May

May was a busy month. Between Matt's birthday and our 25th wedding anniversary we had lots of travel and other activities.

I spent more time fishing than blogging so here is my attempt at getting caught up.

Technically this picture was from a trip in late April but is still a nice shot.

A good night on the 1st Street Pier in Palacios.

Rat red from the kayak.

Two thirds of a Texas Slam.

Ready for action.

Mangrove snapper
Ever wonder how they got their name? Watch the video below...




This looks like a juvenile bluefish complete with mini razor sharp teeth.

A pretty lady and her pretty redfish.

This ladyfish is the poor man's tarpon.

Ladyfish profile.

Slimer - aka Gafftop. This big guy took a whole pinfish.

Our anniversary boat ride wasn't all that enjoyable - windy & cold!

Nice McNab trout caught in the yak.

Spanish mackerel caught on the west jetty.

Lunchtime flounder. This guy hit a Gulp under a popping cork.

Spanish mack's toothy grin.

The west jetty - we had it all to ourselves this day.

A trio of flatties.

Weekend Warriors

We had a short weekend at Matty due to a wedding but still managed to squeeze in a few more activities than you might expect.

We arrived to find a fresh hatch of mosquitoes and they were hungry!

After applying enough DEET to hold them off I tried a few casts being careful not to fall in off the rocks (that much bug spray can make you tipsy!)

We didn't find any hungry fish and it seemed the same for others we could see in nearby boats so we headed to the beach for some beaning.

Tracy found several keepers and I found a few... but we had fun just spending some time in the sand near the sounds of the Gulf. The weather was pleasantly warm and the beach wasn't too crowded. We were expecting the biggest crowds on Saturday.

After a quick supper we tried fishing under the light and were greeted by a tremendous bug hatch. In addition to the skeeters there were several other flying and buzzing critters willing to land on us or crawl into our shirts and under our hats.

Tracy once again had the hot hand and caught the biggest fish of the night. It turned out to be the biggest mullet we had seen in a while and she snagged it so it felt like a real bruiser.


How about a kiss?

I managed one small trout later but he did a self-release before I could get a picture. We fished some more in the morning with no success and finally gave up and went to Spoonbills for a chicken sandwich.

Edie and Tommy introduced us to one of the local guides and we talked about taking a ride out to West Matagorda bay with him next month. We need to get a tour before heading out or we will most surely find every sand bar and oyster reef there is.

After lunch we headed over to the storage building to install the lettering on the boat. It was quite a bit more tricky than the instructions led us to believe but we were both happy with the final results.

We made it home in time to get ready for the wedding.

It was a beautiful thing to see two young people make a lifetime commitment to each other. May God bless their marriage.

Three Day Weekend

The weatherman was predicting great weather for Friday and I was fortunate enough to be able to take advantage by taking the day off work.

We made the trip to Matagorda on Thursday evening and once again confirmed that this is the place for us.

You never know what you will see in the Colorado River. Check out these dolphins that came swimming by:



Tracy got busy and and caught two nice trout.



This 21 incher was the biggest of the night and her personal best.



After setting up the light it was obvious that the river was full of bait as evidenced on the following video clip:





This beauty and the 18 incher she caught a little earlier made my two look like skinny underfed weaklings.



On Friday we launched the Second Honeymoon for the maiden voyage. We had a nice ride up the river and spotted several osprey including this big guy.

I didn't take many pics as I was getting used to the controls and navigation.


We didn't get into any fish from the boat but managed some more keeper trout under the lights.

We also took a ride on the beach and found some fresh beans. Click here to see for yourself.

On Saturday morning I caught some more on top. Note the guide in the background.

Here is the most fashionable fisherwoman on the river.


Another river traveler that we see from time to time.

Here is the same guide and his customer displaying a 30lb jack crevalle. It was a big fight (at least an hour) but he hung in there and the guide finally got it in the net. Click on the picture to see a larger version.


Another favorite past time at PPRV.

