Fishing the Intracoastal waterway at Port Aransas, Texas, Mark and Mike got into some big redfish action.

Mike had a good bite, but lost it on the way in.  As Mark was reeling to accommodate Mike’s potential catch, his bait got hit hard and he landed a 32″ redfish.

Kayaking in Redfish Bay

Date: March 21, 2008 Saturday
Portage: Aransa Pass – Channel Bridge
General Area : Terminal Flats – Redfish Bay
Moon : 23% waning
Weather : Cool – Highs in the mid 70′s, partly cloudy. Winds out of the East at 10 – 16 mph.
Surface Water Temp : about 68 degrees
Team : Mark, Alex 

Alex and Maryanne were down for Spring Break, since Monday – I rolled in Thursday Evening. The surf was flat, and Alex was getting bored. When I inquired what he wanted to do, he indicated that he wanted to paddle and fish. He and mom had been looking for kayak rentals during the week – but no joy. I Googled around and found Dean Thomas of Slowride Guide Service who had a slot open on Saturday for us.

   Even Alex popped right out bed at 5:00 am! We were ready to go. A stop by Wal Mart for some supplies and a visit to the Whataburger drive thru for a B.O.B., and we headed into Aransas Pass to Dean’s shop. Dean indicated we should be there by 7:00am, but after arrival we jumped into our neoprene waders and organized our gear, yet only 6:30a, still. We sat on the swing bench and petted the cats for a little while as Dean drove up at 6:57am with the boats on the trailer and the gear in the back. We stepped inside to take care of business and get some additional gear for the trip. We headed out, East on hwy 361 for just a mile, and pulled off just over the bridge as we headed out of town. 

 
We put in, paddled across the channel and fished mostly along the chain of islands that parallel the channel. Some deeper holes in a couple of the cuts between the islands provided plenty of small trout, 6″ – 14″, and that action kept us busy. In the middle of the flats, we attempted to produce some Redfish. It looked promising early, but later in the morning the sign of any bait had pretty much diminished. I landed one small red in the Northern section of the Terminal Flats area, but otherwise did not produce anything.

I had never kayak-fished saltwater before, but I would encourage anyone to give it a try, and furthermore if you want to learn how to do it – hire Dean Thomas for a trip. The gear was brand-new and the paddles high-dollar carbon fiber. The excellently selected light tackle makes any catch fun, and the line and terminal tackle are all expertly applied.

The experience was so relaxing and quiet. You notice every action in the water and you would be surprised how much area you can maticulously cover while paddling, with ease. Alex and I have done gut-busting paddles on the Colorado River (Texas), but I think that the higher density of the salt water makes the boat more bouyant, and each paddle stroke more effective. As such, I was perfectly relaxed and comfortable after the 5-hours on the water. It’s meditation for crying out loud!

If you are a photo-phile, bring a zoom lens with you on the boat. Each fisherman is left to his own accord as to where (in near proximity) he ventures or fishes, so if your partner lands one he may be 30 – 50 yards away when the moment is in need of being captured. Alex and I just took disposable water-proof cameras with us, and the photos were not that good due to the distances from our subject. Next time, we will be better prepared for some good catch pics.

Plenty of action in the boats

We caught quite a few fish. Alex caught a few, and I landed over 15 trout and a red. Dean had the stinky fingers, though. Every time I turned around he was hauling the little ones in. It was fun!

I recommend Slowride Guide Service for a kayak fishing trip. If you have a youngster or teen interested in the activity, I think Dean Thomas is the Guide to hire. He is a Scoutmaster (BSA), and quite frankly is an upstanding citizen in the kayak/fishing community.

Feb 21, 2009, and having really wanted to get into the striped bass scene – we got a Guide on Lake Buchanan, TX.  Situated in the Texas Hill Country on the (Texas) Colorado River, Lake Buchanan is renown for it’s Striped Bass population.   Unfortunately on this day, A fast-moving Norther swept our Striped dreams away.  Notice the prominent storm front in the cloud formations.

Thomas invited me to join his dad Larry and son Christopher on the chilling balmy adventure.  No Stripers, but a bucket of catfish was the fare of the day.

