BIG BLACK DRUM

11-27-2013--The water temperature was a cold 43 degrees this morning.  We fished three spots with no results before trying an oyster bed surrounded by deep mud.  Once the bite started it was consistent for over an hour during which time two very large sheepshead and 7 black drum up to 27 inches were boxed.

LATE REPORT FOR LAST FRIDAY

 

 11-22-2013--Had a good half day of fishing before the cold front hit.  Client limited on black drum and released keepers for quite awhile.  He also caught two nice trout and and a keeper sheepshead while releasing lots of undersized  reds.  The strong cold front and associated rain forced us off the water after about three hours of constant catching.

ARE HARDHEADS GOOD TO EAT?

11-12-2013--I'm not fishing today but wanted to publish some recent pictures and forward a text I received about the delicacy of hardhead catfish,




Several times during the fishing trip on Sunday, November 10, I was questioned about eating hardhead catfish.  They wanted to know if I had tried it, did I know anyone who had and why wouldn't it be good, etc.  Against all my negative input at least two of the three voted to keep some hardheads.  They even offered to clean them at their house so I wouldn't have to be seen with hardheads at the cleaning stand.  When we came in no one else was around the dock so I cleaned the hardheads for them.  It should be noted I cleaned them first just in case someone showed up. Here is the text I received:

     "Ron, this is Robert.  You fished with us Saturday and Sunday.  I wanted to give u a hardhead report.  We took our fish to the crab"n" like us suggested.  I told the folks there I had brown snapper so they would not laugh or throw it out.  We had it fried cajun style and everyone who tried it said it was delicious.  Everything else turned out great also.  You have a chance to get in on the ground floor of a fishing revolution and become a premier hardhead guide.  Had a great time, thanks."

As I write this a serious cold front is on it's way.  Hopefully, the resulting cooler water temperatures will cause bait and fish to leave the back bays and marshes and more trout and redfish where we can reach them with bay boats.  Lately we have found good numbers of trout in some areas but almost all have been small.  To get fish for the box we have targeted redfish and black drum. The black drum are biting shrimp dead or alive.  Cut perch cut mullet, shrimp and artificial lures have all worked for redfish.  The redfish are mostly around 20 inches or 28 inches with very few being mid-slot size fish in the 22 to 26 inch

range.  

  

BIG BLACK DRUM

10-20-2013--Only had one client today.  While drifting the flats for redfish and trout we were surprised when he hooked up a monster that turned out to be a 37 inch black drum.  On the next drift very nearby, he hooked up and landed an even larger black drum.  The second one measured 42 inches.  Of course both fish were quickly released after pictures were taken.

PERSONAL BEST

10-15-2013--Early this morning a boat ran in front of us about 300 yards away.  Right after the boat passed we had two hook ups at the same time.  One got away but the other turned out to be a 39 inch redfish.  It was the biggest redfish the man had ever caught.  The fish was released after pictures.

WET DAY

10-16-2013--The north wind hit earlier than forecast this morning.  We had just finished a 20 minute run to our fishing spot which is good in a southeast or east wind but not north when the strong north wind and rain came.  We then moved 5 miles to the other side of the bay. We all had good rain jackets so the rain didn't bother us too much but I had to get out of the boat twice in thigh deep water.  The first time was when a rod shot out of it's holder with a hard hitting red on the other end.  After wading back and forth I found the line and pulled up the rod, walked back to the boat and handed it to one of the fishermen.  He reeled in the keeper redfish.  Later a hat blew out of the boat and I waded out to get it.  At the end of the day we had a good box of fish with 10 black drum, 5 sheepshead and 2 redfish.

GOOD DAY ON THE WATER

10-12-2013--Caught keeper trout, black drum, sheepshead, shark and redfish today. Also, caught lots of small fish.  Reds were good sized with one being over sized and one just shy of 28 Inches. Redfish all came on cut skip jack that the fishermen caught earlier in the day.  

ANOTHER BONNETHEAD SHARK

10-2-2013--One of my fishermen caught and released a Bonnethead shark on the same reef where the one was caught last Saturday.  Again the bait was dead shrimp.

BONNETHEAD SHARK

 9-28-2013--One of my two fishermen caught a 39 inch Bonnethead shark on dead shrimp while fishing for black drum and redfish.  Interesting part is we were in near the second chain of islands in the South end of San Antonio bay.  This is the first I've known of a keeper Bonnethead being found in that area.

STILL BLACK DRUM

8-6-2013--Had a couple for a half day.  They limited on good sized black drum and caught one redfish using shrimp.

HARDHEAD CATFISH

   8-5-2013--Had a father/son duo today.  We fished for redfish and black drum.  Ended the day with 2 reds and 8 black drum.  When fishing for redfish after the black drum they caught lots of hardheads.  I kept flipping them off with the tool I call the "hardhead flipper".  I guess I was a little exasperated with them when I carelessly flipped one up in the air and it landed with it's fin into my big toe.  It went through the tendon on top and to the rear of my big toe all the way to the bone.  I don't know where the pain fit on a scale of 1 to 10 but I know I wanted to cry.  I'm sure I'll be careful with hardheads for a long time to come.

