Friday, August 1, 2014

July 31- Remembering Big Flounders and Catching Small Flounders

Perfect example of Summer Flounder Pattern of 5 Ocelli

Another little Summer Flounder that hammered my Jig

These Flounder were all caught in less than 2 foot of water under the lights

Add them all together and we'd have a keeper!

I grew up catching Baby Blues off the Beaufort RR Tressle

Good ole "Black Willis"... Some of the best eating in the Ocean


Today will make 3 days in a row of eating grilled Mullets.... Just change the BBQ sauce and it'll never get old!
Last night we finally had a regular night.... It was close, but we DIDN'T have to make an extra trip.... So Capt Marty the Chief Engineer became "The Fishing Nut"..... Yesterday, just typing my report and recapping 14 years of Flounders and Sheepsheads had me excited..... So when I shut the Ferry down, I went to work..... Making Fishing Memories! Adding to the Legend! Only there was one problem..... The Flounders were all Summer Flounders and they were all too small..... I like my Flounders, but I like them to be Southern Flounders... I think in my life that I've only caught 2 or 3 Citation Summer Flounders.... Honestly, in my experience, a 20" Summer Flounder is a nice one.... And yes, I know that technically they get larger than the Southern Flounders, but nearly all of the big boys come from up north or offshore in the dead of winter.... Anyway, the Flounders were biting plastic jigs and they weren't messing around. Likewise, baby Bluefish were too. Along with the ever present Black Sea Bass and Oyster Toadfish.... A whole lot of action in 60 minutes of fishing, with nothing to show (who cares) Then I tossed my cast net and bombarded the Popeyed Mullets... Ha Ha, I haven't heard that name in a while. My Grandaddy, Roy Moore, Sr used to call them that... Grandaddy fished for Flounder everyday of his life that he was able back in the 1980s at The Morehead Ocean Pier.... I couldn't understand how he could forego all other species and be so attached to Flounders??? Well then in 2004, I had a REVELATION.... I fished for Flounder everyday from June until December. There were over 600 Flounders caught on the Top Water Boat that year. Over 200 Flounders were 20"and over, and that's a 3 lb Flounder. Many, many of then were between 6 lbs and 7 lbs.... JUMBO FLOUNDERS!  I knew then what Grandaddy knew then.... Flounders were great gamefish, great eating, and a very challenging Inshore Apex Predator.....  By the way, of those 200+ Flounders that were 20" or larger, 1 was a Gulf Flounder and 2 were Summer Flounder. All the rest were Southern Flounders.... I digress, again... Total Catch for the Day: 9 Summer Flounder 8" to 10", 14 Bluefish, 4 Oyster Toadfish up to 3 lbs, and 1 Black Sea Bass

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