Captain David Dupnik's Flounder Charter,
Aransas Pass, Texas

Fishing With A Twist
by Rhonda Burnham

Recently, on our visit to Corpus Christi we went on a floundering trip with Captain Dave Dupnik. We left the dock near Rockport around 8 pm and got out to a marshy grassland area with large areas of shallow water just before dark.

We were in Captain Dave's 19 foot flatbottom floundering boat equipped with 90 hp outboard and a Honda airboat engine with an added alternator to power the rows of spotlights attached to the front of the boat.

After it got dark Capt Dave raised the outboard out of the water and cranked up the airboat motor and lowered the spotlights into the water. The lights illuminated the water and everything in it for about 10 feet out around the boat.

An underwater wonderland was slowly revealed to us. We saw large schools of mullett skittering across the surface of the water. A few crabs ambled sideways beneath us. There were lots of needle-nose gar ranging in size from a few inches to a few feet. Small perch were also plentiful.

As the night progressed we saw sheepshead, jellyfish and sea turtles. The sea turtles seemed almost flourescent in the light because of the moss growing on their backs. We were amazed at the number of sting rays we saw throughout the night. This was one reason we would much rather be floundering from a boat than wading amongst them risking a nasty sting from their tails.

Our first catch of the night was not a flounder. We came across a Texas (black) drum which we were able to spear and land...no simple feat. It can be a real fighter. Our drum was the perfect size--the ones over 5 pounds have a coarser taste. The largest drum ever caught so far was an amazing 146 pounds.

The flounder stay out in the deep water during the day and come into the shallows after dark to feed. We found our first flounder lying on a rock in a few inches of water. This is pretty rare to find them on a rock. They prefer sandy areas not rocky or grassy areas. We speared the flounder with a gig on a long pole. We learned it is best to spear them in the head area. If you spear them in the tail area they will most likely flop off before you get them landed. The largest flounder ever caught so far is 20.9 pounds.

Capt Dave expertly steered us around the edges of the bay and was always the first to spot the camouflaged flounder. A blue heron joined us for part of the trip. He stayed a short distance ahead of us and gobbled down mullet as we stirred them up. The heron swallowed them whole and we could see the fish still flopping as they made the journey down his long throat.

We stayed out till about midnight and then decided to call it a night. The mosquitos can get ravenous so it may be best to wear long pants and/or long sleeves and bring lots of bug spray. If you forget, Capt Dave will have some on hand. Captain Dave quickly cleaned our catch and bagged them up for us, giving us tips on the best ways to cook them.

Flounder trips leave around dusk and stay on the water as long as a group wants. The flounder come in the most when the tide comes in. The cost is $500 per 2 persons with a maximum of 3 people. For the trip, the only items needed are snacks/drinks and a fishing license.

We would like to thank Captain Dupnik for assisting with our feature.

Captain's David Dupnik's Flounder Gigging Charter
836 S. 11th St.
Aransas Pass, TX 78336 Google Map
1-361-790-3271