SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS December 12, 2014

ANOTHER GREAT DAY WITH BLACK DRUM

11-30-20914-- Today was the fourth day of perfect weather in Rockport,  Had another family of four with a lot of fish catching.  The two young men are definitely proof that the parents are doing something right.  I know they will go far in life.

 When I got hooked the group had just finished their limits of 20 black drum.  They also caught 2 keeper trout, 1 keeper sheepshead and lots of undersized redfish and trout.  I got to spend some time at the Urgent Care Center getting the jig cut out.  My fishing pliers weren't up to cutting the lead head off and in fact the side cutters at the clinic weren't up to the task either. The doctor pushed the hook barb on through and then cut it near the barb; so I ended up with two puncture holes.  After wearing the jig in my neck for 2-3 hours I wondered why any woman would wear pierced earrings let alone the other types of piercings some people favor.

GREAT DAY ON THE WATER

11-29-2014--Today's family group of four kept their limit of 20 black drum, 2 nice trout and one redfish.  After limiting on black drum they tried to catch more redfish but the black drum kept taking the bait.  They released about 15 additional good sized black drum.  The one redfish keeper would have made any tournament angler proud.  It measured 27 1/2 inches and weighted 8 pounds.  

ACRES OF OVER-SIZED BLACK DRUM

 

 11-28-2014--Today started slow with no keepers till nearly noon when the water warmed up.  We came across a huge school of over-sized black drum.  They caught and released one that measured 38 inches and another that measured 36 inches.  They had two more on but one broke off and the other pulled off.

FLOUNDER

 11-3-2014--Today's two guests caught eight black drum, one almost 28 inch redfish, two flounder, one trout and one sheepshead in addition to lots of small fish.  The man pictured with the redfish caught 5 keeper fish on his first six casts into one small area on our second stop.  These included redfish, trout, sheepshead, black drum and flounder

PILE OF FISH

11-1-2014--Guests today were a family of four.  They kept me very busy

netting and unhooking fish.  In the process of limiting on black drum they caught countless undersized reds.  One of the boys caught his biggest ever fish; a 27 inch redfish.  At the end of the day they had boxed 20 black drum, 5 or 6 sheepsheads and the one good redfish. They took home 54 fillets for future meals.

REDS AND DRUM FEED WITH A NORTH WIND

10-30-2014--What a difference a day makes.  Yesterday, I had four anglers for a half day and we could see large schools of black drum floating by but they wouldn't bite anything we could think of to offer them.  Today's full day trip was the opposite--we couldn't see the fish but they bit constantly.  We started in a back lake drain out of the north wind.  Right away one of the two anglers tied into an over-sized redfish.  After the battle and a picture the red was released.  Next the other angler immediately landed a good sized black drum. It was non stop after that.  It was good that they both were experienced fishermen who could bait their  own hooks etc, because I could barely keep up with netting fish and getting bait out of the live well.   They had their limits of black drum well before mid morning but we kept fishing the same area hoping for reds and trout.  In addition to about a dozen extra keeper drum which were released they got one mid slot sized red and two large sheepsheads.  A large flounder and a 17-18 inch trout were hooked but got off before getting to the net.  Additionally, many smaller fish were caught and released.  

BIG DRUM

10-27-2014

REDFISH

10-26-2014

MIXED BAG

Today's guests were a family of three, new to coastal fishing, scheduled for a half day.  The day started with a good trout bite that ended in about 20 minutes.  The trout were good fish up to 23" but after catching four, there were no bites, so we opted to go for black drum.  After moving six miles, they caught 6 good sized black drum and one red before quitting time.

ANOTHER BLACK DRUM DAY

10-23-2014--Had three fishermen today.  They caught 15 black drum and 2 large sheepshead on both live and dead shrimp.  There was just a little too much north wind to fish for trout.  Hopefully the wind will lay some tonight.  

CEDAR BAYOU

10-22-2014--The  two fishermen wanted to fish Cedar Bayou.  I told them with the north east wind we would not be able to fish the surf and that the cut itself would not likely produce fish today.  After we spent about 2-3 hours there

I was glad I had warned them in advance.  The total catch in Cedar Bayou was one keeper red, one keeper trout and several undersized flounder.  One of the gentlemen did hook a large flounder but it got off before he could get it to hand.

I was surprised to discover that the water running out through Cedar Bayou had two outlets--the gulf and Vincent slough.  I had always thought that with a falling tide the water ran out of Vincent slough, into Cedar Bayou and into the gulf.  The opposite is true.  Part of the falling tide water leaves Cedar Bayou and goes through Vincent slough into Aransas Bay and on towards Port Aransas.

After our time at Cedar Bayou they were ready for a more sure thing so I suggested going for black drum.  Before noon they had limited on good sized black drum.  Black drum saved the day once again.

BLACK DRUM

10-21-2014--Two fishermen limited on black drum and caught one keeper red on dead shrimp.

TROUT ARE BACK

10-18-2014--All three clients limited on trout using shrimp with a popping cork. We left them biting to pursue black drum. Species caught in addition to trout and black drum included undersized redfish, sting-ray, Jack Ceravalle, Pompano, and hardheads. The Pompano will be very good eating.

