December 2020

Jay Watkins

REFINING CREEK & SLOUGH STRATEGIES David Rowsey

SOLUNAR SHINES DURING WINTER Chuck Uzzle

CRANKBAITS FOR REDFISH

December 2020

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ABOUT THE COVER Justin Garcia is our cover angler, posing with a gorgeous trophy trout from East Matagorda Bay on October 31, 2020.

Justin’s trophy weighed 7.5 pounds on the Boga Grip. He did not get a length measurement. He was more concerned with accomplishing a healthy release than dragging her to the boat and measuring.

Conservation kudos, sir. We applaud your dedication to helping improve the fishery!

CONTENTS

DECEMBER 2020 VOL 30 NO 8

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

8 12 16 20

25 38 42 44 46 48 52 54 69 71 78

A Tale of Two Winters When the Huddle Breaks Lost in the Shuffle Christmas Gift List

Steve Hillman Kevin Cochran Chuck Uzzle Joe Richard

Holiday Gift Guide Let’s Ask The Pro Shallow Water Fishing TPWD Field Notes Kayak Fishing Chronicles TSFMag Conservation News Fishy Facts Extreme Kayak Fishing & Sharks...

Science & the Sea TSFMag Tested & Recommended Boat Repair & Maintenance

8

WHAT OUR GUIDES

HAVE TO SAY

60 62 64 66 68 70

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 58 New Tackle & Gear 72 Fishing Reports and Forecasts 74 Catch of the Month 76 Gulf Coast Kitchen

76

60 4 | December 2020

Jay Watkins Scott Null Andres Garcia Dave Roberts CCA Texas Stephanie Boyd Eric Ozolins UT Marine Science Institute TSFMag Field Staff Chris Mapp

54

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EDITORIAL

‘TIS THE SEASON!

So, 2020 is coming to a close and some might say good riddance. We have been forced to endure a crazy rollercoaster of pandemic fear, unprecedented economic conditions, an incredible tropical weather season, and political turmoil unlike anything we have ever seen in America – the latter of which I will not address here.

Despite all this it is December with Christmas just a few weeks away.

Fishing has been good throughout the year for most Texas anglers; thank God fish have no access to newsfeeds.

Fishing participation soared during the summer months with hundreds of thousands of Texans idled or working from home. I mentioned fishing license sales and CCA STAR participation setting new records in this column last month. These are good things in my opinion.

All this brings me back to the topic of Christmas and holiday gift giving.

Online shopping has grown incredibly and this includes fishing tackle and all the related gear that goes with it. But, please, let’s not forget our independent tackle retailers as we do our shopping in the coming weeks.

Independent fishing tackle dealers are an important component of the Texas retail marketplace and I want to stress the ways anglers benefit from their contributions.

Let’s look at the fisheries conservation angle first. Most reading this have likely attended a CCA Texas Fundraiser Banquet. Have you ever seen a raffle package donated by an online fishing tackle concern among the offerings? Apart from Academy Sports and Outdoors who have a history

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froggtoggs.com 6 | December 2020

of generous support, have you ever noticed goods or prize packages donated by any other national outdoors retailer?

When you are planning a fishing trip and discover your supply of the hottest new lure or fishing gadget is running low, where do you stop on the way to the bay?

What about a new pair of waders, wading boots, or fishing jacket to protect you from the elements? Will browsing an online tackle dealer’s website assure the fit of these garments or will you end up needing to exchange them?

Selecting a new fishing rod can often depend on how it feels in your hands…you know, the old whip and wiggle routine to test the action.

Can you do this online?

Last but certainly not least is the category of expert sales staff. We can read reel specs in promotional literature until we turn three shades of purple, and then hope we’re making an informed decision. The person behind the counter is a technical expert and likely a fisherman just like you.

I could go on but I believe you get my drift View The Video – please support your local tackle dealers this Open Camera and hover over QR Code. When holiday season! link appears at top of Merry Christmas, and may the Good Lord bless screen tap to open in you in the New Year!

YouTube.

Trophy Trout Season!

T i n t e o W rs w T A ale of

STORY BY STEVE HI LLMA N

A

s I type this I’m wondering if we’re going to have a winter this year.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a summer pattern this deep into the year. I fished East Matagorda Bay last week and the water temperature hovered between 80 and 83 degrees. When I got off the water today (October 23rd) here in West Galveston Bay it was 81 degrees. Extremely high tides and warmer water has kept our fish more scattered than usual for this time of year. Our pattern has been more like summertime in that we’re finding trout under slicks over patches of live oysters and on top of sand bars. We’ve had glimpses of fall patterns with the two or three weak fronts that have passed through to this point but it didn’t last for more than a day or two. During those short stretches, trout tightened up more into what I consider actual schools. And we caught them in more typical fall areas such as around bayou drains and under birds in back lakes.

Many days of extreme high tides this fall made us work a little harder for the fish.

There’s another front that pushed through last night but it was a fairly weak one bringing with it slightly cooler air temperatures and a northerly wind shift. The wind is forecast to flip right back around to a southerly flow tomorrow ahead of what’s supposed to be a slightly stronger cool front in a couple of days.

What lies ahead in the coming months is anyone’s guess. Most folks here along the coast agree that we’ve experienced colder than usual winters following summers in which we got hit with a tropical storm or hurricane. Several named storms hit the Texas and Louisiana Coasts this summer so one would think we could be in for a cold winter.

The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has forecast otherwise.

According to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center (a division of the National Weather Service) the United States is currently in a La Niña pattern which favors warmer and drier conditions across the southern U.S. and cooler and wetter conditions across the North.

What to Expect with a La Niña Pattern If the latter proves to be true then we will have to adjust our thinking when it comes to “winter trout patterns.” If bay water temperatures tend to range between 65 and 75 degrees most of the time then deep water and mud and shell patterns will be few and far between. Inevitably, there will be a front or two that brings sudden temperature and tide level drops which could steer us (and the fish) in that direction but it would be only temporary. A more likely scenario would be closer to what we’re already seeing, which is a more scattered trout population over shell, grass, and not-so-muddy bottoms. Slicks may be more prevalent than what we’re used to during colder winters.

Metabolic rates for fish may be higher, possibly leading to more aggressive strikes as opposed to that soft and sluggish bite that so many folks tend to talk about.

What we are experiencing now can give us indicators of what’s coming next. There are currently hordes of white shrimp as far back into the marshes, back lakes, and bayous as you can go. With each weak front thus far we’ve experienced, birds are working, especially in smaller satellite bays. Barring any major freshwater events we could see birds working all winter if NOAA’s prediction holds true. I personally experienced this two years ago. We’ve had another explosion of shad this year as well.

Shad is a very high lipid (fatty acids) content fish. With higher trout metabolisms from warmer water and shad as one of their primary forage species, well-defined oily slicks will be easy to see.

Our baits of choice under the discussed scenario would most likely be a variety of topwater plugs, twitchbaits and soft plastics. The MirrOlure family of topwaters ranging from She Pups up to the He Dogs will all have their place on any given day. We’ll use the larger louder topwaters (She Dogs and He Dogs) in windier conditions and the smaller versions (She Pup and Top Dog Jr.) in calmer conditions that require a more subtle presentation. Double Ds, along with the Barboleta Lele and Hot Rod, are my favorite twitchbaits by far. Wading while casting twitchbaits up shallow over grass-lined (top) Jody Moses with one of many solid specks caught while drifting shell in front of bayou drains.

(left) Shane Ward with a really nice flounder in high pressure post-front conditions.

(right) Many trout and this giant red fell prey to our MirrOlure Provokers while drifting mid-bay shell where we’d normally fish during the summer. Crazy!

10 | December 2020

troughs can be a trout’s worst nightmare. Soft plastics will always be in play but we’ll typically use lighter jighead sizes (1/16th ounce) when wading versus boat fishing. My top three choices for soft plastics are MirrOlure Lil Johns, Provokers, and Saltwater Assassin Sea Shads.

What to Expect If We Actually Have a Winter – If we are frequented with stronger cold fronts, especially some of the Arctic variety, then we can expect a more traditional cold weather pattern. If water temperatures stay more in the 50s and lower, we’ll find concentrations of trout in guts lined with shell and mud. Spoils along the Intracoastal Waterway will hold fish as well. Deep holes will be good areas to target, especially during sudden water temperature declines and low tides caused by big fronts.

When water temperatures drop into the 50s, the algae and plankton begin to die. This leaves us with extremely clear water on calmer days. But, when the wind increases we can usually find welldefined color streaks that serve as excellent thermal protection and ambush points for trout and reds. Swift currents can also cause the streaking. If we can find these color streaks along troughs or near structure that’s even better!

MirrOlure Paul Brown Originals are probably the most popular lure for serious wintertime anglers, especially those who get a thrill out of tricking big trout. I love every bait in the Corky family but I’ve grown a tad partial to the Fat Boy floater in recent years. Of course water clarity and light condition determines my color choice although my overall favorite is the Pink with Silver Glitter. Other favorite colors include Glow, Strawberry with Black Back, and Texas Chicken. I like the Strawberry with Black Back in slightly off-colored water. I tend to lean more towards the sinking version of the Fat Boy when wading in windy conditions or when casting into deep guts.

Of course, even during cold winters, we’ll have those days in between fronts when water temperatures will rise and barometric pressure will drop. This is typically when we’ll find fish on shallower

Chris Babbington and Dawson Morby had a great morning on trout and reds fishing back lakes with pre-frontal bull tides!

reefs and flats adjacent to deep water. Twitchbaits, soft plastics and topwaters will all play a role when this occurs. Just a few flipping mullet can point us in the right direction during these circumstances.

With all of the crazy weather and all of the other crazy stuff going on this year, who the heck knows what to expect this “winter?”

Hopefully I’ve provided enough insight based upon the possible scenarios to improve your chances of a successful outcome. Either way, feel free to call or shoot me an email if you want to discuss or even jump on the boat with me for some winter fishing, whatever that may entail. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas with family and loved ones. Stay safe!

View The Video

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

Wintertime bayou drains.

STEVE HILLMAN

CONTACT

Seeing quite a few of these especially after fronts.

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 | 11

When

Hudd STORY BY KEVIN COCHRAN

the

le Breaks D

uring the holiday months, anglers who prefer fishing exclusively with artificial lures cast eager eyes toward to the culmination of autumn and the onset of winter. The transition between these seasons ushers in more than family rituals, it generates higher potential for catching multiple jumbo trout on the same occasion. Generally, anglers using lures catch more big trout per hour of effort in cold weather, while those using live bait catch more during hot weather.

Certainly, people baiting hooks with live croakers, piggy perch and other finfish catch their highest numbers of trout meeting or exceeding the 25-inch mark from May through July, decent numbers for a while both before and after the peak period.

Conversely, anglers using artificial lures fare better from November through February; the run certainly extends into the spring months too, until the really hot weather arrives. Anecdotally, I’d say these related truths result from facts about how trout behave when temperatures reach their extremes.

In both hot and cold weather, most trout retreat to deeper water to escape discomfort in the shallows, but some defy the norms of their species. Some big trout apparently don’t fully appreciate the risks inherent to remaining in the shallows during bitter cold snaps. We know this because people regularly find giant sows floating belly up in places like Pringle Lake and Nighthawk Bay after frigid weather moderates. Obviously, these old fish could have survived, if they’d simply followed their schoolmates and offspring to the deeper water a short distance away.

Similarly, some big trout stay in shallow water during the year’s situation reverses, and deeper water usually runs warmer than the hottest days. People traveling across vast shin-deep flats on tower shallows. Obviously, these general truths don’t exist in a static boats in South Texas throughout the summer can verify the fact. medium. This inversion takes time to unfold, and within the two Finding isolated monsters and small pods of giants far away from extreme seasons, the truths don’t apply equally at all times, as local any drop-off might cause one to conclude large trout don’t generally weather plays a role. Particularly in winter, the location of the water show a preference for deeper, cooler water when it’s hot. Other of most favorable temperature to a trout can and regularly does evidence renders such a conclusion false. In many Texas bays, lots change from deeper to shallower. of large trout move into deep basins After a strong cold front passes over and areas close to channels like the the coast and air temperatures fall to Intracoastal Waterway and shipping their lowest values, water temperatures lanes during the summer months. also decline. In response, when water People tossing live croakers along ship temperatures in the shallows fall below channel spoil banks can document the 60° and stay in the 50s for more than a veracity of such a statement. Of course, few hours or so, trout typically retreat to those people catch far more trout under deeper water to escape the immediate the 25-inch mark than over it, but they effects of the chill. This truth carries the do catch more big trout during summer most weight early in the cold season, than lure-chunkers wading shallow from November through January. As a shorelines and structural elements. Partly, result, many trout find their way into anglers using live bait to target trout in channels and holes during this timeframe. deep water during the hot season catch Because cold trout can’t afford to expend big fish because what they’re offering lots of energy fighting strong currents, allows them to cull some of the largest they often wind up huddling in the ends individuals from the schools. of channels where currents run slow, One reason people wading shallow in places like canal subdivisions and water or even throwing lures into deeper secondary ditches extending off the water don’t catch more big trout in hot Intracoastal Waterway. months relates to the diet preferences Trout, including large ones, also find of mature trout. Given a choice, a large their way to holes and open basins trout will take a finfish over a shrimp, during situations like this. If water temps sometimes eating meals of extraordinary fall low enough, they gather in cavernous Jason King with a 29-inch trout caught on a size. I’ve caught many whopper trout holes like Offatt’s Bayou in Galveston, but December day while fishing with the Captain. with the tails of keeper trout sticking during more moderate events, numbers out of their gullets; mature trout eat of them stay in the deepest basins in the horse mullet, ribbonfish and needlefish hearts of all the main bays. Anglers who too. Motivating fish with such healthy recognize these facts then experience appetites to take a soft plastic, topwater fairly easy catching, including bigger or twitchbait of the size most anglers than average trout, by targeting them can present on light tackle becomes with lures from the deck of a boat in nearly impossible during the time when places like these. The relative scarcity of trout have so many favorable sources of food choices available to the predators natural food around them. in the cold season likely enhances the After the fall migrations end, and winter productivity of those efforts. settles in, trout have fewer choices about Significantly, the situation can and what they can eat. Sure, giant female often does reverse itself during the cold trout can still swallow their smaller mates months, as water temperatures rise and offspring, and they do. But, in some faster in shallower than in deeper water cases, they become much easier to urge during stretches of warming weather. This to strike smaller offerings, like metal and sometimes sends large schools of jumbo plastic ones molded entirely by the hands trout onto shoreline flats or to relatively of man. Additionally, large trout gather in shallow areas around structural elements, predictable places during the cold season, where wading anglers with lures can target some of them similar to the ones they them effectively. I’d say this scenario, more prefer when it’s hot. than any other, allows anglers who know Matt McCollum with one of four stud trout In the hot part of the year, deeper the precise locations where these events he caught within a span of about 45 minutes water is usually cooler than shallow regularly unfold to catch numbers of big while fishing with the Captain in December. water. In the cold part of the year, the trout during the coldest part of the year.

