JAY WATKINS:
Busting Wintertime Trout Myths
Chuck Uzzle:
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ABOUT THE COVER Jimi Frausto is our March cover angler. Jimi landed this beautiful Lower Laguna Madre eight-pound thirty-incher using a small topwater plug in front of a drain on a grassy knee-deep flat. His new personal best! Kudos to Jimi for releasing her!
MARCH 2021 VOL 30 NO 11
CONTENTS
FEATURES
DEPARTMENTS
8 14 20 26
32 36 39 40 42 46 50 54 77 78
It Damn Sure Ain’t about the Money! On the Fringe That Forever Fish What’s in Your Tacklebox?
Steve Hillman Kevin Cochran Chuck Uzzle Joe Richard
20
Let’s Ask The Pro Shallow Water Fishing TSFMag Tested & Recommended TPWD Field Notes Kayak Fishing Chronicles TSFMag Conservation News Fishy Facts Extreme Kayak Fishing & Sharks... Science & the Sea Boat Repair & Maintenance
Jay Watkins Scott Null TSFMag Staff Jerad Fuelling Dave Roberts CCA Texas Stephanie Boyd Eric Ozolins UT Marine Science Institute Chris Mapp
32 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
64
Dickie Colburn Bink Grimes Shellie Gray David Rowsey Wayne Davis Ernest Cisneros
REGULARS 6 Editorial 58 New Tackle & Gear 72 Fishing Reports and Forecasts 74 Catch of the Month 76 Gulf Coast Kitchen
74
4 | March 2021
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. Subscription Rates: One Year (Free Emag with Hard Copy) Subscription $25.00 E-MAG (electronic version) is available for $12.00 per year. Order on-line: WWW.TSFMAG.COM MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO: Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine Attn: Subscriptions P.O. Box 429, Seadrift, Texas 77983 * Subscribers are responsible for submitting all address changes and renewals by the 10th of the prior month’s issue. Email store@tsfmag.com for all address changes or please call 361-785-3420 from 8am - 4:30pm. The U.S. Postal Service does not guarantee magazines will be forwarded. HOW TO CONTACT TSFMAG: PHONE: 361-785-3420 FAX: 361 792-4530 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. Periodical class permit (USPS# 024353) paid at Victoria, TX 77901 and additional offices.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine, Inc., P. O. Box 429, Seadrift, TX 77983.
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EDITORIAL
SPRING IS COMING!
March is the first busy month on Texas bays, and for good reason. The days are growing warmer and longer, bay waters are losing their winter chill, and Spring Break offers many families a chance for a multi-day getaway. Lots of folks get the itch. Hopefully Mother Nature will play nice and grace us with a true early spring and not a rat’s nest of late-season northers and endless days of gale force winds. I would say that fishing has been good overall through the winter months. Of course, you’ve had to pick your days, you always do. Guides that specialize in presenting wintertime trophy trout opportunity would likely say they’re having a so-so year, and while we haven’t been hearing or seeing View The Video the barrage of grip-and-grin on social media as Open Camera and hover we’re accustomed, I would still say there have been over QR Code. When a lot of nice fish being caught. Here’s hoping this link appears at top of continues into spring and lots of angling families screen tap to open in YouTube. are able to get out there and enjoy it. Jay Watkins has earned a reputation as one of TSFMag March the best teaching guides on the entire gulf coast Issue Highlights and I would certainly have to agree. I find his article in this issue particularly interesting as he delves into the habits and haunts of wintertime speckled trout, dispelling some long-held myths along the
way. We’ve all heard it a hundred times… “If you ain’t sinking in mud up to your knees and dragging a slow-sinker on bottom, you ain’t gonna catch ‘em.” Check out Jay’s article. I’ve never heard anybody explain the truth about trout in more factual terms. As much as we all have been hoping and praying this Covid thing would have ended long ago we are still captive to cancellations, postponements, and other disappointments. CCA Texas and all the major conservation organizations; Ducks Unlimited, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and the National Wild Turkey Federation to name a few more, are all dealing with it in the most appropriate ways while trying to conduct fundraising events and other activities. Some are going virtual while others are working on in-person events that comply with state and local regulations. Please do not let the Covid thing inhibit your generosity. The fine organizations are depending on you to stay involved through these trying times. As of this writing we remain very hopeful that we will be able to enjoy the 46th Houston Fishing Show scheduled for April 14-18, 2021 at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Many Texas small businesses depend on this show, not to mention many thousands of fishing enthusiasts who wait all year for it. Please stay in touch via social media and the website houstonfishingshow.com to remain informed. This is our pastime and our show. Let’s all pray it can go off as planned. March weather can be fickle but the fishing can be great. Pick your days wisely; pack up the family and get out on the bays. There’s a wild and wonderful Texas coast waiting for you!
