The look ahead to flounder anglers in Florida is sort of over, beginning this Thursday, December 1st you’ll be able to legally harvest Florida flounder as soon as once more. Hopefully, the flounder don’t take a play out of the pink snapper handbook and disappear as quickly because the season begins.
Back on October fifteenth the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) closed the leisure harvest of Florida flounder species in state and federal waters in each the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. This was finished to assist shield the flounder throughout the spawning season after they collect in bigger teams to arrange to spawn. This annual flounder season closure and different fisheries administration measures on the Florida flounder had been authorized again in December 2020 throughout the FWC December Commission assembly. This was introduced on by knowledge the Commission had acquired from flounder inventory sampling that confirmed a declining development within the inhabitants ranges of flounder within the waters round Florida.
So ranging from December 1st the season is open once more for all species of flounder in all of the authorized methods you’ll be able to catch flounder. Be it gigging, seine nets, forged nets, or hook and line. This applies to each state waters and federal waters in each the Gulf and Atlantic.
To make clear the time period Florida Flounder covers three totally different species of flounder, the gulf flounder (Paralichthys albigutta), southern flounder (P. lethostigma), and summer season flounder (P. dentatis). The rules simply lump all three species collectively into one regulation so you’ll be able to have as much as a 5 fish mixture of the three flounder species. The measurement restrict for all three species additionally doesn’t change and needs to be 14″ whole size.
Learn extra about flounder rules at MyFWC.com/Marine by clicking “Recreational Regulations” and “Flounder” or obtain the Fish Rules App at Instagram.com/FishRulesApp or Facebook.com/FishRulesApp.
