Texas Flounder Season 2026-27: Limits, Size & Closure

The Texas flounder season closes every year from November 1 through December 14; the minimum size limit is 15 inches total length and the daily bag limit is 5 fish. Those three numbers cover almost every question anglers ask before a trip. Gigging is legal during the open season and is a genuine local tradition in the Brazosport area, with dedicated charter operations running night flounder trips through the Christmas Bay complex each fall, and most first-timers book a Freeport flounder gigging trip with someone who already owns the rig.

The fish behind those numbers is southern flounder (Paralichthys lethostigma), an ambush predator that lies flat on the bottom, often partially buried, and strikes upward at passing baitfish.

Here is everything you need before you go: the current size and bag limits, how to measure a fish so you stay legal, what happens if you keep a short one, where to gig near Freeport, what the latest science says about flounder numbers, and how to target them on rod and reel. Seasonal patterns and tackle are covered further down this page.

What is the legal size limit for flounder in Texas?

The legal size limit for flounder in Texas is a 15-inch minimum total length, with no maximum. Any flounder shorter than 15 inches must be released. The following limits are valid September 1, 2026 through August 31, 2027, per TPWD’s flounder bag and length limits page, and they apply to southern flounder, gulf flounder, and all other flounder species and their hybrids.

Rule	2026-27 Limit
Minimum length	15 inches (total length)
Maximum length	No limit
Daily bag limit	5 fish
Possession limit	5 fish (equals daily bag)
Annual closure	November 1 through December 14 (bag limit = 0)
Season reopens	December 15

The same limits apply whether you catch the fish on rod and reel or by gigging, and whether you are fishing the bays, the jetties, or the surf. A Texas fishing license with a saltwater endorsement is required to keep flounder in both state and federal water.

What is the Texas flounder bag limit?

The Texas flounder daily bag limit is 5 fish per angler, and the possession limit equals the daily bag, so you may have 5 flounder in hand at any time. Per TPWD’s flounder bag and length limits, every fish must also meet the 15-inch minimum total length, and the limit applies to southern flounder, gulf flounder, and their hybrids combined. The 5-fish bag is in effect statewide whenever the season is open.

During the November 1 through December 14 closure the bag limit drops to zero by every method, so no flounder may be kept during that window. The bag and possession limits reset daily: a multi-day trip does not let you stockpile more than 5 fish per person per calendar day.

How do you measure a flounder for the size limit?

Flounder are measured by total length, so you measure the whole fish, not the body alone. Lay the flounder flat with its mouth closed and measure in a straight line from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail. Per TPWD’s general fishing regulations, total length is measured with the tail fin squeezed or pinched together to give the maximum overall length, so a fish gets the benefit of its longest possible measurement.

That pinched-tail detail matters on a flounder, because the broad tail can add close to an inch when it is fanned out versus pinched. Carry a rigid measuring board or a tape stuck to the gunwale, lay the fish flat, and close the tail. If a fish is borderline at 15 inches, the safe and legal call is to release it. A game warden measures the same way, and “it looked close” is not a defense.

Photo: Sawyer Baran — CC BY 4.0 ( source )

What is the penalty for keeping an undersized or over-limit flounder?

Keeping a flounder under 15 inches, or more than 5 in a day, is a Class C Parks and Wildlife Code misdemeanor. Per TPWD’s laws, penalties, and restitution rules, a Class C violation carries a fine of $25 to $500, and each illegal fish can be charged as a separate violation, so a cooler of short flounder adds up fast.

The fine is not the end of it. TPWD also pursues civil restitution for the replacement value of the wildlife taken, on top of any criminal fine. Refusing to pay restitution blocks you from buying new licenses or tags, and serious or repeat offenses can escalate to license suspension for up to five years and forfeiture of the gear used. The economics strongly favor releasing anything short.

Did the flounder limits change for 2026?

No. The size limit, bag limit, and closure dates are unchanged for the 2026-27 license year: a 15-inch minimum, a 5-fish daily bag, and the November 1 through December 14 closure. The TPWD flounder limits page lists these as valid September 1, 2026 through August 31, 2027.

Flounder rules have changed meaningfully in recent years, so it is worth checking each license year rather than assuming. After the 2020 emergency action, TPWD raised the minimum size and reworked the fall closure into the current November 1 through December 14 window. For the 2026-27 year, the framework is the 5-fish, 15-inch, mid-fall-closure structure described above.

Why is flounder season closed in November?

Texas closes flounder season from November 1 through December 14 to protect the fish during their fall spawning migration, when they concentrate in Gulf passes and become extremely vulnerable to harvest. Flounder are fall spawners: as water temperatures cool in October and November, southern flounder migrate from the bays toward Gulf passes to spawn offshore. During this migration they concentrate in the passes and nearshore waters in predictably high numbers, which historically made them extremely easy to harvest, particularly by gigging.

