# Flounder moving to soft mud bottom



## Redfish Rick (Aug 27, 2004)

During the last 2 weeks the flounder have been holding strong over hard sand and grass bottom. Three nights ago, things started to change, with thinning schools over hard sand areas and more fish moving towards mud bottom. Tonight proved to be challenging with high winds and dirty water, but the flounder seemed to have made the full transition to shallow mud bottom areas. The back lakes were prime areas tonight, and shorelines with "gumbo mud bottom" are where the flounder wanted to be. The flounder have been following the baitfish, and with slow incoming tides at night, most of the bait has moved from the outside beach areas and into the creeks and back lakes. This pattern looks like it will continue for the next 2 days, before the tides change and bring back a strong outgoing tide at night. Once the tide starts flowing out hard at night, I look for the flounder to return to outside sandbars and the water should clear up some.

*7/20/2015*
I had the David G. group of 2 onboard tonight. Conditions were fair, with South wind at 10-15mph and very low tide. We had lots of dirty water to deal with early tonight. It slowly cleared up enough to see the fish around 10pm, and we made good use of the clear water. We found the fish sitting in very shallow water near the bank over soft mud bottom. We ended with a 10 flounder limit by 11:15pm.

*7/21/2015*
I had the David H. group of 4 onboard tonight, including 2 relatives that made the trip from Australia to go flounder gigging. Conditions were poor, with 15-20mph South winds and low tide. Again tonight, the water was very dirty everywhere we went, and it didn't clear up as the night went on. With the dirty water plaguing the outside beaches and sandbars, we focused our efforts in the far reaches of back lakes and drains where the tide was slowly moving in. The flounder were tightly bunched around shallow mud flats in 1-4" of water. We worked hard getting to the fish, running the boat aground constantly trying to reach the fish in the shallow mud. We ended with a 20 flounder limit plus 2 sheepshead by 12:15am.

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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)

*Solid fish tonight with less wind*

*7/23/2015*
I had the Jason G. group of four on the boat tonight. Conditions were good, with South wind at 15mph dropping to 5 mph by 11pm, and low tide. The fish tonight were holding tight to the shore over mud bottom around creek drains and shallow pockets. We got off to a quick start, gigging 10 flounder and 2 drum in the first hour. After moving to another area, things got slow, only gigging 5 more flounder and 1 drum in the next 2 hours. We moved again, and found a pile of tightly bunched flounder on our last stop. We gigged our last 5 flounder in less than 5 minutes, ending with a 20 flounder limit plus 3 black drum by 12:15am. The fish tonight were very good size, with almost all of them in the 17-19" range, and drum in the 22-25" range.


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## Redfish Rick (Aug 27, 2004)

*Good night with light winds*

*7/24/2015*
I had the Collins H. group of 4 onboard tonight. Conditions were good, with SE wind at 5-15mph and very low tide. We got off to a quick start again tonight, with 10 flounder and 1 drum in the first hour. After a couple moves, we got things dialed in on some open-water areas that I am rarely able to work. We gigged our last 10 flounder here in about 20 minutes, with plenty more left for tomorrow night, if the winds stay light... We ended with a 20 flounder limit, 1 sheepshead, and 1 black drum by 11:15pm.

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)

*Bad SW wind tonight made the fish hard to find*

*7/25/2015*
I had the John T. group of 5 onboard tonight. Conditions were marginal, with SSW wind at 15mph and very low tide. The stronger SW wind tonight had most of the good areas in the bay gutted with dirty water and swells crashing on the bank. We made the best of a bad situation by working small protected coves and back lake areas. We gigged 10 flounder, 2 drum, and 2 sheepshead in the first hour in some very dirty water. After a couple more moves, we found a good concentration of fish holding in the back lakes over soft mud bottom. We ended with 23 flounder, 2 drum, and 2 sheepshead by 12:30am. The customers were tired and wanted to head in early, only 2 fish short of a limit.


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