I'm going to the beach in about a week, and while I'm there I want to try to catch some flounder. What are the best ways you have found to catch them inshore? I will be fishing on the ICW mostly. I was thinking about using Finger Mullet or Mud Minnows on a carolina rig. Are there any artifical lures that will catch them consistantly? Any tips would be appreciated.

Best I have found is a 3-way swivel rigged with an 8-12 inch drop with weight then a plastic skirt and bead rig on a 24 inch leader, a spinner blade works on this also.  You can find these prerigged for about $2 at any good saltwater bait shop.

I usually put a killie AND a strip of cut squid on.  Cast and just bounce it off the bottom on the retrieve.  The current will let you know how much weight to use. You have to keep contact with the bottom.  Using both the killie and squid is key! I have fished all types side to side and the killie/squid combo out catches both hands down.  

Good luck

i use shrimp with a sand waight use a kale hook or circle hook

What 71rig said will work, but not as well as the rig you described. Live bait is always bettter; you have that part down pat. Circle hooks work best. Feeling flounder bite is the hardest part. Just drag your bait really slow like you would a plastic worm. I have a friend that lives on Oak Island we fish for them off of the pier most of the time. There we just drop them straight down and drag them alongside of the pier. Good luck!

The baits you have heard are all great. So where you will find the most flounder is at a creek mouth on an outgoing tide. This is where I found all my luck in St. Augustine last year.

I'm usually fishing for them up North in deeper water so my techniques may be different. In Chesapeake Bay i find flounder drifting over ledges fishing cut spot strips/squid using the rigs everyone else pointed out.  Don't be too quick to set the hook when fishing bait. They can eat baits slowly at times at are often light biters. In my experience if you are fishing just squid or strip bait make sure your bait is fairly long and narrow as it better resembles a bait fish when it flows through the water.

Do what all of the guys said, their advice is great. Just a few things I thought I should add, when using a weight pyramid sinkers are the way to go, as they sink into the sand and don't slide and bring your bait back to the shore/pier. For weight sizes I've found that 4 oz. is great for rougher waters, and 2 or 3 oz. is best for more calm waters.

And shrimp (live or dead) on a 2/0 Owner Mutu Light circle hook is my setup on a 3 way swivel. http://amelia-island-fishing.com/images/rig_generalsurf.jpg