A survey of several flounder pros, those anglers who have fished for flounder for years, indicates that this year’s flounder run is getting off to a slower start than in recent years.
Normally, by mid-November, the annual migration is peaking with lots of large female flatfish stacking up around the migrations hot spots.
This year, there are lots of flounder being caught around those locations; however, the size still is reflective of largely males, the first of the crop to head to the Gulf.
The hot spots typically are areas all along the Galveston Ship Channel from the Pelican Island Bridge to the end of Sea wolf Park.
Paul Shaffer of Bayou Vista gave a comparison to last year in his report. In November 2012, Shaffer fished every night around the Texas A&M University at Galveston campus and limited out each night resulting in a catch of 60 fish that month. This year, Shaffer has found the action slower and, as luck has it, purchased a new freezer to hold his flounder with not nearly the number of fish he had last year at this time.
After work Thursday night, he fished for about 15 minutes and caught a 21-inch flounder using Gulps and jigs for bait.
Lori, who prefers going by her nickname, The Saltwater Hooker, has had similar results and, like Shaffer, feels that we are having a late start to winter. In fact, she thinks we will be catching limits of the flatfish until Christmas.
Thursday, she took Neil McLaren of Bayou Vista to the Galveston Ship Channel where they caught 18 flounder to more than 23 inches. Their four-fish limit consisted of fish less than 20 inches with the big girls all being released.
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