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ABOUT THE COVER Lisset Herrera is our cover angler, proudly displaying her career-best speckled trout landed in Baffin Bay. Lisset’s trophy ate a Custom Corky and measured 28.5-inches and 7.5-pounds. Lisset said, “I was so excited. We snapped a few good pics and let her swim away for another angler to enjoy!”

JUNE 2020 VOL 30 NO 2

CONTENTS

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

8 Balancing Act 14 What’s Changed and What Hasn’t 20 Born of Necessity 24 Pier Fishing

34 38 42 44 47 48 52 54 78

Steve Hillman Kevin Cochran Chuck Uzzle Joe Richard

20

Let’s Ask The Pro Shallow Water Fishing TPWD Field Notes Kayak Fishing Chronicles Science & the Sea TSFMag Conservation News Fishy Facts Extreme Kayak Fishing & Sharks...

Boat Repair & Maintenance

48 WHAT OUR GUIDES

HAVE TO SAY

60 62 64 66 68 70

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

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

70

REGULARS 6 Editorial 58 New Tackle & Gear 72 Fishing Reports and Forecasts 74 Catch of the Month 76 Gulf Coast Kitchen

76 4 | June 2020

Jay Watkins Scott Null Leslie Hartman Dave Roberts UT Marine Science Institute CCA Texas Stephanie Boyd Eric Ozolins Chris Mapp

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 Vicky Morgenroth Store@tsfmag.com DESIGN & LAYOUT Stephanie Boyd Artwork@tsfmag.com SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR Jen Shive Jen@tsfmag.com Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine is published monthly.

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HOW TO CONTACT TSFMAG: PHONE: 361-785-3420 FAX: 361 792-4530 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.

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EDITORIAL

COVID-19 IMPACT ON FISHING INDUSTRY; RED SNAPPER; & CCA STAR So we’ve been in some level of lock-down two months, frightened half out of our wits over coronavirus. I am getting to the point that I don’t know what to believe and who, if anybody, can be trusted to tell us the truth. One take on the matter suggests that the single greatest difference between this and pandemics of the past is social media. Perhaps so.

This is no doubt also the first health crisis to be so highly-politicized.

One thing that I am totally convinced of though is that while we are facing a gravely serious health threat, we are also staring an economic meltdown of Armageddon proportions right in the eye. I’m not advocating going forward recklessly in effort to restart the economy too soon; but I’m deeply concerned over millions of lost jobs, business failures, and bankruptcies too many to recover from in our lifetimes.

Think of what this has already done to our recreational fishing industry. Boat builders, marine dealers, marinas, tackle retailers, fishing guides, right down to the mom and pop enterprises like baitcamps and coastal cafes. All these pieces fit into an intricate mechanism, sort of like a gearbox. Take away one piece and the rest cannot mesh. I say it’s time to rear up on our hindlegs, the way America responded to the Axis threats during WWII. We need to demand the opportunity to go back to work, to worship again in churches, to support local businesses, and to live life as Americans have historically lived. What

6 | June 2020

kind of nation would we be today if our forbears had been frightened of venturing beyond the frontier?

Gulf Red Snapper opens June 1 with a projected 63 day season. I hope the fishing will be as good as last year and lots of Texas anglers have opportunity to participate. I want to again encourage the use of descending devices when releasing these important and valuable reef fish. A poke in the gut with a hypodermic needle or other sharp object may give the illusion that the fish will be fine…it swam away, right?

Well, maybe not. Venting the swim bladder is one thing, stabbing a vital organ is a death sentence. If you’re not familiar with descending devices there’s lots of info on the internet and YouTube. If we want more generous allocations and longer seasons we must be able to demonstrate that we fish responsibly. Log onto iSnapper and report your landings. It only takes a minute or two when you reach cellular phone service returning to the dock.

The CCA STAR Tournament opens Saturday May 23. STAR is a very effective membership drive, designed to encourage anglers to join CCA while fishing for prizes and scholarships. But being a CCA member alone does not automatically qualify you to become a prize winner. You must register in order to be eligible. Get your whole family signed up today, it would really be a shame for one of your kiddos to miss out on a college scholarship.

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A Red Shad MirrOlure Split Tail Mullet tricked this chunky slot red in water that was fresh on top but salty near the bottom.

G N I C N A L BA

A

ct

STORY BY STEVE HILLMAN

I

don’t know why. Maybe because I’m a glutton for punishment. Or maybe I just wanted to pretend something miraculous happened overnight and our entire bay system became fishable again. Already knowing what I would see, I pulled up the OFS Salinity Nowcast model on my phone to see if Trinity Bay was getting any saltier. Not surprisingly, it was even fresher than the day before. I further confirmed this by viewing another website that I had saved in My Favorites. It showed that the Lake Livingston Dam was discharging at a rate of 43,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). For those not aware, the normal discharge rate for this time of year is between 4,000 and 5,000 cfs.

With all of Trinity Bay showing less than 2 ppt (parts-per-thousand) salinity it looked like I’d be heading over to East Galveston Bay again. But upon closer examination I noticed that the fresh water had now turned the corner around Smith Point and made its way almost halfway down the north shoreline and was now as far south as Hannah’s Reef. The south shoreline of East Bay would be too crowded and boats were stacked like cordwood in West Bay because of all of the hot reports coming out of there. I figured I’d just take my chances and head north. Hopefully we’d catch them there despite the off-colored water.

Galveston Bay, like most bay systems, has many moving parts which all play a vital role in the overall health and longevity to not only our trout fishery but all living marine organisms within its boundaries and even beyond. One of these ever-changing variables happens to be salinity.

The expanse of the Galveston Bay Complex contains estuarine habitat that includes river mouths, marshes, and shallow back lakes, just to name a few. The single most influential portion of this complex is the mouth of the Trinity River.

In normal years, if there is such a thing anymore, fresh water from upstream blends with salt water closer to the bay forming brackish areas that flourish with nutrients and all sorts of marine life – postlarval shrimp to juvenile speckled trout. Spartina (cord grass), live oysters, and even mud, provide crucial habitat that could be termed basically as the heartbeat of our entire bay system. There is a delicate balance that must be maintained to ensure new life is breathed continuously into the

TSFMAG.com | 9

ecosystem. During prolonged periods of excessive fresh inflow the balance is disrupted. Over the last six years or so we have been walking a tightrope when it comes to habitat and salinity. I often feel that if we or Mother Nature makes a false step we will lose our balance and fall…and there is no safety net. This pretty much happened during the August 2017 with the floods created by Hurricane Harvey.

When excessive fresh water occupies areas that are otherwise brackish, cycles that are normally predictable get altered. For instance, if tiny brown shrimp are way up in the rivers and marshes and we get a flush of fresh water from upstream, those shrimp will then push out into the bay ahead of schedule. And they will be followed by small specks from the same areas. They are mainly undersized because they came out before they were supposed to. The timing of the normal (there’s that word again) cycle has been disrupted and barring any significant changes, timing of most things down the chain will be altered as well.

May and June along the Upper Texas Coast also happens to be when we typically see our first major trout spawn Riley Eskew with his first-ever of the year. Survival rate of newly-spawned eggs and, redfish, almost 9 lbs. He caught subsequently, larvae, is a point of concern in lower it on a Red Shad Bass Assassin salinity environments. Studies have shown that survival Sea Shad while casting to slicks. rates are best when salinities are 15 ppt or higher. As of the time of this article more than half of Galveston Bay is averaging less than 7 ppt.

The limit reduction on spotted seatrout on the Upper Texas Coast that went into effect on September 1, 2019 was a step in the right direction and will certainly have long term benefits, but we still have to take a commonsense approach to how we enjoy our fishing. If we don’t need trout then we should practice catch and release. Dead fish pictures are out of style these days anyway. Also, there still needs to be more habitat restoration, especially with regards to planting substrate for new oyster growth. A limited entry and buy-back program for saltwater fishing guide licenses probably deserves some serious attention.

Such programs have already proved successful in commercial shrimping and other seafood industries…so it’s not like we’re just now inventing the wheel here. These are just a few of the short list items that I believe we can address to make an even more positive long-term impact on all of our bay systems along the Texas Coast.

With all of the stay at home advisories over the past few months, many people are self-quarantining in their bay houses where they can just lower their boat out of the sling and go fishing. I certainly can’t blame them. I would do the same thing if I were in their position. In addition, we have a young generation of anglers just now coming of age. With fast boats rigged with stateof-the-art electronics, cell phone and social media networking, our trout fishery is at a greater disadvantage than we’ve ever seen.

With the crowds and fewer areas to catch fish due to fresh water issues (at the time of this writing) what do we need to do so we’re not fishing on top of one another? Furthermore, there’s a ton of additional pressure being put on our resource.

Well, we can’t control the amount of rainfall along the Trinity River watershed and we’re not Salinity map of Galveston Bay going to stop doing what we Complex; purple and dark blue are love, so how do we cope with not my favorite colors these days. what seems to be an issue

David Carroll with a beautiful early summer trout (released) caught off the beaten path in dirty water.

10 | June 2020

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that’s not going away anytime soon? My guess is that our tolerance and our overall behavioral patterns while on the water will have to change. Those of us who have really never had to worry about having company in areas we’ve enjoyed fishing for years will have to get used to such areas being occupied by someone else. That is unless we want to leave the dock at 4:00 AM. I’m not raising my hand for that one. The other option is to simply fish other areas even if they may be less productive. This has been my choice. I have found that some of

our larger trout hang out in some of these less-occupied areas even though the quantity of trout may be fewer.

I honestly don’t think things will remain this way forever. I believe at some point, and I pray it’s very soon, our bay-wide salinities will stabilize and maintain an acceptable level for longer periods of time. This will have a two-pronged positive effect: 1 – Trout will be able to stay in our system for longer periods of time thus enabling a more natural cycle to take place. This will ultimately result in more fish and better quality. 2 – Anglers will be able to spread out and successfully fish other parts of the complex without having to fight over fishing spots.

In the meantime, it’s our responsibility to set a good example for new generations of saltwater anglers coming up through the ranks.

Hopefully, we can convince most other fishermen of the importance of good stewardship of our resources and good etiquette while on the water. Who knows, the rate we’re going we all may be virtual fishing before long so it won’t even matter. #jokingofcourse.

Casey Eskew wasn’t going to let his little brother out do him so he caught and released this giant 14 pounder!

CONTACT

STEVE HILLMAN 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

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&

WHAT’S CHANGED

WHAT HASN’T STORY BY KEVIN COCHRAN

I

caught my first eight-pound trout on the fifth day of June 1997. Since then, I’ve caught a good many more, some considerably larger, but the memory of that first one remains strong, almost larger than life. Recalling specific details related to the catch cause me to reflect on a related pair of lists, which describe a variety of things, some of which have changed in the decades since the event transpired, and some of which remain the same.

In the late 1990s, I worked as a teacher and coach in the Clear Creek Independent School District. Because of the school schedule, I always looked forward to some serious fishing time once June arrived, and our summer vacation commenced. That year, my wife and I spent roughly a week in Rockport, soon after we turned in our grades and raced home to celebrate the end of another academic calendar.

In February of the same year, I’d caught my first “big” trout, a 27-inch specimen which tackled a Super Spook in what I always knew as Fenceline Cove, on the south shoreline of West Galveston Bay. Predictably, I fell in love with throwing topwaters, specifically full-sized Spooks, especially the Mark Sosin line, produced by Heddon. On the morning in question, I had one of those tied on the end of my monofilament line.

We left the dock in darkness, well before the orange fingers of dawn reached into the eastern sky, taking the tide cycle and moon phase fully into account while planning our excursion.

It was the day of the new moon; the silver disk rose at seven a.m., about a half an hour after sunrise. With one other person, I waded the outside beach of Traylor Island, at the mouth of Trout Bayou. The images included here document the exact location, as I remember it, also the ways the bottom topography has changed over time.

In Port Aransas, a couple miles south and west of our chosen spot, high tide occurred at 6:00 a.m., but wouldn’t reach its apex in Rockport, a similar distance to our north and east, until after two p.m.. Importantly, at Trout Bayou, the tide would begin to gush in about the same time as the sun and moon began to climb into the morning sky. We timed our arrival to allow us to park a short distance away from the grass beds, sand bars, and shell pads lying just outside the mouth of the drain, so we could walk in and start casting just before the tide rolled in.

Before 1997

2010

2017

16 | June 2020

We found the shoreline flat covered with a giant raft of mullet when we arrived; the glare of our Q-beam sent them scattering and jumping, provoking a similar flutter inside us; we eagerly expected an exciting bite. While we quietly inched our way toward the perceived sweet spot, we could hear sounds which indicated dramatic life and death scenarios playing out around us, though we couldn’t see our hands in front of our faces in the pitch-black air.

They say it’s darkest before the dawn; they had it right that night. When darkness deprives us of sight, our other senses come alive. The flat around us seemed an active war zone for a while. When we started casting and clicking and walking our topwaters through the battlefield, we did so with a palpable sense of anticipation. The bites came fairly often and easy for a while.

Honestly, I don’t remember exactly how many fish I caught and/or missed before I got the big bite, nor the exact dimensions of the ones I managed to land. I do remember how the sounds emanating from some especially intense ruckus pulled me slightly away from shore just before six o’clock.

A short distance north and east of the mouth of the bayou, shallow water covered a shelf of grass and shells along the edge of the shoreline flat, adjacent to the deeper waters of Aransas Bay. When my bleeding shad Jimmy Houston Super Spook plopped down in the midst of the melee occurring there, I let it settle for a moment, then began rhythmically twitching my rod tip while reeling slowly and steadily; I could hear the plug clicking in response to my actions, but only for a moment. A few seconds after I began the retrieve, I heard the unmistakable crashing sound of an aggressive blow up, then my rod bowed sharply against heavy weight and my drag began to whine.

