MORE REDFISH

3-27-2012--Had two fishermen today. We started out drifting for trout and reds but caught no keepers. There was very little bait where I have been getting reds so we went to another area that had lots of bait. They caught 3 keeper reds there and released several smaller ones. About 12:30 we went to the same spot where my fishermen got limits three days in a row last week and at that time there were lots of mullet there. The fishermen quickly caught three more reds for their limit and released some keepers.

3-24-2012--Since the redfish bite has been starting after 12 noon we went for sheepshead first. My five fishermen caught 10 large sheepshead and 4 black drum up to 28 inches in length. We moved to the flats for redfish about 12:30 PM. I took them to the exact same spot where I have limited clients the past 2 days. Today made it three days in a row when they caught 15 nice redfish. Cut skipjack seemed to be the bait of choice for the redfish. We're using skipjack that I froze last summer when they were plentiful.

REDFISH IN THE FLATS

3-22-2012--Fished for redfish today. The day started slow with one redfish early and another about 10 AM. The other 4 came quickly between noon and 1 PM. They had a double when the last fish came in so one lucky fish got to go free while the other went in the box. We tried perch but did not get a single bite on them. All the bites came on frozen cut menhadden and skip jack.

SHEEPSHEAD AND BLACK DRUM

March 11-14, 2012. Been too busy to post to the blog. Had a good run on catch and release oversized black drum and large sheepshead for the first three days this week and then the winds came up enough to prevent us getting to the sheepshead. The oversized black drum seem to be larger this year with most being between 40 and 46 inches.
Clients caught so many sheepshead that the 96 quart ice chest wouldn't hold them all. We've been using the live well for the overflow. They also caught a few trout.

WEDNESDAY AVAILABLE FOR CHARTER

I just had a cancellation for Wednesday March 14, 2012, due to a family emergency. I now have that one day open during Spring Break. Please call or email me if you want a charter for Wednesday March 14.

Capt Ron Coulston
dba Ron's Guide Service

fishing@ronsrockportfishing.com

361-790-9541
361-557-0555

BIG BLACK DRUM AND SHEEPSHEAD

2-22-2012--Another beautiful day on the water once the fog cleared enough to see it. Had a couple from Iowa who were new to bay fishing. Their lifelong fishing experiences gave them the skills needed to land the big fish we encountered. They came through like professionals.

Started on structure in deep water hoping to catch trout and sheepshead. At least the sheesphead cooperated and readily bit the shrimp we were offering. They boxed limits of large sheepshead plus two trout before we moved to the deep channel holding oversize black drum.

The lady landed a 44 inch black drum that was too heavy to hold for pictures. Her partner followed with a 40 inch black drum that was also very heavy. Both fish were released in good shape and quickly swam to the bottom. I use stout rods and heavy line to keep from wearing the black out so they are not to exhausted to swim back to the bottom. They broke off one large black drum, probably due to a worn place in the line and had another one that just didn't get hooked. The black drum bite was slow due to very little moving tide. I think there are plenty of them in the channel to make catching fast with a good moving tide.

My new boat should be ready toward the end of March but if you come after that time you won't notice much difference since it is very much like the current boat.

TROUT AND FLOUNDER

2-20-2011--Fishing has been good most of the winter but only a few of us got to enjoy it because it seems most prospective customers were busy with hunting, football, holidays, etc. That's past now and the weather is beautiful so the calls are coming in. I've had 5 requests to fish in just the last 2 days. If you want to pick your days to fish with a guide during spring break or the summer it would be prudent to call now because most guides are booking up.

Today I took another guide with me and we waded with artifical lures. I needed to keep some fish for an upcomming fish fry but at noon we had nothing in the box. We moved to a shoreline reef and got 5 nice trout before the bite slowed. Next we moved to a back lake drain with moving water. There the fish really turned on. We kept 17 trout up to 23 and 1/2 inches and 4 flounder. We lost 3 flounder at our hands that appeared to be in the 20 inch range. The hands down bait of choice was Gulp jerk shad in fire tiger.

Last Friday I had a newlywed couple on their honeymoon. That's what I call getting started off right. We used live shrimp. They caught a good box of fish to take back to Michigan including trout, black drum, redfish and giant sheepshead.

I've sold my boat but get to keep it until the new 24' Haynie Cat boat arrives in late March. The new boat is very much just like the one I sold but I just like having new stuff.