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about the Cover
June 2017 VOL 27 NO 2
Contents
Dawn Hare is our cover angler, proudly showing off a hefty Lower Laguna speck she landed and released with Capt. Wayne Davis recently near Port Mansfield. Conservation kudos for lettin’ her go!
FEATURES
DEPARTMENTS
12 Topwater Chatter 18 Points of Control 24 Copper Crush 28 Snarfling Snapper 34 Ouch! 40 A Better Way to Treat Barotrauma
43 Father’s Day Gift Guide 54 Let’s Ask The Pro 58 Shallow Water Fishing 62 TPWD Field Notes 64 Fly Fishing 68 Kayak Fishing Chronicles 72 TSFMag Conservation News 76 Fishy Facts 80 Inshore | Nearshore | Jetties | Passes 84 Extreme Kayak Fishing & Sharks... 112 Boat Maintenance Tips 114 Science & the Sea
Steve Hillman Kevin Cochran Chuck Uzzle Joe Richard Joe Doggett Everett Johnson
Jay Watkins Scott Null Mark Fisher Scott Sommerlatte Dave Roberts CCA Texas Stephanie Boyd Joe Richard Eric Ozolins Chris Mapp UT Marine Science Institute
40 WHAT OUR GUIDES
HAVE TO SAy
90 Dickie Colburn’s Sabine Scene 92 The Buzz on Galveston Bay 94 The View from Matagorda 96 Mid-Coast Bays with the Grays 98 Hooked up with Rowsey 100 Wayne’s Port Mansfield Report 102 South Padre Fishing Scene
6 | June 2017
Dickie Colburn Caleb Harp Bink Grimes Gary Gray David Rowsey Wayne Davis Ernest Cisneros
54
REGULARS
98
10 Editorial 88 New Tackle & Gear 104 Fishing Reports and Forecasts 108 Catch of the Month 110 Gulf Coast Kitchen
110
Editor and Publisher Everett Johnson Everett@tsfmag.com VICE PRESIDENT PRODUCTION & ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Pam Johnson Pam@tsfmag.com Office: 361-785-3420 Cell: 361-550-9918 National sales representative Bart Manganiello Bartalm@optonline.net regional sales representative Patti Elkins Patti@tsfmag.com Office: 361-785-3420 Cell: 361-649-2265 PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Donna Boyd Donna@tsfmag.com Circulation Subscription – product sales Linda Curry Store@tsfmag.com Design & Layout Stephanie Boyd Artwork@tsfmag.com Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine is published monthly. Subscription Rates: One Year (Free Emag with Hard Copy) Subscription $25.00 E-MAG (electronic version) is available for $12.00 per year. Order on-line: www.tsfmag.com Make checks payable to: Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine Attn: Subscriptions P.O. Box 429, Seadrift, Texas 77983 * Subscribers are responsible for submitting all address changes and renewals by the 10th of the prior month’s issue. Email store@tsfmag.com for all address changes or please call 361-785-3420 from 8am - 4:30pm. The U.S. Postal Service does not guarantee magazines will be forwarded. how to contact tsfmag: Phone: 361-785-3420 fax: 361-785-2844 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 429, Seadrift, Texas 77983 Physical Address: 58 Fisherman’s Lane, Seadrift, TX 77983 Web: www.TSFMAG.com photo gallery: photos@tsfmag.com Printed in the USA. Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine (ISSN 1935-9586) is published monthly by Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine, Inc., 58 Fisherman’s Lane, Seadrift, Texas 77983 l P. O. Box 429, Seadrift, TX 77983 © Copyright 1990 All rights reserved. Positively nothing in this publication may be reprinted or reproduced. *Views expressed by Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine contributors do not necessarily express the views of Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine. Periodical class permit (USPS# 024353) paid at Victoria, TX 77901 and additional offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine, Inc., P. O. Box 429, Seadrift, TX 77983.
EDITORIAL
Summer Kickoff!
June is shaping up to be a fantastic month for Texas anglers – about as close to the good old days as I have seen! Literally dozens of reports arrive weekly. Big three inshore angling action is solid and improving steadily, from Galveston area all the way down to the Lower Laguna Madre. The Sabine trout bite seems a tad sub-par through midMay but the redfish and flounder bite on the border estuary sounds to be the best of all the bay systems. Further stabilization of weather patterns throughout June should only add to the already excellent catching and could also be the catalyst Sabine trout anglers have been praying will come their way. Jetties are producing a mix of solid trout and slot reds and, as always, there have been plenty of bull reds and large black drum to test tackle. Heavyweight specks are almost always available along the rocks in June while occasional sharks, kingfish, blacktips and host of other species keep things lively. The surf zone of Padre Island National Seashore stretching from Corpus Christi to Port Mansfield’s East Cut is providing beach anglers plenty of opportunity when the sargassum isn’t too bad. Hefty bull sharks and great hammerheads have been headliners. When nearshore seas allow safe conditions for the small-boat fleet; they are finding ling, king mackerel and other species around platforms and channel markers. Mahi-mahi shouldn’t be far behind. Tripletail are becoming more plentiful, in and around nearshore sargassum mats and other flotsam, and they are also beginning to show
10 | June 2017
in the bays in targetable numbers. West Matagorda Bay is usually the most productive of inshore venues if you would rather not try for them in the gulf. The only fly in the ointment is the ridiculously brief recreational red snapper season. I haven’t fished snapper in a long time but the stream of information that reaches my desk indicates an amazing rebound and astounding abundance of this highly-prized species. Over wrecks and reefs along the outside edge of Texas state-managed water, veteran anglers have never seen anything like it, and it’s even better further offshore. There is almost no way to avoid catching them over prime structure. Getting a bait down to other species is next to impossible, they say. Federal fisheries managers are allowing only three days beginning June 1, 2017 for recreational harvest while charter-for-hire operators have been granted forty-nine days. Commercial fishermen can basically fish year-round to fill their quotas. Something’s definitely rotten… The CCA Texas summer-long STAR Tournament gets underway Memorial Day weekend. The STAR Kids Division features $50,000 college scholarships for anglers ages 6 through 10 weighing-in the heaviest flounder, sheepshead and gafftop. The STAR Teens Trout Division awards $25,000 scholarships to anglers ages 11 to 17 in Upper, Middle and Lower Coast regions. The ever-popular Texas Ford Dealers Tagged Redfish Division awards five incredible Ford truck-boat-motor-trailer prize packages to the first five qualifying anglers to land one of sixty speciallytagged redfish and five boat-motor-trailer packages to five more. Get the family rounded up and the boat and tackle ready. June is going to be one for the books!
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STORY BY STEVE HILLMAN
Casting topwaters behind slicks like this can help you pinpoint where the trout are holding in relation to the slick.
A
late spring cold front blew through the area the night before our trip bringing gale force wind and high barometric pressure. It was still gusting to almost 30 knots when I rolled out of bed. Scott, Buzzy and I decided to wait until early afternoon to meet at the ramp. I knew there would be plenty of birds working with the outpouring of brown shrimp and the hourly forecast indicated the wind would be backing off around 1:00 PM. It was still a bit breezy when we got started but it wouldn’t matter much working birds. As predicted, the wind continued to taper over the next couple of hours. After weeding through countless small trout and catching an adequate number of keepers we decided to pursue more mature specimens. It’s really difficult for me to get too excited these days about catching a bunch of pencil trout but, let’s face it, most folks enjoy a lot of bites. Sometimes, however, my clients are willing to follow my lead, especially if it means having a shot at a big trout. Such was the case with Scott and Buzzy. By around 4:00 PM the wind had died completely. We found ourselves in a very rare situation where we were the only boat on the bay. Paradise in its most epic form. Entering an area where I’d had recent success for trout up to six pounds, the tide was slack and there wasn’t much activity. The sun and the moon were both headed toward the horizon and the incoming tide was due any minute. It wasn’t long before mullet and shad began appearing on the surface and several small slicks popped. The three of us made cast after cast along the shell ledge with soft plastics but the only hook-ups came from jagged oyster clusters. By now the entire bay was a sheet of glass. We could no longer see the slicks but the smell of trout filled the early evening air. I decided to tie on a bone Spook Jr. to see if the subtle vibration and surface disturbance would draw a strike. My fourth cast was met by the gentle slurp of a chunky three-pound trout. A few
blow-ups later Scott had seen enough and switched to a MirrOlure She Pup. His first cast connected with a monster trout that would unfortunately find her way into thick shell. Rigging a new plug, he went on to land several solid specks. Buzzy, meanwhile, continued casting practice with his soft plastic. I asked him if he wanted to switch. “Well duh,” he replied. Several casts later Buzzy’s pink Skitter Walk disappeared and his Waterloo Ultra Mag was loaded up with a near-eight-pound speck. After a few quick photos we watched her swim away, hopeful that she’d get tricked by another lucky fisherman when she’s 9- or 10-pounds. Fish Finders – Male trout drumming to call in females during spawning is a perfect example of the effectiveness of vibration. Sound travels very quickly through water. To put it in perspective – the speed of sound through water is approximately 3,315 mph – and only about 767 mph through the atmosphere. Temperature and pressure will cause speeds to vary but, you get the picture. I’ve always believed that vibration is near the top of the list in a trout’s sensory pecking order. We’ve had many trips where surface plugs have drawn strikes when nothing else would. Even when blowups do not produce hook-ups we at least know they’re there, and then it’s up to us to figure out how to catch them. I’ve had clients cast directly behind another’s blow-up and find success with plastics, waking baits and slow-sinkers. I’ve also seen guys attach “trailer jigs” to the rear eyelet of their topwater with a piece of fluoro leader. Topwaters sometimes provide the smoke – which leads us to the fire. Pitch Trump’s Color but Confidence Matters Too When it’s calm or there’s a slight surface ripple I like to throw small soft-pitch topwaters such as MirrOlure’s Top Dog Jr., Heddon’s Super Spook Jr., or even Strike Pro’s Hunchback. The Hunchback is technically a subsurface lure but floats to the surface when it’s not being retrieved. The erratic wiggle and rattle just beneath the surface is sometimes just enough to trick a stubborn trout when they won’t quite rise to a topwater. If I had to pick a “topwater all-star It’s not always necessary baseball team” these nine lures would to go small when it’s calm. be my starters. L-to-R: MirrOlure The full-size Super Spook is Top Dog, Top Dog Jr, She Dog and She Pup, Heddon Super Spook, One Knocker Spook and Spook Jr, Rapala Skitter Walk and Strike Pro Hunchback.
14 | June 2017
Buzzy Knapp tricked his personal best trout (almost 8 lbs) on a pink Skitter Walk during an evening solunar minor. CPR!
After many blow-ups with no hookups, Jake White decided to go just beneath the surface with a Hunchback to entice the 6-pounder being released.
Violent surface strikes keep us chunking topwaters all day!
anything but small, measuring 5-inches, but its rattle is softer than most other plugs of its size. Weighing a full ounce, the big Spook can be chunked a mile, handy when targeting skittish, shallow water trout. When casting, always feather the spool with your thumb as the lure is about to touch down. This creates a more subtle and natural “splash” as opposed to a bomb-like explosion that may spook your intended target. My favorite medium-pitch topwaters are MirrOlure’s Top Dog and She Pup, Rapala’s Skitter Walk, and Heddon’s Super Spook One Knocker. While all of these seem to work well in just about any condition other than extreme chop, they really come into their own in moderate chop. I find myself chunking one of these four probably more than any other topwater plug. I suppose their frequent employment directly correlates with my high confidence. The raucous clatter of MirrOlure’s She Dog places it in a category of its own and an excellent producer in choppy conditions and deep 16 | June 2017
Not Just for Breakfast AnymoreMany believe that surface plugs are only effective during early morning and late evening. Some of the best topwater bites I’ve ever witnessed have been in the middle of the day, especially over deep shell. There’s no denying their effectiveness in low-light conditions but, other variables such as moon positioning (major and minor feeding periods) and tide movement influence the bite more than anything else in my opinion. There are also times when clarity has deteriorated to the point where soft plastics or other non-noisy baits will go unnoticed, but the clacking of a topwater will call them to the surface. Soft plastics and other baits obviously catch plenty of fish but topwaters undeniably register higher on the adrenalin meter. Whether it’s a Houdini-like disappearing act, the summersault of a five-pound trout, or an explosion of Biblical proportions, nothing compares to seeing, hearing and feeling a trout’s reaction to a topwater.
Steve Hillman
Contact
The loud-crisp rattle of my She Dog called this healthy speck from deep shell amid slicks on a breezy day.
water. As with all topwaters, casting at about 45⁰ across the angle of the wind and waves is a better plan than straight downwind. Achieving a steady side-to-side cadence with occasional pauses is the textbook retrieve but any occasional erratic action combined with long pauses can be deadly. Allowing your plug to rest and rock atop the waves for several seconds can be as productive as any – the wave action does the work for you. No different than any other lure, sticking with a retrieve that hasn’t been producing is a recipe for more of the same. Vary your speed and cadence until you find one that works. By the way, I always use a loop knot because I believe it allows for a more fluid and natural action compared to other knots. There are thousands of colors but my top picks include bone, black, pink-chrome, blue-chrome and chartreuse-pearl. Black is my favorite in very low light conditions, off-colored water and at night, while all the other colors mentioned get plenty of playing time under the sun. Again, the confidence factor likely plays a role in my color decisions. Regardless, I firmly believe that pitch of the rattles and size take precedence over color.
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
STORY BY KEVIN COCHRAN
Sunrise full of promise on the Laguna Madre.
