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Memorial weekend Flounder report #12772719 05/29/18 09:51 AM
Joined: Apr 2018
Posts: 126
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Capt Rick Hammond Offline OP
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Joined: Apr 2018
Posts: 126
The last 5 nights of flounder gigging have been good, but the action has been slower than usual for this time of year. I have been working really hard and grinding late into the night on some outings to put clients on limits of fish every trip. The following factors have been in effect the last few nights: bright full moon, hot water temperatures, high salinity levels (no rain), low tide levels, and strong outgoing tide in the evening. All of these factors have combined to make for some challenging gigging and wary/skittish fish on the flats. Weather conditions have been nice, with light to moderate winds, and smooth boat rides across the bay. The flounder size has been really good, with a 17" average, and plenty of fish in the 18-22" range. The action should improve soon, with higher winds (cools the shallows) and higher tide levels forecasted later this week, and a return to dark moon nights.

5/24/2018
I had the Billy R. group of 4 onboard tonight. Conditions were nice, with SE wind at 5-10mph and normal tide levels. We covered a bunch of ground, finding only scattered pockets of fish, with most holding in murky water. We ended with a 20 flounder limit plus 6 sheesphead and 1 black drum by midnight.

5/25/2018
I had new customer Doug R. group of 5 onboard tonight. These guys were rowdy, but they didn't mess around when gigging flounder. Conditions were fair, with SSE wind at 10-15mph and slightly low tide levels. We had to move around a lot tonight to find the fish, hitting 6 spots. We ended with a 25 flounder limit plus 2 sheepshead by 1am. The largest flounder tonight was 21". (one person not in picture, sitting in the truck)

5/26/2018
I had the Earl D. group of 3 onboard tonight. Conditions were fair, with SSE wind at 10-15mph and slightly low tide levels. Things started off great, with 12 flounder in the first 1.5 hours. After that, it became a slow grind, and we hit a bunch of spots, coming up empty. Eventually, we found our last 3 fish for a limit, ending with a 15 flounder limit plus 3 sheepshead and 1 black drum by 1am. The largest flounder tonight was 22".

5/27/2018
I had the Travis H. family group of 5 onboard tonight. Conditions were nice, with South wind at 5-10mph and slightly low tide levels. Things started really slow tonight, with the first fish coming aboard 50 minutes into gigging. The fish were holding in tight schools tonight, making for some fast action, seeing 3-5 in front of the boat at once. But, as soon as we gigged a school, it took 15-20 minutes before we found another fish. We stayed put tonight in the same area and never moved, picking off incoming fish as they headed shallow with the slowly cooling water temps. The kids did an awesome job of spotting and gigging fish on their own, making for a very fun trip. We ended with a 25 flounder limit by 12:15am. We had lots of 18-20" fish tonight.

5/28/2018
I had the Joel T. group of 3 onboard tonight. Conditions were fair, with South wind at 10-15mph and slightly low tide levels. We got a good start, gigging 6 flounder in the first 30 minutes. After that, the action slowed, with only widely scattered fish. We had to cover a bunch of ground to find our remaining fish. After 45 minutes of looking for the last fish, the customers decided to call the trip early. We ended with 14 flounder (1 short of a limit) plus 1 sheepshead by midnight.

Upcoming open dates:
June: 13, 14, 18, 27, 28
July: 6-12, 15-18, 22-24, 26-28, 30, 31
August: 2-5, 7-17, 19-31


I also do "late trips" if I finish quickly with my first group. Late trips usually leave the dock 11pm-1am. Please call for availability. This is the best way to get a trip on short notice when I am already booked.

Price: $450 for 2 people, $100 each additional person, up to 6 people

Capt. Rick Hammond
Night Stalker Guide Service - Rockport, TX
nightstalkerguideservice.com
361-229-6053










Re: Memorial weekend Flounder report [Re: Capt Rick Hammond] #12772956 05/29/18 03:03 PM
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Fantastic post. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Memorial weekend Flounder report [Re: Capt Rick Hammond] #12773713 05/30/18 03:34 AM
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Solid post and solid fish. Good Job. thumb


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Re: Memorial weekend Flounder report [Re: Capt Rick Hammond] #12773793 05/30/18 10:35 AM
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Posts: 126
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Capt Rick Hammond Offline OP
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5/29/2018
I had the Dakota Peterson group of 2 onboard tonight. Conditions were poor, with South wind at 15-20mph, bright full moon, hot water temps, and slightly low tide levels. Water clarity was very good tonight, but the gigging action was dreadfully slow. We got off to a very slow start, gigging only 3 flounder by 10:30pm. We covered a bunch of ground and moved around a lot tonight, only finding a few widely scattered fish. We ended with a 10 flounder limit plus 3 sheepshead by 12:30am. The flounder were nice size, with 9 of them in the 17-19" range. Hopefully conditions change soon, as we are in the doldrums right now, with slower gigging becoming a trend until the weather/tide/moon conditions change.

Upcoming open dates:
June: 13, 14, 27, 28
July: 6-12, 15-18, 22-24, 26-28, 30, 31
August: 2-5, 7-17, 19-29, 31


I also do "late trips" if I finish quickly with my first group. Late trips usually leave the dock 11pm-1am. Please call for availability. This is the best way to get a trip on short notice when I am already booked.

Price: $450 for 2 people, $100 each additional person, up to 6 people

Capt. Rick Hammond
Night Stalker Guide Service - Rockport, TX
nightstalkerguideservice.com
361-229-6053







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