April 2021

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ABOUT THE COVER Catch and Release has long been a theme in our publishing efforts and has never been more important than right now.

Our cover anglers (standing) fished with Capt. Wayne Davis and Capt. Ernest Cisneros in mid-March and participated in Empty Stringers. TSFMag salutes your contribution to conservation of the Lower Laguna Madre fishery!

-Learn more about Empty Stringers on page 73.

APRIL 2021 VOL 30 NO 12

CONTENTS

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

8 14 20 26

32 36 40 44 48 52 77 78

Spring Tactics, Guidelines and Opinions Vigilant Mobility Sight-Fishing and Structure with a Twist Give Those Trout a Break

Steve Hillman Kevin Cochran Chuck Uzzle Joe Richard

8

Let’s Ask The Pro Jay Watkins Shallow Water Fishing Scott Null TPWD Field Notes TPWD Coastal Fisheries Division Staff Kayak Fishing Chronicles Dave Roberts TSFMag Conservation News CCA Texas Extreme Kayak Fishing & Sharks...

Eric Ozolins Science & the Sea UT Marine Science Institute Boat Repair & Maintenance Chris Mapp

36 WHAT OUR GUIDES

HAVE TO SAY

58 60 62 64 66 68

Dickie Colburn’s Sabine Scene The View from Matagorda Mid-Coast Bays with the Grays Hooked up with Rowsey Wayne’s Port Mansfield Report South Padre Fishing Scene

Dickie Colburn Bink Grimes Gary Gray David Rowsey Wayne Davis Ernest Cisneros

REGULARS 6 Editorial 56 New Tackle & Gear 70 Fishing Reports and Forecasts 74 Catch of the Month 76 Gulf Coast Kitchen

74

60 4 | April 2021

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EDITORIAL

A TIME TO CONSERVE

The biggest news right now is February’s arctic blast that brought the longest run of sub-freezing temperatures to our coast since the 1980s. Lows dipped to 12°F along parts of the mid-coast, and water temperatures plummeted to the low-30s.

Every bay from Matagorda to the Arroyo Colorado experienced fish-kills due to the cold.

Considerable numbers of dead fish of every species began collecting along shorelines as the weather moderated. A lot of fish died. Of greater importance, though, is how many survived?

Time will tell, and we will have to wait for TPWD’s annual population surveys to fully understand the impact. These data will not be available until sometime in summer. What can and should anglers View The Video be doing in the meantime?

Open Camera & hover over QR Code. When First, I encourage everybody to go fishing! link appears, tap to Fishing is a wonderful pastime that evolves into a open in YouTube. lifestyle. Ditch the doom and gloom, get your tackle April Issue together, and get the boat in the water.

Highlights: Emphasis So, we’re out there fishing, and hopefully catching. on Conservation What should we do with our catch? Pretty near everybody I know loves a fish dinner, but is striving for a limit or multiple limits on the boat the best thing to be doing right now? This is a personal

6 | April 2021

decision, but if you were to evaluate all the aspects; isn’t catching fish the single greatest enjoyment the sport can offer?

If you’ve stuck with me this far, in light of the fact that we’ve just come through a fish-kill of some magnitude from Matagorda to the Arroyo, can I talk you to into releasing your fish…or maybe keeping only a few for dinner?

The best possible scenario for recovery of a fishery is to conserve before disaster strikes. It’s simple math, the more you have swimming before the event the more will survive to replenish the population. And this is why catch and release is so important right now to the future of our fishery.

The CCA Texas STAR Tournament hit the nail on the head with the announcement that the 2021 STAR Inshore Divisions will be restructured to full catch and release format. I say KUDOS! Ditto all other tourneys that follow suit.

To the guides who have pledged catch and release for trout on their 2021 charters; my hat is off to you, and I pray for your success!

I leave you with this thought: Sound management and good conservation built the fishery we enjoyed prior to the freeze. It might take a few years but these same principles are what will build it back better, and sooner.

Please join me in doing your part to rebuild our fishery. Teach by example; encourage everybody you can to join this effort. Your kids and grandkids deserve no less.

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Spring Tactics, Guidelines STORY BY STEVE HILLMAN

Wading shorelines during the spring while chunking Texas Custom Lures Double Ds tricks a lot of trout for us.

& Opinions

A

s April approaches we’ll experience warmer water temperatures which will help usher new life into our bays.

Post-larval shad will morph into juveniles and eventually form dark clouds just beneath the surface. They will ball-up especially tight when trout and other predators lurk beneath.

As our predator fish rise to the surface to feed, tiny glitterlike puffs of shad can be seen showering out of the water and the occasional popping sound from feeding specks will be music to the ears of many.

Small topwaters such as the Heddon Super Spook Jr and Rapala’s SW08 (Baby) Skitter Walks can draw a lot of blow-ups while casting into balls of shad. When topwaters don’t seem to be getting it done, I’ve found two other very effective methods that can draw strikes when a lot of traditional baits underperform. When dealing with tiny forage, trout will often suspend in the water column just below the bait. When they’re ready to feed a little they’ll basically just swim through and vacuum up miniscule shad, glass minnows, etc. without necessarily singling out anything in particular. These fish can be difficult to trick.

One method is to rig a soft plastic on an H & H Flutter Jig. The lead weight (I prefer 1/8 ounce) is on the shank of the hook rather than the nose, which enables the soft plastic bait to remain horizontal as it sinks. With a subtle twitch-twitch-reel presentation this setup will have a more natural swimming appearance and stay in the strike zone of suspended fish, thus resulting in more strikes. A MirrOlure Provoker or a Saltwater Assassin rigged through the split belly works beautifully with this rig.

Another pathway to success for stubborn suspended fish is the use of floating and suspending twitchbaits.

If there’s ever a season for my favorite family of lures to shine it’s during spring time. My top three (in no particular order) are MirrOlure’s MirrOdine XL, Borboletta Lele’s, Texas Custom Lure Double Ds and Rapala’s X-Rap Subwalk. The ability of these baits to dance in place makes them irresistible at times. Not only that, but the strikes can be so violent that it adds a whole new element to the level of excitement.

In addition to shad, brown shrimp will begin their migration from back lakes, bayous and rivers and continue their weeks-long journey toward passes leading to the Gulf of Mexico. Gulls and terns will hover over shrimp as trout and redfish drive them to the surface. Tiny atomic bombs will sound off as mainly small trout violently attack the shrimp as they propel themselves backwards with each lightning-fast flick of their tails.

Warmer temperatures and more signs of jubilant life will lend to more anglers on the water as folks get the itch. Many guides will begin their so-called busy season. While we’re all looking forward to some fun-filled days on the bays there are some things we can all do to help ensure that our speckled trout not only maintain sustainable levels but maybe even help increase future numbers of Texas’ most targeted species. Such responsible practices are even more needed coming off of one of the worst freezes we’ve experienced since 1989.

Some parts of the Texas Coast experienced higher mortality rates than others but the freeze fortunately left us with manageable numbers of live trout, redfish and other species in virtually all bay systems. At this time it is impossible to quantify as it will take weeks if not months of anecdotal evidence from our on-the-water experiences as well as Texas Parks and Wildlife Coastal Fisheries findings and gill net surveys to give us an idea.

In the meantime, this should be a wakeup call for all of us.

10 | April 2021

Practicing careful catch and release will not only help to more quickly replenish trout in the hard hit areas but it can enhance the numbers and size of trout in areas that weren’t as severely impacted.

It’s a great thing to practice no matter how you look at it.

In the past two days my clients and I released approximately forty trout along with numerous reds and flounder. Most of the trout were in the two to three year age class. Even if only half of those trout were females (more likely that 75-80% were female) their spawning potential could be calculated at a minimum of 2,000,000 eggs (20 x 100,000) and that’s just from one spawning event. Most of these trout were in the 2 to 3.5 pound range and could possibly spawn around 300,000 eggs each. In addition, trout don’t just spawn once but many times over the course of the year (mainly between the months of April and October here on the Upper Texas Coast). Of course, only a small percentage of eggs ultimately survive but, again, I’m using very conservative numbers.

James and Stacey Sharp doubled up on trout several times on this crisp, post-freeze morning. It was a great relief knowing we still had some fish to catch!

– Bart Moore’s wife, Julie, bought him this trip for his birthday and he wasn’t disappointed!

TSFMAG.com | 11

The Borboleta Lele has become a staple for me in recent years, especially during spring and early summer.

There are some simple guidelines to use when targeting trout that you plan to put back into the system. The first thing I like to do is use needle nose pliers to crimp down the barbs on the jig heads we’re using. This makes for a quick and easy release and does very minimal damage to the fish. In many cases we don’t even need to touch the fish to remove the jig. If we do have to grab the fish then we will wet our hands first. Avoid using a towel or rag as removing their protective slim (mucous) layer can lead to infection and other issues.

We also try to avoid beating on schools of trout especially ones that are mainly undersized. If we’re on a school that’s more than half throwbacks then it’s time to relocate.

One thing that I’ve been hearing from a few other fishermen lately is that “Mother Nature controls everything and she will take care of our fishery.” There may have been a time some decades ago when I could’ve possibly been inclined to agree with such a simple blanket statement. However, the natural and man-induced changes that have taken place through the years seem to have culminated into a perfect storm. This coupled with the fact that there are many stakeholders (Fishing guides, recreational anglers, shrimpers, oystermen, crabbers, drum liners, etc.) continuously putting added pressure on the resource tells me that conservation efforts on all fronts should be an ongoing process.

I also personally think there needs to be (and should’ve been done a long time ago) a moratorium placed on captain’s (fishing guide) licenses. This was done years ago with commercial shrimp and oyster licenses. Many guides are just as much (if not more) commercial fishermen as those who drag nets and dredges.

I believe Atlantic croaker should have a 10-inch minimum length in an effort to help rebuild the croaker fishery that has diminished through the years. In addition, there are speckled trout removed (that would’ve otherwise remained) from the system every year by fishermen using live croaker for bait. Even some of the live croaker guides have told me this.

When addressing frequently asked questions leading up to speckled trout scoping meetings in 2011, the Texas Parks and Wildlife 12 | April 2021

My good friend Jake White releases a good one on one our scouting trips.

Department was asked the following question: “Are croakers an effective bait for trout?” Their answer: “Yes, but not for everyone. On average, guided trips using live croakers catch trout at about twice the rate of other baits, but private fishing trips using live croakers catch trout at the same rate as other baits. Croakers are especially effective at catching trout between 16” and 24” compared to other baits.”

(Scoping: Spotted Seatrout Conservation Measures, tpwd.texas.gov) I know that this article may ruffle some feathers with those who think that “Well, by God, I’m entitled to my limit of fish because that’s what the law allows.” While I understand to an extent that mentality, I encourage everyone to put their thinking caps on and try to understand where our fishery is right now. A conscientious understanding of our fishery and what makes it tick will lead us down the right path. Practicing good stewardship can only improve our fishery. Why wouldn’t we want to try to make it the best it can be?

View The Video

Open Camera and hover over QR Code. When link appears at top of screen tap to open in YouTube.

Reds Under Birds in April

STEVE HILLMAN

CONTACT

Post-freeze trout had been hugging the bottom in 10 feet of water as indicated by these small leeches.

Steve Hillman is a full-time fishing guide on his home waters of Galveston Bay. Steve fishes the entire Galveston Bay Complex, wading and drifting for trout, redfish, and flounder using artificial lures.

Phone 409-256-7937 Email captsteve@hillmanguideservice.com Web www.hillmanguideservice.com

TSFMAG.com | 13

STORY BY KEVIN COCHRAN

W

hen formulating and executing plans, successful inshore anglers consistently combine their knowledge of productive spots with their interpretation of diagnostic signs. Some claim they rely solely on signs, but this isn’t likely true, since finding useful clues can become nearly impossible in many situations. When leaving the dock in the darkness before dawn, looking for signs of life proves tedious at best, given the lack of light. When dense fog sets in, the same truth applies.

Also, on some days, when fish feed close to the bottom, or with low levels of intensity, evidence of their meager activities might become extremely difficult to discern. In all these situations, anglers must decide where to fish by relying on their knowledge of specific spots, ideally ones which have proven productive track records in conditions similar to those in play at the moment.

As a rule, the best plans in a month lying in the middle of spring begin with a thorough and accurate grasp of which parts of the area likely hold fish and which allow for effective angling efforts, given the current conditions. The plans also involve an acceptance of the need to look for signs indicating the presence of feeding fish, and a willingness to repeatedly make searches within the chosen area to locate those signs.

Many of us who normally start off fishing at the crack of dawn rely on spots first, then adjust as necessary to bring our observation skills into play, using signs of feeding activity to choose other places to try if and when we abandon our original chosen location. In the midst of spring, when many organisms ride warming, rising tides out of the Gulf and into inshore waterways, anglers must work to relocate schools of fish from day to day, even within the same day.

Consequently, in months with moderate water temperatures and roaming schools of fish, the most productive anglers rely heavily on vigilant mobility.

In April, several parts of the Baffin Bay/ULM system historically hold good concentrations of trout. A list of these areas includes the King Ranch and Kenedy shorelines, the spoils along the ICW north of Baffin, the Tide Gauge Bar and its associated shoreline, eastern parts of Alazan Bay, also the entire length of the Land Cut. Anglers best equipped to find and catch fish in these areas start with a thorough list of known productive spots and micro-spots and finish by showing an adept ability to adjust to the daily movements of the fish within the areas.

Captains commonly catch plenty of fish in one spot for several days, then find it void of life the next. When this happens, smart anglers adjust quickly and begin a pointed search in similar places nearby, rather than stubbornly digging in their heels or abandoning the area entirely. This reality contrasts with the mentality prevalent in the cold season, when planting the feet and grinding in known productive holes makes more sense, given even scant signs of movement and life.

Looking back over my career fishing through the warming days of spring in the hypersaline lagoons near and south of Corpus Christi, I recall several key moments which illustrate well the point about the need for diligent focus on signs of feeding activity in this month when the azaleas bloom. One occurred in 2008, on the east shoreline of Alazan Bay. My customers and I had been catching big trout regularly in the shallow, silty body of water during the weeks prior to the day on which I caught a 10.5 pounder on a floating Fat Boy. The big bite came

The Captain with the 10.5-pound trout referenced in the piece, caught on a floating Paul Brown FatBoy in 2008.

16 | April 2021

on the third or fourth stop of the day; I’d moved because the spots where I’d made good catches previously didn’t produce.

