Saturday, April 28, 2007

Saltwater Scouting

Most everyone who knows me has realized that I have a new Friday night habit.

Not long ago I used to spend time at football games, plays, and other school related activities. Lately I have been hanging off the 1st Street Pier in Palacios until the wee hours trying to trick some Texas trout.

This Friday was no exception and I arrived at about 9PM to find the dreaded East wind blowing at about 10mph. The bay was chocolate brown from the recent rains and wind, but I was hopeful just the same.

I tried the pier, the wall, and the light in front to the Baptist Encampment - all without any success. I walked down to the Pavilion pier and fished under the lights of the small rock piles on the way. I tried every open light on the pavilion pier and watched several shrimp soakers pull in some hardheads and gafftop.

I began to believe that I too may fall prey to the saltwater catfish before the night was over to avoid the dreaded skunk.

About midnight I returned to the 1st Street Pier and hooked up some Gulp shrimp. I have yet to catch anything on these "miracle baits" but I am still a believer. Anything that smells as bad as they do will eventually catch something.

A couple of guys were fishing live shrimp at the second light and were catching some tiny sand trout (3-5"). The wind finally started dying out after midnight and some small trout moved in under the lights. I quickly dumped the Gulp and went to my old standby. The tiny glow double shad were the ticket and I caught my share of these feisty trout.

I moved around and caught 5 more under the light in front of the Baptist Encampment. All were too small to keep but fun to catch. I caught two that were nearly legal but I try to be careful not to stretch them too much. I want to make sure that if I keep any fish there is no doubt that they are well within the size limit.

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Shiny Silver Speck

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Agressive Yellow-Mouth


I got a few hours sleep and got up to hear the weather report (from Tracy) that conditions were predicted to be conducive to outdoor photography so we decided to take a drive and get some shots of the new scarf she had recently finished.

The pattern for the scarf is called "fish tail lace" so I suggested we go to Matagorda beach for the photo shoot. You know, there is plenty of driftwood and scenic waves and such..... Who knows, I may even be able to catch something to contribute to the theme.

Tracy took her pictures and even took some of me keeping busy while she was shooting her scarf.

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Surf Fisher


After a while, we continued to explore and found Three Mile lake on the bay side of the dunes.

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Blind Casting

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Salt Marsh


I got in some practice casting and saw lots of bait and mullet. I was about to return to Tracy & the truck when I got hit by a hard THUMP and to my surprise and delight pulled in a keeper flounder that hit my 1/8 oz Cubby Micro Jig!

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Southern Flounder.....

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AKA - "Supper"


See, I told you I would contribute to the scarf theme!

We continued exploring and I wanted to check out a "secret spot" I was informed about earlier by a guy who was walking the beach with his shell-hunting spouse.

I would disclose the location but I want to wait until I have a chance to prove whether there are any fish first so I won't be accused of spreading rumors.

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Another Fisherman

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Watching the Bait

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The Catch

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Pier Fisherman?


I didn't get any hits from the bridge and the pier, but I did see a couple of nice oyster reefs and a waterway into the marsh where the promise of an inland saltwater lake awaits.

All in all it was a great day and I now have some new ideas for kayak fishing.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Stalker

After driving home from Edmond OK yesterday, I needed to wet a line. I think I drank enough caffeine on the way home to keep me up for a week and I woke up relatively early this morning.

I rarely get to fish for bass in the morning so it was off to Evans Lake to throw the Buzz bait and a new lizard fly I purchased recently at Gander Mountain.

My first two fish were right where they were supposed to be - close to the shore and ready to hit the Buzzer. I tried a slow retrieve which kept it below the surface which made for more frequent but less than dramatic hits.

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After the Fight

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Fish & Flowers

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Cypress Bass


Next I switched to the fly rod and the lizard fly. This thing is ugly - it's a 6" strip of black bunny fur trailing off the back and the bend of a #1 saltwater hook. It has some chartreuse and orange rubber legs and a couple pieces of Krystal flash and a big epoxy head complete with eyes.

It is a challenge to throw very far even with the 7wt rod. I had to get into my stealth mode and creep along the shoreline casting 30-40 feet ahead of me.

I spooked several fish but did manage to hit a couple in the sweet spot.

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Lip Jewlery

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Big Ugly


Early morning bass on the fly rod - now that's fun!

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Wind From The East...

I think there is a saying (or there should be) that goes like this:

Wind From the East - Fish Bite Least
Wind From the West - Fish Bite Best

OK you get it

At least the east wind was light and manageable enough for crazy fishermen who will drive over an hour to throw tiny rubber glow-in-the-dark jigs out into the night to catch undersized fish so they can throw them all back.

The only thing missing from this bizarre scene is the plastic boat that the fisherman uses to position him in the optimum environment to catch the little fish.

"Be one with the fish"

It's bad enough that a grown man is acting like a 9-year-old but now he is beginning to affect others around him.

There are always occasions to meet new people on the pier and this night was no exception. The newest victim to pier fishing, Paul, arrived before I did. The only benefit to staying at the office late on a Friday is that hopefully the traffic is cleared out when you do finally leave.

I arrived about 9:30 and the east wind was apparently pushing the bait to somewhere else. There was very little action and the other two gents on the pier were fishing dead shrimp on the bottom. There had been reports of some big gaftop catfish caught earlier and the dead shrimp produced another one while we were there.

