byby John N. Felsher
FLATFISH FRENZY!
Chasing the “Other” Species
N
ervous baitfish began flicking the
water surface in the Louisiana
marsh. Then, scores of baitfish
rushed to the surface as if hauled up with
a bucket before they jumped for their
lives.
“That’s a flounder doing that,”
explained Tom Adams of “Fishing Tom
Guide Service”, of Lake Charles, LA.
“Flounder can be surprisingly active for
such an oddly shaped fish. When I’m
looking for flounder, I always first look
for bait. I watch for any shad busting.
When flounder come up off the bottom to
feed on shad, it looks like a volcano
erupting with fish jumping out of the
water in every direction.”
Ambush predators, flounder
frequently bury their flat bodies in the
mud, sometimes in water barely covering
their gills, with just their eyes protruding
from the silt. Their mottled skin creates
perfect camouflage. When something
tempting passes overhead, they explode
from their lair to snatch it. Since flounder
generally attack from directly below their
prey, they herd creatures to the surface
where the terrified baitfish leap from the
water in a circular pattern.
Anglers can find abundant places to
tempt big flounder in the Calcasieu
Estuary near Lake Charles. Better known
for producing monster speckled trout, the
Calcasieu Estuary also holds big flounder.
Most flounder run in the 1 to 3-pound
range, but anglers frequently catch some
in the 3 to 5-pound range. Occasionally,
someone boats a doormat exceeding eight
pounds.
The 52,700-acre Calcasieu Lake,
known locally as Big Lake, anchors the
estuary at the southern end of the 40-mile
long Calcasieu Ship Channel. A deeper,
wider, straighter version of the old
Calcasieu River, the channel links
Calcasieu Lake with Lake Charles, Prien
Lake, Moss Lake and associated
tributaries before passing through
Calcasieu Pass into the Gulf of Mexico
near Cameron, LA.
“We often catch flounder in the lower
Calcasieu Ship Channel and the marshes
around it,” Adams confirmed. “One day
in November 2014, we put 50 flounder in
the boat between 6:30 a.m. and 8:15 a.m.
at a spot in the lower Calcasieu Ship
Channel. We caught fish almost every
cast. On the next day, we fished the same
spot and only caught four. They moved
out with the tide during the night.”
Some of the best action occurs in the
fall. As temperatures cool, flounder begin
heading toward the Gulf and often stage
in large numbers near the pass. The fall
“flounder run” usually lasts from midOctober through late November. The
jetties at Calcasieu Pass can produce good
flounder action as they exit or enter the
(Continued on page 13.)
Elizabeth Eustis and Joanne Adams show off a couple of flounder caught while fishing with Capt. Tom Adams in
Sabine Lake on the Texas/Louisiana line near Port Arthur.
Photo by author.
6
GULF COAST FISHERMAN
W W W. G U L F F I S H I N G. C O M