Seeing a line of mullet jumping on the edge of a sandy shelf fronting a shoreline bluff, I parked and we waded down the edge, working the shallows atop the shelf, the drop zone, and the deeper water lying just offshore of the ledge. We got no bites in a stretch measuring at least 100 yards. While we started piling back into the boat to make another move, I noticed a needlefish dancing on its tail in circles, in a desperate attempt to evade some predator. Looking a bit farther down the shoreline, I saw another, then a third frantic, twirling gar. Given the length of these slender dancers, I figured it made good sense to try and catch whatever had motivated their spastic movements.

So, rather than move to a new location a greater distance away, I told my guys to get back out, saying, “I picked the wrong side of this point. We need to walk that way and figure out what’s after those needlefish.” Over the next two hours or so, we managed to land a handful of trout weighing at least seven pounds, including the double-digit monster, which stretched the tape to over 31 inches.

Similar events had unfolded about a year earlier, in a different part of the area, around the east end of Cathead, in Baffin Bay. I didn’t mention Cathead in the list of known productive areas in these bay systems in April. But, in the wake of strong, late cold fronts, the flats and rock formations lying along this north shoreline can indeed produce great catches. Such a scenario found me fishing with clients in the middle of spring, 2007. While we waded water about waist-deep, catching a few medium-sized trout and reds, I noticed lots of mullet darting around, obviously fearing for their lives, in the shallows close to the spine of the rock-studded sand bar.

I told my guys to keep working the deeper gut between the bar and shoreline, but to remain ready to move toward me if I summoned them. While I worked my way closer to the top of the bar, two or three slicks popped, and I could see swirls and wakes indicating a frenzy of activity. Soon after I came within reach of the melee, I succeeded in hooking a 30-inch trout on my Chad Kelley fighting a solid floating pink Paul Brown Lure. trout caught recently on a cold My guys headed directly toward day spent with the Captain on me while I fought it, and we the Upper Laguna Madre. managed to urge two more big trout to bite, along with a few upper-slot reds. Sadly, we wound up pulling the school right to our feet and spooking most of the fish.

Regardless, the events emphasize the point related to the need to remain alert and ready to make small-scale moves during spring.

That same year, my old friend Jesse Arsola and I had the best run of our lives on the spoils lying between Baffin and Bird Island.

He first discovered how many fish populated the shallows around the grassy humps when he located a giant raft of mullet on the north end of the Pipeline Spoil one latewinter afternoon, while pre-fishing

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View The Video

Open Camera and hover over QR Code. When link appears at top of screen tap to open in YouTube.

Captain Kev explains the different attributes of three different types of Paul Brown Lures, and describes logical applications for each.

18 | April 2021

a recently productive spot, focusing especially on places with similar physical attributes. In all cases, vigilant mobility enhances the promise of productivity throughout the hopeful span of spring.

Mike Bernard with one of several pretty trout he caught while fishing with Captain Kev in April a few years ago.

Tim Zbylot with a fat trout caught in April on a trip made with Captain Kev.

KEVIN COCHRAN CONTACT

for a series of imminent trips. In the general area, he and I proceeded to catch scores of trout measuring between 27 and 31 inches over the next three months. During the run, we both realized the need to keep our eyes and minds open, as the fish would stay on one spoil for a few days, then suddenly move to the next one, a few hundred yards, maybe as much as a mile away.

By the height of spring, the reality became delightfully predictable; when we’d stop catching in one spot, we’d get in the boat and start idling one way or the other, adjacent to the ICW, looking for rafted mullet, wakes and/or slicks. Once we saw the right signs, we’d jump back out and start catching again. Standing and grinding on a set of potholes which had produced a bunch of trout the last three days but had little bait present at the moment became plainly insane. This same strategy often comes into play when we’re targeting fish on the Tide Gauge Bar, or on the shoreline behind it, tight to the bank.

Fish use this stretch of water to move from one part of the bay system to another, sometimes passing through slowly and staying for a while, other times moving faster and quickly disappearing. In either case, using the eyes, nose and even the ears to keep track of the fish makes more sense than simply picking a specific spot with a long track history of production and committing lots of time to it, regardless of the abundance of positive signs. This same truth certainly applies along the entire west shoreline of the ULM, on the fringes of the King and Kenedy ranches, also in the narrow confines of the “ditch” known as the Land Cut. In all these places, anglers best equipped to avoid the tendency to show stubborn fidelity to spots, instead to open their eyes and minds to any and all signs, stand the best chance of staying in contact with the relentlessly wandering schools of fish.

In all Texas bays, looking for slicks and mud stirs makes perfect sense as part of this process of placing more value on signs than spots. In Upper Coast bays, where large rivers add plenty of sweetwater to the salt, smart anglers search for schools of shad and glass minnows, in addition to mullet.

Down south, where the water generally stays at least as salty as the open ocean, ballyhoo, needlefish and even ribbonfish can indicate a high likelihood of predators lurking in their midst.

Certainly, no matter where the effort takes place, anglers who glimpse wakes and jumping shrimp, or hear lips smacking holes in the surface of the water will take notice and adjust their specific locations, if only by attempting to cast directly at what they see and hear.

The need for adjustment might boil down to aiming at signs within reach, not ignoring obvious clues to feeding activity and casting randomly. Wading a short distance toward clear indications of activity lying just out of casting range sometimes achieves the desired result. At other times, a quality adjustment involves using the boat to make a search for signs a relatively short distance away from

Kevin Cochran is a full-time fishing guide at Corpus Christi (Padre Island), TX. Kevin is a speckled trout fanatic and has created several books and dvds on the subject.

Kevin’s home waters stretch from Corpus Christi Bay to the Land Cut.

TROUT TRACKER GUIDE SERVICE Phone 361-688-3714 Email kevxlr8@mygrande.net Web www.FishBaffinBay.com www.captainkevblogs.com

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Redfish caught by sight-casting, about to be released by author.

Sight-Fishing & Structure With a Twist STORY BY CHUCK UZZLE

A

fter many years on the water and sharing time with people from all walks of life, you can imagine some of the questions I receive. One of my favorites is, “What is your favorite way to fish?”

If pressed for an answer, I would have to say sight-fishing would be at the top of my list. Having the opportunity to see the fish, make a cast and watch it take your lure is a sensory overload to say the least. Sight-fishing is the ultimate combination of hunting and fishing, which makes it easy to understand why it can become so addictive. Just taking a guess, I would bet that 75% or more of TSFMag readers enjoy hunting of some type as well as fishing. I know in my part of the world here on the Texas and Louisiana border that’s the case, fishing and hunting are as close to a religion as you can get without a church.

During duck season I took a brief intermission south of the border and as my small skiff settled out over a bright and endless Caribbean flat covered with air clear water, it was instantly obvious that just like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. Everything about it was far away and different from my normal Upper Coast home waters where clarity is measured in inches, not feet.

From atop the poling platform I could see a school of bonefish milling about in the shallow water in search of small crabs and shrimp; the scene was classic, showing their tails and easily giving away their location. It was a gimme, as they say, as easy as you could ever hope from one of the wariest fish that ever swam in the ocean. All those good vibes disappeared in the blink of an eye though as one awkward move led to an awkward cast and two anglers shaking their headswondering, “How did we miss that one?”

TSFMAG.com | 21

Scenes like this play out over and over as anglers who enjoy seeing their fish before they cast to them make mistakes that leave them wondering whether they should revert to soaking dead bait. The frustration factor for sight-fisherman is high and more often than not outweighs the success ratio, but on the day it all happens just right there is no better feeling.

If I had to put it all in perspective, I get as much or more enjoyment out of coaching an angler to a fish than I do catching one myself. I never thought in a million years I could be in a boat all day long, never pick up a rod, and still call the trip a success. I routinely never cast on sight-fishing trips because I get such a kick out of watching clients, especially those who have never tried this style of fishing.

Hunters call it buck fever; veterans and beginners alike succumb to “the shakes” and miss easy targets. Believe me when I say I have watched plenty of fishermen fall victim to the redfish version of the same affliction. Even accomplished anglers sometimes look like they’ve never held a fishing rod when they see a big redfish within easy range. It’s both comical and embarrassing how many competent fly-casters get wrapped in their own line and backcasts snarl and snatch on everything within reach during the excitement of the moment. It can get crazy and I guess that’s why we love it.

Wind is always a factor in this game and we’ll just have to wait and see how everything plays out in the coming spring months. Strong winds will muddy the waters seemingly overnight and make finding fish extremely difficult. At this point we move over to another of my other favorite methods and that’s fishing structure.

Saltwater structure varies in many ways and can be as simple or complex as you want to make it. For instance, let’s talk shallow structure. Small, very minor depressions in a flat can be called structure because they fit the mold. Structure is something different

in an area that fish relate to or use for certain purposes like food or shelter. These small depressions can offer fish an opportunity to escape a stronger tide or aid them in ambushing baitfish.

More noticeable structure could be grass lines or other vegetation growing in or along the edge of the water. Some grasses can actually help you locate certain types of structure, like underwater points.

Along the banks of the Sabine River we have a certain spartina-like grass that grows along the shore, and each place where this grass grows usually indicates a shallow point that juts into the river. Points like these are fish magnets and we have had some incredible days fishing the down-current sides of them.

One day many years ago Capt. Dickie Colburn and I were fishing a stretch of the Sabine River where we knew a herd of redfish had been hanging around for more than a week. For some reason we couldn’t find them until we adjusted our position on the anchor by letting out about 30 feet of line and slipping into the perfect spot. Our adjustment allowed us to remain within casting range but kept us off the big concentration of fish. Any other set up would result in either spooking the fish or not getting bit. The adjustment allowed us to pull our baits over the submerged where the redfish were ganged up escaping the current. It was truly a light bulb moment and proved how being off the mark by only a few feet can be the difference between a great day and a zero.

Now a more classic version of structure for saltwater fishermen are reefs made from various types of shell – oyster, clam, or mussel. These areas are perhaps some of the most targeted pieces of structure in all the bay systems along the Gulf coast. A productive reef can and will attract plenty of attention from both fish and fishermen and each bay has its own popular reefs. Fishermen congregate regardless of whether the fish are biting or not, everybody knows about them, and

Redfish aren’t the only species you can sight-cast in the Sabine marsh.

Very few things in fishing provide greater thrills than watching a fish eat your lure.

22 | April 2021

TSFMAG.com | 23

consequently everybody fishes there.

Sight-casting with fly gear is becoming The real hidden gems, though, are the small increasingly popular all along the Texas Coast. reefs that not many folks know about because they receive little pressure and often produce big fish. I know guys who guard these areas like they were gold; they will often abandon the area if a boat gets too near, only to return when the area is vacant. GPS numbers to small hotspots like these are closely guarded and rarely shared with someone outside the circle of close fishing partners. If you are fortunate enough to find a place like this you would be wise to keep it to yourself.

Fishing structure is not for the impatient; in fact it requires a much slower approach than normal in order to cover everything thoroughly. I’ve been taught lessons on the water about slowing down on several occasions and one that comes to mind is dropping anchor on drifts instead of dropping buoy markers. In years past we would make long drifts down Sabine Lake, catch some fish, and repeat the drift only to catch fish in basically the same areas. It was fishing on a conveyer belt; you went round and round until the fish quit biting.

One day on Calcasieu I got schooled on a better way to go about this from a local fisherman. We were fishing the same area only we were going about it differently. The local guy was sitting on anchor while I continued to make drift after drift on the same line. After about three passes I heard the local guy say to his buddy in the boat, “That guy has a beautiful boat, it’s a shame he couldn’t afford an anchor.” Another light bulb moment and it has paid big dividends over the years.

Take your pick, sight or structure; they are both fun and outstanding ways to catch fish in virtually any bay system or body of water. Hopefully the weather and conditions will allow all of us the opportunity to use them both this spring to fullest advantage.

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Chuck Uzzle’s Soft Plastic Lure Rigging Tips

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CHUCK UZZLE Chuck fishes Sabine and Calcasieu Lakes from his home in Orange, TX. His specialties are light tackle and fly fishing for trout, reds, and flounder.

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TSFMAG.com | 25

T e s o h T e v i G

Targeting flounder requires either live bait, or Gulp! Jigs fished slowly on bottom around structure.

rout a B rea k STORY BY JOE RICHARD

O

ur trout population took a hit during the freeze back in February, and at this writing the damage survey wasn’t complete. Many trout hadn’t begun to float, where they could be counted, but it certainly looks like the middle and lower coast took a major hit and many of them trout. Tons of baitfish, too. On the upper coast, fish have more access to deep, protective ship channels with warmer water, though what impact a lumbering ship might have on fish hiding in these 50foot channels is hard to measure. Galveston, Matagorda and Corpus Christi Bays also have their ship channels leading to the warm Gulf, which saved a lot of fish.

Our saltwater hatcheries apparently did okay and were posting video of feeding their flounder on the last day of the freeze, so I assume they never lost power—which happened in the 1989 freeze in Flower Bluff.

Shallow East Matagorda Bay and bays south of Port O’Connor down poke a few of these striped bandits; all it requires is a mask, snorkel to Port Isabel had no protection from the cold, save for the Colorado and fins at the jetties. They’re easy targets and not very smart. Or, River and the ship channel in Corpus Christi. The 12-foot ICW offered they’re startled to see someone aiming a spear at them. Either way, I scant protection from the cruel weather, and eyewitnesses said barge used to fill Igloos at the Galveston jetties during summer, before there traffic wasn’t really shut down, because it was only voluntary. Tugboats were limits. Today’s limit is a tight 5-fish per angler, but that’s enough have big propellers that really churn that canal from top to bottom, for several fine meals, if you aim for the bigger fish. I’ve only eaten which is fatal to cold-stunned fish. them fried, but they were better than trout. As for bigger sheepshead, Anyway, I’m offering up some alternatives for this year’s coastal I heard of one family who targeted them at night at oil rigs within fishing. This is a good year to give the trout a rest, or release those sight of the beach. Which is a little extreme, because every Texas jetty caught while using barbless hooks. The big trout tournaments can has sheepshead. That family was tournament fishing for a 10-pounder. be skipped as well, since an 8-pound trout can lay almost a million Redfish are tougher than trout and it’s highly doubtful they eggs annually. (They’re batch spawners that lay continuously over suffered losses like trout did. Reds have a varied diet and are tougher a few months time). I don’t have stats on the number of saltwater to clean than trout, but they’re bigger and fight harder. And the anglers back in 1989 when we had our last big freeze, but today’s state’s hatcheries have been pumping red fingerlings into the bays for numbers are certainly higher. Rebuilding our trout population decades. I do remember POC redfish were hard to find after the twin should now take priority.