14 | December 2020

Slow-sinking twitch baits like Paul Brown FatBoys generally work well to entice bites from big trout during warming trends in December.

you found the right rock,” and told young Matt McCollum to plant his feet and keep throwing in the same place, until the hits stopped coming. He did as he was told and made his effort pay!

That’s part of the moral of the December story. Smart trophy trout anglers stand and grind when they get a bite during the Christmas month, especially when they catch a big fish. When the right forces align this time of year, the door of potential opens to catching several or even scores of memorable trout, as opposed to just one or two.

Mature trout often huddle up and move around in schools in winter.

When they arrive in the shallows, their strong, shared hunger pangs sometimes urge them to play prominent roles in our picture shows.

View The Video

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

The Captain presents evidence of the effectiveness of using slow-sinking twitch baits during the holiday months.

KEVIN COCHRAN CONTACT

In some cases, when warm trends pull fish out of holes and basins onto shorelines and structural elements, schools comprised of fish of all sizes move into those places. In others, schools made up almost entirely of large fish do so.

This kind of scenario presents the potential for a bonanza of the coolest kind, for those of us who crave catching monster trout. I’ve played a role in several such shows over the course of my career.

The first one I recall vividly involves a cameo appearance on my part. It occurred on the day when appendicitis rendered me incapable of functioning after the first hour or so. After catching two six-pounders on my Super Spook, I lay prone, moaning on the sand and shell at Garrison Ridge, in Sabine Lake, while my partners proceeded to catch about 100 trout weighing five pounds or more, most measuring between 24 and 26 inches, with several in the eight-pound class, all on topwaters. The fray created quite a din, as my three buddies strutted around measuring fish, taking pictures, laughing, hooting and highfiving, as anyone would when such an event unfolds.

This occurred on a December day in 2000, when temperatures reached a high of about 80°, and a strong, steady south wind blew off the bank. I suspect this impressive school of jumbo trout had assembled well offshore of the muddy flat while colder weather prevailed in the days prior to the epic one. When the air temperatures moderated and the huddle broke, they swam into the shallows as one, their jaws snapping viciously at whatever moved in front of their faces.

Upper Coast anglers repeatedly take advantage of this kind of situation, when onshore winds and warming weather cause fish to move out of the depths and ride rising tides into the shallows along leeward shorelines. Anglers catch big trout on the south shorelines of Sabine Lake, Galveston’s bays, both Matagorda bays and Coastal Bend bays on days like these, from November through January. In South Texas, a different kind of situation offers perhaps even more potential for catching numbers of magnum trout.

From November through January, cold weather drives trout in bays like Baffin, Nueces and both Laguna Madres into relatively deep basins, within reasonably close proximity of the north and/or west shorelines. When frigid temperatures turn and begin to rise, these fish leave the holes where they’ve ridden out the cold and move onto nearby flats and toward shallow structural elements.

Jason King and I found a school of stud trout in just such a scenario on the 9th day of December 2013. We began our effort throwing soft plastics, but when we found the bites easy to entice, we switched “up” to slow-sinking Paul Brown Fat Boys. In water of about 55° or so, at first in the immediate vicinity of large rocks lying close to the open basin of Baffin Bay, eventually on a mushy, grassy flat nearby, we managed to entice at least twenty big fish to bite, landing 7 trout over 27 inches, up to nearly 30. Sadly, I hooked and lost 10 others, which felt as big or bigger while I fought them. This led to an impressive run of catching monster trout, which extended well into April of 2014.

Later that same month, the college-aged son of one of my customers improved his personal best trout four times within an hour, starting with a 28.5-incher and moving up a half-inch each time, to 30.

The combined weight of his four donkeys came to 31.5 pounds! Every one of them bit his Catch 2000 beside the same rock, one we couldn’t see in the calm, stained water. After he got the first bite, I said, “I think

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 TSFMAG.com | 15

Small square-bill crankbaits are fantastic search baits in shallow water and back lakes.

Lost

Shuffle in the

STORY BY CHUCK UZZLE

I

recall in vivid HD that first bone-jarring thump, delivered courtesy of an upperslot redfish, smashing a Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap. The discomfort of the mid-30s air temperature quickly faded as the drag sang in protest and monofilament line peeled from my reel – the brute at the end of the line headed for parts unknown. My love for saltwater fishing started that day and it continues to grow exponentially every year.

That modest beginning was made possible by my good friend, Chris Gunn, my next door neighbor and avid river fisherman, who has certainly caught his fair share of quality fish. Chris loved redfish and he really liked catching them in winter. We would launch his old Grumman aluminum boat, that had the structural integrity of overcooked fettuccine, and head south on the Sabine River. If you were lucky to win the coin flip at the dock, you could lie down in the bottom of the boat and keep warm during the chilly ride. The not-so-lucky driver had to suffer the elements head-on.

Once we reached our preferred stretch of riverbank we did what we always did, chunk and wind, for hours. Our main offerings were quite limited; one or two colors of as many sizes of the aforementioned Rat-l-Trap. The colors were either chrome or gold and the size was either a half or three-quarter ounce. Just like the big muskie’s up north being known as the fish of a thousand casts, that’s exactly what the wintertime reds were for us. The only difference being that when we found one we usually found a bunch.

The way we fished “traps” was by no means technical; it was more of a war of attrition wherein the guy who covered the most water with the most casts caught the most fish.

The Rat-L-Trap was the perfect search bait and the redfish would just annihilate it. The trap had everything going for it, the right noise, perfect size, easy to keep in the strike zone, and it just flat caught fish. Back then I couldn’t imagine leaving the dock without a couple of those baits at the ready, and to an extent I am still that way, albeit with a few subtle variations.

TSFMAG.com | 17

Lost in the shuffle of today’s tackle world, especially in saltwater, is the crankbait. There are many versions and they all have a place in your fishing arsenal. Anyone who knows me would be quick to point out the fact that I love the slender “stickbait” versions of crankbaits and I throw them regularly. I find them especially effective for fishing shallow shell as they just dig around in the structure and tend to illicit heavy-duty strikes. They are also great for folks who can’t quite get the hang of fishing a Corky or other neutrally-buoyant offering because they will stay in that perfect strike zone or depth with little effort. The bonus is that they catch as many fish as other baits while providing increased angler confidence during the experience.

Staying in the strike zone is perhaps what makes the crankbait so productive when compared to other lures. Many anglers tend to “ignore” a large portion of the water column when then they fish, unfortunately. For example; let’s look at what happens when an angler goes from a topwater plug to a soft plastic.

Even if the angler is skilled enough to throw a lighter jig they still have difficulty keeping that bait in the strike zone if the fish are not on or near bottom.

Fishing deeper than four or five foot depths with soft plastics is actually rather difficult if you really think about it. Variables like wind or current tend to change the way the soft plastic is fished and the percentage of time that the bait is actually in the strike zone is greatly reduced, more so when those fish are suspended. The proper choice of crankbaits makes it much simpler to keep the lure running at that perfect depth for longer periods, which naturally produces more fish. (top) Chance Hobbs and Ben Guise taking advantage of schooled-up winter reds.

(left) Fish-catching machines, too often overlooked.

18 | December 2020

(right) Yo-Zuri jerk/stickbaits work wonders on suspended fish and fish relating to structure.

I have seen deep-diving crankbaits with larger bills, worked as deep as twenty feet on fast retrieves along jetty rocks, and they absolutely destroy fish with incredible efficiency. Lipless models like the Rat-L-Trap and Hoginar also shine in situations like this where fishing deeper water or covering lots of water is a must. On the other end of the spectrum, I have also seen shallow-running crankbaits with smaller, square bills retrieved a foot or so below the surface do a number on both trout and redfish.

Small square-bill crankbaits are a fantastic search bait in the back lakes and marsh ponds whenever the vegetation permits their use.

The tantalizing side-to-side wobble is just too much for a redfish to resist. Perhaps the only drawback to fishing shallow-running crankbaits is that they frequently end up in the back of a redfish’s throat, which can make removing the lure a tricky task in order to achieve a healthy release. Keeping the right tools for the task readily

which really maximizes your cast and allows you to cover more water more thoroughly.

It’s amazing to me how many saltwater anglers never entertain the option of crankbaits and stickbaits. Probably because they don’t get near as much press nowadays as the host of higher-profile and traditional offerings. I can promise you that if you experiment with these baits you will see just exactly how well they produce and how much they deserve a spot in your tackle bag.

View The Video

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

Double Duty Waders

CHUCK UZZLE

CONTACT

at hand is strongly recommended. Mashing the barbs on treble hooks can make it quite a bit easier.

Crankbaits are versatile. Variables such as speed of retrieve, line diameter, and shape and size of their bills all factor into how they can be adapted to a wide range of fishing applications. Obviously, the faster or harder you crank them during the retrieve the deeper they will run. If you are inclined to dial into a specific depth, you may experiment with different line sizes to achieve the perfect running depth. Rule of thumb suggests that thinner line diameter creates less drag in the water, allowing the plug to dive deeper.

Likewise – thicker lines contribute to running them just below the surface. Believe it or not, I’ve seen freshwater anglers rig five different outfits – same rod and reel and crankbait – each with different line size. Talk about searching for perfection!

Bill design will generally dictate how deep a bait swims, and how much wobble or side-to-side motion the angler can impart.

In a nutshell – the wider the bill the wider the wobble. All of these factors give the angler almost limitless options for enticing fish to strike…and greater confidence in using them.

My personal favorite crankbaits are the smaller, square-billed models that run about a foot under the surface. The Mann’s 1-Minus and Baby 1-Minus can be money in our area marshes. I also throw plenty of stickbaits like the old ThunderStick, Rogue, and Redfin, along with several of the Yo-Zuri baits. I absolutely love the versatility of presentations you can create, especially when drifting water that’s really just a little too deep to wade. Stickbaits will run down in 2-to 4-foot depths and stay there with minimal effort,

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.

Phone 409-697-6111 Email wakesndrakes@yahoo.com Website wakesndrakes.com

TSFMAG.com | 19

CHRISTMAS Is that Santa Claus on the beach with a castnet? We report, you decide.

STORY BY JOE RICHARD

S GIFT LIST I

t’s that time of year again after a year of hard fishing. Glancing around the boat, I’ve come up with a list of items that might make useful gifts for fishermen during the holiday season. Everyday items that can make a difference out there.

Castnet. If you know someone who can use a castnet, this is a handy item that can save on bait costs. Marina bait is limited and increasingly costly. And these nets aren’t that hard to throw: In Mexico, I’ve seen 12-year olds in waist-deep water, throwing immense nets landing in perfect circles that looked 30 feet in diameter. I started throwing 53 years ago and continue today. I still can’t throw the big nets, but a 6-foot radius net will land where I want it to.

My freezer was recently packed with 4-6 inch finger mullet frozen in water, caught during the autumn mullet run. These mullet can be precious items from November through March when nobody has them. Especially in the bays, when redfish and big trout haven’t seen one for a long time.

Sturdy and comfortable Fish Monkey gloves, grabbing a redfish.

Three different sized buckets in the boat. The red bucket carries the day’s early essentials.

One way or the other, spoons catch fish. Dale Fontenot with a kingfish.

22 | December 2020

You can learn to throw a castnet in the backyard and there are self-help You Tube videos. Set a few objects out on the lawn and practice hitting them. In murky upper-coast water, there is often little sign that bait is there and “blind-throwing” is common. There are however favorite bar ditches where baitfish congregate and ripple the water when moving (though not in winter). Mullet nibble algae on hard growth around public boat ramps, where I’ve caught them during quiet minutes between boats. On the middle and lower coast in clear water, mullet are more easily seen, but they’re more skittish around people. Summer is peak castnet season.

Fish gloves: Nice if we’d had these decades ago, and saved us trips to the emergency room (ER) from hand injuries. For anglers who fish a lot, a new pair of gloves is welcome each year. My latest are Fish Monkey gloves, or as I call them, “Shock the Monkey” gloves. I’ve seen videos of guys hiking over jagged limestone on the southern shore of Australia, fishing from cliffs 20 feet above water, without gloves. It makes me wince every time; one stumble and their day is over. I’ve mentioned this before, but wearing borrowed shoes and slipping on a Texas jetty put me out of business for weeks. In the hospital they yanked an oyster out of my hand without even numbing it, and I know people down the hall plainly heard me. If I’d worn modern fishing gloves back then with the extra pad sewn across the palm, it would never have happened. (Except these gloves were rare until recent years). There are lots of ways to get poked and scraped while fishing, but guys walking the jetties run the highest risk of hand injury.

Buckets: This is really basic stuff, but keeping different-sized buckets in the boat has many advantages. A castnet will fold up and store neatly in a 2-gallon bucket, for instance. If you’re throwing a castnet, keep that live bait happy in the bucket, before transferring to the live well or minnow bucket. That same 2-gallon bucket is also handy at times, when somebody in the crew has to rid themselves of slightly used coffee.