Date: July 26-27, 2008 Saturday to Sunday morn
Portage: Dolphin Docks (The Dolphin) – Port Aransas, TX
General Area : Gulf of Mexico – night fish
Moon : 28% Waning
Weather : Night time, choppy seasSurface Water Temp : N/A
Team : Mark, Alex

It was a summer weekend outing for the family, visiting Grandma and Grandpa. On the way to the beach after crossing the channel on the ferry, Alex and I began talking about fishing offshore. After short discussion, and a wild hair, we pulled over at the Dolphin Docks to see if anything was available for the evening. Sure enough there was room on the 12-hour trip, leaving at 6:00pm for some overnight snapper fishing. We booked the boat.

After hanging out at the beach and catching some waves we did a little shopping. Then Mom showed us off at the dock as we boarded for our adventure. She would pick up up the next morning – due in at about 5:00 or 6:00am.

Before………………

The boat was pretty full, and there were a surprisingnumber of teenagers on board. Not surprisingly, all the ham sandwiches were eaten before we left the jetty channel as a result. Alex got his teeth on a couple of them! The adults had nothing but chips to eat! Oh well, we’re here to fish.

The snapper were really slow, so we headed after after vermillion snapper (B-liners). Alex skunked me good! He got two vermillion, myself nothing. As a matter of fact, even though a few king were caught -

……. and After.

Alex caught the most fish on the whole boat, I’m certain. Good Job, son!

When we got back to town, Alex cooked up his catch for us to enjoy. It was a

wonderful meal

.

Date: April 26, 2008, Sunday
Portage: Copano Bay Causeway , Rockport, TX
General Area : Copano Bay
Moon : 59% waning
Weather : Moderate to cool – highs in the high seventies, Cloudy, winds 14 – 40 mph late
Surface Water Temp : about 77 – 79 degrees
Team : Mark, Roger, Thomas

Up at about 7:00am, the weather channel was watched closely for information relating to the incoming cold front. It seemed that the front was forecast to arrive between Noon and 3:00pm. Perfect.

We drove over the bridge to Sea Gun for bait. Live shrimp and croaker were on the menu today, along with the dead shrimp procured on Friday. We headed straight over to the Cactus on the Pole Hole. DOH! The spot was occupied by a couple of fisherman who were trolling around the deteriorating T-head. We drove up and considered our interference in these fellows activities and decided to be polite, so we just motored over to Redfish point and kept the glasses on the intruders in order to note their departure.

At redfish point, nothing much was going on, but we bided our time as we awaited the perfect timing for the arrival of the front, and the anticipated departure of the trespassers. They trolled and motored around moving farther away from ground zero until I determined that they had abandoned our destination to my satisfaction, then motored in at about 9:30 to the Cactus Hole and set up.

The wind was out of the East, so we had to deal with the difficult situation of fishing on the anchor side of the boat. What a PIA. The action really started with several 10 – 12 inch sheepshead being brought on board by live shrimp. Some small reds were brought on board by Dead and live, and even a 14 inch red on a croaker. Thomas was getting a little frustrated over the past couple of days, and decided to abandon his float rig for my free-line bubble float assembly on our stand-by rod. As we fished we observed redfish tailing in the shallows 40 yards from us and the anticipation was mounting for some action. To Thomas’ satisfaction, he started getting some bites and Roger and Mark were pulling in some small reds.

Then BAM! Fish on! and Thomas is hooked up, good.

The line started gradually moving to the left and accelerating as he picked up the slack in his line. WOW! We got a fish on and she’s big. We anticipated a red, but in short time we observed a beatiful 26″ Speckled trout (expertly netted by the skipper [Mark] I might add). Just a beatiful specimen. The battle was subdued and Thomas’ patience and skill in keeping a tight line kept her on the hook, as when she hit the deck in the landing net his hook gingerly dropped from her mouth!

The weekend is made!

After about an hour-and-a-half of busy fishing with sheepshead and reds and the only keeper a giant sow Trout, the action at the Cactus Hole subsided. We decided to head back to the 50/50 Hole to finish the afternoon before the storm hit – we could see and hear it coming.

