STILL COLD

12-28-2012--Today was more of the same i. e. same customer, same great fishing and same cold, north wind.  We caught and released several limits of speckled trout.  David kept 10 trout and one red to take home.  He also caught and released a 44 inch red that had a large red growth on its' tail.  The fish looked to be old and unhealthy.  It actually looked like a cross between a redfish and a black drum.  The head look like a black drum while the rest of the fish looked like a redfish.  The colors pink and chartreuse in Gulp both worked great.  The day started 10 degrees warmer but felt cold all day due to north wind, overcast and being damp.

THIRTY SEVEN DEGREES

12-26-2012--Very cold 37 degrees to start the day.  Had only one customer today and we waded with artificial baits, primarily, gulp jerk shad and shrimp.  Early he caught a nice redfish but we couldn't get another bite at that location.. We moved about 10 miles but duck hunters were set up right where we needed to be.  We moved once more but the water was so  low I had little confidence in the location.  Sure enough we didn't get  a single bite there either.  We put the boat on the trailer, about noon and moved to a location south of Rockport.  We waded about 300 yards with no bite but there were several loons working ahead of us so we kept going.  My guest was wading in front and when he got to where the loons had been the bite started.  He caught all his fish i. e. 10 trout and 3 reds standing in the same spot.  He also released one red and several trout.  All of my fish were released.

THREE FOR THIRTY

12-21-2012--Picture is of one of our three limits of trout today.   The water was cold at about 55 degrees.  The water was as low as I ever remember seeing it due to yesterday's strong North winds.  Considering the conditions I chose a deep gut next to a flat.  The bite started slow but picked up within thirty minutes.  At the end it was a nice trout almost every cast with Gulp jerk shad.  We only made the one wade to get three limits of trout.  No reds but I didn't expect any at this location.  I'd expect the reds to be closer to shorelines.

DECEMBER FISHING

12-18-2012--Yesterday, I fished by myself in order to find fish for today when I had clients.  After fishing  a little over an hour I had caught 10 keeper trout so I thought today would be a snap.  We started this morning at the same location but most of the trout were small.. You had to catch about 20 little ones to get a keeper. We moved many times after that but didn't really get into good fish till mid day when we had about an hour of consistent fishing.  The final tally was 14 black drum, 4 trout, 2 redfish and 1 sheepshead.  All the fish were caught on shrimp.

REDFISH LIKE THE NORTH WIND

11-27-2012--My guests today are from Canada, so the 25-30 MPH north wind didn't faze them, but it apparently kept the local fishers off the water.  We put in at the public launch near Hampton's since Conn Brown is closed.  There was not another boat trailer in the parking lot.  There was one small trailer in the lot next to Hampton's.  We only saw two other boats on the water.

We started with shrimp on the edge of a channel where the water falls off a large flat. Right away they had two mid slot reds on, so I thought we had hit the jackpot.  As soon as the hooks were back in the water another red was on but it turned out to be a quarter inch short.  Successive bites were all small reds or hardheads.  We moved four times but were only rewarded with small reds and hardheads.  The fifth move put us back in fish.  About 45 minutes later and  after 3 1/2 hours total fishing time, they had to quit and get back to work.  We ended up with 4 reds, one trout and 2 black drum.  Not bad for two people on a short half day trip.

TRUMPED BY DUCK HUNTERS

11-24-12.  Cold North wind to start today.  First place we went, duck hunters had set up camp.  I couldn't tell if they had built a new blind where none had been or were using some kind of portable blind.  Anyway, they messed up my sure fire plan A for the day.  We put the boat back on the trailer and moved to another launch for a good day of catching reds and black drum.

BIG REDFISH

11-23-2012--Today's guest told me when he booked the trip he had never caught an over sized redfish and wanted to get one, so we started the trip with only big redfish in mind.  He got his wish fairly quickly, after a lengthy tug of war, when he landed a 43 inch red.  We moved several times but couldn't coax another red into biting.  Toward the end of our fishing day we made a move to slot size redfish territory and were rewarded with some keeper size reds, black drum and sheepshead.     

THREE GENERATIONS

11-21-2012--Had three generations today with the youngest being eleven.  The plan was to get something to pull the line for the eleven year old.  I don't know how many small trout, reds and black drum they caught but it was a lot.  They kept 13 trout, 3 reds and four black drum which are shown in the picture.

