Flounder - Sunday Report

[My Coast Outdoors]

I headed over to the Calcasieu River on Sunday to fish the high tides and swift current. I never fished this area this time of the year, so I don't know if the flounder are always here in early October or if all of the fresh water and strong currents from the past several weeks has them ahead of schedule.

This is a solid month or more sooner than I typically target flounder in this area. I will say the bite was aggressive and the size was decent. They were not the typical 12" early run fish that head to the gulf first.

The strikes were deliberate and hard, hitting fairly fast moving Controlled Descent Paddle Shad. Although I was targeting flounder I settled into a faster than normal retrieve once I determined how aggressive they were.

With the higher than normal tides, and swift water I focused my attention on grass shores with points where the current pinned the bait tight to the grass. This proved successful down several hundred yards of shoreline with little to no action in coves or straight banks. All strikes came from the grass edge out to 15 feet away.

Get Inhaled!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu_idGR6QZE

[Yaklash]

I was fishing with a friend who was in a "friendly" tournament. I hung back on a shoreline while he and other competitors waded out onto a reef on the south shoreline of West Cove less than a mile from the south cut into West from the river channel. I was fishing for trout or reds but ended up with 8 really nice (17"-20") flounder that hit like freight trains. I never missed a bite. All on Saltwater Assassins rigged on a standard jig-head. It was mid October and fairly mild (we were still wading wet). I can't remember whether there had been any fronts thru there prior to that weekend

[kickingback]

I bet the 68 degree temp last night made them perk up even more! They know they need to fatten up before the "run" and last's night chilly winds teased them I am sure.