Fishing for Flounder within Langstone Harbour

In the dark mid winter, flounders can bring relief from those post-christmas blues, if you know how to catch them. This art is not difficult, but as with most types of fishing, there is an art. In this section, I will be discussing tactics involved in fishing for flounders at three main marks: i) The entrance to Southsea Marina ii) The West side of the Hayling, as well as briefly going through how to The best way to catch flounder at the Marina is to approach the entrance from the North. As you do this, you will notice that there is a ledge above the Southsea Marina sign on your right. If the tide is low enough, you will also notice that there is actually a tunnel below the ledge. Fishing on this foreshore is not strictly allowed, so the best plan of action is to anchor just off from the foreshore, casting just astern of the yellow yacht "Ebling Miss", as there is a patch of shingle/shale there which holds many flounders. To the West, there is the main pontoon, where the charter boats moor. The other place to fish is to the East of this pontoon. Both of these places can be fished using a running ledger on the bottom with ragworm on a size 3 hook, or, often more effective is to fish an unwaited flounder spoon with ragworm cast and left to sink, and then retrieved very slowly, especially when the tide is ripping over the banks. At low water, the brackish water washing over the sluice stirrs up a rich source of food and flounders can often be seen swimming up this entrance. ***Beware*** The Marina entrance at high water can be dangerous! Watch out for boats and thier wash when they are entering the Marina. Also, on the ebb, the tide is very strong around the entrance. At low water, the entrance is blocked to incoming boats due to the gate being raised at about three hours after high water, but it is very shallow, falling to about 2ft on a neap tide and 1ft on a spring. if you manage to overcome this, be very ca reful aorund the waterall created by the raised gate, as it will suck your boat under in seconds. The other place to fish in this area is on the West side of the Hayling Spit. The best time to fish tis area is about 2 hours after high water, or alternatively when the banks begin to cover. The best place in this area to fish is either behind the boat "Our Kid" or just to the S/SE of the red post. The tactics here are virtually the same as at Southsea Marina. If these marks fail to perform, a good tactic at high water can be to place youself upwind/tide of a channel, bank or just ordinary patch of mud and drift past it, fishing with flounder spoons on the bottom or without lead using one or two ragworms on a trace of about 1ft. Slow your drift down with weights. One to two kilos should be sufficient to couteract a medium to strong tide with a boat under 10ft. This, however is only a guide and trial and error is the best policy. Once again, if you are fishing in or near the run, beware of the strong tides, especially on the ebb, and also, the banks uncover deceptively quickly, so ensure you are not grounded if you are fishing in a larger boat. The essence of this type of fishing is light tackle, and a quiver or fly rod is the best choice. For best results, do not use leads any heavier than about 2oz, and hooks no bigger than size one. A flounder spoon floated just off from the bottom can also be worth trying, but it can be very difficult to get the depth right. fish for flounders generally over any muddy area.