TOURNAMENT

8-3-2013--Today's group were entered in a charity tournament.  One member ended up placing second in largest trout division and the group placed fourth in the heaviest stringer division with the stringer limit of three trout and two redfish.  Early in the day we left the trout to find redfish to fill out the stringer.  It worked but it was hard for me to leave the area that I knew held the most and biggest trout.  My friend who stayed in the same area, later reported, that his group limited on large trout once the tide changed between 11:15 and 12:15.  Sorry, no pictures.

TROUT ON CROAKER

AND MORE BLACK DRUM

8-1-2013--Another black drum day.  Looks like we'll be able to go for trout tomorrow.

MORE LARGE DRUM

BLACK DRUM DAY

7-30-2012--Today's group of four caught 2 mangrove snapper early in the morning.  We moved to a channel with moving water for black drum.  The black drum are good sized.  You can see them cruising by in groups of 5 to 50.  This makes for fun fishing. The secret is to throw dead shrimp in front of them and hope they get to it before the perch do.  The anglers caught 11 of the black drum before we headed to the dock at noon.

 

JACK CREVALLE

 2-24-2013--Had a group of three, including an eleven year old boy.  He caught his first redfish right off the bat.  Later, we spotted Jack Crevalle feeding on a pod of menhadden.  I told them to bait up and throw into the feeding frenzy while I maneuvered the boat.  The boy was first in the water and hooked up right away.  He did a good job of fighting the fish.  When the fish had taken almost all of the line I cranked up and followed the fish.  The boy tired and the other fishermen took turns at fighting the fish.  After about a 20 plus minute battle the fish tired and they were able to get it in the boat.  It measured 41 inches in length.

FISHING IS IMPROVING

7-20-2013--Fishing has been pleasant the last three days but the catching has been tough.  It got a better today so hopefully tomorrow will be the day.  The group today ended up with 14 nice trout. 

CAPTAIN RON

7-16-2013--I'm off recovering from minor eye surgery.   Will be back fishing Thursday so that will  be my next report.  Weather is cooler with rains in the area.  Hopefully we will get some rain.  It would be especially great if a lot of rain fell on the headwaters of the rivers that drain into our bays.

Several clients have mentioned seeing the movie with CAPT RON, so I couldn't resist sending this picture.  

RED AND BLACK DRUM

7-14-2013--Had a thirteen year old and his dad today.  Only had until 10 AM but they caught a pile of black drum most of which were undersized.  The boy did catch his first keeper redfish and first keeper black drum.  I'm told the larger black drum bit well starting about 10:30.  Early in the morning we were waved over by a man in a sail boat.  He was stuck on a bar but still near the channel.  He told us he had gotten stuck there afternoon before and had to spend the night.  I noticed he had at least two lady passengers.  They were taking the boat from Rockport to Port O'Connor for repair when he ran aground on the channel edge.  He jumped in the water and tried to extract his anchor but it wouldn't budge.  He had me pull the boat side ways by hooking a rope to the top of the mast.  When I started to pull he cranked up his motor and ran to the front of the

boat to pull the anchor in.  It got exciting for a moment when I gunned the engine to pull him free, the sail boat leaned to it's side and his motor took over.  My customer was barely able to get the rope loose from our cleat before his boat drug us away.  Anyway it all worked out well and the sail boat continued on it's way.  

SPANISH MACKEREL

7-13-2013--Tough fishing the last 2 days due to hot water, low winds and weak morning tides.  My 2 guest today caught 11 trout, 1 Spanish Mackerel, 1 whiting and loads of big skip jack, small shark and gaftop sail catfish.  At 11:00 am one of the fishermen overheated so we had to go in early.

FAMILY AND FRIENDS FISHING

7-10-2013--Just discovered I've been dating July entries as the 6th month.  I also dated several checks for bait with a 6 for the month when it should have been a 7.  I guess they got cashed anyway.

Had a group of family and friends numbering seven so we used two boats.  Our normal half day trip wasn't long enough for the clients but the full day trip was believed to be too long.  So we negotiated a 5 1/2 hour trip when the booking was made.   My boat had four young ladies while the other boat had a lady and two 10 year old boys.  Catching started slow with little wind and no tide movement.  The bite turned on when the tide started about 10:30 AM but right after that  the young ladies decided they would rather go for a boat ride than keep fishing so we did a boat ride.  I couldn't figure out why everywhere we went other boaters were so interested in my boat.

                                  

 

ANOTHER GOOD DAY

6-5-2013--Trout are still good on croaker.  My couple didn't quite limit this morning but did have a lot of missed chances.  It took awhile to get used to croaker fishing and by then the bite slowed.  The man hooked onto what I first thought was a huge red but later decided must have been a very large ray.  We cranked the drag down on 30# braid and he fought the creature for about 20+ minutes.  At that point it ran toward the shore and we decided it must be a ray so we cranked the drag tighter. At that point the rod which had been bent double all along broke in two.  He fought the creature on half a rod for a little bit and then the half rod broke followed by the line breaking because there was no rod to take the shock.

