Flats Fishing 101: Finding Spots For Redfish, Trout, Snook & Flounder
- By: Wyatt Parcel
- on
- Found In: Fishing Tips, Inshore Fishing, Weekly Newsletter: 5-3-20
Want to learn how to catch redfish, trout, snook, and flounder on the flats?
We’ve been getting tons of questions about flats fishing recently, including:
- what is a flat?
- how do you find flats on online maps?
- what does a good flat look like in Texas? or Florida? or in the Carolinas?
- where can you catch fish on the flats?
So we created this video to go through how to find flats step by step, and how to identify where the fish will most likely be on them.
To learn how to master catching fish on the flats, watch the video below.
How To Catch Fish On The Flats [VIDEO]
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To make catching fish on the flats easier, we’ll break it down to three steps:
- How to find flats on online maps
- How to find fish on the flats
- How to catch fish on the flats
How To Find Flats On Online Maps
A flat is a shallow open body of water with muddy, sandy or grassy bottom.
They’re usually 1-5 feet deep.
You can see three different examples in the picture above of flats in Texas, Florida, and South Carolina.
In Texas and Florida, the darker colors on the flat are areas of seagrass, where the lighter colors are sand or muddy bottom.
In the Carolinas, you want to look for areas of open water that might have oyster bars or cuts and troughs running through it.
How To Find Fish On The Flats
Predator fish, such as redfish, trout, snook, and flounder, like structure.
They like structure because it gives them ambush points, as well as protection from bigger predators like dolphins.
There are two categories of structure:
Physical structure
- oyster bars
- seagrass
- shorelines
- rocks
Topographical structure (depth changes)
- channels
- cuts
- troughs
- drop-offs
- depressions
You’ll most likely find fish in areas that have both types of structure.
For example, an oyster bar with a drop-off next to it.
Or seagrass next to a channel.
How To Catch Fish On The Flats
Now that you’ve found a flat, and you know where the fish are likely to be, it’s time to actually catch them.
Where exactly the fish are and what they’re feeding on will be largely influenced by things like weather, tide, current, season, and wind.
You can try to go catch fish armed with this information, but if you want to shortcut the whole process and want someone to tell you the exact types of spots they’re biting in, and what they’re feeding on, you can join us in the Insider Club.
Every Friday, we do a weekend gameplan where we’ll give you the current trends so you don’t have to figure them out yourself.
Click here to learn more about the Insider Club.
Conclusion
To find flats on online maps, look for large, open areas of water with sandy, muddy, or grassy bottom.
Predator fish will most likely be in areas with structure, so look for oyster bars, grass, and rocks, as well as potholes, troughs, and cuts.
And if you want to get a shortcut to catching fish on flats, click here to join us and 13,000 other anglers in the Insider Club.
Have any questions about catching fish on the flats?
Let us know in the comments below.
And if you know someone who wants to get better at flats fishing, please TAG or SHARE this with them!
P.S. Insiders also get 20% off on all the fishing gear in our online shop — Click here to join the Insider Club!
Stop Wasting Time On The Water!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish ever trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
Click here to join today.
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STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish every trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
What’s up with the tackle section on the website? I’m seeing a knife and two different leader options??? Where’s the slam shady?
Yea you basically nailed it great job in less then 4 min to awesome thanks Wyatt ????
Thanks so much for watching Steven! Glad you enjoyed the video!
Nice Job Wyatt! I hope to meet up in CB sometime.
Thanks Tim! Once this COVID-19 craziness blows over, another NC meetup would be nice!
Great concise video Wyatt! Although I don’t know why you have to punch your redfish and give them a bloody nose after catching them. Brutal…lol
Haha, if I remember correctly, it was the Slam Shady that redfish got into a fight with… naturally I intervened and separated the two!
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Ok the slam shady ? What’s the rigging ? Sinker or no sinker and what position and weight of sinker if required ? Sorry I’m a newby
Alan: The Slam Shady is a soft plastic paddletail. Typically it is rigged on a a jighead of some kind, but it can be rigged multiple ways. Weight of jighead/sinker depends on the depth of water you are fishing, current, and the action of your rod. For example, I would start off rigging them on a 1/4 oz jighead.
Ok another dumb question straight line or leader ? I watched the video but it doesn’t discuss that part ?
Not a dumb question! For most artificial lures, we recommend tying on a mono or fluoro leader, especially for jigheads like you’d use with the Slam Shady. Here’s a helpful video on how to tie a leader the right way:
https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/how-to-tie-a-fishing-leader-for-snook-redfish-seatrout/
Hey Alan! Great info from Jonathan, but if you’d like to see a demonstration of all of the different ways to rig the Slam Shady and the best ways to use them, check out this link below:
https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/how-to-use-rig-retrieve-slam-shady-paddletails/
Dude, this was incredibly helpful! Great explanations and very well done Wyatt!
Glad to hear it was helpful for you Alex! Thanks for watching!
Is that drone footage?
Yes! The footage of the grass flat and the point was captured with a drone.
Love this! Fishing these structures has helped me tons!
Glad you enjoyed it Thomas! Thanks for watching!
Another great one Wyatt. Hoping to put it to use Sunday.
Thanks a bunch, Jamie! I’ll keep an eye out for your report in the Community!