I
first fished the Baffin Bay/Upper Laguna Madre in 1991, aboard the craft of Canadian-born guide Doug Bird. The dude could really fish, loved using lures, though he did bring along some live shrimp, mostly for my second wife, Holli May, who caught quite a few trout and redfish that March day. We deployed soft plastics dangled under popping corks until the wind started cranking, then fished with the shrimp the remainder of the time. When we met him at the dock under the JFK Causeway, Doug announced Holli would catch the first, the most and the biggest fish. I didn’t take the comment seriously, and laughed. When I questioned him how he could guarantee those things, he chuckled and said, “If you hook one before she does, I’ll cut your line.” He looked me straight in the eye, sternly, for a moment, then smiled again. “I know I have to put a priority on her, keep her happy. That’s what will bring you back.” Certainly, Doug displayed a colorful personality. I recognized the sharpness of his wit, how he used his talented tongue and mind to help ensure we all had a good time, but I had greater respect for the way he wielded his rod and reel. The breadth of his skills for catching fish became more apparent the second time we fished together. The next Spring Break, I returned to the Lagoon with a teacher/friend, Jack Branham. As on the previous trip, we fished from the boat, did no wading, this time using lures all day. The venerable, crusty guide preferred a method much like bass anglers use, working from the front deck of his Lake and Bay skiff, using a trolling motor to control its position. He told us, “We’re going over here to this channel. I want to assess your skills first, so I can figure out the
best thing for us to try the rest of the day.” I recognized the wisdom of his plan. When he stopped the boat in the middle of a ditch near the Causeway, he instructed us to cast our soft plastics toward the drop-off downwind of us, where we could see a grassy edge sloping off into the depths. “Cast right up to the edge and engage the reel handle when the lure hits the water. Allow it to sink along the face of the drop-off, then twitch it up and down a few times at the bottom of the drop. If you don’t get a bite, reel in and repeat.” We caught on to the method pretty quickly. Actually, Jack did better than I. Having already developed a preference for throwing topwaters, using soft plastics with a specific and detailed presentation did not prove so easy for me. We caught a few dink trout there and the captain decided we could handle bigger and better things. So, he drove the boat south in the Lagoon, stopping somewhere along the King Ranch Shoreline. While he trolled toward visible, thick grass mats stacked tight against the sandy and parts slightly less thick, where a gap bank, he described the next plan of attack. On the day the captain caught this allowed water to flow over the top. “Those Each of us had tied a rat-tailed Bass Assassin rigged on a photogenic trout, super-fast presentations little gaps act like funnels, or fish highways, relatively light jighead on the end of our line. The jigheads with Fat Boys produced many strikes. and the trout and reds lay around out in came equipped with small spinners attached to them. Doug pointed at the water-side edge of a dark mat of rotting grass and front of them, waiting to ambush their prey.” My friend and I worked to master the technique, realizing the instructed, “Throw the worm just past the edge and engage the reel original importance of the timing of the engagement of the reel handle before it hits the water. Then, raise your rodtip and reel fast, to keep the lure right on the surface, so it doesn’t snag in the grass. When handle, the position of the rodtip and the coordination of the turning of the reel handle and the twitching of the rodtip in the swimming you see it get to the edge of the mat, stop reeling and let it flutter portion of the presentation. We caught quite a few solid trout and down to the bottom, then swim it in, reeling steadily, twitching the reds around those grass mats throughout the morning; most of them rodtip up and down repeatedly.” He articulated a presentation which struck within a few feet of where our lures fluttered off the edges of proved difficult to master. the beds of rotting strands. He explained why he wanted us to do precisely what he described. Once the sun climbed high into the sky, seeing the target zones “When the tide’s high like this, the mullet and other bait fish will swim became easier, but the bites less frequent. Eventually, Captain Bird into that shallow water sitting on top of the grass mat. When the tide pulled the plug on the plan. “We got to fish deeper now. The falls out, they will be forced off the edge, into Robert Ramsey caught this trout and reds don’t feed well in this shallow, clear water the deeper water in front of it.” While saying this, monster trout on a morning wade once the sun gets high overhead.” He drove the boat into he pointed out thicker parts of the grass mat, in April, fishing with the captain. the Pure Oil Channel, and idled toward the end of a shorter which protruded through the water’s surface, channel, heading south. He described a new plan of attack, one entirely different from the one we had just deployed. “The end of this channel has a hole about ten feet deep.” He stopped the boat and pointed to the depth finder. “What we need to do is throw our lure out and manually strip some more line off the spool once it hits the water, so it can fall vertically. Once we feel it hit the bottom, we’ll make three sharp upward strokes, like this,” he demonstrated, while continuing. “The rodtip will finish way up high, then we want to throw it right back down toward the water, really quick,” which he did. Then he finished, “So the lure can fall on slack line. With any luck, once you raise the rodtip back up, you’ll have a trout on the end of the line.” We watched him hook a fish on cue as he said this! Again, my friend caught on to the technique quicker than I did. Losing contact with the lure felt so completely foreign to me, and I struggled with the timing of it. Both of them caught several keeper trout over the next hour 20 | June 2017
or so. I have not deployed the and the position of the rodtip. technique at any point since. I have Pausing all movements during a used a variation of the second one presentation causes any sinking lure he showed us to great effect several to settle lower in the water column. times, the most memorable of This allows an angler to control the which produced five trout over eight depth of presentation. Presenting pounds, including a ten! lures at the proper depth increases On that day, we threw sinking Fat productivity, as does placing them Boys over grass mats lying along the into the appropriate specific places shoreline behind the Tide Gauge Bar, within the general area. The lessons engaging our reel handles before I learned from Doug Bird’s methods they hit the shallow water atop them prove all productive presentations and skimming the lures quickly to rely on control of the depth and the edge, where we’d pause to let movement patterns of a lure placed them sink. An outgoing flow flushed in close proximity to predatory fish. water through a narrow cut in the Novice lure-chunkers regularly bank, allowing us to work our lures make several common mistakes toward us with the current following which reduce the number of fish them. As on the day Doug showed they catch. For one thing, they often me the trick, most of our bites came allow the lure to plop down on the close to the grass mats. Starting water at the end of a cast, before the presentation with the fat plugs engaging the reel handle, increasing landing on top of the grass allowed the frequency of backlashes and us to place the lures into the faces reducing their control over the lure. of the fish ambushing prey tight to Many also stop reeling when they the subtle edge. I don’t believe we could start twitching, causing them to lift and Sidney Shetley coaxed this solid trout to bite by working a have caught them any other way. twitch. In the worst case, they actually floating Fat Boy with vigorous twitches through shallow water covering sandy potholes lying in an otherwise grassy flat. Truthfully, I don’t often use the release the reel handle altogether while techniques the talented old salt taught twitching. This is a fundamental mistake. me back on those days, but I do understand the profound truths To avoid these problems, one should work to learn to control the inherent to his methods. I now realize all effective presentations rely timing of the turning of the reel handle in coordination with the on the fundamentals which made those work. Stated most simply, all twitching of the rodtip. To get the hang of this, one can tone down productive presentations rely on precise coordination of the timing the intensity of the twitching for a while, focusing more on keeping of the turning of the reel handle and control of the rodtip. the reel handle turning while making short, light twitches. During The specific position of the rodtip sometimes proves critical. this process, one should keep the rodtip out in front of the face, Mostly, the tip of the rod should remain out in front of the basically in line between the eyes and the lure. angler, between the eyes and the lure. In some parts of some Lastly, one should consciously predict where fish likely lurk in the presentations, it should move higher over the head, often to area, and seek to make presentations at specific depths in those facilitate keeping a lure near the water’s surface, and occasionally it precise places. This type of focused effort elevates the potential for should move down closer to the water. productivity, compared with more random processes which often Many useful presentations involve rhythmic twitching of the devolve into what I call auto-pilot. In such a numbed state, anglers rodtip. Twitching the tip up and down or side to side through a fixed typically repeat the same movements over and over again, expecting point works best; as opposed to twitching the rodtip from three a negative result to change. In the end, such counterproductive o’clock to twelve o’clock. I see people do this frequently, because behavior becomes, by definition, a form of insanity. they stop turning the reel handle when they start twitching. They lift the tip instinctively, realizing they must in order to prevent slack line from wrapping around it. The most effective anglers learn to use the reel handle to Kevin Cochran is a full-time fishing guide control the build-up of slack during presentations which involve at Corpus Christi (Padre Island), TX. Kevin rhythmic twitching. This allows them to maintain control over the is a speckled trout fanatic and has created several books and dvds on the subject. movement patterns of the lures they throw. With a few exceptions, Kevin’s home waters stretch from Corpus maintaining control over a lure throughout a presentation Christi Bay to the Land Cut. provides superior performance. With some presentations involving Trout Tracker Guide Service soft plastics, temporary loss of control of the lure provides better Phone 361-688-3714 results, while the lure flutters and falls on slack line. Significantly, Email kevxlr8@mygrande.net learning to present soft plastics this way also requires one to Web www.FishBaffinBay.com remain cognizant of the timing of the turning of the reel handle www.captainkevblogs.com
Contact
Kevin Cochran
22 | June 2017
STORY BY CHUCK UZZLE
With or without your lure in their jaws, the hole they blow in the water is always a thrill.
I
have no idea how this happens, seems only a few weeks ago we were in the middle of a mini-winter and successive cool fronts (notice I didn’t say cold) continued to remind us how nice 60⁰ days with near zero humidity can feel. But all that is a distant memory, flipping the calendar to June means summer is officially here and the dog days aren’t far off. Before you know it the atmosphere will be so thick we’ll need a snorkel just to perform everyday chores. Gone are the mornings of waking to snapping flags as the famous south and southeast winds so characteristic of springtime in Texas have diminished. The summer months usher in calmer days and we will find ourselves begging for cloud cover or a slight breeze to cope with ever-climbing temperatures under blue skies. As the weather changes so does the focus for many anglers along the Texas coast. During winter and spring, the vast majority of ink in most fishing publications is dedicated to the pursuit of big speckled trout. Under normal circumstances, November through April will produce the lion’s share of bragging-sized fish, so it only stands to reason that all the attention is focused on that subject and species. As the calendar and seasons bring us into summer, the focus of many artificial lure anglers leans toward Texas’ second most-glamorous species - the red drum.
Don’t be surprised if he runs off with half your line.
26 | June 2017
They’ll take anything you
of anglers are lying in the shade or A/C, throw when crashing rafts sipping iced tea or cold suds. of bait in open water. However, anglers that tough out blazing sun and sweltering heat are often treated to some of the most fantastic fishing action you will ever experience. Having several acres of surfacing redfish all to yourself, watching them blowing holes in the water as they run roughshod through rafts of shad and mullet, will bring a smile to most any angler’s face. The melee soon develops into absolute chaos and can last an hour or more. Perhaps the most common mistake anglers make is leaving too soon when the surface action fades and the reds can no longer be seen crashing bait. Quite often it’s only a matter of minutes before the craziness gets cranked up again and the patient anglers are rewarded with another round of redfish mayhem. The overall abundance of redfish in both Sabine and Calcasieu is about as good as anyone can remember. For several weeks now the redfish have been much easier to pattern and catch than speckled trout, and that has been a boon during the windy conditions we have been forced to deal with all spring long. I have no doubt that this summer will offer some of the best redfish action we have seen in a while, and there will be no wrong way to catch them. From live bait to artificial and fly, there will be ample opportunity to chase these hard-fighting game fish. Who knows, after this summer, the redfish may just earn a little more respect and gain a few new fans. Until that time I will continue to serve as president of the Redfish Fan Club. New members are always welcome!
Chuck Uzzle
Contact
I have no problem professing my affinity for the redfish because I truly believe they have more to offer than just about any other fish that roams our coast. I love chasing trout, don’t get that confused or twisted. A big speckled trout has a certain feel to it that is difficult to describe, perhaps because they are so rare and highly-coveted. A solid redfish, not even a giant bull or anything like that, on the other hand, can also be a sensory overload that is very often under-appreciated until it runs off with about half your line. Just to show that it can. Redfish deserve a little more respect in my estimation because of what they bring to the table, figuratively and literally. Perhaps my “man crush” on the redfish comes from the fact that unlike trophy speckled trout, you can watch redfish “do redfish things” and that is a treat for any angler. Seeing these fish cruise around in shallow water, forage for food, swim in schools, lay around lethargically, or just plain disappear in broad daylight is absolutely mesmerizing to me. Learning to read their body language and adjusting to their variables is a visual puzzle that, once solved, provides endless enjoyment. It is truly gratifying to watch these fish, figure out what they want, and then see them react exactly the way you hope they will. On the other hand, redfish can frustrate anglers to the point where even a cold beer or glass of good bourbon cannot soothe the sting. I’ve had days where the redfish have just completely refused to cooperate in the slightest, which in turn leaves me scratching my head, questioning both my sanity and angling skills in one fell swoop. Imagine making countless perfect casts and watching fish after fish swim up to the bait as if they are about to inhale the offering, only to inspect it and turn violently away – leaving a hole in the water that takes minutes to fill. Some days it doesn’t matter what you do they just refuse to cooperate. On days that the redfish refuse to play, all you can do is learn from the experience, put a Band Aid on your pride, and get after them again the next day. Bipolar, perhaps. Their attitude can change overnight and eat anything you throw at them the next morning. The redfish’s unpredictability is what keeps many enthusiasts coming back for more. Sabine and Calcasieu will both be fantastic places to chase redfish in the coming weeks and months. Huge schools of pogies will roam the open waters of both estuaries and be relatively unmolested – until the switch flips and the redfish go absolutely berserk. Many times they will school in open water during the heat of the day, when the majority
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
STORY BY JOE RICHARD
Off Port O’Connor, John Milne unhooks a big snapper caught by Marilyn Giessel.
L
arge schools of red snapper now wait offshore, ready to snarfle down any bait, whether real or artificial. However, the current state of affairs with our recreational red snapper fishery in federal waters has sunk about as low as it can, with this year’s season in federal waters expected to be somewhere between two and nine days. With a daily bag limit of two fish during the windy month of June.
All we can do is catch these fish on sporty tackle, use artificial baits, and target bigger snapper. And then while offshore, pursue other species, of which there are a great many. -Catch a pair of nice-size snapper. You don’t want to return home with a couple of three-pounders after being offshore all day, unless you’ve fished state waters within sight of land. When further offshore in blue water, I favor keeping snapper of 12 to 15 pounds or so. Snapper grow twice that size, but the bigger sows carry far more eggs. Keeping a 25-pound female denies the Gulf a great many future snapper. A 25-pound female might also have tougher fillets than a 12-pounder. Or not. -Use big baits. I prefer to use a cast net the day before an offshore trip. Mullet school on the surface around the jetties this month, and one good throw can produce many offshore baits. Last summer during an offshore trip I free-lined 12-inch mullet, hoping for big kingfish while the rest of the crew fished bottom for snapper. We were on a charterboat out of Port O’Connor. Time and again, I tossed out an unweighted mullet and watched it sink straight down because there was no current. I fed out line until the bait was maybe 60 feet down, and then there came a tap-tap on the line. I reared back and eventually cranked up a bunch
30 | June 2017
of eight-pound snappers, and we didn’t see any Releasing bigger that day. (Maybe I should have used even another keeper bigger baits.) Meanwhile, our crew on the stern snapper. It beats baited up with squid and fished bottom like a day working at the office. people have done for about a century, reeling up keeper snapper, but nothing of size. The previous June, when a mullet school cruised by on the surface near jetty rocks, I’d hit them with the cast net. The mullet were iced down and next morning we headed out on a 22-foot boat owned by Mike Cichowski, my high school president from way back when, like 47 years ago. The three of us (including Bud Reynolds) began fishing Gulf partyboats so long ago, our combined Gulf experience was about 135 years. With perfect weather, there was no chance the fish could escape us this day. And I had this 24-quart cooler crammed with fresh mullet… Turns out, it was the best trip in years. The Gulf was flat with a shower here and there, which we dodged—just the kind of weather I prefer. Instead of drift-fishing over our snapper rock in a fast current, which soon carried us out of the strike zone, I offered to set and later pull the anchor. Which we did. Anchored over the fish, dropping mullet deep, those big snapper never stopped biting and the biggest, a 20-pounder, was hooked near bottom. We thought it was a shark, until someone spotted red far below. During that fast action, three ling came up to investigate our stationary boat. The biggest wound up in the cooler, the other two released. When we were tired of throwing back big snapper, at least 40 fish, I pulled anchor. Mike’s rope still had marsh mud all over it because anchoring offshore in clean water is pretty rare these days—everyone just ties up to a platform or driftfishes over structure. We had that rock to ourselves, and the Gulf’s bounty was awesome that day. With our mullet gone, there wasn’t a Gulf platform in sight for a bait resupply; too many rigs have been cut down and removed. We had no way of catching more bait, none. Drifting past Gulf But I pulled out a Rubbermaid box full of platforms and jigging seven-inch diving plugs, picked out a blue/ down deep makes it easier to use sporty tackle silver Rebel, and we began trolling around on red snapper. our buoy. Kingfish came from nowhere and
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beat on that plug like a borrowed three-legged mule, often right in our boat’s wake. We could plainly see one big flash after another in that clear water, as they hit the plug sideways before the rod doubled over. We fought and released a dozen sizeable kings from 20 to 30 pounds before calling it a day. It was hard work, tailing them into the boat and digging out big treble hooks with pliers, fast enough to release them. And dangerous: My shirt and pants were both ripped by flailing treble hooks, but none of us suffered a scratch that day. It was a wonderful trip and our hearts were content during the long ride back. However, it was my last fishing trip with Mike. His funeral was this April; he passed away in Port Arthur and was far too young. I know the local fish population is resting easier after his passing. Mike and other friends from Port Arthur always liked using artificials on snapper, something we’ve been doing since the early 1970s aboard Gulf partyboats. We used to buy our 1-3 ounce leadhead jigs in quantity in Miami, enough to last several years. Today there are countless choices available, even online. Back then we’d catch several 15-pound snapper from the stern of a partyboat, and people around us just shook their heads and called it luck. There were serious battles, working snapper to the surface using our big bass tackle, which in those days were Ambassadeur reels filled with 20-pound line. Using that technique today with a fairly stiff, 7-foot rod and one of their 6500 baitcaster reels would certainly increase the day’s fun. IF the fish can be found far enough away from structure. Why? Snapper head for cover if they can pull drag, and you Metal jig used to catch wouldn’t want to try this technique only a fine snapper, caught a few feet from an oil rig. Try drift-fishing by Port Arthur’s late some 30 to 50 yards from a rig when the Mike Cichowski. current is slow, and watch what happens.
Tip a one- or two-ounce jig with a cigar Angler visiting from minnow and drop it down. Very often the Oklahoma admires triggerfish won’t bother bait that far from snapper during the brief Texas season. the rig. Fighting these bigger snapper on 20-pound line is touch and go, much more exciting than using broomstick tackle. And, if you miss a strike and the bait is gone, you can still work the jig around for additional hits. We’ve done that countless times. If you want to get even more sporty, drop a metal jig deep and dance it around. Those jigs are up to a foot long, sink rapidly, and they’re capable (with their single hooks) of landing very big fish. Last time we drifted over a snapper rock far offshore, one of the guys working a metal jig caught the only kingfish down deep, and then our only scamp grouper. For some reason scamp, tastiest of all grouper, are attracted to these jigs. Catching scamp is the ultimate bonus when bottom-fishing off the Texas coast, taste-wise. A Warsaw grouper is bigger but not as tasty. Anyway, why feed snapper all day when you can tempt other fish at the same time? Combined with using braid line, these metal jigs have caught grouper in 600 feet of water. With zero line stretch, you can feel every tap and “cross their eyes” when the line even twitches. But that’s just one more option offshore, to work around our tiny snapper season in federal waters.
Joe Richard
Contact
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
32 | June 2017
Captain Steve Hillman sporting impromptu “piercing� and fishing jewelry. You know it had to hurt.
STORY BY JOE DOGGETT
T
he frigate bird is large, aggressive, and irritable. At least, that is my observation. It certainly is the opinion of one of my longtime fishing companions. We were wading a knee-deep bonefish flat on Christmas Island. That Central Pacific atoll offers miles and miles of white sand ideal for stalking bones. The scrubby island also hosts large rookeries of seabirds, mainly boobies, terns and frigates. We were about 50 yards apart, wading with the wind, when a single frigate started circling above him. The big black bird with its thin wings and forked tail and hooked beak appeared curious, dipping and diving. My friend poked his 9-foot fly rod at the hovering bird, more or less engaging in an aerial fencing match. The frigate continued ragging on him, swooping and swerving. He jabbed again and the low frigate got tangled in the loose fly line dangling from the tip. The startled bird flared and the burst yanked the line up and away. The bonefish fly being properly held in the left hand ripped free and the No. 4 hook gaffed his index finger.
He bent over in pain as the frigate shook free and sailed off. The guide and I shuffled over. The point and barb were protruding through the top of the bloody finger – a nasty wound miles from help. My stoic friend held steady and the guide wielded a pair of short, heavy fishing pliers. The pliers cut the exposed bend and it was a simple matter to push the hook back through the wound. Well, it looked simple enough to me. Back at Ikari Lodge, first aid was administered and the finger healed with no complications. That was one of two barbings that occurred during the trip last January. The other happened when two fly anglers were casting simultaneously from a boat for milling schools of milkfish off the beachfront. Two casters firing wind-blown loops at the same time is a dicey situation. One guy miscalculated his forward haul and planted the outgoing fly in the other guy’s forearm. The point and barb were embedded in the flesh, so the guide used the string-jerk method to snatch the hook free. The string jerk is a great procedure when the point and barb of a J-type hook are planted in firm meat. You loop a length of heavy line – fly line is excellent – around the bend, depress the shank by pressing
Frigate bird gets the better of a fencing duel and angler bends over in pain as loose fly barbs his hand.
