The scant 2-week North Carolina flounder season opened on September 1 and will end on September 14. Recreational anglers are allowed 1 fish daily, at least 15-inces. In Virginia, the season is year-round with a limit of 4 per day. In South Carolina, it’s also a year-round fishery with a limit of 5 per person or 10-fish per boat.
Why the difference? Are flounder in North Carolina’s saltwater more threatened for some reason than those above and below them? Some say that an appointed, not elected, NC Marine Fisheries Council, who decides these things, is highly partial to commercial fishermen and pretty much thumbs their noses at recreational anglers. There are few restrictions on the commercial gill nets spread across Carolina waters which trap and kill countless thousands of young flounder each year. But that’s okay with the Carolina pols.
Regardless, the ridiculously short season is underway and flounder fisherman along the Outer Banks are taking advantage back in the sounds where bluefish, specks and drum have also been tugging on lines.
On the piers, it’s been sea mullet, blues, Spanish and pompanos. The offshore fleet is hooking up with lots of billfish with both blue and white marlin flags flapping in the wind.
