Trying to learn to gig flounder

cheesecrakr · Post by **cheesecrakr** » October 28th, 2014, 2:45 am

Hello,

I've been catching flounder a lot out of Econfina the past several years and have always wanted to set up for gigging, so I finally decided to give it a try. What I have done so far is hook up a couple spotlights and troll through the shallows (1 foot or so) where I could see the bottom fairly clearly. I know what to look for and have gigged flounder before (small hand gig that I carry when I go scalloping), but I have not been able to find any. I have trolled up in the slues and along the grass and oyster beds but can't find them. I tried around Lanark too along the coast and also out near the grassy island out from the boat landing. Are they just not in water that shallow at this time of year? I have covered a lot of ground, trolling and looking for hours on 3 or 4 different occasions, but I just can't seem to figure it out. Any help you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated! So far my wife loves to control the boat with the trolling motor while I look for the fish, but if I can't produce something soon, she will get burned out on it.

bbb · Post by **bbb** » October 28th, 2014, 2:40 pm

Are you sure you know what you're looking for?

If you just started the last couple weeks, these cool nights could have them moving out getting ready to head offshore.

I mainly go from May-Sept. The hotter the better. I use 6, 150watt High Pressure Sodium lights. Maybe you need more light.

Look me up in the spring and maybe i can take yall out one night.

Post by **Salty Gator** » October 28th, 2014, 5:14 pm

That's a first class offer bbb

cheesecrakr · Post by **cheesecrakr** » October 29th, 2014, 12:54 am

Thanks! I do know what to look for although maybe my eyes aren't as "trained" to look for them as someone who has been doing it for years. I think lighting may be a major factor though... my lights are not so great... a spotlight that uses a car headlamp and a couple floating lights that also use car headlamps. I have been trying to figure out how I want to mount lights on my boat. My trolling motor lets over the bow, so I need room for that to swing up and over, and I have a windlass anchor up there too. How do you power those lights? Are they 120 volt or 12? Is that galvanized pipe for the frame? Very nice setup! We used to walk and gig flounder with old coleman lanterns, so I figured a couple old spotlights would at least produce something. We tried 2 times at Lanark towards the middle of September and another time this last Sunday at Econfina. Water temps ranged from mid 80s to 70. We could only see the bottom in 2 feet of water or less though... I guess better lighting would help overcome that. I may try a Q-beam spotlight this weekend and see what I can do until I can figure out a better, more permanent lighting solution. Thank you for the reply and the generous offer! I may holler in spring and tag along sometime if you like company. We're in Thomasville, not too far away.

bbb · Post by **bbb** » October 29th, 2014, 7:45 am

These are 120v lights. I run them on a Honda generator. Railing is stainless steel and i have a pontoon boat trolling motor mount up front so the railing is no problem to use it.

These lights are about $50 each at econlight.com. A few of these and a cheap generator at harbor freight will have you in business.

I use to have the lights mounted to the deck but needed a safer solution to get them away from the water and to keep giggers in the boat.

I started out with a pvc 12v setup where we averaged 6 fish in 4 hours.

Then i moved up to 4 shop lights and a generator and averaged 10-12 fish. Finally the 6 hps lights and we expect 15-20 a trip. So between light setup and increasing knowledge of your prey, your success will continue to improve.

cheesecrakr · Post by **cheesecrakr** » October 30th, 2014, 2:31 am

Okay, you talked me into it. I'm going tomorrow to pick up a couple of sodium lights. I am trying to not have to run a generator, so I will start off with 2 or 3 70 watt lamps and run them off an inverter. I'll try them this week or weekend and see how it goes. The flounder may be thin now, but I'm gonna try anyway.

bbb · Post by **bbb** » October 30th, 2014, 11:09 am

The first couple times I went, I had an experienced gigger on the boat, and I couldn't see jack. He would say there's one, I would look and see nothing and then he would stab it. Eventually I quit looking for the actual fish, and started to look for outlines, spots in the sand that shouldn't be there, and basically abnormalities on the bottom. Rarely do you look down and see the whole fish just laying there.

Also, if you are in a good looking area but don't see any bait, you probably won't find any fish.

cheesecrakr · Post by **cheesecrakr** » November 17th, 2014, 5:10 am

Well, we went last night and I saw 14! In the middle of November. Most were borderline keepers, so we didn't gig any, but the lights worked out well!... I wanted a lightweight frame that wouldn't rust, so I used the shafts of some junk weedeaters at the shop, took a pipe bender, and bent a frame. I used the clamps that hold the handle to the weedeaters and used those to clamp the lights to the frame, bolted it down with stainless bolts, and painted it green. Works well! I may have to move them more to the sides and maybe ad one more to the center when I do, but I'm learning as I go. They run for over 5 hours with a good battery and inverter.

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