# Best time to flounder fish?



## ted-hurst

I do a bit of inshore and offshore fishing but just recently started targeting flounder. I found a couple good spots and caughtsome andwant to know is the bitebetterearly, mid-day, late or does it matter? Which are better, incoming or outgoing tides?The ones I caughtwere caught at 7-9 am with an incoming tide. I'm also setting my boat up to do some gigging and can't wait, it looks like a heck of a lot of fun. Any help would be appreciated.

Ted


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## bbb

I fish for flounder a couple times a year and the spot I fish produces best on a incoming tide, early in the morning.

Of course we've caught fish there from dawn to dusk, but it seems the tide is usually rising.

But the absolute best time to flounder fish is from dark thirty to dawn.


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## fishing with carl childers

hey ted, i've almost got my boat flounder ready, going today to pick-up my great white 24 volt 82 pound thrust trolling motor,.... just finished up the lights bout 2 days ago. i installed 3-500 watt quartz halogen lights on that handrail that almost cost me my job, (ask alan about that). will be using one of those new honda generators (2000 watt) for power. they are really quite. saw yourboat for sale on here. nice little rig. anyway, my daughter has me tied to the dock right now because she is supposed to be having a baby any day now, so i got all these new toys and no time to play. maybe you and alan should just come get my boat and go give everything a gigging test.........have to furnish your own ice though. lol see ya, mack


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## 2112

As far as gigging goes, you will always come across at least a few,

during anytime of the tide but I have found max numbers of fish are always at the pennacle of high tide and up to 2 hours past high tide.

Also at the max of high tide you can float across sand bars that previously you could not had reached and that previous untouched water can hold a lot of quality fish.

Put yourself in this situation and you can limit out real quick and even be picky about the fish you select.

Some folks will run out right at sunset on a night that high tide is due in at 03:00. They will work all night for a few fish and tire themselves out and pack it in right when they should had been starting out and all they'll have is a hand full of 14-16" fish when they could had had a limit of quality 18" to +20" fish with much less work.

There is nothing wrong with going out at sunset and enjoying yourself all night, I'm just saying there are more effiecient and productive ways to go about it.


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## Death From Above

> *2112 (7/25/2008)*As far as gigging goes, you will always come across at least a few,
> 
> during anytime of the tide but I have found max numbers of fish are always at the pennacle of high tide and up to 2 hours past high tide.
> 
> Also at the max of high tide you can float across sand bars that previously you could not had reached and that previous untouched water can hold a lot of quality fish.
> 
> Put yourself in this situation and you can limit out real quick and even be picky about the fish you select.
> 
> Some folks will run out right at sunset on a night that high tide is due in at 03:00. They will work all night for a few fish and tire themselves out and pack it in right when they should had been starting out and all they'll have is a hand full of 14-16" fish when they could had had a limit of quality 18" to +20" fish with much less work.
> 
> There is nothing wrong with going out at sunset and enjoying yourself all night, I'm just saying there are more effiecient and productive ways to go about it.


High tide gigging may work in Texas, but it's a waste of time over here.


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## 2112

> High tide gigging may work in Texas, but it's a waste of time over here.


OK but why is that?


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## Death From Above

Best on a low to rising tide over here, plus on a high tide the water is too high along the grass edges and bars to see the bottom clearly inmost places. I believe our back waters and marshes are different than yours. You have a lot more shallow flats and bars similar to LA and MS that are not even under water at low tide. We don't have an abundance of that. A bar or flat over here might have 6" to 1' of waterdepth at low tide and 3' at high tide.


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## Five Prongs Of Fury

> *Death From Above (7/28/2008)*Best on a low to rising tide over here, plus on a high tide the water is too high along the grass edges and bars to see the bottom clearly inmost places. I believe our back waters and marshes are different than yours. You have a lot more shallow flats and bars similar to LA and MS that are not even under water at low tide. We don't have an abundance of that. A bar or flat over here might have 6" to 1' of waterdepth at low tide and 3' at high tide.