A larger five-gallon bucket carries loose items like spools of leader, corks, fillet knife, small first aid kit, foldup fish ruler, boat registration and other necessities. A few times we’ve pulled up to shrimpboats offshore and mine happened to be the only bucket on the boat, which meant I had to dump everything out while trading for shrimp or bycatch laying all over the shrimpboat’s deck. They loaded us up, too…Later in the day, that same bucket hauled fish to the cleaning table and soon enough, bags of fillets to the truck.

That same bucket would have also been handy if we’d sprung a leak offshore and the bilge pump failed.

I also keep a red, one-gallon bucket packed with daily essentials, dug into once I crank the boat engine and begin idling out. It carries fishing gloves, Buff sun mask, sunscreen, 8-inch needlenose pliers, a short bait knife, hand-held GPS, and polarized sunglasses. You don’t want these necessary items scattered around the boat, when you know you’re going to need them on every trip. All three of bucket sizes mentioned above nest inside each other, if need be. One or all three bucket sizes can be put to work bailing a leaky boat.

Spoons: Everyone likes shiny baubles hanging from a Christmas tree, and my favorite is gold spoons—we never visit the coast without them. They’re good stocking stuffers, or they can be used to fill new fish buckets under the tree. I have friends who throw spoons all day, whether inshore or offshore, and that flashy metal has long been a reliable artificial lure for catching trout, redfish, pompano,

TSFMAG.com | 23

especially Spanish mackerel, kingfish, all sorts of Gulf critters.

Look for the heavier, Dixie Jet spoons for long casts into clean water when fishing from the surf, or around oil rigs.

The lighter ¾ ounce Johnson Sprites we use around jetty rocks and grass bottoms in roughly six feet of water. Unlike soft baits, spoons will last for years when rinsed at day’s end.

They can be painted, and the treble hook is easily replaced.

The single-hook, weedless spoon is best in shallow water for rooting redfish, even in flooded vegetation. Go for the gold; the silver spoons aren’t as effective in saltwater.

Clear Tackle Trays. Lose those old, multi-level tackleboxes so easily tripped over in the boat, and stick with the clear, inexpensive flat plastic trays that can be stored anywhere, even in a bucket. My skiff is small and I only carry three flat boxes, replacing them after they’ve seen too many salty days. One box carries plugs, the second soft plastics, and the last carries gear for bait fishing—mostly hooks, swivels and lead weights. I’ve done pretty well in the past few years with just these three boxes.

“

Glancing around the boat, I’ve come up with a list of items that might make useful gifts for fishermen.

Three compact tackle boxes carry just about everything we need for a day’s fishing.

”

24 | December 2020

Chuck Layman wearing his PFD with a decent trout about to be released.

JOE RICHARD

Joe Richard has fished the Gulf since 1967, starting out of Port Arthur, but his adventures have taken him up and down the entire coast.

He was the editor of Tide magazine for eight years, and later Florida Sportsman’s book and assistant magazine editor. He began guiding out of Port O’Connor in 1994. His specialty is big kingfish, and his latest book is The Kingfish Bible, New Revelations. Available at Seafavorites.com

CONTACT

PFD. I’ve written about this before, but self-inflating personal floatation devices (PFDs) can be life-savers. They’re compact and not uncomfortable in hot weather. My fishing buddy Chuck from Atlanta always wears his, after he fell off a dock into cold water at night. There was nobody around to help, and no ladder to climb. It was a long swim to the shoreline, and he wouldn’t have made it without that selfinflating jacket that kept him very buoyant. When wet, the interior CO2 cartridge inflates the jacket very quickly. Pow! Like life jackets on airlines, they can be inflated manually, too.

One never knows when he could pass out for various reasons, sometimes with no warning at all. Topple overboard, and you might be a mile from land. And asleep in the water. Without that jacket, you’re pretty much a gone goose unless help arrives within seconds.

That’s an argument to always fish with a buddy, but sometimes that isn’t possible, and it’s a common sight to see guys boating alone.

Sometimes they find boats circling with nobody in them—another stroke or heart attack that fell overboard. If you know someone 60 or older who fishes alone, this gift could very well be a life-saver.

TSFMAG.com | 25

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Elane and Sterling Dailey enjoying some CPR fall trout fishing.

J AY WAT K I N S

ASK THE PRO

REFINING CREEK STRATEGIES We are enjoying cooler weather and hopefully everyone is seeing some of the seasonal bounty that fall provides along the middle and lower Texas coast. We had a 12° drop in air temperature today and the forecast is calling for some significantly cooler weather next week, which brings me to this month’s topic. One of the most frequently asked questions on my boat is, “What’s your favorite time of the year to fish?”

The answer has changed somewhat over the years but the facts are that I have gotten to where November through the full moon in May have become my favorite months. I primarily target speckled trout in my guiding ventures during these months due to being able to find better quality trout in larger numbers. I am super lucky to have a dedicated clientele of serious anglers interested in learning how, why, when and where. In the months of January and February we get to focus not only on our learning but we do so in waters where some of the largest trout are caught each and every year. Jay Ray and I travel to Port Mansfield for the winter months with clients that are the most dedicated and serious of trout fishermen. It’s a great time and great place, with the great people of this small fishing village.

38 | December 2020

In November I am still looking for the basic signs each day to get us pointed in the right direction with greater focus on the major arteries that deliver water to and from our back lakes. With the passage of each cold front comes major reduction in tide levels. Add to this significant water temperature changes at times and we have some great conditions to start fishing the mouths of the creeks that feed our marsh system. I call them creeks instead of drains or sloughs but they all mean the same thing.

It’s not just the bayside creek mouths that become productive. The area where the creek enters the back lake itself can be just as productive. With the popularity of the creek fishing pattern these days, navigation to the area where the creek meets the lake can be difficult due to boats and anglers already fishing there. I personally try to not run into a creek where I see people set up and fishing that portion of the creek if I can help it. It’s a show of respect, even though those fishing in the creek should expect to see some traffic from others wanting to access the backwaters within the creek system. ALL user groups have equal access and a right to fish ALL the water. This attitude works for me, it keeps me grounded and allows me to continue to learn and expand my

knowledge by forcing me to fish other areas.

When I look at a creek I see a lot of possibilities besides the obvious bayside mouths. I like to wade up into the creeks when I have anglers that can deal with some not-so-good bottom conditions. The shorelines of the creeks are quite often a good deal softer than one might think. We typically find slick and sticky clay banks that make walking difficult, and nearly impossible to walk quietly. Some might have a sand strip running parallel to the grass edge that definitely make walking easier.

Slow, easy and quiet are key ingredients when working within the creeks themselves. Fish can feel you moving through the water if we are making a lot of noise as we wade. This is a practice that we should apply wherever we choose to apply our wade fishing tactics. My dad was huge on making me aware of the noise I was making when I waded. I can hear him in my own voice, barking orders to slow down and be quiet when instructing those in my party that are moving forward too fast and noisily. I can sometimes be blunt when I know it is denying others in the group good fishing opportunity. There are tons of guides out there so they can go and fish with them.

I like creeks that have multiple sharp bends as they make their way to back lake areas. The bends deepen due to greater water movement but during peak tidal movements these areas will also have current seams that actually have slower water movement. This slowing or eddying effect within the generally swift flow creates terrific ambush points for gamefish as they usually harbor or trap various bait species.

I won the TroutMasters Top 100 in a drain just like I am describing during a two-day event out of East Matagorda in miserable weather conditions. I never saw a boat the entire two days. Of course it was

raining and blowing so hard I probably couldn’t have seen one if any were nearby. The thought process with the fish feeding in the seams and eddy’s where water is less turbulent is simple, less energy exerted equates to more energy gained. You cannot believe the size of the trout we can catch in creeks with this type of configuration.

I remember an airboat guide watching me one day and then hearing his remarks back at the dock regarding the size of the redfish we were catching. I agreed politely but offered no further comment, not wanting him to know they were all 24-plus trout. It was one of my top ten best trout days ever in the Rockport area.

During hard-falling tides we will see redfish cruising up into the mouth of the lake along the edges of the creeks. This is sight-casting at its finest. Couple this with a timeline that’s sending a message to the fish to feed up as much as possible and you’ve got incredible odds. The reds seem to roam a little more in the creeks than trout do.

Trout setup and wait in the most opportune places. Our challenge is locating these areas in the creeks.

All creeks are a little different due to the angle at which they cut through the barrier island shoreline. Small angles will create variations on water movement and water depths from one creek to another.

Only by walking these creeks have I been able to discover these differences. Hurricane Harvey in 2017 not only changed the makeup of most of our creeks very dramatically but the storm also created many more for us to investigate. I have found a bunch of really small creeks that have produced some exceptional days for me and my clients.

It is true that my feet have been my eyes for my entire career. This has been a topic in my seminars since the mid-80s when I was doing in-store promotions for area tackle shops. The mental picture I have Gregg Mueller with a super fall flatty.

Eric Gonsoulin with beast of a redfish – CPR!

TSFMAG.com | 39

40 | December 2020

pay big dividends. By making numerous casts up-current and then taking visual notes of where you receive your strikes, you can become able to repeat it reliably and get more bites.

I like to pick landmarks on the opposite side of the creek and cast to those specific points, knowing that when I hit my marks, the drift will be true and a bite will be forthcoming. When we are prepared for the strikes we miss fewer, which certainly makes the cold and often damp conditions much more enjoyable. I hope this gives you a little more insight in how to fish the creeks that feed our backwaters along the Middle Coast.

May your fishing always be catching. -Guide Jay Watkins

View The Video

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

What’s my favorite color lure?

C O N TA C T

of what is right and what is not is not something I can verbalize. This is the type of learning that must be experienced in order to totally understand. Writing about it, I hope, gives you some insight but, honestly, there is nothing that compares to boots on the ground when it comes to fully understanding the creeks as well as all the other bottom structures we fish.

The strongest of fronts will drastically reduce tide levels as well as drop the water temperatures. It’s these types of fronts that kick off the best of things in our creek fishing season. This bounty is shortlived due to the baitfish leaving and heading to deeper waters and the simple fact that the increased numbers of gamefish can literally eat all that is in the smaller creeks. We should see good action in the creeks, mouths of the lakes, and the bay shorelines just outside the drain mouths all the way through December during frontal passages.

It’s all about bait and moving water. Subtract one or the other and our odds go way down.

I will throw Custom Corkys and Custom Soft-Dines a lot in the drains, along with the Texas Customs Double D. No doubt that I will never be without a MirrOlure Lil John or Lil John XL if fish won’t eat my slow-sinking/suspending choices. There is something special about the way a large trout takes a Corky in hard-moving water that one never tires of. The key to getting these baits in front of the right fish is your ability to define the drift in each and every drain you fish throughout the day as conditions change.

We want the lure to end up drifting naturally into the seams and eddies. You want to follow your fishing lines drift and make note of where you’re getting strikes. This requires some trial and error but it’ll

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 | 41

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

TAKE A MINUTE TO MAKE A PHOTO I guess it’s just part of getting older, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. The rate of losing friends and family accelerates with age and there isn’t anything we can do to stop that. The fishing community has been hit pretty hard over the last year, most recently with the passing of Mike LaRue and Dave Holder. Both were guys I enjoyed being around and talking to. Both were guys where somewhere in the conversation would come, “We need to fish together sometime.” But we never did.

I think we all have those conversations and we all really do mean it, but life gets in the way and we never get around to it. Surely we’ll have more time to get it done next year, or the year after, or…

Then there are those buddies who you did fish with a good bit. You two spent many hours together on the water or in deer camp. You shared adventures as well as misadventures. Triumphs of watching each other take that trophy buck or finally land that big trout. Heartbreak when the fish of a lifetime broke off at the net. And now all you have left of them are those fleeting memories.

Guess I’m getting a little more sentimental with age. The past few weeks I catch myself thinking about those friends and family who helped shape my life in the outdoors. While poling around the flats a few days ago all I could think about was how much Steve Hall would’ve enjoyed what I do now. The dude loved to fish and hunt as much as anyone I’ve ever met. He left before I could get him on the bow to experience sightcasting from a poling skiff.

It also got me to thinking about all of the friends and family who are still around. Some I haven’t fished or hunted with in a long time, others I have never been with even though we always say, “we need to fish sometime.”

I’m sure you’ve got the same kind of list. Make the phone call, make the time, make sure you won’t be sitting there wishing you’d have done it before it was too late.

And to go along with all of that, take more pictures.

It wasn’t as common to have a camera on the boat or at the hunting blind before cell phones. Now we all have quality cameras with us all the time. Use them. I’m not talking about the deer camp shot of the hanging deer or the stringer shot on the dock. Take those too, but I’m more interested in taking photos in the moment.

The excitement and joy of the event can be captured and you’ll never regret missing that moment. Catching that first fish on the fly, walking up on the buck you had to track for hours, putting your hands on the biggest speckled trout you’ve ever touched.

42 | December 2020

Those photos are must haves, but also get shots of your buddies all together. Posed shots are fine, but candid everyday stuff tells more of the story. Years later they will remind you of the time and place. I can look back on old photos of trips and immediately be taken back there to enjoy it all over again. And when one of those photos has someone in it who is gone from my life I can smile and think about the fun we had instead of dwelling on the fact they’re no longer here. Memories can fade, but the photos won’t.

I’ve always taken photos of my customers with their catch as soon as they land it. I want them to remember that moment and be able to relive it. Here recently with my melancholy reminiscing came the thought that I want their buddy, husband, wife, kid or parent in the photo with them. At least one shot, more is better, but at least get that one picture of the catch along with whoever you’re with. You shared the moment, share the memory too. I’m trying hard to remember to do this. Many folks don’t want to stop fishing long enough to take that shot. I’ve been suggesting that the “catch photo” have their fishing partner in it as well. Take it from this guy who is getting older and looking at the rearview quite often, it is important.

I truly wish I had a photo of myself fishing with my Grandpa. He didn’t really enjoy fishing, but he enjoyed taking me and watching me catch fish.

We never had a camera and I don’t have a single photo from any of those times. My cousins and I fished and hunted together all the time as kids, no photos. Fifty plus years in the outdoors and up until about fifteen years ago there are very few photo memories in my possession. I regret that.

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

Feeding Frenzy Redfish!

