RED FISH ON ARTIFICIAL LURES

Goose Island Parking Lot at Noon

1-29-10--Today was the first day of a cold front. With winds gusting to over 35 MPH and tides falling I expected redfish to be stacked up in back lake entrances. When we got to the Goose Island State Park boat ramp at 8:30 AM the parking lot was empty. When we returned at noon there was only one other boat trailer besides mine. While on the water we saw no other boats. With misting rain and high wind the fishing was tough but very rewarding. We limited easily on redfish using soft plastics and released several.

We're still enjoying excellent fishing for redfish and black drum. This past week I only had customers two days. We limited one day on black drum using shrimp and one day on redfish using artificial lures. A third day I fished with a friend since I had no customers and wanted to fish for trout with artificial lures. Trout were mostly small but I did catch and release a 24" trout. Most years a 24" trout wouldn't be worth mentioning but this year we've not had good trout fishing weather. We've experienced lots of cold and windy weather the last 2 months but as soon as the weather warms for a few days I expect trout fishing to be great. I know many potential customers are put off by cold windy weather but we've actually had our best catches of redfish and black drum during cold fronts with strong north winds rather than the pleasant days. February is big drum and big trout time. The black drum have to be released because it's not legal to keep a drum over 30" in length but they make great photographs. Often we have children catch black drum so big they can't lift them. These fish generally range form 30" to near 50" in length. I normally find the biggest trout in the upper Laguna Madre/Baffin bay area. My two scouting trips there recently didn't give me reason to take customers there yet this year but that will change any day now and when it does I want to be there with someone who wants to catch a lifetime personal best trophy trout.

If you are interested in trophy trout, big black drum or slot size redfish now is the time to go fishing. If larger quantities of trout are desired I'd recommend waiting for April.

ANOTHER GOOD DAY

1-2-2010--Today the wind let up a little and the sun was out more. Although it was still cold the fishing was much more pleasant than yesterday. I had the same father and son as yesterday and the father also brought his wife and daughter. They ended up with 12 slot redfish and one oversized redfish that the wife tagged plus 4 black drum. I don't know where the black drum were today but we found plenty of redfish. In fact we caught somewhere between 50 and 75 undersized reds. We discovered that the bigger reds wanted bigger baits. The last keepers all came on either large chunks of cut bait or hooks baited with 3 dead shrimp and one live shrimp. We made a few casts with a Gulp 3" shrimp pattern but didn't get a bump. It may be we just didn't give the artificial bait enough time to work but I do know the reds liked shrimp and cut up skip jack. I'm really liking this 2010 year already.

Can't wait for the water temperature warm up out of the 40s into the 50s and 60s so we can get on some trout. By the way I'm offering a $50 winter discount for trips through March. Also, through March I have Wednesday Specials. Individuals can book a 6 hour trip for $125 each on Wednesdays. If one or two person(s) book a trip I'll try to add up to a total of 3 but we'll fish even if only one person wants to go. Each winter I get inquiries from individuals who want to fish but don't have a partner to take along. Hopefully my Wednesday specials will help out in these situations. Winter Wednesdays are generally slow for me and this will at least give me an excuse to fish on those days.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

1-1-2010--The new year has started off great. My wife has got my blog fishing reports working again and fishing was good. Had a father and son today with a cold north wind blowing. I knew they would be good fishermen when they didn't complain about the 20 minute bone chilling ride facing the north wind on the way to San Antonio bay. We ended the day with 8 drum and 7 reds, including an oversized red that we tagged. Shrimp both alive and dead were the ticket. Yesterday, the last day of 2009, I had 2 fishermen who had to be back at 12 noon. We also were handicapped by heavy fog that kept us from fishing until 9 AM and no wind. That day we only got 4 Black drum in St. Charles bay. Now that the drought has ended I expect 2010 to be a much better fishing year than 2009. It certainly had started off that way.