Inshore · 60 ft · beaches, bays, inlets and rips

Southern Flounder

Paralichthys lethostigma. Prime water reaches Tampa in Gulf of Mexico right now (88°F on the bottom). Fish it around 33 ft down — that is where 83°F water sits off Cape Hatteras.

Southern Flounder identification illustration
LaneInshore · 10 fa (60 ft)
Depth it holds3–33 ft
Prime water63–82°F (workable 63–88°F)
Holds in the column3–33 ft down (on the bottom)
Judged onseabed temperature (RTOFS at depth)
Structureprefers

The water column off Cape Hatteras

0 ft30 ft60 ft30 ft of workable water3–33 ft · 83–82°F

The strip is the water itself, coloured by temperature from the surface down to the 60 ft surveyed bottom at that spot — one band per RTOFS model level. The outlined stretch is where Southern Flounder's temperature band (63–88°F) and the depth it holds actually overlap. That thickness is the number that matters: it is how much water you can work, not just whether the spot is warm enough somewhere. One model cycle, not a weekly archive — this holds still while the surface map scrubs.

How it's fished

Mud minnows or jigs bounced along channel edges and creek mouths.

Region by region — right now

RegionSeasonPrime waterTempFish it atMonths
Gulf of Mexico in season reaches Tampa 88°F —
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
Southeast Atlantic in season reaches Cape Hatteras 80°F ~33 ft
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
"Fish it at" is where this species' temperature band and its holding depth overlap in the water column, from the RTOFS profile (13 levels, 0–300 m) — the depth to actually put a bait, not just the place. "Prime water" is the furthest sampled station on the 10-fathom lane whose seabed temperature sits inside this species' band. It is water, not a sighting report.
Charted grounds on the 10-fathom lane
Frying Pan Shoals
The Point — Cape Hatteras