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TSFMAG.com | 7
IT DAMN
SURE
AIN’T ABOUT
THE
MONEY! STORY BY STEVE HILLMAN
M
y dad, Pawpaw, and I headed out of Dickinson Bayou in the dark in Pawpaw’s old Renken. It was a cloudy and humid July morning with a subtle southeast wind at around 5 knots. I couldn’t have been more than 10 years old at the time. I remember always having trouble going to sleep the night before our trips. There was something about fishing that excited me like nothing else in my young life. As we rounded Marker 27 at the mouth of Dickinson Bayou and headed southeast toward the Bolivar Wells I remember the unique smell of the salty early morning air. It always smelled fishy to me, especially that time of morning. Everything about our surroundings seemed so full of life while on the bay. When the conditions were right we would often stop at Channel Marker 31 near the Texas City Dike before heading to the wells. There was an old sunken shrimp boat there surrounded by a mud flat and scattered oyster reef created by old ship channel spoil. The tide and wind were perfect on this particular morning. Rafts of mullet were getting showered out of the water as we drifted a
back then four-pounders were a dime a dozen but it might as well had been an eight-pounder in my young eyes. That old shrimp boat is long gone and that stretch of the ship channel doesn’t have much to offer these days but the memories are still there. I think of all of those early morning stops every time I pass that marker. I can remember another time when we went offshore on my Pawpaw’s friend’s shrimp boat, the Lady Sherry. This was my first exposure to waters past the Galveston Jetties. I couldn’t believe how blue the water was. I remember being mesmerized by all of the shrimp and different species of marine life we caught in the shrimp net. We used ribbonfish and cigar minnows to catch bonito, jackfish and kingfish. I know that those species are not all that glamorous in the
My daughter, Brooke, and my nephew, Blake Taylor, enjoyed this little afternoon scouting trip with me about 14 years ago. I promise you I enjoyed it even more!
long stretch parallel to the channel. I remember dad pointing out the trout slicks that were popping up along the edge of the rafts and the distinct smell that still resonates with me to this day. I was throwing a red and white Kelly Wiggler shrimptail on a 3/8 ounce lead head. Some of our Ambassador 5000s were strung with Dacron while others were filled with 15 pound monofilament. The one I liked was the one with mono. I can’t remember the rod I was using but I think it was one that our late friend Gary Heckendorn had made. If I remember correctly, my dad and pawpaw let me make the first cast. No sooner than my shrimptail hit the water a four-plus pound trout breached the calm surface as the sun still hadn’t quite found its way to the horizon. After a brief fight she pulled loose and you’d of thought my dog died. Not much has changed 40 years later. I still hate to lose fish, especially ones that are above average size. Of course, Driving in Houston traffic every day would probably result in a higher pay scale, but I like this office view better.