1989 freezes, except lots of them around oil rigs off the beach that Here are some other alternate bay species to pursue, most of which following summer, where many escaped to and just wouldn’t leave. taste better than trout. The public and a number of coastal guides That’s an easy way to catch slot reds, dropping circle hooks to the have concentrated on trout for many years, hardly learning how to fish for other species.

Spanish mackerel Some are completely dependent on using live are sporty and really good on the table. croakers for bait. They cater to what the public wants, and the name “trout” has universal appeal; everyone knows seatrout are good to eat (if a little bland), and easy to clean. But Texas has many species of fish, and it’s time to learn more about catching them. If enough people learn, it could help ease fishing pressure on trout for the years ahead. If you book a guide this summer, you might inquire about targeting other species. Those fishing the jetties certainly encounter a wider variety of fish than in the back bays. Here are some favorite fish: Spanish mackerel arrive in April, are plentiful in May, lasting into November. They’re my favorite coastal fish without having to venture offshore. They were not impacted by the freeze, because they were wintering in Mexico and South Florida. Buy a handful of ¾ ounce gold spoons, find green water near the beach, and start slinging. Use 40-pound mono of fluro leader tied directly to your line. Any of the jetties are reliable spots, if the water is green. Near-shore platforms off the beach are even better, and we’ve even accessed them with jonboats launched in fairly calm surf. The daily bag limit of 15 mackerel is quite generous.

Fillet a 3- or 4-pounder, drizzle melted butter on the meat side, sprinkle with Tony’s spice, bake but don’t overcook, and that’s a meal that beats any coastal trout.

Sheepshead only eat crustaceans like crabs, shrimp, small oysters and barnacles, but that Sheepshead in August, really helps their flavor. These fish are picky in chewing barnacles inside summer after spawning in February/March. Use a near-shore Gulf platform. fiddler crabs or live shrimp with a small J-hook.

That, or jump in the water with a pole spear and 28 | April 2021

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bottom with cut bait. And here’s a tip before cleaning them: Lately, socking the jig. (A technique I gave up on, when I turned 50 or so). In we’ve been bleeding our redfish while they’re alive. On a stringer or in the Padre Island surf the long rod is king, up to 15 feet long, capable a 5-gallon bucket of water, cut just one red gill raker, and leave them of making long casts. Pompano disdain muddy water, so look for a in the water. After 10 minutes, the redfish is asleep forever, and the green, incoming tide. bucket water has turned completely red. It seems to improve their flavor, as it certainly does with chicken or beef.

Golden Croaker. Not the most glamorous fish, but two generations of Texas anglers have forgotten about the autumn “croaker runs” of yesteryear and how tasty was the croaker. It didn’t help that the croaker population was crippled by Gulf shrimpboat bycatch, with a billion of these fish landed on deck and wasted every year, dumped overboard. Keeper croaker are caught on bottom in depths of 20 feet or so. The biggest lurk offshore in autumn and winter at artificial reefs. A 6-pounder caught at the snapper banks of South Padre is the state record. Nobody will argue that fried croaker aren’t great!

Black Drum. Forget eating big drum, Hefty golden croaker makes a tasty treat when fried, perhaps they’re inedible, but they can be sporty on better than any other inshore fish.

20-pound tackle. However, smaller “puppy drum” taste pretty close to redfish. The only people I’ve seen consistently hauling Happy anglers with scrappy black drum. Behind out limits of puppies are at the POC jetties, them is the multi-species guide Capt. Curtiss Cash of where guides anchor right where the rocks POC, who’s watching a shallow school of drum. meet the sand in depths of about 30 feet.

They use egg weights and mono leaders only 4 inches long, which keeps that shrimp bait right on the bottom. Schools of puppy drum are also found in the back bays, around oyster reefs. Baffin Bay carries a large population of drum, though I hear they suffered losses in the freeze.

Flounder. These fish should have had a great spawn this past winter, because they favor colder water just offshore. (In short supply in recent years). To target them, slowdragging the bottom with live finger mullet or marsh minnows around structure is the ticket.

Or slow-bouncing Gulp! jigs. In recent years I’ve been filleting these fish into four strips of white meat, instead of baking them whole, and it was better than fried crappie from the lakes.

There are also bonus fish, real prizes on the table. Tripletail arrive in Joe Richard has fished the Gulf since 1967, starting out of Port ArJune, are often visible on the surface while sunning themselves, and thur, but his adventures have taken him up and down the entire coast. they can be quietly stalked with an electric motor. Pitch them a small, He was the editor of Tide magazine for eight years, and later Florida live bait or a twister-tail worm jig. Bag limit is three. The state record is Sportsman’s book and assistant 36-pound brute from Matagorda Bay. magazine editor. He began guiding Pompano roam the Padre Island surf, but also cluster inside oil out of Port O’Connor in 1994. His rigs offshore in 30 to 50 feet of water, especially in May and October. specialty is big kingfish, and his latest book is The Kingfish Bible, You need small but strong jigs, tipped with shrimp, and pitch them New Revelations. Available at around the structure when the current is almost still. In a current, Seafavorites.com they stay inside the structure, making them difficult to reach unless you’re above them on the catwalk, first spotting and then doodle-

CONTACT

JOE RICHARD

30 | April 2021

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TSFMAG.com | 31

J AY WAT K I N S

ASK THE PRO

THE BIG FREEZE –

PUTTING FISH FIRST! We are about to receive a major arctic blast. Forecasts are all over the place but many models are calling for temperatures to drop into the low-teens. That’s not good for our fish, especially trout, as they become stressed when water temperatures dip into the upper-40s and can die if water temperatures remain at or below 45° more than 24 hours. Reds are a little hardier and can hold on until water temperatures drop to 40°, and maybe a bit below, but mortality increases after 24 hours.

We cannot control Mother Nature and worrying about it only places stress on us. I will worry but I will remain positive, knowing that I have survived the major freezes of ‘83 and ’89, along with brown tides, red tides, blue-green algae, seven years of drought, floods, and at least a hundred times greater fishing pressure.

We have some things in place that we did not have in ‘83 and ‘89. Namely, lower bag limits on gamefish species across the board. We also have fishing closures in deep basins and harbors to protect fish seeking refuge during extreme weather. We also have voluntary

Results of mid-day warming trend with Texas Customs Double D over small, submerged grassbeds.

32 | April 2021

shutdowns of barge traffic in the ICW and other channels to help minimize the loss of fish seeking refuge. Big thanks to the companies willing to put the fish first for a few days. The front is now pushing into the area and I will resume writing after it has passed.

I’m back…February 21 and the big news is obviously the freeze. This article has become more difficult to write as we are seeing dead fish of all species beginning to float. It takes about 3- to 4-days for them to gas up and come to the surface. Some areas were impacted more than others but all systems have suffered losses.

TPW will wait to make assessments until they are able to collect the proper science-based data.

Most of Texas was without electricity and water for 3 to 4 days. In Rockport and Port Mansfield we lost power for 4 days and water was on and off until power was fully restored. All of this was a hardship but let’s cut to the chase and I will tell you what I have seen in the Rockport area several days after the warmup began.

First, we have lost a bunch of fish in many of the shallow backwater areas. These backwater areas comprise a small percentage of our total bay waters so, even though they are subject to higher losses, those losses are not representative of an entire system. Just so you know, TPW gill net surveys are not conducted in back lakes, sloughs or drains…main bay shorelines only. Losses thus far include all species of game and baitfish as well as sea turtles. Big thanks to the volunteers who participated in turtle rescue efforts.

During strong northers the wind pushes a great amount of bay water into the back lakes – a false tide of sorts. Fish will instinctively move with the tides and begin to feed up in advance of the front. When water temperatures drop drastically as they did on Feb 12 through 18, those fish become stunned and unable to move to deeper water. Heck, maybe they just don’t know to move.

Nonetheless, they become extremely vulnerable to the bitter cold and many do not survive. We have seen this with just about every major freeze event that I have experienced over my 40-year career.

The flip side is that in other areas where fish have deep water access and deeper bottom structure, they move deeper much quicker and have higher chances of surviving. Our numerous deep harbors, subdivision canals, deeper oil field channels, and countless deeper coves and pockets also provide shelter during extreme cold.

I have seen numerous areas with scattered dead trout and reds but not the shoreline stacking I feared we would see. I also believe there are fish dead still on bottom that we will not see until later this week. We can only hope that the damage is not too severe. It is still too early to think that we have seen all that was killed but I remain optimistic due to the numbers of live and healthy fish that I have seen and videoed so far.

On Friday, Jeff Steckler, Jay Ray and I went south of Rockport for a look and Adam Nesloney went to the north. What we found was truly shocking but also fantastic in another way. We found large numbers of trout, reds and black drum moving up out of deeper water onto shallow flats that were warming. The water temperature was 47° when we set out and 48° to 49° by the end. Today, as I tweak this article for submission, our water temperature is nearing 55°. By Monday we could see 60°, which is about normal for this time of year.

The Watkins boys will be practicing Catch and Release on speckled trout for the remainder of 2021. We feel that the trout population has been impacted the most, based on our observations on the water.

This is something we are doing on our own and will harbor no illfeelings toward any that choose to do differently.

For more than 40 years the fish in our bays have provided me the opportunity to provide for my family. For 17 years they have done the same for Jay Ray. For the past 10 years we have encouraged that our clients keep only fish they need and release all trout over 20 inches. The catch and release thing is not new to us and we feel that total catch and release of trout will allow the population that remains the opportunity to spawn and pave the road to a quicker recovery. If you’re inclined to follow us in this endeavor, we say

kudos, and thanks for joining.

Now, let’s talk fishing because that is what we all want to get back to…

After the cold moves out and warming begins, we could see an extended time of recovery versus the normal shorter cold snaps.

My years of experience and my observations of the fish I catch after super-cold periods tell me the state of the fish throughout the cold period. Three years ago we had water temperatures drop to 38° overnight and air temperatures of 28°. I know this because I went out and measured the surface water temperatures in an area I wanted to try to fish. I never got out due to the temperature readings and returned to the dock to warm and live to fight another day.

Over the next 10 days we experienced a slow but steady warming trend. As water temperatures warmed into the upper-50s and 60s we started seeing more and more signs of feeding and fish activity. I have already started seeing the same pattern after this most recent event. I observed more activity from the midday to afternoon hours than we did during the early morning hours. I expect to see the same pattern repeat itself in the days ahead.

You’ll notice that the trout you catch will have some noticeable blistering and bloody tails and fins. This is due to the fish being close to or actually on the bottom, bellied into the mud where parasites and small predators chew on them. Leeches will also be attached to the trout and reds that we catch. This tells us where the fish are in relationship to the bottom and this tells us where we need to have our lures.

I will use MirrOlure’s Lil John XL and original Lil Johns to probe the depths and locate fish holding in deeper water. Once the water temperatures warm and the fish move shallow, I will be focused on the same structures that I normally target. I am big on the small, what I refer to as satellite grassbeds and small potholes that border areas of larger grassbeds or sand pockets.

Trout, especially larger trout, want to get shallow to warm and feed after cold spells. Being highly opportunistic predators, I believe their instincts lead them to setting up on smaller pieces of

Jay Anderson with a gorgeous thirty-and-a-half…CPR!

TSFMAG.com | 33

View The Video

Open Camera and hover over QR Code. When link appears at top of screen tap to open in YouTube.

Jay Watkins’ post-freeze advice, “Go Fishing and Practice Greater Conservation!”

34 | April 2021

Over two days we had two fish longer than 30-inches and one measured 30.5 inches. We also had lots of 4- to 5-pounders, and only two reds the entire time. I know that is not the norm but it certainly felt good to set the hook, feel a heavy headshake, and have confidence that it’s not a redfish. I love reds, don’t get me wrong, but I am a trout guy at heart and target them about 90% of the time.

As we get back on the water in the morning; the fifth day of our warm up, we will do more scouting and less fishing while trying to further assess the freeze damage. We will be totally catch and release at this point in the recovery. I will end this article encouraging all of you to remain positive. I have seen signs in the Rockport area that are promising. I do encourage the catch and release of all trout and any other gamefish species if you can see your way to put the FISH FIRST as they try to recover from yet another historic event.

FISH FIRST THIS TIME! -Guide Jay Watkins

C O N TA C T

structure where they can maintain a 360° vigil and capture prey with a minimum of effort. I say this because I have stood and watched them maneuver with only a slight roll of their tails. We can learn much from observation and those visions stay with us, allowing us to envision what is happening when we are unable to actually see it.

When working shallow water and smaller structures, I am a big fan of the Texas Customs Double D. This lure is very versatile and allows anglers to do whatever we need to do in order to draw instinctive or reaction strikes from trout and redfish.

We had a tremendous two-and-a-half day run of fishing the week prior to the freeze. All trout were over very small areas of submerged grass or in very small potholes. Floating grass was an issue for topwaters, Custom Corkys, and Custom Soft Dines. Double Ds and Lil John XLs on Texas Custom Jigheads both worked well in the heavy, floating grass due to the design of the jigheads and the ability of the Double D to be retrieved just beneath the surface and above the targeted grassbeds. During peak feeding periods it was a toss-up but the Double D definitely produced more strikes during the periods between feeds.

Jay Watkins has been a full-time fishing guide at Rockport, TX, for more than 20 years. Jay specializes in wading yearround for trout and redfish with artificial lures. Jay covers the Texas coast from San Antonio Bay to Corpus Christi Bay. Telephone Email Website

361-729-9596 Jay@jaywatkins.com www.jaywatkins.com

TSFMAG.com | 35

Hold onto them for a minute or two...they’ll let you know when they’re ready to go!

C A P T. S COT T N U L L

S H A L L O W W AT E R F I S H I N G

CAN I TALK YOU INTO

RELEASING THAT FISH? I have always been a strong advocate for catch and release.

My guiding business is built around it. I am not and never intend to be a meat-haul guide who measures success by the size of the fillet pile. I’ve been blessed with steady customers who feel the same way. I don’t force it on them and if they want to keep a few for dinner that is fine. My

Captains Caleb McCumber and Nick Mosley with four freeze-killed trout over 30 inches, shortly after the weather moderated. The largest weighed just over 11 lbs.