WATER STILL HIGH

11-16-2012--Mixed bag with a half day trip.  Black drum, redfish, sheepshead and trout were all caught on shrimp both live and dead.

BLACK DRUM AND REDFISH

11-13-2012--Winds were still strong today but not as severe as yesterday.  Tides still very high in spite of the north winds.  I'm not used to fishing high water during strong cold fronts but that's what we had to deal with today.  The first stop, I tried one of my favorite cold front locations but didn't get a bite.  Next stop I got it right and the drum were on.  After catching 10 drum we moved because they still needed 5 redfish for their limits.  They ended up with their 6 redfish and released 13 drum in the process.  The drum, of course, wanted shrimp but the redfish only wanted  mullet.

REDFISH ON GULP

11-12-2012--Two fishermen both limited on redfish using gulp jerk shad.  With north wind cranking at 30+ MPH trout were really not an option although they did catch one trout.

BLACK DRUM IN MOVING WATER

11-4-2012--Today's fishermen could only fish 2 and 1/2 hours so we had to make every minute count.  We got on the water at 10:00  and had to be back at the dock at 12:30.  About 10:30 a very light north wind started blowing.  It was just enough to push some water out of back lake areas.  I took the boat as far as it could float into a back lake drain and anchored up.  Reds were all undersized but keeper black drum were plentiful.  They caught the legal limit of 10 keepers, released 4 of the smaller ones and kept 6 for dinner.  The light north wind died about 30 minutes before we had to quit so the fishing slowed at the end.  It was good to have a better day than yesterday when I was embarrassed at the dock by having only two keeper fish.

REDFISH AND DRUM DAY

REDFISH ON SHRIMP

REDFISH ON GULPS

10-15-2012--With a light north wind forecast we started out to fish mid bay reefs but the wind picked up too much for that before we could get there.  We moved to plan B which was to wade a windward shoreline

with artificial lures.  Right away we had two over sized reds on. We tried other soft plastics but the fish only wanted gulp preferably with some chartreuse on it.  Kept three limits and released several including some over sized reds.  Also, managed to get 6 trout.  Trout seemed to be very scattered.  We've waded with artificial lures the last three trips and caught trout, flounder and redfish but today was by far the best day for redfish.

MIXED BAG

10-5-2012--Slow day but the fishermen did manage to catch reds, trout and black drum.

GRAND SLAMS

10-6-2012--Traditionally a grand slam has meant a stringer of one each redfish, trout and flounder.  Since black drum are becoming more popular we may need to change the definition to include them.  Anyway the group today managed two grand slams plus.  I say plus because they caught black drum also.

VACATION FROM FISHING

9-25-2012--I'll be back fishing tomorrow.  Meantime, I wanted to share my elk picture which I had the luck and good fortune to get in New Mexico with bow and arrow.  I bought a bow about six months ago and practiced daily, even when I was often very tired from long days of fishing.  This is the only animal of any kind I've shot with a bow.  Highly recommend Mark Harper Outfitters of Coyote, NM.    

REDFISH RETURN

9-3-2012--The tides fell to normal levels and the redfish returned to the flats and shorelines where they should be this time of year.

BLACK DRUM AND REDFLISH

8-31-2012--Above picture is of today's group.  Picture on right is of Brody and his Grandmother from their recent trip.  Fishing has been fun but catching slow lately.  The high tides that we had for about a week caused the redfish and black drum to retreat to back lakes where we couldn't access them. There are some trout in the area but they seem to have been very shallow early in the mornings due to the shallow water being cooler.  You can catch them wading but it's difficult to catch them from the boat.  The one time I got to wade we caught trout and black drum on jigs with gulp shrimp.  The only recent day the wind was down enough to go to the surf I didn't have a customer.  My friends that fished the surf that day did great and limited early.  

HALF DAY FISHING

8-23-2012--Had a father and son for a half day trip.  They wanted to catch some redfish so we went back to the same place where we found large  redfish last week.  Today trout were there but no redfish.  We ended the 4 hour trip with 9 trout.