Trout like this one keeps me coming back for more!
eyes of discerning offshore anglers these days but it was most certainly a thrill for a kid like me back then. I didn’t know it at the time but it would be the only offshore trip I would ever share with Pawpaw. Those were memories that are etched into my mind forever. When my daughter was four years old I took her fishing for her first time. I bought a quart or two of live shrimp and Power Poled down at the mouth of a little bayou where me and my clients had been catching good numbers of trout. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a cork go under faster than I did that day. Brooke caught countless redfish, specks, flounder and sheepshead until we ran out of shrimp. Not bad for her 10 | March 2021
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TSFMAG.com | 11
first fishing trip! I was thrilled that she got to experience all that action on her first trip and I was even more thrilled to be able to spend quality time together on the water. As the years went by she would fish soft plastics with me around wells and reefs, and catching trout and chase reds with me in the back lakes. Brooke just turned nineteen and she is not only an avid angler but she also loves to hunt deer and ducks. She still finds time to do both between maintaining good grades in college. We live in different times than when I was her age but my wife and I have tried to raise her in ways similar to our own upbringing. Work hard, respect others, and enjoy and appreciate these great outdoors that God has blessed us with. Through the years I’ve taken folks fishing from all walks of life. I’ve taken a father and son on their last fishing trip together before the father lost his battle with cancer. I’ve had the opportunity to take underprivileged kids and kiddos with special needs out to experience a majestic world they seldom get to see. There were kids who fished with me years ago who are now grown. Many of them have graduated college and have thriving careers not to mention beautiful young families. Many of them still fish with me today and I owe a special debt of gratitude to their parents for leading them down the right path. More than half my clients who fish with me today had never thrown lures until setting foot on my boat. Many started out with a spinning reel but are now throwing a baitcaster. There were times when I might as well have been speaking a foreign language when I mentioned slicks, nervous water, color streaks, etc., to them. Not now. The ones who have stuck around and wanted to learn have learned a lot and I take great pride in that. Hell, I have some of them teaching me new tricks these days and I love it!
Long-time customer, T.C. Nash, was more than thrilled to land this beautiful red (released) first thing in the morning! The smile says it all!
Through the years there have been many firsts and personal bests caught on my boat. All the smiles and high-fives from clients having the times of their lives is more gratifying than I can put into words. In addition, most of my customers and I have become great friends after years of fishing together. All of this being said, there is another reason I enjoy my profession. Selfishly, sometimes it’s for my own challenge and my own enjoyment. The challenge is sometimes just simply trying to make stubborn fish eat a lure. Other times it’s a trophy trout that I lost on a wade the day before and I want to go back every day to seek retribution. More often than not it’s the simple peace and enjoyment of sharing my boat with other like-minded folks who love God’s great outdoors and the conversations of families, careers and life’s lessons. I’m certain I could bring home a better paycheck by doing something else for a living and there are many ups and downs that come with this profession, but there’s a lot to be said for happiness. And after all, it never was about the money.
View The Video
Open Camera and hover over QR Code. When link appears at top of screen tap to open in YouTube.
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I could tell that Michael White and Thomas Watson were raised with an appreciation for the outdoors. These young men could flat out fish!
12 | March 2021
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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TSFMAG.com | 13
Fringe
on the
STORY BY KEVIN COCHRAN
I
n March, the weather along the Texas coast has both predictable and unpredictable aspects. In an average year, windy conditions prevail during this transitional time. Early in the month, cold fronts regularly sweep across the state, sustaining winter’s grip, but by month’s end, balmy onshore breezes prevail, making way for the birth of spring. Anglers who best cope with the variability and inherent extremity of the situations presented by March weather generally do so by stepping out of their comfort zones. Three poignant March fishing trips I made in years gone by emphasize the truth of the previous statement. Each involves a quest to catch bigger than average trout, and each includes conscious decisions on my part to do things a bit differently than others might, or even than I myself might, at another time of year. When chasing big trout through the doorstep of spring, tweaking the specifics of location, lure choice and strategy can increase chances for success. This definitely proved true on March 22, 1997, when I caught several big trout in the back east corner of Panther Lake, in San Antonio Bay. I and two friends had