Capt. Scott Null is a devout shallow water fisherman offering guided adventues via kayak, poled skiff, and wading.

Telephone Email Website

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

TSFMAG.com | 43

By Andres Garcia | Natural Resource Specialist, Lower Laguna Madre

FIELD NOTES

RED DRUM, SPOTTED SEATROUT, AND RED TIDE: NATURAL STRESSOR OF OUR NATURAL RESOURCES The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) Coastal Fisheries Division manages the marine fisheries of Texas, about four million acres of saltwater, including all Texas bays and estuaries and the Gulf of Mexico out to nine nautical miles offshore. In most instances, fisheries management strategies are directly linked to fishing pressure from both recreational and commercial fishing.

However, Mother Nature sometimes throws unforeseen, harmful, and destructive events our way in the form of natural disasters or extreme weather patterns. Events such as hurricanes, unexpected freezes, and red tide events all require adaptive management strategies to ensure fish populations remain healthy. TPWD Coastal Fisheries does just that by ensuring sustainable populations of commercially and recreationally important species throughout our coast, including two of our most sought-after recreational species, Red Drum and Spotted Seatrout. One type of natural stressor that has recently impacted these species in the Lower Laguna Madre (LLM) ecosystem are red tide events.

The Texas coast has a long history of red tide events since the 1900s. Most people living along the coast have a good grasp of what a red tide event is and the effects it has on public health and our natural resources. Texas red tides are caused by Karenia brevis, a microscopic, singlecelled algae specifically identified as a dinoflagellate that produces a neurotoxin called brevetoxin. Due to the fragile cell covering of K. brevis, it can be easily broken by wind and wave action. Once the toxin is released, it

Figure 1. Spotted Seatrout (SST) and Red Drum (RD) catch rates for 1-2 year class for Fall gillnet seasons. An asterisk (*) denotes occurrence of red tide event.

44 | December 2020

can be detrimental to fish, marine mammals, shorebirds, and humans. On beaches, the toxic aerosols can cause respiratory irritation in humans and in water, expansive blooms of K. brevis can deplete dissolved oxygen during the day and kill fish by affecting their central nervous system and halting gill function.

Thanks to partners such as Texas Sea Grant’s Red Tide Rangers, TPWD Coastal Fisheries can monitor K. brevis cell counts in the LLM. This data provides helpful information for public safety, fish and shellfish consumption advisories, and aids with identifying the stage of the bloom so that our constituents are kept updated.

In a current study being conducted by Coastal Fisheries, biologists are looking into the potential negative impacts of K. brevis on the abundances of juvenile Red Drum and Spotted Seatrout in the LLM from two prolonged red tide events in 2011 and 2015. Previous studies have shown harmful effects of red tide on Red Drum larvae even at low cell concentrations. Because red tide blooms often coincide with Spotted Seatrout and Red Drum spawning seasons, the current study aims to determine how this natural stressor may impact juvenile recruitment of the affected year-class of Red Drum and Spotted Seatrout.

Two types of gear, bag seines and gill nets, were used to investigate the effects of red tide on Red Drum and Spotted Seatrout. Data collected during bag seine and gill net sampling included hydrological measurements (i.e., salinity, temperature) along with fish counts and lengths. In addition, cell count data collected during red

Figure 2. Average daily cell count concentrations (Log10 cells • ml-1) within the Lower Laguna Madre for the 2011 and 2015 red tide events. Cell counts vary by low, moderate, and high concentrations. (Low = 10-100 cells/ml, Moderate = 100-1,000 cells/ml, High => 1,000 cells/ml)

Figure 3.

Proportions for the ten predominant species reported in fish kill assessments during the 2011 red tide event in the Lower Laguna Madre.

tide events were used to determine the extent of the red tide. We compared juvenile Red Drum and Spotted Seatrout in our bag seines in 2011 and 2015 to the gill net data two years following the event, to determine if there were any effects in the recruitment of the two species – post red tide exposure.

It is important to understand that environmental parameters such as salinity, dissolved oxygen, and temperature are closely linked to the life history of every organism in the bay. Every sample collected by each gear had its own hydrological data associated with it in order to determine which impacts on Red Drum and Spotted Seatrout were due to natural variation and which were due to the red tide event.

What did we find? The negative impacts to our Red Drum and Spotted Seatrout populations were much lower than anticipated.

In fact, both species proved to be very resilient, maintaining good abundances in the LLM during red tide events.

Consistent catches of Red Drum and Spotted Seatrout were observed in bag seines during the two red tide events. Red Drum spawning during the Fall 2011 and 2015 bloom events did not significantly impact juvenile abundance in bag seine samples during the following spring season.

Gillnet catches for 1 to 2-year-old Spotted Seatrout and Red Drum individuals showed no apparent decrease among the targeted age and size class in the two years following the 2011 and 2015 red tide events (Figure 1). This analysis revealed that these two bloom events did not have a significant negative effect on the juvenile Red Drum

Karena brevis. Photomicrograph courtesy of FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.

and Spotted Seatrout populations sampled in our bag seines, despite the presence of high toxic cell counts (Figure 2). In addition, the secondary effects did not reduce the recruitment of the targeted fish as subadults and adults. Further investigation into all age and size classes of Red Drum and Spotted Seatrout also displayed little to no effects linked to red tide in the recruitment of both species.

The results of this study do not indicate that K. brevis does not have any effect on Red Drum and Spotted Seatrout populations. Both species were included in the top ten species of overall fish mortalities during the 2011 bloom, with Spotted Seatrout and Red Drum comprising 3% and 1% respectively (Figure 3). Even though the 2011 red tide event continued for five months, three months longer than the 2015 event (Figure 2), the LLM has not yet had to endure a yearlong bloom like those seen in Florida where in some counties, a catch and release mandate was issued for recreational fishing activity in efforts to sustain fish populations. Overall, Red Drum and Spotted Seatrout displayed resiliency to red tide in the LLM. However, every red tide bloom is a dynamic event and every fish species will react differently to the effects of the red tide toxin. It is said with some relief that these findings affirm how adaptable the fish community is to the natural and harmful stressors that affect our coastal ecosystems with every changing season.

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

TSFMAG.com | 45

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

IS IT WORTH IT? I know that every angler out there has looked at the weather and knew that it was not going to be ideal conditions, but went anyway. I have done that more times than I can count but typically, there is always a place to seek refuge and be able to fish somewhere.

By having an idea of what the weather is likely to be you can take the proper precautions and have a more enjoyable paddle.

Now I understand there are times where an angler may throw caution to the wind because it is their only day off and they want to go fishing. There are also other times when someone may take on additional risk and by this I mean tournament day. If you have ever participated in a fishing tournament, then you know exactly what I mean. For starters, in order for a tournament be called due to weather, it must be something just short of a named storm. Along with that comes an anglers attitude towards that day; they will push the limits to win. With that being said, at what

A perfect 28-incher . . . how lucky!

46 | December 2020

point do you ask yourself “Is it really worth it?”

Here recently I found myself caught in that exact predicament. I had a tournament coming up and I knew where I could find some really solid fish. The only problem was that they are in the lake and will be in open water, so that already means extra paddling. As the days drew closer, I kept an eye on the weather and sure it began to change, but not in my favor. However, I watched it closely and as tourney day arrived, I decided to follow through with my plan. The predictions for the day were saying the wind would be out of the north and blowing around 10-12 MPH. Now that is breezier than I would like but I knew that I wouldn’t be out in it long and I had a small window to catch my fish before the action quit.

I arrived to my spot and staked out while patiently waiting to see the first signs of feeding fish. Like clockwork from the previous days of pre-fishing, they showed up right on time. I made a quick paddle and tossed into the school and hooked up instantly. Since the drag was peeling I knew that I hadn’t hooked a trout, this was the redfish I was looking for, or so I hoped. A solid red came up and I got it into the kayak. A quick measure and she was a 1/2” too long. No worries though, the school hadn’t moved far and I was quickly back on them. I hooked up again, and in typical tournament fashion, this one was also oversized.

By this point, I spied another school across the lake about 500 yards so I took off. Arriving within casting distance, I sent the lure into the middle and sure enough, I hooked up with another redfish. This time I could tell immediately it was going to be too big. I didn’t even put her in the boat, I just reached with my pliers and shook the lure from her lip alongside the kayak. I made it back to the school once more and another cast produced another solid bite. This time I get her into the kayak and once again, another redfish that is slightly too long.

After that fish, the group that I was working had disappeared and I located another group about 500 yards away again. Not having a fish on the stringer, I

decided to paddle over to them. I repeated the drill with three other groups of fish. Finally, I got one alongside the kayak and I was sure it would measure within the slot. She was a little over 7.5 lbs on the Boga and plenty short enough. Since I was still on the school, I figured that I might as well keep fishing them. A few more casts into the school produced another solid fish. Once I got her in I knew that this one might also have a chance to measure. She hit right at 28” and I quickly knew I was done for the day.

Now this is where my problem occurred.

While I was focusing on chasing groups of fish, I did not realize that the wind had picked up to every bit of 15-20 MPH and I am now well over a mile away from the north shore. I got my kayak turned into the wind and began paddling my hardest. It didn’t take long at all before I realized that there was no way I was going to make it back north to my launch point. This is when I made the decision to turn around, go with the wind and paddle south. In my mind, I figured it would be about 4 miles, and if I took my time, I would make it there no problem. After mapping it, it was closer to 7 miles. I paddled across open water for 3 hours and once getting close to a takeout point, I realized that I made a terrible decision and not a very wise one. Yes I am alive but that was an unnecessary risk that could have been easily avoided. Once I got to dry ground, I called a buddy and he came and picked me up and brought me back to my truck.

I showed up to the weigh-in and I was absolutely exhausted! As people came in we discussed our day and it seemed like everyone had a great day of fishing. As the scales opened, I decided to grab my big fish and roll the dice with her; I’d gone through too much that day not to try and weigh that fish. As luck would have it, she

“

was a perfect 28-incher and she weighed 9.3 lbs. I ended up getting first place and to everyone else, it looked like I knew exactly what I was doing, and that I had executed a perfect plan. Although it worked out in my favor, they couldn’t be more wrong.

I am writing this because I would like to bring awareness to the fact that there are times when it is simply not worth it. Yes that is one of the biggest tournament fish I have weighed in but is it worth having to call the Coast Guard to come pick you up. Or them having to send out a search party looking for you or even worse, your life?

Of course it’s not, and there are times that we overestimate our own physical abilities. We put on the blinders and go for it without regard for the risks we are taking.

Please be safe out there.

Remember to make good decisions, and keep in your mind that sometimes it’s just not worth it.

Although it worked out in my favor, they couldn’t be more wrong.

”

View The Video

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C O N TA C T

Dave Roberts’s favorite redfish fly: Dave’s Purple People Eater.

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

TSFMAG.com | 47

CCA Texas looks forward to setting the sun on 2020 and a successful 2021. Photo courtesy of John Blaha.

Story by John Blaha

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

WRAPPING UP 2020 I think it would be pretty safe to say that 2020 has been the most challenging year of our lives in many ways; most certainly for businesses and organizations. What started out as a promising year took a turn like no other as the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread across the nation.

The success of CCA Texas and other CCA states along the Gulf, Atlantic and Pacific coasts relies heavily on the success of local grassroots fundraising events in each state. Because of the orders put in place by federal, state and local governments, the normal fundraising events were not able to be held, but the local CCA chapters definitely rose to the task. Local chapters and CCA staff held online fundraisers, and as restrictions began to ease, some chapters were able to hold outdoor events that CCA members enthusiastically attended. CCA volunteers and members proved once again that a successful “EMR” a 96’ shrimp boat deployed into the RGV nearshore site. Photo courtesy of Friends of RGV Reef.

48 | December 2020

organization has a strong and dedicated membership and truly believes in the mission of the organization.

While the day to day operations were different for us all, the vision and mission of the organization continued to be fulfilled. The CCA Texas Habitat Today for Fish Tomorrow (HTFT), CCA Texas’s habitat program, continued to work with partners across the state. Several projects were expanded and completed in 2020. CCA Texas worked with Friends of RGV Reef (FRGVR) to deploy 400 tons of reefing materials in the Corpus Christi MU775 reefing site, and 4,200 tons into the RGV reef site. In mid-October, FRGVR led the charge again and deployed a 96’ shrimp boat. This effort once again showed the importance of partnerships in execution of habitat projects.

CCA Texas partnered with Harte Research Institute (HRI) to expand the Big Tree Unit oyster reef project in St. Charles Bay. CCA contributed $50,000 to this project from funds contributed by Lone Star Beer for habitat restoration efforts in the Coastal Bend. The project has one more phase scheduled to be completed by the end of the 2020. This project provides critical shoreline protection, habitat, and easily accessible fishing areas for walk-in wade fishermen Contracts are in place and construction of pyramids and low-relief modules has begun for nearshore reefing projects in Galveston Big Man, Kate’s Reef, and the Sabine HI20 sites. Once again, these efforts would not be possible

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without support from partners including Building Conservation Trust, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), Shell Oil Company, Cheniere Energy, Sempra Energy, CCA Music City Chapter, Friends of Sabine Reefs, Yamaha, and others.

The Egery Flats restoration recently was planted with 40,000-plus native cordgrass plants that sprawled across an eight acre site. This project, led by Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries (CBBEP) has been an ongoing effort that has shown great results in water quality and habitat growth in a short period. CCA Texas and BCT look forward to seeing the continued successful results of this project and all the projects they are a part of.

CCA continues to be an active and influential participant through its advocacy efforts in fisheries management. Nationally and on a state level CCA remains active in important matters such as oyster management, red snapper management, flounder management, water quality, and responsible growth along the Texas coast. CCA Texas is committed to seeing that sound management practices, based on proven science, are used in the management of Texas’s coastal fisheries and resources.

CCA Texas would like to thank our volunteers, members, sponsors and donors for their continued support. 2020 has certainly been a challenge and we look forward to 2021 and another successful year.

