Much like redfish and also speckled trout, the Sea Center is beginning to spawn flounder. This concept is new for flounder but they have had successful attempts in doing this and have also grown and released them into the wild. With each attempt they increase their knowledge and ability.

I am proud to say that I personally have begun being a part of this effort. I have been given the opportunity to fish for and also with the biologists from the Sea Center this year. I am very proud to say that I have live flounder swimming there. Flounder that I caught using Flounder Pounder lures are going to be used in this amazing and bold program.

I personally invite you the Flounder Pounder fisherman to visit and support this program  being conducted at the Sea Center. Together we will make a difference.

Phil Ortiz and Flounder Pounder will begin by asking all of its fans to join in and support the Flounder Revolution in the conservation efforts, the restoration efforts, and the education efforts that it is founded upon. Together we will all work to push forward to bring the flounder back.

My personal opinion is that Flounder need game fish status. Recognized as one of the big three in the Texas saltwater arena. Treated as a sport fish only, the flounder populations will continue to decline. 

Their current status will delay this bold attempt to restock our fisheries with flounder populations. I personally understand the need to ensure the migration of the spawning females when they are in their prime for spawning in November, but what good is it if you give the flounder  this single passage at 12 to 1 odds. The best flounder cant spawn if they are not there to begin with.  Speckled Trout and Redfish are now slotted and allotted, numbered limits, and a set size limited to one over 25 or 28 inches.

Speckled trout is not in decline, never has been as long as I have been on the coast. Only a severe freeze has ever drastically affected them. I was here for and fished before the true hard freezes of 1983, and 1989. Their were always trout in the surf the following years. I fished in the bays after these hard killing freezes with massive trout and other specie die off. Within five years 3-5 pound limits of speckled trout were always appearing at the docks from the bay. If we made it 7-8 years without a freeze of this style and severity, 7 - 8 - even 9 pound trout were available. The speckled trout received game fish status then to restore, revive and maintain their fishery.

Redfish were next to extinction in the eighties because of the blackened redfish craze. The C.C.A was founded in an effort to help save the fishery and now you can walk on redfish. The redfish received game fish status then to ensure and speed up the recovery of their fishery. 

Now two of three fish of the so called Texas big three are recognized and have received game fish status. Both received it when they were in trouble, and in both instances it was to save, rebuild and maintain the fishery.  Yet we wont push for this same game fish recognition for a fish that is in massive decline according to the experts.

I am no fishery expert, but I know the flounder fishery well enough to know that it is in massive decline. I have personally seen and caught less fish in places that I have fished for the last 29 years. If we are to restore this amazing fishery then we must begin by giving this fish, the southern flounder the same exact game fish status. Philip Ortiz. Flounder Pounder Lures.

 Chocolate Bayou. 6811 County Road. Liverpool, Texas. 281-393-1021. Say hello to Barbra when you get there. Barbra stocks Flounder Pounder lures, Mad Minnow plugs and Speck Wrecker Tandem rigs.