Four Seasons Pier Report Oct 4 thru 11th

Had a good week but not overly exciting and that is why I never called Haywire or Pier# to come down because I figured they were doing better on the State Pier. I saw only one King all week and he was broken off after a short hook up. I caught lots of flounder but many were small throw backs. I was cleaning flounder one night and saw a pair of cobia swim by and threw a Gulp Shrimp in front of them and the largest one nailed it (this was on my flounder rod so I had to take it pretty easy with him). Twenty minutes later he was on the deck(34 inches). Had some Spanish activity but only one afternoon was it significant. Caught some nice size blue fish. One day had a school of large spade fish hang around and got 10 nice ones (up to 2 1/2 pounds) before a school of big Jacks scared them away. Very few reds caught this week. Had one afternoon when the Whiting moved in and I got a nice ice chest full for the freezer. Overall a very enjoyable week.

thanks for the report. great job decking a legal ling with your flounder rod. how many keeper flounder would you say you got for the week?

Probably around 40 for the week. The end of the week the size seemed to be improving and I had six keepers in about 3 hours on Thursday night and only three throwbacks. One day early in the trip I caught 20 or more and only kept five of them. It is always good to see small ones around because of the promise for the future. With the cobia I was fortunate that he made his long runs away from the pier and I was able to tire him out before he got up near the pilings. He only attempted one run under the pier and that was near the end when he was already pretty well whipped and I was able to turn him back out.

Great report "oldfisherman", VERY thorough.
Well done (heads up) on the ling! :headbang:
I guess the water was pretty clear there last week too.

I wonder if many of the 'undersized' flounder are actually male Gulf flounder? :-\
http://www.seagrantfish.lsu.edu/reso...s/flounder.htm

Quote:

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Most research indicates that male flounders stay in offshore waters year-round. Male flounders are small, seldom growing larger than 10 to 12 inches, but the females grow larger and move longer distances.

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Thanks Pier# for the reference to the flounder information. Based upon that document I would tend to believe that the overall majority of flounders that I caught were males. If I recall properly I cleanded only a couple that had roe in them so even the ones that were legal and kept were mostly quite small. The biggest I caught last week was only about 15 inches. I did see another person bring a real doormat to the surface before losing it (maybe 22 to 24 " size). In past years a litttle later on (mid to late November) I have caught mostly large female flounders as they were migrating out of Little Lagoon or past the Ft Morgan Pier. My average size then was 18 to 22" with an occasional one even larger. I enjoy learning about the different species and found the referenced article very informative. Thanks again.............

I'm glad you had success! It was kind of hit or miss for me at the big pier.

congrats on the ling! quite a catch on a flounder rod.

[font=comic sans ms][size=12pt]Glad you had a good trip. Thanks for taking time to share your experience with us. :headbang:

that is where we stayed in july and have reservations for the upcoming june. we didn't fish much off the pier though.