Flounder picture

[47onthewall]

Attachment 1044Caught five of these Wednesday

This fisherman has a good locationAttachment 1045

[Riverjim]

Good fishin, and nice pics.

How many nests do you know of in the maesh? That is one great nature success story. I remember when thay were almost wiped out..

For anyone who hasn't seen these guys fish, I think it is one of the coolest things to watch as my bait swimms around..They are much better at this than I am.

[47onthewall]

There are at least three osprey nests now. The original on the tall power line above the boat club; the one in the picture in Seabrook across from Cross Beach Road; and yesterday, Dave Weber told me he saw one built on his old duck blind up Hampton Falls River. He witnessed an adult feeding young birds on that one.

[Riverjim]

Cool...That is great news.

[kkevvy]

Awesome. That flounder looks delicious. Do you catch them right in the marsh?

Cool osprey too... One of those guys lived at my old lake house. It was something else watching them fish, pulling huge perch and sometimes bass right out of the water.

[47onthewall]

Kkevvy, we catch them up as far as the trestle. I picked up a couple in the ocean the other day, but was seeing more skate than flounder.

[Merrillizer™]

kev, they are coming back strong up inside in the marshes. I mean, you could always find one if you looked hard enough, targeted them, and knew what you were doing. But the numbers WERE down, compared to like 20 years ago. My older brothers used to fill rubbermaids with em. Yup, they did a number on the fishery all right lol. Back then there was so many, ya know? But the past 2-3 years, the reports have gotten better and better.

I could always find em on the rockbed out front on Hampton Beach. But the floundah beds in tha rivers were poop compared to how they used to be.

Coming back strong now though

[Riverjim]

Great thread. We have the comeback of the floundah, and the comeback of the osprey all on one page.

[kkevvy]

Sounds good, I'd like to try sometime... fresh flounder is so friggen good!

I know what you mean Johnny... its like the wild pigeons on the plains, or the buffalo. There was so many, so people took what they wanted, not knowing what would happen. Next thing you know, the pigeons are gone completely, and after 10 years, herds of millions of buffalo became 10,000 in all. Its crazy. Good thing the flounder are coming back... it's amazing how nature can rebound.

[47onthewall]

It wasn't only directed fishing that hurt the winter flounder. The native shrimp fishery used to be a very "dirty" fishery, with lots of bycatch of unwanted juvenile fish. Baby flounder were especially vulnerable and were wasted by the ton. An answer was developed, the "Nordmore Grate", which filtered out the bycatch, and was made mandatory in the 1990's. Coupled with the fact that most people stopped fishing recreationally for flounder, they have been steadily returning in greater numbers every year. Finally, a minimum length of 12" and an eight fish bag limit (no more trash can full catches) insure continued improvement to the stock. Rejoice! And buy more worms!