Flounder Fishing in Venice, Louisiana
Flounder at a glance
- Science Name
- Paralichthys lethostigma (southern flounder)
- Diet
- Carnivore: shrimp and small fish
- Typical size
- 12 to 14 inches, 1 to 2 pounds
- Life Span
- Oldest recorded in Louisiana: females 8 years, males 4
- Colors
- Olive-brown with dark and white spots on top, white underneath
- Distinctive Features
- Flattened body with both eyes on the left side
- World Record
- 20 lb 9 oz, Nassau Sound, Florida, 1983
- Louisiana Record
- 13.06 pounds, west of South Pass, June 1998
A fish that lies on its side
The flounder caught inshore in Louisiana is the southern flounder. It is a flatfish, and it lives lying on one side with both eyes looking up.
It does not start out that way. A newly hatched flounder has an eye on each side of its head like any other fish. As it grows, the right eye moves across to the left side, and the change is finished by the time the fish is about half an inch long. From then on the left side is always the top.
The top side is olive-brown with dark and white spots, much like a sandy or muddy bottom, and the fish can change its shading to match what it is lying on. The underside is white.
Where flounder live and how they feed
Southern flounder range from North Carolina to northern Mexico, apart from the waters near the tip of Florida. They generally like a muddy bottom inside an estuary, and they also turn up in channels and bays near piers, pilings and rock jetties.
In Louisiana they are found from 100 miles up the Mississippi River, in fresh water, all the way to offshore in the Gulf.
A flounder is an ambush feeder. With its flat shape and camouflage it lies nearly invisible on the bottom and waits for a meal to come past: shrimp, mullet, anchovies, croaker and menhaden. Flounder feed the most when the water is between 61 and 77 degrees.
Size, age and the fall run
The average southern flounder is 12 to 14 inches long and weighs one to two pounds, but they get a good deal bigger, and the big ones are females. In Louisiana the average female is about 9 inches at one year old, 14 at two, 17 at three and 19 at four. The average male is only about 13 inches at four.
Most flounder caught inshore are females. Flounder spend their first year in shallow, low-salinity estuaries and tidal rivers, and after that the males usually stay offshore. Females also live longer: the oldest female recorded in Louisiana was eight years old and the oldest male was four.
As the water cools in October and November, mature flounder leave the estuaries for the Gulf to spawn, and a strong cold front can hurry them along. They spawn offshore between November and January, with a peak in December, and come back to the estuaries between January and April.
How fast flounder grow in Louisiana
The gap between females and males opens in the second year and keeps widening.
| Age | Female, average | Female, usual range | Male, average | Male, usual range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 9 in | 7 to 10.5 in | 8.5 in | 7 to 10 in |
| 2 years | 14 in | 11 to 17 in | 11.5 in | 9 to 14 in |
| 3 years | 17 in | 14 to 20.5 in | 12.5 in | 10 to 15 in |
| 4 years | 19 in | 15 to 23 in | 13 in | 10.5 to 15.5 in |
| 5 years | 20 in | 16 to 24 in | ||
| 6 years | 21 in | 17 to 25 in | ||
| 7 and older | 21.5 in | 17 to 26 in |
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Ages come from counting the yearly rings in each fish’s ear bones. The oldest male recorded in Louisiana was four, so the male columns stop there.
Record flounder
The all-tackle world record for southern flounder is 20 pounds, 9 ounces. Larenza Mungin caught it in Nassau Sound, Florida, on December 23, 1983.
The Louisiana state record is 13.06 pounds, caught by Gary Hargis in June 1998 west of South Pass, one of the mouths of the Mississippi River below Venice.
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