camped overnight on the shell ridge at Panther Point to fish the area. Back in those days, few people ventured into those portions of the Coastal Bend waterways, so we shared the place mostly with coons and coyotes. One of my companions chose to wade right off his cot and into the water fronting the point when daylight came, fishing the subtle depression between the sand and inner portions of Panther Reef. I decided to push things toward the fringe, steering my 18-foot Kenner into Panther Lake, parking it near the entrance and rowing into the back corner on my kayak. While the sun sprinkled pink and orange lights on the clouds, I managed to catch five trout between 21 and 25.5 inches, before 6:45 a.m.. All these fish bit topwaters, specifically a clear 95M MirrOlure with a blue head. The slender, slight plug resembles a large glass minnow. I’d seen massive schools of minnows just about the same size and shape as the little lure swimming in the shallows in front of our tents. In addition to the bigger trout, I caught a bunch of other solid keepers and a handful of slot reds, all of which slurped the tiny topwater from the surface like candy. To this day, the events rank high on my list of favorite memories etched by a topwater bite. When I returned to camp after the bite died down, I learned my friend had caught more trout than I, but most of his failed to reach the fifteen-inch mark, the biggest about 20 inches. On his favorite lure, a 51M MirrOlure, which he worked as deftly as anyone I’ve ever seen, using rhythmic pulses with his rodtip, he caught about 40 trout over sand and scattered shell, close to the point. Turned out my willingness to head into the shallows, away from the area in which we usually fished, and to tie on a lure we didn’t normally use, one specifically suited for the terrain and time, allowed me to catch bigger trout than my more experienced friend. Normally, pushing things to the fringe with the goal of catching big trout dictates making the effort in the some of the shallowest water in the area, which consequently requires adjustments to basic habits related to strategy and lure choice. The attributes of some lures make them unsuitable for fishing skinny water. Certainly, fast-sinking twitch baits, large noisy topwaters, soft plastics on heavy jigheads and deep-diving crankbaits won’t work well to draw strikes from monster trout in water barely deep enough to cover their backs. Some of these lures can’t even be retrieved in such places without snagging repeatedly on the bottom. Others create a ruckus more likely to scare a sow trout than to urge her to take a swipe. Floating Paul Brown Fat Boys, on the other hand, perform beautifully in places where a skinny layer of water covers the bottom of a bay, like the shallows on the crown in the North Badlands, in Baffin. There, I used a pearl/chartreuse floating Fat Boy to catch a 9.25 pound trout on March 1, 2008, making conscious decisions similar to the ones I’d made over a decade earlier in a completely different body of water, largely for the same reasons. I knew these choices increased the chances I and my customers would catch one or more big trout. Because a floating Fat Boy sinks extremely slowly, one can work it at an appealing speed over a grassy bottom covered by fifteen inches water or less. Since the lure does not rattle, 16 | March 2021
it slithers through the shallows with supreme stealth, making it more attractive than a clanking Super Spook or pinging She Dog, at least some of the time. Surely, when a fish (including a monster trout) hunts actively, in hyper-feeding mode, it will track down and attack a noisy plug, even in super shallow water. But what about the other 90% of the time? Quieter lures work better on skinny flats then. Executing effective presentations with floating Paul Brown Lures takes practice and patience; some folks master their use quickly, while others struggle mightily to earn even a minimal level of confidence with them. Basically, effective methods with these soft plastic twitchbaits resemble those used with conventional topwaters, requiring rhythmic twitches with the rod tip while controlling slack
Small, slender topwaters which resemble glass minnows and floating Paul Brown FatBoys, which bear red gills on their sides, sometimes work well to trick big trout into striking in shallow water.
Fishing for big trout late in the winter, early in spring sometimes means culling through numbers of reds like the one the captain holds here.
