Monday Flounder Update: Jumping Flatfish!
Greetings fellow flounder fanatics!
Over the summer I have ran into a scenario that can be both jaw-dropping and highly frustration: flounder feeding frenzies.
On two occasions this summer I have seen huge incoming tides get flounder feeding in a literal frenzy jumping from the water and striking all over the surface. It is something I have seen a number of times in the past and while it is amazing to watch it can drive a person crazy. At times they will hit anything you throw at them and other times they simply want one particular kind of bait.
My father, Chester Moore, Sr., and I found this out one day in July as we caught a few fish in the course of an hour in an area they were jumping out of the water every few seconds and popping the surface all over the place. Finally I broke down and threw the cast net and caught a few shad. Dad put one on a bare jig head and they ate it up. Every cast equaled a strike and before we left we caught 21 fish, mainly under-sized but still we had a blast.
I will talk more about feeding frenzy flounder at Flatfish University (TM) Oct. 9 at Fishing Tackle Unlimited in Houston. It is a small part of what will be a completely new flounder seminar hosted by yours truly and part of a type of event never done for flounder. Make sure and mark your calendars for this historic event and be there. It is absolutely free but I would like to have an idea on who plants to attend so email me at cmoore@fishgame.com if you want to come out and really learn about flounder.
Flatfish University is where the future of flounder comes to life.
Help Us Recognize Sea Center Texas Staff
The staff at Sea Center Texas have been recognized for their efforts in working on the flounder stocking program. These men and women go way beyond the call of duty to make this flounder program a success. So for David Abrego, Shane Bonnot, Jennifer Bixby, Courtney Moore and everyone else there who work so hard on these fish, here is a big thank you from Flounder Revolution.
Post your comments on this thread and I will forward them to the Sea Center staff. They deserve it and then some.
Courtney Moore of Sea Center Texas with a beaker full of baby flounder at Sabine Lake.
Posted by Flounder Revolution at 8/8/2010 8:28 PM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Chester Moore flounder stocking flounder conservation flounder revolution flounder replica program Texas flounder stocking
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Chester Moore flounder stocking flounder conservation flounder revolution flounder replica program Texas flounder stocking
Thanks to all of you at Sea Center. We appreciate everything you do and love the sacrifices you make with your time to make this flounder "thing" happen.
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Sea Center crew you are all amazing. The work you are doing on flounder is historic and will be one of the things that helps save this fishery. Keep up the good work!!!
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Thank you Sea Center for all you do.
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Special thanks to the Staff at Sea Center. I have worked with them during the 2008 and 2009 fall flounder run. They are all very professional and a great bunch of people doing a great job.
Wayne Pedigo
Cleburne, TX.
Chester,
Your Flounder University Seminar is going to be 8 days before I come down for the fall run. I won't be able to make the two trips. Is there any chance you are going to video the seminar? I sure would love to see it.
Thanks to you too for all you do.
Wayne Pedigo
Cleburne, TX.
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Kudos to the staff at Sea Center Texas for your efforts in working on the flounder stocking program. Know that your hard work does not go unnoticed. As a Father and a Grandfather, I thank you for the legacy of recreational fishing that you are helping to leave for the generations that will follow. Please keep up the good work!
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Keep up the good work. The Orange County CCA Chapter fully supports you and the effort ya ll put forward in the fight to help preserve the future of the FLOUNDER. Along with all of the other wonderful thing that come from the Sea Center and the other Hatcheries up and down the Texas Coast. Keep plugging and we will always by totally supportive of the hard work done by everyone.. Scott Bandy (Predident Orange County CCA)
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Great work Sea Center!!! I love the fact I can have confidence you will get the job done to make flounder stocking as prevalent as trout and that you always work hard to stock our bays with gamefish.