I second that motion!!! All jokes aside that is probably the main reason why fan motors are more logical over there and TM's over here. We simply don't have the great expanses of open ground to cover and what we do have now is disappearing at an alarming rate!!!:hoppingmad


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## 2112

Makes perfectly good sense to me.

I enjoy this Florida forum so I hope you guys don't mind my hanging and posting over here. You'd think Tx would have a forum like this but I sure can't find it and if you try to post about gigging in our Tx.forums the purist and tree huggers come out with flame thowers. Thats why I am here. As far as I can tell, this is the only place on the whole interweb where this info can be exchanged and welcomed.

I can see now how some info I pass along can be all wrong for your area.

One of the small things I do find interesting is the willingness to gig a stripped mullet. From everything I know, they are considered very good to eat in Fl. We can catch large ones by the bushell in our surf with a cast net but they get used as Bull Red bait. I've noticed when I filet one for cut bait how nice the meat looks but here it is thought because our waters are so murky it imparts a undesireable flavor to the flesh.

One other thing I've learned from this forum is sometimes you get a chance to gig large prawn sized shrimp, no such luck here. I will however get out of the boat to snatch the big pincher off a stone crab...makes for excellent stuffing.

I bet this will sound stupid but I've got to ask. Do ya'll ever come across large crustaceans other than prawns to get with a gig, say like, Lobster?


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## gator7_5

> *2112 (7/28/2008)*
> 
> Do ya'll ever come across large crustaceans other than prawns to get with a gig, say like, Lobster?




depends on what your drinking that night.


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## ted-hurst

I want to thank everyone with input and 2112 is right, this forum is great. I used to fish a lot as a kid then spent 20 years in the Marine Corps and didn't fish much.One of my friends took me offshore after I retiredand I was hooked again. Another friend took me over to the grass flats for Specs and that was awesome also. I recently tried flounder fishing andagain this reminds me of how much fun I had as a kid and don't ever want to stop.

Thanks

Ted


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## Five Prongs Of Fury

> *2112 (7/28/2008)*Makes perfectly good sense to me.
> 
> I enjoy this Florida forum so I hope you guys don't mind my hanging and posting over here. You'd think Tx would have a forum like this but I sure can't find it and if you try to post about gigging in our Tx.forums the purist and tree huggers come out with flame thowers. Thats why I am here. As far as I can tell, this is the only place on the whole interweb where this info can be exchanged and welcomed.
> 
> I can see now how some info I pass along can be all wrong for your area.
> 
> One of the small things I do find interesting is the willingness to gig a stripped mullet. From everything I know, they are considered very good to eat in Fl. We can catch large ones by the bushell in our surf with a cast net but they get used as Bull Red bait. I've noticed when I filet one for cut bait how nice the meat looks but here it is thought because our waters are so murky it imparts a undesireable flavor to the flesh.
> 
> One other thing I've learned from this forum is sometimes you get a chance to gig large prawn sized shrimp, no such luck here. I will however get out of the boat to snatch the big pincher off a stone crab...makes for excellent stuffing.
> 
> I bet this will sound stupid but I've got to ask. Do ya'll ever come across large crustaceans other than prawns to get with a gig, say like, Lobster?


I have never seen a lobster inshore but I not saying that they are not any there either. I am no specialist on them by any means. Maybe some of the guys that like to dive can chime in on this. I have been over to the Smith Point,TX area and I agree with you that the water is defintely not for the novice flounderer. The guys around there said they had never used a boat but had done a lot of walking and said that at certain times of the year that it was very productive. The same guys also told me that I would be better off with a rod-n-reel tha a boat-n-gig. But if you could see well enough,the Galveston Bay area looks like it would be an excellent place. They also had the pictures to back up their stories. Hope to hear more from your way!!! :letsdrink


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## Midnight Rider

Any time you can get the hell outa the house and go is always my favorite time.:letsdrink


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