# Flounder on oyster shell bottom?



## Redfish Rick (Aug 27, 2004)

Do flounder like to sit on oyster shell bottom and reefs? Absolutely!!

One of the most common misconceptions about flounder is that they don't like to sit on sharp/hard oyster bottom. For some reason, many people will avoid oyster reefs and hard shell bottom when flounder fishing or gigging. The simple fact is that flounder LOVE to hang out on oyster bottom, and this can lead to some rewarding fishing and gigging opportunities. Oyster reefs consistently hold baitfish, and flounder just like any other fish, will take advantage of abundant bait and ambush locations. As baitfish concentrations on the flats dwindle during the late summer and early fall, many flounder will move to oyster reefs to find a steady food source. The same thing applies in the early spring, when bait is limited on the barren flats. On my gigging trips tonight, oyster shell was the key to finding flounder, including all of the larger fish we gigged.

*9/19/2014 - Double Trip*
For the early trip tonight I had Greg B. and his 14 year old daughter onboard. Conditions were fair, with 10-15mph East wind and high tide. We got on the fish on our first stop, finding them holing close to the shore over oyster shell bottom. The flounder in this area were keying on concentrations of pin perch and croaker hiding amongst the shell reefs, and anywhere there was abundant bait seemed to have a flounder hanging nearby. We gigged our 10 flounder limit, plus 2 sheepshead by 10:30pm.

For the second trip, I met the West M. group of two at 11:30pm. We headed out to find improving conditions, with winds from the East at 5mph. On our first stop, we found beautiful clear water over mud/grass, but only 1 flounder after the first hour. We made a quick move to a shoreline with hard sand and oyster shell bottom. In this area, it took a little while to figure out where the fish wanted to be, finally finding them holding in dirty water on top of oyster shell reefs. We gigged our 10 flounder limit by 2:45am, just as the the sky opened up with heavy rain. Good thing we got our limit when we did, as rain showers and thunderstorms were popping up all around us.

We had a bunch of big flounder tonight, with the majority of the fish in the 18-21" range.

Capt. Rick Hammond
Night Stalker Guide Service - Rockport, Texas
Flounder Gigging - Bay Fishing - Duck Hunting
361-727-0045
www.nightstalkerguideservice.com

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## Redfish Rick (Aug 27, 2004)

*Big flounder on windy night*

*9/20/2014*
I had longtime customer Skip M. group of 2 on the boat tonight. Conditions were poor, with 15-20mph ENE wind and very high tide. The biggest challenge tonight was finding clear water. With the tides way up from previous nights and a nasty ENE wind, clear water was hard to come by. We covered a ton of ground, only seeing the bottom in a few areas. Again tonight, the most of the fish we gigged were holding on or around oyster reefs. We ended with a 10 flounder limit plus 1 black drum by 1am. The biggest flounder tonight was 23", a good sign of things to come this fall.

Capt. Rick Hammond
Night Stalker Guide Service - Rockport, Texas
Flounder Gigging - Bay Fishing - Duck Hunting
361-727-0045
www.nightstalkerguideservice.com

Follow us on Facebook


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