Flounderpalooza - November 1, 2008

An absolute perfect weather day found five two-man teams competing in a flounder peaks with the new moon in November. As flounder move out of passes and drains in preparation of going offshore, anglers are able to target the flatfish.My friends and I rarely target species other than reds and trout. The Southern Atlantic Flounder is excellent table fare, but fishing for flounder is notoriously slow. It can be a bit boring, but the period in November spanning the new moon to full moon offers the best flounder fishing on the upper Texas coast. The flounder gather near passes as they prepare to make their way offshore to spawn. Anglers and giggers alike stack up on the passes and drains in order to harvest the largest catch of flounder for the year.

My friend KW suggested that he host a tournament among our set of friends that would specifically target flounder as we rarely fish for them. A stuffed flounder beats a stuffed turkey any day, in my opinion. The tournament would consist of two man teams drawn at random. Each angler could keep up to five flounder and the aggregate weight of the team’s stringer would be submitted. Also, each angler could submit his heaviest fish for the master angler award. We would up with five teams and I was paired with my friend JG. Joining us on JG’s boat was CG who was paired with RB.

The weather was beautiful and we began fishing a flat adjacent to a bayou as the tide drained. JG threw glowtreuse gulp curly tail grub on a 1/16 oz jighead. CG threw a 2 inch grey gulp shrimp on a 1/16 oz jighead. I opted for a 3 inch copper gulp shrimp Carolina rigged with a stainless steel #2 worm hook. JG immediately began to catch flounder but most were smaller than the fourteen inch minimum. I worked my way East until the mouth of the Bayou and began working up the drain. GC continued East and worked the flat beyond the mouth. As I made my way up the bayou, I saw a school of flounder leaping out of the water as they were feeding. I had heard of this happening, but never witnessed it. I began casting to a spot in hopes of intercepting the school. On the third cast, one bit and as I played the fish, the school began to scatter. My line gave weigh as the leader was severed by sharp teeth. Unfortunately, I lost my only saltwater worm hook. I had just picked it up as an afterthought as I left the house. I re-rigged with a jighead and caught a few trout. After fishing an hour without a flounder, I made my way back to the mouth to join my friend, CG.

CG has caught a lot of flounder and he gave me a few lessons as I stood next to him. “After you feel a tap, count to fifty before stiking as this allows the flounder to chew on the bait a bit and allow the hook to penetrate his bony jaw,” said CG as he caught three flounder to my one. I still have much to learn. We fished a few more drains, then ran West back into Christmas bay and fished a few flats spotty success.

I tied on a freshwater wormhook rigged Carolina style and began casting in eight inch deep water. A huge flounder viciously struck my bait and I winced as the weight of the fish vanished. I reeled in and inspected my terminal tackle to find that the large flounder had severed the shank of the freshwater wormhook. JG, my tournament partner, stared at me incredulously and said, “That’s the last time you’ll use freshwater tackle in the salt.” “Yeah”, I agreed, “kinda like carrying a knife to a gun fight.”

CG had waded up into the mouth of a small drain and found a few redfish. He quickly caught three keepers and made his way back to the boat. We had caught a fair amount of trout, reds, and flounder to this point, but we still did not have enough flounder weight to put us in contention. We returned to our original bayou and we all waded up the channel. I caught a good flounder two and half pound flounder just before the deadline. CG caught a trout in the bayou to complete his first Texas Slam consisting of legal sized catches of Redfish, Speckled Trout, and Flounder.

RB captured the master angler award with a three and a half pound flounder and I placed second. KW and JBM won the tournament with the heaviest weight. A great time and fish fry was had by all.

The Southern Atlantic Flounder population has declined as of late. There is some speculation that the water temperature has warmed a bit and the flounder don’t flourish under the warm conditions. I do know that we have seen a resurgence of species typically found in warmer waters. Snook were rare on the Texas coast a decade ago and now are plentiful on the lower Texas coast. Reports of snook caught on the middle coast have increased over the last three years. There have even been reports of Snook on the Upper coast. I don’t really think the warmth of the water has impacted the flounder fishery, but any climate change theory is popular and embraced by the masses. I personally believe that the population has suffered due to the amount of flounder gigging that is allowed. I don’t understand how the flounder can be designated as a gamefish, yet TPWD allows people to gig flounder. It’s bad gamefish management. In addition, the number of saltwater anglers has exploded in the past decade and the fish are pressured as a result. This also likely has some impact, but the number of giggers operating at night with water penetrating lights and gigging countless number of flounder is sickening.

Last year, my friends KW and CG were fishing off a pier one night when KW caught a five pound plus flounder. They kept her in the water and called the Sea Center the next morning with the hopes of transferring her to the Sea Center for brooding stock. They were denied as the Sea Center stated they had enough females for brood stock, but males were welcomed. The Sea Center begins accepting males for broodstock in mid-November.

Nautical Twilight 6:41 am
Civil Twilight 7:09 am
Sunrise 7:34 am
Moon Rise 11:48 am
Sunset 6:34 pm
Twilight 5:58 pm
Nautical Twilight 6:26 pm
Moon Set 10:03 pm
High Tide 8:59 pm

Low Tide 11:27 am 0.15 ft
Inshore Fishing Forecast 9

New MoonFish caught: Sand trout, Redfish, Trout

KW & JBM JG&JH CG & RB SB&SB CS &ML

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