36 | April 2021

people come for the sport of fishing and the experiences of just being out on the water.

In the wake of this freeze kill I will be 100% catch and release on trout. Reds do not seem to have been affected as much, but I will continue to encourage catch and release of them as well. Yes, based on the number of floaters, I know it appears my particular part of the coast was not hit as hard as others.

However, in talking with the biologists there are many more fish dead that never float up, for whatever reason.

I’ve heard a whole lot of people saying they’ll catch and keep whatever they want until TPWD tells them otherwise. I’m going the other direction. I’ll continue my program until the results of the analysis are in from TPWD. In my view, what does it hurt to be more conservative for a while and see what develops?

Also, know that even if your

particular area didn’t get hammered by the freeze, it is about to get hammered by increased boat traffic and pressure by anglers from other areas that did not fare as well.

TPWD will be conducting their gill net population sampling through April, May and early-June. This systematic method of surveying fish populations and the overall health of our bays has many years of data to compare against. The results will be used to map out a recovery from this devastating freeze. I would not be at all surprised to see a reduction in trout limits. Even if it doesn’t apply state wide, I would expect regulatory changes in areas that were hardest hit.

If you are wanting to do your part and get started in the catch and release way of life there are some things you can do to improve the chances of post-release survival. A lot of it is common sense, but perhaps you’ll see a suggestion you hadn’t thought of.

A common sight every summer is the boat parked on a big school of small trout. They’re catching them fast, flopping them on the hot deck, grabbing them with a towel, unhooking and then tossing them back like a grenade. It defeats the purpose if you kill or injure those fish.

Studies have shown that properly handled and released trout suffer very little mortality.

The slime on fish is there for a reason. It protects them from bacterial infections, among other things. Getting netted, flopping on a hot boat deck and being picked up with a towel or gloved hand are all detrimental to the slime coating. Even grabbing a fish with a dry hand isn’t recommended.

The less you handle the fish the better its chances. When wading or kayaking, keep the fish in the water and control it with a lip gripper while unhooking. If you want a quick photo, pick it up with one hand supporting the belly and keep it horizontal. This is particularly important with large fish. Holding a large fish vertically by the jaw has been shown to cause internal injury as well as damage to the jaw itself. Fish in the water aren’t dealing with gravity and thus aren’t designed for it.

Do it for the next generation so they can experience what we have.

Our typical flats boats have sides low enough that we can do the same thing as waders and kayakers. A landing net is probably the easiest method on boats with higher sides bay boats. They make rubber nets that are much more fish-friendly than those made of braided nylon.

As a bonus, hooks don’t get hung up as easily in rubber nets. Anybody who has ever netted a flopping trout caught on a plug with treble hooks knows exactly what I’m talking about.

Speaking of trebles, now is a good time to switch over to the new single replacement hooks. Several manufacturers are offering these and it is something fairly simple that you can do to reduce injuring your fish.

Extra trebles seem to always get hung up somewhere on the fish during the fight and require additional time to dislodge. I know some folks are hesitant to ditch the trebles, but I’ve been using singles for years now and don’t really see any difference in hook-up and landing ratio. Another great thing about single hooks is their ability to glide through grass with far less fouling than trebles. And I know I sure do appreciate it when I go to unhooking a fish. My odds of getting a hook in my hand are far greater when dealing with two trebles versus two singles.

Back to the boat sitting on that huge school of hungry pencil trout.

Personally, I just move and go look for some larger fish. But I get it, you’re really in ‘em and you’re catching and releasing anyway. Should you find yourself in this situation, switch over to a soft plastic with one hook. They’re typically so much easier to remove. I’ll just grab the shank of the hook with my pliers and give them a little flip without ever touching the fish.

If you want to take it a step further you can mash your barbs. This has long been practiced among fly fishermen, but it works fine on conventional tackle too. The barbs on hooks were originally put there to help hold bait in place. With proper consistent pressure you can land most any fish with a barbless hook. Unhooking your catch couldn’t be easier. Plus, if that hook finds its way into your finger or another angler (see also fishing guide) it can be removed without fanfare. There have Ed Zyak with D.O.A. Lures admires a beautiful marsh red before releasing it.

TSFMAG.com | 37

Get your photo and get ‘em back in the water!

been many times that I’ve plucked a customer’s fly from the back of their neck and they were grateful for that barbless hook.

Now that we’ve landed the fish and unhooked it without doing harm, we still aren’t done. Smaller fish that were landed easily don’t require much attention. Just slide them back into the water and they’ll kick off. The larger the fish, the longer the fight. This bigger fish has been stressed and might need to be resuscitated a bit. On big trout and slot reds I’ll hold them horizontal in the water with a lip gripper until they let me know they’re ready. On big bull reds I’ll hold them by the wrist of their tail until they pull away. Once you let them go keep an eye on them for a few minutes. If they flip upside down it’s usually just a matter of pushing them back upright so they can get reoriented. Occasionally a very tired fish will require a bit more hand-holding and once in a while they just aren’t going to make it.

Take that one home for dinner.

I’m certainly not going to tell anyone they can’t keep their legal limit, that’s up to the individual to decide. But I would not hesitate to suggest releasing it. This sport brings us so much joy, maybe it’s time to give back for a while. Mother Nature and our trout stocks will rebound, they always have. But the turnaround time would be greatly reduced if we’d all be a little more conservative with our approach to the fishery.

View The Video

Open Camera and hover over QR Code. When link appears at top of screen tap to open in YouTube.

C O N TA C T

Experts Speak about the 2021 Texas Freeze!

38 | April 2021

Capt Scott Null guides in the Port O’Connor area specializing in throwing artificials and flies to everything from redfish to tarpon. He is also co-host of the very popular Bite Me A Saltwater Fishing Podcast.

Telephone Email Website

281-450-2206 captscottnull@gmail.com www.captainscottnull.com

TRUST A PRO WHO TRUSTS THE FROGG. Mark Robinson knows how to catch fish. The Victoria, Texas, native has caught a lot of them.

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Figure 1. Catch of Spotted Seatrout in TPWD gill nets, 1980 – 2019. Note the decline in catch following severe winter storms in 1983/84 and 1988/89, followed by recovery in abundance in less than 2 years. Subsequent freeze events have had minimal impact on short-term abundance.

By TPWD Coastal Fisheries Division Staff

FIELD NOTES

WINTER WEATHER IMPACTS ON COASTAL WILDLIFE:

WHAT DOES TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE DO TO MITIGATE LOSSES? As we continue to thaw out from the winter storm that range of species, TPWD can implement emergency impacted the state of Texas this year, one question fishing closures in deep, protected waterways that readers may have is how Texas Parks and Wildlife have historically harbored fish in colder weather (think (TPWD) responds to and mitigates the loss of coastal harbors, basins, and wind-protected bayous). One of the marine wildlife during extreme cold fronts. When winter ways that fish naturally cope with extreme cold is to find weather is predicted to significantly lower coastal deeper water. The thermal layers (called thermoclines) water temperatures, staff from TPWD’s Coastal Fisheries that develop in deep areas result in warmer water near Division work closely with TPWD game wardens and the bottom, and fish tend to take refuge in these areas external agencies to put together a plan to assess the during severe winter events. Limiting fishing in these potential threat to wildlife and minimize the long-term areas during extreme weather limits the scale of the impacts. Here’s how. mortality event. In the 2021 winter storm, coastal water First, an effort is made by agency staff to assess the temperatures averaged between 37 – 41° F on the upper length of the winter event, coast (north of Port Aransas) and the potential for water and 44 – 48° F on the lower temperatures to remain below coast, over a four-day span. lethal thresholds for some of As a result, TPWD anticipated our more common game fish. a fish kill risk, and invoked a Lethal threshold temperature coastwide emergency fishing varies on a species-by-species closure in 21 deep-water basis; where a more tropical areas. Additionally, as has species such as a Gray occurred in past events, TPWD Snapper or Common Snook was in touch with the Gulf might perish anywhere Intracoastal Canal Association from 45 – 55° F, a more (GICA) which voluntarily temperate species such suspended tow operations as Southern Flounder from the JFK Causeway in can survive right down to Corpus Christi south to Port Spotted freezing (32° F). Spotted Isabel, to further reduce Seatrout perished Seatrout and Red Drum fall stress on fish in some of and frozen somewhere in between. these areas. Partnerships in place in In the event that water such as those with GICA Carancahua temperatures are forecast enhance the measures Bay during the 2021 to remain critical for a long put into place by TPWD to winter storm. period of time and for a wide mitigate damage to wildlife.

40 | April 2021

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In addition to fishes, some of the hardest hit wildlife Coastal Fisheries personnel rescued species during winter freezes are the five species of marine nearly 500 stranded turtles from the turtles that occur in Texas, including the highly-endangered Lower Laguna Madre alone during the 2021 winter storm.

Kemp’s Ridley. Prolonged water temperatures below 50o F cause marine turtles to lose function and either freeze on land or drown in shallow water. The coastal fisheries division of TPWD works with local TPWD game wardens and multiple external partners to assist with turtle search and rehabilitation efforts coordinated by United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Padre Island National Seashore and the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network. As of press time, over 12,000 marine turtles had been recovered in Galveston Bay, East and West Matagorda Bay, Aransas and Corpus Christi Bay, and the Laguna Madre during the winter of 2021, representing the largest prolonged marine turtle cold-stunning event in Texas’ history. The TPWD is proud to be on the front lines of search, recovery, and rehabilitation for these ancient mariners.

The work is not done once the storm passes. After a winter storm, work begins in earnest to assess the damage that has Coastal Fisheries stock enhancement personnel made use of special trailers been done to Texas’ coastal fish species. One of the ways that would normally be transporting Red Drum and Spotted Seatrout fingerlings in the summer, in order to transport stranded marine turtles in the that TPWD does this is by observing the size and number of winter. These trailers are equipped with tanks of oxygen to spell the turtles fish kills that have occurred. Each major bay in Texas has its while they are on their journey to rehabilitation facilities. own team of TPWD fishery management professionals that are tasked with assessing the health of fish communities through routine sampling. Following freeze events, these same teams fan out and systematically assess fish kills in their respective bays. This effort is coordinated through the TPWD Kills and Spills Team (KAST) and uses standard fish kill assessment procedures recommended by the American Fisheries Society. To narrow in on areas to investigate, the team fields reports from staff in the field, public calls through the hotline (512-389-4848), and social media. The number of fish involved, as well as the various species impacted are estimated and compared to previous kills to assess severity and potential long-term impacts. These data can also be used to focus stock enhancement efforts towards mortality “hot spots.” That is, stock enhancement of Red Drum and generally speaking larger trout begin appearing in numbers within Spotted Seatrout can be tuned on an emergency basis in any given a few years after each event as well. Other popular species tend year to have the greatest effect in bays that had the heaviest storm to follow similar patterns. Texas’ marine fish communities have impacts. For the February 2021 storm, fish kill assessments began in probably experienced extreme winter events for millennia, and earnest on the first day of the arctic front (February 14), and were in they have adapted in such a way that recovery can be very fast. The progress as this magazine issue went to press. outlook for fishing in Texas continues to be a good one in the long So, the final question that is likely on everyone’s mind is…. term, as TPWD biologists anticipate that recovery from the 2021 what impact will the storm have on fishing this year? First, the bad storm will look similar to previous severe winter events. As TPWD news. Historically, catch of popular species like Spotted Seatrout biologists continue the assessment of this event and determine the has declined in the year directly following freeze events. The “cold impact to the overall fish populations, they will brief the Texas Parks standard” of the most severe Texas freeze events were winter and Wildlife Commission (TPWC) on those impacts, and the TPWC storms that occurred in 1983/84, and subsequent harsh winters in will determine what actions, if any, may be needed to accelerate 1988 and 1989. In those cases, catch of Spotted Seatrout in TPWD recovery, and to help address future events. samples the following year declined dramatically each time (Figure 1). But here’s the good news – Texas coastal fish communities are surprisingly resilient.

In the case of both of the 1980s winter storms, catches rebounded to the historical average within 2 years. More recent freeze events (1997/98, 2010/11 and 2017/18) have seen recovery spans of 1 year or less. The average size of catch lags somewhat slower, but 42 | April 2021

Check the TPWD Outdoor Annual, your local TPWD Law Enforcement office, or tpwd.texas.gov for more info.

TSFMAG.com | 43

DAV E R O B E R T S

K AYA K F I S H I N G C H R O N I C L E S

TALES FROM

YESTERDAYS LONG AGO

Here in the past month I have not been able to spend as much time on the water as I would like. Between work and bad weather, my fishing days have been very limited and, quite honestly, it’s driving me crazy. I have been filling my spare time with all things fishingrelated; tying flies, watching videos of people fishing exotic locations and, most recently, reading a new book.

Recommended by a buddy, I started The River Why, a coming-of-age story about a kid who was raised in the Pacific northwest by a father who is a renowned fly fisherman. So far it is a great book and if you’re looking for a good read, I would highly recommend it.

Leading up to this article, I was not completely sure what I was going to write about; lack of being on the water sometimes puts me in a slump. On top of that, and everything that has gone on with the freeze and the weather, I didn’t seem to have a lot of motivation.

Procrastinating as always, I picked up my book and a few pages in I read something that I truly believe could not have come along at a better time.

Gus, the main character of the story, one day asked his father why he never kept fish. His answer was simple…

“A dead fish will never strike a fly.” By releasing his catches back to the river, and encouraging others to do likewise, Gus’s father was doing his part to enhance the fishery and the sport of angling.

Often times when I am away from what I’m truly passionate about I reminisce days when fishing seemed almost unreal, memories I will cherish until my dying day.

44 | April 2021

Days of 100+ fish and having been fortunate to catch trophy-size trout on Sabine. Yet in the grand scheme of things, my stories cannot even begin to compare with those of prior generations. One of my favorite things is talking to the older crowd and listening to their long-ago tales of fishing the Gulf coast.

One of the wildest stories I’ve ever heard comes from a buddy’s dad who recalled fishing with his grandpa and uncles on the beach at Bolivar. They dragged a seine net through the surf and pulled in well over 100 trout. He remembers shrimp, crabs and other fish mixed in the net, but the number of trout was astonishing.

Vividly remembering one instance and recalling that his grandpa had a baby scale along and eyeballing what he thought was the largest trout – found it to weigh more than 13 pounds. A trout that size nowadays is hard to even imagine!

