Dear Jim,
I read your July 11, 2019 Editor’s Log and it definitely spurred my interest. Having lived and targeted flatfish vigorously in North and South Carolina, I caught thousands of southern flounder, mixed in with hundreds of Gulf flounder, and of course, thousands of summers there too—when in the right place for each. Once in a while, I’d catch all three species in the same outing, but more commonly, I would catch two out of three.
I resided for the longest period of time in the Wrightsville Beach and Cape Fear River region where all three species intermix. Southerns are the top target in waters at the south end of the county, with summers dominating to the north end of the county. Gulf flounder are at the top of their range so they were more periodic amongst the other two species. Southern, summer and Gulf flounders are easy to tell apart. Ocelli are simple to distinguish on the Gulf and summers (fluke). Three ocelli exist for gulfs, numerous for summers, while southerns have none; they are simply mottled. There is no need for gillraker counts, teeth, etc. I promise it’s that simple.
I lived right near a place called Snow’s Cut in Carolina Beach for a few years of my time there. The state record fluke was caught there in 1980 by Harold Auten. It’s listed as a fluke, but I’d bet my house that it was a southern flounder not a summer. First, summers aren’t that dense in Snow’s Cut or that close to the Cape Fear River. Secondly summers don’t grow that big as they move south in their range; Mr. Auten’s record is over 20 pounds! Who knows what the NC summer flounder record actually is, but I’d guarantee it would be caught north of the Outer Banks, or at least the Core Banks where summers dominate.
I still talk to some close friends and tremendous fishermen there who’ve kept me abreast of their situation, and the southern flounder fishery has really collapsed. Shame, because it was strong when I was there, despite getting pounded by commercials non-stop every which way. They gill-netted and pound-netted thousands of pounds a night in the nursery areas and commercially gigged while the shrimpers trawled in the estuaries, catching any flounder, or other fish for that matter, that got in the way. It was a bloodbath. I’ve heard some things have changed, but slowly and incrementally.
I’m not surprised to hear of a collapsing fishery and North Carolina trawlers moving off the New Jersey coast.
Scott Newhall
Via Email
Mr. Hutchinson,
I have fished the Shark River area for 25 years. For the last five years the keeper to catch ratio for me has ranged from 1 in 10, to 1 in 20. This year my ratio has been around 1 in 50. Other fishermen I have talked with have indicated similar keeper to catch ratios. I know of nothing that would account for the disappearance of the larger fish except for the presence of commercial draggers on our offshore winter spawning grounds.
The thought that our stock of large spawning fish seems to be relatively unprotected scares me to death. Fluke fishing in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware has been diminishing over the past years, and the Old Grounds off Cape May is not as productive as it was. It seems to me that this offshore overfishing is marching north.
Your editorial in the July 11 edition was an eye opener for me. Thanks for keeping us recreational fishermen informed.
Sincerely,
Richard Main
