Monday Flounder Update: The big ones that got away
Greetings fellow flounder fanatics!
We are in the midst of the fall run and some interesting things are happening. This Monday's report shows some interesting trends occurring in the world of flounder.
Herds of Flatfish?
Last Friday I spoke with Jeff Kaiser, a biologist with the University of Texas Marine Science Institute at Port Aransas. He said on the previous Monday he and his team captured 50 flounder for their flounder breeding program by using nets and targeting points that were formerly covered with giggers (both commercial and recreational).
"There wasn't a single boat out there in this one spot that usually has 10 on it during any night in the fall run. And the amount of flounder moving through it was amazing. It looked like herds of wildebeest moving through the Serengeti," Kaiser said.
The migration out toward the Gulf of Mexico is on in a big way and with no gigging allowed this month the flounder are getting to leave uninterrupted. Even recreational rod and reel activity is restricted to two fish, allowing tens of thousands more flounder to leave each bay system and enter the Gulf of Mexico. That is good news for all of us who care about this species and expect new regulations and the state's stocking program to cause a comeback that will benefit everyone.
Field Testing
A couple of days ago I went out and did a side by side comparison of an unnamed monofilament and my favorite super line, Berkley Fire Line (smoke color). The results were astounding.
We met you at a seminar in Texas City awhile back, and had to email you about todays fishing. Due to the gusty winds we decided not to launch our boat and just fish "land locked" out at Highland Bayou Park in LaMarque. We only had artificial to use when we got there, Charlie threw the cast net a few times but no mullets or piggies for me. So as we were getting tied up for chunking artificials a nice gentleman, named Tim, offered his live bait cuz he hadn't caught anything and was headed home. As Charlie and Tim were still talking about floundering, I quickly made a drag, then on the second cast, just as the mullet hit the bottom, I felt it. You know what I mean, that feeling that makes me question everything I had done up to this point. I set the hook and she took off, to the left to the right, back to the left, well Tim saw the activity and stopped and got outta his truck, just as Charlie netted the flounder. A real nice one, I told him thanks for the live bait. So we put her in a cooler of water, fished about three hours and didn't catch another keeper. So I was looking in the cooler at her, just moving her mouth and she looked up at me. I said Charlie I want to let her go. After being in the cold damp wind for that long I was just ready to get home. It wasn't until we got home we got to thinking about your replica program. Out of curiosity we measured the bottom of the 60 quart cooler she was diagonally laying in the bottom of. Oh well it's 23 inches....
The good news is that big fish survived to produce more of its kind but they bad news is they very well might have ended up taking the lead in November's replica program. If you do not know about that program click here for details.
Thanks to Charlie and Linda for sharing that story and putting back that big girl. I will never chastise anyone for keeping a big flounder since that is perfectly within their rights. However it is nice to see people starting to release them and keep the smaller ones to eat.
Viva Flounder Revolution!
Chester Moore
We are in the midst of the fall run and some interesting things are happening. This Monday's report shows some interesting trends occurring in the world of flounder.
Herds of Flatfish?
Last Friday I spoke with Jeff Kaiser, a biologist with the University of Texas Marine Science Institute at Port Aransas. He said on the previous Monday he and his team captured 50 flounder for their flounder breeding program by using nets and targeting points that were formerly covered with giggers (both commercial and recreational).
"There wasn't a single boat out there in this one spot that usually has 10 on it during any night in the fall run. And the amount of flounder moving through it was amazing. It looked like herds of wildebeest moving through the Serengeti," Kaiser said.
The migration out toward the Gulf of Mexico is on in a big way and with no gigging allowed this month the flounder are getting to leave uninterrupted. Even recreational rod and reel activity is restricted to two fish, allowing tens of thousands more flounder to leave each bay system and enter the Gulf of Mexico. That is good news for all of us who care about this species and expect new regulations and the state's stocking program to cause a comeback that will benefit everyone.
Field Testing
A couple of days ago I went out and did a side by side comparison of an unnamed monofilament and my favorite super line, Berkley Fire Line (smoke color). The results were astounding.
While my father and I caught fish on the monofilament as we fished it, the flounder had to take the lure into their throat to make a hookset. Worst of all I missed a really big flounder (five pounds plus...would have been photographed, released and turned into a replica) on the monofilament. Even with a hard hookset, the fish ended up spitting the hook. The flounder caught on the Fireline were all hooked in the hard corner of the mouth allowing us to release and increasing our overall angling success. I have been using Fireline for 13 years now and this latest test shows why it remains an important part of my flounder fishing arsenal.
Fireline is certainly not the only super line that works. There are other good ones on the market out there and if you are serious about catching flounder I highly advise you to give it a try. It will make a big difference and you can avoid heartache like I experienced losing that big one in the test.
Me with one of several keeper-sized flounder caught in last week's field test. Too bad the big one got away.
Remember the Replica Program
This is an email from Charlie and Linda Gonzalez who did the right thing but missed out on a possible replica.
Hey Chester,
Fireline is certainly not the only super line that works. There are other good ones on the market out there and if you are serious about catching flounder I highly advise you to give it a try. It will make a big difference and you can avoid heartache like I experienced losing that big one in the test.
Me with one of several keeper-sized flounder caught in last week's field test. Too bad the big one got away.
Remember the Replica Program
This is an email from Charlie and Linda Gonzalez who did the right thing but missed out on a possible replica.
Hey Chester,
We met you at a seminar in Texas City awhile back, and had to email you about todays fishing. Due to the gusty winds we decided not to launch our boat and just fish "land locked" out at Highland Bayou Park in LaMarque. We only had artificial to use when we got there, Charlie threw the cast net a few times but no mullets or piggies for me. So as we were getting tied up for chunking artificials a nice gentleman, named Tim, offered his live bait cuz he hadn't caught anything and was headed home. As Charlie and Tim were still talking about floundering, I quickly made a drag, then on the second cast, just as the mullet hit the bottom, I felt it. You know what I mean, that feeling that makes me question everything I had done up to this point. I set the hook and she took off, to the left to the right, back to the left, well Tim saw the activity and stopped and got outta his truck, just as Charlie netted the flounder. A real nice one, I told him thanks for the live bait. So we put her in a cooler of water, fished about three hours and didn't catch another keeper. So I was looking in the cooler at her, just moving her mouth and she looked up at me. I said Charlie I want to let her go. After being in the cold damp wind for that long I was just ready to get home. It wasn't until we got home we got to thinking about your replica program. Out of curiosity we measured the bottom of the 60 quart cooler she was diagonally laying in the bottom of. Oh well it's 23 inches....
The good news is that big fish survived to produce more of its kind but they bad news is they very well might have ended up taking the lead in November's replica program. If you do not know about that program click here for details.
Thanks to Charlie and Linda for sharing that story and putting back that big girl. I will never chastise anyone for keeping a big flounder since that is perfectly within their rights. However it is nice to see people starting to release them and keep the smaller ones to eat.
Viva Flounder Revolution!
Chester Moore
Posted by Flounder Revolution at 11/9/2009 6:01 AM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Chester Moore flounder fishing southern flounder Flounder Revolution
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Chester Moore flounder fishing southern flounder Flounder Revolution
where can you get the flounder replica mounts that u are talking about?thnx david f. a 51 yr old guy that has been fishing at rollover pass for forty plus years
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There are numerous taxidermists that do it. You can to the http://www.thefishmountstore.com for the one who will be doing ours in 2010.
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