# Summer Flounder patterns emerging



## Redfish Rick (Aug 27, 2004)

The last few nights on the bay have continued to be great for gigging, as long as you can locate clear water and bait. The water clarity has really suffered here in Rockport over the last week. Much lower tides drawing runoff out of the creeks and back marshes has caused to lots of off-colored water along the outside beach. This has led the flounder to seek more favorable areas inside the back lakes, and near drains flowing with clear water. The amount of shrimp in the water right now is downright incredible. In 12 years of guiding here, I have never seen the water look so healthy. The shorelines are absolutely churning with shrimp, croaker, pin perch, crab, and small mullet; Sometimes so many shrimp that you cant see the bottom through them. The flounder are very active right now, moving following the clear water and shrimp with the changing tide. If you locate yourself in the right spot during the falling tide, flounder are everywhere. Miss it by just a few minutes, and your left with nothing but empty "beds".
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6/5/2015*
I had the Brett group of 4 onboard tonight. Conditions were nice, with 5-10mph SE wind and normal tide levels. The water was terribly dirty early in the trip, but cleared up considerably as the tide fell and water cooled off. Our first stop produced only 4 flounder sitting in shallow pockets over hard sand bottom. Once we moved into the back lakes, we got down to business. The water here was still murky, but holding decent clarity right along the bank. We gigged our remaining 16 flounder here fairly quick, with mostly smaller fish in the 14-17" range. We ended with a 20 flounder limit plus 1 sheepshead by midnight.

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)

*Fast action early tonight*

*6/7/2015*
​ I had the Ralph C. group of 5 onboard tonight. Conditions were fair, with SE wind at 10-15mph and normal tide level. We got on the fish quick tonight over hard sand and shell bottom. Most of the fish were hanging on sand/grass transitions and on the shallow side of sandbars. The girls got tired early, and we ended with 19 flounder and 1 black drum by 11pm. The fish tonight were good sized, with all of them in the 16-18" range.


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## Redfish Rick (Aug 27, 2004)

*Tough start tonight on the slack tide*

*6/8/2015*
I had the Tony D. group of 4 onboard tonight. Conditions were fair, with South wind at 5-10mph and slightly low tide. The tide was dead slack for most of the trip tonight, creating dirty water conditions and very scattered fish. Once the tide started flowing out around 11:30pm, the water cleared up and the flounder moved in. Things started very slow tonight, with plenty of dirty water and no flounder holding shallow. We gigged our first fish at 10:30pm, and things steadily got better from then on. Most of the fish were sitting deeper near drop-offs and sandbars away from shore. We ended with a 20 flounder limit plus 3 sheepshead by 1:15am.

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)

*Muddy water flounder*

*6/9/2015*
I had the Rich W. group of 2 onboard tonight. Conditions were fair, with 10mph South wind and slightly low slack tide. Water conditions tonight were at the worst I have seen in many years, with muddy water on every stop we made. I finally found some barely workable water far back in creeks leading to the back lakes. The fish were buried deep in the mud bottom, and very hard to spot. We ended with a 10 flounder limit plus 1 sheepshead by midnight.


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## Redfish Rick (Aug 27, 2004)

*more fish in muddy waters*

*6/10/2015*
I had the Dana S. group of 2 from Oklahoma onboard tonight. Conditions were poor, with South wind at 10-20mph and low tide. Water conditions were again horrible, with muddy water everywhere except for a few isolated pockets of marginally clear water. We worked the outside beach tonight, keying on sandbars and oyster shell pads. We ended with a 10 flounder limit, 1 sheepshead, and 1 black drum by midnight.

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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