Compared with May, April was just a teaser. Oh sure, the red drum schools started moving around in the backwaters and a few short flounder began to bite at the inlets. But the true saltwater fisherman looks forward to May as much as a kid anticipates the arrival of Christmas because he knows virtually every saltwater game fish will be biting somewhere along the North Carolina coast.

Some species are so abundant and willing to bite that they are the fish around which saltwater anglers revolve. But there's always room for variety, and indeed, many species occur in the same habitats and bite the same baits and lures, so multiple species trips are not only possible but also probable.

One of these perennial favorites is the flounder. An experienced eye can identify the three main flounder species that occur in North Carolina waters. The southern flounder hooks more fishermen than the other two species combined because they are so accessible and attain large sizes. By late May, southern flounder have invaded the inlets, with the bite reaching a crescendo by mid-June.

The fish move back into the estuaries from the inlets, but they can still be caught in the surf and from ocean fishing piers. Mottled, indistinct markings on their backs identify southern flounder.

Structure and food attract flounder. They may be found anywhere there's an inch of water to cover them. Top flounder fishermen cast live baits to docks, piers, bulkheads, oyster beds and channel edges. While some large southern flounder are caught by anglers using small mud minnows, mullet and menhaden, tournament fishermen use live menhaden that can be 6 to 12 inches long.

Special hooks with wide bends are used for flounder fishing. The hook must reach far back into the mouth for a secure hookup to occur.

Anglers are becoming more proficient at catching southern flounder by using lures, with scented artificial strips fished on jigheads a top choice. The use of trolling motors and Power Poles is also on the upswing, with anglers adapting these freshwater devices to have more flatfish flopping in the ice chest. Cruising along under silent electric power while casting to shoreline structure and pier pilings is much more productive than hopscotching along from place to place, dropping and retrieving an anchor.

Summer flounder move to the coast earlier than southern flounder, where they rapidly colonize artificial reefs and natural ledges at 10 to 20 miles, then move to the inlets in April. The smaller fish typically show up first, leading to big catches, with 90 percent of them having to be released. But by summer, the fish are everywhere from the inlets on out, with top catches made at fishing piers and nearshore reefs within a mile or two of the beaches.