Last spring, I decided to get out of town for a few days and made a trip to Delacroix, Louisiana. This is one of my favorite places to fish in the world and I have never had a dull moment in that marsh. It is without a doubt the richest and healthiest ecosystem I have ever seen. Well, while fishing down there, I started talking to a few locals with hopes to locate a few soft shell crabs to bring home for supper. I found the right people and they invited me to their house to pick them up. Arriving at their place, I could not help but start a conversation with the older couple. Both of them were well up in their 70s and I can almost guarantee that they get around better than I do!

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Thomas Gonzales is a third generation fisherman and has lived his whole life at Delacroix. The only thing he has ever known is fishing. He began to explain how bountiful the fisheries were growing up in this part of Louisiana. He pointed to the marsh on the other side of the levee (which seemed to be about 2000 acres) and said that it use to be nothing but giant oak and cypress trees. Much has changed since then, there is only a small patch of oaks standing there today.

He told me that during the winter, he and his brothers would go duck hunting.

In a morning, they would load a truck bed full of mallards and drive them to New Orleans, where they sold them for a penny each to make extra money. He also told me of a time when he netted 5,000 pounds of redfish, returned to the dock to unload, and then went back out and did it again…all before his wife had lunch ready.

These were just a few of the stories he had and I could have spent hours listening to him and his wife.

One of the more exceptional books I have had the joy of reading is Plugger. These are real accounts from one of the men who pioneered fishing with artificial lures on the Texas coast. This book is filled with story after story of Rudy Grigar catching hundreds of fish a day. These are instances that most of us can’t even begin to comprehend and he

was doing it on a regular basis. I know that there are or were many other great anglers such as Joe Doggett, Billy Sandifer, and several others, that could tell stories for days about how the fishing use to be.

How it USED to be!

In their eyes, I know they have seen the decline in our fisheries and they know that it will never be back to what it once was. It may be great now, in our eyes, but it is not the same. I have seen a decline in my lifetime due to destruction of habitat and freak weather events but, with proper care and good conservation it will bounce back. I can only hope it will come back as strong as it once was.

When it comes to our fishery, my one true fear is that 40 years from now I’ll be telling my grandkids and their friends about some of the unreal days of fishing I experienced in my youth. Day’s like I mentioned above will likely never happen again. I can only hope that when I tell the stories that someone much younger than me can relate with a personal story of their own.

As Gus’s father was trying to explain, it is our duty as anglers to pass on the art of fishing. With proper care and the right attitude towards conservation, we can sustain our fisheries for years to come. If we don’t show respect for it now, from this point forward, everything will just be stories from yesterdays past.

View The Video

Open Camera and hover over QR Code. When link appears at top of screen tap to open in YouTube.

C O N TA C T

Dave Roberts’ Shallow Water Redfish – Awesome Sight-Fishing Opportunities

46 | April 2021

Dave Roberts is an avid kayak-fishing enthusiast fishing primarily the inshore Upper Coast region with occasional adventures to surf and nearshore Gulf of Mexico.

Email: TexasKayakChronicles@yahoo.com Website: www.TexasKayakChronicles.com

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CCA Texas Aransas Bay Chapter volunteers worked out of Goose Island and picked up 77 traps along St. Joseph Island.

Photo by Jen Thomasson.

S t o r y b y S h a n e B o n n o t | C C A Te x a s A d v o c a c y D i r e c t o r

T S F M A G C O N S E R VAT I O N N E W S

A TIME FOR ACTION & HOPE The February 2021 Texas Winter Storm will go down as one of the costliest natural disasters in our state’s history. It seemed to affect us of all in some form or fashion and unfortunately our fisheries were no exception. Mortality estimates will be released soon, with full realization of impacts coming after Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) conducts spring gill net and recreational angler surveys. See the latest news release from TPWD here.

Undoubtedly this is a bad fish kill and based upon the length of time in which water temperatures were at critical levels for numerous species, it is fair to draw comparisons to 1983 or 1989. Despite this setback, there are reasons to be hopeful. For one, entering into this event stocks of red drum and spotted seatrout were quite healthy, based upon TPWD gill net catch rates and coastwide recreational landings.

What we had done in the past had worked well to CCA Texas Aransas Bay Chapter volunteers worked between mile marker 31 and 30 during the PINS Cleanup. Photo by Bill Burge.

48 | April 2021

TSFMAG.com | 49

build and maintain healthy fisheries. It stands to CCA Volunteer Carter Crigler transporting reason that we can do it again. a pile of crab traps to the dock during the Another reason for hope lies in the coastal cities of annual Abandoned Crab Trap Cleanup.

Photo by Jen Thomasson.

Lake Jackson and Corpus Christi (Flour Bluff). CCA Texas has helped build two saltwater fish hatcheries to help maintain adequate recruitment of juvenile red drum, spotted seatrout and flounder. Nearly 25 million red drum and spotted seatrout fingerlings (1-2 inches in length) are released each year into coastal waters. With the help from grow-out ponds at the Perry R. Bass Marine Research Facility in Palacios, TPWD has a robust fish-producing-machine in place to crank out fingerlings and kick-start the recovery of our fisheries. Rest assured, TPWD staff is ready to heed the call and respond appropriately.

Finally, speckled trout are a resilient lot. Fifty percent of females are sexually mature by the time they reach 10 inches and 100 percent are mature “CPR” (catch-photo-release). Learn how to properly handle a at 12 inches. They will spawn numerous times from late spring fish to reduce stress and improve survivability. Get involved in through fall, releasing a tremendous number of eggs in that time organizations and initiatives that promote sound conservation frame. For reference, a 2-pound female spawning eight times initiatives. CCA’s best-fishing practices program – ReleaSense – in a season can easily produce three million eggs. So, while we offers some excellent safe-release practices, resources, and the will certainly notice declines of speckled trout in some regions of latest research on reducing mortality of released fish. the coast, we can expect to see rebounds in this fishery within a As the images continue to roll in and final numbers are couple of years. crunched, let us remain hopeful. We know the fishery will rebound Anglers can and will make the difference in the speed of as it has in the past. We know that hatcheries will kick-start the this recovery; Personal accountability for our individual actions recovery. And we fully expect that anglers will step up to support will have accumulative effects. Practice “keep whatcha eat” or

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resource recovery and marine habitat projects more energetically than ever. I am confident that we as an angling community will seize this opportunity to display our better nature. Remain hopeful, stay engaged, and keep fishing.

CCA Texas Volunteers Continue to be Stewards of the Gulf Coast

In the shadows of the harshest freeze event in decades, CCA Texas and volunteers from across the state continued to do what they do best…giving of their time and energy as stewards of the Gulf Coast. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s annual Abandoned Crab Trap Cleanup was pushed back a week, but hundreds of volunteers still showed up to spend a day picking up traps along the Texas CCA Texas has been at the forefront of coast the weekend of February 26. support for the Texas Parks and Wildlife The next day, February 27, more than 1,000 volunteers stock enhancement hatchery program descended upon Padre Island National Seashore to remove since its inception. The new flounder trash and debris from 40 miles of beach. This was the 26th building recently came online at Sea Center Texas. CCA Texas contributed $325,000 to Annual Billy Sandifer Big Shell Cleanup. Since its inception this facility and equipment within it. there have been 11,425 volunteers that have removed 2,996,000 pounds of trash along the shores of Padre Island View The Video National Seashore.

Open Camera and hover over QR Code. When link Volunteer involvement is more important than ever for CCA appears at top of screen tap to open in YouTube.

Texas and its efforts to ensure healthy coastal fisheries and CCA Texas Advocacy Director Shane Bonnot visits habitat for future generations. Be sure to visit www.ccatexas.org to CCA Marine Development Center in Corpus Christi see where you can get involved and seize the opportunity to make and discusses the hatcheries plans for spotted sea trout. a difference.

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Another topwater “killed” by a Cayman barracuda.

ERIC OZOLINS

E X T R E M E K AYA K F I S H I N G & S H A R K S F R O M T H E S A N D

ADVENTURES AFAR –

CAYMAN ISLANDS PART 2 Here we continue a two-part tale that recalls a grand adventure I experienced in my younger years. At the end of part one, Oz and his friends had just accomplished an elusive goal—to catch a land-based shark from the shore of the small Caribbean island of Grand Cayman. Ironically, our first shark was a Caribbean reef shark. For both me and my partner-in-crime Curtis, who granted me this incredible opportunity, sharks played the most important part in our angling lives. Our other friend Mike had great interest in fishing as well, but with less focus on sharking.

Following Mike’s cue, we placed more emphasis on targeting other species after catching our first Cayman shark. We spent most of our time on the weekends chasing bonefish on the flats. We found we weren’t much good at catching the speedy, silver ghosts, though it was quite amusing to see them swim up to us, look at our lures and swim away, sometimes passing between our legs, almost mocking us. We could’ve won an award for how NON-productive we were. Nonetheless, those bonefish hunts were amazing to experience.

The longer we stayed on the island, the more places we explored. Grand Cayman has a unique structure.

52 | April 2021

Just a few miles long and wide, the western half of the island wraps around something like a horseshoe, with protected shallows on the insides of the curves. Here, mangroves grew rampant, providing copious amounts of structure for fish like small tarpon, bar jacks, and snapper.

Camouflaged in the grass and stalking in the shadows, one more prime predator lurked—the barracuda.

The ‘cudas were more than abundant. Mostly, we saw them as by-catch; we were trying to catch tarpon. Most of the tackle we threw at these fish ran toward the lighter side. Our main lures were MirrOlure topwaters. We’d brought a handful from home, but they were not lasting long. The barracudas attacked them with great force, and their teeth punctured the lures, causing them to fill with water and become sinkers. For every two or three ‘cudas we landed, we sent another plug to our growing topwater cemetery. Barracuda behavior is interesting and eerily vicious at the same time.

One time, I landed a small ‘cuda in a shaded area running along a bank studded with mangrove trees, a great haunt for hunting predators. Seconds after I released the five-pound ‘cuda, a slightly larger one shot like

Cayman Islands blue iguana; the flora and fauna of the Islands is amazing.

Underwater shot of Cayman snook hanging at the base of a piling.

Huge schools of tarpon could seen nightly in the shallows.

TSFMAG.com | 53

One of several Cayman lemon sharks we landed and released during our stay.

View The Video

Open Camera and hover over QR Code. When link appears at top of screen tap to open in YouTube.

Eric Ozolins Tags and Releases Sandbar Shark on PINS Beach 54 | April 2021

we shared the space with carnivorous land crabs and coconut palms, a surreal experience for me. For three days, we swam and fished the reef. At night, I put out shark baits via our new Cayman method, and the shark gods rewarded our efforts graciously.

Over the duration of the stay, I landed my first three lemon sharks, all at night. During the day, when the sharks weren’t present, we chased tarpon and bonefish. We saved any jacks we caught for nighttime shark baits. While snorkeling, we observed and frolicked with nurse sharks on the reef. ‘Cudas stayed close by, acting as our escorts. We came to understand why the island ranked atop the list of best diving destinations in the world; the mind-boggling amount of pristine coral on the reef inspired awe in all of us. Countless stars lit the night skies, free from the intrusion of typical city lights. All these things made it hard to accept we had to leave, but after spending several days in a micro-paradise, living out a dream, it was time to get back to the main island, then fly home to the Lone Star State.

I’m grateful for the time I spent in the Caymans. While there, I had a job and earned a decent pile of money. The nightlife was fit for a rock star; I attended mass parties at vacant hospitals, had great relations with beautiful women in this tiny Utopia in the middle of a tropical sea. One evening, I sat down and had a beer with the late Bill Paxton, who was in the Caymans filming a movie. On another night, I hopped around from bar to bar with the Miami Dolphins cheerleaders.

For a 23-year-old kid, life was good to say the least. To top it off, the fishing experiences were second to none. I got to see my first bonefish and permit in the wild, caught new species of sharks, and targeted tarpon at will. I relied on the methods I learned while catching lemon sharks on Little Cayman to catch my first mako from land when I got back to Texas. From these experiences, I’ve come to a place where I can offer this advice to young people unencumbered with adult responsibilities—if you crave adventure, don’t pass up an opportunity to explore somewhere exotic and different. I was quite hesitant, almost fearful when Curtis first propositioned me with the idea of moving to the Cayman Islands for work. In the end, it was an exhilarating experience, unrivaled by anything else in my life!

C O N TA C T

a torpedo from the shadows and cut the one I had just released in half.

Physically powerful, barracudas rate high on the list of fearless fish. They often followed me with great interest when I went diving on the reefs, forcing me to keep an eye on them. Observing these snaggle-toothed predators in their domain is both interesting and dangerous.

After half a year, turmoil interfered with the project, and we learned we would be released from our contracts, forced to head back to Texas. I had mixed feelings about the situation. Eager to get back home with a few bucks in my pocket and fish the beach hard, I also knew I’d miss my newfound friends and nightlife. With less than a week left before our departure, Curtis came up with a radical idea. He wanted to take a trip to a nearby island to fish and explore for a few days. Our options included Jamaica, Cuba, and the other two islands in the Caymans. After long thought and using logic, we decided on Little Cayman Island.

True to its name, Little Cayman is not as big as Grand Cayman.

Those arriving by air do so in small prop planes, the only aircraft capable of landing on the short, grassy strip. I got some weird looks when I brought my gas can bobber aboard the plane like carry-on luggage. The remote island had few amenities, namely a lodge and a tiny convenience store, and its roads were rough and generic. At the time of our trip there were only a few dozen permanent residents on the tiny island paradise.

After arriving, we rented one of the two available cars and set up our camp on the beach. We made our home in a tent right on the sand next to a reef, in the midst of the fish, with no one else around. Mostly

For the past decade Eric ‘Oz’ Ozolins has been promoting shark catch and release and assisting various shark research programs. Eric offers guided shark fishing on Padre Island National Seashore. Also renowned for extreme kayak big game fishing, Eric is the owner of Catch Sharks Tackle Company.

Email Websites

oz@oceanepics.com oceanepics.com | catchsharks.com

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Check it out at Starbrite.com TSFMAG.com | 57

DICKIE COLBURN

DICKIE COLBURN’S Sabine Scene

In hopes of discovering no further freeze damage, I waited until the last moment to post my column this month. With the exception of texts from a few anglers either checking out the Keith Lake chain or walking the S ab i n e revetment walls, there weren’t many resources to call on.

Our electricity was back on, but we were still boiling water when we Dickie Colburn is a full made our initial loop through the time guide out of Orange, north end of the lake and the bayous.