TSFMAG.com | 17
with slow turns on the reel handle. quick catching followed by an hour The willingness to deploy these lures or more of dead casts, I decided to in places like the vast flats of the walk away from the relative comfort North Badlands sometimes pays high of the depths and into the shallows dividends to committed anglers. closer to Baldy, a famous sand bar in Commitment to this drill means this part of The Lagoon. more than just acceptance of the I found lots of frantic mullet need to tweak lure choice away from jumping in shin-deep water accepted norms; it also requires one surrounding sandy humps on the to walk well away from the boat otherwise muddy flat. I strongly through terrain much better suited suspected big trout lurked within for turtles and trout than human range, but the first bite didn’t come beings. On the day I caught the for about half an hour. When my 9.25, I and my customers made two chartreuse cork disappeared, I long treks through mooshy bottom could tell I had a big fish. I waved into remote portions of the flat, my customers into the area while I returning to the boat on foot. I had fought the trout, which turned out no Power Pole back then, but even to stretch the tape to 30 inches and with the one attached to the stern of weigh over 8 pounds. My next bite my Haynie today, and the fob I carry took a good while to earn as well, on a lanyard around my neck, such a but the second trout weighed 10 drill remains necessary, as the boat pounds, and measured more than 31 won’t float into the areas where we inches. My customer caught a jumbo found our fish. speck a short time later, and over My customers didn’t catch a big the next two days, I and my people J.P. Dafonte preparing to release one of the jumbo trout referenced in this trout that day; they caught about caught a couple more 30-inchers. piece, which he caught on a soft plastic dangled under a cork. 20 slot reds instead. This predictable I’m not a big fan of the cork outcome dissuades some folks from fishing the pattern. Culling and the jig, since fishing it requires maintaining a vigil on the strike through lots of reds to catch a few monster trout becomes part of indicator. I’d rather fish by feel, and look around while I’m working the game in this month when winter dies and spring arrives. After all, my lure. But catching trout of such extreme dimensions makes these flats typically hold many more keeper reds than jumbo trout. commitment to the use of the method much easier. A willingness to Folks without high levels of motivation and patience often find the move toward the fringes, out of comfort zones, often pays off big in action more appealing in deeper water, where they can throw soft this month which contains both a beginning and an end. Commitment plastics and/or topwaters and catch greater numbers of smaller trout. to border tactics starts with a genuine desire to catch bigger trout and In so many cases, whether in the month of March or at some other ends with a willingness to match aspects of the effort with the needs time of year, targeting trophy trout necessitates a move into water of the place and time in ways which improve the odds for catching. shallow enough to remove anglers from their comfort zones. The events of March 31, 2015 reinforce the truth of the previous statement in a most satisfying way. On the warm, windy day, I struggled to find View The Video a productive pattern. Brown tide and strong winds make a mess of Open Camera and hover over QR Code. When link things quickly, and this day came at the end of a long, blustery spell appears at top of screen tap to open in YouTube. during an outbreak of what I call “snot water.” Specialized Topwater Lures Trips made over recent days and weeks had revealed a
18 | March 2021
KEVIN COCHRAN CONTACT
maddening trend. I’d pull up to a place and we’d jump out and catch a trout or two right away. I’d think to myself, “Finally, something to work with.” But, over and over again, the early action had no staying power, and we’d fish for an hour or more without another strike. Eventually, we’d load back onto the boat, go somewhere else, hop out and repeat the events. On the memorable occasion, I parked the boat just north of the curving sand bar at the south edge of Yarbrough Flats and directed the group to wade north, where a vast meadow of scattered grass and potholes provided plenty of targets, in water about waist-deep. We’d already discovered the best way to earn strikes that day, by dangling a soft plastic under a cork. I jumped out and caught a 23inch trout on the second or third cast. Moments later, a customer caught a similar fish. Bound and determined to escape the pattern of
Kevin Cochran is a full-time fishing guide at Corpus Christi (Padre Island), TX. Kevin is a speckled trout fanatic and has created several books and dvds on the subject. Kevin’s home waters stretch from Corpus Christi Bay to the Land Cut.
TROUT TRACKER GUIDE SERVICE Phone 361-688-3714 Email kevxlr8@mygrande.net Web www.FishBaffinBay.com www.captainkevblogs.com
TSFMAG.com | 19
orever That F Fish STORY BY CHUCK UZZLE
Brandon Zahn of Zahn’s Taxidermy in Boling does some outstanding work on both skin mounts and replicas.
