"SALTWATER TEXAS " ARTICLE

The August/September edition of "Saltwater Texas" has a very nice article starting on page 11 written by Mike Price about a fishing trip with me. The article is entitled "Fishing Redfish Bay in a Howling Wind". The author noted that the group of four fishermen had several double hooks of redfish during a day so windy that most folks would have stayed home. For anyone who isn't familiar with Saltwater Texas it is the most widely distributed saltwater fishing publication in Texas. It is available in Academy stores, other retail outlets and boat shows.

REDS IN THE SURF

8-27-2010--Fished the surf today with two fishermen. The waves were the lowest I've seen this year. With the wind down we could get up close to the shore. Caught 12 trout up to 24 inches before the current stopped and the bite slacked off. We then fished for reds and caught 5 up to 27 1/2 inches plus a spanish mackeral. The fishermen had to get back to check out of their rooms so we quit fishing at 11:00. I failed to get any pictures of the catch.

CATCH AND RELEASE

8-26-2011--Had a very nice couple for a half day of catch and release fishing. They caught reds, gafftop, and some nice sized trout. We launched at the Saint Charles ramp and went north to San Antonio bay. The fish were caught on croaker and live shrimp.

RAIN IN THE GULF

8-25-2011 - We fished the surf today. There was some lightening early but it ceased by the time we launched at 6:15. Once we started fishing several miles north of Port Aransas, there were two rainstorms in the gulf headed west. One was to move south of us and the other to the north. Both of them crossed on to land while we were fishing but barely sprinkled on us. The first 10 fish came quickly and easily but we averaged about one fish every 30-45 minutes the rest of the day. The problem was that the wind turned NW and blew us off the second bar. We tried anchoring several other ways but could not get back on the fish. We also caught several large skip jack and a good sized Spanish Mackerel.

SURF FISH

8-23-2011--Fished in the surf today. The waves were at the upper edge of the limit where I don't take people to the surf. For some reason the fishing is never as good when the waves are high and today was no exception. We fished hard and ended the day with 28 nice trout and one large spanish mackeral. In between we caught more than a dozen large skip jack. I brought most of the skip jack home and froze them for future redfish bait. We lost several hooks to shark but didn't land any. On the way back we stopped on a large group of gulls and pelicans working over bait. We saw two large masses of bait about 8-10 feet across and a couple of feet deep. Fish that looked like small spanish mackeral were pushing the bait to the top and the pelicans were waiting. We threw croakers into the melee but got no takers.

Yesterday, I took two guests to the surf but one forgot to take his dramamine so we had to come back in after catching seven trout. When we left the area the bite was better and the waves much less than we experienced today.

ARTIFICAL LURES FOR TROUT AND REDS

8-20-2011--Had two fun days fishing the annual "Cast for the Cure" tournament benefitting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. It's all catch and release with three divisions i. e. general, artifical and fly. My team competed in the artificial category. Each team of two anglers is allowed to weigh in two trout and two redfish each day for the two day event. Copano Energy did another great job of putting on the tournament which just gets bigger each year.

The folks in "general" did better than most years. Three or 4 boats in the other categories did well while the rest of us struggled. I didn't feel good about my team's catch but when the final numbers were added up they were fourth in our category. Of course there were only prizes for first, second and third.

I'll be fishing the surf and mid bay reefs this week since the wind is down.

HOT AND DRY

8-18-2011--The weather forecasts have really gotten monotonous --every day it's hot and dry with winds that get up some in the early morning hours, lessen about 8:00 AM and then increase until evening. Fishing in the surf has been fantastic. Twenty trout in about 2 hours on Monday and then 20 nice trout in less then one and a half hours today. Picture is today's catch.

Tuesday and Wednesday we fished in the bays with artificial baits. I'm getting ready for a tournament Friday and Saturday and my fishermen are interested in the artificial division so I needed to know where some redfish and trout that would bite artificial baits were located. Catching fish with artificial lures was much more difficult than croaker fishing in the surf. We caught shoreline trout on top water lures the first day but no reds. Wednesday, we found the reds and after catching and releasing 3 we moved on looking for trout. The trout didn't show very well for us but at least I now have some places to go for the tournament.

TOUGH FISHING

8-11-2011--Catching fish has been tough the last few days. Water is very hot and the fish have mostly moved deeper but the wind has been keeping us from the surf, mid bay reefs and the wells. Tides have been late in the day if at all during daylight hours. Salinity has increased significantly due to no rain and no run off from rivers entering our bay systems. Shrimp, crabs and oysters are all having a tough time. The fish are still here so hopefully we'll catch them as soon as conditions change.

Today, I had four fishermen for a half day. Right away we had a large redfish on but it eventually went around the front of the boat and the fisherman didn't move forward fast enough to keep it from breaking off on the trolling motor prop. We moved after catching a few short fish and ran across a school of jack cravelle. They threw out two lines and immediately hooked up two large jacks. Thankfully one of them broke off. It took 30 minutes to land the other one even with me following it with the boat. It measured 39 inches.

We tried several more places for redfish but ended the half day with two black drum.