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i, too,have seen what you describe as flounder frenzy, in that cove between fort travis and the broke down pier. we call it the flounder flop. i have caught many flounder over the years at fort travis..thnx for all the info.
df
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Chester read your story about jumping flounder. I would like to share with you and others a sure way to catch flounder when you see them in this type of behavior. First off if you fish for flounder and plan to only target flounder you need more than one plan or way to catch this fish. I learned years ago that you need diffrent size jigs and jig heads also diffrent weight types and size if you fish live bait. Over years i have fished certain areas of the north part of sabine lake and have seen just the thing you talk about. (Flounder Jumping Out Of The Water!) After many failed trips on trying to catch these fish i finaly found a sure way to make them bite. There are two ways this can be done, one is on bottom and the other is near bottom with the help of a popping cork. You will need a good quality 1/16 or 1/8 ounce jig head. I highly recomend the Gamakatsu crapie heads. For the size of the hook on these heads it"s really tough. Next you will need crapie size grubs. There are three colors i have found best white,pumkin seed and salt and pepper. Rig the bait normal if fishing on the bottom like most all anglers do. If fishing it on a popping cork. You need to figure the depth where you see the fish jumping out of the water. Then tie your leader to the cork trying to keep the bait 2 or three inches of bottom. Both of these methods have really put some fish in the boat for me. Sometime one method will out do the other. The down size in the bait seems to trigger the bite. (WHY!) not so sure but it works. Important though set the hook soon as you feel the bite do not wait a few sec. the fish will swallow the bait because of its size. If you set the hook soon as the bite is felt the fish will be easy to unhook and release unharmed if under size. Hope this helps you and others more when seeking flounder with lures.
Your Buddy,
Frank
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I am a angler who does most of his fishing from the river to Stewts island. I have just stumbled across your web page. I have heard many people on the river and lake talk about your friend Frank. People say he is a angler who knows when and where to fish for a variety of fish. I find what he explains in his comment very helpful and was wondering if he had any sugestions on river flounder. I fish every sat. if possible and just cant seem to locate any fish in a area that is not full of people . Is there any possible way that he could point me in the right direction? I am not expecting the man to give up seceret or personal fishing spots just would like to know his thoughts. And also i fish for fun not the fillets, but which is fine by me to each his own. I am retired and have had my hay day on cleaning fish so now i fish just to relax.
Thanks Very Much,
Paul Benson
P.S. Your ideas and thoughts on the web page here are just what we needed to help save and restablish such a fine fish. May you be blessed and lots of luck Mr. Moore
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Wow! Thanks for the compliment first off and to help you find fish in the river. There is one sure thing that always works for me. Locate bait, and not just a certain type of bait. Try to fish bends in the shore line and locate bait there. Not for say 6 inch mullet. Look for bite sized baits such as shad,finger mullet and what i refer to as glass minnows. If you find a stretch of bank hosting these bait fish in numbers. There is great chance there is flounder around. Also a good helpful tip on knowing if bait is present in these spots is shore birds. If you see multiple cranes on a stretch of shore line. There is some type of bait in that area. The key to finding these fish is to first fish deep then work your way towards shore.Most of your early morning fish however will be feet off the shore line. As mid morning comes these fish move out to drop offs. Its important to fish hard at new spots and learn the water depths. Some spots will have two drop offs. And most of the time for me the fish I catch on these drop offs are large. The fish as day passes move deeper. Also keep thought that flounder sometimes are picky. Some days plastics are great with a small peice of shrimp added. Other days it takes live bait that you see around the spot your fishing to coax a bite. Keep in mind that everyday will be a adventure when attempting to catch flounder.
Thanks Again And Good Luck!!!!
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Thank you so much for your kind words Paul. River flounder are pretty unique to target and Frank is about as good as they get on fishing fish in the Sabine River.
One thing you will want to focus on with your river fishing (if you're looking for non-pressured areas) is riprap (rocks used to block shoreline erosion) and also stands of roseau cane. On high tides using a very light float and fishing live shad can yield to some nice fish in the rivers. Also look for secondary points, which are essentially the underwater section of a point that extends past the visible one. These can be staging areas for river fish from deep to shallow water.
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