Summertime, saltwater and flounder are simply a perfect combination for South Carolina fishermen. Flounder fishing is excellent during the summer months, with good catches being made in a variety of ways. Typically, anglers fishing from inshore boats or from larger guide boats take the majority of flounder. However, these fish also are taken from piers, occasionally by shoreline anglers and by gigging at night.

There are several aspects of the flounder that make it a highly sought-after species along our coastline. First, it's available in excellent numbers throughout the coastal length of the state during the warm months of the year. Generally, late June and July are peak times for success. Second, the taste of the fish -- regardless of how you prepare it -- is superb. Third, flounder are not extremely difficult to catch, but they do offer ample challenge -- and reward -- for the thinking angler. Here we'll discuss the basics that should get you jump-started on having an excellent flounder season in 2006.

You do, of course, have to use the right tackle and techniques to be consistently successful, but overall, flounder fishing is not an overly complicated affair.

Ben Alderman, a professional guide who fishes out of his flats boat, The Superfly, pursues flounder during the summer, as well as for a variety of other coastal fish species.

"Sometimes fishermen will get things a little too complicated for flounder," Alderman said. "Of course, you've got to have a good game plan and fish the right places, but flounder are pretty abundant and can be caught in a variety of methods. Sometimes it's as simple as setting up on a good place and waiting them out."

That's exactly what happened with us on a trip out of his home base of Charleston. Fishing creeks and bays off the Intercoastal Waterway, we stopped at one particular place and basically fished mud minnows in a deep hole.

Alderman explained that as the tide continued to drop, this hole was the deepest water in the area and most of the larger predatory fish would be drawn to it. He was dead on target: As the tide bottomed out, the fishing really perked up. In addition to flounder, we did, I admit, catch some redfish as well. Alderman noted there are literally scads of places where this same scenario will work for flounder and a variety of other fish.

Our technique that day was to fish mud minnows on the bottom with a flatline rig cast from the boat. Alderman noted that you don't always have to be in a deep creek or along the main body of a river or the Intercoastal Waterway.

He said that he doesn't usually get too far from the creeks or rivers, because such places will "restock" themselves between fishing trips.

"There are some places fishermen can get to that have deep holes that will still have a few feet of water in them at low tide, when the surroundings area gets nearly dry," he said. "One hole in particular gets so low that I have to wait for the tide to begin coming back in before I can get the boat out. But that hole is deep and fish from that entire area migrate to that place."

He did add that he would caution fishermen to be careful about using this strategy if any unstable weather might occur. Consider it only if the weather looks good in terms of thunderstorms, wind and other safety considerations.