Sept 28 Flounder Gigging

Hired Capt Joel for a four hour trip around Charleston Harbor. This is my second trip with him, and he’s a pro’s pro. Knows the harbor like the back of his hand, and runs a very enjoyable charter.

He put us on Flounder right away (7 total), and we also gigged a 19 inch Trout, a 16 inch Sheepshead, a 22 inch Redfish and a 23 inch Snook, which are extremely rare in these waters. The largest Flounder was 21 inches. We named the Flounder, Trout, Redfish, Sheepshead and Snook combo the “Capt. Joel Slam.”

One of the cooler experiences to bump around the harbor in the wee hours with not a soul around.

Great guy, I highly recommend Capt. Joel.


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Gigging charters should be against regulations. It’s putting a serious hurting on the flounder.

Glad you got out there and had a good time…I wish Capt Joel would stop that practice and become a regular charter guy promoting catch and release.

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Thanks for your comment.

Capt. Joel is a good steward of our local fishery.

Although the limit is 10 Flounder per boat per day, his modification to that limit is 10 fish per boat, of any species. By incorporating Redfish, Sheepshead, etc. to the 10 per boat limit, he is actually preserving the local Flounder population.

Also, having seen it firsthand now twice, he takes pains to make sure targeted Flounder are at least 16 inches. We must have passed on 50 fish that were undersized. So that means that 80%+ of the Flounder we ran across were not targeted. This is responsible fishing.

Lastly, its a big ocean, and he doesnt fish all of it. Maybe there are other reasons for the decline. To put it on one Capt. causes me to think that you may have ulterior motives for making these accusations.

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I think it was optiker that said
Any flounder over 15” is a female
I wonder how things would be if only 12 to 14 inch flounder were allowed to be kept??

I’m not mad at ya. My only motivation is protecting the fishery so that my kids have something to fish for. Everyone has an opinion and this is just mine. One Capt taking a thousand fish out a year shouldn’t be allowed.

If you ever wanted to discuss it, I’d be glad to. No big deal either way. I always enjoy your posts.

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I’m Neutral on bagging of flounders, which I’m a hook and line on attempting to catch flounders. Even when I do get a few I basically would keep one only if I’m consuming that day or the next. Anyway, nice post in my reading ability. I may need to venture the Harbor soon for some flounder fishing.

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Its all good Ricky

People should be free to disagree.

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Glad you had a good time and certainly not cracking on you but I’m with Ricky. Not a fan of gigging. Not very sporting and you are just one of many folks out gigging flounder. You were at least with a “pro” who I would assume provided some guidance. I wonder about novices that gig too many undersized fish because they “thought” it looked legal size when they gigged it but then realized it wasn’t.

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I’m a novice

I don’t gig undersized

I hate cleaning 10 of anything after a no sleep hangover the next day

There’s plenty of giggers on here. They don’t talk or post giggin

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You must be an advanced novice.

Wait…there are Snook in our local waters?

You saw a snook “extremely rare for these waters”, so you felt compelled to kill it… I can’t wrap my head around that one…

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First rule of gigging: Never discuss gigging…

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It was delicious.
Fed three people.

If you can show me a regulation that prohibits taking them, Ill self report and pay the fine.

These are not endangered fish.

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After a bit of contemplation I thought I’d pitch my .02 cents into the hat. Here’s the way I see this situation as it lays, face value so to speak, from a unbiased outside observer. Plus, I know stuff so there’s that.

I’ve thought and said here many times over the years that there are 5 distinct stages in most every “fishermans” progression from his first zebco to the fancy twin engine offshore critter getter we all dream about. Here they are,

Stage One–Any fish. A guy is glad to catch any fish, even pond bluegill, just to feel the jerk.

Stage Two–Many Fish. A guy starts catching a few fish here and there and the next thing you know he’s all about filling the cooler and snapping a few pictures.

Stage Three–Big Fish. A guy starts catching a lot of cooler fodder and starts yearning for the big one. big charcoal belly gags, bull dolphin, an ARS the length of your arm, over 22 inch breeder troutsies, etc…

Stage Four–Hard Fish. A guy starts getting good at slinging big groupers, mahi, and fat Snappers over the gunnel and moves on to hard fish like Marlin, Bluefin, snook in SC, and I don’t know, parrot fish in south america I suppose.

That being said, I think Vegas Dave is somewhere on EF’s official fishermans progression spectrum at a solid stage two guy, but just on the cusp of stage 3. Again, that’s just me from the outside looking in. I’ve sent Vegas Dave some PM’s in the past with a few pointers, and I can tell by his reports he has taken some of it in. I appreciate all his reports, even though I think he is nutty as a outhouse loon for eating ringtails and grunts, but that’s just me, lol.

I don’t want Vegas Dave to pull back from reporting, (he posts a lot of reports) over what I think should be a teaching opportunity. Some of you stage 3 and 4 guys wagging your collective fingers is a big part of why everyone left here long ago and folks are reluctant to post reports even now. Things are looking up nowadays, I’d like to see that trend continue.

Vegas Dave, let me fill you in cause you are sorta new here. Optiker is a stage 4 guy for sure. He’s fished salt his whole life, he’s big on releasing the bigger breeder fish, sells a lot of tackle professionally, and knows what a stage 4 hard fish is, and puts his money where his mouth is as far as protecting the very resource many take for granted. That snook you dried out will likely be the last you ever see again, because they are really rare here. That my friend is why it’s a shock to most of us that you poked holes in her, or that your “guide” led you to believe that was OK. It’s legal, but, well, I’m looking down shaking my head man. But it’s not your fault. Who among us?

But don’t be discouraged Vegas Dave, cause you can bet your sweet patootie that every single guy that said anything negative about the flat fish you stuck have done the very same thing, many times over. Really. After you stick them a few times you’ll see more what they see.

So anyway, this should be a teaching moment for all of us, because guess what? I bet you forgot all about the 5th stage I mentioned above.

Any Fish

Many Fish

Big Fish

Hard Fish

Stage 5 is passing that knowledge along.

And just one more thing Vegas Dave, your guide is full of poo poo. The 10 fish limit would have been OK with me, and I’d probably never bothered to post such a long dribble, except for there are 11 fish in your picture and what really chapped my arse was number 11 was the snook.

Do yourself a favor and loose that guys number. Really

That’s all I got. You are a good guy Vegas Dave, keep a tight line.

EF

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what a load of horse crap, man. spare me.

and btw, the 11 fish was because this guide actually cares about his clients having a good time. The 11th fish was that person’s first and only fish of the night. So he broke his self imposed rule in order for his client to have a good time.

Consider yourself spared

Pearls before swine, blind squirrels, and such

se la vie

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Dang, I still have a Zebco 33…

Rules?

We all have them, whether we abide them, or not?

I’m more about the screaming drag than stab ‘em in the head but I do like seeing the different posts and POV’s.