TSFMAG.com | 35
down above the eye, and give a smart yank. Depressing the shank allows the point and barb to exit through the established wound channel. The technique works remarkably well, assuming you don’t dither on the jerk. I’ve been exceptionally lucky. Only once in 60 years of fishing do I recall receiving a serious barbing; that was at night while wading and fly casting for sea-run brown trout in Tierra del Fuego. Incidentally, if you want to get as far as possible from one of those Urgent Care Clinics, TDF is a fine place to start. My backcast fell apart and the long-shanked woolly bugger streamer hook slammed into the top of my casting hand. One look with my headlamp and I started moaning and groaning. The clucking guide came over and used a loop of the 9-weight line to perform a skilled string jerk. I did not feel a thing – amazing. Years ago, while fly-casting with another angler from a drift boat, his double haul whizzed past and the small No. 8 hook whapped into my ear and ripped straight through the lobe. The result looked like an ear piercing gone bad. At least most flies are relatively small and tied on single hooks. Elongated plugs with two or three sets of flapping trebles increase the “Ouch!” risk, especially during a slippery handgrabbing detail. I’ve witnessed several nasty plug barbings, mostly while wading. I narrowly escaped one in the surf near San Luis Pass. I reached to grab a nice speck across the shoulders. A wave bumped in and the fish gave a frantic shake, planting the tip of the front treble of a 52M MirrOlure in my thumb. I clutched the trout and dropped low, reducing the abrupt weight against the hook, and was able to stabilize the fish and work the point free. I am not bad-mouthing mullet-type plugs, as they are among the all-time trout catchers, but they do demand extra caution. For this reason, I tend to favor a spoon rigged with a single hook for serious work in breaking surf. The proper surf spoon has superior ballistics for drilling into the prevailing onshore wind, and there’s nothing dangling down during a fumbled grab (on the subject of dangling down, it’s a rookie mistake for the waist-deep plugger to allow a strong fish to dive between spread legs). When drifting across a bay, the typical center console permits two or even three anglers to cast with conventional tackle. This a safe enough, assuming all hands pay attention to backswings and no one attempts a side-arm across the inside of the boat. If an excitable beginner (or careless old timer) whips a lure through harm’s way, the breach immediately should be pointed out. As with gun safety, this is no time stand on polite manners. “Chasing the birds” for school specks perhaps is most dangerous because all rods tend to cluster close for frantic rapidfire casts into the kill zone. Deliberate drifting with bow-centerstern positions is more controlled. Regardless of technique, wearing protective gear is smart whenever practical. A pair of wide-framed sunglasses with shatterproof lens should be mandatory for every coastal angler. You might not always need the glasses for spotting fish or cutting glare, but they might spare an eye from an errant hook. For example, during the aforementioned Christmas Island expedition, I bent in shin-deep water to unhook a bonefish. I grabbed the leader several feet above the glum fish and reached 36 | June 2017
Hook-in-the-heel accentuates the need for proper deck shoes. Trolling ribbonfish is popular and effective for king mackerel but, be forewarned, “stinger” trebles can also sting anglers.
Trebles are most treacherous but single hooks also pose danger when hand-landing thrashing specks.
Fly-guide Scott Sommerlatte says he knows how the fish feel.
38 | June 2017
barbless hooks probably don’t conspire for as many misses as the rookie might think. But the occasional fish will shake free. I lost a “double digit” bonefish in the Bahamas years ago thanks to a barbless hook – I watched in dismay as the whipped monster rooted through the turtle grass maybe 30 feet from the skiff. Mashing barbs is most common on single-hooked lures and flies; seldom in my experience is it done with trebles. Too much hassle. Regardless, one of the few things that all anglers share is the risk of getting barbed. Some stabs are minor annoyances while others can be trip busters and a few can be downright dangerous – and all can happen within an instant of inattention or bad luck or bizarre intervention (random frigate birds included). Rare is the veteran angler who has not been barbed. Frankly, given all the hardware we sling about, I’m amazed it doesn’t happen more often.
Joe Doggett Contact
with a pair of forceps for the fly. The fish surged and the hook pulled. The No. 6 Gotcha shot straight back into my greedy face, smacking the right lens of the Salt Life shades. The payload bounced harmlessly. Good on ya, Zeiss, I thought. Things like that can happen in an instant, and the nearest qualified ophthalmologist probably was 1200 miles away, back in Honolulu. Under windblown conditions or on a crowded boat, a foul weather parka with a hood might deflect a fly or lure whizzing in from behind. A hat with a wide brim also helps. The angler most apt to self-destruct is the fly caster attempting to drive a loop into a gusting crosswind blowing from the rod side. I’ve whapped myself many times in the back of the hood or across the parka shoulders by being too lazy or cocky to switch to a backhand cast (keeping everything on the downwind side). Oh, no problem; I’ve got this drill wired and - Ouch! Granted, the parka may not do much against an incoming Super Spook side-armed by a companion, but I submit it’s better than a bare neck. Barbings also can occur away from the water. When packing for a trip, you might reach hastily into an open tote bag and jam a finger into that can’t-miss killer bait with its chemically sharpened razor trebles that you forgot to tuck into a plastic box. The tackle tinkerer at home might drop a hook on the floor and find it later with a foot. On that note, the angler with young children or playful pets should be especially careful about leaving exposed lures or flies within reach. The gaudy baubles can attract more than fish. Of course, mashing or cutting barbs can spare a lot of misery, and
Joe Doggett was an outdoors columnist with the Houston Chronicle for thirty-five years. Retiring in 2007, Doggett writes occasional freelance pieces between hunting, fishing and surfing adventures. Contact: DoggettJ@SBCGlobal.net
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Venting can be effective‌when performed correctly. Photo demonstrates proper location for piercing gas bladder prior to release. (Joe Richard-SeaFavorites)
STORY BY EVERETT JOHNSON
B
arotrauma occurs during sudden differences in pressure. As in cabin pressurization loss in aircraft, a diver coming up too quickly, or a deep-dwelling fish brought to the surface. Gas and fluids within the body expand rapidly as pressure decreases. Severe cases can cause permanent tissue damage and even death. Fish suffering barotrauma make generally poor candidates for accomplishing a successful release, unless something is done to relieve pressure inside the body. Options for treating barotrauma include the ages-old venting method and a recently developed descending technique. Venting means piercing the fish’s abdomen with a hypodermic tool to relieve pressure. Descending is based on lowering the fish back into the water column. Venting, though effective when performed correctly, is risky. Fishermen lacking knowledge of fish anatomy are more likely to miss the gas bladder than they are to hit it. In short: The fish appears to have been deflated but, in reality, it will soon die if not eaten by a predator first. (Figure 1) Descending devices, on the other hand, require no knowledge of fish anatomy and are very simple to operate. Studies of survival rates have revealed surprising results. (Figure 2) So, why is this important? In a nutshell – recreation fishing opportunity is on the chopping block. South Atlantic anglers are facing a zero-day red snapper season, second in two years. Gulf of Mexico anglers will get only three days. Whether we agree with the way these fisheries are being managed or the stock assessment data, we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. The feds say the recreational sector does not report its landings accurately so they “estimate” our catches and, their harvest estimates include another “estimate” called regulatory discards. A fancy name for fish we release that do not survive. Put the two together and the feds say we have reached our quota almost before we leave the dock. So, here we are, unable to keep red snapper
in the federally managed Gulf of Mexico, even though they appear more abundant than we’ve ever seen. I have watched GoPro video of red snapper in chum lines caught on fly gear, of all things! When targeting other species, it’s almost impossible some days to get a bait through hordes of suspended snapper. Are we supposed to stop fishing because we cannot keep snapper? There has to be better way. We either become accountable for our landings and release fish that will survive, or continue accepting fuzzy-math crumbs from NOAA and the Gulf Council. The responsible course of action obviously lies in becoming accountable for our harvest (state water or federal water – get the iSnapper mobile device app), and descend the fish we are not allowed to retain. Beat them at their own game – so to speak. At ICAST last July, I was introduced to a very interesting fishing tool called the SeaQualizer. A device for lowering fish back into the water column where they can recover quickly from barotrauma, without risk of injury and reduced predation. Jeff Liederman, co-inventor and co-owner of SeaQualizer, gave me quite a presentation. “We got started about six years ago when a friend voiced concern over fisheries closures. We went to work to develop a tool that would enable fishermen to release their fish in a fashion that would just Figure 1. White dots indicate the location anglers in a large offshore fishing tournament selected as “best” for venting red snapper suffering barotrauma. Fewer than one out of three got it right!
TSFMAG.com | 41
about guarantee survival, no matter the species or depth they were caught,” Jeff said. The product is pure genius. Based on a pressure sensor mechanism, fish are lowered to a desired depth, the fish recovers from barotrauma during the descent, the SeaQualizer’s jaws open, and the fish swims away. Release depth can be adjusted to 50, 100, and 150 feet by simply turning a dial. A larger model has settings for 100, 200 and 300-feet. Aware that the good folks at Hart Institute have been involved for several years studying the survival of red snapper following capture and release, I contacted Dr. Greg Stunz, who referred me to Master of Science candidate, Alex Tomkins. With Alex’s assistance, I learned exactly how effective descending devices can be. Tomkins- We wanted to determine the most effective release methods for using descender devices to reduce discard mortality in red snapper. I determined that a fish released at 1/3 of the bottom depth faces the same chance of survival as a fish released at the seafloor. This is great news
for anglers because it’ll save them time when releasing fish. Instead of spending 3 minutes dropping a fish to the bottom in 200-feet of water, you’ll only need to spend a minute dropping it to approximately 70-feet. Another great feature of descender devices, especially the SeaQualizer, is the fact that anglers don’t require knowledge of fish physiology to operate it. You simply clamp the jaws onto the lower mandible of the fish, set your preferred release depth, and away they go. Alex’s research included the release of red snapper caught on rod and reel, tagged with acoustic tracking devices. The fish’s movements revealed not only its location but also if it is still alive. The ability of descending devices to enhance survival rate of red snapper was clearly demonstrated. I believe we as anglers have a great duty in stewardship to conserve resources. I also believe it is our duty as sportsmen to follow fish and game regulations to the letter. We cannot always pick and choose which size or species of fish will grab our bait, which means we are going to be releasing at least some of the fish we catch. I heartily encourage offshore anglers to put a SeaQualizer in their tackle box and use it religiously to release fish suffering barotrauma. If fish are worth catching they are worth releasing correctly!
Red snapper being descended on SeaQualizer. PVC pipe rigging supported cameras – not required to operate SeaQualizer. (Harte Institute) SeaQualizer rigged on “release” rod. The trick is keeping it rigged and handy! Release depth is adjustable to insure recompression before the jaws open to release fish. (SeaQualizer)
Figure 2.
Acoustic tagging provides researchers critical data for determining post-release survival rate of red snapper. (Harte Institute)
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Grass edge along shoreline gut.
J AY WAT K I N S
A S K T HE P RO
Strategies for Catching Spawning Trout Here’s something different for you. I want to talk about FISHING SLOW…but doing it FAST. Kind of confusing… right? Let me explain a few things before I confuse you even more. First off: Fishing slow has nothing to do with the speed we turn the reel handle or twitch the lure. Neither does it refer to how fast we walk through the water or present a lure. Fishing slow - the way I use the term - means deliberately and methodically casting repeatedly to every facet of every piece of structure we expect fish to be using. The speed of our presentations while doing this matches the mood and feeding attitude the fish exhibit. Next: In the context of this discussion, “doing it fast” means we do not dally about. We determine the size, shape, and depth of the most productive structure and we place ourselves purposefully within casting range of it. When none are within casting distance we move to the next. Professional bass anglers have absolutely mastered this technique. Kevin VanDam is one of the best – if that tells you anything. So, right now, we are trying to catch trout that are spawning. And spawning structure, though sometimes 54 | June 2017
similar, is not necessarily the same as “feeding” structure that we target in other seasons – clump shell, ridges, drops, etc. But, no matter the type of structure or season, we must be diligent to place ourselves in the right places at the right times to entice fish to bite – solunar majors and minors. What comprises springtime trout spawning structure? Perhaps the best and easiest to find would be the shallow, intermittent grass beds along sandy shorelines and those that lie further offshore in the series of guts that run generally parallel to sandy shorelines and spoil banks. Some additional tips for locating and catching spawning trout – the larger fish seem to prefer shallower environs, often the smaller and scattered pieces that occur knee-deep – while the greater numbers (usually smaller fish but not a fast rule) will be found in the guts that range from knee- to- thigh and waist-deep. Another very interesting fact is that spawning trout are not as quick to vacate a preferred spawning structure as they will a feeding structure. In other words, they are less likely to flee the area entirely when pressed by boat traffic. The bite might slow down but they are
56 | June 2017
Erin Donaldson with solid trout hooked up as Dad watches. The girl has got it!
and pulled out another. She really got a kick out of me seeing the opportunity and calling the shot. Hey, it’s what we do. I instructed her to skip the guts without grass and hit ones with it. Ignoring sections of guts without grass helped us increase our pace. Pretty soon she was all over picking spots similar to where she caught her first one, and it was game-on. Never more than two per grass bed but all were 20-plus fish. Interesting – we watched two very large trout following ones she was reeling – likewise another pair of heavies sauntered past under a school of black drum. Awesome sight! We fished until nearly 5:00 PM and I was impressed how her accuracy in hitting the structure became pinpoint. No doubt this played positively into the number of fish she caught. When I asked if she wanted to get on the beach and walk back, rather than wade, she was amazed at how far we had gone. So, the next time you find yourself on a long stretch of shoreline where bottom structure is more scattered than concentrated, and the water is air-clear, try fishing slow but fast. Who knows, you might turn a tough day into one like Renee and I enjoyed. In closing, I would like to mention and recognize Totsy Belcher and his induction in the Texas Saltwater Legends Fishing Hall of Fame. I was asked to give a short speech and introduce Totsy and it ranks amongst the highest of honors. Totsy is the real Old Man and the Sea and has always been a legend to me. May your fishing always be catching! -Guide Jay Watkins
C ontact
not likely to just up and leave. You will not find this stuff in textbooks, and I have no scientific evidence to support it, but I have a lifetime of experience… Now that we have identified how to fish slow but fast, and where to employ the tactic, let’s look at how not to do it. I get wannabe track stars all the time that jump out of the boat and take off to parts unknown. They are wading fast and fishing faster, beating the water to a froth with their lures. More often than not this lends to blasting past potential targets and potential catching opportunities. It’s OK to move forward steadily, as long as you are targeting the individual structures as they occur in your path – with a presentation rhythm and retrieve that matches the feeding attitude of the fish. I took a break from writing this piece and took Renee fishing this afternoon, hoping to try out this slow but fast strategy with her. We couldn’t leave the dock until 12:30 PM on Saturday, a few weeks prior to Babes on the Bay, and the Texas Saltwater Legends Tournament was underway down at Aransas Pass. Crowded was an understatement. I had to park on the street at Cove Harbor because the parking lot was jammed. We missed the major between 9:00 and 11:00 AM but had a minor coming between 2:30 and 4:00. I chose a section of Traylor Island that I like on SE wind. The water was almost air-clear, so clear that Renee remarked about it. I know from history that this shoreline holds good numbers of big spawning trout this time of year. Plus, it has been giving up lots 3- to 4-pounders all spring. The notoriety of the area promotes traffic and traffic is believed to drive fish off the shoreline. BUT NOT SPAWNING FISH! I love testing my theories in areas where catching can be tough. The bottom here is mostly sand with scattered grass beds. Guts formed by prevailing SE winds provide deeper havens for pressured fish to drop into. I instructed Renee to take the lead and wade the line I had her set up on. “Don’t let the wave set you forward as you work to the north,” I instructed. I have found that by switching from spouse to coach we have fewer flare ups, if you know what I mean. Renee is athletic and competitive, so working to get it right is not a problem. “Cast to individual grass beds on the edges of the guts,” I told her. “Fish deliberately, hitting as many targets as you can. Move forward steadily until you get a bite.” Typically in clear water, if fish are feeding actively, the bite comes almost immediately when the lure hits the water. No bite? Slow down and hit each piece of structure with several more casts. Move on and repeat. Receiving bites refines your strategy for working forward. Was it in the gut; entering or exiting the gut; over the grass or at the edge; downwind or upwind? All of these tell you how to direct your next casts. About 20 minutes into it, Renee stuck a solid 22-incher off the edge of grass in the middle of a gut. I immediately threw into the same spot
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
The Jackson Mayfly provides the best platform for stand-up kayak fishing the author has found in many years of testing and trialing. Photo by JK Media House.