The fight played out slowly while the tide and sun began to rise. I carried no Boga Grip back then, so when I spread my hand out wide to grab the tired fish across her back, just behind the gills, I knew she was bigger than any other trout I’d ever seen alive. The landing, handling and stringing of the fish happened without much drama. After uttering a celebratory scream, which might have awakened my wife at the hotel in town, I went back to casting and walking the dog. Soon after catching the big one, I caught another toad, slightly smaller than the one on the stringer, so I let her go, after comparing them side by side.

As golden light steadily replaced the jet-black of night, the bite became tougher and tougher. Once we could clearly see the sand bars and grass beds around us, we realized the giant raft of mullet had split up into smaller pods. These schools moved with speed down the shoreline, obviously fearing for their lives. The only other strikes we had occurred when we managed to place our wobbling plugs right in the midst of a harried pack of mullet, and most of the fish that struck failed to stick.

Neither my companion nor I changed lures all morning; we kept throwing floating plugs into the huddled herds of bait, despite making dozens of casts without any bites at times. My friend did manage to land one more trout, well after the sun rose higher into the sky and the pods of mullet moved farther from the shoreline. He strung and killed his fish despite the fact we could see she was somewhat smaller than the one tethered to my side.

When I pause to recall and document the facts related to the morning on which I caught my first eight-pound trout, I realize some things have changed dramatically since June of ‘97, while others remain the same.

I’ve been a fishing guide most of the time since then, and I no longer see the month in an optimistic light like I did back then, at least in terms of its potential to produce trophy trout. Additionally, as a licensed guide, I can no longer fish in the S.T.A.R. Tournament, but even if I could, I would choose not to participate, as I did back then.

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TSFMAG.com | 17

18 | June 2020

The captain made this rather funky Gyotaku painting, using the fish referenced in the piece, and it still hangs on the wall of his office to this day.

Captain Kev beside the S.T.A.R. Leaderboard bearing his name.

pounds, though. I doubt we’ll ever return to a world in which two guys can catch three trout weighing over seven pounds on the same wade on the outside beach of Traylor Island.

KEVIN COCHRAN CONTACT

I took the trout I killed to Palm Harbor Marina, and entered her in the event. For my troubles, I earned 3rd-place runnerup status on the leaderboard. I don’t recall whether I received any kind of tangible prize; if I did, it had little significance.

These days, I carry a Boga Grip, and would never kill a trout of such dimensions, even if I thought doing so would park a free boat in my driveway. Personally, I don’t have much blood-lust anymore, and a giant female trout means far more to me alive than she ever could after she’s dead.

Killing really big trout simply makes little or no sense to me now. Some things I did on that memorable day still make perfectly good sense, though. I like heading out in the predawn darkness to fish a rising new moon and the start of an incoming tide in the month of June, especially in places where strong tide movements occur. In areas like the hypersaline lagoons where I now spend most of my fishing time, factoring in the timing of the tide cycle bears less significance than it does in Aransas Bay, where strong tides roll on a daily basis.

Topwaters work well most every day in the last month of spring, first month of summer, especially late at night and early in the mornings. Consequently, I start off most every June outing throwing a floating plug; lately it’s more often a One Knocker or a Spook Junior, not a full-sized Super Spook.

These days, once the frequency of the blow-ups wanes, and I make some adjustments to presentation, I switch much more readily to soft plastics or slow-sinking twitch baits than I did two decades ago. If I’d been more versatile on the day I caught my first eight, I might have caught several more big ones to brag about.

Certainly, I would still use a strong monofilament leader like the one I had between my twelve-pound mono mainline and my lure that day. But today, I’ve replaced the mono with twenty-pound braid. Braided line facilitates greater ease of use, better control of the lure and enhances sensitivity to subtle bites. All these things make me (and most others in the inshore saltwater crowd) believe it’s far superior to the stretchy lines we used twenty years ago.

In those days, two guys could wade the outside beach of Traylor Island in June without excessive interference from others. Oh sure, once the sun climbed well above the horizon, and people could see to navigate, anglers arrived and lined up on the outside edges of the grass beds, most of them staying in the boat and throwing live croakers. But we had plenty of room to operate, and large sections of the shoreline remained free of boats.

Since then, crowds have appeared earlier and more often in these same places, most of them deploying live croakers as soon as they’re available at local bait camps. At some point, all this activity caused a major change to the fishing in the Coastal Bend bays. In the early parts of the last decade, guides I know either abandoned the idea of fishing for trout in the bays around Rockport and moved north or south, or they started targeting other species like black drum as a way of coping with the scarcity of trout.

These days, with tighter restrictions in place, and perhaps due to other natural influences, fishing for trout in the area has rebounded. I get reports of excellent outings, on which folks catch ample numbers of trout between twenty and twenty-five inches in Coastal Bend bays.

Few report catching fish in excess of twenty-eight inches and/or eight

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

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

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

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Eight-year-old Brant Boykin sporting “Corona Cut” during school quarantine was happy with this redfish.

STORY BY CHUCK UZZLE

T

he ancient Greek philosopher Plato often receives credit for saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention. A need or problem encourages creative efforts to meet the need or solve the problem.” Considering all the possible applications of such wisdom, it would be easy to think that first, Plato could have been a good fisherman. Second, he probably should have spelled his name Plateaux, like the wise Cajuns when it comes to common sense.

The willingness or desire to figure out a problem has always been a fantastic trait to possess. Fishermen use this trait each and every time they head to their favorite fishing hole, only nowadays it’s called “finding the pattern or program.” Dissecting the variables in an attempt to catch more fish is a necessity, no two ways about it, but how far you are willing to go to accomplish that speaks volumes.

I feel fairly certain that at some point most of the anglers who read this magazine have encountered a problem on the water and have had to come up with a solution or better way to do something, namely catch fish. Fishermen are always toying with new ideas or ways to improve their odds in certain situations. Take for instance something as simple as adding sound to your baits. There have been all sorts of noisemakers incorporated into just about every style of fishing lure known to man, it seems. Glass worm rattles have been inserted into soft plastics and glued to hook shanks; beads have been threaded onto leaders above the knot on many lures and we even see them used with live bait. Adding such “clickers” is an obvious attempt to attract more fish and to get them to bite more often. And, as simple as they are, they seem to work in many situations to draw more strikes.

Now, as mentioned earlier, some anglers are more inventive than others, always seeking to improve lure performance or create ways to turn slow days into good ones. For me personally, I have learned to use several techniques more common in freshwater fishing than salt to catch fish here on Sabine. Perhaps my greatest adaptation and technique was using a plastic frog in the backcountry marsh ponds to combat the dense aquatic vegetation that thrives there. For years we enjoyed

TSFMAG.com | 21

great success with the frog lures and we were still using them until something better came along. Enter a pair of true Texas inventors who have recently developed lures of their own designs that will no doubt change the game for many anglers, including yours truly.

Tobin Strickland of Trout Support and Josh Morris of Marker 54 lures have come up with a couple of lures that were each designed out of a necessity to fish their favorite waters more effectively. All I can say is that spirit and determination has paid off and Texas anglers will certainly reap the benefits for years to come.

Tobin Strickland is well known in big trout circles for his informative video series that absolutely dissects all aspects of chasing trophy trout. Strickland eventually tried his hand in the ultra-competitive world of lure design and hit a homerun with his

Grass Walker. This bait was designed to combat both floating and bottom grass that plagues lower coast anglers at various times of the year, as well as providing a new angle on fishing potholes in the grass flats. The Grass Walker is a weedless soft plastic that is very durable and can be fished in a variety of ways from surface walker to slow sinker. I have fallen in love with the Grass Walker for chasing redfish and largemouth bass in our brackish water marshes. You can cast it a mile and being rigged in weightless/weedless fashion it can be presented softly to spooky fish in shallow water.

Josh Morris over at Marker 54 Lures really jumped on the scene with his highly-realistic shrimp imitators that move through the water like no other on the market. Josh just recently debuted his Mullet Run lure that is not only a gorgeous swimbait but its also scented with Pro-Cure, a cutting edge scent technology that is truly eye opening. The Mullet Run is packaged dry so you never have to worry about leakage or shrinkage. The plastic used in the Mullet Run is very durable for a scented plastic and continues to emit the Pro-Cure scent for up to one hour during use, which is way longer than other bait like it. The Mullet Run has already delivered excellent results for me on all the big three – trout, redfish, and flounder. The swimming action created by the tail design provides both visual and sound attraction that enable it to be a truly versatile offering. I am personally very proud to see these two Texas guys do so well and create baits Tobin Strickland of Trout Support showing off a hefty 30� 10.2-pound trout. that will give fisherman a leg up in solving tough bite problems.

Looking now into June, barring any natural disasters, we should (hopefully) be able to enjoy stable weather patterns and favorable water conditions. April and May each gave us some bright spots but they were few and far between for Upper Coast anglers. If there could be a problem we had it – high water levels to high winds, and just about everything in between. June tends to signal the beginning of a steadier pattern in the weather and hopefully the fishing.

Speckled trout catches have begun to improve somewhat in comparison to the same periods in 2018 and 2019 and that is great news. Still no really big trout showing as of this writing but quality and quantity have improved significantly over what we experienced in the dismal days of 2019. Redfish will continue to be active just about everywhere between the marshes and the jetty so many anglers will take advantage of that bite Extra care in releasing large redfish is encouraged during warmer months. at every opportunity.

22 | June 2020

“

June tends to signal the beginning of a steadier pattern.

”

The TSL Grass Walker was born of necessity in a fisherman’s struggle with bottom grass and floating grass. The Grass Walker has proven itself all along the Texas coast.

TSL’s Grass Walker has proven to be a great option in thickly vegetated marsh ponds.

One word of caution as the water temps continue to climb, please take care to release those big redfish and be sure they swim off strong.

In the hotter months these fish will require greater effort in reviving to insure they can swim away strong and healthy for the future.

Marker 54’s new Mullet Run infused with Pro-Cure Gel scent is proving to be a game changer for Texas anglers.

CONTACT

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

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

TSFMAG.com | 23

Pier Fishing STORY BY JOE RICHARD

Best take a good look at the water, before deciding where to set up.

P

iers, whether in bays or the surf, offer easy access over those long artificial reefs. And a height advantage for spotting fish or making long casts. They attract a host of fish. In the bays, it’s easy to imagine a structure-loving flounder or sheepshead around every piling. Bounce a white Gulp! plastic shrimp slowly around each of them, for flounder.

Sheepshead nibble on the piling’s barnacles right to the surface, and so dabbling a live shrimp within a foot of each structure is often just the ticket. At night under pier lights, baitfish gather, followed by trout and sometimes redfish.

It’s the big surf piers, built to withstand most Gulf storms, that attract a far greater variety of sporty fish from trout to tiger sharks.

My own early experience with a surf pier was at High Island, a structure made of wood. It must have been built after Hurricane Carla in the early 1960s, back when hurricanes were not so frequent. Somehow it lasted at least 15 years, and it was the go-to spot for catching bull redfish when the surf was huge and incoming waves splashed small geysers between each deck plank. There were some tough, hard-bitten fishermen out there, sometimes fishing all night. With the wind topping 50 knots, you had to lean about 20 degrees into the wind to walk or remain upright. And time everything right, if hundreds of hungry 40-inch redfish suddenly arrived. Mostly we went during the day. Why? After parking in saltwater one night, we witnessed a full moon over a savage Gulf, with mountainous swells that kept the pier shaking. Topple over that waist-high wooden rail and you were a gone goose...

Not all bull redfish are caught in stormy weather. Today’s piers provide big landing nets so these fish can be released.

Ling on the pier, and too big for an ice chest.

Choice shade on the pier in fine weather.

26 | June 2020

It was not something we cared to repeat. From then on we fished in friendlier daylight in tropical storm weather and as luck would have it, typically saw only three or four of the big reds gaffed and landed by others. Those redfish were bigger than anything we’d ever seen. However our luck was poor, using pool cue snapper rods we used on the partyboats—gear very unsuitable for casting.

Another problem was finding prime bait, which is big mullet. With September’s typical high tides, combined with a storm tide, our local mullet around Port Arthur disappeared. The older and wiser pier crowd probably kept frozen mullet just for those epic stormrelated bull redfish events.

Today they would call that extreme fishing if the piers were left open in such weather and still allowed fishing, which they don’t.

Today someone could make a video of the pier scene described above, add lots of yelling, and have it turn viral on YouTube.

Returning to more sane techniques for pier fishing, it can be broken down roughly into three categories when the weather is agreeable. It should be noted that in doing so I always look for green water, and set up to fish there. If the entire pier presides over water that resembles chocolate milk, then it’s time to cut bait.

1) Starting right near the beach, in the first or second gut between sandbars, are pompano and whiting, most often early in the morning or during a decent incoming tide. Both species are quite fond of shrimp. Small pompano jigs, with a bullet head and tiny, short tail tipped with or without shrimp—that’s the way to go.

Fire off long casts and bump that jig slowly on sand bottom.

Specks and slot redfish also prowl that shallow water in the first two hours of daylight, from knee-deep out to six feet. Both are fond of gold spoons, the ¾-ounce Johnson Sprite or the Dixie Jet in different colors. The compact Dixie Jet will fly a long ways.

2) Out at mid-pier one may find Spanish mackerel, also a prime table fish. Once again, the gold spoon reigns supreme with mackerel. They’re in open water, not under the pier itself. Be sure to bring some light wire leader, if targeting mackerel or if they’re hungry that day. Once again, green water is a serious requirement for most mackerel action.

