Never done any flounder gigging. Can anyone tell me the best months to do it? I am assuming winter time, clearer water is helpful. Do you generally try to gig on sandy bottom?
The warmer months offer a more pleasurable experience in my opinion. There are more fish and they replenish more quickly. There are flounder around all year. The bigger ones migrate offshore during the winter to breed (or at least some / most of them do). So this time of year you are going be passing up more undersized fish.
As for the best bottom, like most things in life, it depends. The fish are easier to see on a sandy bottom. However, they live in all sorts of areas. During the winter when the water is clear you can gig areas that have a muddy bottom. You only get one pass before you ‘muck it up’ in most cases so go slow, but the fish are there. During the summer, don’t waste your time on a muddy bottom. Just to much to try and see through (again, that is my opinion). Stick to areas that have more shell / sand. Finding clear (or clearer to be more accurate) water in the summer is the key. Our water has tons of plankton and mud. It makes a great habitat for the fish, but combined with boats stirring things up all day, can make visibility tough at times in certain places.
Most of all, just enjoy your time on the water. I love anytime I am out there, but there is something special about night on the water to me.
Good luck!
I will disagree with floundergig slightly in one area. Depending on your light set-up, flounder are only easy to see in the sand as they are coming into the light or gpoing out of the light. When a flounder on the sand is directly beneath the light, they are very difficult to see. To be very good at flounder gigging requires the right boat setup, tides (ie…when this tide, or when that tide as it relates to location), know how, and sharp eyes–if you want to catch a bunch that is:smiley:. Otherwise, anyone can take a light and a gig out and stumble across a flounder or two. Flounder gigging is like all the rest of fishing 10% of the flounder giggers catch 90% of the fish while the majority are only amateurs…sometimes only amateurs for life.
%20Bass,%20(5)%20Speepshead,%2036%20Flounder.JPG)
2012 Skeeter ZX22 Bay
Yamaha 250 hp SHO
Minnkota Riptide 101
That’s a nice haul Skeeter! I have only been out flounder gigging once and it was in July at Edisto near he Marina. We didn’t end up seeing anything! A friend of mine is putting a motor on a nice size flat bottom boat soon so I’m hoping he and I can start to learn the ropes around Charleston this summer!
quote:
Originally posted by Skeeter22 [brI will go out on a limb and say the new flounder restrictions are primarily declining (very questionable study that was condcuted in the first place) due to the commercial fisherman’s bycatch. BUT, we take it in the shorts too. At the rate we are going, I fell like (notice I wrote “I feel like”) the commercial fisherman is slowly driving the recreational fisherman to either quite or catch and release only.
2012 Skeeter ZX22 Bay
Yamaha 250 hp SHO
Minnkota Riptide 101
Not only are you out on a limb, but you are speaking bull****! Blame the commercial fisherman…great move! So tell me, how many PERMITTED commercial fisherman target flounder, and how many pounds did they get last year? There is NO commercial pound nets in SC, only NC! Shrimp boats do get some as bycatch, but the number of commercial flounder fisherman is very small…I am one! Even though I commercially harvest flounder (by gigg) I still buy 99% from wholesalers in NC, and I sell about 200#'s per week. Stop blaming the commercial guy where it is not warranted
.
Oyster Baron
NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
Keeping me safe from who ??? Save it for those that have not served
.
Oyster Baron
NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
quote:
Originally posted by Skeeter22Whatever Sellsfish. Your opinion is the only one the matters anway. Apparently, others on this forum can’t write things that are not inline with your views, and if they do…standby to get attacked by Sellsfish. My bad…I forgot…I’m on Charlestonfishing.com where only the views of certain peole matter or are worthy of psoting on the site. Good luck to you Sellsfish. Hope you catch a bunch.
2012 Skeeter ZX22 Bay
Yamaha 250 hp SHO
Minnkota Riptide 101
Dude, you came out and said stuff that wasn’t true about how Sellsfish puts food on the table for his family.
He corrected you.
Is not that you can’t state you opinion, just be prepared to back it up with facts or else you should expect others with differing opinions to chime in.
Commercial fisherman often have a bad rep and they don’t always deserve it. Most follow the rules, but just like everything in life, there are a few bad apples that give the profession a bad name at times. That’s a hard hard living and I’m thankful I don’t have to do it to provide for my family, but I surely respect what those guys are out there doing everyday.
Redfish Baron Extraordinaire
Okay you win next time I’ll use the words bull poopy
I can sure tell that you’re not a grunt!
0351
.
Oyster Baron
NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
He didn’t win anything Sellsfish! He painted commercial waterman with a broad brush and when he didn’t get the response he wanted, he says it’s not a fair fight because you didn’t follow the rules. GRUNT’s know that there is no such thing as a fair fight. Must have been a REMF! How’s that for special characters! This site has a masking function that make transgressions acceptable. If he has a problem with it maybe he should add everyone that cuts through the BS to his ignore list!
