Flats Fishing Primer - Florida
- Dave LeGear
- May 5
- 8 min read
Updated: May 16
Flats fishing in Florida rewards anglers who pay attention before they ever make a cast. This primer brings together practical shallow-water fishing tips on tides, water temperature, fish behavior, stealth, skiff positioning, tackle, and on-the-water awareness to help newer flats anglers build confidence and fish smarter.
Last reviewed and updated by Flats Nation: May 2026
On a more personal note, this subject comes up often enough through past chats, emails, and reader questions that it made sense to combine those thoughts into one working primer. We can update this article over time as new basic tips come in or as Flats Nation guides add their own insight to help newer members of the sport become more successful in less time with our Flats Fishing Primer - Florida. 😀
Topics related to Situational Awareness (SA) while you are on or surveying any body of water...
Nothing affects a fish more than water temperatures; they can detect tiny changes and react as needed for survival. At one time, I had a water temperature gauge on my console running all the time; now, it is always showing on my SIMRAD screen. I am looking for cooler water in summer and winter, naturally, warmer water, even if just a few degrees. Warmer water in the Winter like that which is on, or the tide has moved onto dark grass patches or mud bottom, holding up the surrounding water temperatures, even if just a few degrees, attract more fish. They are cold-blooded animals, so think of water temperature like a throttle for an engine.
High-Pressure System Fishing. If I had a dime for every time I heard that "Fish feel atmospheric pressure, that is why fishing in High-Pressure weather conditions is so difficult," I could retire already... 🙄 Goes to show (they) did not take the same engineering classes that I and many others did. It is simple: You cannot compress a fluid. If you could, the brakes on your truck would not work. Fish do not feel the weight of atmospheric pressure — period. 😉 They do, however, feel changes as they move throughout the depths of the water column, which is why you see their swim bladders sticking out when pulled up very quickly from deep water. For most Flats Fishing, though, this aspect never comes into play since, most of the time, you are fishing in the top twenty feet of water as it is... What those weather conditions can and do bring is winds and clearer skies in many cases. The increased amount of light (something fish cannot adjust for as we can) and winds moving and stirring up the water can and do make fish move. Maybe better stated, as creatures of habit, we all tend to return to spots where we last caught fish. And that is a logical place to start IF those same conditions (pattern) are present? But, be prepared to move and start scouting for fish since they have tails and move around quite a bit to find conditions better suited for them to thrive.
I am not all hung up on Tides as many are... I fish when I can and look for water movement to help bring the fish a meal. Whether it is a Rainbow Trout in a clear mountain stream, or a Sea Trout sitting in wait along the edge of a grass flat for dinner to come to them, they usually have their heads pointed into the current (tide), waiting to strike! I use low tide conditions for slow visual scouting since I can see the bottom structure (grass, oyster beds, or small channels) and incoming tides to float into such areas when possible. An excellent tool (TidesPro) that will help with reading the Tides and Trip planning can be found by clicking Here
Google Earth saves me time and fuel in finding new flats to fish. I look for Points, Oyster beds, and tidal creeks in areas I want to fish. Since it has Lat and Long numbers, I can either zero in on such spots or print off a picture to look at as I drift or run the trolling motor in those new areas.
Remember to look for Ambush Points, including docks and points. Many Flats fish are ambush feeders, with Reds being noted as the ones that "actively" search out food and follow Mullet schools much more than the others.
A quality pair of Polarized sunglasses, a "face and neck shield," and a cool ball cap or visor to help stop light from leaking into the top and sides of your face are critical. This also helps prevent sun and wind burns even in the winter.
Birds feeding or just standing in specific locations tell me a lot! I have watched Fish and Birds work together to press the bait towards each other and feed. What is that old saying when the Man was asked, “How did you catch all those fish? His reply was simple, “A little Bird told me…” 😉
Some way to get Elevated on your front casting deck to see better.
Or you could use a quality cooler with rubber feet on the bottom to help prevent it from sliding around on the deck.
This “High Ground” viewing concept also applies to kayaks and other paddle craft when you can stand up without becoming part of the water yourself. More on those vessels for flats and backcountry fishing soon, because they can reach places some skiff anglers wish they could.
