North Carolina’s flounder regulations have become far more simplified in past years; statewide, flatfish are managed with a six-fish daily creel limit and a 15-inch size minimum.
In previous years, size minimums changed depending on where you were fishing: outside or inside of inlets, south of Brown’s Island, etc.
The reason for the differing size limits is that North Carolina fishermen regularly catch two subspecies of flounder: the summer flounder and southern flounder. North Carolina is the southern end of the summer flounder’s range; it is a species that likes waters with a higher salinity level, so it is more at home in the ocean and just inside inlets.
The southern flounder is at home in waters from the Chesapeake Bay south to the Gulf of Mexico. It can live in waters with much lower levels of salinity; these are the flounder that make their way back into the brackish waters of coastal creeks and rivers.
The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries lists southern flounder as depleted, with the majority of fish in 1- or 2-year age classes.
The summer flounder has recovered after being classified as overfished for a number of years.
It’s virtually impossible to distinguish between the two species. Some fishermen believe that a triangle of three distinct spots on a flounder’s back indicates a summer flounder, but it’s not infallible.
Rob Koraly of Sandbar Safari said he bases his guess on coloration, but as you get deeper into the summer, even that’s more difficult.
“The southern flounder, to me, are darker because they’ve been back in that tannic water of the creeks and rivers,” he said. “The ocean flounder are sort of a sandier color to me, and it has more spots. But you can’t tell for sure.”
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