C A P T. S COT T N U L L
S H ALLO W W ATE R FI S H ING
Plenty of Standing Room…and More! The first article I wrote for this magazine, about thirteen years ago, came about because I liked to stand in a kayak while sight-casting. TSFMag’s editor and I chanced to meet one day at Fishing Tackle Unlimited and we got to talking about kayak fishing. Everett was intrigued with my preference for the stand-up style while he preferred sitting down for the stealth it offered. By the time we parted ways an idea had hatched for a pair of articles debating the virtues of each style. I understand his viewpoint and, under certain circumstances, employ the stealthy sit-down approach, but all these years later I still prefer standing in my kayak. Luckily, I’m not the only one. The popularity of this style has led to kayak manufacturers building craft specifically designed for it. Back in the day, those who wanted to stand were limited to the old Ride or the Drifter; neither of which really paddled worth a damn. Advancements in design have led to quite a few models that paddle more efficiently and offer plenty of stability. The latest along these lines from Jackson Kayaks is the Mayfly. Not only was it designed with stability for standing, they Forward hatch cover went to great lengths to make includes quick-easy it ideal for fly fishermen. One paddle stow strap. major issue with every other siton-top kayak I’ve owned were myriad fly line grabbing snags in the cockpit. I’ve tried all manner of fixes from damp towels to high-dollar line management
58 | June 2017
tools draped across the cockpit and bow. Nothing really worked and it was just a matter of time before the loose line wrapped around something, causing a flawed cast or busted-off fish. One of the worst offenders has always been the foot pegs. I’ve tried removing them but that made paddling a pain. In the end I just dealt with it and accepted it was going to cause me grief. The folks at Jackson fixed this with a single-piece foot brace that adjusts on a track in the center of the footwell. They also added a fly patch and gear tracks to the top of the brace. For the conventional angler guys who aren’t so worried about snags the gear tracks are situated perfectly to add electronics or a rod holder. The entire footwell is perfectly flat and covered with MarineMat foam. It makes standing more comfortable as well as deadening any sounds. Even the tackle storage hatches on the sidewalls of the cockpit are flush mounted and snag-free. You can strip off as much fly line as you want into the cockpit and never worry about it hanging up. Just keep your feet off of it and you’re golden. Been there, done that – not the boat’s fault. The bow storage hatch is pretty cool too. It’s double hinged with two heavy duty latches and has a strip of Hypalon mounted across the top so you can slide your paddle blade under it for quick and easy
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stowage. Along either side of the front hatch are molded-in rod tubes to protect your rod tips. They’ll accommodate a nine-foot rod with the reel tucked into molded pockets secured with a small bungee. The reel pockets are set up to also allow you to turn the rods around with the tip pointed off the stern, yet still parallel to the water, keeping them out of the way of your casts. And as much as I like standing up to fish, the seat is really comfortable. You can set it up at a normal height for paddling longer distances or raise it a few inches once you get to your area and are just cruising around searching for fish. The seat also rides on a track which allows you to slide it forward or back to help balance the weight distribution for better paddling efficiency. As a bonus, Jackson threw in a Platypus hydration pack that attaches to the back of the seat. You can also take the seat out and replace it with Jackson’s Orion 25 or 35 cooler and secure it to track mounted tie downs. I haven’t tried this option yet, but I’ve seen some photos of guys standing atop the cooler like a poling platform. I’m pretty sure I’m still young and agile enough to pull this off. We’ll see. I’ve never been big on adding a bunch of accessories to my kayaks, but I know it’s the “in” thing to do. Cameras, rod holders, safety flags, electronics, etc., are common add-ons these days. While this boat was aimed at fly fishermen, the conventional guys and gear junkies can easily mount whatever they want on the aluminum gear tracks spaced out all along the perimeter of the boat. They even molded in a spot on the stern to accept a Power-Pole Micro Anchor. When I first got my hands on the Mayfly I was pleased with all of the thought and attention to detail that went into making it a fly fishing kayak. There was no doubt that some real fly guys had been consulted. It was also obvious from looking at the hull design that it would be plenty stable for standing. My only concern was how it would paddle. In the past I’ve kept a variety of kayaks to cover what I wanted to do on that particular day. I’d compromise stability for some length and speed if I needed to cover a good bit of water or I’d pick out a stable barge when I could fish closer to the launch and standing up was more important. That compromise is always a battle. I was pleasantly surprised with the Mayfly’s paddling characteristics. At 12’8” it tracks really well without a lot of side to side wobble, even when paddling fairly aggressively. While standing up it still tracked fairly straight whether easing along with the paddle or poling. The boat glides well when you stop paddling with a smooth, gradual decrease in speed. The lower sides reduce sail effect while drifting or paddling with a crosswind. I’ve only had it out a couple times, but overall, I’m very happy with it and feel like I can aim for a distant marsh without dreading the long paddle back.
I’ve been around this kayak business for a long time and still would not say that any one kayak is perfect for every kayak fisherman and/ or fishing application. There are simply too many variables and preferences. But if you like to stand while fishing or are an ardent fly guy, you owe it to yourself to give the Mayfly a serious look.
The neatest flyrod storage solution yet to come along.
Ages old foot peg problem – solved.
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John red or Mayfly1– Fishing kayaks have come a long way! The stability for standup fishing along with ease of paddling and great tracking make the Mayfly a top choice with fly and light tackle anglers alike. Photo by JK Media House.
60 | June 2017
Capt. Scott Null is a devout shallow water fisherman offering guided adventues via kayak, poled skiff, and wading. Telephone Email Website
281-450-2206 scott@tsfmag.com www.captainscottnull.com
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F IELD N O T E S
iSnapper Smartphone App –
Get it! Use it!
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, in cooperation with the Center for Sportfish Science and Conservation at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, is asking recreational red snapper anglers to report their catches via iSnapper. This joint project is a means of supplementing current data collection methods to help improve recreational catch estimates of red snapper, which has become a contentious issue over the past several years. This user-friendly smartphone application was created with anglers in mind. No one wants to spend their time filling out a survey when they could be fishing, but anglers should be able to complete the iSnapper survey in 5 minutes or less, and they can do it while idling back to the marina or boat ramp. There are only three steps to report your catch: Create a New Trip prior to leaving the dock. Once you begin a trip, you can put your phone away and enjoy your day fishing. At the end of the day, enter the species and number of fish caught as well as water depth and approximate fishing location. Report your catch by pressing “Submit.” It’s that easy. 62 | June 2017
There are numerous other features that make iSnapper a useful fishing tool, as it is not just a means for data collection. Weather and tidal information are available, as are TPWD artificial reef locations, and the option of photographing your personal best fish and sharing it on social media. These are only a few of the features that iSnapper provides and make it a fun resource to have onboard. Of course, it also serves as an important reporting tool for fishery managers. We first released iSnapper to anglers in 2015. That year, 393 individuals registered to use the app and submitted 171 fishing trips during the Federal Red Snapper season. In 2016, an additional 55 individuals downloaded the app and a total of 121 trips were reported during the Federal season. We are hoping to have even more iSnapper users in 2017, as the more trips that get reported, the better. When used in conjunction with TPWD’s routine creel survey, these data can be combined to provide better estimates of red snapper landings than either survey can provide independently, leading to better management. However, we need more anglers using iSnapper to achieve this goal.
If you haven’t already downloaded iSnapper, now is your chance. It is available at the App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android) or visit our website on your phone at www.iSnapper.org and click on the provided links. Since last year, iSnapper has been enhanced to improve its functionality, so we are asking all users to re-register prior to the season opening. Registration is easy, but be sure to have your TX numbers handy since that is how we confirm your catch data. Don’t have a smartphone? No problem! You can register and report your catch online at www.iSnapperonline.org. Here’s hoping for calm seas and we look forward to hearing your fishing stories! If you have any questions regarding the red snapper fishery and/ or regulations in Texas state waters or the iSnapper app, contact the TPWD Coastal Fisheries Division at (512) 389-8575. Next month Zachary Olsen will introduce us to new technology being used to monitor our seagrass habitat.
Check the TPWD Outdoor Annual, your local TPWD Law Enforcement office, or www.tpwd.texas.gov for more information. TSFMAG.com | 63
The battle is won, time for high-fives!
S C O T T S O M M E R L AT T E
F LY FIS H I N G
How to fight a fish A major benefit of being a fishing guide twenty-plus years is having witnessed many epic fish battles. Customers and friends – incredible victories and heartbreaking defeats – pursuing mighty denizens of our oceans and estuaries. Fist-bumps and high-fives, whooping and hollering, tears and even injuries – I have seen them all. Successes and failures have come from anglers knowing or not knowing how to fight a big fish. In some cases, it boiled down to pure old-fashioned good or bad luck. However, there is an old saying about making your own luck. By that I mean, go fishing more often so that you increase your encounters with big fish and learn how to fight them hard. Let’s say you have made the perfect cast and get a solid hookset. The first and most important thing you need to know about fighting a big fish is that you need to break its spirit early in the fight. To accomplish this you must start with a great fly reel that has a great drag. I recommend only reels with a well-maintained, center-pull, cork drag such as those by Tibor or Able. I have seen too many drag failures in the more “modern” designs. Just as important, the drag must be set properly. I like about seven pounds of resistance for tippet in 16- to 25-class. You can use a Boga Grip to get an idea what seven pounds feels like – you will have a 64 | June 2017
hard time pulling line from your reel. Once the fish is on the reel and pulling hard against the drag, you will then have to apply additional pressure by palming the spool. To do this properly and safely, you should marry your thumb to your hand and reach beneath and around your reel until your fingers to reach the drag knob. Once there, start to bend your hand around until the ball of your palm starts to lightly touch the spinning spool. The most important thing is to keep your thumb away from the spinning reel handle. I have seen thumbnails torn loose, broken thumbs and, even worse, broken-off fish. If you are fighting a fish that jumps, you have to know when to give a little. I am sure you have all heard the term, “Bowing to the king.” The king in reference here is the Silver King – AKA tarpon. Well-deserved respect for sure, however the concept of bowing and giving slack to a tarpon also applies to any large fish over say 30- to 40-pounds, that jumps during a fight. The purpose of bowing is to prevent a hefty fish falling back onto a tight line and breaking it. It also helps prevent the hook from working loose in a hard-mouthed species such as tarpon or billfish. Which brings me to another point: Learn to recover line as quick as possible WITHOUT SHAKING THE ROD. This is
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one of the biggest mistakes I see in all fish fights with a fly rod. Almost nothing will work a hook free of a fish’s mouth quicker. Now, let’s talk about the rod. The thing that people who fish only for stream trout or back-bay reds and trout do not realize is that the tip and mid-section are really only there for casting and protecting lighter tippet when fishing for smaller fish. In regard to heavier rods for bigger fish, the tip is only for the cast. As for the mid-section, it is also a big part of the casting apparatus, however, it also provides the perfect buffer for the tippet when a fish makes long, hard runs. In regard to fighting a big fish hard, it’s all about the butt-section. This is where the real power lies. Now I will try my best to describe the perfect fish fight. I am going to describe this as if the rod is straight up and down or to the side for a right-handed angler. Zero degrees will be the rod pointed straight up or directly to the angler’s right and ninety degrees will be straight at the fish. You make the perfect cast and strip-strike. The fish flounders and
you continue to strip to keep the line as tight as possible, with the rod at about Be ready for anything! a 45⁰ angle. The fish shakes its head and explodes out of the water. Keeping the line pinned against the rod handle and the line in your line hand, bow to the leaping fish by bending your knees while leaning out and reaching your rod toward the fish. The fish re-enters the water and starts to run. You clear the line off the deck and your properly set drag starts to sing. Apply additional pressure by palming the reel. While the fish is running, you keep the rod at that same 45⁰ angle. The fish jumps again and you bow again. The fish has slowed and it is time to recover line. You reel the line down to about 15⁰ degrees (without shaking the rod) and smoothly pull upward until you reach about 70⁰ and then reel down again. Repeat as necessary. As the fish gets closer you begin using your legs to pull. That’s right. Use your strongest muscles of your body to fight a big fish, especially when the fight starts to go more vertical. As you reel to the fish, begin bending Green fish boatside – the your knees and then lifting with your legs power you need is in the rather than your arms. Once the leader butt-section of the rod. inside the rod-tip and the fish is boatside, you may consider backing off the drag a bit as your guide and/or buddy tries to leader the fish. Now it gets tricky. You must “hold” the fish by palming the reel, being instantly ready to release the pressure of your palm, should the fish decide to make sudden run. The purpose of this is to protect the leader should the fish still be green. Lastly, you never want to bring the rod to 90⁰ until the final moments of the fight, dropping the rod to the side and bringing the leader into the hands of whoever is performing leader duties. Remain intensely alert and anticipate all manner of things that might go wrong. Remember – The most important thing in fighting a big fish is to break its spirit quickly by applying maximum pressure and pushing your tackle and body to 100%. By doing so you greatly increase the fish’s chance to survive and fight another day. I hope these tips shortened your learning curve. Best of tides!
Scott Sommerlatte is a full time fly fishing and light tackle guide, freelance writer and photographer. Telephone Email Website
979-415-4379 vssommerlatte@hotmail.com www.mangrovefly.com
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ROAD TRIP! “Let’s go somewhere!” This is usually how it begins. The idea of going on a road trip gets brought up in conversation and for whatever reason the plan never comes together. However, the real fun begins when the discussion includes dates and destinations. Hitting the road to a new destination with a group of friends is always a recipe for great memories. Some of the greatest times in my life have come from road trips and exploring new areas. When it comes to making a trip, half of the fun is fishing while the other half derives from being in good company. Time spent together off the water is often just as much fun as the time on the water. Last year, I was sitting with some friends and they were discussing their trip to Florida the prior year. They already knew one of the other guys could not make it, so they offered me the opening and I accepted without hesitation. I marked the dates on my calendar and the countdown began. One thing about making serious plans for a road trip, you can deviate from the initial plan but, no matter what, you still have to go somewhere. Like always, weather is an unpredictable element that can throw a kink in your plan. 68 | June 2017
The day we were leaving for Florida, Hurricane Hermine was making landfall in the state. The funny thing was, everyone’s reaction upon hearing we were heading to Florida was - You know there’s a hurricane…right? Indeed we knew there was a hurricane but we were already loaded and ready to hit the road. We discussed our options and decided to head south to Delacroix, Louisiana instead, to try our luck at sticking a few redfish while the storm subsided in Florida. For those who like chasing redfish, I urge you to load up this summer and head to southern Louisiana. It is full of redfish and perfect for kayakers. Along the way there, we stopped for boudin balls, crawfish pistolettes and fresh pork cracklings. The local food you will encounter is another great aspect of road tripping. We arrived to our lodge and immediately unloaded the kayaks and hit the water. We caught several fish that evening and again the next morning before hitting the road to our final destination. After a long day of driving, we finally arrived at Navarre Beach, Florida. We met up with our buddy Seth who my friends had met a few years back when fishing there. Seth was kind enough to open his home to us for a few
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days. Our plan was to hit the surf every day in search of snapper, kingfish, Mahi-Mahi and the possibility of a sailfish. Surprisingly, the weather forecast for the next few days showed light north wind and smooth seas; a perfect scenario for doing some BTB (Beyond the Breakers) fishing. We eagerly rose early the next morning and decided to double-check the forecast and wave predictions. Of course, the weatherman was wrong and the wind had picked up during the night. We quickly decided a better plan would be some more sleep, late breakfast, and then hitting the inshore lakes. Seth insisted that we head to a favorite diner just down the road, and he nailed it. Alphy’s Family Restaurant served up one of the finest breakfasts I have ever had. Next time I’m in Florida I will go out of my way just to have their pancakes. Sorry, back to fishing. We hit the bay only five minutes up the road from Seth’s house and worked out a game plan. Poring over Google Maps, we decided to head east to a protected pocket that included a few marsh drains. I was expecting the water to be crystal-clear but it resembled the water you would see on Sabine or East Bay – a slight brown stain but was still relatively clear. That being the case, I never changed lures from Delacroix and they seemed to work just fine. My first Florida redfish came on a Spro Frog along the edge of a grass line; after all, they are the same fish with the same habits. We caught several fish that afternoon and it was soon time to head back to the house and prepare for the next day. The weather man was again predicting light north wind and it looked like we had a window of opportunity. Dadgum weathermen! The alarms went off and we replayed the same scenario from the day before – wind and wave forecast, back to bed, and back to Alphy’s. We hit a few different areas in the bay and caught fish, but it was not the BTB adventure we’d driven to Florida for. We stayed four days with high hopes every morning, only to have them crushed by the weather forecast. We all know that you cannot change the weather and it is just something you have to deal with. It’s just part of the gamble on a road trip. We never got an opportunity to chase big fish while we were in Florida but we still had plenty of fun. Along the way, we all got a chance to fish new areas and visited every kayak shop on the coast. We ate like kings and made great memories. Oh, and we even got to spend an evening at the ER having a Skitter Walk removed from Brent’s foot. You just never know what is going to happen on a road trip and I believe that is half the fun. I have a few planned this year and am looking forward to them. I will be heading to Port Aransas a few times this summer along with hitting southern Louisiana again, and also planning on going to the Everglades. If you get an opportunity this summer, grab some friends, load up the kayaks, and go fishing somewhere. The greatest part of a road trip is not arriving at your destination – It’s all the crazy things that happen along the way.
Dave Roberts is an avid kayak-fishing enthusiast fishing primarily the inshore Upper Coast region with occasional adventures to surf and nearshore Gulf of Mexico. Email: TexasKayakChronicles@yahoo.com Website: www.TexasKayakChronicles.com
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CCA Texas Happenings As this article is being written, CCA Texas volunteers and staff have completed twenty-three banquet events; thirteen in April alone. This busy schedule and continuously positive results in the fundraising and membership arm of CCA Texas reflects the success and continued growth of the organization as it celebrates its 40th Anniversary in 2017. The organization has grown from a small group of concerned anglers in 1977 to approximately 70,000 in Texas and over 120,000 total nationally. The success in fundraising and membership translates to continued success in advocacy efforts, and also habitat creation and restoration. CCA’s core strength is its membership, and without such loyal support the effectiveness of the organization would be diminished. The 2017 Texas and US legislative sessions have been extremely busy and contentious. The recreational fishermen were once again disregarded and seemingly punished by NOAA Fisheries as they set a three-day 72 | June 2017
season for red snapper in Federal waters. This, while granting a forty-nine day season to the charter-forhire sector and continuing the year-round season for commercial fishermen to fill their quotas. Recreational fishermen continue to bear the brunt of federal management while a limited few commercial fishermen continue to benefit. Mark Ray, CCA Texas Chairman, recently testified in a congressional hearing on the status of the red snapper fishery. “By any measure, the red snapper fishery in the
Gulf of Mexico should be held up as a shining example of proper management and good conservation. But as this hearing demonstrates, that is not the case. We aren’t here today to highlight a conservation success story. Unfortunately, we are here because red snapper is known throughout the nation as a man-made fishery management disaster,” Chairman Mark Ray said. “After decades under intense federal management, this is the best that anglers can hope for – a three-day season in federal waters in 2017? I don’t think anyone would declare the current situation a success. All we ask for is a system that allows all stakeholders the best opportunity to enjoy and use those resources. I am here today to ask of you to give us that chance.” When will the Gulf Council and NOAA Fisheries begin to recognize the overwhelmingly more valuable recreational fishery and the benefits it brings to the economy up and down the entire Gulf Coast? The membership of CCA will be crucial in the future as the management battles surrounding red snapper and other species will need a loud and unified voice from the recreational fishermen. When you see a Call to Action message from CCA, please take the time to make your voice heard. Your voice matters and it counts. In addition to responding promptly to CCA’s Call to Action notices, take it a step further and reach out to your representatives by calling them and writing them separately. The Texas oyster fishery has drawn center stage attention during this legislative session. The 2016-17 oyster season brought great changes in fishing methods and areas fished that many have never seen before, or at least not in many years. With better than a month of the season left, more than three-quarters of the bay systems in Texas were closed to commercial fishing, concentrating the commercial fishery on small and seldom-fished bay systems. HB51 introduced by representatives Guillen and Bonnen during the 85th Legislature of Texas addressed areas of stiffer penalties to the entire crew of the oyster boats; oyster license buyback; vessel monitoring systems; and penalties to seafood dealers who knowingly purchase undersize oysters. The House version of the bill has passed and at the time of this writing it is being debated in the Texas Senate, voting on the measure should come by the end of May. This is the first step in bringing a common ground to the management of the commercial oyster industry while focusing on the sustainability of the resource. Many provisions are in place to protect seagrasses across the state, yet oyster reefs do not receive such attention. Oyster reefs are shown to have up to four times more bio-diversity than seagrasses and it is time to provide the attention and protection they deserve.