Speaking of being elevated, and moving around as little as possible, it always helps to blend into the background color — whether that means sky blue, white or gray on cloudy days, or even mangrove green.
Some may try and argue that aspect and that is Okay! But, have you ever stopped and thought about wading bird colors? Do you think the white on Egret or Heron helps them blend into the background/clouds above them?
How about a quick visual reminder on the use of Camouflage on the subject? And yes, side on and from our viewing angle, they can stand out like a Bull walking through downtown Miami. 😊 To the fish looking up, which they can do extremely well, they see something different that hardly even moves.
As denoted in the "Yes, they can see you moving" article, here is an example in which it is very low light, and the fish are leaving town (look bottom right) even with the Osprey flying way above them!
What is that old saying "To understand the Owl, study the Mouse!" also applies in this use case. Learn about and find the prey, and the predator is usually not far behind... 😊
Stealth is the key and measures taken towards such help! One must shut down and pole or wind drift onto many spots. Fish in skinny clear water are extremely nervous fish. Those birds above have been thumping the fish since they were little fry... You can talk all you want, but open music playing (why I use earbuds) dropping or falling over things on the deck, changing trolling motor speeds, dropping an anchor over the side, bilge pumps that cycle off and on along with sonar transducers that can buzz (which do little in a foot of water anyway) all can flush out fish like a covey of Quail.
Topics related to Tackle...
Fluorocarbon leaders and I use about three feet along with loop knots, which will increase your hookups below the surface. Mono line or leader material for all my surface walkers since they can stretch, which helps take the shock of the crash as well as help keep them from throwing the bait during the fight...
Many of your Freshwater / Bass lures will work fine on the flats; here again, a fish is a fish. Match the look of local forage (both bait fish, shrimp & crabs), and you will get strikes! I have several bass crankbaits that I have modified (if needed) with hook upgrades that work very well in these conditions, like Mann's Baby 1-'s. Many times, I remove the front hook so I can roll them around oyster bars, and if they do manage to get snagged, stop reeling and allow it the time and ability to float up and off the Oyster shell that it just hung up on, then start reeling again.
In my experience, crankbaits' 3D effect and appearance outperform the use of the typical gold or silver spoon rolled through the same locations. They also give you the option to reel them in slower than many spoons will allow when needed to keep them out of several types of cover, like grass.
Another unique hard bait modification for top water (sneak peek below) can be found by clicking Here
The beauty of either one is in the ability to cover more water quicker and with more effectiveness than other presentations on most days... Swim baits also work very well in many instances in covering a wide range of cover, be it grass flats or other structure and you can find out more about that tactic by clicking Here
I also apply some cover scent on them, if nothing else, to help mask the human or other non-bait type of odor (like the plastic, glue, or sunscreen from your hands) so, you don't have them turn their nose up at them. How often have you seen a fish get within a few feet of your offerings and simply turn away? Sunscreen is not something you cover your shrimp with for dinner; you think that fish like that either?
Ongoing Education
This is just an awesome book to help you with the Predator-to-Prey relationship and how it changes during the seasons. Now, don't be fooled by the title; everybody who fishes the Flats (not just the bug slingers) will get a lot from this book!
You can read more about it and order it by clicking Here:
Again, this article is only intended to be a primer on flats fishing, and most anglers do not start by chasing tarpon with a fly rod. We will get to those topics also.
The Flats Nation Team will add to these basics as needed, but we wanted to give anglers a good starting point for most Flats Fishing in Florida — with other areas planned — without having to “Fish on the Dark Side” by using live bait. 😊
Like this podcast episode below with Captain Tommy Derringer, which covers the topic of Flats Fishing in his part of NE Florida and other locations exceptionally well. There are some great tips and tactics in that episode with Brother Tommy, for sure.
And, of course, we have others that are also great and cover a wide range of locations from other excellent guides and various industry leaders from Flats Fishing World, with many more in the works...
In the meantime,
We invite you to take in a few Flats Nation Podcast Episodes to help "Scratch that Fishing Itch" when working or traveling and you cannot hitch up the Skiff and go by clicking Here:
Also, the "Flats Nation" Merch and Swag collection has some new items and can be found Here.
Tight Lines, and God Bless!
Dave and the Team