Under the pier below in the pilings are sheepshead nibbling on marine growth, mostly barnacles. From a high vantage point these fish can often be spotted and cast to, or at least a bait lowered down to them if the water is clear enough. Live shrimp is the ticket, though fresh dead (kept on ice) often works. Live shrimp on the pier can be kept alive in an aerated bucket with a small air pump.

Which is heavy to carry, unless you’ve got a kid’s red wagon or a bigger cart with rod holders, like serious “pier rats” use every trip.

Without a wagon, one old fashioned trick for lugging shrimp and keeping them alive is wrapping them lightly in a dry burlap sack lain on top of a sealed bag of ice. Often they’ll last for half a day and worth the trouble, keeping in mind that almost every fish species around the piers has an affinity for shrimp.

3) Out at pier’s end, way out there, are serious guys with the big sticks, using multiple rods up to 14 feet long. They’re after bull redfish and sharks, mostly. Theirs is a waiting game; each rod is baited up with a whole mullet or at least a big chunk. They’re fishing on bottom.

And then more rarely you have guys using live baits under balloons—they’re after kingfish later in summer, when the water is mostly clear and sometimes even blue. They jig up small live baits,

TSFMAG.com | 27

mostly jacks, maybe sardines and sand trout, and pin them to a 6/0 to 8/0 hook. And then pitch them way out there. If the breeze is behind them, free-spool and each balloon will float further offshore perhaps to a waiting line of clear water. These guys latch into kingfish, tarpon, sharks or even a stray ling. Sometimes even a sailfish. Catching a blue water day on the pier is usually a memorable event.

As mentioned, live bait is often available within 100 yards of piers.

Sabiki rigs with six tiny hooks can be lowered down near the pilings, catching various small flashy species. Down the beach a little ways, one may see mullet flipping in the surf, where they can be caught with a castnet. That’s a wet errand, wading out and throwing a net against incoming waves. Fresh or live mullet is prime bait, however.

It should be noted that during summer in the mornings, a light breeze may blow off the land, really flattening the Gulf. Combined with a high tide and clear water, conditions are ideal. After lunch the breeze may slowly turn around and afternoon wave chops will arrive from offshore.

It gets hot on the pier during summer, and you have to make your own shade. If you bring a cart with rod holders, a beach umbrella

Hooked up with a big one and looking for assistance.

offers relief and a spot to chill out while waiting for that next bite.

A couple bottles of Gatorade on ice is a wonderful thing out there, but that means carrying a heavier load, making a wagon or cart indispensable. You can’t carry an Igloo, live bait bucket, umbrella and chair, plus fishing tackle, without wheels. Not in one trip, anyway. If you don’t have a custom pier-jetty wagon, shop around or check out the toy section in Craigslist for a used red wagon. (Today’s kids have mostly abandoned them for electronic toys). A wagon’s four wheels will really take a load off your shoulders. A wheelbarrow might suffice, but would certainly look bogus and sad to regular pier rats.

Piers are also a safe place to get kids started on fishing. They’re often deprived from nature these days, and anything we can do get them unplugged is a plus. If they’re really into it, then maybe there’s a boat in their future.

JOE RICHARD

CONTACT

Schoolie-sized kingfish on the pier. Watch out, those puppies bite.

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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Your Catch Counts!

Report your Red

Snapper Landings

Get involved.

Help manage the red snapper fishery for future generations.

At the end of each day’s trip, parties that land red snapper are strongly encouraged to report their landings via a mobile app or online.

It’s fast, simple and easy!

load n w o D pp the a ! today

Download the free app at

www.iSnapper.org or report online at iSnapperonline.org Each submittal is important to the management of the red snapper fishery off Texas shores and beyond.

Anglers fishing from party boats are exempt as the captain reports for you.

FOR INFO ABOUT THE REPORTING PROGRAM Harte Research Institute iSnapper@sportfishresearch.org www.sportfishresearch.org

FOR INFO ON THE RED SNAPPER FISHERY TPWD Coastal Fisheries cfish@tpwd.texas.gov TSFMAG.com | 33 www.tpwd.texas.gov

Matt Pletcher with a nice springtime trout – CPR!

J AY WAT K I N S

ASK THE PRO

TRANSFERRING KNOWLEDGE FROM ONE AREA TO ANOTHER Gosh it has been a tough couple of months for our country and the world. My world of fishing seems awfully small compared to that which others have been facing.

My family are all well, bored at times, but very good overall. Huge thanks to wife Renee, my step-son Cash, and Ryan’s brother-in-law, T.J. Hale, for the medical services they have been providing to the public through this difficult time. You guys have always been our heroes and now you’re heroes to others as well. My business is slowly recovering but I totally understand the reason behind such a slow return to yet another new normal. At age 62 I think I will stick with this gig to the end. I seem to be well fitted for the job and pretty good at it at times.

The water in the Aransas and San Antonio Bay complexes is really looking good right now despite only modest rainfall. With winds cranking out of the SE and tides still running fairly high we are now able to wade all the back lakes and shallow grass flats that lie south of Rockport. The small mangrove islands, bay shorelines, and many of the back lakes come alive when tides are high or when higher winds create water movement, especially along windward edges. I prefer to fish windward 34 | June 2020

whenever possible but this time of year we do have periods where the winds are just too high to pull this off.

This is when the back lake and flats patterns can kick in for us and create some terrific fishing opportunities.

I want to talk just a little about lure selection for the patterns that I am talking about in this month’s issue.

Personal favorites will be topwaters, Texas Custom’s Double Ds and Custom Corkys, both slow sinkers and floaters. I know, when you mention Corkys in warm months and folk’s eyebrows go up. I too still have some confidence issues with these baits during warmer months.

My mainstay lures will be soft plastics in heavy doses; MirrOlure Lil John XL and 5-inch Provoker will get lots of play, as will plenty of 5-inch Bass Assassins. Tail-nipping perch drive me crazy and that’s when the slightly more durable MirrOlure plastics get the nod. For me, clearwater colors will dominate in my wading box. Now let’s move on to the real stuff.

Lots of trout spawning takes place on the full moon phase this time of year, and one of the main reasons I like to target windward shorelines and spoils. Flooded shoreline grass is ideal habitat for trout larvae and fry

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as well as other species of small fish and crustaceans. I remember a few years back a raccoon working a flooded Alyson Donaldson, our shoreline along one of the ICW spoils in San Antonio Bay. designated “Redfish Wading in only inches of water the higher winds had pushed Queen for the Day” with an oversized beauty – CPR! up, the racoon used its front paws to probe the base of every stalk of grass. I was intrigued and stopped fishing to watch.

Suddenly the raccoon grabbed frantically amid the grass stalks and came up with a shrimp. A few minutes later another shrimp dinner was in hand (paw actually) and he went back to hunting. This went on until finally the animal got so close that he became aware of my presence and wandered off into the saltgrass.

I know it sounds crazy but I decided to do a little hunting on my own. Placing my rod and wading belt in the grass I got on my knees and starting working the bases of the grass stalks, slowly cupping my hands around the base of each. Sure enough, a few minutes later a shrimp flipped into my cupped hands. While I did not eat the shrimp as the racoon did I was none-the-less amazed at the lesson Mother Nature had just provided.

If we will just look, really look, nature is trying to teach us valuable lessons each and every day. From that day on I have watched the way fish move in and out of the flooded grass and watched as redfish, drum, trout, and sheepshead nose their way along, bumping the stalks and spooking shrimp and small grass bottom that makes up a lot of barrier island bottom structure. crabs. The absence of hands requires they use their mouths to capture I believe that when tides are high, skies are overcast and wind SE prey. That is why anytime I have someone tell me that a fish let go of or NE at 12 to 15 mph, it is likely that the fish will not move far from the lure, I tell them that fish have no hands. The bait is in their mouth. where they have been feeding. I have gone on record many times They might spit or drop the lure from their mouth but they don’t let it saying that the best of anglers can entice a fish to bite even when the go. It is obviously meant as a joke and not meant to be taken literally. fish is not necessarily wanting to eat. Never is this more the key than So, when tides are extremely high and shoreline grass is flooded, when fish pull out of the grass and set up on nearby sand. Many times windward shorelines and spoils can offer anglers this option. When this sand is merely a few feet away from the flooded grass. the fish are not working the flooded grass for food, say in between During the spawn, when tides are high and winds strong out of major or minor feeding periods, they will not likely pull all the way out the SE, I actually plan on this pattern for daily success. Just a few days to the deeper drop-off, but stay over the harder sand and scattered back we were experiencing a tough bite due to a solunar minor at dawn and the major not kicking in until almost noon. Early, the trout and reds were right on the edges of the flooded grass and bites were frequent from both species. As the sun rose a noticeable lull in both baitfish and gamefish activity became apparent. By mid-morning the sky became overcast and the wind dropped to a mere hint from the east. I suggest a move Drew Donaldson shows to the hard white sand and some scattered off his second great grassbeds in another area where the easterly CPR’ed trout of the day. wind direction would be moving water down the shoreline versus off the shoreline.

I believe that wind flowing parallel to a shoreline produces more water movement than when it is pushing water away from the shoreline. Once in the location, I told my guys that all we needed was a sign that fish are present. Trout are really what I search for but reds will setup in very similar patterns. Bait was present but not active. Water was airclear but we now had a heavily overcast sky.

The winds felt to be increasing slightly so just 36 | June 2020

I could recall where the same scenario could have played out. I’ve long been a believer in taking what I learn in one area and transferring it to another of similar layout and structure. As a young fisherman I depended on this strategy, knowing that where I was catching them could not possibly be the only area where they were biting that day. This mindset allowed me then and today to be independent of information from other anglers in my daily quest.

The advent of cell phones and social media have made getting on the bite much easier, but catching on a consistent and predictable level remains the domain of a much smaller number of fishermen.

On the business end of fishing, the industry demands production no matter what anybody might believe. There are not enough jokes, sunrises, sunsets, or should have been here yesterday stories to compensate for a lack of catching. A balanced combination of all of the above, with a slightly heavier tilt on catching, makes for better referrals and better long term client relations by far.

C O N TA C T

a lot of positive things coming into play.

I eased the boat into the shoreline and let it drift a few minutes before setting the Power Poles. Yes, poles, I have two. I will never go back to a single Power Pole setup with the middle coast winds I deal with every day, all year long. Anyway, all we needed was a sign, a sign being a bite, a slick, or an actual sighting. With water as clear as we have it now, seeing trout is not a problem. A slow move into the area of interest produced no bites but as I eased past a couple of small grassbeds a small slick popped about 30 feet to my left. A quick cast to the area was met with a strong and deliberate take. Hookset and short fight yielded a three-and-a-half pound trout. Several more casts and another fish of similar size and weight.

While fighting this fish a slick popped to my right and one of my guys placed his lure just upwind of the slick. Immediate take and a fish of 20-plus inches was on the line. As we stood patiently fan-casting to individual grassbeds, I made mention of several submerged points of scattered shell that were coming up as we waded along the shoreline.

“Look at the deeper holes the current has created along the edges and tips of those submerged points up ahead,” I told them. “Those are ideal ambush points!”

For two hours we eased along, sticking fish after fish, casting to slicks and hooking up two and three fish at a time – several times.

Largest trout was 5-1/2 pounds, smallest probably a tad over 3 pounds. But larger fish could have easily been there. The baitfish on this wade were definitely still holding in the grass for the most part but the gamefish had pushed off to the secondary line of structure.

During that entire wade I was mentally trying to list how many areas

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

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

TSFMAG.com | 37

Capt. Ruby Delgado with a LLM redfish on a DOA Shrimp.

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

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

NO RULES;

JUST FOLLOW THE CLUES! For the past year and a half John Lopez and I have been co-hosting Bite Me - A Texas Saltwater Fishing Podcast.

We’re just two guys discussing various fishing topics and answering questions received via the Facebook group page and direct e-mails. The two most consistently asked questions have been, “What lure do you choose to start the day?” and “When do you know you need to change lures?” I got to thinking about it and I don’t believe I’ve ever talked about that on these pages in the sixteen years I’ve been writing. Here goes…

I wish there was a rule book or instruction manual but, alas, there is not. Many factors are at play and there isn’t necessarily a rock solid answer. A lot depends on weather and water conditions, of course, but sometimes it simply comes down to the mood of the fish. I will never try and tell you that I’ve got it all figured out.

These are just things that have worked for me over the years and will hopefully help you as well.

Decisions based on weather and water conditions are the easiest. The most basic answer has always been to throw dark lures in low light and brighter lures under sunny skies. Low light can be due to time of day or cloud cover. The reasoning is that under low light a silhouette is easier to locate while in bright conditions the light reflects on the lure drawing the attention of the fish. I’m not big into specific colors. There are dark lures, light lures and shiny lures. Very basic, but it works out for me.

38 | June 2020

Personally if I’m going to be throwing conventional gear I’ll start with a topwater, mainly because I like the blow-ups. Which topwater will be based on conditions and any bait I see in the area. In normal weather with light wind, I’ll try to match the size profile of the bait they’re likely feeding on. If I’m flying blind without knowing the current baitfish situation, I’ll choose a mid-size lure and go from there. MirrOlure’s Top Pup, the small Skitter Walk and the Super Spook Jr fit the bill.

But what about when it is dead-calm or blowing like hell? Dead-calm will make me lean towards something smaller and less intrusive. Lately that has been the DOA Lures PT-7. It is a soft plastic body rigged in weedless fashion with a large single hook and a small glass rattle – perfect for subtle presentations. Choppy conditions call for a noisy plug – the choppier the bigger and noisier – I like the Top Dog and full-sized Spook. You want to get their attention amongst the confusion of the waves.

