May 2010

May 7 Tracy and I did a little night fishing and caught a few small trout. Saturday found us in the diversion channel in the Second Honeymoon where we found these reds and a flounder. May 12 As the wedding was rapidly approaching we headed to Kansas where Regan took Matt and I to the Marshall family fishing hole. Everyone caught fish but me! May 17 Upon returning to Texas after Matt & Carly's wedding, I took the opportunity to visit with an old friend and discuss the finer points of bass fishing and boys becoming men. May 21 We celebrated 26 years of marriage this year. What better way to enjoy the time! Snapping turtle seen on the road to Palacios Stub tailed flounder - could this be the same one I caught before? Tracy and her little red.

April 2010

Time to get caught up on my blogging. There won't be as much detail or as many pictures but I hope I can convey some of the fishing trips I have experienced since my last post.

April 10

We hit a few reds off the riverbank this weekend at PPRV #7.





April 15

I made a quick trip to Salt Lake City and was able to visit Snake Creek in the Heber Valley where I found some willing browns and bows.

August 2010

"The fishing was great. The catching - not so much."

The month of August provided several opportunities for the Second Honeymoon Fishing Team but we like most other Matagorda anglers found this to be one of the most challenging months in recent history. The weather continues to be hotter than normal and all the rain we missed last summer has found us this summer. For the most part we were doing good to catch enough for a good meal for two however one member of the team was able to catch her first SLAM which of course deserves its own post.


August 7

This is one of the best sunsets I have been able to capture at the McNab launch. This was taken on Friday night after a delicious meal at Spoonbills. Edie had a new special - grilled quail!

Saturday morning found us greeted by this beautiful sunrise on the Colorado River on our way to our spot opposite Maree and Rick's place. We fished for over an hour with no luck.

Leaving Selkirk we headed down the Diversion Channel to try some of our spots. We finally ended up near the ICW catching small stuff and no keepers when this nasty little storm came blowing across West Matagorda Bay. It chased all the considerable boat traffic off the bay and eventually sent us packing as well. No fish for supper!


August 14

Another Saturday full of hope. We started out with a baitwell of live shrimp and high expectations. I took this hole-in-the-cloud picture early which should have been a sign of the times.

You never know what kind of boat you might see sailing down the ICW. This yacht was in full sail going through the locks.

I was able to box one lonesome red which will have to be enough for this trip.


August 21

Sometimes we do other things in Matagorda other than fish.... After supper we went to Jetty Park and ended up at the little Nature Trail that the LCRA built out into the marsh. The evening sun provided some nice light for a wild sunflower to really show off against the deep blue sky.

A nearby cattle working pen provided another nice shot of the close of the day.

With just enough light remaining I was able to shoot this bleached out exoskeleton of a fiddler crab.

Our fishing on Saturday morning did not yield many fish pics or other photos for that matter. I did catch this shot of the Texas Fish and Game officers after they checked us out. They were checking all boats near the ICW for PFDs and fire extinguishers - both required by the Coast Guard for fishing in the inshore waters of the Matagorda Bay system.


August 28

Ahhhh Fish at last! The day started out with bluebird skies and high barometric pressure which generally is a bad combination for a strong bite.

We hit them in a short window though and managed to catch these two keepers.

Tracy's was just shy of legal but if there was a prize for the prettiest red she would have won hands down with this multi-spotted beauty.

Tracy's Texas Slam

Many Texas saltwater anglers dream about the time when they will catch one of each of the three most popular inshore gamefish - a Speckled Trout, a Redfish, and a Southern Flounder - all in one outing.

My fishing partner crossed that off her bucket list on Saturday.

We started the day fishing in the Diversion Channel near the ICW. We caught some small stuff and I hooked and lost a big fish but early on the day did not look too promising. At Tracy's suggestion, we decided to cross over to the opposite bank and try a new spot. I should listen to her more often! We no sooner arrived at a small cove when she hooked and landed a keeper red. We didn't take time for a picture but soon after that she connected again.



This time the fish was a keeper trout. Hey that's two thirds of a slam already.

We got chased back to the boat launch by a small t-storm and went in for lunch happy but thinking we might get some bonus fishing time in after lunch. This time of year the heat is brutal but the showers and clouds provide some relief in the middle of the day.

When we went back to the cove after lunch it was my turn. I found two keeper reds and we had a nice box of fish. That more than made up for the one I lost in the morning but the day was not over yet! We made one more pass at the grassy shoreline across the channel where we had started the day and on the first cast or two, Tracy dropped her shrimp (now dead) on the head of a keeper flounder.

SLAM!

I could have done a lot better job at photo-documenting this great event but here is the best I could come up with...

This shot is a little better and shows the entire day's catch.

I don't know who was happier about this milestone Tracy or me. All I know is that most of my fishing buddies can't believe that Tracy keeps catching the fish they can only dream about. Like this red, this trout, these flounder, and now the slam!

Cut Off

I may have to give up being the guide. The river was fresh again this weekend even though there was no rain. We heard that the rice farmers upstream were flushing out their fields and deduced that that was the likely cause.

I finally got the opportunity to take my friend Kevin out to McNab to chase the reds. We found plenty of water and an incoming tide so expectations were high that we would find some willing fish.

Kevin spotted a fish with some shoulders chasing bait near one of the reefs and made a great cast with the Sugar Spice Glow Jerk Shad Gulp and it was on - for a few seconds. The fish made his first run along the oyster reef and cut the 12-lb mono instantly.

This was the spot of the tragic loss.

On the way out we saw another fisherman parked in the same spot. (click to enlarge)

It seemed that the warmer temps had brought several critters out of their winter slumber. We saw lots of fiddler crabs, tiny spiders, and at least one gator in all the good spots on the way to the lake. Here is one at the Trout Junction.


When we approached the next spot I call Triple Junction near Little Lake we saw this one just splayed out on the marsh grass sunning himself.

Play this video to see how they disappear before your very eyes.





Here is a closer shot. He didn't even move as we paddled by. The sun did feel good.....

I managed to save the day with this 23" red caught while drifting the south shoreline. I could tell that spring is in the air as he really put up a good fight.


If I could get this guy to pull in the right direction my paddle out against the wind would be a little easier.

New Species

It's Saturday and the riverside rampage continues. We have caught a lot of different kinds of fish on the bank of the Colorado. Drum, redfish, trout, and snapper - ladyfish, eels, sharks, and jacks were all caught in the past year. There was still one fish that had not yet made the list.

Tracy was still catching the reds.



I managed to redeem myself somewhat with this bigger black drum.

The "Red killer" continued her run on the reds.

I finally added my own to the total.

This carp became the newest in the list of interesting species.

Tracy managed this brute which was in the neighborhood of 10 lbs and a full 24" long.

Reds on the Riverbank

It's been a long fishless winter for my fishing partner. Tracy has not been in the fish for several months but that came to a close this weekend.

Give the girl a rod and some fresh-dead shrimp and look out!

These little reds were just the thing to help get the kinks out.

I was catching croaker and an occational yellowtail or baby black drum but Tracy was hot on the reds.

She wasn't satisfied with the run of the mill red. Soon she started targeting triple spots!


The river is coming back into its own after being too fresh all winter.

Soon we'll be seeing trout!