Congratulations to Chris Rydzik – he won the FLOUNDER photo of the week.  Capt. Chris Rydzik caught this 27″ 6lbs doormat off north Anclote Key, sight fishing for Snook.

Fishing Tips: How To Catch Huge Flounder   by James Hall

With a face only a mother could love (assuming the mother is blind) and poop-brown coloration, it’s no surprise that you don’t see more hero photos of anglers holding up a doormat-size flounder.

These fish are hardly arm candy for grip-and-grin pictures. However, fishing lore has it that the humble flounder is the next best thing to a marriage counselor if you happen to be going toe-to-toe with the wife. Hey? There’s absolutely no way to make this sort of stuff up.

“Most guys wait till fall to target flounder, but there’s really no reason you can’t focus on this fish during the spring,” says Capt. Dave Lear, who has fished the Gulf of Mexico for more than 25 years and charters out of the Apalachicola, Florida, area.

“Once the water temperatures drop below 58 degrees, flounder move offshore and hang out near wrecks and reefs until the inshore waters get warm again,” says Lear.  “But once March rolls around and the water gets up around 60, you can target flounder with surprising success if you know where to look and what to throw.”

The where-to-look part is pretty easy. Simply focus on areas with moving water and sandy or muddy bottoms.   <read more – click here>