Since most of what I like to do involves sightcasting, the next step usually involves observing the response of the targeted fish. Are they aggressively attacking the lure? Are they fleeing the splashdown? Are they interested, but not fully committing? Perhaps just slapping at it? I want to see a pattern of behavior before deciding to make a change.

Once I can see fish from the platform I’ll have an idea what they’re feeding on and can then match the hatch.

When they’re eating shrimp, but skittish, I’ll go with the

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TSFMAG.com | 39

C O N TA C T

DOA shrimp. If they’re aggressively chasing, a small natural-colored paddletail gets the nod. When they’re on mud minnows or very small mullet you can stick with the paddletail and choose an appropriate size. I carry 3-inch and 5-inch paddletails. If you’re seeing a lot of flashy baitfish scurrying around, you might do well with the old standby gold spoon.

In blindcasting situations I’ll intently watch my topwater for clues. These can come in the form of follows, swirls and tail slaps. Nonaggressive reds will tend to follow, causing a wake, and then creating a swirl as they leave. Trout swirls are usually sudden without much warning. Same thing with tail slaps. If this becomes a noticeable pattern I’ll try a different topwater, but I’m pretty hardheaded about forcing the topwater bite. Many anglers DOA Shrimp in a variety of sizes to match the hatch.

Some of the author’s trusted paddletails. use them as more of a search lure. They cover a lot of water and let you know the fish are there, even if you aren’t catching them.

Once you know the fish are there but not committing to the surface plug, you need to switch over to a subsurface lure. A soft plastic worked just below the surface with pauses to let it fall, will often get you hooked up on both trout and reds. Personally I go soft plastic when I know it is reds and a baitfish plug if I feel it’s trout. When I fished redfish tournaments with a partner one of us would throw tops while the other had a soft plastic.

A blow-up on the top followed up with an accurate shot from the soft plastic is dang Various near 100% effective. topwaters including the The value of moving to a plug when MirrOlure lineyou feel the blow-ups are from trout is up as well as the similarity in size and action. You can Shimano’s new work the plug in the same manner as the Colt Sniper.

Plugs to match whatever they’re feeding on. topwater, but just under the surface. That is change. Going smaller seems to work most of the time. Or perhaps usually all it takes to make trout happy. The chosen plug depends it’s as simple as switching from unweighted to weighted. Most often on what I think they’re feeding on. I’m a MirrOlure guy and carry it only requires a subtle change in flies to make things work. If none a variety of models in various sizes. I grew up throwing the 51M of that works it’s time to swing for the fences and tie on something and will still pull it out there if they’re on finger mullet, but I’ve hideously bright and obnoxious. You’d be surprised at how often also got MirrOdines in various sizes for imitating shad and pinfish. that move as paid off.

MirrOminnows are in the box in case the glass minnows show up. If Like I said in the beginning, there are no rules to this game. Try to they’re being finicky I’ll try a Corky Fat Boy. match the bait being pursued, pay attention to the clues about their What about when there are no clues? That’s the time to go with moods and most of all, remember what the hell you were doing when whatever you have the most confidence in. For me, that would mean that fish ate your 589th cast. a soft plastic on a 1/8 ounce head. I can cover the entire water column and experiment with a variety of faster and slower retrieves to see what might work. The trick is remembering what you were doing when you finally get a bite. If you aren’t shaking your head right now Capt. Scott Null is a devout shallow water fisherman offering guided adventues via kayak, poled skiff, and wading. in agreement you haven’t been fishing long enough.

Now for fly fishing. It’s much simpler. I tie on a Redfish Crack and Telephone 281-450-2206 the reds eat it more often than not. That’s my confidence fly. But Email captscottnull@gmail.com on those rare occasions when they won’t cooperate, I get to watch Website www.captainscottnull.com their reactions from the platform. Three honest refusals leads to a 40 | June 2020

Frabill-THN-BearClaw_Texas Saltwater.pdf

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By Leslie Hartman | Matagorda Bay Ecosystem Leader

FIELD NOTES

TEXAS HOUSE BILL 51 – CREATING A LEGACY Many coastal communities rely on the economic and ecological impacts of oyster reefs. Oysters filter water, provide storm protection, create habitat, support jobs, and are a fine meal. Long recognizing the value and vulnerability of oysters, the Texas legislature created the Fish and Oyster Commission in 1895. This agency evolved into today’s Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) which continues to protect the state’s many natural marine resources, including both the natural oyster populations and oyster industries that depend on them.

Given the lengthy history of oyster management, little more would seem needed; yet in 2017, both the Parks and Wildlife Commission and the Texas Legislature saw the need for additional protections. While the Commission expanded existing protections by reducing the sack limit to 30 sacks per day, closing some minor bays and all nearshore intertidal reefs, reducing the tolerance of undersize oysters in a legal sack from 15% to 5%, and closure of Saturday to commercial harvest, the Legislature developed brand new tools in the form of House Bill 51 (HB51) to provide additional protections and ensure oyster sustainability for future generations.

Why House Bill 51 Hurricane-induced sedimentation coupled with recent extreme drought and flood conditions combined to significantly reduce oyster populations. Droughts increase disease and predation while floods lead to Figure 1. Oyster cultch is staged at the Port Lavaca harbor (foreground), waiting to be loaded onto a transport that will take it to the shell placement site in Lavaca Bay.

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starvation and lost young. Because Mother Nature’s bounty has been reduced, harvesting ended up taking a greater percentage of surviving oysters, further impacting the reef structure. This in turn reduced the filtering and buffering capacities in our bays. HB51 was developed to mitigate these issues using a variety of methods. By addressing both biological and harvest challenges simultaneously, generations of oysters, oyster harvesters and coastal residents will benefit from improving oyster populations.

Harvesting Changes HB51 made a number of changes to oyster harvesting rules. To ensure all people involved in oyster production were invested in the rules, licensing requirements were expanded to include entire crews and Certified Seafood Dealer penalties for possession of undersize oysters were created. Penalties for all violations were enhanced.

Penalties now can accrue to the boat captain, crew and Certified Shellfish Dealer and include a 30-day suspension of crew / boat activities. Given that their season is November 1 – April 30, a suspension could result in significant revenue loss.

Shell Replacement Another aspect of House Bill 51 requires Certified Oyster Dealers to return 30% of their annually harvested oyster shell, in fee or kind, back to Texas bays. Since not all areas can support a healthy reef, TPWD is in various stages of getting permits for degraded, historical reefs in Galveston, Matagorda, San Antonio, and Aransas bays.

Once a site is permitted, Certified Shellfish Dealers coordinate with local TPWD staff to place shell in permitted areas. By placing shell near degraded reefs, the chance of reef recovery is enhanced. With TPWD monitoring shell amounts and placement, commercial oyster boats are loaded with oyster shell and taken to marked areas where water cannons spray the shell onto the

a total of 13,208 yd3 of oyster cultch has been placed in these two bays in less than two years; 6,897 yd3 at Noble Point and 6,311 yd3 at Pasadena Reef.

TPWD will continue to work to permit commercial areas and monitor cultch into the foreseeable future so this public resource remains a legacy for generations to come.

For most sports fishermen, House Bill 51 and actions taken by the Parks and Wildlife Commission passed virtually unnoticed, yet the potential benefits are vast. Oyster reefs are a unique estuarine habitat; they serve as a food source, create habitat, filter water, and offer some storm protection. When properly maintained, oyster reefs can continue offering these services to Texas residents for millennia. The passage of House Bill 51 and ongoing department actions will protect and enhance Texas oysters and Texas bays for generations to come.

Figure 2. Cultch being loaded onto an oyster boat at the Port Lavaca harbor.

marked areas. Shell ‘planting’ will continue for days or even weeks until the owed shell is returned. Upon project completion, TPWD scans the bottom to ensure no piles of shell could impede navigation.

Planted reefs remain off-limits for harvest for several years to ensure new growth is well established. Already permitted, the Noble Point Reef in Lavaca Bay hosted the first two HB 51 shell plants in 2018 with Pasadena Reef in Galveston Bay quickly following. In 2019, both areas continued to supplement their reefs with the return of commercially harvested shells to their native Texan waters. So far,

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

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DAV E R O B E R T S

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

MAKING THE BEST OF THE SITUATION The past several weeks have been crazy and scary as people around the world are impacted in a variety of ways due to the spread of the Covid-19 virus. No matter how rugged Texans might think we are and might actually be in many ways we are still susceptible to the sickness as everyone else. The leaders of our country and state have published guidelines that we are all familiar with by now. Although not popular they were all well-intended.

One of the biggest and most important is the encouragement of social distancing, the conscious act of maintaining a distance of six feet from other people to help prevent the spread of the virus. Nothing new here for paddling anglers, we have been practicing it for years on nearly every outing. The majority of paddle boats designed for fishing carry only one passenger, and even when we chance to meet up with others on 44 | June 2020

the water there’s usually plenty of distance between us. I know that this Covid-19 thing is not the most ideal situation but at least we are still able to get out and enjoy time on the water.

As much as I enjoy paddling with a friend, there is something about making a solo trip that really makes you appreciate the sport. It gives you an opportunity to slow down and admire the natural world with no worries of having to keep up with a companion or group. You can go at your own pace and while doing so there is always the option of taking different paths through the backwaters than you normally do. Also when you’re the only one to answer to, there is no set schedule. You can leave whenever you like or fish all day. It’s your call.

If you do decide to make a solo trip during these times, please exercise caution in boat handling and navigation and be sure to wear your PFD at all times. You

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C O N TA C T

should also inform a responsible person where you are going and when you plan to be off the water!

One of the other unfortunate things about all of this has been the timing of it. Spring is always a great time of the year to fish and most anglers hate to miss the chance of getting in on the action.

On the other hand, for the more competitive anglers, this is when tournament season begins and tournaments have taken a real hit given the ban on large gatherings.

My buddies and I who run the Upper Coast Kayak Anglers were affected by this because we hold redfish tournaments here on our end of the coast. So, knowing that we had to cancel the first few, we decided to take a play right out of the kayak bass fishing playbook.

Kayak bass tournaments are incredibly popular and they have a structure in place that is fair, efficient, and does not require a live weigh-in or a gathering of anglers.

We decided to put on a CPR (catch, photo, release) tournament for redfish. How it works is that the morning of the tournament, the directors will release a specific identifier code that has to be included in the photo of every fish submitted so that we know it was caught that morning. When an angler catches a redfish they will place it on their measuring board, place the identifier near the fish, take a photo and then release the fish. After the release, the angler will upload the photo to the tourneyX app and there is a set of judges that will

accept or deny the photo. The total length of your three longest fish, none exceeding the 28-inch mark, is tallied for your final score. The highest score between the group of competing anglers wins the pot. It is a simple format but perfectly suited for the scenario at hand.

After the first event we put on, it quickly gained traction and more anglers wanted in on the challenge. We now have kayak anglers fishing from Corpus Christi all the way to Delacroix. As the field grows, so does the competition! As of this date we’ve had only one angler score a perfect 84 – three reds at 28 inches – and believe it or not he accomplished it in back to back events. Very impressive!

Others have come close, lacking an inch or less than a perfect score, but thus far he’s the only competitor to pull it off. It’s been fun for us all and I know it has helped others take their mind off of everything that has been going on in the world.

I know that the past few months have been tough for some and more for others, but I do truly wish everyone the best. This will hopefully all be over soon and we can all get back to living a normal life. Fishing has been a godsend and lifesaver along the way for many of us.

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

Science and the

Sea

TM

Mother Lagoon Laguna Madre — Mother Lagoon — is one of the saltiest bodies of water on the planet. The narrow lagoon stretches a couple of hundred miles along the coasts of Texas and Mexico, between the mainland and a series of barrier islands.

Laguna Madre is one of the saltiest bodies of water on the planet.

Credit: Ken Dunton, University of Texas Marine Science Institute Because it’s so salty, you might expect Laguna Madre to be a lifeless place, but it’s just the opposite. The lagoon is teeming with sportfish and crustaceans. Migrating ducks and geese spend the winter there, dipping their feet and beaks into waters that average less than three feet deep. And it’s home to some of the largest seagrass beds in the United States.

Scientists classify Laguna Madre as a hypersaline lagoon, one of only about a half-dozen in the world. It gets little rainfall or runoff from rivers or creeks, and the climate is so hot that its water evaporates quickly. As a result, the lagoon’s water is saltier than seawater. On average, seawater contains about three and a half percent salt. But Laguna Madre’s water can rise to five or six percent in the summer or during a drought.

The seagrass bed in Laguna Madre provides a home for young brown shrimp during the summer. And during the winter, they attract about 80 percent of North America’s redhead ducks, which feed on the seagrasses.

Migrating mallards, Canada geese, and other waterfowl also stop over.

That makes Laguna Madre not only one of the saltiest places on Earth, but one of the liveliest, too.

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

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Contractor’s check elevations for breakwater along Dagger and Ransom Islands.

(Photo Courtesy of Ducks Unlimited)

Story by John Blaha

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

CCA TEXAS UPDATE & HAPPENINGS As this edition of Texas Saltwater Fishing hits the newsstands, we hope Texas and many other states are moving forward into the next phase of opening our communities and economies. CCA Texas is weathering these unprecedented times well, thanks to the incredible success of our local chapters the last several years. This success is a direct result of the dedicated efforts of our volunteers at the local and leadership levels, and our staff.

Thank you all for putting the organization in a strong position to deal with times like this.

The strong success of CCA Texas’s local chapters has allowed CCA Texas to contribute over $7.8 million to 40 habitat projects up and down the Texas coast since the inception of Habitat Today for Fish Tomorrow (HTFT).

