The last 4 nights of flounder gigging have been challenging, but I am still finding good numbers of flounder for my customers every night. The action has been up and down, with a fast pace one night, and a slow grind the next. Tide levels fell drastically over the last few nights, forcing me to work open-water areas and far outer sandbars. The fish have been in a different pattern each night, and figuring out where they want to be early in the trip has been crucial to success. As we move along into late-summer, I expect the gigging to remain good, but having to work hard for our fish, as there is nothing coming easy lately.
7/19/2018I had new customer Robbie H. group of 3 onboard tonight. Conditions were poor, with South wind at 15-20mph and low tide levels. We got off to a fast start, with 8 flounder in the first hour. After that, we had to move around a few times and cover some ground to find the remaining fish. We ended with a 15 flounder limit plus 3 sheepshead and 1 black drum by midnight.
7/20/2018I had longtime customer Cliff H. group of 4 onboard tonight. Conditions were marginal, with South wind at 10-20mph and extreme low tide levels. Water clarity was horrible tonight, a result of the sharp drop in tide levels today. We got a slow start, with only 2 fish in the first hour. We had to move around a bunch, never finding any steady action, but we managed a few fish at every stop. We ended with a 20 flounder limit plus 2 drum by 1:45am.
7/21/2018I had repeat customer Randy W. group of 4 onboard tonight. Conditions were nice, with South wind at 5-10mph and extreme low tide levels. We had a slow start, with 2 fish in the first hour. The slow action continued later, and we had to move several times, only finding 2-4 fish at each stop. The customers called off the trip early at 12:30pm, and we ended with 12 flounder plus 1 black drum and 1 sheepshead.
7/22/2018I had new customer Morris group of 4 onboard tonight. Conditions were fair, with SSW wind at 10-15mph and extreme low tide levels. Water clarity was much better tonight, making for some fun gigging on deep outer sandbars. We only hit one spot tonight, with steady action start-to-finish. We ended with a 20 flounder limit by 11:45pm. At midnight, the winds went crazy, blowing SW at 20-30mph, making for a rough boat ride home. I'm glad we found the fish before the big winds hit.
Upcoming open dates:
August: 23, 26, 28, 29
September: 4, 7, 8, 18-21, 24-26, 28, 30
October: 1-4, 7-10, 12-14, 17-19, 21, 22, 24, 25, 28Price: $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