One evening we got to experience a beautiful sunset. This is my new desktop.

You could say it was a spectacular weekend at Matagorda!

Second Honeymoon

Almost 25 years ago Tracy and I were joined in marriage. It's hard to believe it's been that long and a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then.

With the recent engagement of our son Matt to his future bride Carly, we were reminded of how special it is to find the person God has prepared for you and to make a life together.

We have experienced the joy of watching our daughter and son-in-law find the same happiness and fulfillment of a happy marriage.

Our union was the culmination of an unconventional beginning but with the love and support of our families it turned out to be the perfect event at just the right time.


I always hoped that as Tracy and I got older, we would find more ways to spend time together and develop interests in things that we could share. Little did I know that somehow it would turn out to be camping in a travel trailer, boating and fishing that we both enjoyed!

When we first started talking about a special way to celebrate our 25th anniversary we thought about the usual things - a trip to an exotic location, a cruise, or some other special get away.

In the final analysis neither one of us was really all that interested in anything beyond spending the time in Matagorda. We hatched a new idea - "Let's buy a small boat and expand our ability to explore the Middle Texas Coast". So the idea for the Second Honeymoon was born.

After some weeks of research and a couple of false starts the dream has become a reality. Here are the pictures to prove it:

We have the lettering ordered. This is a Carolina Skiff J16 with an Evinrude 40 hp outboard.

The center console with a GPS / Sonar combo and a small compass I added.

The power plant has an integral oil reservoir and fuel injection. With no break in and no scheduled maintenance for 3 years, this engine is fuel efficient, has the lowest emissions of any 2-stroke, and the best weight to hp ratio of any engine in its class. (besides that it was on sale!)

The 18 gallon fuel tank is under the console. No oil mixing required.

There are two dry hatches under the bow casting platform.

This view from the bow shows the passenger seat in the front of the console and some rod holders we added. The driver seat is a 70 quart ice chest with a seat cushion and a flip flop back rest so you can face forward for driving and backwards for fishing off the stern.

This shot shows the aerated live well in the rear deck and the battery under the deck.

Here you can see the casting deck, the bow rail, and the socket for the bow running lights.



The live well is fed by a pump in the bilge area and has a valve to adjust the flow.

Matagorda may not be all that exotic to some people and a small boat driven by a novice captain may not be your idea of a cruise but for us it is the perfect event at just the right time in our life.

To all who may read this - May God bless your marriage as you seek His blessings.

Spring Break

The weather looked promising for the weekend and we were eager to get back to McNab in the kayaks. It had been several weeks for me and a few months for Tracy.


We launched a little after 8AM on Saturday. The winds had been fairly stiff on Friday but were mostly calm at this hour. I rigged Tracy up with a double shot of Sugar Spice Glow Gulp shrimp on one rod and a crankbait on the other.

I started out with a new Spook Jr. topwater as we fished Oyster Reef Fork.

The chartreuse/silver lure fooled this nice 16" speck and I quickly had one on the string.


This would be a nice start to our supper tonight!

We paddled all the way back to the lake and didn't get another strike. I spotted a nice red crashing bait in the back channel we call Gator Cut. Since Tracy hadn't found her fish yet I tried to get her a shot but the red had other ideas and took off before she got a chance at him.

It was a tougher paddle on the way out as the wind had come up to about 10mph. Tracy took this great shot of my catch with a sky background when we made it back to the launch.

Tracy wasn't ready to accept a skunk for all of her hard paddling. We both enjoyed getting the plastic navy back into the marsh but there were still some fish in the river as we were about to soon find out.


The same lure that had fooled my trout in the morning proved to be the ticket for this fat speck. This one was an inch longer than mine and quite a bit heavier. We continued to thrash the top of the river until dark with a couple of half hearted strikes but no takers.

Here is the Fisherman's view as the sun slipped over the trees.

I finally hooked up one more time on this 14-incher. We will be back in a couple of weeks!