The local success has allowed CCA Texas to lead the way in critical advocacy issues such as oyster management, fresh water inflow, and fishery management issues. CCA members and volunteers are critical to the advocacy process by taking an active role, whether it is active roles on committees, commenting at public hearings, or sending in their comments to the appropriate governmental agency for any one specific issue. The common thread to all of CCA Texas remains to be successful local chapters and dedicated volunteers.

Habitat Nueces Bay Oyster Project - Habitat creation and protection projects have continued to move forward 48 | June 2020

through the pandemic crisis. The Nueces Bay oyster reef project was recently completed under the leadership of Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program (CBBEP). Two hundred tons of 3” x 5” bull rock were placed within the protected area of the shoreline protection project in Nueces Bay. This rock, along with a 20’ X 200’ strip of crushed oyster shell will provide a good baseline for the potential success of oyster restoration in this part of Nueces Bay. CBBEP and Harte Research Institute (HRI) will monitor the area to track the success of oyster growth.

Dagger Island Shoreline Protection and Marsh Restoration - CCA Texas partnered with Ducks Unlimited to create critical shoreline protection in Redfish Bay along Dagger Island. The Dagger and Ransom Island Shoreline Protection Project is a wide-ranging project with the ultimate goal to eliminate or drastically reduce the rate of shoreline erosion and island migration. Three different types of shoreline protection (shoreline revetment, beneficial use, and offshore breakwaters) are being used at three priority areas. Once completed, the project will protect more than 5,000 acres of marsh and wetlands, and create more than 40 new acres. Work is ongoing and the breakwaters are now complete. The contractors are also stacking material for the containment levees, and the next phase to begin shaping the material on the levees should begin mid to late May.

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Lone Star Beer Contributes $150,000 to CCA Texas for Habitat Restoration and Creation Lone Star beer recently committed $150,000 to CCA Texas for habitat

restoration and creation along the Texas coast as part of their Hurricane Harvey Relief Giving. Lone Star has been a great partner to CCA Texas, and especially the Austin Chapter. These funds have been designated for habitat work in the Coastal Bend, and CCA Texas and Lone Star are currently working with partners to identify potential projects.

“As the National Beer of Texas, we deeply value the land and waters of the Lone Star State,” commented Troy Moldenhauer, RGM South Texas.

Moldenhauer continued, “For us, working with the CCA to protect the beauty of our state for future generations to enjoy, especially with a beer in hand, was an absolute must.

We look forward to this friendship for many more years to come.”

Hatchery Update

Breakwater along Dagger and Ransom Islands that will provide protection to sensitive marsh and estuary. (Photo Courtesy of Ducks Unlimited)

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Flounder buildings expected to increase southern flounder production The CCA Texas flounder building at Sea Center Texas in Lake Jackson is nearing completion and the sister building in Corpus Christi is already

department and raising awareness amongst our membership.”

Over the past 15 years, CCA Texas has donated more than $1 million to support flounder research and stock enhancement projects: • $740,000 to the University of Texas Marine Science Institute for facilities and equipment to support larvae research.

• $14,000 to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for a skiff to aid in flounder broodstock collection.

Aerial overview of the Dagger and Ransom • $40,000 to the Sea Center Texas Island shoreline protection project.

Hatchery in Lake Jackson (Photo Courtesy of Ducks Unlimited) for flounder larvae culture equipment. online. With the two new buildings, Texas Parks and Wildlife will soon • $325,000 to the Sea Center Texas Hatchery for a flounder culture ramp up their southern flounder stock enhancement efforts. larvae culture building.

“CCA Texas continues to be a proud partner of the stock enhancement program,” said Robby Byers, executive director of CCA CCA Texas STAR Tournament Texas. “Our hope is that with increased production capabilities, stock The STAR Tournament kicks off on May 23, 2020 and lasts till enhancement can aid in the recovery of the flounder fishery. TPWD September 7, 2020. Don’t hit the water without signing up. You has repeatedly expressed grave concern for the status of flounder might be the next big winner. For more details, be sure to visit PE-TEXAS SALTWATER FISHING-QUARTER PG-3_675 x 4_875.pdf 1 3/31/20 9:14 PM stocks and we want be a part of the solution by supporting the www.starttournament.org

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Angie Couch caught this 27.5" red while kayaking fishing with her dad, David. It was a 15 minute fight they will always remember!

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Photo by Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.

STEPHANIE BOYD

F I S H Y FA C T S

SQUIRRELFISH Squirrelfish (Holocentrus adscensionis) have compressed ‘perch-like’ bodies and large ‘squirrel-like’ eyes with red irises. They are typically reddish-pink with a golden sheen on the top and sides, and white underneath. They have light silvery stripes that follow the rows of scales and a white streak extending diagonally across their cheeks.

The spiny dorsal fin is yellowish with white blotches between the tips, and the tail, anal, soft dorsal, pectoral, and pelvic fins are pinkish-white. They have a large mouth that extends to the middle of the eyes and is filled with small, villiform teeth. The corner of the gill cover has a long, large spine; the anal fin also sport three or four spines. Their rough scales give them a sandpaper-like feel.

They can reach up to two feet in length, but are more commonly found around ten inches.

This species is found in the western Atlantic Ocean from North Carolina and Bermuda, south to Santos, Brazil including the Gulf of Mexico. They also live throughout the West Indies and Caribbean. In the eastern Atlantic, this species resides in the islands and tropical and subtropical waters along the African coast. They inhabit shallow reefs and offshore waters up to about 600 feet in depth, though they’re more commonly found around inshore reefs up to 100 feet. Although fairly nonaggressive, squirrelfish have a propensity to swallow most anything that will fit into their mouths. They hunt over 52 | June 2020

sand and grass beds and feed primarily on meroplankton, such as crab and shrimp larvae, along with other small crustaceans and juvenile fishes. Put simply, if it walks, crawls, slithers, or swims, and has the probability to fit in their mouth, it might be squirrelfish food.

Squirrelfish are preyed upon by dolphinfish, mutton snapper, yellowfin tuna, longlure frogfish, along with various sea birds. They have few natural defenses from larger predators, other than staying out of sight. Once seen by a predator, they will attempt to use their spiny nature to deter an attack. By flexing all of the dorsal and anal rays, they accentuate their spines and appear larger than they truly are. As a last-ditch effort, they can inject venom from the spine on their gill cover into anything that attempts to swallow them.

Upon first seeing a squirrelfish, the unusually large eye probably draws the most attention. They have these large eyes because they are primarily nocturnal, and larger eyes gather more available light. Though they can sometimes be seen during the day, they tend to be reclusive and rarely venture out from their overhangs or crevices.

Juveniles generally congregate in schools, while adults tend to be more isolated within established territories.

They communicate through ‘vocalizations.’ By contracting muscles that cause their swim bladder to vibrate, they can create a range of sounds, from quick cracks and pops to

a constant rumble at frequencies from 75 to 85 Hz. Additionally, the swim bladder is not only responsible for vocalization, but also assists in hearing sounds produced by other squirrelfish. Because there is a tight association between the front end of the swim bladder and the ear, the swim bladder functions as a transducer (converting pressure to electrical signals), resulting in augmented hearing sensitivity.

Surprisingly, knowledge of the mating and spawning habits of squirrelfish is fairly low for a group found in such large numbers in shallow water. This is presumably due to their nocturnal nature. We know spawning occurs year-round in warm regions, but only during summer in colder waters of higher latitudes. Reproduction is believed to involve batch spawning, with each female releasing 50,000 to 250,000 eggs in open water. Juveniles are thin and silvery, and are rarely seen as they live out in pelagic waters for about 70 days before moving inshore and settling into suitable habitat, at about an inch long. Of the minimal information available, it appears females are routinely larger than males, though the difference is often 10mm or less. No other external differences are readily observable between the two sexes. Sexual maturity is estimated at 5.7 inches.

The squirrelfish is of low commercial importance, though it is frequently taken in artisanal fisheries off of Brazil and Venezuela.

They are easily caught with handlines and gill nets, and can survive for days in traps or highly polluted waters. Though small in stature, they are considered an excellent food fish and are marketed fresh in some countries of South America. They are also a popular fish for public aquariums due to their availability, beautiful red coloration, distinctively large eyes, and hardiness. Though this species is captured in some small-scale fisheries, it is not considered a major threat to its global population and has thus been assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN.

Where I learned about squirrelfish, and you can too!

Texas Marine Species txmarspecies.tamug.edu/fishdetails.cfm?scinameID=Holocentrus%20 adscensionis FishBase fishbase.us/summary/SpeciesSummary.php?genusname=Holocentrus&specie sname=adscensionis IUCN Red List www.iucnredlist.org/species/16442472/16509817#habitat-ecology Florida Museum www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/discover-fish/species-profiles/holocentrusadscensionis/ Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute biogeodb.stri.si.edu/caribbean/en/thefishes/species/3352 Global Biodiversity Information Facility www.gbif.org/species/5204778 Mexican Fish www.mexican-fish.com/squirrelfish/ MarineBio marinebio.org/species/squirrelfishes/holocentrus-adscensionis/ Marine Species Identification Portal species-identification.org/species.php?species_group=caribbean_diving_ guide&id=259&menuentry=soorten Reef App reefapp.net/en/lex/details/holocentrus-adscensionis Reefkeeping reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-12/hcs3/index.php Saltcorner www.saltcorner.com/AquariumLibrary/browsespecies. php?CritterID=1638&filter=0 Aquafind aquafind.com/SaltwaterSpecies/Holocentrus_adscensionis.php The Jump www.thejump.net/id/squirrelfish.htm

Photo by JT Williams. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic.

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Alexis with a June tiger last year on the PINS beach. It has received a tag and is about to be released back to the Gulf of Mexico.

ERIC OZOLINS

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

WELCOME TO

JAWRASSIC PARK

June ranks high among the most interesting months in the Texas surf. Vast numbers of blacktip sharks linger in the nearshore Coastal Bend waters before moving farther offshore in July, at the start of shrimping season.

As we make the transition to early-summer, weather The southern stingray often grows to massive size. Stingrays are an important food source for many species of sharks and therefore make one of the best shark baits.

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patterns and other factors greatly affect the water quality and all the creatures in the ecosystem, from the smallest prey species to the largest apex predators.

From the diminutive Atlantic sharpnose sharks to the massive, half-ton tigers, numerous toothy critters inhabit the surf during this time frame. People ask me why I don’t swim in the surf in South Texas. The reason is simple—when you wade into the water at Big Shell, you might become part of the food chain! With all the feeding predators around, summer brings a version of the Wild West to Texas saltwater fishing. I like to think of it as Jawrassic Park.

I do enjoy adventures up and down the entire coast, but the nutrientrich currents off the 70+ miles of Padre Island National Seashore are my main stamping grounds.

When June rolls around, I feel like a little kid in a candy store! This transitional time period provides the best shot at the “Top Four” shark species—lemons, bulls, great hammerheads and tigers.

Calmer, cleaner waters are more optimal for tigers and hammers.

At the start of the summer, the wind patterns normally relax, clearing up the water to look like the Caribbean at times. The two gigantic, beastly sharks thrive in this pristine water, tending to hunt at night.

Bulls and lemons, on the other hand, fare better in dirty water.

The long, semi-slender lemons have heads similar to large bulls.

They have two dorsal fins of almost equal height and size, which

Scott Nelson in the process of releasing a large bull shark after tagging.

help anglers distinguish them from most other species. While lemons are not super massive sharks, they can attain sizes up to about ten feet in length and weigh in excess of 400 pounds. In South Texas, this species appears mostly from late-April to midJune, but on the Upper Coast, they stay from June through October.

The larger male lemons, full of testosterone, can be a handful to land on the beach. I’ve caught lemons on everything from jack crevalle to stingrays. My largest, measuring over ten feet, ate a whole skipjack close to the sand, in the second gut. Late in the afternoon, baits placed close to the beach often draw impressive takers. Because lemons are not common, they provide welcome variety any time we catch one.

Bull sharks excite us too. While we get a solid run of quality bulls in April and May, we see the largest individuals in June, when most mature females have recently pupped and hang around with ravenous appetites. This unique species will eat extremely large prey, including other sharks. We commonly reel in just the head of a hooked five-foot blacktip when the mega bulls are around.

Here in Texas, any bull shark over eight feet long is considered an outstanding catch. Typically, when bulls reach lengths of about seven feet, they attain more and more girth with each additional foot in length.

Our benchmark trophy bull measured Great nighttime shot of a over nine feet long. I’ve only seen great hammerhead shark. two of these—a 9’2” I landed last year and 9’3” my client landed a couple years prior. Bulls are among the most common sharks in Texas, with the blacktips; when they reach monstrous sizes, they create quite a buzz in the shark-fishing community.

Folks also revere the great hammerheads. Often called “greaters”, these hold the title as the largest of the hammerhead species. Texas produces some mammoth ones, probably because of the abundance of prey our waters support. Two of the greater’s primary food sources are stingrays and tarpon, both of which are plentiful in South Texas. Through the millennia, biological forces shaped the structure of the hammershaped heads of the species so they work efficiently like shovels, to pry stingrays off the bottom.

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presents an uncanny interaction between man and beast.

June is an optimal month for targeting a variety of sharks. The first month of summer is undoubtedly my favorite one for big shark activity in South Texas. In addition to the sharks, other toothy creatures prowl through the waves, including both Spanish and king mackerel, and bluefish. All these species deploy razor sharp teeth in their hunting forays. Their snapping jaws fill the days and nights of all the baitfish with tangible fears.