74 | June 2017
Habitat News CCA Texas and Building Conservation Trust (BCT) continue to make progress in the restoration and creation of marine habitat along the Texas coast. Most recently, the Keeping It Wild artificial reef off Port O’Connor became a long-awaited reality. The partnership between CCA Texas, BCT, Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation and Texas Parks and Wildlife Artificial Reefing Program recently deployed 500 precast concrete pyramids in the nearshore waters just off the coast of Port O’Connor. CCA Texas has been involved since its inception, pushing and paying for the nearshore permit. With tremendous support from BCT and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, the recreational anglers fishing out of Port O’Connor will now have a nearby and easily accessible area to fish for red snapper and other species in state waters. In addition, BCT has funded Harte Research Institute to conduct a five-year study that will focus on the best configuration methods of these reefs, the abundance of marine species before and after, and the overall impact of these nearshore reefs. Before this issue hits the newsstands, the Rio Grande Nearshore Reef will receive an abundance of reefing materials that include cinder blocks, rubble and some pyramids. CCA Texas and BCT have partnered with Friends of Rio Grande Valley Reef to help create this unique reefing site that will provide habitat for the full life-cycle of red snapper and other species. This project epitomizes the term “Grass Roots Effort” through the continuous and tenacious efforts of the Friends of Rio Grande Valley Reef, and CCA Texas and BCT are excited to be a part of this project today and into the future. CCA Texas and BCT are excited for what the year holds and have already approved $530,000 in habitat work for 2017. With more opportunities on the horizon, we will remain committed to habitat restoration and creation along the entire Texas coast. For more information about this habitat work, please contact John Blaha, CCA Texas Habitat Director, at jdblaha@ccatexas.org or Sean Stone, BCT Executive Director, at sstone@buildingconservation.org.
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It’s What’s for Dinner I can’t ever get enough; I want more, I need more! Your soft savory texture hugs my mouth and warms my core. I swallow you wearing a smile unlike any I’ve worn before, Your gentle tuna taste lingers and leaves me wanting more. ~Ryan Unger, excerpt from “Fatty Tuna: A Love Poem” Tuna are a streamlined saltwater fish belonging to the Thunnini tribe (in biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank above genus but below family). “True” tunas belong to the genus Thunnus. However, the Thunnini tribe also includes mackerel and bonitos. The term tuna ultimately derives from the Ancient Greek word thýnō, meaning to rush or dart along – a fitting description for these sleek, powerful fish. Tuna inhabit the upper and middle layers of the ocean worldwide, except in polar seas. These impressive animals are active, agile predators, the largest of which can reach over ten feet in length, weigh well over half a ton, and are capable of speeding through the water at over 40 miles per hour. Several species call the Gulf of Mexico home, at least for some part of their lives. Skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis, are on the small-medium end, reaching about 3.5 feet long, 66 pounds, and living up to fifteen years. 76 | June 2017
They are distinguished by four to seven dark longitudinal stripes on the belly. Dark blue backs are accentuated by a clearly defined area of green above the pectoral fin. Flanks and belly are silvery; fins are short. Skipjack often swim in large schools, sometimes mixing with young yellowfin tuna. Their very large biomass (exceeding that of the next three most popular tuna species combined) and quick sexual maturation (around one year) earns them a rating of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Next is the yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, runner up in both the volume fished and overall popularity. Easily recognized by the sickle shape of the anal and second dorsal fins. Grows to 6.5 feet long, 385 pounds, lives up to eight years, and is the fastest tuna, reaching almost 50 miles per hour. In some areas, dolphins and large yellowfin school together. The yellowfin’s popularity earns it a Near Threatened (NT) rating on the IUCN Red List. There was an estimated 33 percent global decline between 1998 and 2008 (the equivalent of three generation lengths), and the species is listed as NT primarily because population declines would be much greater if catch quotas had not been implemented. The “chicken of the sea,” albacore tuna, Thunnus
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alalunga, is possibly the most popular canned Also a juvie yellowfin. tuna in the States. Albacore have long pectoral fins, which reach along their dark blue backs and blue-gray flanks, past their anus. They grow just over 4 feet long, 88 pounds, and live up to fifteen years. Its popularity has also earned it a rating on the IUCN Red List of Near Threatened. There was an estimated 37 percent global decline between 1987 and 2007 (the equivalent of three generation lengths). Commercial fisheries are present in all parts of the albacore’s range, and although effective management measures are now in place in many regions, the North Atlantic powerful swimmers, such as tuna, have evolved adaptations that and North Pacific stocks are still being fished above the maximum make them essentially homeothermic (“warm-blooded”). Tunas sustainable yield. have a large mass of red muscle that powers their incredible speeds. Bigeye tuna have long pectoral fins that extend well past the anal These muscles generate a lot of heat. In most fish, this heat is simply fin which, together with their large eyes, characterize the species. discarded when warm blood reaches the gills. But tuna retain this They grow up to 7.5 feet long, 463 pounds, and live up to fifteen years. heat through an intertwined meshwork of veins and arteries, known They tend to swim at greater depths than skipjack and yellowfin, and as the rete mirable, or “wonderful net.” Cold blood being carried in therefore have more fat to insulate them from the cold. This makes the arteries from the gills is heated by warm blood being carried in them especially attractive for the Japanese sashimi market. Their the veins from the muscle. By the time arterial blood reaches the attractiveness earns them a Vulnerable ranking on the IUCN Red List. muscle, it’s already warm and therefore doesn’t cool off the hardThere was an estimated 42 percent global decline between 1992 and working muscle, allowing the fish to swim at maximum efficiency. 2007 (the equivalent of three generation lengths). With the exception Additionally, the pink/red color of the tuna’s muscle tissue is actually of the Western and Central Pacific populations, all other stocks are a result of myoglobin, an oxygen-binding molecule that tuna being fished below the maximum sustainable yield. However, the produce in higher quantities than many other fish. This leads to Western and Central Pacific stocks represent more than 20 percent of more oxygen-rich blood and, consequently, more energetic muscles. the global population; additionally, if the mortality of the species from And as an added benefit, the heat transfer also slows down the skipjack fishery bycatch cannot be reduced, further declines are likely. rate of cooling at the body surface, allowing the tuna to maintain a Northern bluefin tuna (aka Atlantic bluefin), Thunnus thynnus, are core temperature above the ambient seawater, which in turn, may the slowest-growing tuna species. They take four to eight years to promote rapid digestion and absorption of food. sexually mature, can reach over 10 feet in length, 1500 pounds, and These sleek, streamlined fish have other adaptations for speed, as live up to twenty-five years. The back is dark blue to black with silvery well. The first dorsal fin is depressible; it can be laid down, flush, in lower sides. Second dorsal fin is larger than the first one, and usually a groove running along the back. The fins are of a size and position reddish-brown. The northern bluefin’s slow growth, in combination designed to minimize drag, so relatively small expenditures of energy with the over-exploitation of its stocks, has earned it an Endangered are needed to reach (and maintain) maximum speeds. Median fins, rating on the IUCN Red List. This species has become rare, relative to especially the dorsal, are often relatively large, which minimizes historical levels, because of massive overfishing. The estimated global “the drag associated with sideways slippage of the body during decline is 51 percent over the last thirty-nine years (the equivalent swimming.” But with great speed comes great… side effects. Tuna of three generation lengths). The Western Atlantic stock has not recovered under current fishing restrictions, and in the Eastern Atlantic must swim at least one body length per second to pass enough oxygen over their gills. This steady, powerful swimming sustains stock (which represents the majority of the northern bluefin’s global the large oxygen demand required by their high metabolic rate and population), fishing mortality is far above the maximum sustainable extraordinary growth. Cavitation is also a hindrance. You wouldn’t yield. And as bad as it is for the northern bluefin, the southern bluefin think bubbles could have such effect, but they create a vapor film have it much, much worse. But they’re not from around here, so you’ll around the fins, limiting the tuna’s speed. They also cause lesions on have to google their sob story for yourself. the tail, though tuna don’t have nerve endings in the fins, so they Last that I will mention is the blackfin tuna, Thunnus atlanticus, probably don’t feel it. However, some animals, such as dolphins, do a bluish-black tuna with silvery-gray sides, a milky-white belly, and have the capability to feel the collapsing cavitation bubbles and may dusky fins. One of the most common tuna species in the Western Central Atlantic, the blackfin grows up to 3.5 feet long and 42 pounds. choose to restrict their speed to avoid the pain. Tunas do sense their environment, though, mainly through visual and chemical cues. They They feed near the surface and often form large mixed schools with also have a well-developed lateral line, a system of sense organs skipjack. They reach sexual maturation around 1.5 feet in length. found in aquatic vertebrates, used to detect movement and vibration Happily, like their buddies the skipjacks, blackfins have a Least in the surrounding water. Concern rating on the IUCN Red List. Technically, fish are poikilothermic, meaning their body temperature varies according to the temperature of the surrounding medium. You probably know this as “cold-blooded.” However, some 78 | June 2017
Tune in next month for more tuna anatomy!
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Dale Fontenot with another kingfish caught off Sabine Pass. Photo by Pete Churton.
JOE RICHARD
I N S H O R E | N E A R S H O R E | J E TTI E S | P ASS E S
Kingfish Arrive This month is the real start of the summer offshore season, when big kingfish are prowling along the coast within sight of land. Some even wander and feed inside the jetties at Port O’Connor and Aransas. Which is a shock, for anglers accustomed to long boat rides offshore. You certainly don’t need a big boat to fish within sight of land, but keep in mind the winds of June can be cruel, sometimes blowing for the entire month. Mornings are usually better than afternoons, but not always. If a calm stretch of weather does arrive, you can bet it will be during mid-week. Probably the easiest method for snatching a limit of these fish is to troll diving plugs in the first clear, green water you can reach. A color change off the beach usually works, but also try an incoming tide near the jetties, or even an outgoing tide in the ship channel just offshore, marked by buoys. Deploy several biglipped plugs that dive deep, along with the old standby Russelure, now made in Houston. Other critters will hit these big plugs, of course, especially the jack crevalle. 80 | June 2017
As a precaution, keep in mind that reeling these plugs back to the boat under pressure, with the boat cruising along, can cause these lures to leap out of the water and into the cockpit. And they carry big, strong, treble hooks. A more rare danger would be for a kingfish to charge the lure when it is right at boatside, jumping and landing in the boat. One angler was reportedly speared in the gut by a jumping king, almost knocking him overboard. His plastic rod holder took the main hit and saved him, except for a bad bruising. It must have been a sizeable fish. So, these trolling plugs are very productive, they just have to be retrieved carefully. They are not practical for catch and release; by the time the hooks are pried loose, these fish are beyond saving. Smaller kings of a yard or so long can be lifted and swung into an open cooler, after the crew has cleared the way. No gaffing and no blood. Just slam the cooler lid and wait until the thrashing inside subsides. Peek inside the cooler and then reach in with long-nose pliers, to release the
Capt. Curtiss Cash with a nice Port O’Connor kingfish caught in state waters.
David Bullock with a Port Aransas kingfish he tailed into the boat, unhooked and is about to be released.
C ontact
Live kingfish caught with a trolled, 7-inch diving MirrOlure. If the water is a little murky, stick with a colorful plug.
82 | June 2017
lure for another go. If the king is too big to lift into a cooler, gaff it and bleed it over the side, with maybe a rinse, before hitting the ice. Just remember, there are mercury health advisories for eating kingfish bigger than about 16 pounds. We like to eat the small ones of eight pounds or so, steaks cooked on the grill, and always try to release the big ones except for a possible tournament winner. Finding live trolling bait for kings is time consuming and really not worth the effort, in my view, unless live bait can be found around a platform or buoy offshore. If you’re trophy-hunting close to the beach or jetties then a live, 12-inch mullet swimming in the wake is hard to beat. That’s assuming a crew member has a cast net, knows where the mullet are, can catch them, and the boat’s live well is functioning. Also, big live mullet don’t last too long in a live well, they become bruised and lethargic. That’s why marinas don’t sell them. A hard-wiggling, big diving plug is much more efficient, time-wise. And who knows, you might hit a hungry 50-pound king the first trip out in June, like I once did. As mentioned earlier, the small boats can reach these fish. The kayak guys out of Aransas regularly catch 30-pound kings. They mostly use live bait or dead ribbonfish, but they also sling lead-head jigs that cover the water column. For those who want to see big kings landed by kayak, Kevin Kieschnick’s Bluewater Kayak Classic tournament is based out of Packery Channel each August. That’s when several 40-pound kings are usually landed from their small, plastic boats, along with a variety of other fish. Ribbonfish are the preferred bait for their kayaks, because both are built for slow trolling. With a powerboat, it’s best to bump-troll ribbonfish, putting the boat engine in and out of gear and taking it slow. Or try drifting behind shrimpboats and those old, rusty platforms in state waters. (Shrimpboats in state waters may be in short supply until their usual season opener begins on July 1). Kingfish are sporty gamesters available to almost anyone off the beach, and now’s the time to get them. For more advice, stories, tackle and tricks for catching these fish, my updated kingfish book is available at Seafavorites.com.
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
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TSFMAG.com | 83
A beast of a great hammerhead – all thirteen feet of her!
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
ERIC OZOLINS
Of Mythical Proportions Fishing, to me, is about chasing dreams. Perhaps that would explain my obsession with shark fishing. Sharks are some of the most dominant and largest of ocean predators, and whether on a personal adventure or running an exciting charter, nothing fuels the obsession better than landing and releasing a giant. Over the past decade I have accomplished this with several incredible specimens that had potential to surpass Texas state records for the species, had I hauled them to a weighstation. A staunch conservationist, a successful release is worth more to me. Anytime conditions align to what I call optimal, I will be on the water. If I am between charters and there is a perfect weather window, I will not hesitate to take to the water alone if none of my shark angling friends can make it. Catching a big shark is my “high” and no other feeling compares with landing a 10-foot fish, or being awakened at 4:00 AM to the screeching of your largest reel being stripped by a massive tiger shark. Such was the case last June when I was granted a rare and special experience – a monumental shark landing that has had great impact on my life. This story has not been told publicly, until now. I call it Oz’s Hammer. 84 | June 2017
June 2, 2016 – I set out for a three-day shark trip. Surf conditions and water clarity were top notch. Bait had become abundant as were the predators. The initial plan was to roll down the beach solo and meet up the following day with my good shark buddy Scott Nelson. Arriving at a promising spot that first morning, I made camp with jack crevalle storming the beach and quickly landed an eighteen-pounder. Fresh jacks are some of the very best big-shark bait there is. Things were off to a great start. I deployed a variety of baits and the action was on. Within an hour I landed and released a 7-1/2-foot male bull shark. Shortly after, I landed and released a blacktip. Suddenly I was completely surrounded by early summer storms, yet the sky above me remained clear – like the eye of a hurricane. I prepared a set of baits as the probability of storm development increased. My plan was to deploy the evening shark baits earlier than normal, while conditions allowed. By 1:00 PM, with weather worsening, I decided to run the baits out, the morning’s fresh jack among them. I placed the whole jack on my 80W about 600 yards off the beach. The reel held more
TSFMAG.com | 85
GoPro image as the great hammer continued to head for the horizon. Note how much line was dumped before she turned.
