The fall flounder run has begun with lots of reports of nice fish being caught from Lake Calcasieu to the Middle Texas Coast. The big push of fish out of the bay systems has not started yet but the fish are starting to trickle out with most fish staging on the main shorelines of bay systems and around passes. Most flounder anglers live for this time of year and for good reason.

In case you missed our last update, the Sabine Lake Flounder Roundup was a huge success with 52 live fish brought in. Those fish are now at Sea Center Texas and are now official broodstock for the Sabine region. Click here here to read more and see photos from the event.

Mykal Dougan caught the biggest fish of the day, an 18 1/2-incher that earned her a fiberglass replica of the catch from The Fish Mount Store.

The 2009 Flounder Revolution (R) Angler of the Year Chris Dial sent in some photos of an incredible looking flounder he caught recently.

"I went out today and caught a beautiful 19 3/4" flounder that was showered in gold. I wish it would have been the one big enough to win the replica this month. I took two pictures of her and then my camera died before I could get a picture of me holding her. I got her back into the water and made sure she had the strength to swim on her own and let her go. That fish is the most beautiful flounder I have ever caught."

Speaking of Dial, he just sent in a Flounder Revolution (R) online tournament replica fish, a 20 5/8-incher he caught, photographed and released. That bumps Dial up to second place in our angler of the year race, just ahead of Justin Hawkins and behind first place angler Jantzen Miller who submitted three fish so far this month.

The anglers who have received (and seen) the flounder replicas produced by The Fish Mount Store have been blown away. Those who attended Flatfish University (TM) saw the huge flounder mount that hung on the wall behind the speakers. This fish is a replica of a 13-pound, 11-ounce fish that was housed at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas. This is the fish that I was holding in the March 2009 edition 2010 edition of Texas Fish & Game. She has passed on to flounder heaven now but is preserved forever in fiberglass. If you want to get a replica done of your flounder or a variety of other fish check out The Fish Mount Store. One of our regular posters reported getting a speckled trout done by them and was extremely happy. They are making a big difference by doing these mounts so make sure and consider them for your work. Click here to check them out.

Out of all of the thousands of flounder I have caught over the years, I have never had one follow my lure up from the bottom in deep water and take it at the surface. Saturday while fishing the Sabine Flounder Roundup, I felt a light bump on my line so I let it sit for a second, then the pressure was gone. I set the hook anyway and there was nothing there. I reeled it in to see if the shrimp tip I had on the lure was gone and was shocked to watch a flounder following it to the surface. The area I was fishing Saturday was super clear (at least by Sabine standards) and I could see the fish down at about six feet, slowly following the lure up. I was curious what it would do so I kept reeling and the flounder following it up to about an inch below the surface and took it in its mouth. I let the fish take the lure back down, set the hook and now it is a resident at Sea Center Texas. I love it when these fish do something interesting and this interaction certainly got my attention.

Have a great week and remember if the fish is 20 inches or better, catch, photo and release!

Chester Moore