Skeeter22 all I have to say is wow. In the whole 6 months you have been on this forum and your 75 posts you have figured it all out and know all about who you are talking to. Many members on this forum including myself have or are currently serving so don’t throw the military card out on this forum like that. Sellsfish like stated above corrected you and is more involved in protecting our fishery then you will ever be. He also offers more advice on this forum to help others catch fish than 95% of the members on here and that percentage is probably low. If you want to better understand what he is talking about stop by his store. You will first notice the marine corp stick in his front window cause he is a marine. After that you can walk in thank him for serving and share some war stories. Then he will spend the next hour or so helping you understand the problem with are law makers and what you can do to help. I really hope you can learn from this thread. This is a great forum, but if you continue to act like you are you will have a very hard time on this forum.
Chad
Cobia 256 Express
Pulled by a Dodge Ram 3500
Skeeter22, I own a food truck and it was pretty awesome being able to buy 200lbs of NC flounder last week from sysco. I am an avid offshore fisherman and diver here. There are alot of mouths to feed in this world. Without the commercial fisherman and knowledgeable fisherman and suppliers like Sellsfish, the masses would not be able to eat well. It is impossible for stocks of natural fish to not be depleted over time due to a huge increase in the human population. The regulations are complicated and there is not perfect solution that will please everyone. Sellsfish helps many people on this site and in person with everything in life. There are many people on this site who have given more time than you and I to making this site resourceful for all. Keep posting and showing ur flounder pics but make sure your facts are straight! There are a bunch of SAFMC meetings coming up so we should see you there!! Don’t voice your opinion on fisheries management on here if you don’t have the balls to do it in person in front of a committee and actually get your respectful opinion heard! SAFMC.net
Skeeter22, Like cobia256 said, don’t try playing the military card here! There are many of us on CF that served and are serving as we speak! At this time you may be on the pointy end of the stick and we thank you for being there. Having said that, any special intel you may have is transitory and can mean squat next week or next month. As for the Geopolitical lesson, there are also CF members that read, watch and delve into such things that affect the world and our country. Your service doesn’t give you a lock on that information! Just look at the Politics Forum, the list of subjects is endless. Maybe you, with your special insight should visit that forum and add something to the mix.
Well back to the top about giggin…I personally like a mud sandy mix. I find the flounder stick out more. Also the amount of light is a huge thing, and the more ground you can cover will greatly help you out. Yes you can gig all year long, but i have found once the water warms up it gets better. I have gone out in February and done really well before. Any questions feel free to pm me
Skeeter makes a good point about fish being harder to see directly under the light on a sandy bottom. I do try to keep looking with my ‘wide vision’ rather than trying to focus on specific spots. I find that friends that come along for the first or second time try to stare at specific spots. I find my peripheral vision is better at picking up fish. To say the same thing a different way - I often catch the fish better as the light hits them from a sharper angle as opposed to directly down. Flounder are very good a camouflage. I often laugh that they are so good they trust it right up until my gig hits 'em!
Nice haul in the pic’s Skeeter.
Thanks to everyone for their service to our country. You guys gave us the rights to all be idiots - on this board occasionally and on the water as well. Seriously - THANKS.
Yep Skeeter22 that’s a good nights catch and I thought I was doing good with 4 or 5. I’d like to go with you and see how its really done. Also a special thank you for you service in the military.
(DID YOU GET ANY PMs ABOUT POSTING A PICTURE?)
BOB
quote:
Originally posted by Skeeter22Oh…I have actually been on or around this forum for about 15 years.
</font id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”>You were the first CF member?
Redfish Baron Extraordinaire
Yeah’ don’t add up[:0]
I want to let the OP know that he is welcome to come by my store to discuss, lighting, location, gigs and time of year. I am sorry to have derailed your thread. You are welcome to make a run with me once the water hits 60 degrees.
.
Oyster Baron
NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
quote:Hmmmmm, I didn't have that problem.... I was away from this forum for about 5 years and came back to the same screen name and password I had used when I last logged in.....
Originally posted by Skeeter22 Oh...I have actually been on or around this forum for about 15 years. I have had to change profiles or have been kicked off due to inactivity because of combat deployments, training deployments, and plain ol working hard...no time to keep up with it. Again, things are not always what they appear to be, but I have no control over the admin of this forum or being sent to far away places on a regular basis.Respectfully,
2012 Skeeter ZX22 Bay
Yamaha 250 hp SHO
Minnkota Riptide 101
A bad day fishing is much better than a good day at work.
Keep extending that’s what I did! 9 years in the same place, different units! Waited until I didn’t have enough time left for another deployment and then came home!