they cruise the
channels and move on to the flats searching for food. Tarpon can weigh over 200
pounds and need lots of food. They do most of their feeding early in the morning
(depending on the tide) and will travel in pods of a couple fish to over a 100.
Tarpon usually give themselves away by rolling on the surface. When they do this
they are gulping air for extra oxygen, when you see one, there could be 20
feeding tarpon below. These fish are not for the out of shape, just kidding, but
be prepared for a hard fought battle from 20 minutes to well over an hour.
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FlatsFishing.st20 2001
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