PERSONAL BEST REDFISH AND FLOUNDER

9-30-2013--Today's fishermen limited early on reds and chose to look for black drum. They caught and released several more mid-slot size reds at the places I normally go for black drum. They caught lots of 13 3/4" black drum but only 4 keepers and a bonus of 2 flounder. One of the reds was caught on cut skip jack but everything else came on shrimp both live and dead. One of the fishermen told me his first redfish was the biggest he had ever caught. Right away he caught a much larger one that measured 27 inches. He also said he had not caught a keeper flounder before. Today he caught two.

FIRST BOAT FISHING EXPERIENCE

8-11-2014--Quite often folks ask me what is the right age to start taking youngsters on fishing boats. Today's group of 3,4 and 5 year old sisters did very well on a half day trip. I'm sure a full day trip would have been way too much but the half day was just right. When I left them, at eleven; mother, dad and the three girls were on their way to have fish cooked for lunch. In addition to trout they caught large sand trout, gafftop

sail catfish, some kind of small jack fish and undersized redfish. We had to help hold the rods but the girls did all the reeling in.

MOMMA TROUT

7-28-2014--Had one client today and we sought large trout. Picture is one of two large trout he caught and released back to back. We released several other keepers and kept three small fish for dinner.

TROUT AND DRUM

7-24-2014--Had two half day charters today. First was two men and they caught 13 speckled trout plus about 20 sand trout. The afternoon wind was too high to go back for the trout so we went for drum and reds. The afternoon trip consisted of four men who caught a 33 inch redfish and 5 black drum along with countless throw back fish.

DRUM DAY

7-21-2014--Had a group of five today. The young man with his new wife holding up a black drum fished with me in June as part of a three boat bachelor group. Since then he had wed, honeymooned on a cruise and fishing trip to Alaska and now been back fishing with me. I'd say he has started things off right.

PLENTY OF BLACK DRUM

Today's family group of five limited with 25 black drum. Yesterday, my group of four also limited with 20 black drum and 2 trout.

LADIES CATCHING BLACK DRUM

7-12-20144--Three ladies for four hours today so we opted for black drum. The fish cooperated. Generally when we could get a bait in front of the big school a fish would take it.

She caught it, but needed help to hold it.

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HAPPY FISHERMEN

5-24-2014-- Predictions were for very little tide movement so I opted to go for redfish believing

the trout bite would be off.  The father/son team limited on redfish using cut menhadden.  

REDFISH LIKE THE WIND

 5--22--2014--Had a father and two sons today.  We opted to go for redfish.   Two reds were taken very early but then the bite died until about 11 AM when it turned on.   They ended up with their limit of 9 redfish.  Tomorrow, I plan to start on trout and revert to redfish when the bite slows.

AGE IS NO BARRIER

 5-19-2014--Had one young 85 year old today.  Redfish and trout have been so tough to come by since the full moon I opted to pursue black drum today.  My spry 85 year old limited on black drum and boxed one trout in addition to countless smaller fish including sheepshead, black drum, hardheads and gafftop sail catfish.  Yesterday, my four fishers each boxed a redfish and together caught, smaller redfish, dog fish, sting rays, and bonnethead shark.

BABES ON THE BAY

     5-17-2014-- Today was the annual Babes on the Bay fishing tournament, the largest all woman's fishing tournament. Low tides and strong winds made fishing tough.  The weigh-in stringer was to consist of one redfish and three trout.  My ladies got the reds with no problem but only got one trout.

COLD WIND REDFISH

5-14-2013--Had the same couple the past two days.  Yesterday, we couldn't fish until 1 PM due to rain.  During the afternoon trip they caught 4 keeper reds.  The wind was over 30 mph and very cold.  None of us were prepared with enough clothing to be comfortably warm.  The only good thing was we had the bay all to ourselves.  Today there were a few more boats on the water and we had warmer clothing.  They were limited on redfish and had one black drum when we quit at noon.  We've mostly been using menhaden for bait but yesterday, one of the reds came on shrimp and today four of them were taken on shrimp.

REDFISH SAVE THE DAY

5-10-2014--We had a two boat trip with two ladies and two men in each boat.  The plan was to wade using croaker for bait.  Normally the croaker are good sized by this time in May but this year everything is late and the croaker are still too small to be effective bait.  The clients wanted to try them anyway because they had done so well in the past at this time of year.  Most of the morning was dead calm with very light winds from different directions in between.  I doubt that we could have overcome the conditions even if we had larger croaker.   Luckily we had a plan B so after getting only two keeper trout in the morning we got back in the boats and went for redfish using menhadden for bait.  The redfish were very cooperative.  

 

DRUM SAVE THE DAY

 4-22-2014--Today's fishers limited with 15 black drum.  The drum were unusually large compared to those we normally catch in the bays.  Several weighted between 12 and 14 pounds and ranged up to 29 1/2 inches.  The drum along with 2 trout filled the boat's ice chest.

DRUM STILL DRUMMING

4-5-2014--Another good day on over-sized black drum up to 46 inches.