Thread: Flounder run cancelled

Flounder Run Cancelled? Warm Weather to Blame?

Any observations from our area?

I was down there for the last couple of weekends in October out in fort morgan and thought the flounder fishing to be pretty decent. Some days were better than others. But overall better than average.

The Fall flounder run is a big event over in TX, they even drop the limit from 5 to 2 and no gigging from Nov 1-30.


Flounder
All species, their hybrids and subspecies

Daily Bag:5/2 (see below)Length in Inches (Minimum - Maximum)14" - No limitDaily bag is 5 fish except from Nov. 1-30, when the daily bag limit is 2 fish and flounder may be taken only by pole-and-line; and from December 1-14, when the daily bag limit is 2 fish and flounder may be taken by any legal means, including gigging. Possession limit is equal to the daily bag.

I was able to get my limit most days the weeks around the equinox(22nd September) in the surf east of the pass in Orange Beach and leave them biting most mornings.

All depended on water conditions, wind, tide. In October i did OK in the Pascagula area but the fish were still way up the rivers (nearer Hwy 10) as no rain and no colder fresh water were driving them out. They are moving out now this past week or so around Bay St Louis to Pascagula.

Until two weeks ago you could easily catch them in the Mississippi river just south of downtown NOLA. lower fresh water runoff and higher temps will do that.

Five weeks at Four Seasons pier until mid Nov. best day was nine with range in size from 13 to 16. Most days two or three keepers and some throw backs. Poor when compared with recent years.

... any thoughts about the remarks regarding flounder from Chris Blankenship in David Rainer's Conservation newsletter?

Another species of seafood that has caused concern among coastal anglers has been flounder. The harvest numbers for the tasty flatfish have been low in recent years, but it appears the flounder population is trying to rebound.

The annual fall flounder migration to the Gulf of Mexico should be in full swing right now with the recent full moon and the cold front. Jay Gunn and I went out recently and put 10 keepers in the boat and threw back that many that were just below the minimum of 12 inches, an encouraging sign that last year’s spawn was at least decent.

Marine Resources is also working on ways to supplement the natural production of flounder through work at the Claude Peteet Mariculture Center.

“We’re trying to get enough brood stock to start spawning flounder at the hatchery,” Blankenship said. “We have a lot of females. Males only get to about 12 inches, so we’ve had a hard time collecting enough of them to start a spawning program.

“That’s one of our goals for 2017 is to get brood stock for the hatchery and start producing flounder.”

Blankenship said Auburn University has applied for a grant from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) to study the environmental conditions that affect flounder. MRD would be a partner on the flounder project.

“If Auburn gets the RESTORE grant, the project would look at water temperature and how it affects the small flounder as they’re growing,” he said. “Water temperature makes a difference in what sex they become as they develop.”

The study would evaluate estuarine conditions such as water temperature and salinity and how those factors affect sex-specific growth rates and sex determination. The study would include developing population models and how fishing regulations affect the management decisions. Freshwater river discharges and salinity in certain areas would also be studied. Some of the research would be done at the hatchery.

“If the project is funded, we’re going to do some work with Auburn University in the controlled hatchery environment to see what’s causing the problems with flounder,” Blankenship said.

Anecdotally, Blankenship said the reports from anglers who are catching flounder seem to indicate the worst is over for now.

“Flounder fishing is better, maybe not to what it was in the past,” he said, “but it’s much better than it has been the last several years.”

Little lagoon pass has had a strong run for about 2 months now. Maybe drug out because of the goofy weather but I've seen personally around 50 flounder caught at pass in the past month or so. My neighbor caught 5 Sunday.