Greetings fellow flounder fanatics!

There are lots of things going in the midst of the fall run from big catches to exciting new lures so let's get to them.

Galveston Flounder Roundup

The Galveston Flounder Roundup spearheaded by Bryan Treadway and held at Lute's Marine was a big success. They had a couple of dozen fish brought in including three over 20 inches.

*James Roberson: 22.5 inches and 6.5 pounds
*James Johnson: 21 inches
*Kyle Bradley: 20 1/16 inches

I spoke with Shane Bonnot of Sea Center Texas where the fish currently reside and they are doing fine. In fact, they have already been moved into a tank with other newly acquired Galveston Bay broodstock.

Thanks to Bryan, the crew at Sea Center and everyone who participated in all of the Galveston area events this year.


Galveston flounder at Sea Center Texas in the broodstock tank.

Sabine Broodstock Status

While talking with Bonnot I inquired of the Sabine flounder broodstock status. He said they have already strip spawned some of the fish and have some eggs in production. Hopefully they will make in the long-term and be the first batch of fish we see stocked back into Sabine Lake for the 2010 season.

Rattles for Flounder

I just got to field test a killer new product called the XXS Rattle on flounder. These tiny, but vocal rattles are a killer addition to a flounder fishing trip particularly when the fish get lockjaw. Check out my full review here.


Stringer Custom Tackle's XXS Rattle next to a 3-inch curl tail grub.

Commentary

In Bryan Treadway's email about the successful roundup, he talked about fishing with Phil Ortiz of Flounder Pounder. In it he mentioned them catching a bunch of flounder in a 10 by 10 spot.

Many anglers do not realize just how many fish will pile up in one spot. I have personally witnessed loads of flounder stacked up next to one another in the wild and also in captivity. During the fall run when fish are moving out of bay system's en masse this tends to be more common.

With that said if you catch one flounder in a spot, work it over again and again. There is a very good chance there are others there and while it might take a few minutes for them to settle down after you pull one away, the chances of you catching more there are great. There are times when catching flounder means moving around and others when it means focusing in on a hot spot an working it over. You will have to make that call but one thing is for sure. Unless you give a spot a real chance you will never know and might just be passing up some serious saddle blankets.

NOTE: Treadway also mentioned Ortiz used a very short rod and flipped instead of doing overhead casting. Sounds like someone else I know. I look forward to sharing the water with Ortiz one day. He and his family are very good people and make solid products.

For more information or to order their lures, click here.