A Quiet Day on the Water, Fishing for Flounder

After pickelball, we met the other players at the clubhouse. It was get acquainted day at the rv park and free coffee and doughnuts always draws people out of their homes. One of the persons we met, Alan, asked me if I liked to fish and invited me to go out on his boat, fishing for flounder.
Of course I jumped at the chance and a few days later we were launching his boat at the Fort Desoto boat ramp. Now Alan is an expert walleye and salmon fisherman and I could see right away that I was in for a treat. Just by watching him it was obvious that he knew how to handle a boat.
Now if I could only meet my part of the bargain. That was that I had told him how the flounders were migrating to the Gulf for their spawning run and how you could usually find them alongside passes.

So we headed to Bounce Pass, between North Beach and Shell Island. Turning sideways he shut off the engine and we both cast jigs tipped with gulp towards the sandy shore, (it was an outgoing tide and not the best tide to stack up the fish), A couple of minutes later Alan set the hook and fought in an undersized flounder. Continuing to drift with the outgoing tide we both had more bites, but kept missing them until Alan hooked and landed one of the ugliest fish in the ocean, a sea robin, (known affectionately in Texas as a mothers in law fish).

Somewhat resembling a lion fish he avoided the spines and released it unharmed. Now it was my turn to pull in another sea robin, and for several drifts that's all we landed. Still Alan did catch another small flounder and so we tried other drifts. The tide went slack, never good for fishing, as it seems to us that the best fishing is with moving water. Still we caught quiet a few small grunts, destined for the bait box, (cornbread for dinner again).
Trying other places the fish refused to cooperate so the day turned into the usual dues day, which is a day where you have to pay your dues before you finally figure out the local fish. Still it was a really nice day in Alan's boat, a day of sharing fishing stories and talking about the differences between fishing for salmon and walleye on the Great Lakes, and my techniques for fishing the western reservoirs.
Clears skies