Texan conservationist elected chairman of Gulf States commission Courtesy of CCA National Coastal Conservation Association applauds the recent election of long-time volunteer Doug Boyd to chairman of the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission. Boyd is a fisheries management

veteran, having recently served nine years - including two years as chairman - as a Texas representative to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, which manages marine resources in federal waters of the Gulf out to 200 miles.

“Doug has a tremendous amount of fisheries management experience and has demonstrated his concern and commitment to proper conservation of our marine resources throughout his career in this arena,” said Ted Venker, conservation director for CCA National.

“He is well prepared to address the challenges facing our fisheries, and we know that as chairman of the Commission he will provide a knowledgeable, effective voice for science-based management that benefits all citizens equally.”

The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission is an organization of the Gulf states that was authorized by the Governors in July 1949. Fifteen Commissioners - three from each state – work to set policy towards achieving the proper conservation and utilization of the fishery resources of the Gulf of Mexico. One-third of the commissioners are appointed by the state legislatures, one-third are private citizens with a knowledge of and interest in marine fisheries who are appointed by the states’ governors, and the remaining third are state fishery resource agency directors. Boyd was appointed to the Commission by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in 2019.

“Doug has been a tireless advocate for the state of Texas on marine conservation issues and has always brought a high level of integrity and energy to fisheries management at all levels,” said Pat Murray, president of CCA National. “His knowledge and expertise will no doubt serve both the citizens of the Gulf Coast and our marine resources well in his role as chairman of the Commission.”

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TSFMAG.com | 51

Photo by Jason Crotty at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge.

Licensed under CC BY 2.0.

STEPHANIE BOYD

F I S H Y FA C T S

WILSON’S SNIPE

Though the long tradition of snipe hunt pranks has convinced many people otherwise, snipes are, in fact, real – but you’re unlikely to catch them by standing around with a bag in the middle of the woods at night.

Wilson’s snipes (Gallinago delicata) are among the most widespread shorebirds in North America. They were once considered a subspecies of the common snipe, an Old World species, but were recognized as a distinct species in 2003 based on morphological and vocal differences.

Members of the Scolopacidae family (sandpipers, shalaropes, and allies), Wilson’s snipes are named for the famed American ornithologist, Alexander Wilson.

They breed in Canada and the northwestern United States and winter throughout the rest of the US all the way down to northern South America. While snipes can be secretive and difficult to find, if you search in the right places, you may just find one this winter. You’ll have to search in wet, open habitat such as a wetlands or flooded fields, where they can hide in the short, thick vegetation.

Look for a plump, mid-sized shorebird with short legs and a long bill. They can be tough to see thanks to their camouflaging coloration. The snipe is mottled brown and black, with prominent buffy longitudinal stripes on 52 | December 2020

both its head and back, and a white belly. The flanks are heavily barred, and its tail, barely visible when the bird is on the ground, sports a rusty-orange band on the distal edge. Males, females, and juveniles have virtually the same appearance, and there is no seasonal variation in plumage. You might not see them until you are right on top of them, when they suddenly flush, often calling a sharp ‘scaipe’ as they depart in a quick, erratic flight.

Wilson’s snipe look stocky partly due to the extra-large pectoral muscles that make up nearly a quarter of the bird’s weight (up to 5.2 ounces). Thanks to their oversized flight muscles, this chunky sandpiper can reach speeds estimated at 60 miles an hour. They are a medium-sized migratory bird, 9 to 11 inches in length with a 15- to 18inch wingspan. Because their eyes are set far back on the head, they can see almost as well behind as in front and to the sides – they almost literally have “eyes in the back of their head,” a handy advantage when you spend every meal time with your bill in the mud.

Though they don’t nest in our area, Wilson’s snipes are common winter residents from October through April. In Texas, they can appear just about anywhere in appropriate habitat, but data from the Audubon Society

Christmas Bird Count indicates the majority of wintering snipe are found along the coast and the Blackland Prairie region, from Waco north to the Red River. They can be found in all types of wet, marshy settings – but when initially looking for habitat that may harbor snipe, think damp over wet. They typically avoid areas where water levels exceed what they can comfortably wade in, or with tall, dense vegetation, though they do need patches of cover to hide in. Look for them in marshes, wetlands, muddy banks of back bays, wet pastures, flooded agricultural fields, etc. Patchworks of small holes in the mud are telltale signs indicating their presence. Wilson’s snipe feed by sinking their bills deep into soft, wet soil to probe for small prey, like a slow-running sewing machine. The bill’s flexible tip can open to grab food while the base of the bill stays closed, allowing them to slurp small prey from the mud without having to pull their bill out.

They feed mainly on insect larvae, worms, snails, and crustaceans.

Sometimes, they eat small vertebrates, such as lizards, frogs, and fish.

Occasionally, they’ll deign to eat leaves or seeds.

This elusive bird sleeps much of the day, tending to be more active around dawn and dusk. If you flush one, it will burst from cover with a raspy call and a characteristic erratic, zigzagging flight that distinguishes it from other sandpipers. As Todd Steele from the Texas Wildlife Association describes, “Have someone take a long hot-dog shaped balloon, fill it with air, and release it in front of you. You have just witnessed the flight of a snipe.” Another distinguishing flight pattern can be heard up north during breeding season. At night, over the nesting grounds, a snipe (usually a male, but sometimes a female) flies in high circles, periodically making shallow dives.

During the dives, vibration of the outer tail feathers in the wind produces a whirring hu-hu-hu sound. Many describe the sound of this “winnowing” courtship display as ghostly or haunting. Both males and females winnow as part of courtship or to rebuff potential predators, and males perform the winnowing flight when advertising and defending territory. Males arrive on the breeding grounds 10 to 14 days before females. They establish territories and wait to impress the ladies with their dramatic flight displays. The female chooses the nest site, then makes a shallow scrape and weaves a frame of coarse grasses, lined with finer grasses, to build a nest up to 7 inches across and 3 inches deep. Before and after laying each egg, the female adds a few grasses or sedges from the edge of the nest site. The female lays 2 to 4 brown-speckled eggs and incubates them by herself for 18 to 20 days. Like many sandpipers, a Wilson’s snipe will attempt to distract a predator from the nest or chicks with an elaborate show of feigned injury, fluttering up and falling to the ground, or flopping on its side or breast and beating its wings. The young leave the nest shortly after hatching. The parents split the brood once they leave the nest, each taking one or two chicks. After they leave with their respective chicks, the mates have no further contact. The parents feed the chicks at first, although they start probing for their own food at about 6 days. By 10 days of age, they find most of their own food. The parents continue to supplement their diet until they become independent, around 18 to 20 days. First flight is around the same time. The oldest known Wilson’s snipe was at least 9 years, 3 months old, based on a band recovered from a bird in Canada.

Wilson’s snipe are widespread as a species and overall populations remained stable between 1966 and 2014, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. The global breeding population, which is shared between the U.S. and Canada, is estimated at 2

million individuals. Approximately 105,000 were taken annually by hunters between 2006 and 2010 in the U.S. and Canada combined.

Wilson’s snipe is only one of two shorebirds that can be legally hunted under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act; the other being the American woodcock, which is similar in appearance, but is mostly a bird of moist woodlands and has a cinnamon belly, as opposed to the white belly and barred flanks of the Wilson’s snipe. The word “sniper” originated in the 1770s among British soldiers in India who hunted snipe as game.

Only sharp-shooting hunters who could consistently down the swift, erratically flying birds earned the description. Though the population trend is decreasing, this species has an extremely large range and population size, so the decline has not been deemed sufficiently rapid to warrant concern at this time. For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Where I learned about Wilson’s snipe, and you can too!

Cornell Lab: All About Birds www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wilsons_Snipe/overview Houston Audubon houstonaudubon.org/birding/gallery/wilsons-snipe.html Audubon: Guide to North American Birds www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/wilsons-snipe American Bird Conservancy abcbirds.org/bird/wilsons-snipe/ BirdLife International datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/wilsons-snipe-gallinagodelicata BirdWeb www.birdweb.org/BIRDWEB/bird/wilsons_snipe eBird ebird.org/species/wilsni1 IUCN Red List www.iucnredlist.org/species/22729867/112409520 Texas Wildlife Association www.texas-wildlife.org/resources/publications/the-wilsons-snipe

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Listen to a short audio of winnowing snipes, courtesy of Macaulay Library/ Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

TSFMAG.com | 53

Four-year-old Finn with his six-foot bull shark.

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

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE KIDS My profession brings me many great joys; one is allowing me to share glorious adventures with people of all ages. From toddlers to great grandparents, I’ve chartered the entire spectrum of age groups. I do enjoy working with venerable anglers who possess high levels of skill, and those who have great wealth and wisdom, but young kids consistently top my list of favorite clients. The power of youth incites emotion, especially in the wild world of nature.

Many youngsters see creatures like over-sized red drum or giant stingrays as mythical sea monsters.

And when a child wins a battle with a shark on the beach, they often display a wide array of emotions. A ten-year-old staring at a seven-foot predator can feel everything from excitement to fear to disbelief.

Sometimes, I pause to take a long look at the kid admiring a shark or other big fish. I can see their mind wandering all over the place, in a state of euphoria. Their eyes look like saucers, frozen in place by curiosity and

astonishment. The wonder these youngsters experience inspires awe in me.

We were all kids, at some point. Many of us experienced many cool things in our youth. The lucky among us felt deep feelings after catching our first prized fish. For some, the species might have been a largemouth bass, old bucket-mouth. Many remember the ecstasy we experienced after catching a fish like this.

I caught all kinds of freshwater fish in my early years, but a saltwater species molded my purpose in life. I first had a close encounter with a shark while seeing one hoisted from the water onto a pier in Florida. I had seen sharks in aquariums, but seeing one live in the flesh was truly a surreal experience. This moment ended up spurring my interest and consuming my mind and soul. Twenty-five years and perhaps a thousand land-based encounters with sharks later, I still feel the same feelings with every shark I meet.

I’ve been fortunate to conduct many trips with

This kid is a micro “mixture of Johnny Utah and Ernest Hemingway.

54 | December 2020

”

families. Many of those included children of fairly young ages.

Interestingly, some of the largest sharks I’ve ever had clients land were handled by kids. The largest hammerhead and tiger shark on any of my charters were caught by youngsters. I’ve also guided other children who were uncanny magnets for fish like gafftop catfish.

Most people think of these big slimeballs as little more than pests. Others, like a particular child I’ve taken fishing several times, experience great joy when catching big ones. Almost every time this kid takes a trip with me, the gafftop curse follows. To him, of course, it’s clearly not a curse, it’s just downright cool. Even a fish the size of a common whiting or mullet can stir the heart of a young person.

I had one of my most memorable experiences ever with a kid on a charter a couple months ago. A friend of mine convinced me to lead a birthday trip for his four-year-old son, appropriately named Finn, an avid waterman like his father. This kid is a micro mixture of Johnny Utah and Ernest Hemingway.

I’ve watched him mature for the duration of his short life; he’s so cool I have to remind myself he’s only four.

To say the least, I was honored to take part in the family adventure. Fortunately, this trip was set in October, a month in which we tend to have some incredible outings. To celebrate the day of his birth, Finn’s family and a few of his friends joined in the aquatic festivities. I knew I had to put my best foot forward and pull out all the stops to make this trip as memorable as possible for everyone.

When gloomy weather turned perfect to accommodate us on our trip, the pristine day created an immaculate setting for an epic adventure. When we arrived at the beach, I wasted no time getting several fresh shark baits deployed, and we did not have to wait long for action. An hour or so into the trip, a shark nailed one of the baits, and we were hooked up! I asked my buddy Antonio who he wanted on this fish, and he predictably replied, “Finn.”

Eager for a fight, Finn crawled up on the rack with his dad. I left the rod in the holder for him, and standing on an upside-down five-gallon bait bucket,

Eight-foot bull shark, team effort by two enthusiastic young anglers.

Three amigos and one giant red drum.

Young lady angler poses with a quality bull shark.

TSFMAG.com | 55

56 | December 2020

beach inspired a touching reaction by the young crowd. The trip was unforgettable for all who went!

At the end, I was incredibly happy and satisfied by the results of the fishing, and profoundly affected by the reactions of all the kids who got to see sharks up close for the very first time. Let’s face it, not many four-year-olds can brag to their friends that they legitimately caught a shark. Meanwhile, my daughter Rory is on her way to becoming a shadow to Finn and stepping in her father’s footsteps. After turning two years old, she’s eager to follow her daddy into the fishing world. I’m extremely proud of her and can’t wait to see her react when she pulls her first giant onto the sand!

View The Video

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Hurricane Hanna Reflections

C O N TA C T

the boy was able to crank the reel. From the minute he started, he kept at it and stayed dedicated. I had set the reel in low gear; he wasn’t going to gain as much line as normal, but it would certainly be easier for him to crank. Finn’s persistence paid off after about 25 minutes of a one on one battle with the shark. When the time came to land the fish, I could only assume the past half hour surely seemed like eternity to the kid.

After an exhausting fight for a young child, Finn landed his shark, the biggest fish yet in his budding career—an awesome six-foot bull shark. After jumping down off the platform, he made a mad dash straight over to where his opponent flopped on the sand, grinning from ear to ear, with an enthusiasm resembling a blue collar worker who’s just won the Power Ball lottery.

At the time, Finn wasn’t aware of the added bonus for his catch, which aided in scientific research. On the dorsal fin of the shark, I placed a specialized ADL satellite tag, one which will record a lot of important data, particularly about survival rates of released bulls.

Within just a few days, the tag is set to detach from the shark and transmit info to the satellite. Once recovered, the researchers can study the data. Over the past three months, I’ve put out multiple tags on sharks; my own young daughter had the privilege to partake in one of those tagging sessions. While she showed more curiosity than excitement, I could read the emotion in both those kids.

Finn was completely elated with his shark, but more excitement lay ahead. Boys and girls who joined us on his birthday trip all took part in catching a variety of sharks; we landed several bulls, the largest measuring 8’2” in length. Each and every shark put on the

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

TSFMAG.com | 57

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More info and available options here: www.EagleClaw.com/eagle-claw-inshore-rods TSFMAG.com | 59

DICKIE COLBURN

DICKIE COLBURN’S Sabine Scene

I have just been blown away, undoubtedly a poor choice of words from a member of the Hurricane of the Month Club, by the incredible number of readers of this magazine that have either called or sent text messages in S ab i n e regards to our wellbeing.

