With Flounder numbers on the decline, and TPWD investigating changing the regulations to help them rebound, I decided I might as well see what all the fuss was about and give gigging a try.My good friends Steve and John have been gigging for years and decided they'd show me the ropes. We left the ramp just before dark and headed for Corpus Christi bay, as we arrived at our first fishing spot we quickly realized that it was going to be difficult to see them. The wind had been blowing all day and the water was stained, but we had made the run and we were going to make the best of it.
After getting our waders on and all the gear ready we were off, Steve and I went one direction and John went another. As mentioned Steve and John are both very experienced at gigging and they made it look easy. We were in the water less than five minutes and I literally stepped on one, I don't know who was surprised more, me or the Flounder, but I didn't scream, honest.
Steve was showing me the ropes and in less than desirable conditions was having no problem locating fish..
When he finally stopped laughing at the Flounders reaction, he called me over to our first fish of the night, how he saw it is a mystery to me, but after he pointed it out I could see the faint outline of a quality flounder, Steve gave me the honor of gigging it! It is was a twenty plus inch flounder in about eighteen inches of water, and when she realized she was stuck she became irate! They warned me to hold on, they were right, it was exciting!
Within a few minutes Steve located another and gave me the honors again, it was fun but I was determined to find my own. Steve took off to deeper waters and I chose the shallow stuff, it was much easier to see in the skinny water, it was still a little stained but much clearer than the deeper stuff.
After several minutes of scanning the bottom it happened, I saw my first fish, I slowly crept toward it and took aim, I stuck it hard and held on, I thought with the lack of movement I must have stuck it good! I moved the gig a little to see if it would move before lifting it from the water, only to realize there was no fish at all! Steve got another good laugh as he explained flounder beds to me...
But I was determined, so on I went.. A few moments later I saw another, this one was obviously home as I could see the hump in the water, again I approached cautiously and lined up the gig, as I stuck it, it began to shake wildly, my heart was pounding as I held on, moments passed and it settled down, I lifted it from the water and placed it on the stringer. Finally, success!
Moments later I see the second fish, then a third, as we finished the wade we counted the fish, we had eight flounder with several over twenty inches!
We picked up several more quality fish at this spot before deciding to make a move, we left Corpus Christi Bay and headed for the channel, after a cold and windy boat ride we arrive at our second location. This time I decide to venture out by myself, I've been doing this for a couple of hours now, I'm experienced. John heads one direction and I go the other, it wasn't long and I was spotting fish in all directions, after a long wade of finding fish both coming and going, I come back to unload fish, I'd found six or seven, not the quality fish as the previous location but decent fish nonetheless.
After a quick fish count our mission becomes apparent to all three of us, we have to stay late and go for the limit! Both Steve and my lights were getting dimmer by the minute as our batteries slowly drained, but John's light was still bright. Steve eventually calls it a night and gets in the boat, my light was now barely working but we still lacked a few fish, without being able to see I wasn't going to be much help. After a quick assessment of the situation I realized I had to do something, I couldn't see to fish so I did the next best thing, I put my light in the boat, grabbed a stringer and went to offer John moral support. We made a valiant effort but it just wasn't meant to be.
We ended the night with twenty seven Flounder, many of which were over twenty inches and a couple pushing twenty five.
It was a very successful and educational first trip, and it's obvious why so many Texans enjoy Flounder gigging.
