# The Spring Flounder run is on!!



## Redfish Rick (Aug 27, 2004)

Night Stalker Guide Service - Rockport, Texas

We have had a wild swing of weather over the last week, going from almost freezing temps, to highs in the 80's here in Rockport. The water temps were hovering in the upper 40's this time last week, and now I'm seeing water temps approaching 70 degrees on the flats at night. All this nice weather over last week has triggered the start of the spring flounder run, which usually kicks off during the first prolonged warm-up of spring.

Along with the water warming, the tide has slowly risen to cover more shallow flats and structure where the flounder like to ambush their prey. The sand-eels and small baitfish have also hatched in the last 2 weeks, and the water on the flats at night is covered with baitfish. In recent nights, we have seen large schools of trout, redfish, flounder, and black drum absolutely gorging themselves at the baitfish buffet. After the harsh winter we had, the flats are starting to come to life again. Emergent seagrass is popping up everywhere (in a matter of days barren sandflats are now filled with short grass), giving a place for all the small baitfish to hide and grow.

Gigging has really picked up over the last week, and the abundance of flounder in the areas I gig has increased dramatically in just a few days with the warming weather. The fish are still spread out over large areas, requiring us to cover a lot of ground at a faster pace, but there are more fish showing up every night. I started the week gigging one flounder approx. every 20 minutes, now it is down to one flounder every 5 minutes in some of the better areas. The average size has also increased, as mature fish start to return from the gulf. Many fish in the 17-19 inch class are showing up along with a couple in the 20-22 inch range over the last few nights.

Flounder gigging reports from the last week:

2/13/2014: Post cold front conditions with NE wind at 10, air and water temp in the upper 40's, and severe low tide. Water was VERY clear, with visibility over 5 feet deep. We worked hard for 4 hours with only 6 average sized flounder to show for our efforts. Since the flounder weren't cooperating, we shifted focus to black drum and sheepshead. Working oyster reefs and deep shell pads, we managed to gig 8 nice drum and 9 sheepshead in two hours.

2/14/2014: Dead calm winds with air temps in the 60's, water still cold in lower 50's. I had 2 customers that came to bow-fish, and were looking for some upper-slot drum and big sheepshead. With the glassy water and minimal current, we were able to gig and bowfish the open bay reefs. We ended the night with full limits of sheepshead and drum, and 4 flounder.

2/15/2014: Light East winds, cool with temps in the low 60's, water temps in upper 50's. I had 6 people on the boat (Mom, Dad, and four 14 year old girls). This was a special birthday trip for one of the girls, and they really did well gigging the flounder. We only gigged for 2 hours, and ended up with 10 flounder. The girls got cold real fast, so we headed in before it got even colder

2/16/2014: Winds south at 15, warm with temps in the upper 60's, water temps in lower 60's. Had 5 people on the boat tonight. With the nagging low tide, getting shallow where the flounder hide was a big challenge. We worked hard until 1am, and ended with 16 flounder, 1 drum, and 1 sheepshead.

2/17/2014: Winds east at 5-10, air temps around 70, water temps in upper 60's. Had 3 guys book last minute, and we found the bigger flounder showing up on area flats in large numbers. We easily gigged our 15 flounder limit in 2 hours, then went looking for sheepshead and drum. Ended up with 9 sheepshead, 1 drum, and 15 flounder, in 3 hours of gigging.

2/18/2014: Winds South at 5-10, warm air and water temps near 70. Took us 3 hours to gig a 15 flounder limit. Fish were set up on outer sandbars away from the shore, chasing and gorging on sand-eels. Biggest fish was 22", with most of the others around 17".

2/20/2014: Winds light NE and very warm, with cold front approaching after midnight. Just had 2 guys tonight, so we were very selective, only gigging fish that were 17"+. It took us 3 hours to gig our 10 fish, but they were all nice fat flounder. The cold front pushed through early around 10:30pm, and we headed quickly for the cleaning tables.

Enjoy the pictures below from the last few nights (a couple from last year spring break)

Remember to take a kid gigging, they will never forget the experience.
Spring Break is right around the corner

Capt. Rick Hammond
Night Stalker Guide Service - Rockport, Texas
361-727-0045
www.nightstalkerguideservice.com

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## Redfish Rick (Aug 27, 2004)

*Couple more pics*

more pics...


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## Redfish Rick (Aug 27, 2004)

*2/21/2014 - More red hot gigging*

2/21/2014
No trip booked tonight, so I took my next-door neighbor Paul out for a quick scouting trip to an area I haven't tried in a long time. We gigged our limit of 10 nice flounder in only 45 minutes. The two biggest fish were over 20". Also, check out some of the short videos from tonight below. The gigging is on fire right now!!!

Video#1





Video#2





Video#3





Pics from last night are below

Capt. Rick Hammond
Night Stalker Guide Service - Rockport, Texas
361-727-0045
www.nightstalkerguideservice.com

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## Redfish Rick (Aug 27, 2004)

*Flounder gigging still HOT... In the cold weather*

Yesterdays cold temps and rain changed the scene for flounder tonight. The last front on Wednesday morning cooled the water back down into the upper 50's and we lost about 8" of water. In these situations, I look for areas of oyster shell very close to deeper water. The oyster shell gives juvenile baitfish some cover to hide in this time of year, when most of the seagrass has yet to grow back. The flounder were situated along the edge of the shell banks, were they transition into deeper sand and mud flats. The average size was only 15-16", but this is typical right after a cold snap this time of year. I look for the larger flounder to return to the flats as the water warms up going into the weekend.

I had returning customers, Bob and Doug with me tonight and they made short work of their 10 flounder limit, getting them in under 2 hours.

Capt. Rick Hammond
Night Stalker Guide Service - Rockport, Texas
361-727-0045
www.nightstalkerguideservice.com

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