Top 3 bass lures for flounder fishing success

Bass anglers visiting the coast can catch flounder with their freshwater lures

Flounder will bite many different baits and lures, and that’s a good thing for anglers like Jordan Kennerly of Swansea who spends a lot of time bass fishing in the midlands, but still likes to wet a hook when he’s on the coast. Luckily for him, he can catch his share of flounder with the gear he already has.

“I come to the coast about twice a year, and as much as I love to fish, it just doesn’t make sense for me to invest a lot of money in gear that’s saltwater specific. I fish for largemouth bass exclusively except when I’m on the coast, and I’ve got plenty of bass gear,” said Kennerly.

His first foray into flounder fishing was on a last-minute change to a business trip.

“I was supposed to go to the upstate for work on a week-long trip. I had my boat hooked up and all my bass gear loaded. I got a call late the night before, saying I needed to head to Beaufort instead. I decided to give fishing a shot in the creeks with my bass gear, and it worked great. So I never have changed anything when I saltwater fish,” he said.

Kennerly’s top bass lures for flounder fishing include a Zoom plastic worm, a jig, and a paddletail swimbait.

“I love a Zoom U-Tale worm in white. It’s a solid, 6-inch worm with a lot of action on the tail. I Texas-rig it with a bullet weight just like I do when bass fishing, and I just slowly crawl that worm along the bottom. I don’t think there is a better lure for catching flounder, whether it’s made by a saltwater company or a freshwater company. This is my go-to lure for flounder, and it’s a rare day that it doesn’t produce,” he said.

“My second favorite lure is a jig with a short, curly tail grub. When the worm isn’t cutting it, I go to this lure. It’s just a different size, and the combination of the jig’s skirt and the short plastic grub gives a much different look than the Zoom worm. So if the Zoom isn’t working, I try this,” said Kennerly.

“I love to fish swimbaits for bass, and they work well for flounder too. I just let them sink, them work them as fast as I can without making them lose contact with the bottom. I don’t really drag it along the bottom where it stays on the bottom the whole time, but I want it to keep bumping the bottom every few turns of the reel handle. And sometimes I’ll mix it up, dragging very slowly, then speeding it up to just brush the bottom. As long as you keep it in contact with the bottom more often than not, you can’t go wrong,” he said.