WOUNDED WARRIOR FISHING

8-21-2012--My group today consisted of a father and two sons.  Several months ago I donated a full day trip to a charity auction for Wounded Warriors.  Today's trio represented the successful bidders.  They had no experience with coastal fishing so it was a day of learning.  Many fish were missed during the early two hour feeding period.  By the time they got trained up the bite had slowed.  They did manage to box 24 very nice trout before the day was over.  The only good bite other than early morning occurred about noon for less than an hour during which time they boxed eight more trout.

REDFISH MIGRATION

8-19-2012--It's the time of year again when redfish start gathering up for their move to the Gulf.  With trout scarce, I've been lucky to have been on a school of 26 to 32 inch redfish for the last few days.

Friday and Saturday we had the Copano Energy sponsored Cystic Fibrosis catch and release tournament.  This year there were 79 guided boats with two contestants each competing for best stringers of 2 trout and two reds each.  In this contest large redfish can really make a difference.  Most of the redfish my team weighed in were oversized, putting their score high in the rankings even though one of the anglers only caught one of the three trout he needed.  This is always a fun tournament with everyone dedicated to helping the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Picture is of today's crew with the kind of redfish we've been catching.  All of these reds bit live piggy perch or croaker.  Shrimp would get you small reds and sheepshead but not the big reds.  These fish were all caught wading in thigh deep to waist deep water.  Bite was never fast but when you had a bite it was a good fish.

THIRTY BLACK DRUM

8-3-2012 - Had a family of 6 fishing out of 2 boats today.  Both boats limited for a total of 30 black drum, one founder and one trout.  Caught 3 fish early and then had a lull until mid-morning.  After an hour the bite slowed again but picked up about 11 o/clock.  We limited during the noon hour and left with a good bite going on.  Picture shows the group of 3 that fished on my boat.

DRUM A DRUMMING

8-2-2012 - Had 9 year old Dean for a half day with his grandfather he calls "coach."  Reds have been spotty and the wind was up too much for the trout we've been finding so we opted for black drum knowing Dean would get enough bites to stay interested.  Early he caught small trout, small redfish, skipjack and a keeper flounder.  Then about 8:45 the drum came in big schools you could sight cast to.  Of course Dean caught the 2 biggest fish, the largest being 11 pounds and 28:.  We had to help hold his rod for the bigger fish.

BLACK DRUM SAVE MORNING

7-30-2013--Had a 6 year old and a 9 year old along with their dad today for 4 hours.  We fished for 3 hours for redfish and trout without getting a keeper before going to black drum..  You could sight cast to the black drum coming in waves.  The dad and I had to help hold the rods but the boys could manage to reel the fish in.  The drum were nice size in the 4 to 5 pound range.  The boys caught 9 black drum before we called it a morning and left with the bite still on.  

WINDY DAYS ARE FOR REDFISH

WADING FOR REDS AND TROUT

7-20-2012--Waded a shoreline today with four good fishermen using piggy perch for trout and redfish.  The redfish won out as trout were super scarce.   It seems there are plenty of male trout but the larger females are not showing.  Hopefully, in about a week when the next full moon cycle begins that will change.  Otherwise , I'll be concentrating on redfish and black drum.

ANOTHER TOUGH DAY FOR CATCHING

7-19-2012--

BIG BLACK DRUM

7-14-2012--With thunderstorms throughout the area and lots of clouds the fishing was very pleasant today but the catching was tough.  We were limited with when and where we could go by the thunderstorms but we managed to stay dry all day.  Luckily my fishermen were into catch and release except for keeping just enough trout for the evening meal.  We didn't have to release many keepers but they did release a 29 inch black drum they accidently caught while fishing for trout.  The trip was really for the 7 year old boy and he caught lots of fish even though most weren't keepers.

PORT ARANSAS

7-13-2012--Picked up my crew of five college students at Port Aransas for a half day charter today.  We were delayed a few minutes waiting for the storms to pass.  We fished nearby for about an hour because there were still thunderstorms in the area.  About 7:30 it had cleared enough  for us to run across Corpus Christi bay.  The fishing was good when we got there.  They ended up with 20+ speckled trout, along with some sand trout.  They are going to have part of  the fish cooked at a restaurant in Port Aransas this evening for their total group of 13.  I was surprised that the trout preferred shrimp over piggy perch and croaker today.  We used up all of two quarts of shrimp and brought most of the perch and croaker home.