With a few technical issues relating to some interference amongst the fisheman with rigs fishing both sides of the boat, Roger was about to hang it up. The thunder was becoming more frequent and the lightning strikes were becoming observable from several miles away. But I told Roger to bait up and I’ll stop fishing behind him.

There were a couple of small reds caught as we watched the incoming storm. Then, FISH ON! Roger had his rod bent and was occassionally losing some line with a good fish on. With the East wind, the anchor side of the boat was problem as that was where the fish was heading. After several minutes Roger got the fish near the boat and struggled to keep his catch out of the anchor line. But the stringer then became a problem as the Redfish headed for Thomas’ Speck and managed to wrap three times around the stringer. It was long play though, and with hands on the line, Roger’s 24″ red was landed. Good job!

There were a couple of really good bites that occured thereafter but the skipper decided that due to the weather, safety was now an issue and it was time to pick up. Reluctantly, we fastened the hatches and secured the gear for our run back to the ramp. The rain had reached us by the time we got going and the wind was out of the North by the time we rounded Redfish Point.

The rain stung our faces and the waves were crashing over the gunwale as we raced in to the ramp. But we smiled, laughed and chatted it up as the thunder roared on our way in. What a great end to the weekend. By the time the boat was out of the water the driving rain and wind was even too much to stand at the fish cleaning table to process our catch, so we headed to the house to do the deed there.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Date: April 26, 2008, Saturday
Portage: Cove Harbor , Rockport, TX
General Area : Redfish Bay/Estes Flats (Redfish Bay Scientific Area)
Moon : 68% waning
Weather : Moderate – highs in the low eighties, cloudy to partly cloudy, winds 15 to 25 mph, gusty, E to SE.
Surface Water Temp :about 77 – 79 degrees
Team : Mark, Roger, Thomas

Considering that we didn’t get to the house until 3:00 am, we didn’t do too bad getting after it by 8:30am. At around six, we started rousing and noted the thunderstorm and downpour that was occurring, so just rolled over until the weather resided.

Being that we anticipated a blustery day, we decided to head to the shallows of Redfish Bay and the protected Intracoastal Cut-Off Channel and put in at Cove Harbor. Due to the wind and the weather forecast, the Marina was not really that busy. We procured some live shrimp, croaker, and mullet and began by motoring into Estes Cove, and drifting to the West. Then picked up and motored into the PAL and began a drift at the East end of Talley Island, again to the West. The water was murky where we usually anticipate clear water, even on windy days. Live bait nor plastics produced any bites.

Nearing Noon, we anticipated some protected area to soak a bait and have lunch, so we headed South down the Cut-off Channel. Motoring by the Carbon Black Channel it sure looked inviting, so we motored in and tied up at the loading dock for a little relief from the wind. Not much more than a hardhead was produced.

But as we looked south at the little flats area adjacent to the Carbon Black Plant Channel, we noticed some birds working and several boats were coming into the area. So we picked up and went around the corner and anchored. We produced a couple of small trout on croaker, but nothing much to speak of. We picked up anchor and drifted the flat with no success.

Roger decided he wanted to go to the Califormia Hole. The wind seemed to have subsided a bit to near 12 – 17 mph, so we headed across the bay in what seemed an exedous of many boaters taking advantage of the lower winds to head East. We anchored at the California Hole amongst several other anglers. Mark produced an impressive string of hardheads brought aboard and only managed to dirty the boat. OH! but there was one Gafftop Sailfish caught. Otherwise, with nothing much to speak of, we headed in at around 4:00pm

Head to the House!

Date: April 25, 2008
Portage: Copano Bay Causeway – Rockport, Tx
General Area : Copano Bay
Moon : 77% waning
Weather : Night time – cloudy, moderately warm at 75 degrees, winds at 15-20 mph, Southeasterly, scattered showers
Surface Water Temp :about 77 – 79 degrees
Team : Mark, Roger, Thomas

Out of town barely by 5:00pm and crossing the causeway at around 10:30. The forecast was dicey with a front proposed to come through on Sunday. Wind forecasts were particularly worrisome in the 15 – 30 mph department, but I was particularly anxious to be on the water Sunday, before the front came through.