I have never even met the majority of these folks which says a lot about fishermen in general. We also haven’t Dickie Colburn is a full endured a single hurricane or major time guide out of Orange, tropical storm that our editor and Texas. Dickie has 37 years publisher, Everett Johnson, has not experience guiding on Sabine and Calcasieu Lakes. been one of the very first to call and offer help.

Telephone Because there was little left to blow 409-883-0723 down, thanks to Laura, and evacuation Website is such a hassle, we elected to hunker www.sabineconnection.com down and ride out the Delta storm.

The trees were already gone, privacy fences were already piled on the nearest curbs, and the tarp on the roof was barely hanging on anyway. Fortunately, Delta roared through quickly and flooding was not an issue!

We now have a roof which makes the wait on contractors little more than an inconvenience. My life would be simpler if I could get my garage/boat house rebuilt and my wife is growing tired of the concrete/glue look for flooring, but that is just nitpicking in the grand scheme of things. Thanks again to all of you!

Ever since Harvey purged our entire ecosystem we have been agonizing over the absence of quality trout in Sabine Lake. The numbers game has rebounded well, but a trout over five pounds is still a happening.

Big flounder were also missing in action, but that virtually went unnoticed by anyone other than local anglers. With reduced limits it is difficult to determine how well the numbers have improved, but I have seen more flounder over five pounds in the past two weeks than I have seen in the past three years.

They obviously have to be there for us to catch them, but I am not too sure that the larger fish simply aren’t as crazy about plastic as we would like them to be. For the most part, we have always either tipped the lure with shrimp or soaked it with a scent when targeting flounder so it should have come as no surprise that every big flounder I have seen was taken on live bait.

Equally encouraging is the fact that these healthier specimens were caught not only in bayous and along the flooded shorelines, but in the deeper waters of the Intracoastal and ship channel as well. The choice of baits has been a toss-up between finger mullet and mud minnows while the most productive technique has been Capt. Johnny Cormier landed this monster dragging a Carolina rig across the bottom. redfish recently that A half-ounce slip sinker is a must for probing deeper water or might qualify as a new keeping the bait near the bottom in moving water, but we never record for Sabine Lake. really go any lighter when fishing shallower water. It has been my experience that the trail of mud puffs kicked up throughout the slow retrieve help flounder zero in on the trailing bait.

It may well be the result of a major storm seemingly every month, but local anglers are also catching reds in the lake that just shouldn’t be there. Capt. Johnny Cormier recently won his tug of war with a forty-five inch redfish that crushed a small tail fished under a cork. It may very well have been a new Sabine Lake record as it was within ounces when weighed on uncertified scales!

The bird action has just exploded with the cooler water temperatures and a small flock of terns that won’t leave an area are as reliable as screeching gulls. You usually know before you make the first cast if it is trout or reds chasing the shrimp. If it looks as though someone is chunking bricks in the water you better loosen your drag.

By the time you read this we will have a much better feel for how much the larger trout bite has improved. We will be standing in waist-deep water rather than drifting over it.

Coffee Ground Cove and the flats south of Madam Johnson Bayou will initially tell the tale. Smaller tails like the Sea Shad and Lil’ John will take a backseat to slow-sinking Fat Boys, MirrOdine XLs and five-inch rattail Assassins rigged on one-eighth heads. She Dogs, Skitter Walks and Spooks are icing on the cake most days!

I am pretty sure that cleaning and inventorying fishing equipment with the kids qualifies as “classroom learning” and is far more enjoyable. No computer is required!

60 | December 2020

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TSFMAG.com | 61

BINK GRIMES

THE VIEW FROM Matagorda

The fishing pattern for December is different every year on Matagorda’s bays. That’s because the weather is different every year. The fact of the matter is December has taken on a fall pattern for most of the month over the M ata go r d a past decade. Some call December the best month of the year to fish for its propensity to serve up heavy speckled Bink Grimes is a full-time fishing trout in East Bay on plastics. Afternoon drifts with Bass Assassins, Down South and hunting guide, freelance writer and photographer, and Lures, and MirrOlure Lil’ Johns over owner of Sunrise Lodge on deep shell can yield the best artificial Matagorda Bay. catches of the year.

Again, it all hinges on the weather.

Telephone If the weather allows me to fish, I fish.

979-241-1705 If it doesn’t, I hunt ducks. Many days I Email do both. binkgrimes@sbcglobal.net Raymond Shoals, Boiler Bayou, Website matagordasunriselodge.com Pipeline Reef and Cleveland Reef all hold good fish during the winter; and, when tides are extremely low, shoreline redfish move off the flats to these deep reefs in the middle of the bay.

Reefs and mud flats adjacent to the Intracoastal like Brown Cedar Flats, Chinquapin Reefs, Bird Island, Half-Moon Reef and the Log are all proven winter spots holding healthy specks.

When the wind really blows, never discount the Colorado River.

Low tides in West Bay drain the delta at the mouth of the Diversion Channel and funnel all fish to the deep channel. However, at the time of this writing the river was muddy and flowing from late-October rains. That’s not to say the river will not clear up by December. It all depends on how much more rain we get.

It doesn’t happen every year, but lately birds have worked in East Matagorda Bay through the middle of the December. Granted, the weather has been milder than normal. So, chances are there will still be some bird action this year.

Even during a mild December, most of the white shrimp crop have left the bays by Christmas and speckled trout are chasing mullet.

That’s when slow-sinking mullet imitations plugs like Catch 2000s, MirrOlure 51Ms, 52Ms and Texas Custom Corkys go to work.

It’s been drier than average this year so salinity levels have been high. That bodes well for the Colorado River and the Diversion Channel.

Some of the best plugging goes on in December while working the edges of the river channel with soft plastics and topwaters.

As the tides fall, redfish will roam the drop-offs as they fall to the deep channel from the nearby shallow flats.

We will be running duck hunts in the morning and fishing in the afternoon. Of course, if the weather remains dry, duck hunting success normally boasts heavy bags, if you have water. Sure, it costs more money to run water wells as freshwater impoundments evaporate with dry winds and sunshine, but that pond you pump during a dry winter is like baiting waterfowl with bags of corn and milo.

Follow our hunts and fishing trips on Facebook and Instagram (@ matagordasunriselodge).

View The Video

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

Capt. Bink Grimes-Sunrise Lodge: Seasonal Bounty on Matagorda Bays.

62 | December 2020

TSFMAG.com | 63

CAPT. GARY GRAY

MID-COAST BAYS With the Grays

My clients and I have been MirrOlure or 1/4-ounce (and There will enjoying stellar fishing thus heavier) jigheads. many times in December when far in November. We’ve had My normal go-to lure for redfish will save wintertime trout and reds is the mornings between harsh fronts the day. where there was little to no wind Bass Assassin Sea Shad, rigged and were able to hop from reef anywhere from weedlessPort O'Connor to reef in San Antonio Bay. This weightless, up to 1/8-ounce Seadrift no-wind scenario produced jigheads. I let the water depth excellent results for specks and and grass situation dictate the occasional red, black drum, the rigging method. As far Captain Gary Gray is a full flounder, or whatever species colors, I usually stick to either time guide, born and raised in decided to take a swipe at our Magic Grass or Purple Chicken.

Seadrift. He has been guiding Saltwater Assassins.

I am of the belief that colors the Seadrift/Port O’Connor I expect this will continue catch anglers while action and region since 1986. Gary throughout December. A major technique catch fish. Think specializes in year ‘round wade fishing for speckled trout and deciding factor will be the about what I just said, mullet redfish with artificial lures. fronts becoming more frequent are silvery-gray and shrimp It is always and stronger as we get deeper are translucent to off-white to encouraging to Telephone into the month. With that said, brown, yet most anglers do not see youngsters 361-785-6708 learning the finer you will need a backup plan carry lures of these colors. Yes, I Email art of angling. bayrats@tisd.net for the days with strong north still believe in darks for muddy Website wind, also during the prefrontal and lighter shades for clear www.bayrat.com southerly flows. water, though.

Facebook My backup plan on windier Another trusty pair of lures I’ll @captsgaryandshelliegray days will be targeting the many have in my box are MirrOlure’s back lakes and protected coves of Matagorda Island. My clients Paul Brown Original Corkys and I have already tested some of these areas during blows that and Fat Boys. Both in slowhave already happened. We have found that there are good sinker and floating versions, numbers of fish in every protected area in Espiritu Santo, San with the floaters getting the Antonio, and Mesquite bays. Where I fish will be decided by nod on the coldest days. I will angler traffic and bait presence. also carry a MirrOdine XL in CH There are some other deciding factors during windy color. Carrying a Heddon Super conditions. One would be how safely we can navigate open Spook in bone, just in case they water to reach protected areas. I have seen numerous Facebook posts want something on top, is another good idea. wherein anglers tried to cross open water during a blowing norther, One last and most important tool that is too often overlooked experienced motor trouble and become swamped, requiring a Coast is your fishing rod. I have used Waterloo for quite some time now Guard rescue or assistance from a similarly inexperienced angler. I think and can honestly say it’s the best stick I’ve ever used. I prefer a it’s better to consider the risks rather than trusting luck and carelessly lighter rod in general and I really like the sensitivity of the HP Lite. making a run at it. Just my two cents.

If I know I will be chasing bruiser reds, I will be carrying a Waterloo For instance, during a norther blowing 20 to 30 mph you should not Ultra Mag on my Shallow Sport X3 for back up. Remember that attempt crossing San Antonio Bay to reach Mesquite. Way too many sensitivity plus an awesome reputation for customer service are things can go wrong and SAB gets too rough to cross safely in winds what keeps anglers using Waterloo. that high. Anglers launching from Goose Island State Park have a much In closing I want everyone to be safe and watch out for the more protected route than we do leaving from POC and Seadrift. other guys out there. Duck season along with oyster season will be Another deciding factor is water temperature. At the time of this in full swing. Everyone deserves a right to use the water as long as writing the water temps have been hovering between 65° in the they do it legally. morning and reaching 72° in the afternoon. Throw in a few more major Fish hard, fish smart! fronts and you’ll be looking at much cooler water temps. With low-50s water temps, I will opt for the protected back lakes of Matagorda Island, View The Video mostly because the bait will be more plentiful there. Bait equals fish.

Open Camera and hover over QR Code. When link In the lure department, I have learned over the years to be a appears at top of screen tap to open in YouTube. minimalist when packing the winter wade box. It just doesn’t pay Capt. Gary Gray’s wade to carry everything you own. For example; if you know you’re fishing client beatin’ a drum! going to be wading shallow, grassy areas, you won’t need a 52M 64 | December 2020

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DAVID ROWSEY

HOOKED UP WITH Rowsey

Hope this finds all of you enjoying the holidays with family and full bellies. We have been getting all of that and then some. I have 400 Rudolphs hitched Upper up to the big Haynie Magnum and we Laguna/ have been dropping off early gifts to Ba f f i n the best clients I guy could ever ask for.

November was very good to us and I look for more of the same as cold fronts continue to make their way into the David Rowsey has over 25 years Coastal Bend. in Baffin and Upper Laguna The true measure of a man may be Madre; trophy trout with his character, but the true measure of artificial lures is his specialty. a trout is in her girth, (would be a lot of David has a great passion for really good men in the world if we were conservation and encourages catch and release of trophy fish. measured that way). Trout have been heavy all fall, but this month will see Telephone them really begin to start gorging on 361-960-0340 whatever they can fit in their mouths – Website including other trout! With the majority www.DavidRowsey.com Email of the bait supply already making its david.rowsey@yahoo.com way out to the gulf, and their food source dwindling, the trout are not @captdavidrowsey going to miss many opportunities to feed. Lucky for us, we have all of these cool Corkys, Bass Assassins, MirrOdines, and Double Ds to trick them into thinking an easy meal is right in front of their face.

With water temperatures holding in the 55-65° range, my groups will be focusing on areas that have quick access to deeper water whenever cold fronts send the water temps plunging. Ideally, these areas will have equal access to shallow flats that warm up quickly as the sun gets high. It is also safe to say that shorelines will have the

same effect as warming flats, specifically shorelines that have deep drop-offs nearby. The Upper Laguna and Baffin Bay are chock-full of these areas and provide miles and miles of quality structure for colder water trout fishing.

Here’s a tip: If you are new or unfamiliar to an area and want to flatten the learning curve, I suggest spending some time on Google Earth Pro. This can be a great tool for fast-tracking the layout of area waters; i.e. flats, drop-offs, deep holes, etc.

In the early 2000s I became friends with Mike “McTrout” McBride through the original TroutMasters Tournament series. We became very close and still are. I was a sponge for information and would pay special attention to guys whose experience in saltwater was greater than my own. It eventually registered that Mike never talked fishing without mentioning the solunar minors and majors. I was certainly aware of them, but never really paid attention. My agenda was hit the water in the dark of morning, fish my ass off all day, and get home in the dark. Without fail I would smack them hard at some point during those 12-14 hours of wading.

Mike and I were together one day and the solunar subject came up.

He was babbling on and I finally caved in and gave him the floor to explain it thoroughly. WOW! That was a great lesson and I am so glad I took it to heart.

The solunar theory is worthy of a whole other article but I would just like to stress to the reader that these four feeding periods each day (sometimes only three) are especially applicable and productive during the colder months. I pay attention to them every day on the water, but find them especially accurate when they occur during warming trends following cold fronts.

A couple of things to keep in mind when considering the bite during a solunar minor or major: #1: They will not work if you are not in the fish! Always try and be in water you have confidence in during the predicted feed time. In fact, get there earlier to setup would be my advice. #2: Just because you have a predicted feed period does not mean that the trout are going to feed heavily. Let’s say a minor feed started at 6:45 a.m. and ended at 8:00 a.m.

The bite was on fire. A major follows later, around noon.

Bass Assassins are working Given that the fish fed heavily on the earlier minor, it is quite very well during fall likely they are still full and laid up. They will probably skip equinox tides. Released! that midday major and feed again on the next minor, which will occur in the darkness of evening.