That vulnerability is exactly why TPWD protects the window. Flounder killed during the spawn run never reproduce, and the concentrated nature of the migration means pressure during this period is disproportionately damaging to the population. The closure is a state rule because flounder are an inshore, state-water species, set by Texas Parks and Wildlife rather than federal managers, the distinction we cover in our guide to Texas state waters versus federal waters.

The closure originally came out of a 2020 emergency action when TPWD halted the fall gigging season entirely due to declining stock assessments. The November 1 through December 14 window became a permanent fixture in the regulations the following year.

What makes this closure especially important: a 2024 study by Texas Sea Grant and the Harte Research Institute found that traditional creel surveys had been massively undercounting flounder harvest. By analyzing over two and a half years of guided gigging trip photos posted to Facebook, researchers found that when nighttime gigging was factored in, total annual flounder harvest was nearly double previous estimates. The real harvest pressure on the population had been invisible to managers for years.

That finding reframes the conservation story. It is not just that flounder numbers declined; the full scale of the pressure causing the decline was not understood until recently. The closure is a direct response to that data.

When are flounder in the Brazosport bays?

Flounder are in the bays all year, but the fishing is only good for part of it. The open season runs year-round except November 1 through December 14, and the rod-and-line peak is September and October, when fish feed hard before the spawning migration. Here is how a Brazosport year reads, month by month.

Period	Status	Notes
January to February	Open	Slow; fish offshore or near the passes
March to April	Open	Improving as the bays warm
May to June	Open	Active; grass-bed edges
July to August	Open	Early and late hours
September to October	Open	Peak; fall feed before the migration
November 1 to December 14	Closed	No flounder by any method
December 15 onward	Open	Slow for weeks as spawned fish return

When Flounder Are Seen Near Freeport

Research-grade iNaturalist observations by month within 75 km of Freeport — a proxy for when the species is active and around, not a catch count.

Loading the seasonal pattern…

SOURCE: iNATURALIST · RESEARCH-GRADE OBSERVATIONS BY MONTH WITHIN 75 KM OF FREEPORT

Flounder Gigging in the Brazosport Area

Gigging is an established part of the Freeport fishing calendar, not a niche activity. Multiple guide operations run dedicated flounder gigging charters out of the area, working the West Galveston Bay and Christmas Bay complex in particular. The local season, when conditions are best, runs late August through October before the November closure.

The activity also shows up in tournament fishing. Fishin’ Fiesta, Brazosport’s major annual fishing event held each July since 1947, includes a largest flounder category in its inshore division. The River’s End Fishing Tournament also carries a flounder category.

Gigging is not technical fishing. You are moving slowly through shallow water, by wading or by boat, with a bright underwater light aimed at the bottom, looking for the distinctive outline of a flounder lying flat in the sand. A gig pole with a pronged tip is thrust straight down when a fish is spotted. The light, not the gig technique, does most of the work.

Where is the best flounder gigging near Freeport?

The Christmas Bay complex is the best flounder gigging area near Freeport, the most consistently cited productive spot in the region: hard sand bottoms with good water clarity and manageable depths for wading and poling a shallow boat. It sits in the same lightly pressured Brazosport bay system that makes Freeport a quieter inshore alternative to Galveston.

Named locations with the most forum and charter mentions:

Location	Notes
Christmas Bay complex	Top local area; sand bottom, clear water, accessible by shallow-draft boat
Churchill Bayou	South end near Amigo Lane put-in; productive but muddy near the marsh shorelines
Drum Bay / Rattlesnake Point	South shoreline; firm sand bottom near marsh drain outflows
West Galveston Bay south shore	Hard sand bottom outside marsh drains; the bay system north of the Freeport complex
ICW edges (Bastrop Bayou, Chocolate Bayou, Oyster Creek drains)	Flounder hold near current and structure along the intracoastal
Brazos River mouth flats	Active bait movement concentrates flounder near the river outflow

Best conditions for gigging: calm water with no chop (wind under 10 mph), clear visibility to the bottom, incoming or early outgoing tide, water temperatures in the 65 to 75°F range. September and October are peak months. Nights around the new moon give the darkest conditions and make your light more effective. Check current Freeport fishing spots and conditions before you launch.

Is flounder season different around Galveston Bay?

No. Flounder season, the 15-inch minimum, and the 5-fish bag are the same statewide, so the rules around Galveston Bay are identical to the Brazosport bays an hour south. Texas sets one flounder rule set for the entire coast: the same September-through-October peak, the same November 1 through December 14 closure, and the same limits whether you fish Galveston, West Bay, or Christmas Bay. There is no Galveston-specific flounder regulation.