LIMITS AT 7:45 AM

6-7-2012--Had two fishermen today who wanted to get off the water early.  They caught their limits of 20 good size trout by 7:45.  We had two on at once several times.  Lost camera was found.

THREE DAYS OF RAIN

June 29-July 1-2012--The good news is we got about 1 1/2 inch of needed rain the past three days.  The bad news is we couldn't fish very much.  Friday I took four fishers to Corpus Christi Bay but only got to fish a couple of hours before the storms chased us back to the dock.  After waiting a while it became apparent the storm cells would not let us go back out so we moved to Cove Harbor to fish the Estes flats area.  We put the boat in the water with sunshine.  Anchored up in a redfish spot and managed to catch one undersized fish before another storm cell came calling.  We went back to he dock with the 4 speckled trout and a about a dozen sand trout that we caught earlier in Corpus Christi Bay.

Friday night I offered to postpone the Saturday trip but the customers wanted to fish if it was possible.  Saturday morning I bought bait and put the boat in the water at the Saint Charles boat ramp and my customers came promptly at 5:55 AM.  There was lightening in the distance and after checking the smart phone weather maps I decided that it would not safe to fish. So, they went home and I put the boat back on the trailer.

Saturday evening I got a call cancelling my Sunday trip which was a 2 boat trip with another guide.  

I'm fishing tomorrow so I'll have another report but I don't know how good it will be considering the wind is forecast to keep us the best places for trout right now and the high tides are making reds hard to locate.

NOT AS EASY TODAY

5-28-2012--Winds and waves were higher today to the extent it was difficult to anchor where we needed to be.   Trout were smaller on average.  My three fishermen managed 26 keeper trout before we used up all 12 dozen croaker.  They caught a lot of undersized male fish that consumed our croaker but couldn't be put in the box. .

FIVE FOR FIFTY

6-27-2012—Fishing just can’t get any better.  Had five today, including two youngsters,  who caught 50 speckled trout.   The average size was less than yesterday but they were still good trout.  All the fish came on croaker.    

FOUR HOURS - FORTY FISH

6-26-2012--Fishing is phenomenal right now.  Had a half day charter today.  I always hope to catch at least half a limit of something during a half day trip.  The four fishers caught 40 good trout.  I believe they actually missed more than that.  Most of the trout we cleaned had at least one of our croakers in their stomach which means someone missed the fish and it came back to steal another croaker before getting caught.  Today's fishers were a family of four, three of which had little or no experience fishing.  After today they are probably hooked on fishing but it will probably be a long time before they have such good luck again.    

SCATTERED FISH

6-24-2-12--Fish are still scatterd due to the extremely high tides so you have to move around quite a bit.  Today's group managed to box 17 speckled trout.  They also kept over 20 sand trout for a fish fry this evening.  We spent over an hour looking for reds but didn't find any.

FISHING TOURNAMENT

6-22 and 6-23 2012--Had the same group the past two days.  They have fished with me the past two years while entered in a large tournament out of Port Aransas.  The group is highly competitive so we tried very hard both years to win.  Last year they won largest trout  with a 25 1/2 inch sow but the lack of redfish kept them from winning heaviest stringer.  On Friday they waded deep grass beds and caught 19 trout before we started looking for redfish.  We tried wading shallow flooded back lake areas due to the high tides with no luck on reds.  Tournament day,  Saturday,  they wanted to weigh in trout, two reds and one drum for heaviest stringer.  About mid morning with 16 trout to pick from we put the boat back on the trailer and moved 20 miles to where I had more confidence in catching reds.  A friend had sworn me to secercy and told me where a school of reds was hanging out. As soon as the lines were out a red took the bait and then another in short order.  In less than an hour we had 9 reds so we left them biting to go find one black drum.  They got one keeper drum to the boat but lost it and another fish we think was a drum was lost by a hook coming undone.  So we ended up with out a black drum.  I still haven't heard how they did at the weigh in.  I hope they at least placed.  

MORE REDFISH

We caught more redfish today, but they are getting larger.

BACK TO REDFISH

6-19-2012--Strong winds forced us back to redfish today.  Had 5 fishermen for a 4 hour half day.  Redfish were mostly small.