Texas. Dickie has 37 years I had already been receiving texts experience guiding on Sabine and Calcasieu Lakes. from south Texas friends and was very apprehensive as to what we may find in Telephone our own back yard.

409-883-0723 I felt much better after checking Website out the back end of two dead end www.sabineconnection.com pipe line cuts where frozen reds have previously gone to die following major freezes. Aside from two undersized reds and several small pods of floating mullet and shad, we found only a dead pelican and two dead egrets. I had no idea that they couldn’t survive a freeze.

Three days later, we found a handful of small reds and several black drum between Three Bayous and Madam Johnson. It was a long way

between fish and I don’t think it would have even merited any concern under normal times.

Since then, I have seen or heard nothing else alarming. While we appear to have escaped the worst of the worst, my host on those two runs, Johnny Hughes, was equally pleased, but a little conflicted. “My wife said we should be ashamed of worrying about a fish when half of Texas was without power or water and people were dying,” said Hughes.

“I agreed,” admitted Johnny, “but had to ask her. Do you think the rest of Texas quit fishing when folks in Houston and southeast Texas lost everything and were still living in FEMA trailers a year after Harvey roared through?” He’s still married!

Johnny has never guided, but was a conservationist when it was still viewed as a character flaw. It also came as no surprise that he left town the following day and is still in the San Antonio area helping folks repair broken pipes.

The best news concerning our fishing is that several local anglers were already catching specks and reds before our roofs completely thawed out. Our saving grace was the two or three cold nights in advance of the freeze that motivated the fish to seek out deeper confines.

While I could not be more pleased that the majority of our trout population has survived, it was a heart breaker viewing pictures of the losses on the Lower Coast. I saw more dead trout over 25-inches in a single picture than we have caught in the past two years!

As a result, I fully anticipate seeing Sabine and the Galveston area enduring far more fishing pressure over the next few months. Since trophy trout will not be the calling card it is even more important that anglers keep only fish that they will eat in short order. I am all in on the next fish fry, but stocking the freezer isn’t happening.

If the rest of the main lake is as productive as the north end is right now, I would plan a trip in the very near future.

The bite and the patterns have pretty much been the same from Johnson’s south to the Intracoastal. Tie on a Fat Boy or Softdine XL and homestead three to five feet of water.

I have seen very few schools of small mullet since the freeze, but when you do, you are usually in the right place. We have had days when a five-inch rattail Assassin changed our luck, but it can be a mistake to give up on mullet imitations. I haven’t fished much Catch 5 or Catch 2000 of late, but I have no doubt they will work as well.

The difference in a good and a great day has been waiting out the bite in any area that has previously shown promise. I don’t know how many times we have been ready to move only to get a strike and limit without cranking the engine again.

Redfish are also consistently crashing the party in the same depths and the majority of them have been of the Another larger variety. The aforementioned lures will work as well beautiful Sabine as a tail rigged under a cork. red given a second chance.

This was a devastating event, but it has also provided a wonderful opportunity to show the kids that fishing and conservation go hand-in hand!

58 | April 2021

TSFMAG.com | 59

BINK GRIMES

THE VIEW FROM Matagorda

I am an optimist at heart. When bad things happen I look for remedies, possible positives and silver linings.

I think there is a lesson to be learned in hard times. Most of the time when trouble comes my way I quietly wait, M ata go r d a looking and listening and surveying possible answers.

The Freeze of 2021 is one of those times. We all went through a lot. Survival Bink Grimes is a full-time fishing was the main goal of many. and hunting guide, freelance While the health of a fishery seems writer and photographer, and trivial during days without electricity owner of Sunrise Lodge on Matagorda Bay. and water, for those of us who have a life-stake in our coastal estuaries, the freeze and how it affects our fish and Telephone 979-241-1705 ultimately our livelihood was always in Email my prayers. I’m not binkgrimes@sbcglobal.net a doom and gloom Website sort of dude – just matagordasunriselodge.com not me. However, the freeze did take a toll on our fish.

Did it wipe us out? Absolutely not. I caught trout and redfish less than a week after the freeze. Praise the Lord there remains plenty of life left in our waters.

Just how many fish are left is a question that cannot be answered today. It’s going to take the coming months of careful observations and biological data to get a handle on the situation.

Some will say our fishery was in good shape before the freeze; some will say the increased pressure of more anglers on the water was taking its toll. Some say better tackle, shallower boats, social media, use of live finfish, tournaments and better GPS technology has contributed to a higher proficiency in catching, thereby taxing the estuaries. Whatever you believe to be true, I sit in amazement at the number of trout I see taken out of East Matagorda Bay, mostly in the

Redfish action can be predictable during April in backwater coves and lakes.

summer and fall, and wonder how we take so much and East Matagorda just keeps giving.

Have catches declined in the past decade? I believe so. Data proves it and thankfully our daily bag limit of trout was reduced from 10 to 5.

Is East Matagorda still a jewel of the Texas coast? I still believe so.

How many bays in Texas give you a legitimate shot at eight-plus pound trout on every cast?

The propensity of those opportunities will be tested in the coming days. We really do not know how good or how bad the rest of 2021 fishing will be. Since my Christianity pulls me to the right on most issues, I will err on the side of good fishing judgment and conservation and promote wholeheartedly catch and release of trout until science proves otherwise.

That’s not to say I will judge those who keep a few. Like I said before, we really won’t know the state of our fishery for months. However, I can control what I can control – and that’s me.

Editor Everett Johnson was proactive and preached “Just Keep Five” long before TPWD decided to reduce limits. You ever noticed you never see “stringer shots” in this publication?

That’s by design – he won’t allow it. He has long been a leader in the conservation movement. Attitudes have to change, and he has used this publication to promote that ideology.

If there is a silver lining to the Freeze of 2021, I pray that attitudes of greater conservation awareness will sweep across the Texas salt for the betterment of our fishery.

When our fishery rebounds from sound conservative practices, my hope is that the take, take, take attitude will morph to a more give, give, give.

Drifting East Matagorda We know it works – bass anglers mid-bay reefs is usually very productive for prove it every day. specks during April.

Note: If your aim is to take fish home after a day on the water, we are offering a way to do just that if you are willing to play catch and release while fishing. In cooperation with Buddy Treybig of Buddy’s Seafood in Matagorda, we have vouchers for fish, shrimp, oysters, crabs – any bounty from the sea you desire – if you willingly release fish back to our bays and beaches during one of our guided charters. It’s a win for the angler and a win for our waters.

We will be at the Houston Fishing Show April 14-18 at the GRB in Houston. Come by and chat. Follow our catches and releases with a smile on Instagram @matagordasunriselodge.

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How did the Freeze of February 2021 affect Matagorda fishing?

60 | April 2021

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TSFMAG.com | 61

CAPT. GARY GRAY

MID-COAST BAYS With the Grays

I’m sure that by now everyone has seen the photos of dead fish circulating on social media. All I can say is thank God we didn’t have social media during the 1983 freeze. You have likely heard a lot of doom and gloom but at the time Port O'Connor of this writing our fishing is actually Seadrift showing better signs of returning to normal than one might think. My dad always told me that Mother Nature will Captain Gary Gray is a full always take care of herself. So far in my time guide, born and raised in 57 years on this earth (35 years of that Seadrift. He has been guiding guiding local bays) he has been right. the Seadrift/Port O’Connor I have seen many fish kills; red tides, region since 1986. Gary freezes, and whatever, but Mother specializes in year ‘round wade fishing for speckled trout and Nature always seems to know how to redfish with artificial lures. take care of her kids. That will be as much ink as I will use on the subject of Telephone the most recent freeze.

361-785-6708 Here in the Seadrift-Port O’Connor Email bayrats@tisd.net area we are experiencing some very Website good fishing in a lot of different areas. www.bayrat.com Out at the Big Jetties it seems the fish Facebook never skipped a beat; guys fishing @captsgaryandshelliegray there have been steadily catching their normal species through the first week of March. San Antonio mid-bay reefs have been holding large numbers of smaller fish with some reefs holding quality keepers. I expect this should only get better as the tides distribute fish more evenly throughout the bay. There are a lot of mullet staging in back lakes and along bay shorelines, setting those areas up to be on par with what we normally see in April.

By now I should have already been running my usual March reconnaissance trips throughout all the area bays but I have not done this yet. Instead, I have been concentrating my efforts in San Antonio and Mesquite bay areas.

I have been concentrating on wading reefs for trout in the northern portion of San Antonio Bay. Not all reefs are the same and there are certain key elements that need to be present before I stick the Power Poles and step out of my Shallowsport X3. First and foremost I look for bait to be present; this can be mullet milling on the surface or schools of mullet cruising along the reef. It can also be birds working over schools of mullet or shrimp passing within casting distance of the reef.

Another key element is how well the layout of the reef can accommodate a group of wading fishermen. Meaning, the reef needs to be large enough for my group to wade without spooking the fish from the area. I have noticed on smaller reefs that between me getting the boat situated and my guys slipping into the, water we have spooked fish from the area. You will know this when the first angler out of the boat sticks a couple real quick, but as the others try to move in (see also potlick) they create too much disturbance and the fish move away from the reef. For this reason I will choose larger reefs to wade larger groups of anglers.

The reefs also need to have what I call “troughs” running through them. It seems over the years I have noticed more fish and fish of better 62 | April 2021

quality feeding around these troughs. A trough can be as narrow as a foot across and a few inches deep, or as wide as twenty feet and three feet deep. As long as you have water movement it seems there will be a gamefish or two feeding in that area.

There are limitations as to when you can fish these open bay reefs, one of which is wind, and guess what? We will have plenty of wind in April. There will be days when fishing the reefs is simply not in the cards and that’s when you’ll see me headed to the more protected backwaters of Matagorda Island.

I will concentrate my efforts along the south shoreline of San Antonio Bay such as drains that connect back lake areas to the main bay, and also pockets and coves that have guts running out of them into the bay.

Redfish will corner baitfish for an easy meal in these drains and guts, and hopefully my 4” Bass Assassins will fool a few of them.

By the time you read this article Chad and Cole Starr of Coastline Marine in Seabrook should have my new Shallowsport X3 finished and I will be getting slime all over it. Thanks also to Wes Hudson and the crew at Shallow Sport Boats.

Fish hard, fish smart!

Young Madden Guevara taking care of business.

Madden and Bert deciding on which lure to go with.

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Post-Freeze Fishing

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DAVID ROWSEY

HOOKED UP WITH Rowsey

This is my first article since the February freeze event three weeks ago that has just devastated our inland bays, especially here on the Upper Laguna and Baffin Bay. Before I get into the fishing, and the affects of the weather on it, I just want to say I hope Upper this finds y’all well and your suffering Laguna/ minimal through the lack of electricity Ba f f i n and water during that time. I have family in the rural Hill Country that have been told they may not have power back on until close to Easter. I David Rowsey has over 25 years never thought I would see such a day in Baffin and Upper Laguna in our beloved Texas.

Madre; trophy trout with I began running the bays daily after artificial lures is his specialty. the freeze, starting February 20. The David has a great passion for water temperature averaged about conservation and encourages 43° on the 20th and there was little catch and release of trophy fish. evidence of freeze-killed fish. Then the Telephone water started to warm up and dead fish 361-960-0340 that had been lying Website on bottom slowly www.DavidRowsey.com Email began to rise and drift david.rowsey@yahoo.com toward shorelines. As the water temperature @captdavidrowsey crept toward 60° the number of dead fish along the ICW was very alarming. Every spoil island was stacked with floating dead of all species, but it was the number of three- to- six-pound trout brought a tear to my eye. Of course, there were plenty of smaller ones to go along with that wonderful class of breeding-stock trout, and some real giants as well.

As the southeast winds blew that following week, the dead fish really stacked up on the western shorelines in the Upper Laguna and shallow flats in Baffin Bay and the Land Cut. It was then that we got a very good look at the damage that Mother Nature had actually done. I continued to run charters during that week of warming weather with the announcement of a new policy – all trout fishing on my boat would be conducted on a Catch and Release basis only!

Luckily for us, we did manage to catch trout and even a couple in the seven pound range. As discouraging as it was to see what had died, I was equally encouraged to see that trout were still swimming in our bays. On top of that good news, the redfish bite was very good.

The die-off in the ICW, where we saw the most dead fish appear initially, was no coincidence, in my opinion. While there had been noticeably fewer barges operating during the freeze, some continued to run north and south daily throughout the event. I have known for a 64 | April 2021

long time that suspension of barge traffic during a cold weather event such as this is done so in a totally voluntary manner. Many are not aware of this, and yes, you read that correctly…suspension of barge traffic compliance is voluntary!

It is truly unbelievable to me, and many thousands of coastal sportsmen, that greater steps are not taken, organized, and agreed upon between Texas Department of Transportation and Texas Parks and Wildlife to fully suspend barge traffic during these freak weather events.

The negative impact of this failure not only decimates the fish seeking warm refuge in the ICW, but it also endangers much of the local economy – hotels, restaurants, charter fishing, retail establishments, and on and on. We all knew there would be some amount of fish-kill, suspending barge traffic during those five terrible days of water temps in the 30s and low-40s would likely have prevented a great amount of it.

This is a pivotal time on the Texas coast and I am elated to see the number of fishing guides and recreational anglers committing to a full catch and release program for trout. I have long said that I wish the salt culture would follow the lead of the bass fishermen throughout the country, and release 99% to insure that they will always have a dynamic A couple of fishery and prolific spawns. eight-pounders; a By all of us banding sight that became together we can do that for way too familiar following the our Texas bays right now. In February freeze. the case of Baffin Bay, that is virtually landlocked from coastal passes, releasing trout to spawn has never been more important than the present. Although there have been more devastating freezes in the past, Baffin has never seen as much fishing pressure as it currently receives. Every female trout released is essential to righting the ship and getting us on track for a quick recovery.

Proverbs 27:23 “Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds.”

Remember the buffalo!

-Capt David Rowsey

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Fishing with David Rowsey: Upper Laguna Seven-Pounder

TSFMAG.com | 65

WAYNE DAVIS

WAYNE’S Mansfield Report

Greetings from Port Mansfield. Where to start? This is my first article following the February freeze. As many of us engaged in conversations, predictions, and hopes for a positive outcome, Port nothing could have prepared us for Mansfield what we were about to see.