What differs is the water, not the law. Galveston Bay is the larger, better-known, and more heavily fished system, while the Brazosport bays south of Freeport see a fraction of that pressure on the same inshore species. The Christmas Bay complex and the West Galveston Bay south shore both sit at the quieter end of that gradient, which is why local flounder giggers favor them. For how the two systems compare on crowds, access, and the overall inshore fishery, see our guide to Freeport versus Galveston for inshore fishing.

What does a guided gigging trip provide?

A guided night gigging trip supplies the whole rig: a shallow-draft boat that can work water too thin to float most hulls, the submersible lights and the power source that run them for hours, and the local read on which flats hold fish on a given tide and wind. That equipment is the barrier, not the skill.

Assembling all of it for a couple of nights a year is why most first-timers here book a trip instead. Gigging is legal in Texas during the open season with the standard 15-inch minimum and 5-fish bag applying, and it is prohibited outright from November 1 through December 14.

Rod and Reel Flounder Fishing Near Freeport

You do not need to gig to catch flounder. Charter trips from Freeport regularly produce flounder on conventional tackle, and September through October is the peak season on rod and reel as well. The same 15-inch, 5-fish limits apply.

Tactics that work:

Flounder lie on the bottom and grab a bait before they move, so the bite is a hold, not a strike. Work a slow drag along channel edges, spoil banks, and structure, and give the fish a few seconds before setting the hook.

Productive lures and rigs near Freeport:

• Gulp! Swimming Mullet or Shrimp on a 1/4 to 3/8 oz jig head, the single most consistent producer for inshore flounder statewide
• Live mud minnows or finger mullet on a Carolina rig (egg sinker, 12 to 18 inch leader, #2 hook)

Best spots on rod and reel:

• ICW channel edges and spoil bank drop-offs
• Mitchell’s Cut and the Quintana Island passes, best on a moving tide, fishing the drop-off on the down-current side
• Brazos River mouth, where flounder stack near the outflow in the fall
• The south jetty base, where the riprap holds fish feeding on bait moving through the channel
• Grass-bed edges: the sand-to-grass transition around Chocolate Bay and Christmas Bay
• Bay shoreline structure: dock pilings, oyster reefs, any hard bottom transition

The most reliable pattern of all is a marsh drain on a falling tide. As water pulls off the flats through a cut, flounder lie on the down-current edge and ambush bait washing past, so bounce a soft plastic slowly along the bottom and set the hook on the first thump. On a small bait, a flounder left to reposition will swallow the hook.

What’s Happened to Flounder Numbers Since 2020?

Honestly: recovery has been slow and the picture is still mixed.

TPWD’s coastal fisheries stock data shows flounder populations have not rebounded as quickly as managers hoped following the emergency closure. The Stunz 2024 study helped explain why: for years, the real harvest pressure from gigging was not captured in survey data, so managers were working with an incomplete picture of what the population was actually absorbing.

TPWD has responded with a hatchery stocking program that has released hundreds of thousands of juvenile flounder into coastal waters, much of it produced at Sea Center Texas in Lake Jackson. The program is ongoing, though researchers are still working to improve survival rates from the hatchery to the wild environment.

The fishery is being managed more carefully than it ever has been. Whether that translates to meaningfully higher catch rates in the Brazosport bays over the next few seasons is something local captains will report before any published stock assessment does. Check the TPWD coastal fishing reports for real-time anecdotal catch data from Brazoria County.

The honest answer for an angler planning a fall trip: flounder are catchable, the gigging season in September and October is still productive, and the regulation framework is designed to protect the fishery through the critical November spawn window. Fish the open season, respect the closure, measure to 15 inches, and release anything undersized.

Where can you legally gig flounder near Freeport?

The Brazosport bays, the marsh edges off Bastrop and Christmas Bay, and the shallow flats inside the jetties all hold flounder through the fall run, and all of them are open to gigging outside the closure. What varies is access. Much of the productive shoreline is private or reachable only by boat, and the shallow water that gigging depends on is exactly the water that strands an unfamiliar boat after dark.

Two practical notes before you go. Wading and fishing at San Luis Pass are closed on the Brazoria County side, so plan around it rather than through it. And a gig rig needs a bow light, a generator or battery bank, and a shallow-draft hull, which is why most first-timers here go with someone who already owns the setup.

If you would rather not solve the boat problem yourself, flounder gigging charters run out of Freeport and Surfside Beach through the September and October window. Check what’s biting in Freeport right now before you pick a night, and compare the daytime trip types on the Freeport fishing charters page if gigging is not your thing.