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Long Whiskers

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Big Slimy


These things fight like a stick and slime up your rig so bad that some folks just cut everything off and start over.

The one thing that is good about a hardhead or a gaftop is that they usually won't bite on artificial - not even a tiny rubber shad.

We were looking for the specks to come in and finally started catching some.

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Fish Necktie

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The Glow of The Lights



I'm becoming a big fan of speckled trout.

They look really cool under the lights and for their size they put up a good fight.

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Dr. Huskins Performing Hook Extraction

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Louisiana Legal

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Speck Master

We were able to help improve our new pier buddy's fishing experience. After I caught the first two specks right out from under his nose with the tiny shad rig, I asked him is he had ever used one. He said no and was looking intently at the end of my line to see what kind of magic I was talking about.

I "just happened" to have an extra one in my shirt pocket that Tracy would probably have found later in the laundry and offered it up as a peace offering for coming over to his spot and catching his fish.

He tied it on to the end of his 20lb test mono but I figured that Zebco could cast it without fouling. Sure enough, he hooked up on the first cast. While we were there he caught several more and he and his son-in-law (the dead-shrimp-soaker) were still at when we left.

It's amazing to see a grown man transform into a kid again when he is catching fish.

Paul and I had a fish-off just before we called it a night. We moved down the seawall to the light in front of the Baptist Encampment and tried to see how many we could swing over the rail in 15 minutes.

Paul took an early lead but I finally started gaining ground. As the clock was ticking down I finally got a big hit that would have sent us into overtime (BONUS!) but alas, I fell prey to the quick head shake of a poorly hooked speck and couldn't land one by the buzzer.

Paul took top prize - he had to drive home, (we came in two cars) and I did get the consolation prize of another 20 minutes of fishing.

I may need to start charging him for my extra baby shad rigs from now on.

Expecially if he's going to beat at my own game.

Don't bite the hand that feeds you.....

Oh - by the way didn't you perform a long distance catch & release technique on few keepers?
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Parting Shot

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Buzz Bait Bonanza

After seeing the success big brother had with the buzz baits at Lake Pinkston, I had to give them a try at my "home water", Evans Lake.

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Paul was right. Top strikes rule!

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This big girl still has her eggs


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Post-spawn Bass


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Catch & Release


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What's Next? - Maybe crawfish......

Group Meeting

I had another multi-day meeting this week. Enough already!

I took my group to Brazos Bend Park for a few hours in the afternoon.

I was accused of wanting to fish - imagine that!

After finally getting everyone checked in and on a trail I headed off to Hale Lake for a few casts.

I didn't catch the park record but I didn't get skunked either.

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LMB (Large Mouth Bass)





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OK..... LLMB (Little Large Mouth Bass)

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Sunday Afternoon Bass

We had a guest speaker today at church.

Delton McGuire presented a four part seminar on Parenting in a Media-Filled World.

We all know how influential the media has become in all of our lives and it's alarming to hear all the statistics and the affects of some of the content on children.

Between the two morning sessions and two this afternoon, I took advantage of the pretty weather for a quick trip to Evans Lake to see if I could snag a bass.

I tied on a new offering, a Clouser's Darter in a perch pattern.

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I worked along the bank in front of the Cypress tree and before long I found what I was looking for.

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This Chunky Bass liked the Darter!

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Glamour Shot

I didn't get to fish long but it was a great way to get out and enjoy the sunshine.

You may notice I'm wearing some Mangrove Sun Gloves.

These are something I'm trying to prevent overexposure of my hands to UV as sunscreen quickly washes off while fishing (especially if you are also catching!).

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Windy Saturday

I was stuck in the Woodlands all week so Tracy & I decided to do some exploring on Saturday. We took a drive to Big Boggy National Wildlife Refuge and Matagorda beach.

It was cloudy and windy when we left home but the weatherman promised that clearing was on the way.

We saw some birds and I got to scope out some future fishing holes.

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Big John at Big Boggy

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Some folks were fishing in spite of the wind.

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Seagull at Matagorda Beach

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Brown Pelican Close-up

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View from under the Wing

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This tern was moving!

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Shore Birds on the Jetties

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Avoiding the Spray

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Formation

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Jetty Rock

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Gliding Gull

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The Dive

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Looking for Lunch


After getting blown around by the high winds, we had a nice dinner at the Waterfront in Matagorda Harbor.

I found a book, Tricking Texas Trout, by Captain Kevin Cochran, a Baffin Bay fishing guide who also writes for Gulf Coast Connections magazine.

So far I like what I've read so I'm going to keep an eye out for his new one, Waters Wild which was recently released.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Lake Conroe

I attended our annual Management meeting this week at the Woodlands Conference Center this week. One day there were activities planned like golf, tennis, and FISHING!

I somehow volunteered to help organize 40 fishermen on 7 pontoon boats. The weather turned out great and we were on the water for a few hours during the afternoon.

Our boat caught a total of 10 fish - freshwater drum (Gasper Goo), channel catfish, and blue catfish. We caught some nice fish up to 19" but didn't win the prize. On the other boats some caught several hybrids and one guy caught a 21 1/2" catfish.

Here I am with a 17 1/2" freshwater drum:

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Here is Mark D with a nice catfish.

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Proper Catfish handling technique:

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The moral of the story -

A slow day on the water beats the meeting room every time!