Following the 1989 freeze - It was 1990 when I first ventured to the little fishing village of Port Mansfield and I Captain Wayne Davis has recall redfish seemed plentiful north and been fishing the Lower south of the East Cut. As a young angler Laguna-Port Mansfield for there was no need to worry about any over 20 years. He specializes other species; the redfish stretched the in wade fishing with lures. monofilament line in my Ambassador 5000 reel just fine. And, at 19 years Telephone 210-287-3877 old, that was plenty of entertainment Email because redfish pulled harder than trout captwayne@kwigglers.com – or so I thought at that time.

In this age of social media, and within a day or two of the storm, there were plenty of credible reports circulating with photos and videos of a substantial fish kill along much of the Texas Coast – lots of dead fish.

However, the phrase “lots of dead fish” is highly subjective. How many is a lot? What was the number?

Some guides and anglers in my area shrugged it off as no big deal, likening it to a summertime weekend tournament haul. Struggling with that I wondered how such an event could be compared to a busy tournament weekend. I chalked it up as a self-serving statement and got busy checking as much of the LLM as I Dan Ward with a very could. I was on the water eight of eleven days solid Mansfield trout immediately following the freeze and surveyed – pre-freeze – CPR! the waters and shorelines from the Brownsville Ship Channel to three miles inside the Land cut. As time marched on more anglers and guides began surveying the shallow waters and shorelines of the approximately 270 square miles of the LLM. After a week or so it became evident that our Mother Lagoon had suffered a cruel blow. Nobody could pin a number on the dead fish, but we were beginning to understand what “a lot” could mean.

So, what’s next? For starters, we have already seen some proactive measures by “influencers” in the industry. One that jumps out first and the most is the STAR Tournament, which is independent of CCA, although they share a common nexus. I am unsure of the particulars that led to the rapid execution of a substantial change in the STAR format, but pleased, nonetheless. At the end of the day what matters is that leadership emerged from the darkness and positive changes were made. I would hope someday we will learn who all played a role in this decision as I would like to thank them personally.

How will all of this change my guiding business? In three words – not very much. I have been steady at the wheel, a staunchly conservation66 | April 2021

minded guide and angler for many years. I am co-founder of the Empty Stringers Catch and Release Program that was begun in 2017 and has been a successful and growing component of my charter business.

Many of my charters are Empty Stringer trips and I have worked diligently to influence and educate clients, anglers, and other entities to consider a more conservation-minded approach to our fishery, to include reformatting fishing tournaments and the like.

For example, the Port Mansfield Fishing Tournament changed their format last year and implemented a Blackjack format well before this freeze event. Strategic planning can be complicated and even risky at times but erring on the side of conservation is a safe place to be. I would not be surprised if PMFT took an even closer look at their 2021 tournament format. That said, there is another change I will implement. I will encourage anglers to release all trout that can be released successfully until the full impact of this event has been evaluated by TPWD. I have been fishing recently and the most challenging aspect to guiding since the freeze has been maintaining confidence. I can’t unsee what I saw. However, I am steadily building my confidence back after each nibble, strike, and catch. We are catching some redfish and we have caught a couple keeper trout – nothing big but that familiar headshake has been awesome to feel. We are seeing plentiful bait and praying that each warming day will bring better fishing.

I am informed that areas south of Port Mansfield fared much better and I’m predicting some of those gamefish will be making their way toward us. Water levels will soon rise, bait will flood the back bays, and redfish should follow. You can bet I will be working those areas and enjoying some good shallow water angling.

Erica Rae Hirsch with a beautiful Lower Laguna red shortly after the February freeze – CPR!

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Wayne Davis Encourages Catch and Release to Boost Recovery in Lower Laguna

TSFMAG.com | 67

CAPT. ERNEST CISNEROS

SOUTH PADRE Fishing Scene

A month has passed since the February freeze and it is now evident that fisheries in some areas along the coast incurred more damage than others. A common Arr o y o denominator among the areas least C ol o ra d o affected is the amount and location of t o Po rt deeper water within the bay system I sa bel where fish can escape bitterly cold temperatures. I promised myself not to spend much time on the damage and A Brownsville-area native, the numbers of dead fish; by now most Capt. Ernest Cisneros fishes the Lower Laguna Madre from anglers are fairly well informed and Port Mansfield to Port Isabel. have heard and seen enough. Instead, I Ernest specializes in wading want to focus on my observations, what and poled skiff adventures for I learned, and perhaps educate you a snook, trout, and redfish. little on the size, depth and layout of the Lower Laguna Madre.

Cell 956-266-6454 My first post-freeze observation Website was 38° surface water temperature www.tightlinescharters.com as I launched my boat. The surface temp was warmer as I entered the Brownsville Ship Channel and I was very surprised to find 58° at the end of the turning basin. Switching the screen to sonar, I could see large concentrations of gamefish and baitfish suspended between 14- and 20-foot depths in most of the places I checked. I dropped a thermometer to those depths and it read 62°! The fish I was marking were obviously comfortable and active. I will come back to this observation as I explain the layout of our Laguna.

So, our Lower Laguna covers roughly 270 square miles; about 55 miles in length, and 4- to 6-miles wide. The average depth is a bit more than 3.5 feet. Like an hourglass, it is wider at the north and south and narrow in the middle. The north and middle sections are generally quite shallow while the southern portion holds large areas of deep water – Brazos Santiago Pass, the area under the Queen Isabella Causeway, and the Brownsville Ship Channel.

Looking at the February weather history, we had received two cold fronts just prior to the big one that arrived on February 14. My speculation, based on my knowledge of the Laguna, is that our fishery south of the Arroyo fared better than the areas to the north, due to the prior north winds having pushed many gamefish and baitfish toward the deeper and warmer waters located on the south end. That we were able to find and catch trout and redfish only a few days after the big freeze would seem to bear this out.

Another thing I would point out is that prior to the freeze we were not seeing the usual number of large trout on the flats. While disappointing at the time, one could speculate further that those large trout were already staging deeper, in warmer water that ultimately saved them from the extreme cold that killed so many in shallow water farther north.

The good news is that we are currently catching solid trout in small areas of the bay since the freeze and they seem to be holding in tight schools. If you’re not on top of them or near them, your efforts are fruitless. Hopefully, as the water continues to warm they will begin to spread out and we will be able to target them in more places.

From what I have seen recently, I would say that redfish came through 68 | April 2021

the freeze in much better shape than our trout. After the warming trend set in, I ran into a school of redfish that appeared to number more than a thousand.

Remarkably, though, we caught only one. The rest simply refused our presentations. My guess was that they were not ready to feed after the stress they’d been through during the freeze.

Another very positive observation; I noticed very few dead snook during the warmup following the freeze. Snook are a tropical species and begin to suffer stress when water temperatures dip below 60° for extended periods. Thankfully, the majority of that fishery was evidently already tucked away in deeper, warmer water.

The Houston Fishing Show will be held April 14 through 18 at the George R Brown Convention Center. I will be there along with the entire Fishing Tackle Unlimited Pro Staff. Come by for a visit and check out the new Excel Green Rods and take advantage of the many great deals they will be offering.

I’m neither a game warden nor a biologist, but we have all seen the damage from this unusual weather event. It will take some time for the hardest hit areas to return to normal. Now more than ever, we should all practice good conservation. I do not oppose anyone taking a fish or two for a meal, but taking a limit is probably not the best idea at this time.

CPR – Catch-Photo-Release!

Post-freeze, Lower Laguna nine-pounder! This fish has obviously been through quite a few winters, thanks to CPR she will spawn again this summer and live to see another.

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TSFMAG.com | 69

FISHING REPORTS

ORECASTS F from Big Lake to Boca Chica

AND

Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com - 409.935.7242 James reports catching 96 trout and 8 redfish in three days of fishing since the freeze. “It’s been good. Catching everything wading. The fish have been shallow. In places close to deep water. They’re starting to fan out a little bit right now. The natural looking black back/silver side/white belly MirrOlure Catch 2000 has been working best. I’m also catching some fish on Catch 5s. I usually throw the pink and yellow one. We’re also catching some fish on soft plastics like the Lil’ Johns in colors like glow/chartreuse, also the Bass Assassin Sea Shads in the shrimp colors. This is about normal for March. In April, we should see even more fish in the shallows, tighter to the shorelines, in places farther away from deep water. So, wading will be the best way to target ‘em. And, we’ll have better luck throwing topwaters once the water warms up some more. I like to throw the She Pups in pink and silver, but the larger ones like She Dogs work great too, for those who like them better. Overall, seems like we dodged the bullet here in the Galveston area. I haven’t seen dead trout in the places I’m fishing.”

Matagorda | Bay Guide Service Tommy Countz- 979.863.7553 cell 281.450.4037 Tommy likes wading the south shoreline of West Matagorda Bay during the middle of spring. “For many years now, I’ve found the fishing steady in the shallows in West Bay this time of year. I usually start off wading and throwing topwaters around the drains early, then move out to the sand bars and grass beds as the morning sun climbs higher, throwing dark soft plastics out there. Keys to locating fish include popping slicks and nervous, jumping mullet, also visible clouds of glass minnows, in some years. We catch a lot of keeper trout and slot reds working these patterns. In East Bay, we do find some bigger trout out in the middle this time of year. Over there, we make long drifts and throw soft plastics on jigheads which allow us to maintain some contact with the bottom, most of the time. We key on muddy streaks in the water, rafts of mullet and slicks to decide exactly where to pull the drifts. The weather helps determine which of these two patterns will likely produce better.

Windier days generally favor the fishing in West Bay, while calmer days allow for fishing the open waters of East Bay.”

Jimmy West - Bolivar Guide Service - 409.996.3054 Jim says he’s seen little or no evidence of dead fish in East Galveston bay after the freeze. “Right now, fishing has rebounded nicely. We’ve been catching plenty of trout and redfish in the shallows close to the drains leading out of the marshes. We’ve had low tides during the middle of the day, so the best bite has been really early, or at dusk. As we get into April, the fish tend to spread out some. We’ll be able to catch them in more places. Wading will still be the best plan for the most part, in April. Lots of days, even if it’s pretty windy, we catch a bunch of fish tight to the bank. Topwater bite is almost always good, at least during parts of most days, this month. Depending on the water temperatures, the fish will start moving back out in the middle this month too. If we get some cold fronts late in March, that might not happen until close to the middle of April. If March is warmer, it might happen sooner. On calmer days, it pays to work the reefs out in the middle once the fish move out there. Overall, it’s a great month.”

Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam www.palaciosguideservice.com - 979.240.8204 Fishing has gotten pretty tough since the big freeze. But, the bay complex around Palacios has some deep water, in the Tres Palacios River and the turning basins, so we likely had quite a few fish survive the cold. I ran the bay the weekend after the event and only found a few dead redfish and trout, more dead puppy drum, small sheepshead and mullet. I feel pretty good about the potential for a strong rebound in the area. The river has been producing a few fish since the weather warmed back up. Root beer/chartreuse paddletails rigged on threeeighths ounce heads bounced slowly along the bottom have worked best. We’ve been catching a mix of small keeper trout and slot redfish, with a few small flounder thrown in. I believe April will be an important month to give us clues about the health of our fishery. Normally, we get an influx of bait moving into the bays, with the trout and reds following close behind them. We’ll be encouraging our customers to keep a small number of fish to eat fresh and release the rest, in the hope of bringing the fishery back to normal as soon as possible.

West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays Randall Groves - Groves Guide Service 979.849.7019 - 979.864.9323 Randall anticipates the arrival of the shrimp as a signal to better fishing, this spring. “By the time we get to April, we should have a good influx of shrimp coming into the bays through the pass.. When this happens, we have several patterns which perk up and make catching the trout easier. The most obvious one is the working birds.

We catch lots of trout this month off the deck of the boat, throwing soft plastics like Sand Eels in chicken on a chain and cayenne gold on relatively heavy jigheads, normally three-eighths ounce, worked quickly and erratically, in hopes of keeping them away from the pesky gafftops. The heavier heads also allow us to stay a little farther from the schools of trout feeding under the gulls, and allow us to get the lures down in the water column, where some of the bigger members of the schools usually lurk. When the flocks of gulls fall silent and sit on the water, the terns sometimes provide us clues which allow us to relocate the trout, sometimes when we see brown shrimp hopping out of the water. It’s a fun month to be on the water, for sure.”

70 | April 2021

Port O’Connor | Lynn Smith Back Bay Guide Service - 361.983.4434 Lynn looks forward to a productive spring of fishing in the Port O’Connor area. “We’ve got a good many fish moving up onto the flats and reefs already. All we need is a little more sunlight on a daily basis, and the shallow water fishing will kick in real good. We’ve been catching some decent fish already, both trout and reds, on topwaters, since the weather warmed back up. The topwater bite should just get steadily better as we head into April and beyond. We look forward to fishing sandy, grassy flats close to the pass, also mid-bay reefs and spoils along the channels. Some days, we’ll head out to the jetties and work the rocks instead of fishing in the shallower parts of the local bay systems. Mainly, we will focus our efforts in places where bait fish are present in large numbers and jumping. We did lose quite a few fish in the backwater areas during the big freeze, so we’ll be releasing most of what we catch, especially the trout. Catching is already perking up, and should continue to get better as the spring patterns become more reliable with the warmer water temperatures.”

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Rockport | Blake Muirhead Gator Trout Guide Service - 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894 Blake had been catching good numbers of redfish and decent numbers of trout on trips made just prior to giving this report. “We have lots of reds moving back into the shallow areas. Some of them definitely survived the deep freeze by heading into the harbors and canal subdivisions. With the warmer weather, they’ve spread back out some, making them harder to catch, but there are still pretty good numbers to target. In April, I’ll still be fishing the backwater areas for the reds, and wading sandy, grassy main-bay shorelines for trout. We have good luck throwing topwaters in a typical April.

The fish often bite well in shallow water, right close to the stands of cord grass close to the bank. As always, we’ll be throwing soft plastics like Norton Sand Eels in dark colors with chartreuse tails some of the time too, also the chartreuse split-tail Gulp! If the weather cooperates, I’ll head out to the surf as much as possible and fish around the main passes leading into the surf from the bays, looking for the tide running trout of spring. Overall, prospects look reasonably good, despite the losses associated with the freeze.”

summer. After the big freeze killed lots of mullet, it will be interesting to see how significant their spring run is. The number of mullet available will likely affect how many jacks we see. When the jacks are visible, cruising in the waves, catching them on lures is usually pretty easy. Large spoons, topwaters and swim baits all produce well. We should also have plenty of redfish and Spanish mackerel in the surf this month. Several species of sharks should be hunting the shallow waters near the beach, too. Scalloped hammerheads will be most active in April and early in May. They bite best on baits like whiting, since they have smallish mouths. Large blacktips and bulls will be plentiful as well. During the night, it will be possible to have an early battle with a tiger. This time of year, numbers of Atlantic, southern and roughtail stingrays move into the surf zone. Always shuffle your feet when wading the shallow surf. And, keep your eyes on the horizon, watching for signs of strong storms.

Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut Robert Zapata – rz1528@grandecom.net - 361.563.1160 Typically, fishing in the Upper Laguna Madre is great in the month of April. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife studies, female trout carry their heaviest average weights this month, at the first peak of the spawning period. Given recent events, we will be following good conservation practices when fishing for them. With the water usually still too cold for wading wet, I will still be wearing my waders and ForEverlast Ray Guards, as we will encounter many sting rays on the flats. Early in the mornings, I’ll be looking for signs of mullet in water about three feet deep over a sandy bottom where some grass grows, moving a bit shallower as the sun climbs higher. I start by rigging Bass Assassin Die Dappers in colors like chicken on a chain, opening night, salt & pepper silver phantom/chartreuse and purple ice rigged on sixteenth-ounce Spring Lock jigheads. As the morning wears on, I switch to Assassin four-inch Sea Shads in colors like bone diamond, Calcasieu brew, magic grass and salt & pepper chartreuse.

If the amount of floating grass allows it, I like to throw natural looking MirrOlure She Dogs to create a lot of action on the surface.

Port Mansfield | Ruben Garza Snookdudecharters.com – 832.385.1431 Getaway Adventures Lodge – 956.944.4000 Fishing will likely be somewhat tougher than usual this spring, after the deep freeze of February. We did lose some of our trout and redfish, but we’re already finding some to catch since the weather warmed back up. On the bright side, fishing will certainly improve as spring arrives and warmer weather has the fish feeding more regularly.

Lately, fishing for redfish has been pretty good. Areas around The Saucer and in the Northeast Pocket have been productive. We’re targeting the fish in depths ranging from about mid-thigh to waistdeep, throwing spoons and soft plastics like KWiggler Willow-tails in colors like Mansfield Margarita and plum/chartreuse. Up north, on the west shoreline, just south of Gladys’ Hole, fishing has been excellent for slot reds and black drum in water about waist-deep. Trout have been tougher to find and catch. We’ve been catching some small trout in areas from Century Point to the Oak Mottes. We are also finding a few off the break in relatively deep water near Butcher’s Island and at Jones’ Cut. We’ll be lowering our expectations for catching trout and targeting them with a conservative mindset in the near future, given the effects of the freeze.

Corpus Christi | Joe Mendez – www.sightcast1.com - 361.877.1230 Fishing for trout and redfish in shallow parts of the bays around Corpus Christi and farther south is usually outstanding during the month of April. Grassy areas inside Shamrock Cove and also in East Flats hold plenty of redfish and lesser numbers of trout. Fishing in those areas normally excels when strong onshore winds muck up most of the Upper Laguna Madre and Baffin. Shallow parts of the Boat Hole and areas around the Crash Channels also provide excellent protection from strong winds, which can be a nuisance this month.

When conditions are nicer, less windy, flats and humps adjacent to the ICW in the ULM produce better, as do spots right along the west shoreline, on the edges of the King and Kenedy ranches. The best days for sight-casting include bright skies and moderate winds, which allow for the best views of the bottom and the fish. Paddletails rigged on light jigheads work best to urge strikes from big trout and reds in shallow water. Casting the lures past the heads of the fish and bringing them steadily through their lines of sight work best. Sometimes, small spoons worked the same way earn more strikes than the soft plastics.

P.I.N.S. Fishing Forecast | Eric Ozolins 361-877-3583 | Oceanepics.com With spring in full force, jack crevalle will be storming the beach.

This year I expect plenty of action in the surf during spring and early 72 | April 2021

Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel Aaron Cisneros | tightlinescharters.com – 956-639-1941 Trout numbers appear to be fairly strong after the February freeze event in the Lower Laguna Madre. Most of our better fish have been biting on sandy spoil islands adjacent to the ICW. We’ve been catching decent numbers of trout ranging between two and three pounds, most of them holding in three to five feet of water. We’re throwing KWiggler plum/chartreuse Ball-tails on quarter-ounce screwlock jigheads, mostly. We’re working them slowly, making an occasional bump on the bottom for best results. Redfish have been somewhat more plentiful than trout lately. We’re finding some along most all the shorelines with sand and grass and some bait present.

They’ve been attacking topwaters with their typical aggressive attitudes, especially when we’re seeing lots of mullet jumping.

KWiggler Willow-tails in Mansfield Margarita rigged on eighth-ounce jigheads work better when less obvious signs of bait activity are present. As with the trout, slow retrieves have worked best lately to make the reds take a bite. Fishing should continue to improve as the weather warms up more. April is a great month for fishing the bays of South Texas. Topwater action is usually on fire.

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TSFMag Salutes Empty Stringers

BY EVERETT JOHNSON If you are a regular reader and follow Capt. Wayne Davis and Capt. Ernest Cisneros in this magazine, you are likely already aware of their Empty Stringers Catch & Release Program. Exactly as it sounds, anglers who book with Wayne and Ernest and elect to participate in the program release all their fish. To commemorate their day they pose for a photo, brandishing their empty stringer. (See this month’s cover.)

Ernest says his conservation ethic developed over time until one day it really struck home. “My son Aaron and I had a two-boat charter out of South Padre, ten anglers total. We had a very good day and all the guys kept limits of trout and redfish. I overheard a passerby on the dock remark to his buddy as he eyed the pile of fish we were working on…‘those guys sure know where to find them but don’t know much about releasing them.’ That was a light bulb moment for me.” That was in 2016, the year Ernest became more dedicated to conserving the resource.

Wayne’s moment was very similar, also during a two-boat charter, later that same year. Remarkably, or perhaps not so much, Ernest was captaining the second boat.

“Our boats were side by side and we were preparing to pick up our anglers after the final wade. Looking in the ice chests we agreed we had guided the guys to a haul…too big a haul! That was the day I joined Ernest in Empty Stringers.

This is not to say anglers cannot take a few home for dinner when fishing with Davis or Cisneros. As a matter of fact, they still run more “keep” charters than Empty Stringers, but the idea is catching on and

“Empty” days are steadily growing in number. Logging in the neighborhood of 180 charter days a year is about their individual average. And, to their credit, they have been averaging nearly a third of those dedicated to complete catch and release.

More about numbers, Wayne and Ernest keep accurate logs. Since 2016, their combined efforts have contributed 8752 gamefish releases – legal gamefish that could have been retained under TPWD regulations.

And this does not include their personal fishing days. These fish swam out of angler’s hands on Empty Stringers charters.

Can the efforts of two guides make a difference? I believe the answer is a resounding yes! Not only in the number of trout, redfish, and flounder being released to help replenish the Laguna Madre, but also in the attitude it engenders within the broader angling community.

Compare what they’re doing with fishing guides who say, “My customers won’t come if they can’t keep fish.” All I can say is a smidgeon of leadership goes a long way toward changing minds.

Never forget that the greatest enjoyment in fishing is catching!

TSFMAG.com | 73

Charlee Turner POC - first trout!

Shorona Barnes Trinity River - bowfin, personal best fish!

Dale Byars West Galveston Bay - 24” red 74 | April 2021

Jennifer Korzekwa ICW - 32” first redfish!

Spencer Ducote Maggie’s Cove - 27” redfish

Kolt Abraham POC - 19” first keeper trout

Angela Harvard Port Aransas - trout

Derek & Drayton Segler Port O’Connor - 39” redfish

Hayden, Kelton, & Luke Smith East Matagorda Bay - 15” flounder

Mike Horn Corpus Christi - red snapper

Carly Latham Baffin Bay - 15” first fish!

Dakota James Port O’Connor - redfish

Matthew Labbe Maggie’s Cove - 27” redfish

Photo Gallery Guidelines First come – first published!

Photos are judged on artistic merit and sporting ethic displayed. No stringer, cleaning table, or hanging board images allowed.

Digital images only. Adjust camera to high or best quality. All images become property of TSFMag. Email to: Photos@TSFMag.com Include short description of your catch with name, date, bay system, etc.

Kurtis Maxwell Port O’Connor - 41” bull red CPR

Nathanial Ulloa Port Isabel - 25” snook TSFMAG.com | 75

PAM JOHNSON

Gulf Coast

Got ideas, hints or recipes you’d like to share?

Email them to pam@tsfmag.com or send by fax: 361 792-4530

So, the story goes that the ol’ captain is a fair hand in the kitchen and mighty picky about the food served at his table. This is an easy, rich-and-hearty recipe he put together for oyster lovers, that can also be made with fresh crab meat, shrimp, or crawfish tails when fresh oysters are not available.

Serve with toasted slices of garlic-buttered French baguette bread for a great first course or a complete meal.

Captain’s Oyster Chowder INGREDIENTS

PREPARATION

4 dozen freshly-shucked oysters – rinsed and drained 6 strips thick-sliced bacon – diced 2 Tbsp olive oil 1-1/2 cup diced onion 1-1/2 cup diced carrot 1-1/2 cup diced celery 1 tsp freshly minced garlic 1-1/2 Tbsp corn starch 2-1/2 cups chicken broth 1 stick creamery butter 15-ounce can whole kernel corn 2 Tbsp fresh-chopped parsley 2 large baked potatoes, peeled and diced to half-inch chunks 6- to 7-cups half-and-half Salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste

Place large Dutch oven over medium heat and fry bacon pieces until crisp, leave drippings in pot. Add olive oil, onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Sauté until translucent – stirring often.

Add corn starch and mix evenly with veggies. Add chicken broth, butter, corn, parsley and potato chunks. Simmer until approaching boil, then add half-and-half. Heat to near boiling again and add oysters. Continue simmering 10 minutes until oysters curl, stirring often to prevent sticking. At this point you can add more half-and-half to produce thinner chowder or an extra teaspoon or two of cornstarch stirred into half cup of water to make it thicker. The Captain prefers his chowder thick and rich! Add salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste.

76 | April 2021

Science and the

Sea

TM

Tracking shellfish by their tasty CRUNCH! Crunch! Connoisseurs of party food can often tell what kind of chips their friends are eating while watching the game by the crunch the chip makes. But all that crunching is usually annoying background noise.

Underwater, though, it’s a different story. If scientists could tell which shellfish a predator is eating by the sound of its shell cracking open, they could track natural trends in predation on clams, conchs, oysters and other shellfish—important information for the seafood industry and conservation efforts.

A lightning whelk on a North Carolina beach.

Credit: Jarek Tuszyński / CC-BY-SA-3.0 Now they can! In the past, it’s been nearly impossible for scientists to document shellfish predation, especially in waters with poor visibility.

Sea mammals and large fish simply come across their prey, crack it open, dig out and slurp down the tasty insides, and then move along. Now, a team at Florida Atlantic University has tested technology that records shell-cracking sounds in a controlled environment. Since audio waves travel long distances underwater, acoustic recorders don’t need to be immediately next to shellfish to pick up the sounds of cracking shells.

The scientists used white-spotted eagle rays as test subjects because they aren’t picky eaters and enjoy chomping down on a wide range of shellfish. The researchers set out a smorgasbord of appetizers: hard clams, banded tulip snails, crown conch, lettered olive snails, Florida fighting conch, lightning whelk, pear whelk and horse conch. Then they recorded the sounds of rays cracking open and eating 434 morsels. The different sizes, shapes, textures, strengths and thicknesses of the shells, helped biologists identify which sounds matched specific shellfish species. Now scientists can use this technology to track what kinds of shellfish and how many are being eaten in particular areas, providing valuable information to local fisherman, seafood companies and conservationists.

www.ScienceAndTheSea.org © The University of Texas Marine Science Institute

TSFMAG.com | 77

S P O N S O R E D B Y C O A S TA L B E N D M A R I N E

C H R I S M A P P ’ S R E PA I R & M A I N T E N A N C E

GETTING READY TO HIT THE ROAD Spring is here and time to get the rig ready to travel. Let’s talk boat trailers and some of the things to inspect and upgrade. Running lights and wiring Chris Mapp, owner of top the list, along with tire condition, Coastal Bend Marine and inflation, valve stems, and lug nuts.

Flats Cat Boat Company.

Remove lug nuts and inspect for Great Service, Parts & Sales.

“What can we do for you?” corrosion. Reinstall and/or replace as necessary, always to manufacturer’s torque specs. Don’t forget the spare. Jack up the wheels and spin the hubs to detect scraping or grinding noises. Anything but a slight “whirring” sound can indicate a problem.

The winch and strap, tie-down and safety chains, and also the hitch coupler deserve careful inspection. Most important are trailer jacks and axles. Make sure the jack retaining pin seats through the base plate by 1/4 inch minimum when fully seated.

Older trailers have leaf springs, newer Axles in this condition models have torsion suspension. Another are a huge liability and consideration is wheel hubs; newer designs are should not be trusted. far superior in many ways.

78 | April 2021

Life expectancy of axles in saltwater typically runs about seven years. Consider replacement no matter what you see. Axles corrode from the inside out, and it’s what you cannot see that poses the biggest problems. Retrofitting with torsion axles is usually a bit more expensive but the improved ride and fewer moving parts provide superior service in the long run.

Have a great spring, and let’s all practice greater conservation to help our fisheries recover.

Chris Mapp Coastal Bend Marine | Port O’Connor, TX coastalbendmarine.com | 361-983-4841

Older aluminum trailer being retrofitted with new torsion axles.

TEXAS SALTWATER FISHING HOLES M ATA G O R D A B AY Speckled Trout / Redfish

Fin Tastic Coastal Charters

USCG Licensed Captain Stan Sloan

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ON THE WATER

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If you are having difficulty catching fish on a consistent basis, the clinic is designed for you. Learn Capt.Robert Zapata’s secrets to finding and catching more fish from his 25 years of experience as a professional fishing guide.

For Information Call 361-563-1160

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Capt. Lynn Smith’s Back Bay Guide Service Port O’Connor Area

Wade & Drifting the Back Bays & Surf

Call 361.983.4434 (cell 361.935.6833) Email lynn@tisd.net (tswf.com/lynnsmith) TSFMAG.com | 79

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