Non-Fly What’s your favorite cheap flounder bait

[Burt Dagger]

My almost-two-year-old is getting old enough to appreciate the beach, but for him that means running around like a crazy person, so no fly fishing for me. Next time we go out, I think I’ll bring a little flounder rig to soak.

Not hard to get bottomfish to eat, but if you were me what would you bait your hook with? Points for as cheap as possible or free!

 

[Evan B]

Probably just throw a sabiki rig out there with a bottom weight on it

 

[Stonedfish]

Nightcrawlers will work. Used to use them for bait to catch flat fish at Golden Gardens when I was a broke college student.
SF

 

[Nick Clayton]

Squid is my favorite flounder bait. The flounder love it, but better yet it stays on the hook extremely well.

 

[Chucker]

Squid!

 

[Porter2]

Couple pieces of raw bacon. Just a small piece goes a long way.

 

[Burt Dagger]

Worms n bacon sounds like my speed. Thanks guys!

 

[johnnyboy]

Grocery store tiger prawn cut into small chunks also works really well. Just don’t forget them in your car on a sunny day.

 

[Nick Clayton]

Wants "cheap" bait for flounder...

Perks up at the thought of wasting bacon on them...

Something isn't adding up here.

 

[Paige]

Lingcod skin, you will need pliers though, as they have the toughest skin to put a hook through, its insane how tough it is!

 

[Porter2]

Hey just going back …. Caught them right and left and smack in the middle off raw bacon. Two strips of bacon from a 5.99 package of Oscar Meyer on sale of course You have fresh caught fish, bacon for the mornings scramble, and you’ll have a few strips to eat alone to go with the toast and wild raspberry jam

 

[Burt Dagger]

Wants "cheap" bait for flounder...

Perks up at the thought of wasting bacon on them...

Something isn't adding up here.

with my kids attention span, we’re burning through one slice maximum. Guess where the rest goes

 

[Nick Clayton]

I've tried just about everything I could think of putting on a hook, and have caught them on just about everything I tried. Oddly enough, the one thing I was flat out unable to catch flounder with was small bits of banana peel. Couldn't get a sniff.

Hell, when low on bait I've caught plenty of flounder by cutting up the first flounder caught and using it as bait. They aren't very picky. Still, they wouldn't touch the damned banana peel lol

That said, it'd be a cold day in hell before I wasted perfectly good bacon on them

Years ago I tied up a bunch of these GITD flies for catching flounder on charters. That's a small chunk of makeup removal sponge at the back that I stole from my wife. I would inject that with scent. Worked really damned well and didn't really need to fuss about with bait at all.

 

[Porter2]

I have caught them on reverse spiders in brighter colors. Orange/red/black/yellow combos.

 

[Zak]

When I was a kid we fished for them with those sand worms that look like centipedes (watch out for the pinchers!).

We had a rig for three baited hooks that looked like a coat hanger.

 

[SeaRunner]

I've done well with the saltwater gulp sandworms. I don't know that they are cheaper than any of the options above, but they are very convenient.

 

[Stonedfish]

If you hit the right beach, you can sight fish for them which is quite fun. Bait will work but they’ll readily eat a clouser or similar pattern.
I’ve spent a good amount of time doing that while waiting for the tide to set up. It’s fun watching their reaction when something to bite comes into their zone.
SF

 

[KFCDAVE]

I caught a big one on a chunk of a hot dog when I was younger

 

[ffb]

I caught a big one on a chunk of a hot dog when I was younger

When I was in elementary school I used to spend hours out at our family cabin catching sculpin and sand dabs on hot dogs with my zebco spin caster at low tide!

 

[mr.badexample]

ghost or sand shrimp..... we had a family cabin on whidbey with up to your knees quick sand tide flats absolutely plugged with these guys ... not as sexy as a hot dog but it provoked a flounder frenzy.