More GoPro – Attempting to revive, still hoping for successful release.
than a mile of heavy braid. I also placed two large baits out on 50W outfits. With the big bulls around, I ran the jack out hoping to tag and release an 8-foot-plus specimen. Fishing solo is no longer a big deal to me, having landed and released many large sharks in this fashion. Roughly 30 minutes after placing the final bait, the big jack was picked up, and things were about to get interesting! The 80W was singing. I hopped up on the truck rack and strapped in. Thinking it was a large bull, I let it run for a few seconds, expecting it would slow soon. Instead, the shark began to speed up. The line was getting smoked off the reel as I hung on. At that very moment I knew instinctively what I had hooked – little did I know the size of this beast. Strapped in and hanging on, I watched as line continued to disappear at an alarming rate. The thought of attempting to turn it never registered, the fish was on cruise control for the first 15 minutes. For the first time in my shark angling career I grew nervous. I was down to a quarter spool on one of the largest and most powerful reels you can buy. I had the drag hammered down but the fish continued toward the horizon. Thunder began to resonate yet the skies directly above were still clear. Looking around at the ominous clouds and strapped into a monster that was destroying my reel, I became enveloped in a most surreal atmosphere. Roughly a half hour into the fight, and with nearly a mile of line dumped into the Gulf of Mexico, the fish finally began to run out of steam. It couldn’t tell yet if it 86 | June 2017
wanted to continue offshore, or yield to the pressure and swim inshore. The fish makes that decision, but in its own good time. Lucky for me it eventually turned. I slowly began the laborious process of guiding it to the beach. At each sandbar it hesitated and turned for another short burst offshore. As it approached the second sandbar, I was able to observe its enormity and began to plan how I might be able to manage a solo release. Working alone, the ultimate objective of placing a satellite tag on the fish was out of the question, and I focused on the quickest release possible. She bottomed out on the first sandbar and turned on her side, down-current about 200 yards. With my GoPro rolling I knew this would be the most challenging release of my career. I was off the truck in a flash and running full speed, tail-rope in hand, fighting to avoid the hypnotic effect of its size, and the daunting task ahead of me. The huge great hammerhead was on its side in the wade gut and needed help. I got her righted and stationary still in record time. No time to dash back to the truck for tagging and measuring tools, I would sacrifice all that so this fish might live. Luckily, the hook was lightly imbedded in the corner of the jaw and easily removed. Within seconds I began the task of dragging her to deeper water and swimming her out. Despite its massive size everything was going surprisingly well. I had her head into the current in water deep enough to swim, but she was strangely lethargic. And this is why they’re called great hammerheads.
C ontact
I continued walking her into chest-deep water but she simply had no kick. For thirty strenuous minutes I swam with her, applying every revival technique in the big shark textbook. Having released tiger sharks of 600-700 pounds without problems, this shark was just too far gone. I continued until I was utterly exhausted. The shark unfortunately would not survive. Releasing a Texas hammer of this size is unheard of, and with good reason. Though possessing exceptional strength, hammers are surprisingly fragile and stress out much easier than most other species. Fact of the matter is, not many great hammerheads longer than 10-feet survive to be released from the beach. I knew this going in but still gave it my absolute best effort. The irony of it is that even with a skilled helper I believe she would still have died of exhaustion. That’s how they’re programmed – to fight to the death. Any other species of that size would have made the release. In the end, the loss of this fish was terrible but, in a sad way, almost inevitable. I knew the chances were slim to none to begin with, and I have had to live with that. After I could do no more for the fish I had to regain my own strength and composure. When finally able, I sat for a few minutes to admire its biological excellence. The first passing vehicle stopped and only then did I considered taking a measurement and photos with this amazing creature. With a slightly nubbed tail, it taped exactly 13-feet with tremendous girth. Probably in the 800- to 900-pound range, one of the largest sharks caught out of Texas surf in the past couple of decades. While this catch was very special to me, I wanted to keep it off social media for a while as I had no interest in promoting a large shark that does not survive. Lots of folks simply would not understand all aspects of the situation. After a few days I sent a couple photos via text to a select group. Somehow, even with the best of intentions, the images leaked to social media and went viral. There were good and bad comments as you would expect. Facebook removed it after several thousand shares, and it was later learned from a media source they removed it in belief that poaching or other illegal activities might have led to the shark’s death. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Given the social media chaos, I waited a year to release the story. That’s how precious that great hammer has been to me and I hope it demonstrates my respect and dedication to conserving all the shark species I pursue and admire so greatly. I will continue to search and anticipate the next such magical moment in my fishing career, even though that incredible fish could never be replicated, one can still anticipate for the next great life-altering encounter.
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 runs Kayak Wars; one of the largest kayak fishing tournaments in the world. Email Websites
oz@oceanepics.com extremecoast.com | oceanepics.com | kayakwars.com TSFMAG.com | 87
NEW Bubba Blade™ Sculpin Pocket Knife The Sculpin is the ultimate pocket knife for the sportsman! This Tanto style high-carbon stainless steel blade folds completely into the super durable, textured G-10 handle. The Sculpin also features a flipper for one-handed opening, and a deep carry pocket clip for tip-up carry. Now if you forget your fillet knife at home, you will still be able to fillet a fish! www.BubbaBlade.com
Aftco M33 – Captain Boardshorts The AFTCO Captain boardshorts with pockets features a custom Americana themed pattern printed on AFLEX 4-Way stretch fabric. These ultra-
Tsunami Forged Reel Built to withstand the rigors of catching big, hard-fighting saltwater gamefish; the Tsunami FORGED™ lever drag reel is up to the test. The powder forged frame and side plates are built for maximum strength. The anodized spool is precision machined for braided line tolerances. Pinion and drive gears are hardened and smooth operating. Three shielded stainless ball bearings allow maximum castability. The instant anti-reverse bearing plus two back up dogs insure strong, sure hooksets with no line loss. Carbon fiber drag comes into play for all the fighting control you need. The Tsunami FORGED™ size 10 paired with twenty to sixty-pound braid is perfect for all-around fishing, built to withstand harsh saltwater beatings. www.BiminiBayOutfitters.com
lightweight boardshorts feature AFGUARD stain release, AFCOOL quick dry, moister wicking, dual side pockets, and a zippered pocket. In or out of the water, you can expect nothing but the best from the AFTCO Captain boardshorts. 9” Inseam - Regular Fit - Sizes: 28-40 - MSRP: $49.00 M61115 – Bushido LS Performance The AFTCO Bushido sun-protection hoodie fishing shirt is the ultimate in protection from harmful UV rays. The 100% matte polyester long sleeve is constructed with breathable stretch UPF 50+ fabric, and mesh ventilation paneling on back. The Bushido fishing hoodie features a unique sublimated grouper camo print that is sure to stand out on the water. Bushido will make for a Killer technical sun hoodie to add to your arsenal for inshore or offshore fishing. Sizes: S – XXL - MSRP: $45.00
Aftco.com 88 | June 2017
products
Hook Spit – Road Warrior Rod The Road Warrior was designed for the traveling angler. Nowadays it is getting harder and harder to find a great three-piece baitcast rod, but we have done it with this one. It comes in two different actions; one is a heavier action for the angler who targets peacock bass, and the other is a lighter action for the angler who wants to throw a rod under the seat of his pickup truck. These rods are light weight, strong and very well balanced. If you are looking for a great three-piece rod, we have them available for you. www.Hookspit.com
LiveTarget Lures We have never seen a better shrimp impostor than the Rigged Shrimp family from LIVETARGET. This product has every possible anatomy detail matched to the ultimate degree: legs, fan-tail, eyes, horns, segments, even antennae! The realism in the color patterns also present a perfect match for clear water, and select patterns offer glow, pink, or contrast colors for stained water conditions. The Rigged Shrimp comes factory-
Frio FRIO Men's Racermesh Deep Sea LS Tee This 100% Polyester tee features a white Frio Marlin Logo on front and back. FRIO Men's Racermesh Redfish LS Tee This 100% Polyester tee features a white Frio Marlin Logo on front and back. - 3.8oz - 100% Polyester flat back mesh with PosiCharge technology - Moisture-wicking performance - Tag-free label - Set-in sleeves - Side Seams, Retail Fit - Includes tan Frio logo across the front www.FrioIceChests.com
rigged with weighting, rattle, and premium hook designed for a seductive fall rate. Offered in 3" and 4" sizes, packaged in 4-packs, all fully rigged. Check out the shadow image for this anatomy match! www.LiveTargetLures.com
TSFMAG.com | 89
Dickie Colburn
DICKIE COLBURN’S Sabine Scene
Sabine
Dickie Colburn is a full time guide out of Orange, Texas. Dickie has 37 years experience guiding on Sabine and Calcasieu Lakes.
Telephone 409-883-0723 Website www.sabineconnection.com
The bad news is that the “trout catching” on Sabine Lake cannot get much tougher than it is right now. The good news is that this extended run of tough outings has been punctuated by just enough good days to keep us coming back. To say that the bite is merely inconsistent, however, would be unfair to the handful of local anglers undaunted by daily blows and fresh, dirty runoff. Thanks, however, to bull tides that have helped some with salinity levels, we have recently seen some improvement on the south end of the lake. Areas like Keith Lake and the ship channel south of the Causeway are producing the most decent catches on the heels of big incoming tides. Depending on the direction, when we do get back-to-back days of less than 15 mph winds, we have even been able to find at least a few trout in the clearer
water around mouths of the bayous and along the north revetment wall. Those areas are traditionally “lights out” this time of the year, but at least for right now, we have been forced to fish where we can rather than where we want to. We have seen a little bird activity but, more often than not, they are working over A little more wind schools of redfish. than needed. I truly believe that, gale force winds aside, as soon as the Neches and Sabine rivers begin to clear, we will see more bait and the catching will drastically improve. So, what do you do until that occurs? After praying that these daily downpours between Toledo Bend and Sabine Lake slow down, consider shifting gears and taking advantage of what has been a better than average flounder bite thus far. You hear a larger number of glowing reports primarily due to the
CUT TO THE CHASE With Texas Insider Fishing Report
Thursdays, 11 p.m. Fridays, 7 a.m. Saturdays, 7 a.m. Attention anglers — Texas Insider Fishing Report, hosted by fishing legend Capt. Rick Murphy, Brie Gabrielle and Dave Ferrell, is a 60-minute show providing weekly fishing updates from some of the most respected guides. Each show features six regions across Texas. These four-tofive-minute inshore and offshore reports are particularly useful airing before the weekend.
In addition to what’s biting (and where), reel in fishing tips, tackle, product updates and much more! Catch us weekly to get the most out of your fishing. TexasInsiderFishingReport.com TexasInsiderFishingReport 90 | June 2017
@TIFRTV
TIFRTV
increased number of folks that have already made the switch, but the bite truly has been very good. There is no doubt that most of our serious flounder fishermen prefer an outgoing tide and tend to concentrate their efforts around the mouths of the bayous. Both live bait and small tails will work on the fish waiting to ambush the bait exiting the marshes and the expected catch is usually Investing in the future of fishing! a mixed bag of not only flounder, but small keeper trout and redfish as well. As you would expect, the point on either side of the drain or a submerged piece of structure is worth leaving the house early to homestead, but that distinct color change in the water can be just as productive. There are days when that color change is well outside the mouth of the bayou and you can have it all to yourself. The folks that I speak with on a daily basis with duck leases on the east side of the lake report that their ponds and canals are just full of crabs, small baitfish and redfish right now. Wind or no wind, lower tides will eventually push all of that bait into the open lake and it will be “game on.” The flounder tactic that I prefer and one that gets far less pressure is to work the flooded roots of cane lining the shoreline.
There is a world of flooded grass between East Pass and Blue Buck Point and you don’t have to fish near the bayous to do well. A great deal of this water never gets fished and the bull tides were made for this bite as they guarantee flooded grass every day! I have never used live bait when targeting these fish. There is no doubt that small paddle tail grubs and swimbaits work well, but going even smaller all but guarantees success most days. A white or chartreuse GULP curly tail fished on 1/8-ounce heads is deadly but, for my money, the most irresistible lure you can fish is a 1/8-ounce horsehead jighead and three-inch curly tail grub tipped with a small piece of shrimp or soaked with a fish attracting scent. Do not worry about the smaller wire hook as we lose very few fish. And, as far as scents go, I have great confidence in Pro Cure’s Menhaden formula. Every so often a redfish will crash the party and you are at a distinct disadvantage with the lighter hook, but a lighter drag is a big equalizer. Sign the kids up for the CCA Texas S.T.A.R. tournament today and get them on the water. Great investment and even greater reward!
2017-TX-june-mrmm-red.pdf
Great for Redfish, Trout, Flounder and Snook!
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MirrOlure® presents two new Marsh Minnow™ colors. Featuring a clear sparkle tail with a realistic baitfish profile. The large tail design creates lots of vibration when retrieved. Like other popular MirrOlure® Soft Plastics, this lure is heavily scented to attract finicky gamefish.
38WT — Pink Silver Glitter/White Tail
14 — Glow/Chartreuse Tail
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1415 East Bay Drive • Largo, Florida 33771 Tel 727-584-7691 • www.mirrolure.com TSFMAG.com | 91
Capt. Caleb Harp
The Buzz on Galveston Bay
Galveston
Capt. Caleb Harp has fished the Galveston Bay System since childhood and, now a charter captain and fishing guide, he uses his knowledge to enable clients to enjoy the excellent fishing the area offers. His specialty is the yeararound pursuit for trophy trout and redfish with artificial lures
Telephone 281-753-3378 Website harpsguideservice.com
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Seems it took forever for the spring fishing patterns to stabilize but we’re finally there. Apart from a stray front here and there, everything is falling into place and fishing is greatly improved. The new-found productivity really has me trying to figure out – a huge influx of fish coming in from the Gulf or, we experienced an uncommonly difficult and lengthy spring transition this year. Either way, it seems to be behind us now and nothing could make me happier. If you pay much attention to reports from the Galveston Bay complex, the general tone has been pretty gloomy the past couple months. Fishing was tough and many people were questioning whether we even had any trout left following two Drifting reefs summer stack-ups preceded by has become five years of drought. Don’t get quite productive me wrong, those weren’t good for over the past the fishery by any means, but it’s several weeks. very hard to get a good sample of how many fish we have in our bay
when they aren’t eating every day. We definitely seem NOT TO HAVE as many resident fish as in the past. Tide-runners are what we call fish that are not native to the bay. They reside primarily in the Gulf of Mexico and enter the bays through the passes during summer, following bait migrations on strong incoming tides. With the exceptionally mild winter and abnormally high water temperatures this late-spring, the tide-runners have already started their swing and have spread across the bays in full force. This isn’t just a one-time deal; these fish will come in waves most of the summer. If my suspicion holds true we could be in for a banner year. The migration of fish through the Galveston jetties and up the ship channel can be quite phenomenal. These fish will show up one day like crazy and keep riding the tide as far as they can. The gas wells in Trinity Bay are kind of their final stop, making
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this area so good during the late summer months. The key to fishing these tide-runners is to intercept their migration and find out where they are going to periodically stop. The Houston Ship Channel is covered in oyster reefs and each spoil bank has enough structure to hold fish. Finding little humps and undulations that will hold schools of trout in an area are very good keys to success. Like I talked about last month, I am excited to see how this year plays out. It seems to me and several old-timers that we are finally going to see a normal year as far as salinity, with no more stack-ups. We should see the fishing continue to get better and better but I feel a move toward more conservative bag limits would be a great boost to our fishery. But let’s not get into that five-hour discussion. East Galveston Bay East Bay has recently developed much greater consistency for drifters working reefs. Each reef is unique and sets up in its own way, depending on how the tide is rolling through. It’s no secret that the reefs are a great place to catch trout in the summer months, especially after the last two years of madness that took place there, but being on the right reef at the right time is critical. MirrOlure Lil’ Johns are my go-to bait most of the time on the reefs. I like the
Purple Demon whenever the water is lightly stained to “trout green” and the Chartreuse Ice when the clarity trends toward clear. Finding high points within the reefs will help you pinpoint schools of fish better and always keep an eye out for slicks to show you where the fish are headed. West Galveston Bay West Bay has been putting up some good stringers for wade fishermen around San Luis Pass. Working guts and sand flats around the pass can be quite good this time of year throwing MirrOlure She-Dogs. Redfish are thick on the grass on the north shoreline. Throwing paddletails such as the Marsh Minnow rigged weedless are hard for reds to resist when swam between sand pockets in the grass. These patterns will stay true for most of the summer.
Redfish like this bruiser are welcome surprises while drifting for trout.
Trinity Bay Trinity Bay has been slow the past few months and I blame it on the lack of resident fish and the difficult spring transition we have been through. Once the wind lays down and the tide-runners make their way up here we should see some big improvement and good fishing in Trinity.
TSFMAG.com | 93
Bink Grimes
The View from Matagorda
Matagorda
Bink Grimes is a full-time fishing and hunting guide, freelance writer and photographer, and owner of Sunrise Lodge on Matagorda Bay.
Telephone 979-241-1705 Email binkgrimes@sbcglobal.net Website matagordasunriselodge.com
94 | June 2017
I really think June is my favorite fishing month. Everyone is so excited to be on the water and smiles abound with the whole summer in front of us. Trout, reds, surf, bay, Gulf of Mexico - all are players in June. For some reason, fish “slick” in June more than any month I can remember. Few things are better for a wader than catching heavy trout on topwaters while the sweet, fruity aroma of multiple slicks pop in every direction. That’s when you know you are “really” in them. When wading, we focus on the grass beds during summer. Most of this terrain can be found along barrier island shorelines in the lee of southerly winds, and stay fishably clean even when flags are starched. Our best grass beds are in West Matagorda Bay. June normally affords ardent morning incoming tides, perfect for walking a She Pup or Super Spook Jr. over the flats. But, clear water isn’t always where the fish are. Most of the time there is a dingy section of a flat and that’s where most of the fish will be. Waters get too clear at times to catch fish.
I love fishing flats adjacent to the Port O’Connor jetty and Pass Cavallo. The best tides in the bay occur there and we toss topwaters, Bass Assassins, Down South Lures and MirrOlure Soft-dines in some of the most beautiful water you will ever wade. I know it is a broken record, but our bays are in the best shape I have seen in over a decade. There seems to be fish everywhere. Sure, we have our tough days – fish don’t bite every day. However, the sheer number of speckled trout and the quality and size is impressive. Credit should be given to our attitudes about taking care of fish and not taking more than we need. The 5-fish limit, though it is tough to measure, although it has to help. Our wet weather the past three years is also a boon. The power of freshwater is like a B-12 shot in the arm of our bays. Back to June fishing – the surf normally gives us a few days to fish in June and there is nothing better than watching a plug get crunched in the foam. We wade the first gut on an incoming tide, but choose to drift out of the boat when tides are falling so we can safely fish the outer bars with MirrOlures, topwaters and soft plastics. With light winds, all of East Bay is in play, including mid-bay reefs. Few bays in Texas rival East Matty for its potential to grow large trout; and, more big trout have been caught and released in 2017 than I can remember. I tell my Cajun buddies from Hackberry that our bay is a lot like Big Lake 15 years ago, when seven-pound trout were cheap. Tune in to Fox Sports Southwest for the Texas Insider Fishing Report Thursday-Saturday for up-to-date reports along the coast. Follow the show along with my daily reports on Instagram and Facebook.
