You spot the outline of a large tail on the silty bottom, the headtorch illuminating the cold clear water. Two pearly eyes reflect the torchlight as you cast your lure towards the flatfish, twitching it slowly into its view. Time seems to slow as your fogged breath holds like clouds in the still night air. The fish tenses, fins twitching with eyes fixed on this new intrusion into its world. Seconds pass like minutes and adrenaline boils up from the pit of your stomach. Then, with a snap of jaws and a beat of its tail, the lure is engulfed, and you strike…
This moment is what keeps me coming back to flounder every single winter. As the nights draw in, the sight fishing begins. There are few thrills like it, the excitement of finding the fish, the tension as you try to tempt it and finally the satisfaction of the dogged fight. But sight fishing is only one element of why I find this species so captivating on light tackle. For me, the flounder is my favourite fish species and one that I think deserves the title of ‘The Ultimate LRF Target’.
Light rock fishing (LRF or Lerfing) has been around for over a decade, and is usually associated with catching gobies, blennies and other small species. The mini species do play a large part in our niche of the sport. However, once you realise how effective a finesse lure presentation can be for targeting larger