The dangers lurking in the hot waters off the beach during summer don’t end with teeth—the tentacles of various stinging jellyfish drift in the currents, and stingrays wield poisonous barbs like daggers. For these and other good reasons, the summer surf in South Texas seems like a treacherous place, but it’s also where cautious, dedicated anglers pursue their dreams. Those fortunate enough to earn the privilege of landing a trophy shark fully appreciate the wild side of Jawrassic Park.

C O N TA C T

they become hooked, they prove admirably capable of putting up a powerful battle. Among the fastest sharks, they fight about as hard as any species we hook from land. They’ve obliterated many reels over the decades.

Unfortunately, the attributes which make great hammerheads hard to land and handle also create peril for the fish itself. Members of this fragile species demand a speedy release. Any prolonged activity surrounding their handling may kill them, especially the largest ones, which expend most of their energy during the fight.

Seeing a hammerhead in excess of twelve feet swim off after a successful release creates a life-long memory for any angler lucky enough to experience it.

Tiger sharks also stamp indelible memories into the minds of those of us who love fishing at the beach. Of all the sharks, tigers are my personal favorite. Everything about their appearance is mystical, from their dark eyes to their faint tiger stripes. These sharks will eat most anything, and are known as the trash cans of the sea.

Anglers in Texas have found birds, turtles and other creatures in the stomachs of tigers, whose serrated teeth work like buzz saws.

Tigers can grow to lengths over thirteen feet, and they have appetites to match their size. Like the bulls, they’ll eat other sharks.

In June, they mostly feed after dark, targeting the massive southern and roughtail stingrays that come into the shallows to give birth to their young. While tigers readily take large jack crevalle deployed as baits, I’ve caught more of them on stingrays than anything else.

Quite hardy, most can be released with no problems, as long as they aren’t throat-hooked. Swimming a giant tiger out for release

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

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EDGE™ Small Crankbait Box The shallow depth of the small EDGE™ Crankbait Box allows lures like lipless crankbaits or finely-tuned finesse baits to nestle down into the box like a carton holding delicate eggs.

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TSFMAG.com | 57

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TSFMAG.com | 59

DICKIE COLBURN

DICKIE COLBURN’S Sabine Scene

Not unlike most folks, I continue praying that we are truly turning the corner on this pandemic, but I question any promising messaging thus far. We are being force fed so many misleading opinions that it is hard to ascertain the S ab i n e truth, but 60,000 plus deaths in little over a month is scary.

Due to quarantining and social distancing, it seems the only time Dickie Colburn is a full I am not consumed with blame or time guide out of Orange, apprehension is when I am fishing.

Texas. Dickie has 37 years I am also not a touchy person, but experience guiding on Sabine and Calcasieu Lakes. when greeting friends I prefer a firm handshake rather than a nod or wink Telephone over the top of a mask!

409-883-0723 I was hooked on fishing for life Website the first time I watched a red and www.sabineconnection.com white bobber twitch before plunging beneath the surface and I don’t regret it. My passion has never waned, but I have changed my goal several times over the years regarding the benefits I choose to derive from the sport.

Throughout the early years, the idea that anyone would pay me to take them fishing was reason enough to fish forever.

By the time I switched from fresh to salt water guiding, I was obsessed with the prospect of catching double-digit trout much more than numbers. It wasn’t until this virus forced me to fish alone again, however, that I realized what I enjoyed the most about guiding over the last fifteen years.

I enjoy the teaching aspect and sharing quality time with other fishermen far more than the catching and this virus has robbed me of that. I am still able to fish every day, but I will never catch a fish that rivals the satisfaction of knowing that I made that feat a reality for someone else. Especially kids!

I most miss the annual visits with old friends that I have fished with for years and pray that in the near future we will once again rekindle those friendships.

If you, too, are still fishing alone or with a buddy that you hope to be corona virus free, the bite on Sabine Lake now merits a look. Toledo Bend and Rayburn have been forced to occasionally discharge more water than we need due to the storms, but aside from a little too much wind, the water clarity and catching has been consistently good.

We still aren’t catching bragging size trout, but I saw more four to six pound fish this past month than I have seen in the past three years. The best news of all is that we are catching keeper-size trout via several different patterns.

There hasn’t been a lot of gull activity, but that is the only pattern that isn’t currently going strong. Every time I have found a few gulls and terns working they were over either small trout or redfish.

Probably the most consistent bite of all is taking place in the ship channel from the Causeway to the jetties, but I seldom if ever personally sample that bite. I currently have 60 | June 2020

no reason to abandon the Louisiana shoreline from Three Bayous to Blue Buck. That’s a lot of real estate, but the same patterns and lures are working along that entire stretch of the lake.

The wind has changed my approach on occasion, but we are still catching trout between the whitecaps. Smaller topwaters like the She Dog and Skitter Walk have worked well when the fish are into taking something off the surface and white or bone have definitely been our top colors. My best bite has been in three to five feet of water.

If you don’t care to drift a tail under a cork, try drifting that same tail rigged on a quarter-ounce head over scattered patches of shell adjacent to deeper water. Color choice and adding a scent make a difference; chicken on a chain, plum-chartreuse, and opening night usually get my first nod. If the water is really dirty try red shad or morning glory.

When the lake is calm enough, I am giving the shoreline the first shot. It is not unusual to find small groups of reds hustling rafts of shad and finger mullet and the strikes alone are worth the effort. I usually chase these fish with a four-inch Usual Suspect or Frog, but Capt.

Chuck recently talked me into trying a Trout Support Grass Walker and I haven’t fished anything else of late.

No valid excuse for not fishing with the kids right now!

Home schooling has its advantages!

TSFMAG.com | 61

BINK GRIMES

THE VIEW FROM Matagorda

M ata go r d a

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

62 | June 2020

It’s a plugger’s dream to work a topwater in an emerald surf, hearing every ball-bearing click as it dances left and right.

It’s June and the surf is only a light north wind away.

Hopping shrimp and flipping mullet are strong indicators of fishy locales, so are wheeling seagulls and diving pelicans. Speckled trout are ambush-feeders and like to use structure to flush prey from structure.

The only structures on the beach, short of a sunken shrimp boat, are the guts and sandbars that run parallel to the shore.

Breaking waves tell you where bars are located. The swells build in the deeper guts and crest on the shallower bars.

Know the tides before you take the plunge. You are wasting your time fishing the first gut at the end of the outgoing tide. Likewise, you are probably stepping over fish to get to the second bar at high tide.

Though wading the surf is a welcomed rite of summer, anglers should always take precautions before diving into the

ocean. Too many anglers die needlessly every summer due to neglect and/or disrespect for the foam. Tales of pluggers tiptoeing and even swimming to reach the third bar make me cringe.

Riptides most often occur on a falling tide; and most

waders fall victim to rips because tides are receding and anglers must fish the outer bars in deeper water. Best advice is to use common sense – if currents and tides are too strong, get out of the pool. No fish is worth a life.

Beside the safety factor, there is an advantage in fishing the Gulf from a boat, especially on an outgoing tide. Drifting allows you to cover more ground and work deeper water that could not be reached on foot.

The surf is not the only spot we will frequent in June. East Matagorda Bay continues to produce beautiful trout during the first month of summer. There was one 10-day stretch in April where my boat released at least one trout over six pounds every day.

It’s a testament to conservation and respect of our resource. Most anglers are releasing big trout and doing what they can to leave this precious resource better than they found it. Quite a change from yesteryear.

Better June tides will allow us to wade the sand and grass in West Bay. The morning incoming is best for feisty specks on Super Spook Jrs and She Pups. Grassbeds in West Bay are best in June as slicks point the way to feeding fish.

We like throwing Down South Lures, MirrOlure Lil’ Johns and Bass Assassin Sea Shads. The new Texas Custom Lures jigheads are wonderful. The weights are true to scale and the way the head skirts over reefs and shell pads makes for more strikes and fewer hang-ups.

The offshore game gets rolling June 1st with the opening of recreational red snapper season.

The federal season is set for 63 days this year with a 2-fish, 16-inch minimum bag limit.

June has always been one of my favorite months to fish. Let’s get outside and get this country rolling again.

Follow Grimes’ reports on Instagram and Facebook (@matagordasunriselodge, @binkgrimes).

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TSFMAG.com | 63

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 the Seadrift/Port O’Connor region since 1986. Gary specializes in year ‘round wade fishing for speckled trout and redfish with artificial lures.

Telephone 361-785-6708 Email bayrats@tisd.net Website www.bayrat.com Facebook @captsgaryandshelliegray

There are probably going to be a lot of guides and outfitters writing about Coronavirus this month. I have decided not to do that.

Springtime fishing thus far in the POC/Seadrift area has been nothing short of spectacular. Sure, we’ve had slow days due to boat traffic or horrible wind, but they were few and far between.

The fishing should hold steady during the month of June. As of the second week of May I still have not noticed the annual migration of menhaden that normally takes place this time of year. I normally plan my wades on shorelines where these menhaden schools follow the contours of the shorelines. Instead I have had to look for daisychaining mullet along certain shorelines.

I wouldn’t say Mother Nature is behind schedule, (like she has been the last few years) but something has changed as far as the menhaden migration that we normally witness this in this area this time of year. I’m not sure if my fellow anglers have noticed a change in the migration, or if they even care. I for one am a “menhaden chasing fool” this time of year.

I confess I love chasing rafts of menhaden. I believe during this time of year the trout that are

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about to spawn or have already been spawning depend on this oil-rich food source to replenish their systems that have been drained by spawning. I believe that the menhaden provide more protein than other baitfish such as mullet or pinfish. Don’t get me wrong, I also know if the menhaden are not present the larger trout will not hesitate to eat a large mullet.

The menhaden migration may be getting off to a slow start but it hasn’t affected the fishing. It started in late March with water temps rising earlier than normal. The glass minnows arrived early and kickstarted our main bay shoreline fishing.

Further evidence of great fishing can also be seen in the slow-motion videos on social media of heavy stringers slung over gunwales…give me a break! Another social media tactic of late is carrying well over a limit in a fish bag and dumping them on the deck and then videoing the release. Really? Is your ego that fragile? If you are going to release a fish, take a photo or video and release it.

Okay one last pet peeve. The guy that drags his or his customer’s trophy fish (that should be released immediately to enhance its chance to survive) back to the boat for a picture…in front of his boat! I am seeing more and more of this and it’s not what we should be teaching our anglers.

Handle with care and release ASAP if you truly care about the fishery.

Like I was saying, all the major bay shorelines have been producing quality trout and redfish on a variety of lures and natural baits. Over the past several weeks I have been wading West Matagorda, Espiritu Santo, and San Antonio Bay. Each one has its place on my go-to fishing list because of the way the bay lies and what effect boat traffic will have on them. West Matagorda is great on the south shoreline and can handle a lot of traffic and still reload with fish. But let the wind switch from the steady south-southeasterly direction to east or north and you can pretty much write it off.

Espiritu Santo has had good fishing on the north shoreline during north wind and light southerly wind. If we get our normal springtime south-east wind of 20-25 mph it will shut the north shoreline down in the wink of an eye.

San Antonio Bay has been great on the south shoreline but this shoreline cannot handle much boat traffic before the fish shut down. The mid-bay reefs are also holding quality fish if the winds stay low and they can handle boat traffic pretty well. It’s just a matter of finding the right reef with the right size fish.

The lures that have been working in May should continue to produce into June. For me and my clients, topwaters have been paying off for the hardcore surface plug enthusiast but the tried and true 4” Saltwater Assassin Sea Shad in Purple Chicken and Magic Grass have been paying greater dividends rigged on a 1/16-ounce Assassin jighead.

Fish hard, fish smart!

TSFMAG.com | 65

DAVID ROWSEY

HOOKED UP WITH Rowsey

Upper Laguna/ Ba f f i n

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

66 | June 2020

From the bottom of my heart, I hope this finds y’all and loved ones healthy and safe. These have been the craziest of times. This whole Cov19 mess seemed to have affected the bay as it did the rest of the world.

Here in Corpus Christi, with so many off or out of work, the bays were full of boats. A few memorable days it seemed like you could jump from boat to boat down certain shorelines. It seemed like every day was spring break down here for the last couple of months.

As the world reopens for business, my guess is that there will actually be fewer boats on the water as compared to summers past. Like most full time guides, I lost my share of business and have been scrambling to make up the lost days. I am, by no means, feeling sorry for myself as so many Americans have had it just as bad and, in many cases, far worse. This is the time of year where my dates have been booked for a few months out. Saying that, I have more than my share of openings at the moment, and would love to host you if you have the desire to fish Baffin with lures.

Considering all the traffic on the bay, catching has actually been pretty stellar. Gorgeous green water moved in from the south and the flats and shorelines

are just beautiful with visible structure and daisy chains of fresh mullet for the trout and reds to dine on. Being safely past the chance of northern fronts, we have turned the horses lose on the Mercury to locate untapped trout that haven’t seen a lure all year. Good time to be a fisherman if solid action is your preference.

With the focus on my charters being 99% trout, June will open some quality redfish action that will last into the early fall. As the sun and temperature rises, my daily program will be to stay on trout until roughly 10:00 AM, and then shift into sightcasting mode for reds and big rogue trout on the flats the rest of the day. For most clients, this is a hoot and they enjoy it as much as I do. I mean, how could you not? It’s the perfect combination of hunting and fishing. Stalk – spot – present lure – hookup! So much fun and so rewarding.

So much of my fishing has been in sand/mud and grass structure the past six months, and I am now looking forward to fishing on the infamous Baffin rock structures during the warmer months ahead. Not to say that I never fish the rocks during the cooler months, but the heat of the summer is my favorite to be on these deep structures. Some of the rock piles are very large

Big tide-runners have hit Baffin. We are releasing a lot of trout over 20-inches and averaging at least one 7-pounder each day. Lots of solid 3- to 5-pounders. Fun times!

