Finally, the cooler weather is upon us. It may not be freezing just yet, but it is definitely on its way soon.
One of my mentors gave a great bit of advice to me this week. When the geese are flying over in a “v” the flounder run is sure to be. Please remember that it is no gig November for us here in Texas, this means that the limit of flounder goes from five to two per person November 1-30th and may only be taken by rod and reel. So, no gigging until December 1st – 14th and you can only still take two flounder but by any legal means including gigging, then on December 15th the normal limit of 5 flounder reinstates.
The possession limit is equal to the daily bag limit meaning no more than 5 flounder on you period. Last week I took the boat out for a scouting trip to see if the fish were running just yet and if so, how far into it are they. From what I can see the flounder are hanging out in super deep channels, I would say up to 75 feet deep. For them to release their eggs they must be in at least 60 feet of water so that the pressure can help them do the job. On some of the main channels they are starting to stack up on the edges during an incoming tide looking for an easy meal. I saw five and six fish in the same ten feet sections almost touching each other they were so close.
A beautiful place to try right now would be in the ship channels and jetty rock areas. If there is some depth where you are fishing there should be some flounder hanging out somewhere. Spro bucktails will work well when tipped with fish belly strips and jigged up and down on the bottom properly. Tandem rigs with a heavy jig head in front will give you the greatest action. I like to tip the jigs with chickenboy lures bubba clucker, this might sound the same each time, but I am only giving you the truth of what works best for me. My favorite colors in dirty water would be perfecto pink, lemon pepper and la cucaracha. In clearer water I would suggest lighter colors like Johnny goldfish and silver tongue devil.
If you are not sure what I mean when I say tandem rigs I have a tutorial on my you tube channel “Flounder Professor Outdoors”. This will give you a more descriptive way of tying up the setup and what the lures look like. Sometimes I have been putting a 3/4 ounce bucktail tipped with a chickenboy and a secondary jig head with the lure about ten inches below that. If you want to use live bait I would throw on a live mullet and a fish finder rig or they also call it a Carolina rig. Good luck in your adventures and until next month, tight lines and sharp gigs. Thank you to all my sponsors: Penn, Stinkypants fishing, fin addict angler, Spiderwire, Salt Thugz Apparel Co, Chickenboy lures, outcast rods, Kelley wigglers, Redtail Republic, Abu Garcia, Hookspit, Homerecker Lures, Legend Popping Corks and Nacho daddy Spoons.
Brian Joseph Spencer
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