Even though we were pretty late for the Friday night fish – 10:30pm is usually when we head to the dock – we decided to go for it as the weather forecast as mentioned above posed for a potential loss of time on the water and we wanted to get some fishing in. As it was, the wind was considerable but we would be dealing with that all weekend anyway, according to our information. At the moment there was no lightning observed and as for rain there did not seem to be any threat for the moment.

We headed straight over to our 50/50 hole to pulled in some small Reds and a small trout or two, not to mention the frequent hardhead. Mark hooked up and landed a Whiting, about 10 – 12 inches long. We put her in the box for good eatin’ in anticipation of other game to be caught, but nothin’ hapening.

We then motored over to Fred’s pier for nothing much. We made it back to the dock and to the house by about 3:00am with nothing much to speak of. At the ramp, we released the Whiting as it seemed too much effort so early in the morning for a meager catch.

This was our first attempt to broadcast live on Justin.tv. We got about 15 minutes broadcast, but some power problems with running the boat motor, bait pump, and cranking over the kicker caused computer problems. As such, we got this out of the way and didn’t fuss with the electronics for the rest of the trip. In the photo caption for tonight, you can see a screenshot of Roger straightening out his rig after I had cast over him and pulled in a little Redfish – what a mess. But it wasn’t that bad.

Date: August 19, 2007, Sunday
Portage: Copano Bay Causeway , Rockport, TX
General Area : Copano Bay
Moon : 38% waxing
Weather : Warm – highs in the High eighties, Mostly Sunny, winds 14 – 20 mph
Surface Water Temp : about 87 – 89 degrees
Team : Mark, Roger, Kevin, Doug

Another better-than-average start for the ifishrockport Team, we put in at Copano Bay Causeway. Again, live shrimp was not to be had at Sea Gun, nor the Causeway bait stand. Casting for bait at the ramp was a dry run for shrimp, but bait was at the site, croaker and piggies. I tangled up in a 12″ hardhead, and a tiny 2″ Speck (which was released unharmed) was even in the mix.

Anyway, with live croaker, mullet, and dead frozen shrimp, we headed out. We attempted the Copano Cliffs location that I discovered the trip before, just off the Causeway ramp, but the power supply to the GPS was whack and the batteries were dead. We gave it a go and found the 5′ change in depth, but nothing.

We then headed over to the shell dock. Nothing to speak of was produced there, our having thrown the tackle box at ‘em. Doug and I stretched our legs on the concrete-topped deteriorating barge and threw plastics arount the entire area – nothing happening.

Doug was set on wading, which was our primary objective to getting to Allyn’s shoreline, the day before. So we set out to Redfish point to drop Doug off, while we motored over to the CActus on a Pole Hole. There was a wader already involved in the activity there, so we dropped Doug off in good company, with and agreement to get back to him within about an hour.

At the Cactus on the pole hole, things got hot and heavy. The small reds were beating us up (14″+) and Kevin boated a 10″ Redfish – a personal best to my knowledge. The little drum were giving us hell too. Then…. zing -

My reel was a’ screaming, and I kept calling and calling off the request to lift the anchor to follow the monster on the end ov my line. I swear that the fish would peel 40 yards of line, then return towards me. The results were spectacular! A 26″ red that really gave a battle. As a matter of fact, I notice that all the samll(er) reds that hit while we were there fought like crazy, and a lot of fun was had.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Doug was wading Redfish Point, and it was about time to pick him up. The action was happening at the Cactus on a Pole Hole, and we wanted to get him in on it (aside from our responsibility not to leave him stranded on foot), so we picked up and went to get Doug.

We found him promptly and he gasped at the stringer. Within one hour, Mark and Kevin had managed to get a nice Speck and Super Redfish on the boat! We motored back and set back up, but the hole turned cold on us. I note that we didn’t anchor in the exact same postion, being that all (4) were on the boat. I wanted to give a good vantage point for everyone to hit the hole. That may have been a factor in the decreased results.

Anyway, on the way out of the Cactus Hole, we attempted to hit No Name Reef without the GPS. We were on structure, but nothing occurred, so we just headed in.

A wonderful day, nonetheless.