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and cast great shade during the hot days of summer. Seems to me the bait and gamefish alike are prone to congregating in the shade of the rocks more than any time of year. With water clarity being so good, the rocks are easy to see, which allows for perfect casts to the edge of them.

The outside edges is where you will find the trout hunting for the next meal. Good lure placement will provide you with the most hits, and keep you from staying hung up on these prehistoric fossils. Tip for you: Take extra jig heads when doing this kind of fishing. You will, inevitably, get hung up and its far better to just bust the lure off and retie.

Why you ask? Couple reasons: Your safety is number one. The rocks and barnacles are razor sharp. If you have a misstep or fall, you are going to get cut. In some cases, badly (I have many scars to prove it). The second most important reason to bust the line is to stay out of the area where the fish are feeding.

For instance, and I have seen this many times, you will be just putting a beat down on some great trout when the hook hangs up on a rock. You can rest assured that if you go in to try and get the lure loose, stepping all over the rocks, the trout will spook and you have just ruined your bite. I’ll admit it took me a while to realize this when I was young. Lesson learned the hard way and not forgotten.

Let me close out by saying that these awesome trout in Baffin are a gift that should be cherished.

Do all you can to catch them, but only keep what you may want for a fresh meal. The supply is not endless. Be bigger, be responsible with this awesome resource.

Remember the buffalo! -Capt David Rowsey

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TSFMAG.com | 67

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

68 | June 2020

Greetings from Port Mansfield. First and foremost we are happy to report that fishing restrictions have finally been loosened. We were shut down for quite a while and guiding was strictly forbidden – you could fish only with members of immediate household or by yourself. I did just that and it was a perfect time to scout. I ran more than 40 miles one day and never saw another boat. What a rare treat that was.

Boat ramps have reopened and parking lots are mostly full again on weekends, a sign that anglers are coming out of CV-19 lock down in full force.

A bit of a surprise actually with unemployment numbers skyrocketing, so many still have money for fishing. Hopefully the rest of the economy will rebound as rapidly.

Lower Laguna water levels remain seasonally high but are no longer rising. Water levels

really do not bother me too much; I’ve learned to work with both highs and lows, and can usually find a viable pattern. The winds continue on the strong side but water clarity is holding relatively well in many areas, which boosts confidence for anglers who struggle mentally with fishing the dirty stuff. My advice is don’t let it get you down; cloudy or even dirty water often produces some of the better fish.

I have been concentrating early morning efforts in back bays, working areas of thick bottom grass with scattered potholes. Wading knee-deep, we are relying on small singlehooked topwaters and Willow Tails rigged weedless on 1/16 and 1/8 Willow Maker jigs to beat the grass problem. Putting some serious heat on better fish to prevent long runs and extended fights is strongly

recommended to avoid a couple pounds of soggy grass collecting on your line. There is no surefire method for avoiding it, except to land them as quickly as possible.

The difference in fish behavior I noticed during the weeks of socialdistancing, with near zero boat traffic and fishing effort, was very enlightening. It has been a while since I have been able to walk within feet of redfish and witness them eagerly take any lure presented. It has been even longer since I have witnessed a dozen or more reds tailing peacefully along mangrove shorelines with small shrimp hopscotching among them as their copper backs glistened in the sun. Like a bone-dry sponge I absorbed as much of this as I could.

I honestly believe that if more anglers could witness nature at this level they might have a different perspective on it all.

In the coming weeks I will begin shifting my primarily springtime fishing strategies to accommodate the patterns fish tend to exhibit more commonly in early summer.

Part of this is accepting the fact there will be more anglers on the bay, more boats running around, and more floating grass. I’ll try to get out relatively early and stay in areas longer, and do less boat driving. This works for me in the high-traffic season and by the end of the day we usually have a good mess of fish.

Additionally, with water temps continuing to rise I will begin “spotchecking” a few areas where we enjoyed uncommon success with big snook last summer. Maybe still a little early but when the water temperatures rise to 85° and higher you can bet it can happen just about any day. Those fish last summer were a joy and a blessing and I wouldn’t want to miss a single chance at them.

As some of you may know, I made the switch last year to an SCB produced by Shallow Sport. It was a super nice boat in every way imaginable but it just wasn’t me. I have been a Shallow Sport Classic guy since 2005 but the bug to try a different hull got in my head and I just had to do it. Well, with that out of my system, I am now back at the helm of another 24-Classic.

This one is kind of an SCB-Shallow Sport Classic hybrid in that I convinced Wes and Kyra Hudson to place the SCB console on the Classic hull. This may be an available option in the future, but that will be up to Shallow Sport. There are many benefits to this setup – more to come on that later. I have also made the switch to a Mercury Pro-XS 300. So far this motor has performed flawlessly and has a ton of “umph” with great fuel economy.

Until next time, stay safe out there and practice catch and release whenever possible.

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TSFMAG.com | 69

CAPT. ERNEST CISNEROS

SOUTH PADRE Fishing Scene Arr o y o C ol o ra d o t o Po rt I sa bel

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

Hard to believe it’s almost June. May is traditionally a levels sometime during June. windy month on the Lower Laguna, June is generally If I could summarize June fishing in only a few words friendlier to anglers. June strikes me as a transitional I would choose hot and cold. Why hot and cold? I say period, with diminishing winds and soaring water this because it’s usually all about the water temperature. temperatures, easily reaching well into the 80s most During the middle of the day, when the water becomes days, and even the low 90s really warm, fish tend to hunker on occasion. June is certain down and settle toward the to deliver more boating and bottom in deeper guts and fishing pressure, especially since along the edges of channels. so many have been in home The bite will be slow, especially quarantine the past six weeks. when tidal movements are Despite many days with weak. This is when your water strong wind in May the fishing temperature gauge becomes was good overall. I expect this your best friend. will continue through June, We are still catching decent even though mid-afternoon numbers of redfish but they are water temps may produce a becoming tougher to pattern slower bite. You might want and locate in viable numbers to begin planning your fishing than a few weeks ago. We are trips for the cooler periods of currently finding them in sand morning and late afternoon. pockets along spoil banks, lying The tides have been running in potholes on grass flats, and Jason Shook always seems to find himself above normal, but we usually deeper holes within shallow in the right place at the right time. begin to see more normal water flats. During June I expect to see

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70 | June 2020

RJ Mitte and Bianca Hernandez scored a double redfish hookup.

In light of Covid-19 hardship to Texas fishermen:

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FREE TO ALL! them more numerous on tide-swept flats near the gulf passes.

We often find schools of reds during June on the eastside sand flats during the low light of early morning and evening. But nothing will wreck that pattern quicker than non-stop boat traffic. We will just have to wait and see how that plays out.

One more tip for finding reds, especially if the wind is blowing late in the afternoon; look for the telltale sign of gulls hovering and diving on shallow flats. The water will be muddy but don’t let that deter you.

Those gulls are picking off small shrimp the reds are rooting from the soft, grassy bottom.

Trout have been spawning almost two months now and we are definitely seeing a decline in the weight of larger specimens. The length doesn’t change, they just get skinnier. I will honestly say that big trout season this year was rather lackluster. We caught some good ones but the warmer than average weather delayed the pattern and we lost some really good days during the stay-at-home lockdown. Keeper-size fish of sixteen to twenty-inches are currently keeping us in the hunt.

Lately, trout slicks are popping reliably in the early morning and late evening hours. A good rule of thumb is the greater the number of slicks the greater the number of fish feeding within an area. Always remember that unless you actually see the slick pop on the surface, the size of a trash can lid and completely round, the fish that made it is somewhere upwind of where you are currently seeing it. This slick pattern will generally continue through the summer months.

Another good plan for catching trout in June is to fish along the ICW or similar channels during periods of strong tide movement. You will no doubt find lots of small trout but there are usually a fair number of keeper-size fish as well. As the water heats up I will tend to work my KWiggler Ball Tails lower in the water column with a slower retrieve.

Trout have been taking topwaters from sunrise until about midmorning and again as the sun fades toward evening. I highly recommend single hooks on surface plugs as the floating grass is already becoming a problem. Gamakatsu’s Live Bait Hooks with rings are my go-to; size 1/0 for smaller baits and 2/0 for medium-size.

Summer is here and lots of boats are already on the water. Courtesy toward your fellow anglers will always be the best policy. As you leave an area, drift away if you can or use your trolling motor to avoid disturbing others still fishing there. Be mindful not to cut the wade or drift of other anglers. Another good strategy is to use the ICW or other channel as much as possible when running to your next spot. Here’s wishing you a safe and productive summer fishing season.

Dear Fellow Fishing Enthusiasts, Please pass this along to all your fellow anglers and feel welcome to share on social media.

During these difficult days of social-distancing to help reduce the spread of Covid-19, we here at Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine are announcing a new option for all anglers to read our publication.

Sure, we’d all love the freedom to swing by the local grocery, convenience store, or nearest outdoor retailer and grab a copy of TSF from the newsstand as we normally do. But for some of you that may not be so easy right now.

The current issue of TSF has always been available to regular magazine and digital subscribers as an EMag and on our website at TSFMag.com. When each monthly issue is replaced by the next new one, the month-old issue was “unlocked” to the general public and became available in the archive section of the website.

Well, we are making some changes so every fishing enthusiast can access the current copy of TSF digitally.

Even if you’re not a subscriber, you can log into www.

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Your password to gain access will be your email address. Don’t worry, we’re not going to pass it along to unscrupulous e-marketers, but we may send a few messages and announcements from time to time pertaining strictly to Texas coastal fishing and TSFMag. We know you love fishing as much as we do, so here’s another way to keep enjoying Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine during the current Coronavirus situation!

Join us in praying for the best possible outcomes for our Nation, it’s leaders, and the economy.

Everett Johnson Editor and Publisher Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine

TSFMAG.com | 71

FISHING REPORTS

ORECASTS F from Big Lake to Boca Chica

AND

Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com - 409.935.7242 James says he had good fishing on trips made in the days leading up to providing this report. “We have been mostly wading sand bars on recent trips. We have plenty of grass growing in the local bays these days, and once we get into the warm months, the trout generally pull up on the grass beds and we catch 'em pretty easy for a while. We're doing best with the old school rat-tailed Bass Assassins lately, rigging them on pretty light jigheads, like eighth or sixteenth-ounce to work them over the grass. Also having some luck on one of my favorite hot weather topwaters, the pink/silver ShePup. A good many of the trout we're catching are weighing between three and five pounds, so that's a bonus. We're also fishing out in the middle some, around birds and slicks. That drill works best when winds are lighter. And the slickhopping part of that pattern should improve as the really hot weather settles in and more fish move out into the deeper water. Overall, it's been much better than last year, with fewer of the really slow days and a much better average size of the trout.”

Matagorda | Bay Guide Service Tommy Countz- 979.863.7553 cell 281.450.4037 Tommy describes several options that have tremendous potential in the Matagorda area during June. “We spend quite a bit of time wading down in West Bay this time of year. We like to start off early in the mornings throwing small topwaters right up against the bank, around grass beds. We usually catch plenty of keeper trout and some reds working that drill. As the sun climbs in the sky, we usually back away from the bank and fish around the outer bars for a while. We might stay with the topwaters or switch to soft plastics, depending on the bite. Often, we return to the grass beds tight to the shore and throw dark paddletails on sixteenth-ounce jigheads around them mid-day. Drifting open areas of East Bay and bumping dark soft plastics on quarter-ounce heads off the mud and shell also produces good catches this time of year. The fishing in the Diversion Channel and the Colorado River can be good too, if we don't get much rain. And, the surf is bound to pay off sometime soon. We usually catch a few big trout on topwaters out there in June.”

Jimmy West - Bolivar Guide Service - 409.996.3054 Jim had been having a lot of productive trips prior to giving this report, and he'd been wading on most days. “The water out in the middle of East Bay is holding fish, but the mix of fresh and saltwater make it kinda muddy. If there's much wind at all, the fishing is better on protected shorelines. We're catching plenty of trout most every day we go. They're biting topwaters for some part of the day, but soft plastics are by far producing the most fish. This is typical when the weather gets really warm. We had a great bite during most of the spring on slow-sinking twitch baits, and you can still catch on 'em, but the fish have gotten smaller, and most of the time, it feels like you're just working harder to catch the same fish you can catch on tails. The water in Trinity and the upper parts of Galveston Bay are fresh right now, so people are concentrated in Lower Galveston Bay and the pockets of East Bay where the water's saltier. If we stop getting the big rains, more areas will open up. And, the fishing out in the middle will get better too.”

Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam www.palaciosguideservice.com - 979.240.8204 Fishing has been off the charts good in the Palacios area lately. We've had a consistent bite for several weeks now. Trout are showing up best over shell in three to four feet of water. They're taking DSL in chicken of the sea, rigged on eighth-ounce heads. There are also plenty of trout to be caught around deep shell pads out in West Matagorda on freel-lined live shrimp. The main key to the bite is moving water. On some days, the early morning bite is great; on other days, we're catching better in the afternoon. Whenever the tide is coming in, the fish are biting best. Redfish have been easy to find, since the high spring tides sent them well back into the marshes and bayous, where they're hanging in ditches close to points. Flounder gigging has been on fire lately too, as most of the fish have moved back into the bays. We're finding limits in just a couple hours on most trips. June should be an awesome month if things stay the same as they have been. The surf will come into play more often, as will the deeper reefs. We should have working birds and popping slicks too.

