Flounder Gigging is Classic Florida Adventure

It’s late at night, the current is moving, the lights are on and you’re straining to spot the invisible. You’re using teamwork to pole the boat through shallow grassflats, along oyster bars and across sandy bottom creek runouts, all in search of a doormat-size flounder.

This form of fishing doesn’t involve a rod and reel at all. This is “gigging,” and it’s a time-honored approach for taking delicious flounder.

I love the feeling of connecting with wild and ancient Florida that I get when hunting with a centuries-old technique. I imagine others who long ago speared or gigged fish out of these same waters, returning to their families and sharing stories in languages now lost to us.

Plus, it’s fun being on the water at odd hours, observing all the creatures that roam about at night. Blue crabs, stone crabs, mud crabs, baitfish, oysters, mullet, stingrays, shrimp, barracuda, needlefish, hermit crabs, sea turtles, redfish, trout, sheepshead, the list goes on! Taking in the sights along a pristine mangrove or oyster-rich shoreline at low tide reveals how diverse and rich these habitats are.

Our target for the night, the uniquely shaped and eminently camouflaged flounders, are keystone predators here. Two species regularly attain Florida’s 14-inch minimum size for harvest, southern flounder and Gulf flounder. The southern flounder is more likely to reach true “doormat” potential. The Gulf flounder has three ocellated “eye spots” on its back. A third species, summer flounder, also has eye spots (five of them), but is rarely found in Florida.

By day, these fish are good hook-and-line targets, often taking mud minnows or small mullet. At night they gravitate to shallow water where gigging is an excellent technique. Flounders are among the few inshore species in Florida which may be lawfully taken by gigging.

Where I gig, in Northeast Florida, we look for an evening with an incoming tide and low wind. That’s when flounder are most apt to enter the Intracoastal waters to feed. I find they favor oyster beds along marshy coastline. Flounder are the perfect predator here, shaped to lie flat on one side, eyes uniquely positioned to stare up and target shrimp and small fish passing with the tide.

What is Gigging?

Poling the skiff for miles along the oyster bed shoreline, this is the ultimate game of iSpy. Flounder have the ability to change their colors to match their habitat. With the incoming tide, the fish will be as close to the water’s edge as they can get. When you eventually spot one, your heart races because it’s only a matter of time before they could spook. The lights from the boat shine over the outline of their bodies in the sand or amongst the oyster shells. The water is shallow, and the gig is long so it seems easy enough to spear the gig into the fish. It is actually more of a mathematical precision of time, angles and lighting to get that perfect hit. Aim for the fish’s gill plate. This will save your meat from having gig holes through the fillet.

Once a fish is gigged, we bring them up and over into the boat. The fish then get let off the gig and into an ice bath in the cooler. We have a slotted plate mounted to the corner of our cooler that helps remove the fish from the gig with ease. It was custom-made for us by Wishard Wire Co. of St. Augustine (who also builds great crab traps).

Some anglers use electric trolling motors while gigging. This has its own set of pros and cons. We prefer very shallow water, and oftentimes even trolling motors cannot go as shallow as we like. Also, you run the risk of spooking the fish with the noise from the motor. Trolling motors can also murk up the water, making it muddy and cloudy, further obscuring the fish. Poling is our preferred way to get around while gigging.

Gigging can be done as a solo trip, but it is better with another person. Sometimes higher winds and faster currents can hinder your ability to gig the flounder in the ideal position. It is much better in these conditions to have one person hold the boat in place while the other gigs the fish.

Equipment needs are fairly simple but can grow in complexity depending on your personal preference. We run our SaltMarsh Skiff SM 1444 with a 20-horsepower Suzuki. It is a lightweight, Kevlar-laminate boat that is built to withstand the oysters within the marshy environment where we do our flounder gigging. We use a series of custom-rigged Jerry’s LED lights on the bow. The power cords are clamped to a battery and the underwater lights adjusted to the appropriate height dependent on the depth of the water. Once the lights are situated, we kill the motor and use our gigs to pole the boat along the shoreline.

We have two different types of gig. One is an 8-foot wooden dowel attached to a 4-prong stainless steel gig head. The second is a 10-foot bamboo rod with a 3-prong stainless steel gig head. Both gigs will do the job, but the bamboo rod is lighter, which makes it the preferred choice for poling the boat while also being brought into service to take fish.

You will need a measuring device on your boat, but because gigging normally results in fatal injury to the fish, you’ll want to get your eyes well-acquainted with what a 14-inch flounder looks like before you attempt to gig it. You might attach a zip tie to the gig head and use that as a rough gauge. A good rule to go by is that if you have any doubt on its size, pass on it. Don’t go haphazardly sticking the first fish you spot; respect the resource.

Flounder Cleaning and Recipes

Just like any other white and mild fish, flounder can be cooked in endless ways. Don’t forget you can fillet both sides of a flounder, and you get four total fillets when done correctly. The meat on the white side, or “bottom,” of the fish is typically thinner than what you will get on the brown side, but I promise you it tastes the same. Some of our go-to recipes involve stuffed, baked and fried flounder. YouTube has many tutorials on how to fillet these fish or clean them for cooking whole. I prefer a whole fried flounder. Cleaned correctly, smaller fish will fit perfectly into a shallow fry pan.

Prepare a whole flounder for frying by removing the scales from both sides. You can use a cheap fish descaler or even a kitchen spoon to push against the scales of the fish and remove them from the skin, making sure you get it all the way up to the head.

Once the fish has been descaled, use a pair of shears to cut at an angle from the top of the fish head across the body to its lower fin. Cut at an angle so that the head and gut cavity are removed in one piece. This can be done with a fillet knife as well, but because you are cutting through the backbone of the fish, shears are the preferred tool. When you finish, spray it down with the hose to clean it up, and use your fillet knife to cut cross-hatches through the meat and to the bone of the fish. Now, flip the fish over and repeat the cross-hatches to the bottom side as well. This gives the fish not just a pretty appearance when frying, but a tasty way to pop that meat right off the bone when it’s done cooking.

In the kitchen, lay the fish on a paper towel and pat dry. Rub the fish down with fresh squeezed lime juice and then bread with your favorite fish fry. In a cast iron pan, bring your oil to frying temp and place in one fish at a time. The idea is to give it a shallow fry and then flip once.

The time it takes to cook will depend on the size of your flounder. Usually, when you see it bubbling through the cracks, you know it is done. Take them out and let them cool on a wire rack before devouring. Just like any fried fish, you can make a homemade dipping sauce of your liking or add a squeeze of lemon and enjoy.

Perfect Florida Date Night? For Sure!

A final note on flounder gigging: If you ever want to know whether or not your relationship will withstand the test of time, just go gigging. There is no better test for two people than to spend the night together, standing on the bow of the boat, poling with 10-foot wooden gig poles, fighting the current, the wind, and the bugs, all while in the pitch-black night, the only illumination being the lights from the boat. And while there are many factors involved, the risk is worth the reward. There is no greater test of teamwork, communication and endurance than this. So, I ask you, fellas, before you ask her to marry you, take her flounder gigging.

Florida Flounder Regulations

The current regulations for recreational fishermen are a minimum size of 14 inches and a 5 fish daily bag limit per person. There is an annual closure from October 15 to November 30, a period identified as spawning season. Always check online for up-to-date recreational 
fishing regulations at myfwc.com.

No special license or permit is required for gigging, but you will need the basic saltwater fishing license, unless you’re exempt (resident senior age 65 or older, resident member of Armed Forces home on leave, etc.)

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• This article was featured in the June 2024 issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Click to subscribe.

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