Lazy Afternoon

After our pier fishing on Friday night and the prospect of a continued lower than normal tide, Tracy and I changed our original plan of an early morning trip to the salt to an afternoon ride for lunch in Matagorda and a short ride down the beach to check out Three Mile Lake.

We had found that the recent rains had freshened up the McNab launch to the point that we spotted three gators within the first two hundred yards and decided not to tempt fate. The Three Mile area had produced fish in the recent past and provided both a flat level spot to set up the umbrella and some chairs and a cooler breeze coming in from the gulf.

We bought some fresh dead shrimp from Buddies and soon started catching some black drum. These feisty fighters made for some enjoyable fishing throughout the afternoon and six of them made it to the insulated bag.

We caught some other small fish as is the case when fishing natural bait. It seems everything that swims loves shrimp - including this pretty little redfish.

We caught several ladyfish aka "poor man's tarpon". This one finally held still for a picture. I caught some finger mullet in the cast net and though I didn't catch anything on the live version, the ladyfish, hardheads, croaker, and drum all went for some cut pieces of fresh mullet.

You can see from this picture that this area is relatively small and lies between the surf and the bay. There are several fingers of water that make up the Three Mile area and we were fishing near a fork and a channel.

Summer is coming to a close as evidenced by this cane going to seed.

We were fishing near a wade fisherman and one kayaker who traveled down the cut to shown in the upper right of the above picture. As you can see, the wader is almost up to his armpits. He fished for hours without a strike and finally caught a nice 18" trout.

When he finally gave it up he stopped to offer his fish to us. It turned out to be "Shane from Bay City", a fellow Palacios pier fisherman who I had met and fished with over a year ago. He had two other trout on ice so our fish bag was now looking pretty good.



All in all it was a pretty enjoyable way to spend the afternoon. The area was very quiet with only the sounds of the birds and the surf in the background. We used up two pounds of shrimp and a half dozen mullet before the skeeters decided we seemed like just the right flavor. They were brutal by the time we reached the cleaning table at the Matagorda Harbor.

Tracy said that she thought that her presence at the fish cleaning table listening to the banter among guides and fishermen was comparable to me being at the yarn store listening to all the knitters twitter about yarn and such.


We were able to share some of the catch with our neighbors. Fresh fish is usually easy to transfer whether whole out of the ice chest or filleted and ready for the grill.

Ladies Night

Friday turned out to be another work at home day. We've been doing some software demos that are done over the Internet and conference calls so I can save the drive in to work and be ready for an afternoon departure to Matagorda.

Tracy and I visited McNab and the tide was low again. There were a couple of gals fishing off the point near the intracoastal canal and we joined them for a short time to see if we caould find a flounder near local structure of piers, pilings, and reefs.

While we didn't find any flounder, Tracy tagged this nice trout on a 'Pounder. So far we have caught flounder, reds and now trout on this versatile plastic bait. It will remain a regular fixture in my box from now on.


I finally managed a rat red on a home rigged tube jig. I used the hardware off the flounder pounder that the redfish had destroyed last trip and a pumpkinseed tube from my bass fishing bag.



The only other fisherman that was having any success was this egret.



After eating our picnic supper we decided to make the run to Palacios for some evening pier fishing. The summer crowds were pretty much gone as school is about to crank up and we were nearly alone except for two ladies out for a little R&R.

We fished the shad rigs and mirrOdine and caught our share of sand trout and quite a few Ladyfish. These acrobatic jumpers are a blast to catch - especially when combined with a trout on the second hook.



The specks moved in about 10pm and we caught them on the 'dine and I tricked a few on various topwater offerings.

The best one was a Heddon Tiny Torpedo shown below.


This one is an example of one rigged with twin treble hooks.

The clear version below was the ticket for the night feeding specks under the pier lights.




We didn't put any fish on the stringer but a good time was had by all.

Fungus Amongus

The drought has broken. We received a blessing of rain in the form of several days of heavy showers and some long stretches of drizzle in between.