FOURTH OF JULY

    6-4-2013--Had two very nice couples today.  We started with a learning curve because they were more used to jerking when fish bite as in bass fishing.  That doesn't work when one uses live fin fish for bait.  We were using live croaker and the bite was finicky enough that you had to let the trout run quite a ways with the bait before setting the hook.  Once the fishers got the hang of it the catching was fast at least until the tide stopped moving.  They ended up with 28 trout, several sand trout and whiting plus two good sized Spanish mackerel.  They also released a very large ray and some sharks.

FISHING IS GREAT

 6-3-2013-- Had a pretty six year old with her dad today.  She reeled in a half dozen fish before dad got his mojo.  When he got started it was on.  Fish were good size trout.  They finished their limit of 20 fish about 9:30.  When,the dad talked about coming again; I had  to tell him the fishing is not necessarily this easy  every day.  

UNPREDICTABLE WIND

6-29-2013--Although winds were predicted to be low today, they were high from 6-9 am.  So we weren't able to go to where we caught them yesterday.  But we did get into the fish and the 7 year old was able to reel in several.

EVERY DAY IS DIFFERENT

 

 6-28-2013--Great fishing today.  Had a couple using croaker today.  They had 17 nice trout at 8:00 AM on the first anchor before the bite quit.  We moved a short distance to get the other three during the next hour and a half.  This was a real contrast with yesterday when I had five good fishermen but couldn't seem to find  keeper fish for them.

KIDS FISHING

 6-25-2013--Had a man and three Grandchildren, ages, 7, 9, and 12 fishing yesterday afternoon and this morning.  We had a great time until one got sick about 9:30 this morning and we had to come in.  Along with some keepers they caught lots of hardhead catfish, perch, croaker, gaftop sail catfish, small redfish, etc.

Banter went something like this:  Why do we have to fish so early?  What do we have to eat?  Where are we going? Whats that?  Why can't I use that pole?  No, I don't want to touch it.  Well, how long do they have to be?  Why do they have to be a certain length?  Is there anything else to eat?

WADING WITH CROAKER

 6-21-2013--Left the boat ramp just after daylight with three of the four originally scheduled wade fishermen.     I had planned to wade a special spot that gets lots of traffic so I was disappointed that the group got held up at breakfast and were late arriving.  I decided to rush out to our spot and then rig their rods out in the water.      We made it to the spot in time to claim it but it turned out not to be as good as I expected.  We caught one red and four or five trout on that first wade in an inside lake.  There were many bites but the fish just picked the croaker up and moved it.  We moved back to the boat on an outside windward beach and found trout more willing to bite.  There one angler also caught a 28" red.  This day was practice fishing for a tournament on Saturday.  The tournament weigh in stringer called for 5 trout, 2 reds up to 28 inches and one black drum.  We ended the day with 13 trout, two reds and one black drum about 7 pounds.

TOURNAMENT DAY

               6-22-2013--Had yesterday's group again today with one face change and one additional for a total of four for the tournament.  This time we were all on time and left the Port Aransas Harbor in the dark. On the first wade, facing the wind, on an outside beach they caught two 27 inch reds and several trout but half the fishermen were struggling trying to fish deep in the high waves so we made a move to easier fishing.  It seemed that there were twice as many boats on the water as yesterday.  It was difficult to find a place to wade as all the real estate was already taken.  When the trout fishing slowed I took them to a location for black drum.  I changed the hooks to a smaller size and used shrimp for bait.  The drum were there but smaller than normal.  They ended the day with about 20 trout, two reds and two black drum.
           Monday it's back to boat fishing with a grandfather and three young grandsons.

26 INCH SPECKLED TROUT - 5 1/2 POUNDS

TWO HALF DAYS

 6-13-2013--Had one fisherman yesterday afternoon and today.  He was new to coastal fishing and had lots of good questions.  He turned out to be a fast learner at using croaker and perch for bait.  Wednesday, we started at 2 PM and got right into nice size trout.  Later we went for redfish but couldn't get any to take a bait.  I wanted him to get the full experience of coastal fishing by catching redfish so today we concentrated on catching redfish.  We used most of the morning up moving from spot to spot with only one undersized red to show for it.  Our last move about one hour before quitting time yielded all the reds and the large trout He got a limit of three reds one of which came on live perch and the others took cut perch. The largest red was 27 1/2 inches in length.  He also  caught two trout with the largest being 5 pounds and measuring 24 1/2 inches.

YOUNG FISHERMAN

 6-10-2013-- Had a twelve year old today along with his grandparents.  He caught the largest redfish and largest trout,  Not only that but the oversized redfish was caught using cut up skip jack that he also caught.

TOURNAMENT REDFISH

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 6-8-2013--Had two gentlemen who were in a tournament today and from what they told me there were no rules about using only slot size fish.  They caught  39 and  42 inch reds in addition to trout, slot reds and one snapper.  Both said the oversized reds were the biggest fish they had ever caught.  I still don't know how they came out in the tournament.  I talked to one other guide for the same tournament who also had a 42 inch red on his boat