West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays Randall Groves - Groves Guide Service 979.849.7019 - 979.864.9323 In June, the arrival of several types of forage species from offshore waters causes the trout and redfish in the San Luis Pass area to change their feeding habits temporarily, Randall says. “When the shad hatch is over and the pelagic species like white shrimp and ribbon fish roll in, we change our tactics and lure choices a little bit. In order to mimic the big shrimp, I like to throw full-sized Norton Sand Eels in light, natural colors like bone diamond. We usually rig these on three-eighths ounce heads, to keep them down in the water column. Best lure I've found for throwing when lots of ribbonfish are present is a pearl Skitterwalk. The slender profile and erratic action of it seems to trick the trout and reds better than some of the more cigar-shaped topwaters. It's also works well with fast retrieves. And of course, June is the month when we really start watching the surf on a daily basis. Some of the best days of the year for fishing along the beachfront happen during the first few calm spells this month, when the water gets green to the beach.”

Port O’Connor | Lynn Smith Back Bay Guide Service - 361.983.4434 Lynn mentions a variety of potentially productive options for June fishing in the Port O'Connor area. “We still fish the back lakes some this time of year. They can be full of reds at times. When we're targeting trout, we tend to favor areas with a firmer bottom. We fish the sand bars and shorelines close to the pass quite a bit. The bite in that area is especially good in the mornings, when the tide is coming in. We stay on flats with lots of grass lying close to drop offs into deeper water.

We look for big rafts of mullet and also cast around the bright sandy pockets on the bottom. Farther from the pass, some of the shorelines with deeper guts close to the bank produce well too. We throw a lot of topwaters this time of year, especially right after daybreak and for the first couple of hours of the mornings. Most of the time, when the blow ups stop coming, soft plastics on light jigheads allow us to keep catching. On some of the calmer days, slow-sinking twitch baits work well too. By the middle of the month, we should start seeing weather patterns that open up the surf.”

72 | June 2020

Rockport | Blake Muirhead Gator Trout Guide Service - 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894 Blake recently got a new boat, and he's using it to fish the back lakes around the Rockport area a little more than he has in the past, during this time of year. “I got a Haynie Super Cat. It allows me to access the back lakes a bit better than my old boat did. So, we're targeting reds in there quite a bit lately. We've had some good days throwing topwaters at 'em. Trout fishing has also been pretty good. We're fishing several bays, from Aransas up to San Antonio, wading on sandy, grassy shorelines mostly. The topwater bite has been good sometimes, especially on Baby Skitterwalks. We're also catching lots of fish on plum Bass Assassins. This is typical for hot weather fishing. The fish seem to like small topwaters a good deal of the time, but soft plastics in dark colors work more consistently. As we always do this time of year, we're hoping to get into the surf on a regular basis as the weather continues to warm up. It's been too windy on most days recently, but the wind patterns often change in June and give us a chance to go after the fish out at the beach.”

Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut Robert Zapata – rz1528@grandecom.net - 361.563.1160 In a normal year, the strong winds of spring start to die down more often once the month of June rolls around. We're hoping that will be the case this year. Because the weather gets more consistent in June, the catching usually does too. All sorts of artificial and natural live baits will work to catch trout and redfish during this month. Recently, I've been catching very good numbers of speckled trout and redfish in depths of two feet or less. I'll be looking for good concentrations of mullet swirling or jumping in areas with sandy potholes breaking up the grass beds, or along deep edges of the grass. I've been catching well on four-inch Bass Assassin Sea Shads in colors like Calcasieu brew, reuse goose and chicken on a chain. I'm rigging them on eighth-ounce Assassin Springlock jigheads. The Assassin Elite Shiners in colors like meat hook and Houdini have produced well too. My old tried and true, the Die Dappers in trickster, salt & pepper/chartreuse and chicken on a chain rigged on sixteenth-ounce heads rarely fail me. In places with worse water clarity, we're switching to live shrimp under popping corks to catch more fish.

Corpus Christi | Joe Mendez – www.sightcast1.com - 361.877.1230 Fishing in Baffin Bay, the Upper Laguna Madre and in Corpus Christi Bay can all be excellent in the month of June. “We catch plenty of fish in the shallows by sight-casting early in the mornings this time of year,” Joe says. “Then we catch more fish around deeper structures and along deep grass edges later in the day. Lighter winds in the mornings usually set us up for the best results this time of year. On a typical June day, the wind subsides some right after the break of day, and we have a relatively calm window for a few hours. This allows us to control the boat without making much noise and to sneak up closer to the fish in the shallows.

As with any time of year, catching fish in super shallow water is usually easiest on soft plastic paddletails rigged on light jigheads. In most situations, a steady turn of the reel handle and a lure moving straight ahead through the water draws more strikes than one that's jigged up and down too much. When we're fishing deeper water, and the wind is typically stronger, using slightly heavier jigheads and employing more twitching in the presentations works better.”

P.I.N.S. Fishing Forecast | Eric Ozolins 361-877-3583 | Oceanepics.com With summer arriving this month, we've got tons of predators and

prey species in the Texas surf. On calm mornings this time of year, targeting trout in the surf is usually a productive plan. Specks will hit a variety of lures in the clear, green waters off the beach this month. I like to drive the beach looking for anomalies which break up the uniformity of the sand bars, and fish in such places. My favorite lure for catching trout in the surf is a top water, but I do well on a variety of soft plastics too. These lures draw the attention of lots of other species too, like redfish and tarpon. Though the greatest numbers of tarpon hang around jetties and passes in June, catching a few in the surf is certainly possible.

Mostly, for beach-going anglers, June is a month to target large sharks.

Big baits like whole jack crevalle and stingrays draw strikes from some impressive sharks at the start of summer. Kayaking these baits out past the sand bars is usually the best way to connect with some of the brutes like bulls, lemons, great hammerheads and tigers, all of which lurk in Texas waters this time of year.

Port Mansfield | Ruben Garza Snookdudecharters.com – 832.385.1431 Getaway Adventures Lodge – 956.944.4000 June is one of the best months of the year to fish with topwaters. Bone and pink/gold One Knockers work great in the surf and in the Lower Laguna Madre this time of y ear. One of the most productive areas lately has been behind the cabins at The Saucer. It is possible to work the area all day long, most days. Starting out close to the ICW with either a topwater or a Gulp! shrimp under a mauler is always a good plan. KWigglers in colors like Mansfield Margarita and plum/chartreuse provide good alternatives to the Gulp! Lures. If reds are the target, weedless gold spoons and paddeltails sometimes draw more strikes.

On days with lighter winds, stretches of the west shoreline just south of the Land Cut produce well, especially in the mornings. If winds are up early, Wagner's Bar and Butcher's Island are better bets. In those places, the catching is often best in fairly deep water, on soft plastics dangled under corks. The water in those places tends to stay pretty clear, making it easy to see the potholes on the bottom, even at depths of four feet or a little more.

Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel Aaron Cisneros | tightlinescharters.com – 956-639-1941 If recent trends stay consistent, the weather in June will be hot, dry and breezy. Fishing in the Lower Laguna Madre has remained consistently good throughout the spring. The trout fishing in particular has been steady on days with good weather, meaning the day starts off with lighter winds, with lots of fish being caught along ICW spoil islands.

Mainly, we focus our efforts this time of year around grass beds covered by thigh to waist-deep water, throwing KWiggler soft plastics rigged on eighth-ounce screw-lock heads when fishing the spoils. Topwaters are working well early in the mornings and late in the afternoons. Mostly, we're catching smallish keeper, with a few bigger ones in the mix. One customer landed a thirty incher earlier this week. Redfish have been abundant on shorelines, taking small topwaters. We're rigging them with single hooks, to cope with all the floating grass. The bone Spook Junior is a favorite. Flats lying close to deep water produce best, especially once we get into the hotter summer months and water temperatures and boat traffic both increase, so we'll continue to do most of our fishing around grass beds lying close to drop offs into deeper waters.

TSFMAG.com | 73

Joe Winkel SPI - 9.5 lb 27” redfish

Chelsea Meeker POC - 42” black drum CPR

Nina Garrett Brazoria County - alligator CPR 74 | June 2020

Jaeden Molina 20” black drum

Nathaniel Longoria & Brody Jones Port Aransas - 50” & 46” wahoo

John Hall Port Aransas - 40” redfish

Brian Timmons Seadrift - Texas Slam

Lee Garza Rockport - 27" redfish Daniel Sanchez East Matagorda Bay - 28” trout

Caitlyn Williams Port O'Connor - flounder

Chris Hutson Surfside jetty - jack crevalle

Pete Gray Wealders Flats - 30” redfish CPR

Kevin Orsak Mission Lake - 29” redfish CPR

Ezra, Neo, & Novalee Brazos River - 43" bull red

Photo Gallery Guidelines

Paige Swiney East Matagorda Bay - 23” trout CPR

Eric Perkins East Matagorda Bay - 24” trout CPR

First come – first published!

Photos are judged on artistic merit and sporting ethic displayed. No stringer, cleaning table, or hanging board images allowed. Digital images only. Adjust camera to high or best quality. All images become property of TSFMag. Email to: Photos@TSFMag.com Include short description of your catch with name, date, bay system, etc.

TSFMAG.com | 75

PAM JOHNSON

Gulf Coast

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

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

INGREDIENTS

FIND IT AT MAG.COM WWW.TSF 76 | June 2020

2 large redfish fillets 1 tsp. salt 3 Tbsp. olive oil ½ tsp. black pepper 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 – 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened 2 – 4 oz. small cans mild diced green chilies, drained 1/2 can black beans, drained, and rinsed 1/2 cup canned whole kernel corn, drained 1 pepper from can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped (or ¾ spoon ground chipotle pepper) 2 Tbsp. lime juice 1 tsp. ground cumin 1/2 tsp. chili powder 1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro, finely chopped 12 HEB Mixla Corn & Flour Blend Tortillas, quartered 2 cups shredded Colby jack cheese, divided

Redfish Enchiladas Olé I discovered this recipe in the November 2019 issue of Texas Co-op Power magazine; submitted by Denise Crane of Victoria, TX. Being a lover of seafood and Mexican food it piqued my interest and I just had to try it. Well, let me tell you, it was so delicious I just had to share it. While the basic recipe is Denise’s, I made few small changes, along with giving it a new title. My family and friends absolutely gobble it up every time I serve it.

PREPARATION Sauce In a bowl, mix the sour cream and Salsa Verde to make the sauce.

1 cup sour cream 1 – 16 oz. jar Herdez Salsa Verde

Assemble enchiladas; pour 1 cup of sauce (sour cream and Verde mixture) in 9” x 13” baking dish.

Layer one: Distribute 16 of the quartered tortillas across the bottom of the dish. Spoon half of the redfish filling over the tortillas and top with ¾ cup shredded cheese.

Filling Sprinkle redfish fillets with 1/4 tsp of salt and let sit at room temperature 20 minutes.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add fish and sprinkle with black pepper and fresh garlic.

Cook about three minutes on each side.

Reduce heat to low and add cream cheese, green chiles, beans, corn, chipotle, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, cilantro, and remaining salt. Fold ingredients together breaking fillets apart.

When all ingredients are thoroughly combined, turn off heat.

Layer two: 16 more quartered tortillas and half of the remaining sauce.

Top with the remaining redfish filling and half of the remaining cheese.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Layer three: the last 16 tortillas and pour the remaining sauce to cover.

Cover tightly with aluminum foil and back 30 minutes. Remove foil and add remaining cheese and bake 15 minutes, until cheese is melted.

Top as desired with diced red onion, chopped cilantro, cotija cheese and avocado slices.

Serves 10-12 TSFMAG.com | 77

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

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

PROPER SEQUENCE FOR FIRST START OF THE DAY I had a customer call to ask what the starting procedures for a four-stroke outboard motor would be for the first start of the day. I thought the Chris Mapp, owner of question strange and asked him if he Coastal Bend Marine. was having a specific problem.

Evinrude, Suzuki, Yamaha, He asked me to chronologically Mercury, Honda, BlueWave, SilverWave, Shallow Stalker run through the sequence because Boats, Coastline Trailers, he wanted to find out if I would Minnkota & Motor Guide address his issue as a part of the Trolling Motors. normal starting cycle. The customer Great Service, Parts & Sales thought I might hone in on the “What can we do for you?” problem without stating why such an anomaly might occur.

The starting sequence is to prime the fuel bulb until it becomes moderately tight. The second step would be to turn on the battery switch and then turn the ignition key on and watch the tachometer or primary gauge go through the visual test to see if the alarm indicators are operational. Some systems also produce an audible alarm. (Note: On a Yamaha engine key switch, if the kill lanyard is removed and the engine is prompted to start, the audible alarm will sound.)

After the self-diagnostic test is confirmed, it is wise to cycle the key

78 | June 2020

one more time for about ten seconds. Newer outboards have electric fuel pumps that prime when the key is turned on, so allowing the key a cycle or two before attempting to start will ensure a fully-filled fuel system under the cowling.

It was at this point the customer told me to stop and explained that the last factor is what he was asking about within the starting sequence. The outboard seemed to perform better during the day after this occurred, and sometimes if he did not cycle the key, there would be periods of hard starting.

Have a super summer season, and thank you for the great questions.

Chris Mapp CoastalBendMarine.com – Port O’Connor, Texas – 361-983-4841

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

Fin Tastic Coastal Charters

USCG Licensed Captain Stan Sloan

832.693.4292 www.fishfcc.com

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

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

805 B. South Bridge Victoria, TX 77901

TROUT REDFISH FLOUNDER

Fax: 361.573.0304

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

Wade & Drifting the Back Bays & Surf

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

TSFMAG.com | 79

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