You know what that means... Shrooms!

One story with an attached garage.

Leaners

Heavy Head

Graceful

Fairy bath

Whatever you call them, mushrooms are cool. They spring up quickly and have unique and interesting shapes and colors.

Let the Mushroom Olympics commence... Let the Games begin!

I'm going for the gold....

MirrOdine Update

While fishing in saltwater with artificial lures isn't exactly new, it is a relatively recent phenomenom for me. I cut my teeth on fishing the Texas bays using shrimp and cut bait.

The decision of what to use wasn't "natural or artificial" it was "live or dead".

Since the revival of my fishing obsession in the past couple of years, I have been introduced to the concept of trying to fool specks, reds, and flounder with a piece of plastic and some action imparted by the design of the lure or by the fisherman.

Regular readers of this blog have heard me talk about twin shad rigs, spoons, spinners, "Flounder Pounders", "Gulp Shrimp", "Redfish Magic", and a long list of other plastic and metal creations all designed to trick a fish into striking.

My latest "hot" lure is the MirrOdine. This flashy suspending twitchbait is appealing to the fisherman as well as the fish. And thankfully, it is made in several colors! The design includes a liquid filled shell that slows down it's sinking action and causes the minnow shaped lure to suspend between 1-2 ft.

I had an exceptional day of fishing recently where I caught every fish on a 'Dine. Following that trip I was putting together a few lures for some midweek fishing friends to use and found the lure leaking the oil that causes it to suspend.

I called the manufacturer and sent the lure to Florida. While I was waiting for their response, I tried to figure out if it was the fish that had damaged the lure or if I had contributed in some way to the failure.

I had purchased a few more (read "several") MirrOdines in different colors and a new plastic box in which to arrange and house them when I noticed that the front treble hook could rotate back and one hook point could rest right in the spot where the lure had leaked. It was concievable that if stored incorrectly, this could cause a failure.

Before I could contact the manufaturer to report that this was likely my fault, I received a package in the mail. Not only did the good folks at L&S Bait Company replace my MirrOdine in the hard-to-find color but they also included a new release - the MirrOdine XL.

Many thanks to Jennifer and the L&S staff for excellent customer service!



L&S Bait Company, Inc.
1415 East Bay Drive
Largo, Florida 33771
Tel 727.584.7691 • Fax 727.587.0784
info@mirrolure.com

Flounder Pounder

After catching a keeper flounder at McNab and enjoying the incomparable flavor of a fresh caught grilled whole flatty, I began to do a little research to determine how I could target the next one and intentionally catch it instead of stumbling along hoping for success.

There are lots of resources available that give good advice on how to locate and catch flounder. I have Chester Moore's book Flounder Fever, and an account on several forums including TKF that provide lots of local information.

I recently bought some lures called Flounder Pounders and went to the manufacturers website for a little more info.

This innovative bait combines a heavy jig, a cheater hook and a unique tube design. The website also has some good information on how to target flounder.

I finished the workday at 4PM after working from home and Tracy and I headed to Matagorda for supper and an evening paddle.

The tide was out and the water level so low that the oyster reefs were exposed. This usually means no fish especially near the front of the channel but with some low expectations we launched to take advantage of the remaining daylight.

Most of the heat was out of the sun and the evening rays made for some great light in which to shoot my favorite paddler. Notice the new addition to the Magic - a rod holder!

I had two rods rigged. One had the MirrOminnow a slim version of the MirrOdine. This lure is a shallow suspending hard bait that runs in 12"-18" of water - perfect for this type of environment. The second rod was rigged with a Flounder Pounder and as you can see above, it found what I was looking for. This flatty will have to grow up a little more but it showed me that the lure is effective if fished correctly.