I
don’t care who you are, if you have ever picked up a bait or a lure and cast it into the water you have at one time or another dreamed of catching that fish of a lifetime. All along the Texas coast there are plenty of fishermen who are hoping that this is the month they will get a shot at that exact fish, the one by which all their other fish will be judged. There are few times better than the late winter and early spring to encounter a speckled trout of epic proportions, one that truly turns heads and causes other fishermen to turn green with envy. Fish of such great size are often described as “trophy” and those fish can be of any length or weight as long as the angler deems it a trophy. The Holy Grail for many fishermen, as far as trout are concerned, can be of two measurements, 30 inches length or 10 pounds in weight. Those two numbers are the fishing version of what Boone and Crockett means to white-tailed deer hunters; it’s a recognized number by which all are judged. Now don’t get me wrong, a 9.5-pound trout that tapes out at 29 inches is not a disappointment because it falls just shy of the coveted 30 and 10, it’s still a huge fish that is more than worthy of being called a trophy. If you catch a 5-pound fish and it’s the biggest one you’ve ever caught, then it should be looked at the same way. They are all trophies and should be appreciated as such. Over the years I have been fortunate to put my hands on some really impressive fish, both from a length and weight perspective. I’ve had four of those magical fish that actually went 30 inches or better with two of them weighing more than 10 pounds. Early in my career as a guide I made
a promise to myself that I would not have a trout mounted unless it was at least 30 inches long or weighed at least 10 pounds. Once I accomplished that goal the next step was deciding if I wanted to kill the fish and have it skin mounted, or release the fish and have a replica mount made. This particular fish was in great shape and I decided to release it and opt for the replica. The prevailing sentiment among most Texas coastal anglers is to try to release the bigger fish and that speaks volumes about how much the attitudes have changed over the years. In many ways Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine has helped push that narrative by constantly preaching the good word about conservation and making that a high priority both on the water and in print. Now once my decision was made to get a replica done, I was prepared for that occasion, I keep both a Boga Grip and a flexible seamstress tape in my gear bag for just such an occasion. The Boga Grip is perhaps one of the best tools available to get a correct weight on a fish; in fact the Boga Grip can actually be certified by IGFA if you choose to do so. The flexible seamstress tape will allow you to get a correct length and girth measurement of your fish instead of trying to guess or do it by some other means. All of these weights and measurements along with a quality photo will help your taxidermist recreate your trophy and give you the best representation of your fish possible. Ross Curington, redfish. I spoke to one of the best taxidermists I know, Brandon Zahn of Zahn’s Taxidermy in Boling, and he echoed those sentiments and also shared a few other tips with me. “Good measurements and a quality photo are critical parts of the process when someone wants a fish mounted, especially replicas. If someone wants to do a skin mount of a fish that may not survive or cannot be released they have a few other steps to follow after getting measurements and photos. Take those fish and gently remove the slime with a wet cloth then wrap the fish in a shirt or soft cloth before placing it in a bag and freezing it until the fish can be dropped off at your taxidermist” said Zahn. “Improperly stored fish and leaving them in the freezer too long are the worst mistakes I see people make,” he added. Back when I caught my first trout 22 | March 2021
that was “wall worthy” I figured I needed to go down south to find a taxidermist to take care of my fish, after all that’s where big trout were much more common. Much to my surprise a local taxidermist near me by the name of Harry Land absolutely blew me away with his work on some big trout and I was certain he was my guy. I waited a year to get that fish back and it was well worth the wait, it still hangs on my wall today and looks as good as the day I got it. Harry and I got to be good friends and I enjoyed bringing my son to his shop as he let him run around and would show him all manner of things that pertained to the artwork associated with taxidermy. Sadly Harry
Another beautiful fish from Zahn’s Taxidermy.
