Flounder picture

[Riverjim]

Thanks guys, I never would have known...I noticed through the years that alot of people assume Freshwater Bass are native too, but nope...Another 1800 introduction.

It goes to show how much an invasive creature, like the green crab or the bass can take over the ecosystem..I hope the same thing doesn't happen to the salt marsh with the Pepprweed invasion.

[kkevvy]

I thought smallmouths were native, and largemouths were introduced? either way, I wouldn't say either really wreaked havoc on the ecosystem. Of course, I dunno what it was like back then either.

[47onthewall]

Kkevvy, do a little reading on the Rapid River in Maine if you think smallmouths introduced into new waters don't screw things up. Big sums of money and effort are going into controlling "green trout" in the premier native trout system in Maine. Fly Fishing in Maine forum is a good place for info on this. The bottom line is, unless you dig your own pond DON'T put fish that aren't native in any water. "Bucket biologists" are the scum of the earth!

[Riverjim]

The habitat of New Hampshire lakes is more suitable to smallmouth than largemouth...with the exeption of some of the more southern systems, but still the smallmouth was introduced.
Smallmouth bass - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Many trout fisherman hate bass, because the trout was here first and the bass takes over fairly quick. NHEP explained in another post recently that new england had few native freshwater species due to the glaciers scraping out the land.

I think that the introduction of the bass created a lot more oppertunities for fisherman, and I am not an anti bass guy...I was more trying to show how both the green crab, and the freshwater bass are invasive species, but when you look at their numbers, one might assume they were native.

Originally Posted by kkevvy

I thought smallmouths were native, and largemouths were introduced? either way, I wouldn't say either really wreaked havoc on the ecosystem. Of course, I dunno what it was like back then either.

[kkevvy]

Hmm. That's actually really interesting. I never knew. Same with the green crab. Next time I catch one of those buggers... smash! haha

Thanks for the info.


Also, pete, do you have any pictures of the flounder rig you would suggest?

[47onthewall]

I sell the rigs all pre-packaged, but you can go as simple as a snelled hook with an appropriate weight to keep it on bottom. I sometimes replace the chesterton style flounder hooks on my rigs with a size 1 or 2 circle hook. It works well and easier to release shorts. Damned 6 inch flounder will swallow 3" long shanked hook down to it's butthole in no time; dead bycatch.

[kkevvy]

Cool. I'm going out tomorrow AM for some stripers, and I'll probably stick around for awhile and so some flounder fishing, so expect me to stop by and get a few. thanks

[Coalman]

Nice fish OTW.
I enjoyed reading this thread. I get a lot of windowpane flounder in my lobster traps in Great Bay. I catch juvenile flounder in my eel traps in the Squamscott River.
Since the Mother's Day flood of May 2006 and the April rain of 2007 the only crab in the Bay were green. Nature has returned the salinity and the red crabs are as far back as Adam's Point.
Caught a couple keeper bugs Saturday on a two day soak at green can.

The bugs are back!

[47onthewall]

Yeah, Dave; salinity can really push the bugs around. We used to enjoy great lobstering every year nearly up to the trestle but since the '80s overdevelopment has changed the runoff to more of a flash flood situation. Dad caught a keeper in a trap at Cole's Creek last year and it was a big deal. I knew a kid who put himself through college on the lobsters he caught between the Willows and the mouth of the river; now that fishing ground is 100% moorings and we see only sporadic catches of lobster in the few traps guys set there. It's not bad enough I lose my old local deer woods to subdivisions but my river has turned into a goddamned state sponsored "park and ride"
The last straw is with the price of fuel I'm going to need to ride a bus to my current favorite woods!

I think PETA is in cahoots with OPEC!

[Riverjim]

Some call it progress.......