We eventually made it down to the famous corner where we had been successful once before and after no success with the MirrOminnow, I went back to the 'pounder. This bait is fished right on the bottom so I was getting frequent snags on the submerged oyster reefs. On one retrieve, I thought I had snagged the bottom again when the "bottom" started pulling back! I couldn't tell if I was hung up and the fish plucked the bait off the reef or if I just hooked a tough fish that didn't want to move at first. The 19" red above was hugging the bottom and while it was making some short runs, I was thinking I had a huge flounder until I finally got his head up.

Hey - I've got dreams too! I've been visualizing catching flounder all week and after all I was using a specific flounder bait right?

We fished until just before dark. I managed to pick up one more red on the Flounder Pounder and this one was long enough to make it to the ice chest.

Thanks once again to Tracy for the great photography. These pictures are much better than the arm's length versions I was used to taking.

You may be feeling bad for Tracy as I haven't mentioned her catch yet. The paddle at McNab was a little disappointing. I had rigged her up with a 2" white gulp shrimp under a popping cork and all she managed was one silver perch (aka yellowtail). I think the "low and slow" advice that Paul had given us last Saturday proved out as all the fish I caught were on the 'pounder fished tight to the bottom.

Not to be deterred, Tracy earlier had suggested that we make the short drive to Palacios to see what was happening on the pier. We were able to listen to the Braves game on the way and the wind seemed to be dying down too.

There were several sand trout popping bait on the surface of Tres Palacios Bay when we arrived and we caught our share with the double shad rigs.

Later in the evening, I tied on the MirrOdine and Tracy and I caught some nice specks. None were quite big enough to string up but they were fun to catch and gave us some confidence in the 'Dine.

Here is the happy fisher-girl with a 14" speck and the MirrOdine.

The yellow mouth and snaggle tooth are unique to the saltwater trout. They have big appetites and will take a large bait as well as the tiny glass minnows we see them eating at night.

Fishing at night is an experience that everyone should try at least once - especially when daytime temps get up over 95 degrees! We enjoyed the cooler breeze coming in off the water and the great fishing action until X o'clock.

I'd better not say what time we came in... We might get in trouble with the kids.

Dylan's Fish

Our nephew Dylan who made a guest appearance on this blog recently sent me a picture of his latest catch and agreed to let me post it for others to enjoy.

Be sure to click on the picture to see a full size version.



Dylan and his dad were fishing in Grand Isle Louisiana when he caught this big redfish and some "big uglies" (aka black drum). This trophy fish took his tackle to the limit and Dylan had to work hard to bring this monster to hand.

We recognized that Dylan was a good fisherman when we were fishing together in Matagorda and this fish is a testament to his skill.

Great job Dylan - Fish on!

The Beast and the Beauties

Saturday's weather forcast was typical August - hot and still. For most fishermen, that means get on the water early and get your fishing in before the heat of the day.

We got the first part right at least as Tracy and I were up at 4AM and on the road in time to beat brother Paul to Matagorda. He got to the the launch at McNab first though at 6AM since we stopped at Buddys for some ice. For those of you who have ever fished with Paul (or any of the Batchelder boys) it is rare to out-early someone who is hot to fish!

The sun wasn't up when we arrived but a new crop of mosquitos was and they were glad to see us!

Dawn at the McNab Launch.

Early Morning Fisherman

Sunrise in the Marsh


Fishing the Channel

Paul launched ahead of us and Tracy and I took our time getting in to the lake. There were some fish working around the reefs and I got a blow up on a bone spook jr. so close to Tracy's boat that she got sprayed with water from the strike. We moved up to the corner where we had caught fish two weeks ago but all we could manage was a hardhead, a ladyfish, and a small flounder.

We finally gave up and beat it back to the lake. I paddled into the smaller lake on the way to McNab which had just enough water in it to float me and all I could manage to catch was this monster on the mirrodine.



We made it back to the main lake and had just set up at the mouth and could see Paul way down in the back of the lake when he began to signal to us by whistling and waving his paddle. I thought he was just letting us know where he was but Tracy said she thought he was calling for help.