TECHNICAL FISHING APPAREL VISIT GILLZ-GEAR.COM TSFMAG.com | 23
passed away years ago in a motorcycle wreck. I still miss those visits and wish he was still around because I still haven’t found anyone who painted like he did or had as many cool stories to share. Now conventional taxidermy has long been the medium that most anglers have used to show off that trophy fish and there are some amazing representations out there. I enjoy going around during the boat shows or fishing shows and looking at the taxidermy work just to get ideas because there is always something new out there. I recently found an artist from Florida, Ross Curington, (@rosscurington on Instagram) who makes perhaps some of the most incredible fish replicas I have ever seen; they are true pieces of art. Curington has been making these gorgeous replicas for the last five years and his talent has gained great notoriety on social media platforms. His work is not just another mount, it’s a piece of art unlike any other, it’s very unique. Curington does many different species of fish and displays them in a variety of settings and backdrops. I saw one of his speckled trout recently and I was just floored at the detail. “The kiln dried cypress makes these pieces perfect for display indoors or out, I just finished one for a guy who wanted to hang it in his outdoor kitchen and he’ll never have to worry about it,” said Curington. I can certainly attest that one of these Ross Curington, trout.
gorgeous replicas will be my choice for my next big fish, just because of the uniqueness and detail, just amazing. Well you now have several different options to take care of your next trophy fish and hopefully you have to deal with that dilemma this spring. The forecast is looking up for all the bays and hopefully we’ll get cooperation from the weatherman. If you do happen to catch that career fish, do your best to practice “CPR” Catch, Photograph and Release, if possible. Be prepared when you go out so you can get all your details, measurements, photos and such, then enjoy making the decision on how you want to display that fish and share your memory.
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Open Camera and hover over QR Code. When link appears at top of screen tap to open in YouTube.
Chuck’s Reel Maintenance Tips: Get the Salt Out!
A quality scale like the Boga Grip and a flexible seamstress tape will give you precise measurements of your trophy.
24 | March 2021
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
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What’s
IN
Your
Tacklebox? STORY BY JOE RICHARD
F
or almost a year, friends used to joke, “What’s in Joe’s tacklebox?” after a saltwater lecture series I was invited to, when the master of ceremony posed that very question. At the time it caught me off guard, because it involved offshore fishing and we really didn’t carry much variety in those days. Also, we were tournament fishing for big kings and doing pretty well, and there were three thousand attentive faces in the University of Houston auditorium and I wasn’t eager to disclose what few secrets we had. Not for a paltry lecture fee, anyway. In the years since, I’ve walked the jetties and piers, passing many fishermen, and sometimes stopped to see what’s in their tackleboxes left wide open. Most carried a few odds and ends—lead weights, hooks, a lure or two, popping corks and whatnot. Reminding me of my first humble tacklebox way back in Lubbock, where we fished for bullhead catfish in the city’s drainage ponds, Maxey and Clapp Lakes, the scant water surrounded by bare dirt in those days. Back then, my tacklebox always smelled of 3-In-1 Oil used to keep that Zebco reel functioning, along with bobbers, basic hooks and lead weights. Just two weeks before we moved to the coast, I began reading up on the new plastic worm jigs used in salt water, along with MirrOlures and Bingo plugs. A bigger tacklebox was clearly needed. And heavier gear; it turned out that huge alligator gar prowled in the Port Arthur city limits, 50-pounders capable of considerable mischief. Fighting them with a Zebco outfit would have been bogus and sad. There would also be dozens of offshore partyboat trips in my near future. So we crossed the state in June and after a long, hot drive without A/C and two unhappy cats eager to leap from the windows, which they did in Beaumont, we finally arrived in Port Arthur. A huge ship steamed past our house and I ran across the street to the ICW and caught croakers on bacon while the moving van was still being unloaded. From there it was off to the races and by