My observation over the years is this, trout are going to feed heavily on two of the four periods every 24 hours. We will be doing well to be in the water for two of them. Always put yourself where it is most likely to happen, especially during warming trends following fronts.

Remember the buffalo! -Capt David Rowsey

View The Video

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

Taking advantage of fall patterns in the Upper Laguna Madre.

66 | December 2020

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WAYNE DAVIS

WAYNE’S Mansfield Report

Greetings from Port Mansfield! As I noted and I consider them prior to and during each outing. write, the winds are steady out of the That said, and while it’s fresh on my mind, Captain Ernest Cisneros north and the air is crisp. Long range and I will be presenting a seminar at Fishing Tackle Unlimited (Katy forecast shows this may be the front location) Saturday December 12, 2020 at approximately 12:00pm. I that settles in and keeps our average will be discussing my “Fish Big, Think Small, Right Time” theory and Port temperature inline for late-November my “Fishing Equation.” Come by if you have time for FTU’s Annual Mansfield and December. For those wondering, Inshore Expo. it’s pretty much wader season now, so Our best baits remain the KWigglers Willow Tail Shad rigged on if you haven’t already checked for leaks 3/32-ounce 2/0 jigheads. This has proven to be an excellent weight you might get to it ASAP. of jighead for thigh deep (or less) water. The topwater bite has also Captain Wayne Davis has Fishing during October through picked up recently with the water temps steadily dropping and been fishing the Lower early-November has been exceptional. holding in the low-70s. On a recent trip we enjoyed catching big reds Laguna-Port Mansfield for Our tides have remained higher than on small topwaters as they cruised a shallow shoreline in ankle deep over 20 years. He specializes average and the water is in great water. This was one of those days when they turned away from plastics in wade fishing with lures. shape. Fish seem to be in most areas I but could not resist topwaters. We gave them what they wanted, not stop, and the bait, well that’s another what we wanted to throw at them.

Telephone chapter all of its own. In short, we have I have high hopes for this coming winter season and here is why.

210-287-3877 Email an abundance of bait and it clearly We had COVID-19 which basically shut down our bay for more than captwayne@kwigglers.com shows in the gamefish we are catching. a month. We had Hurricane Hanna that gave the Lower Laguna Trout, reds and even flounder are Madre an exceptional flushing. We had several storms in the Gulf that so plump that some look to have swallowed a football just slightly provided additional flushing. All of this is a recipe for exceptional fall smaller than their own body. This is awesome to see. and winter trout fishing. In my opinion the year ahead will also be A quick update on the snook front; while we got a late start it exceptional, barring any unexpected environmental issues. turned out to be an exceptional year. Things seemed to explode In closing I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry within a matter of just a couple weeks. For the record, we caught them Christmas! Remember to practice conservation and only keep what you through mid-October and I likely could have picked up one or two intend to eat fresh. Until next time, good fishing and stay safe! more closer to November. Since my relationship with Harte Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies began back in June, I have successfully tagged 28 snook out of about 50 landed. Unfortunately, I ran out of tags twice and the delay in resupply did not allow some to be tagged and documented. I was not about to wait for tags to arrive; when you are on them you better stay on them. They can vanish overnight with no sign they were ever there. Please report any tagged snook (or any fish species for that matter) you may run across.

As we move further into December, efforts will shift to trophy trout and redfish. Truth be told it is really a mindset and effort of a targeted species rather than just a day of fishing. Snook and trophy trout have a lot in common. You fish slow, you fish strategically, you concentrate, you focus and execute when opportunity knocks. My philosophy in targeting any trophy fish is simple and I have John Kelly displaying his personal Rhealyn Yanta’s first-ever come up with this phrase that you might consider best trout on a recent charter – CPR! redfish while wading with lures. if and when targeting trophies: Fish Big, Think Small, Right Time.

Fish big simply means you are on the quest for trophies. Think small View The Video means you have identified a finite area that is holding fish and you are Open Camera and hover over QR Code. When link going to work the area thoroughly. Right time means you will set up at appears at top of screen tap to open in YouTube. the best time possible considering a few if not all the following – lunar Capt. Wayne Davis’s Quick phase, day of week, time of day, tides, boat traffic and wind. Keep in and Easy Reel Maintenance. mind my “Fishing Equation” consists of many variables as previously 68 | December 2020

Science and the

Sea

TM

More Food, More Tentacles!

Imagine if gorging on Thanksgiving dinner and the week’s leftovers caused you to grow an extra arm instead of adding inches to your waistline. The idea sounds crazy—unless you’re a sea anemone. These reef-dwelling creatures look like colorful flowers, but they are actually animals related to coral and jellyfish. Like coral, sea anemones spend their entire lives attached to the sea floor and hardly move. That means they needed to evolve ways to survive when environmental conditions around them change, including shifts in the availability of food.

Sea anemones are capable of growing new tentacles when food is abundant. Credit: NOAA, Julie Bedford.

Scientists recently discovered that one of those adaptations appears to be a relationship between how much anemones eat and how many tentacles they have. For most animals, the number of limbs they have is dictated by their DNA and all of those limbs are present early in life.

But sea anemones can grow new tentacles in adulthood. This ability suggests that more than just genes determines the number of tentacles anemones end up with.

Researchers collected more than 1,000 adult sea anemones and analyzed the locations on their bodies where new tentacles formed.

The scientists found muscle cells at those sites. But the expression of the genes in those muscle cells—the “instructions” telling the body how to develop—change in response to food. Now the researchers are rethinking how metabolism is related to organ growth in adult anemones.

This new discovery shows that, at least in these marine critters, excess nutrients are not stored as fat, which is where extra calories go in mammals. Instead, the extra sustenance is converted into an entirely new body part. If humans could pull off that trick, imagine what it might mean for all-you-can-eat buffets!

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

TSFMAG.com | 69

CAPT. ERNEST CISNEROS

SOUTH PADRE Fishing Scene

Wow! Another year comes to a close.

Throughout the year we saw many fantastic things, and overall the catching wasn’t too bad. Not always Arr o y o great, but certainly far from the worst.

C ol o ra d o If you’ve been following this t o Po rt column the last couple of years, I sa bel you’ve likely noticed me saying that our fish patterns have become erratic, difficult to predict, and sometimes A Brownsville-area native, difficult to follow. Fish don’t hold in Capt. Ernest Cisneros fishes the same areas as they once did, likely the Lower Laguna Madre from Port Mansfield to Port Isabel. due to increases in boat traffic and Ernest specializes in wading fishing pressure. and poled skiff adventures for It takes much more know-how snook, trout, and redfish. and time on the water nowadays, and even these are no guarantee.

Cell As recent as fifteen years ago we 956-266-6454 Website caught fish everywhere we went and www.tightlinescharters.com plenty of them. Schools of reds and drum roamed the flats for weeks at a time during specific months of the year. Flounder were plentiful along the ICW and trout over twenty-five inches were really quite common. Limits of all species came easily; even during an era of more generous bag limits.

Massive stringers and loads of fish on fillet tables posted on social media confirm that many anglers still subscribe to the “bigger is better” mentality. Please don’t get me wrong; I like to eat fish. But I keep only what I’ll need for a meal and do not put them in the freezer.

We have a good fishery here on the Lower Laguna, but greater conservation would contribute to making it even better.

We have entered what I call “wader season” and in my opinion there are none better than Simms. Monitoring weather forecasts to avoid dangerous conditions is more important in winter than any other

season. Trust me, you don’t want to be on the water when a strong norther blasts its way to the coast. Layering with warm clothes under your Simms waders is good insurance that you can remain dry and comfortable all day.

Water temps have cooled into the 60s to low-70s and redfish are becoming more numerous and easier to pattern. These reds have been feeding greedily, snapping up our Kwiggler Ball Tails and Willow Tails, along with just about anything else they can swallow. This is normal this time of year, evidently Mother Nature has them programmed to pack on extra weight in preparation for winter. The biggest key in locating hungry reds is to focus on bait concentrations through the remainder of November and December. On the coldest days, I like to target areas with softer bottoms near deeper water. Ledges and guts along the ICW are usually very productive.

I mentioned last month that paying attention to pelicans and gulls can be a sure ticket for locating bait during colder months. The osprey is another. This sharp-eyed fish-eater glides aloft until it finds a school of mullet and hovers until the right moment to swoop down and grab one. Pay attention, the osprey knows what he is doing.

Our trout are growing noticeably heavier and they have been congregating in deeper holes on grass flats. Keep in mind that water temperature will be one of the greatest factors moving into December; they go deep when the temperature plummets during a cold snap. During warming periods they venture back toward the flats, and as that transition is occurring they can be found anywhere in-between. Suspending baits such as the Barboleta Lele or any of the Corky family should be in your wade box, along with your trusty KWigglers. Areas to target will include ICW spoils, deeper potholes on the flats, and large flats adjacent to channels. I’m praying for colder weather soon to aid in our searches for trophy trout.

If you happen to be in the Houston area on Saturday December 12, I would encourage that you stop by Fishing Tackle Unlimited’s Annual Inshore Expo to be held at their Katy Freeway location. I will be making a presentation on fishing the Lower Laguna Madre that I hope you will find informative.

One last thought, it is my sincere hope that by reading this column you will become a better fisherman and that you will also take my conservation messages to heart. The next time you get into a great bite, ask yourself, “Do I really need to keep all these fish?” Bringing the fewest fish to the cleaning table doesn’t make you any less of a fisherman.

Merry Christmas; I wish you the best of fishing and thanks for being a loyal reader. May your time on the water be well spent with family and great friends!

View The Video Jay's first Texas snook was a trophy.

70 | December 2020

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

Ambush points for speckled trout and redfish.

T S F M A G F I E L D S TA F F

TSFMAG TESTED & RECOMMENDED

DON'T LET COLD HANDS STOP YOU Wintertime wade fishing and trophy-sized speckled trout are nearly synonymous. Only problem is, the fishing is usually best when the weather turns really nasty. By nasty, we mean water temperature in the high-40s to low-50s, with the thermometer hovering likewise, or a bit lower. Throw in a north breeze for additional windchill and your fingers go numb just thinking about it.

Wade fishing, by definition, means your hands are likely going to be wet most of the time, you just can’t avoid it. Landing and handling fish, even with a Boga Grip, means another cold dunking. And, you’re praying to do it often.

We have tried many ways over the years to prevent our hands and especially our fingers becoming so cold and numb that we cannot work the reel properly. Which translates, unfortunately, to not feeling subtle taps on the Corky. Yeah, we feel aggressive strikes when they almost yank the rod from your hands, but it doesn’t always happen that way.

Fish Monkey to the rescue!

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Wool is a wonderful fabric with amazing heat retention properties, even when wet. Slip on a pair of nitrile gloves under

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your woolies and you’re working cold prevention from two angles.

Yes, some water will eventually creep into your nitrile gloves but, like a wet suit, that water eventually warms to a more comfortable temperature…thanks to the heat retention properties of your Wooly Half Fingers.

Bottomline is, you can only suffer cold and numbness in your fingers for so long until you’re either missing bites or unable to cast and retrieve the lure properly. Don’t fight it. Get your Fish Monkeys working for you and enjoy that trophy quest you waited all year for.

By Brian Henry

Just when you thought you knew everything, here’s a list of maritime facts and tidbits to enrich your knowledge. Sure to impress when you casually drop a few of these on your fishing buddies!

The Universal Product Code (UPC), or bar code system, first adopted in 1974, had its inspiration from a beach: Joseph Woodland drew lines in the sand that represented a code of bars and spaces.

Since taking to the water in 1964, the Alvin has completed more than 4,600 dives. It’s America’s oldest manned deep-sea research vehicle, and is operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Both Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas are five times the size of the Titanic.

Pearls are measured in weight by the grain, four grains being a carat and twenty grains to the gram

The three-man submarine Alvin, the first submarine to dive on the RMS Titanic, also in the 1960s located a hydrogen bomb that was lost following a crash of a U.S. Air Force B-52 off the coast of Spain. It was also the first manned sub to explore hydrothermal vents off the Galapagos Islands in 1977.

Organic gemstones come from animal and plant life, including coral, ivory, pearl, and tortoiseshell.

Herman Melville, author of Moby-Dick, participated in a failed mutiny while on a whaling voyage to the South Seas.

TSFMAG.com | 71

FISHING REPORTS

Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com - 409.935.7242 The Christmas month can be a great one in all the Galveston bays, including West Bay, James says. “We have plenty of fish in the open parts of West Bay this time of year. The catching can be really good all the way from Confederate Reef to Carancahua Reef. If the weather's fairly cold, the water tends to get really clear. Finding the fish out in the middle then means looking for dirty streaks in the water. When fishing the streaks, throwing soft plastics and keeping them bumping off the bottom often produces well, as does swimming a 51 or 52M MirrOlure in the lower half of the water column, by pointing the tip of the rod down at the water and pulsing it rhythmically while reeling it in. Wading this month is usually best in the afternoon hours, sometimes only in the hour or two right around dusk. A strong incoming tide bringing water back into the bay after it's been really low for a while after a front really elevates the potential for this pattern working. When this happens, topwaters and twitch baits often produce better than soft plastics, especially for bigger trout.”

Jimmy West - Bolivar Guide Service - 409.996.3054 November and December rank as Jim's favorite months for fishing.

“Most days, we're having easy fishing lately. We're catching in drains and bayous, throwing tails. Best bite has been late in the mornings.

Of course, the birds have been working in various parts of the bays on some days, and we're catching fast limits of small keepers under them.

The bigger fish are usually up shallower, and wading is the better way to catch 'em. Throwing twitch baits and topwaters will be the ticket much of the time when wading. The fish are scattered around all over the bays right now, since the water's pretty salty. If we don't get any more big rains, we should be able to stay away from the crowds of people and find plenty of fish. As we get into December, we'll start fishing afternoon hours, staying out for a couple hours after dark.

That's often the best way to catch big trout once the weather gets colder. It also helps me, since I run a lot of early-morning duck and deer hunts this time of year too. I have so much to do this time of year, and I couldn't be happier.”