I pulled up my stake and set a new McNab record for making the trip to the back of the lake where I found brother Paul hooked into "The Beast". He had tail hooked a large (understatement) alligator gar and had been on a 15 minute sleigh ride with no end in sight.

After looking the situation over we decided that my net wasn't big enough to hold The Beast and even if you did get him in the net then what? Do you really want a four foot fish with a mouthful of teeth in the kayak with you?

Most of the bottom in McNab is so soft that getting out of your boat is not a good option. There is one spot that has a harder shoreline - of course it was a quarter mile away on the other side of the lake.

As the picture above shown, I hooked a rope on the bow of the Tarpon and towed Paul and The Beast across. We took it slow but by the time we got across all three of us were tired. Paul was able to manuver the huge fish close enough to the shore for me to get his head in the net and we somehow got him beached without incident. OK - Now What?

Paul tried to get hold of the slimy rascal for a picture but as this photo shows he had to demonstrate some fancy footwork to keep from having a close encounter of the toothy kind.

He was able to finally get the lipper into his bottom jaw and hoist the 43" Beast up for a picture.

This is the biggest fish caught in the kayak thus far. Paul - You Da Man!

This is where he gets the name alligator gar.

Paul asked me to estimate his weight since I had left my scales back at the launch. "Heavy?"

Toothy Grin

OK enough about the gar now lets talk about the real reason you go fishing at McNab.

The morning was about to get away and none of us had been able to connect with a keeper fish. Tracy and I paddled back across the lake to the back corner channel and set up to try our luck. There was so much bait in the middle of the lake it looked like you could almost walk across the water on their backs. Paul soon joined us after releasing The Beast and he started fishing the shoreline as we fished the mouth of the channel.

Fish on! Paul finally connected with a nice redfish and we got him in the net.

Finally a keeper red from McNab for Paul! He found a formula for casting his green apple sand eel up close to the grass and working it "low and slow". Paul connected with several fish and put two nice reds on the stringer.

I on the other hand found a couple of fish myself. Both of these "Beauties" were caught on one of my new Mirrodine lures. The net really makes a difference when you are boating the flounder.

Here we are back at the launch with the catch of the day. Thanks to Tracy for all the photography work. She fished and paddled hard all morning in the heat but her guide couldn't get her on the right combination of lure and location.
We said a prayer before the launch asking for God's blessing and "one fish".

God demonstrates every day that He gives in abundance more than we can ask.

Fun at the Coast

We had a nice visit from Mrs. Bocks (AKA Robyn) as the summer neared a close. Since Tracy and I have been talking so much about the fun we've been having in Matagorda County, Robyn agreed to give it a try. She was familiar with the beach as we had taken a couple of trips last year but this new "fishing thing" that Mom is into sounded intriguing. We decided to try the pier in Palacios on Friday night and then do some kayaking on Saturday after having lunch at Spoonbills.

The trip to Palacios was fun but the fish weren't cooperating. We caught several tiny gafftop off the wall before dark and even though we all caught a few sandies, the wind continued to blow making casting lightweight jigs difficult. There were more folks on the pier than usual and we called it a night before it got too late.

Saturday turned out to be the hottest day of the year and the water was quite a bit lower at Three Mile Lake than it had been the previous week. We saw a fellow kayaker back by the lake that needed a jump and after getting him back on the road we launched for some paddle lessons and some kayak fishing. Here's Robyn in the Magic. She did great despite the heat and low water.

Somehow I seem to have a knack for making the first kayak trip challenging for the special women in my life.

Tracy found a cool spot under the umbrella while Robyn and I paddled. She took her turn and we fished as Robyn got caught up on some reading but the fish had moved into deeper water before the tide fell. This spot had become landlocked since last week so we'll wait for the next storm to bring the water up again.

We finally gave up and went out to the beach for some cooler breeze. Tracy and I fished but only caught hardheads and a whiting or two.

The day turned out to be a success even if it was too hot and the fish weren't biting. We even stopped off for dessert at Spoonbills on the way home. Can you say key lime pie and tiramisu?