How to catch a flounder: Fishing writer Carl Hyland gives his best tips

Fishing writer rates flounder as the tastiest fish in the ocean. Here are his tips on how to catch a feed.

The flounder is an amazing creature that transform from a normal fish to a flat fish. Picture: Al McGlashan

Greenback flounder plus sole are now starting to feature in angler’s captures but most of this type of fish are targeted with spears and lights.

Knee deep, shallow water and calm conditions are best suited for spearing flounder and I reckon it’s one of the best ways to obtain a fresh feed of what I consider to be the tastiest fish in the ocean.

Frosty, clear nights are when you need to go and the new type of LED flounder lights are absolutely awesome instead of carrying big heavy 12-volt batteries and ancillary equipment around.

The batteries for the LED lights slide into the tube of the light itself, making them very light and usually provide enough lighting for one or two outings. I still use a floating tube behind to carry a drink plus a container to place the flounder into.

There is a bag limit per person of 15 flounder and a possession limit of 30 in the home. The minimum size is 25cm.

Floundering is one of the easiest ways to catch a good feed.

A by catch of floundering can often be squid (they are attracted to the light) plus garfish.

The garfish are similar to flounder in taste and are a bit trickier to spear, so I also carry a dip net to take the garfish. The same size and take limits apply to garfish.

Flounder caught with Brad Smith Fishing Charters Picture: Supplied

Swordfish competition

The Meridian Tackle fishing Competition continues and as of last Monday, there were a total of 22 tags placed into swordfish as part of the competition.

This just shows that Tasmania has a healthy number of game fish species including broadbill swordfish and it bodes well for future fishing and this type of competition.

The event runs for another few days and I will try to get the results up as soon as they become available, but the competition leader at the time of writing is Team Offshore Gambler with a total placement of four tags.

King of catches

Kingfish are along the south east corner of the state with Dunalley being a great spot for catching this species at this time.

Well-presented squid strips will work at just about any location and most species such as snapper as well as kingfish will attack such baits with gusto.

I had a report of good sized Australian salmon being caught from Policemans Point in the North plus good gummy shark are being taken from beaches in the vicinity.

Baits such as squid and salmon fillets are ideal for taking the gummy and again, snapper can be caught at this location by beach fishers if the time and effort is put in.

Survey results

The Inland Fisheries Service tells of a survey that took place in December on the North West Coast and in the Arthur River.

The survey was to assess the population of the protected native estuary perch (Percalates colonorum), which is only found in this river.

Over the course of the survey in December 2023, 378 estuary perch were caught, with the majority tagged and released.

The largest fish caught was a mature female of 470mm, weighing 1820g, while the smallest fish was a mature running ripe male of 199mm and 150g in weight.

Twelve tagged estuary perch from the 2014 survey were recaptured, while three tagged fish from the current survey were also caught.

Ongoing monitoring of the estuary perch population is currently being undertaken.

Please remember that due to their protected status, any estuary perch caught should be released immediately. Penalties apply for taking protected fish.

Until next week, take care.