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Capt. Gary Gray
MID-COAST BAYS With the Grays
Port O'Connor Seadrift
Captain Gary Gray is a full time guide born and raised in Seadrift. He has been guiding in the Seadrift/ Port O’Connor area for 28 years. Gary specializes in wading for trout and redfish year round with artificial lures.
Telephone 361-785-6708 Email bayrats@tisd.net Website www.bayrat.com
96 | June 2017
We cannot control the wind. On a daily basis, it tells us where and how we can fish and the best direction to approach the areas it allows us to fish in. The wind dictates the direction of our drifts, and when blowing hard enough, the direction we will be wading and casting. Nothing controls our fishing, and our catching, as much or as often as wind. On a recent charter, I was met with a light NW breeze at sunrise. I had been seeing and smelling slicks every morning coming from a shoreline drop-off that is known for great trout fishing this time of year, but unfavorable wind had prevented me trying it for nearly two weeks. With the surprise of the light NW breeze, I scratched my plan of returning to the reef that had given our three-boat group easy trout limits the day before. My three anglers showed up early and eager as their group always does. They were situating gear in my Shallow Sport X3’s massive storage areas when I informed them to just hang on to their stuff – the boat ride would be short. Within five minutes we were easing over the side. Scattered slicks were already popping. We worked the area thoroughly, throwing everything but the proverbial kitchen sink. After nearly an hour without
so much as a tap on my Assassins I headed back to the boat. I rounded up the guys and apologized for wasting their time. One of them reassured me by saying, “Hey with all that bait and slicks popping, I would have stopped there myself.” It made me feel a little better as I reimplemented the original plan. Everything looked perfect as we arrived at the reef. Current was running and slicks were popping. The light breeze allowed wading and casting in any direction. One hour later – not a bite! I was going over everything in my head, comparing the past few days of fishing, the only thing I could come up was the lack of wind. I loaded everyone back up in the X3 and headed for a reef with a sudden, deep drop-off. One of my go-to areas during high-pressure fishing. We spread out over the shell, two of the guys probing the drop-off. The other angler and I went to work on a huge raft of mullet on top of the reef. As we waded along we began discussing the events of the day up to that point. He recognized that all the things we needed for a great day had been present at each stop, and I agreed. I mentioned how slick the water was and that we really needed a little chop on the surface. The words
were barely out of my mouth when I felt the thump I had been waiting for. I landed the first fish of the day at 9:50 AM. The weight was still squarely on my shoulders but I had at least caught a fish. Heading to the boat, I noticed one of the other anglers landing a trout. Okay, that’s two, but at 10:00, not good! I picked them up again and headed across San Antonio Bay to another no-name reef. I told them we are going to aim small and hit
We all dream of calm conditions at sunrise – but too calm can be as challenging as too windy.
smaller areas until the wind came up, believing we needed some rippling on the surface for them to bite. Crossing the bay I mentioned to the guy beside me that the birds that had been working all over the bay the day before were nowhere in sight. Had to be the lack of wind. As I got to my top-secret reef there were three guys already there, and loading up – nothing on their stringers. We finally had wind beginning to build from the south as I allowed the boat to drift to the far end of the reef. Not much, but enough to ripple the surface. I could still cast into the light breeze but it was building. Ten casts into the wade I hooked a healthy speck, next cast another. I called to the guy behind me to come alongside and we were soon greeted with a bite almost every cast. The other two moved in closer and we enjoyed a solid two hours of catching and releasing before I waded back to the boat. They were still catching as I brought the boat up. They thanked me for a great trip and one mentioned he was never worried because I never wore a worried look. I replied that I thought we were around fish on every wade; they just weren’t in a feeding mood until the wind got up. On the way back to the dock the birds were working just like they’d been all week. So, next time your cussing the wind, remember that lack of wind can be just as challenging. Fish hard, fish smart!
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david rowsey
HOOKED UP WITH Rowsey
Upper Laguna/ Baffin
David Rowsey has over 25 years in Baffin and Upper Laguna Madre; trophy trout with artificial lures is his specialty. David has a great passion for conservation and encourages catch and release of trophy fish.
Telephone 361-960-0340 Website www.DavidRowsey.com Email david.rowsey@yahoo.com @captdavidrowsey
98 | June 2017
I hope everybody is gearing up for a hot summer. I started wet wading much earlier than years past, and many other wade fishermen were far ahead of me on that play. With air temperatures well into the mid-90s throughout April and May, there is no doubt that this summer will feel “special” to say the least. I see lots more people fishing from the decks of guide boats than wet wading lately, and frankly, I don’t see how y’all do it. I had the misfortune to fish from the boat all day recently and I was just smoked by the end of the day. Y’all can have it. I’ll stick to waist-deep wading with waves on the middle of my back. As I predicted in an earlier article, tides started pushing from the south around the new moon of April. By the beginning of May we were in the full swing of things. The whole bay system is just flush with activity – baitfish, skipjacks, cownose rays, and trout. It’s truly a pleasure to pull up to your first wading spot and be welcomed by flickering mullet and quick bites from an assortment of gamefish. We have been experiencing a tremendous bite of late, weather permitting. Strong SE winds have been somewhat of a nuisance but those will be greatly diminished as we roll into June. Having a game plan everyday is extremely important, and I don’t mean
just where you think the trout are biting or a favorite spot. Planning around the wind, and figuring out how stronger winds will help you later in the day is a big part of what I live by on the water. For example: Fishing open bay structure earlier in the day when the winds are lighter, and shallow, clear flats at late-morning to midday as the wind has sanded up the water a bit. Fish are much less spooky when there is a chop on top and the water just barely off-color. Seeking out these areas also just makes sense as the trout bite slows down towards late-morning and the reds are still willing to play. Another bonus to this is that you never know when you will come upon that giant rogue trout up on the flats while catching some afternoon reds. It happens all the time – I promise! Something else I should share before I run off on a completely different subject is FLOUNDER. Holy cow, are we ever seeing and catching them this year! They seem to be everywhere we stop, regardless of the structure type; Baffin and Upper Laguna. For every flounder I catch, I bet I kick up 7 or 8 more. There is no doubt that the regulations established a few years ago have made a huge and positive impact. Hopefully the trout will follow suit. Spending as much time as I do on the water and
BJ Durham with one of many great trout caught up skinny on a gorgeous day in the Laguna.
Casablanca This beautiful waterfront property is hidden on the shores of Baffin Bay, built by Frank and Mary Grace Horlock. As soon as you pass through the entrance gates a sense of relaxation will put you at ease.
around the marina, I am in awe of the way some boaters operate their vessels. Unfortunately, not in a good way. Anyone who’s been on the bay much lately cannot help but notice how many boats are out there now versus just five years ago. The majority of the boats are flashy, fast, and expensive. Deductive reasoning would typically conclude that the operator dropping this much money on a rig would know how to use it. But this is not the case for many of them, and makes it downright scary for others in their wakes. We all have stories, bad boating manners and such. My most recent one was a guy in a $90K-plus rig that insisted on running the shoreline between my anglers. As I tried desperately to wave him off, I swear I heard the RPMs increase as he cut between the shoreline and the guy closest to it. Mind you, the seas were virtually flat that day and he could have easily taken a course around us. Frustrating and dangerous! A few days later the operator of the marina showed me a video of a boat racing through marina on plane, harshly waking every moored boat in sight. Go figure! It was the same guy that had burned us. Is this a case of a guy who doesn’t know any better, or one that just flat doesn’t care? Either way, he needs to be educated. We have to possess a license to operate everything from a car to a gun. I hate restrictions as much as anyone, but I think it is high time that TPWD start considering a mandatory boating safety and etiquette course for boaters with limited experience. Remember the buffalo! -Capt David Rowsey
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Wayne Davis
WAYNE’S Mansfield Report
Port Mansfield
Captain Wayne Davis has been fishing the Lower Laguna-Port Mansfield for over 20 years. He specializes in wade fishing with lures.
Telephone 210-287-3877 Email captwayne@kwigglers.com
100 | June 2017
All is well in Port Mansfield and catching is in full swing as we head into summer. Weather patterns should stabilize soon – as in steady decrease of the strong southerly flows we’ve been fighting. Temperatures are creeping up and the days are getting longer. It’s time to plan early starts. That just about sums up what you can expect in June regarding catching and weather. Let’s talk fishing. The relaxed starts of winter and early-spring are now a thing of the past. I am having my clients meet me twenty minutes before sunrise and I like to be at my first spot as the sun peeks over the horizon. Wading knee-deep and twitching a topwater as the sun rises is a big part of the Lower Laguna experience. How many times do average folks get
Cheryl Allen shows off a nice red during a recent charter. Fishing has been good!
to enjoy this in a year’s time? Whatever your answer; I don’t think it’s enough. I cannot tell you how often I hear anglers commenting on the beauty of the sunrise. Tides continue to run on the high side, which allows us to glide through the backbays and settle down near a shoreline and wade small drains and guts. I cannot stress enough the importance of wading quietly in these areas. Too often I see anglers tossing lures straight downwind, over and over, walking as though they have an appointment somewhere, straight past fish they should have been catching. A much better approach is to methodically fan a series of casts from 9-o’clock left to 3-o’clock right – and then take a few steps
One of my Empty Stringers groups. They caught lots of fish…but somehow they all got away!
forward. You might be surprised to learn how many fish you’ve been missing. Oh, before I forget, bring a jacket. We’ve been out of waders for a couple of weeks but a light jacket still feels good on early morning boat rides. Depending the temperatures and wind, we are sometimes continuing to wear our jackets during our first wades. Tournament season hits full stride in June. Lately we are seeing many adopting more conservative formats than in the past and I would like to tell about one that is particularly fun and very challenging. Dr. Ken Ellis, AKA, Doc, who is also president of the Galveston CCA chapter, runs what he calls a Blackjack tournament. I am privileged to be one of the guides participating and I want you to know this is one fine event. Here’s the format: Anglers are challenged to catch one each per day; trout, red and flounder. The maximum length allowed at weigh-in for each species is 21-inches, hence the blackjack reference, and a perfect 21-incher is awarded 21 points. A perfect score for the day is 63 points – 126 points possible over the two days of competition. The challenge is in attaining that perfect length without going over. The more fish you catch, the better your chance of winning. How awesome is that? I believe Doc’s tourney format makes a great conservation statement and a positive contribution to the future sustainability of our fishery. Fishing has been very good and as I write this we are enjoying a run of solid five- to sevenpound trout. Most of our time is spent wading waist-deep and shallower and the majority of these fish are on scattered grass and sand. Occasionally we find fish scattered on the sand flats, but not far from the grass line. Flounder continue to make regular appearances, some reaching three and four pounds. One Knockers have been steady producers but, a word to the wise, change your hooks when they get rusty. There is a very large trout swimming somewhere with a single barb of a rusted treble in her mouth. KWigglers Willow Tails and 4-inch Paddletails continue to produce. Red Shad Pro, Mansfield Margarita and Plum-Blue Metal Flake-Chartreuse have been hot numbers. We are running these on 2/0 1/16-ounce spring locks and also the 2/0 1/8-ounce black nickel jigs. In closing, I would like to mention the Empty Stingers Catch and Release Program that I am part of. Since the first of the year my clients have released 315 keeper-class fish. This does not include my personal releases. You don’t realize how many fish you are saving until you run the numbers. I am proud to be part of this and so thankful for the sponsors that support it: Shallow Sport Boats, Fishing Tackle Unlimited, Simms, AFTCO, Costa Del Mar and Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine. Like the Empty Stringers Catch and Release Program on Facebook and be part of the team. Until next time, be safe and courteous on the water. TSFMAG.com | 101
Capt. Ernest cisneros
SOUTH PADRE Fishing Scene A rr oyo C olorado t o Port I sabel
A Brownsville-area native, Capt. Ernest Cisneros fishes the Lower Laguna Madre from Port Mansfield to Port Isabel. Ernest specializes in wading and poled skiff adventures for snook, trout, and redfish.
Cell 956-266-6454 Website www.tightlinescharters.com
102 | June 2017
We have been enjoying a great spring season on the Lower Laguna, catching lots of fish, but our fishery is definitely different than it used to be. Seasoned anglers, those with enough experience to recognize patterns and find fish nowadays, will all say that consistent catching requires more creativity and a lot more work. It wasn’t all that long ago, large schools of redfish would roam our bays and remain in general areas for weeks, sometimes months. Trout were more plentiful, in general, and big trout were far easier to pattern. I could run through a lengthy list of probable causes but several are strikingly prominent. Tide levels the past couple of years have averaged much higher than in the past. Boat traffic has perhaps more than doubled, maybe tripled. And air temperatures through what should be cooler months rarely dip below the 60s. I mention these things not to be a prophet of doom, but to encourage greater conservation in our fishing practices and courtesy toward our fellow anglers. We cannot control weather and tides but we can certainly strive to be better stewards of the resources and treat others on the water the way we would want to be treated. Southerly wind reaching 30 MPH most days
has been dictating where we could fish. Hugging protected shorelines while working coves and backbay drains have been our best strategies when the winds really howled. Flats along the east side of the ICW have also been day-savers. Trout and reds both seem to be feeding best in the lower parts of the water column, so concentrate on making slower retrieves. Adam Roberson proud displays his personal best trout – 8-1/4 pounds – CPR!
Marcos Vela's dream was to catch one this big – and it came true! Weight: 8-1/4 Length: 30-3/4.
Flounder are always a bonus when fishing this way. When targeting flounder, I would focus on the edges of East Cut drains and guts and along old oil field channels. The ICW drop-off will almost always produce a few, wherever you stop. Two great flounder tips: Where there’s one there’s usually more. And, use a landing net when planning to invite a doormat to dinner! Redfish are up to their old tricks again – here one day and gone the next. I blame the high tides and boat traffic for the scatter. When targeting reds, we work tight to flooded shoreline grass and hit every drain. If current within the drain is too strong, back away and work the area where the flow fans out onto the flat. There has been some bird action over pods and small schools of redfish on the flats when wind reaches 25+ but not so much when it’s calmer. The east side sand has at times held the most redfish I’ve seen so far this year. The best times have been early morning and late afternoon. Gold spoons have been the top producer, followed by KWiggler Ball Tails, and a few on topwaters. I expect increased fishing pressure in June will make it even tougher, pushing them either much deeper or super shallow. Moving on to trout fishing. It has become widely accepted that everything is running early this year but, when considering bigger trout I have to disagree. What should have been happening over the past several months is just now coming into play. We are finally landing trophy-size fish at the rate of several per week. Even though weights are down due to spawning, they are still trophy-length and it is gratifying to know they are still out there. The best pattern for big trout has been working areas with the greatest concentrations of mullet. Under that scenario you would expect topwaters to do the trick but, surprisingly, soft plastics have given us more bites. Potholes lying knee- to thigh-deep in grassy areas close to shorelines seem to be preferred haunts of larger trout the past several weeks. As always, I encourage releasing large trout, and nothing promotes their survival as much as careful handling and letting them swim away as quickly as possible. New lures come and go but some earn go-to status very quickly. If you have not tried KWiggler’s new Willow Tail Shad, I highly recommend doing so on your next outing. Their fluttering tail action is superb and seems to draw strikes when other baits get ignored. They are also very durable, just like the rest of the KWiggler family. Another product I recommend highly is the AFTCO Cumulus Tech shirt. The fabric is remarkably comfortable, blocks 98% of UV rays, and is stain free. Hands down I believe it is the best fishing shirt I have worn. Check them out at Fishing Tackle Unlimited stores or visit their website. Until my next article; best fishing to you!
TSFMAG.com | 103
FISHING REPORTS
ORECASTS F from Big Lake to Boca Chica
AND
Lake Calcasieu Louisiana Jeff and Mary Poe - Big Lake Guide Service - 337.598.3268 This month will offer some of the best fishing of the year. Areas around midlake reefs, along the Calcasieu Ship Channel, around nearshore platforms, as well as the Cameron Jetties and the surf will kick off at this time. Big trout can be targeted at daybreak and dusk on topwater plugs. Sand flats and oyster reefs lying in two to five feet of water adjacent to the ship channel are likely places to catch these giants. The surf is also a good place to target numbers of solid trout this time of year. But the biggest numbers of fish will come off the edges of the channel and around mid-lake reefs. These fish will be caught mostly on soft plastics which imitate shrimp, rigged on quarter-ounce jigheads. MirrOlure Lil' Johns will be our soft plastics of choice, in a variety of different colors. We usually stick to solid colors in dirty water and translucent ones in clear water. Birds will also be picking over schools of fish at this time, so don't pass them by. Lots of trout and lower numbers of bull reds can be found under them.
Jimmy West - Bolivar Guide Service - 409.996.3054 Fishing has been really good in the Galveston area when winds are light, Jim reports. “We have a bunch of fish stacked up out in the middle around the shell reefs, and they are pretty easy to locate and catch when it's not too windy. The beachfront has already turned on and produced really good trout fishing for solid fish. We've had some bigger fish out in the middle, up to seven pounds, and some fives and sixes on the shorelines too. On the windier days, wading is necessary, and it can be pretty good too. June patterns are much the same as they are now. We normally get quite a bit of wind early in the month, and we sometimes see the development of the westerly winds later in the month, some years. We should be able to fish almost every day next month, though. The topwater bite is really good lately, which is typical for May. June is a great month for topwaters too. And, we also do really well on Sea Shads, with paddletails. Out in the middle, the vibrating tail seems to get more bites than the rat-tail lots of days.”
Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com - 409.935.7242 “We're catching some pretty good fish lately,” James says. “Seems like about half of the fish are out in the middle, over deep shell, while the other half are on the shorelines. We've had some birds working for a while now. We've had some good sessions wading near Rollover Pass in East Bay too. Biggest problems we have are crowds and windy conditions. Light winds allow us to move around and fish where we want to, and avoid the concentrations of boaters. If it's windy, that doesn't work as well, since it limits where we can fish. The topwater bite has been good at times lately, especially on SheDogs, but it's not consistent. The Sea Shads work more consistently. We also find that fast presentations with swim baits work really well this time of year. In June, it's usually pretty easy to catch fish where you want to and how you want to. Of course, you need relatively light winds to open up all the possibilities. June and October are two of my favorite months because of the number of productive options available.”
West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays Randall Groves - Groves Guide Service 979.849.7019 - 979.864.9323 The month of June is well-known to be a productive one in the area around San Luis Pass. “We love this time of year. We have plenty of favorable options when winds are light and the water is warm like it is in June. We fish the surf as much as we can, do quite a bit of wading behind the pass too, also hit some of the reefs in area bays for wading, and fish out of the boat over deeper water with mud and shell on the bottom at times too. Lately, soft plastics have been producing more bites than the other lures. We're having good luck on full-sized Sand Eels in glow with chartreuse tail, rigged on three-eighths ounce heads. We have had a decent topwater bite at times, throwing Skitterwalks in the woodpecker color pattern, white with red head. When winds are howling louder and/or if the
104 | June 2017
moon phase has the tide in an unfavorable pattern, we do resort to using live bait to continue catching. We'll continue doing the same things next month. With any luck, we'll have lighter winds on a more regular basis, and that will allow us to catch better in more places and will produce more days with a vigorous topwater bite.”
The owner of Diamond J, James Rosalis, was a partner in Circle J Enterprises at the time our office and son’s home were built by Circle J. Workmanship and attention to detail were both excellent! – Everett Johnson, Editor/Publisher, Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine
Matagorda | Charlie Paradoski Bay Guide Service - 713.725.2401 “June is a month of hoping you can get into the surf as much as possible,” Charlie says. “I hope we see the weather settle down so we can get into a steady, predictable pattern. Normally, winds die down somewhat during the month of June and the surf becomes a better option more of the time. Normally, the first two or three days after the wind dies, the fishing in the surf will blast off. We usually catch pretty good then on topwaters close to the beach early, then move of deeper and throw soft plastics or MirrOlures later in the morning. Every year is different. Some years, we catch 'em really good on top, but in other years, soft plastics work much better. That can be true, of course, when we're fishing the other really good pattern for June, which is working the areas around the reefs in the west end of East Bay. Over there, we do have some luck at times throwing topwaters, especially if we're wading the reefs, sometimes out of the boat too. Mostly, we throw soft plastics on jigheads heavy enough to allow us to maintain contact with the bottom.” Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam www.palaciosguideservice.com - 979.240.8204 Fishing has been fantastic in our area. With water temperatures running above normal, our local estuaries are full of bait and gamefish. Our trout bite has been off the charts over shell. Live shrimp, Gulp! and VuDu shrimp rigged three feet under popping corks have worked best. Solid trout up to three pounds have been plentiful on most trips. With these big tides, the reds have been hammering small topwaters along grassy shorelines, mostly slot-sized, with a few bigs mixed in. Flounder numbers have been good; on calm nights we've been gigging fish up to eighteen inches, seeing lots of beds on sandy shorelines. June will shift our focus to the deep shell out in West Matagorda around wells and reefs. Best bite is early and slows down as the day heats up. We will be targeting fish in the surf under light onshore or north winds. Fishing tight to the beach then working out to the second gut is a good plan. Tripletail will also be a target of our efforts as water temperatures rise and we their numbers increase in the bay. Port O’Connor | Lynn Smith Back Bay Guide Service - 361.983.4434 In June, Lynn expects to be targeting trout and redfish along shorelines with sandy, grassy bottoms, in addition to some other patterns. “I like to fish through areas with a good mix of sand and grass this time of year, especially when we find large rafts of mullet in those places. We'll throw soft plastics like Hogies and Gamblers a lot, and some slow-sinking twitch baits like the broken-backed Corkys. The spoil banks along the channel usually start producing fairly consistently this time of year too, especially later in the month. Lighter winds and decent tide movements help that pattern. We will also be trying to get into the surf any chance we get. We've already had some TSFMAG.com | 105
decent luck out there, and conditions should be favorable on a more regular basis, allowing us to function and catch plenty of trout along the beach. We've had a great year fishing for trout already, and I expect the trend to continue this month. We do have the best luck using live bait once the water heats up at the beginning of summer.” Rockport | Blake Muirhead Gator Trout Guide Service - 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894 June is a good month for wading in various areas of the local Rockport Bays, Blake reports. “We work a lot of shorelines with mostly sand and grass on the bottom. We like to stay shallow early, tight to the banks, throwing topwaters a lot. I like the chrome and blue Super Spooks in particular. As the day wears on, we tend to move out deeper, sometimes as deep as we can wade, and switch over to throwing soft plastics like white/chartreuse Norton Sand Eels around deeper grass beds. We throw live croakers plenty this time of year too. Sometimes, the mid-bay reefs in Bays like Copano, San Antonio, Mesquite and Aransas Bays produce better than the shorelines, especially in the hot part of the day. We are hoping the surf will produce steadily this month too. Last year the beachfront was covered up with redfish. I've never caught so many reds out there as we did last year. Most years, it's a trout thing along the beach, though. We are having a pretty good year catching trout already this year, and I expect June to be good too.” Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut Robert Zapata – rz1528@grandecom.net - 361.563.1160 The month of June has long been one of my favorite months for fishing because so many things become consistent. The weather is generally more predictable, with the winds being calmer than earlier in the spring, and the water temperatures also become stable. The water clarity is really good right
106 | June 2017
now all over the Laguna Madre. My confidence is up and the productive attitude seems to positively affect my fishing clients. This month, I will start my days looking for trout in two feet of water or less that has potholes with firm sand and gravel on the bottom. I will be casting Bass Assassin Die Dappers in colors like sand trout and salt & pepper silver phantom on sixteenth-ounce springlock jigheads on sunny days and hot chicken on cloudy days. This is also a good month to fish with live baits in two to three feet of water along grass lines and drop offs. Live croakers will catch trout, reds and flounder. As the day progresses, and the sun gets higher in the sky, I’ll drift or wade in one foot of water and sight-cast for reds and black drum. Corpus Christi | Joe Mendez – www.sightcast1.com - 361.937.5961 Water quality over the entire Baffin/ULM and Corpus Christi Bay systems is in pristine condition lately. “The water down south is incredibly clear lately. This makes for generally good fishing early in the mornings, when light conditions are low, meaning the fish feed actively then. Blind-casting around structures like rocks and potholes in the grass beds will produce plenty of bites from trout, reds and ladyfish. When the sun climbs a little higher, the potential for sight-casting improves dramatically. We have some big schools of trout and redfish roaming the shallows lately. With steady winds blowing over the clear water, it's often possible to see them and make casts right into their midst. When not drifting around in the shallows looking for those opportunities, we have better luck under the bright sun while drifting around deep grass edges and rocks lying close to a drop off to deeper water. Places like Rocky Slough, Summer House and Pensacal Point offer numerous productive structures and edges like these.” P.I.N.S. Fishing Forecast | Eric Ozolins For the first time in three years, sargassum continues to impact Texas beaches coast wide. Hopefully it will diminish as summer approaches. An annoyance to
fishermen, sargassum is great for the ecosystem, delivering plankton and fry of many species that start the food chain. Cobia and tripletail are often possible from the beach when Sargasso is abundant. June also has potential for phenomenal speckled trout opportunity. Topwaters will be effective for luring trout, but also attract pesky jack crevalle. If you are targeting jacks, find the birds and bait getting crashed, and toss large spoons. Slot reds should be plentiful. Be aware of numerous stingrays when wading. Skipjacks will shadow bait schools and sharks will hound the skipjacks. Nighttime sharking will produce some of the largest sharks of the year, primarily tigers and hammers, with some bulls in the mix. Tarpon should be hitting the beach. Caution to beach drivers – decomposing sargassum partially covered by sand has the potential to sink your vehicle instantly. Port Mansfield | Ruben Garza Snookdudecharters.com – 832.385.1431 Getaway Adventures Lodge – 956.944.4000 Fishing has been very good to excellent, even when the wind approaches gale strength. Find a green streak of water with mullet jumping and small bait flipping. Topwaters might work but the best bet on windy days will be soft plastics on eighth-ounce heads. The new KWiggler Willow Tail Shad has become a go-to bait for us; trout and reds are eating them up. Red Shad is our top producer, followed by Mansfield Margarita. When the southeast wind turns the green water too murky, we head to the east side. The Willow Tail works on these sand-grass flats but a weedless gold spoon is tops for redfish, and we've also been catching a few big trout over the sand. On calmer days, the west shoreline and ICW spoils have been giving us insane topwater action. The smaller SkitterWalk in the trout color (SW08ST) has been a favorite. Another solid producer has been One Knocker Spooks in bone and pink/silver. Topwater action sometimes lasts all day. If the bite fades, switch to your favorite soft plastic and work the deeper edges of the structure. Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel Janie and Fred Petty | www.fishingwithpettys.com – 956.943.2747 Fishing has been very good considering the strong winds we’ve been dealing with this spring. Although normal for this time of year, the air quality has been hazy and muggy when the wind is out of the south; fronts offer the only break from the heavy humidity. Most days, the bite is going off best in the late afternoons, when boat traffic is lighter. Freddy says, “FP3s are keeping us in the game, whether we’re sight casting in the shallows or grinding it out in deeper, muddy pot holes. The weight of the cork rig helps lengthen your casts, which is very important when it’s calm and the water is clear, and the vibrations created by the innovative popping, call fish close enough to be effective when it’s windy and muddy. Be sure you tie a monofilament leader above the cork to keep the braided line from tangling in the swivel.” We’ve been throwing Berkley Gulp! Live three-inch shrimp on an eighth-ounce screw on jighead, in new penny and pearl white, dropping and hopping under red or yellow FP3s. Help stop open bay dredge disposal!
TSFMAG.com | 107
Tyrus Sumlin Galveston - 39” black drum
Diane Perkins East Matagorda Bay - 27.5” trout
Austin Tyler St. Charles Bay - 20” speck
Owen Gaete Rockport - Dad's 16.5" trout 108 | June 2017
Robert & Karen Spencer POC - 45” & 44” bull reds
Charlie Cendalski East Matagorda Bay - 29” trout
Andrew Maddox POC jetty - 25 lb jack
Amon Lewis Matagorda Bay - 42” redfish
Karla Chando Tres Palacios Bay - 27” red
Alex David & Katie McKinney Laguna Madre - redfish CPR
John Quillin Galveston Bay - 40+” bull red CPR
Eric Perkins & James Schroeder West Matagorda Bay - 40” bull red
Pete & Valerie Villalobos Padre Island - 23” redfish
Jon Smith Lower Laguna - 28.5” trout
Harry Craig Copano Bay - 31” redfish
Daniel Carrola Port Aransas - 38” red
Andrew Johnston Galveston - 27” trout
Robin Dunaway 29” 8 lb first big trout!
Jamie Hanzik 28” first redfish!
Gavin POC jetty - 38" first red! CPR
Kim Garman PINS - blacktip CPR
Natalie & Casey Seadrift back lakes - trout & redfish Megan Massingill Port O’Connor - redfish
Wes & Katie McKinney Laguna Madre - reds CPR
Please do not write on the back of photos.
Email photos with a description of your Catch of the Month to: Photos@tsfmag.com
Trinity Perkins Matagorda - 23” redfish
James Schroeder East Matagorda Bay - 26” trout
Mail photos to: TSFMag P.O. Box 429, Seadrift, TX 77983 TSFMAG.com | 109
Pam Johnson
Gulf Coast
Got ideas, hints or recipes you’d like to share? Email them to pam@tsfmag.com or send by fax: 361-785-2844
Cajun Trout Supreme INGREDIENTS
PREPARATION
1 1⁄2 lbs speckled trout fillets, cut into strips
Sprinkle fillets with blackening seasoning.
2 teaspoons blackening seasoning
Spread both sides of fillets with mayonnaise.
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
Place in shallow dish; cover and refrigerate 1 hour.
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
In a large skillet, heat 4 tablespoons butter until begins to sizzle.
(can substitute canned, drained)
Sear fish until golden, turning once.
8 tablespoons butter, divided
Transfer to 9x13 baking pan in a single layer.
1⁄2 cup chopped fresh parsley 1 cup sliced green onion
In a different skillet, heat 4 tablespoons butter, cook and stir mushrooms until golden.
1 lb. peeled shrimp
Stir in parsley, green onions and shrimp.
2 cans (10 3/4 ounce) condensed cream of shrimp soup
Reduce heat to low and cook until shrimp are just pink. Stir in soup and blend well; turn off heat.
Thanks to Tim Fagan for sharing this wonderful recipe!
Ladle over fish in baking dish. Preheat oven to 375⁰ and bake 30 minutes. (Reduce baking time for thinner fillets) Served on a bed of long grain & wild rice.
110 | June 2017
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SpawGlass.com SpawGlass is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
TSFMAG.com | 111
CHRIS MAPP
B OAT M AI N T E N A N C E TI P S
Diagnosing High-RPM Power Loss Chris Mapp, owner of Coastal Bend Marine. Evinrude, Suzuki, Yamaha, Mercury, Honda, BlueWave, SilverWave, Shallow Stalker Boats, Coastline Trailers, Minnkota & Motor Guide Trolling Motors. Great Service, Parts & Sales “What can we do for you?”
Spring is well underway and we are about to roll into summer. You’ve had your boat out for a few trips and lately you have begun noticing a slight power loss in the upper RPM range – above 4000 RPM – yet when you throttle back the engine and cruise at lower engine speed it runs fine. You are likely experiencing the result of a boat that has been sitting for a period of time and debris carried by the ethanol in your gasoline is finding its way into the vapor separator tank (VST) pump inlet filter. This is not due to neglect on your part or a lack of changing filters. The 10-micron fuel/water separator filter installed on the boat is the first line of defense and though you change it once or twice a year, which prevents water and most debris from reaching the fuel injection system, extremely fine particulate matter has made
VST pump inlet filter. Service during regularly scheduled annual checkups or every 100 hours of operation is recommended for outboards in normal recreational usage, annually or 500 hours for fishing guides or multiple-tripper-week recreational fishermen.
its way to the VST filter. The fabric of this filter contains such fine mesh that the accumulation of particulates that make it past the fuel/water separator will eventually collect and impede fuel flow. Servicing this filter component is an important part of our annual service check list. This problem is not uncommon if you have neglected or are running behind in your regularly scheduled maintenance program. Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda and Mercury four-stroke outboards are the most susceptible. The cure is a matter of diagnosing and cleaning the element although in some cases replacement is required. Ethanol attacks the plastic, sometimes causing it to swell and become unusable. Here again we see another of the long-term effects of ethanol in motor fuel. The recommended service interval for recreational boaters is once a year or every 100 hours of operation. Outboards that see greater use, multiple-trip-per-week recreational owners and fishing guides, should be serviced every 500 hours. It is a good practice to squeeze the fuel primer bulb until firm before each trip to fully prime the system with fresh fuel. This will eliminate a false symptom of filter failure and keep you from having that unexpected moment on the water. Have a great summer season and thanks for your business! Chris Mapp Coastal Bend Marine | Port O’Connor, TX coastalbendmarine.com | 361-983-4841
112 | June 2017
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• 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 TSFMAG.com | 113
Martin Hartman
Pet Onboard June Winner
Email a photo of your pet enjoying time on the boat to Photos@TSFMag.com and win Starbrite’s Boat Care in a Bucket (MSRP $100). One more month to win! Please include shipping/mailing address to receive prize. Winners will be printed in the magazine and posted to Facebook. Brought to you by Starbrite and TSFMag!
Science and the
Sea
TM
The Coolest Dad in the Sea Dads always build the best sand castles — at least when it comes to the white-spotted pufferfish. Males of this recently discovered species build exquisite, circular sand nests on the ocean floor, not only for their offspring, but also for the many female mates they hope to attract. The more tempting his large nest is, the more females he can attract for spawning. And he’s more than willing to take responsibility for his playboy lifestyle by taking over parenting duties as well.
Male white-spotted pufferfish build intricate sand nests to attract females. Credit: Hatem Moushir, Wikimedia Commons. Scientists have seen the product of this unusual reproductive behavior for two decades, but it was not until 2014 that they discovered the fish responsible for the geometric patterns they had observed on the sea bed. After all, of the 20 different species of pufferfish living in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, only the white-spotted pufferfish follows this ritual. Throughout the spring and summer, males construct intricate circular nests with alternating peaks and valleys that can stretch more than six feet across. Then they wait in the middle for a passing female. When one swims by, the male uses his fins to stir up the fine sand particles in the nest. If the female likes what she sees, she ventures into the nest. The male approaches and they vibrate beside one another, with the male biting the side of the female’s mouth during the mating. The female releases her eggs and swims off. The male takes over, stirring up the sand around the eggs, clearing the nest of debris and chasing off passing fish that get too close the nest. Once the offspring hatch, the male is off to build another nest and get his groove on again.
www.ScienceAndTheSea.org © The University of Texas Marine Science Institute
114 | June 2017
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OPEN TROUT REDFISH FLOUNDER
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)
classifieds
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
PESCADO PARK RV PADS & BOAT STORAGE
Baffin Bay
near Kaufer-Hubert Boat Ramp DAN WARD
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dwPescado@gmail.com
TSFMAG.com | 115
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