West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays Randall Groves - Groves Guide Service 979.849.7019 - 979.864.9323 Typically, in December, cooler weather means a shift to patterns where oyster shells play a key role in the areas around San Luis Pass, Randall says. “We'll be fishing around reefs more often, also in deeper parts of the bays with a muddy bottom with shell scattered around on it. On the colder days, the fish prefer deeper water, sometimes in the ICW itself. They'll venture out onto spoil banks with shell as it warms up a bit. During warmer spells, we catch plenty of fish drifting open areas north of the pass, in depths of five to six feet. There, we use Norton Sand Eels mostly, adjusting jighead size somewhat, to maintain fairly close contact with the bottom. Most of the fish we catch in times like that are trout, with a few reds mixed in. When conditions get really good and warm for this time of year, and tide levels rise, we do better throwing slow-sinking twitch baits like Paul Brown FatBoys around shallow shell humps in the back bays. In those situations, we generally catch a balanced mix of slot reds and some of the bigger trout.”

72 | December 2020

ORECASTS F from Big Lake to Boca Chica

AND

Matagorda | Bay Guide Service Tommy Countz- 979.863.7553 cell 281.450.4037 December is generally a great month for fishing in the Colorado River, Tommy says. “If the weather is cold and windy, the river really comes into play big time. Lately, we've been catching some nice trout in there, mostly throwing at the drop off on the west bank.

The key is normally to get the right jighead size to match with the amount of current. The fish tend to stage about seven to nine feet from the surface, fairly close to the ledge. Usually, a three-eighths ounce jighead will do the trick, but in lighter current, a lighter one might work better, and heavier current will dictate heavier ones.

Paddletails tend to work better than rat-tails, especially ones with bright colors like chartreuse on them. Early in the month, if we don't have any real cold weather, we should still have birds working in the west end of East Bay. If the birds aren't working at a given time, making long drifts around Raymond Shoal often produces plenty of fish. As the shrimp migration winds down, we tend to catch more and more redfish, and less trout, working this pattern. 52M MirrOlures work well as the shrimp thin out.”

Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam www.palaciosguideservice.com - 979.240.8204 We're set up for an excellent run of winter fishing in the Palacios area. Trout fishing has been great over bottoms with a mix of mud and shell under birds in the northern parts of our bays. Paul Brown FatBoys in pearl/chartreuse and DSL lures in purple reign have been productive lures lately. Bird action has been steady this year, and the trout we're catching under them are running pretty big, with quite a few in the 20 inch class showing up. Fishing for reds has been even better. We're catching them on the flats, in the rivers, in the creeks and schooling along area shorelines, pretty much all over the place.

We've been using three-inch pearl Gulp! shrimp and small topwaters like ShePups and Spook Juniors to target them. As the weather gets colder and we get into winter, deep holes in the river become productive. When fishing the holes, a three-eighths ounce jighead helps keep the lure close to the bottom, which is key. The bite can be really light when it's cold, sometimes feeling like dead weight on the end of the line rather than a distinct tap.

Port O’Connor | Lynn Smith Back Bay Guide Service - 361.983.4434 December is a month when Lynn makes some basic changes to adjust to the cooler weather. “Fishing is better for us this month in the afternoons, after the sun heats up the flats some. So, we tend to leave the dock late in the morning and fish through the afternoon hours, to take advantage of the warmth. When figuring out where to fish, we prefer areas with shallow water close to a drop off to deeper water. A muddy bottom seems to hold more fish than a hard, sandy bottom this time of year. We want either some thick, soft grass beds in the area, or some shell, either reefs, or scattered shells. A mix of all of the above is good too. We'll key on bait, like always, but seeing rafted bait isn't really necessary. Even a few mullet flipping around in an area can be a sign that plenty of trout and reds are close by. We throw slow-sinking twitch baits much of the time this month. We'll also switch up to topwaters if the weather's warm and we see more

bait than normal jumping. Sometimes, a twitch bait bite turns into a topwater thing late in the day.”

Rockport | Blake Muirhead Gator Trout Guide Service - 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894 Cast and Blast season is in full swing in December for Blake, and it's a month with plenty of great options. “We do lots of the duck hunting first, then fishing our way out kind of trips early in the month. Later in the month, the afternoon dove hunts add another element of blasting into the mix. When fishing, we will target reds in some of the drains and bayous in the back lakes, also do some wading in open parts of those areas, if tides are running high. When looking for trout, we spend more time working areas with sand and grass on the bottom, often on shorelines adjacent to entrances into the backwater areas, in bays like Aransas, Mesquite and San Antonio.

When the weather's really warm, and winds blow in off the gulf, we throw topwaters a good bit, especially in black-chrome color patterns. But on an average day, with cool or cold weather, soft plastic works better. We throw dark Norton Sand Eels with chartreuse tails on most every trip. If the bite's really tough, we'll change to the split-tail Gulp! Shads in chartreuse/pearl. Generally, this month is a great one for variety and productivity.”

Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut Robert Zapata – rz1528@grandecom.net - 361.563.1160 Deer hunting season usually brings quiet days on the water, with light boat traffic. The weather during December can be tricky to predict and difficult to cope with. We tend to have a few warm days, then harsh cold fronts, followed by a couple cold days, then warm ones again. This is the time to keep a close track of water temperatures when planning fishing trips. If the water falls below about sixty degrees or so, the catching is usually best in slightly deeper water and slower retrieves with soft plastics working best.

Lures like Bass Assassin Die Dappers in colors like chicken on a chain, chartreuse dog, salt & pepper and sliver phantom/chartreuse rigged on eighth-ounce heads produce best in this situations. When water temperatures climb above sixty degrees, the same lures on sixteenth-ounce heads thrown in shallower water work better. Lately, the four-inch Assassin Sea Shads in Calcasieu brew, plum/chartreuse and treuse goose rigged on sixteenth-ounce heads have been working great. Sight-casting drum, both red and black, continues to be productive in a foot of water or less when water quality is good.

Shrimp flavored Fish-bites produce best when working this drill.

Corpus Christi | Joe Mendez – www.sightcast1.com - 361.877.1230 In December, several patterns produce good catches of both trout and redfish. The fishing in the area around the JFK Causeway can be good during the afternoons. Decent winds and tidal movements increase the odds for catching on flats around the numerous channels in the area. With an incoming tide and sunshine, trout and reds often stage in sandy, silty potholes in the grass on shallow humps. Tossing soft plastic paddletails on light jigheads around the edges of the potholes and reeling them in steadily often produces plenty of bites. On the best days, when the weather's warm, it's possible to sight-cast the fish.

If it's colder, which it typically is during some stretches this month, the fish tend to drop into the channels themselves. Catching them then involves matching jighead size to wind, depth and current. If the fish are lethargic and inactive, they bite best on the bottom in the middle of the channels, so slightly heavier jigheads make it easier to reach them. When they're more active, the fish tend to move up close to the edges of the channels, so throwing lures onto the shallows outside the channel and fluttering them off the ledges works better.

P.I.N.S. Fishing Forecast | Eric Ozolins 361-877-3583 | Oceanepics.com After a long fall season, things have finally changed to colder weather patterns, so expect some great fishing when weather cooperates. As long as water temps don't drop below 50, there will be plenty of fish to catch. Both slot and over-sized reds roam the winter surf. On some December nights, bull reds become as active as they are at any time all year. I expect a late run of mullet down the beach this year. If this is the case, reds, Spanish mackerel, sharks and jacks will linger in the surf with the mullet. Florida pompano usually show up in numbers this month; they're tasty and easy to catch when the water is clear, using Fish-bites on small circle hooks. Whiting and black drum bite these readily too. For bigger species, live or cut mullet or whiting make better baits. Larger sharks will be around this time of year. Tigers and even makos sometimes bite, when the weather is warm. Cooler weather happening early often elevates the chances of catching large sandbar sharks. Whole whiting and pompano make great baits for these brutes. Monitor weather forecasts closely to avoid being on the beach when an Arctic blast rolls over the coast.

Port Mansfield | Ruben Garza Snookdudecharters.com – 832.385.1431 Getaway Adventures Lodge – 956.944.4000 Tide levels have been running really high, but recent northwest winds have started them dropping back toward normal. We've been catching reds around the Northeast Cut Pocket, but the pattern has changed.

The fish aren't east of the shelf with the lower water levels. We're doing better targeting them in water about knee to mid-thigh deep early, then wading out even deeper as the weather warms. Fishing around The Saucer is similar. Lately, the bite is good near the cabins close to the drop off, but it can also be good in the shallows farther east. The key is to locate the rafts of flipping mullet, or steady solo jumpers. West Bay can be productive when water drops out of the shallow sloughs, especially on slow-sinking twitch baits. On days between fronts with light winds, the stretch of shoreline on the west side north of town produces well. The entrance of Glady's Hole and the mouth of Little Bay just south of there produce some great trout catches this time of year when tides run low. Topwaters will work, but normally floating or slow-sinking FatBoys work better. KWiggler Willow Tails on light jigheads produce bites from big sow trout in this area too.

Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel Aaron Cisneros | tightlinescharters.com – 956-639-1941 Cooler weather has perked up the bite down here in the Lower Laguna Madre. We're catching plenty of keeper trout in two to three feet of water, throwing at large, bright potholes in an otherwise grassy green bottom.

We've been using topwaters a lot on the warmer days, but soft plastics have been the most productive lures overall. KWiggler Ball-tail Shads in Mansfield Margarita rigged on eighth-ounce screw-lock jigheads have worked best on most days. The redfish bite has also been steady. Without a doubt, the best place to catch them has been on shallow flats with water less than two feet deep. We're finding lots of small schools, also good numbers of pairs and singles. Spook Juniors in bone rigged with single hooks have drawn quite a few blow ups, and gold spoons have been working well for the reds too. KWiggler Willow Tails in Lagunaflauge rigged on sixteenth-ounce heads have been working best when the reds want soft plastics, since they're easier to keep out of the bottom grass.

Overall, the prospects for winter fishing look good this year down south. I look forward to a steady bite over the coming months.

TSFMAG.com | 73

Erika Green Surfside Beach - 24” first trout!

Noah Neiser Cold Pass - 24” 5.8 lb trout

Greg Pineda 44” cobia 74 | December 2020

Lochlon Bard West Galveston Bay - first red!

Koy Macik ULM near Corpus - 28” redfish

Stephanie Dobos Matagorda Bay - 28” tilefish

Jonny Flugrath Corpus Christi - 26” trout

David Garcia Baffin Bay - 24” & 25” trout

Trace Bucey Baffin Bay - 31.5” bull red

Colonel Grahame Jones Baffin Bay - 23” trout

Shelby Dupont Matagorda - personal best red!

Dedrick Debose East Matagorda - 30” 8 lb trout

Maddie, Bella, & Luke Mikus Dewberry Island - 26” redfish

Nancy Madsen Shoalwater Bay - 30” 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.

William McRea POC - 40" personal best bull red!

Halle Maxwell POC - personal best trout!

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

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

Fresh Seafood Straight from the Bay!

Crabmeat Ala Maison Appetizers Thank you, Jack and Donna Farr for sharing this delightful appetizer recipe.

Serve with fresh bread, crostini, or crackers. I am sure it will be a holiday pleaser.

INGREDIENTS

PREPARATION

1 cup fresh lump crabmeat

Melt butter in medium frying pan. Add egg, Tabasco, cayenne and lemon juice. Bring to a simmer and add sherry. Continue heating for another minute and then remove from heat.

1/2 stick butter 1 egg - hard-boiled and grated 1/8 tsp Tabasco sauce 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice 2 Tbsp Taylor’s Dry Sherry 1 1/2 cups hollandaise sauce (Package Mix) Garnish with parsley and lemon wedge

76 | December 2020

Place crab mixture in ceramic clam shells and top with prepared hollandaise sauce. Place under broiler until beginning to brown.

Garnish with parsley and lemon wedge and serve immediately.

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

LOWER UNIT GEARCASE FAILURE: REBUILD OR REPLACE? Fishing line has a habit of finding its way around a propeller shaft and destroying prop shaft seals. There are two seals - one for vacuum and one for pressure. When either Chris Mapp, owner of is damaged, water enters the Coastal Bend Marine.

Evinrude, Suzuki, Yamaha, gearcase. As the gearcase warms. oil Mercury, Honda, BlueWave, exits under resulting pressure. The SilverWave, Shallow Stalker gearcase then refills with water when Boats, Coastline Trailers, a vacuum forms as the submerged Minnkota & Motor Guide gearcase cools rapidly. Bearing failure Trolling Motors. follows due to lack of lubrication.

Great Service, Parts & Sales Lack of gearcase lubrication will “What can we do for you?” cause a bearing to sieze almost instantly which, in this case, also caused the driveshaft from the powerhead to shear. The powerhead continued running when the grearcase stopped, producing a large amount of metal shavings that accumulated in the gearcase.

The best repair option would normally be a new driveshaft but due to excessive metal damage we need a complete lower unit replacement – new housing, gears, shaft, and bearings.

78 | December 2020

Whether to opt for a new or rebuilt gearcase depends on who performs the rebuild and whether the repair is covered by insurance.

We historically go with the complete new gearcase option as pricing for gearcases has become more reasonable than in the past. Selecting a re-manufactured or factory replacement unit comes down to which provides the better value and warranty for the owner. Always compare the options carefully.

Enjoy the excellent winter fishing while the crowds are at Grandma’s house.

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

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

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USCG Licensed Captain Stan Sloan

832.693.4292 www.fishfcc.com

ON THE WATER

Saltwater Fishing Clinics WITH

Capt. Robert Zapata

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

• Bay Fishing, Offshore, Floundering, Waterfowl, Dove • Night Fishing off Lighted Pier • Right On The Water • Lodging with/without Meals www.matagordasunriselodge.com 979-241-1705

Designer & Manufacturer of Specialized High Performance Fishing Rods Office: 361.573.0300

805 B. South Bridge Victoria, TX 77901

TROUT REDFISH FLOUNDER

Fax: 361.573.0304

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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