Corpusfishing.com

Big Jack · Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 4:28 pm Post subject: Gigging Monsters

I know giggin ain't fishin but it sure was fun last Wednesday. Put in at Mkr 37 and worked the ICWW towards CC bay. Three of us picked up 16 flounder, none under 20" in just a few hours.

The tide was incoming and we found the majority of them in inches deep water. I got one that just about had his head out of water. We also had several that weren't even buried but were resting on top of the shelly spoil. We saw dozens of undersized flatties.

I don't buy the rumblings that the flounder population is down. A friend of mine that owns the morgan St. Seafood Co. said that the commercial fisherman are not bringing in flounder to the retailers but are selling directly to the restaurants. Thay bypasses the counting that seafood retailers provide to the state. So naturally the count is down. Restaurants are not required to provide any count. They know this is going on but they are still trying to change the flounder limits on false information.
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"Charlie Don't Surf"

robul · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 26 Jun 2007 Posts: 2677

take the limit to 5 or below.. Id even be fine with a limit of 3

Rebecca of Sunnybrookfarm · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 01 May 2008 Posts: 3974

outdooraggie · Finger Mullet Joined: 11 Nov 2008 Posts: 43

I agree. The commercial fisherman have much less stricter regulations than do recreational fishermen. I realized this the other evening when baked some flounder with my girlfriend. She had bought some at the store and had them layed out when I got there. These fillets were at the thickest 1/4", and the whole fillet was about 8 inches long. If these fishermen are allowed to harvest and sell undersized flounder, then we should start with new commercial restrictions.
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Hunt. Fish. Gig 'em!

BALZTOWAL · Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 8:06 pm Post subject:

WHERE DOES MORGAN SEAFOOD GET THEIR REDFISH FROM?

the Poolguy · Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 10:00 pm Post subject:

Ya'll will question why I say decrease it when I post more pics tomorrow.

the Poolguy
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Uncle D · Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 9:44 am Post subject:

After getting out quite a bit lately, I have to say the population looks real good. I also wonder if the data is unreliable because a lot of restaurants buying direct.
I still think the 1st that should go is the 60 daily limit for commercial. If further action is needed then stop poling but just to cut off gigging altogether is not the right way.

topdog15 · Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 1:14 pm Post subject:

In order to obtain more accurate data, I think it would be nice to see TPWD conduct night time creel surveys much like the ones we're all familiar w/ at the boat ramps. None of the numbers for recreational giggers are being recorded right now. We have no idea how many fish are being removed from our bays. The only flounder that get counted right now by the state are those brought in during the normal survey hours which excludes gigged fish entirely. How can we attempt to manage the flounder population and gigging w/o first having some idea of how many fish are out there and how many are being taken by giggers. Just my thoughts.
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"Ya'll must eat a lot of fish"

Rebecca of Sunnybrookfarm · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 01 May 2008 Posts: 3974

OsoJo · Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 2:08 pm Post subject:

why not make flounder a game fish like trout and reds? bringing home 3 flounder a trip is really quite a lot of meals and with no commercial haul at ALL--- imagine having as many flounder as we have redfish....

Big Jack · Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 2:41 pm Post subject:

I've heard that one of the seafood retailers has suggested closing the season on them from Nov.15th to Jan 15th for a three year period, for everyone, to see if that will increase the numbers and build a curve.

I believe that there should be stricter limits imposed on the commercial side before anything else.
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"Charlie Don't Surf"

topdog15 · Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 4:15 pm Post subject:

I'm not sure any type of restrictions will bring them back as long as shrimp boats are dragging them off the bottom when they're just babies.
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"Ya'll must eat a lot of fish"

Capt Mike Singleterry · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 07 Mar 2006 Posts: 2728

Here is some meeting info from the CT

http://www.caller.com/news/2008/dec/04/tpw-gets-crowds-for-flounder-meetings

topdog15 · Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 7:09 am Post subject:

thanks for the link, mike. very informative. helps to give us an idea of what people are thinking up and downt the TX coast.
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"Ya'll must eat a lot of fish"

Skillzzz9 · Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 2:01 pm Post subject:

Good point topdog. Shrimpers have been depleting our bays and offshore fisheries far faster than fishermen can.

But noone wants the shrimpers to go away...
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