Remember ‘The Forgotten Sea’ (and the Flounder)

LOOKING DOWN THE DECK of the New Buccaneer, I could see rods doubled over. Virtually all of them.

We had hit a pocket of snappers that was pretty epic. I had just finished my limit, including my biggest ever for that time, a 15-pounder, and I was celebrating with my favorite strong drink—a Dr. Pepper.

Suddenly, what looked like the biggest dolphin I ever saw surfaced about 30 yards from the boat.

The big marine mammal came up again and swam slowly alongside the boat, looking for any bycatch, when I realized it was not a dolphin but a beaked whale.

At first glance, they look sort of like a steroided-up Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, but upon the closer glance you see there are quite a few differences.

Here I was catching a limit with a nice limit of snapper with my Dad and our friend Dean Dyson looking at a whale.

How cool is that?

Encounters like that frequently happen in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s not that seeing beaked whales is commonplace. That’s the only one I have ever seen but seeing fantastic wildlife in the Gulf’s waters happens frequently.

A few years ago, I wrote a column called “The Forgotten Sea” about the Gulf’s myriad creatures and how mainstream wildlife media ignores it.

That’s why I created a new podcast called “HIgher Calling Gulf Coast” that you can connect with via the TF&G e-newsletter and fishgame.com.

Although I communicated with people on fisheries globally, I wanted to focus specifically on the Gulf Coast from the back bays to the bluewater and take my style of investigative wildlife journalism and deep enthusiasm for fishing and put it into a show.

We’ve already run a three-part series on speckled trout that goes deeper into the topic of big trout than anything I” ve heard with incredible guests Pat Murray, Shane Bonnot, and Bruce Shuler. You can check that out at the archives at thehighercalling.podbean.com where you can get both “Higher Calling Gulf Coast” and the “Higher Calling Wildlife” podcasts. You can also find the show on iTunes, Iheartradio and Googleplay.

In March, we debut a three-part series on flounders you won’t want to miss. Since I’m the original flounder revolutionary, we put a lot into this one and have some shocking and inspiring information.

And as you’ll see in one of our features, “Flounder Revolution” is back!

The flounder catch-and-release conservation program I ran from 2008 to 2013 has been reborn with a new twist. We are giving some amazing conservation challenge coins to every angler that submits proof of a flounder of more than 20 inches that they released to produce more of its kind. This is our Flounder Revolution “Catch, Release & Conserve Award” and for anglers who have caught and released a flounder of 24 inches or better, we have another coin called the “Save the Saddle Blanket” award.

All anglers who enter fish get into a drawing for special prizes, and there is an opportunity for a lucky angler to get a replica of their catch at the end of the year. Get all the information at www.flounderrevolution.com.

Flounder Revolution’s awards are sponsored by CCA-Texas, which has been very generous in funding our awards. They look so good. I’m going to have to go catch and release a big flounder to earn one.

My goal this year is to inspire more people to get involved with conservation and to go fishing.

The Lord put on my heart when I dealt with some difficulties in the fall of 2020 to fish more. The results have been less stress, more joy, and renewed commitment for our Gulf region fisheries.

We are blessed to be in such a wonderful coastal region where fishing dreams can come true, and adventure is easily accessible.

It’s truly time to remember the forgotten sea.

Email Chester Moore at cmoore@fishgame.com