autumn, often after school, I’d racked up several dozen slot-size redfish salt water soft plastics “Touts” out of habit.) Today, I mostly favor and some big gar. My tacklebox remained modest, I was on foot or six-inch twister tail worms on redhead jig heads, the worms either bicycle, but it carried sufficient gear. Details of its contents back then chartreuse or a white with red tip. The guides who first showed me are hazy today but that box was small enough and must have been these while guests on my boat, pulled out these long jigs while we somewhat watertight, because one day I took a shortcut and swam drift-fished. After twin 50-trout days, including three large Spanish from Pleasure Island across the ICW when a ship or barge wasn’t in mackerel, I became a believer. They advised using high-vis in the sight. Just side-stroked for 400 feet or so, with the box and Zebco morning with the white worm, and switch to green in the afternoon. outfit. (Not recommended today, without a life jacket.) The bigger six-inch variety is made of a sturdier plastic than common As the years passed, tackleboxes increased in size with the public, four-inch twister tails. but today the big ones have generally fallen from favor. You don’t My box also carries a few DOA shrimp that pinfish and puffer fish are see many around, although I do have a friend whose box is difficult fond of, but also trout and snook. The red jig heads have really sharp, to lift, filled with what appears to be hundreds of items dating back 6/0 hooks that even a small trout or flounder can grab. They’re 3/8 to the late-1970s. It weighs as much as a small child, according to a ounce in weight, made by Bass Assassin, have yellow eyes and three mutual friend and guide who took us out on occasion. It also took ribs to keep the worm securely fastened. If they’d been available 40 up precious room in the boat, a solid obstacle on deck when big fish years ago, today’s daily bag limit for trout would probably be three, at were gaffed and landed around it. That big box has seen many ling dragged aboard, and must have stayed latched during such critical times. During late high school my own smaller box, left unlatched, was knocked end-over-end by a 40-pound ling, and tackle spewed everywhere. I briefly moved up to a bigger three-tray box, but it was washed off the Sabine jetty by the wake of a passing crewboat. Because it was carrying partyboat tackle, including heavy snapper weights, it upended like the Titanic, took on water and sank forever. While I fumed and paced on the rocks nearby. Today I mostly fish inshore waters and have narrowed my tacklebox gear down to three clear, plastic boxes that will fit in a center console’s cabinet or even a five-gallon bucket. Wind and spray resistant, those flat boxes sit beside me on a jonboat’s bench, lower than the gunnel. They can easily be carried on the jetties or beach, and fit in the back Flounder, one of a dozen caught of a fishing vest for long wades. Cheap, too. Plastic box full of plugs and spoons. that day, taken on Gulp! Jig. One box carries soft plastics, the next hard baits and plugs, and the last, bait gear with hooks, swivels and lead weights. Some days, depending on what we’re doing, I’ll only open one of these three boxes. Other days we sling plugs or plastics until the tide is right, and then switch to bait at the jetties or flooded shorelines where the big reds bite. A dozen more clear boxes with all sorts of tackle remain at home, and they’re used to replenish losses after a long day on the water. If some color or pattern gets hot locally, I can dig through the garage boxes and maybe find something useful for next trip. Soft Plastics There are all manner of colorful soft plastics out there, very different from the days of the (great) Boone’s Tout Tail that was almost our only choice. (Some of the old timers still call 28 | March 2021
TSFMAG.com | 29
most. Jig heads back then carried a small hook. These contemporary 6/0 jig hooks work great, even for anglers who have difficulty setting the hook no matter how much they’re encouraged. When I tell them I want to see that rod bent like a banana, they just smile and keep reeling, the rod straight. But they still catch fish with this jig. Gulp jigs are the exception; they have to be stored in a funky liquid bath that will leak if it isn’t kept in a sturdy container on a flat surface.
Miss Amy with another spoon-caught redfish.
Weights and Hooks The third box carries either egg or much-preferred one- and two-ounce bank sinkers, the latter best around rock jetties but also for slinging a long ways with a natural bait. Not so good in breaking surf, where they roll with the tide. As mentioned in a recent issue, I like to anchor against grassy bay shorelines and pitch these weights way out there where big trout and redfish can’t hear the slap-slap of waves on boat hull. Set out five rods with finger mullet, and watch what happens. I also carry small bullet lead weights; rig one under a cork, a foot above a 2/0 J-hook, with a feisty pinfish, and leave it upwind while making a drift. My go-to hooks are the black, Mustad UltraPoint in 6/0 size, deadly on redfish and big trout. With this hook, both species are easily unhooked and released, which we always do with sow trout full of eggs. The fish hook themselves and there’s no mad dash to grab a bent rod. Some fish swim towards the boat, and I still don’t mind reeling and leaning back until the rod takes a mighty bend. My swivels are small and black. I keep a spool of 30-pound line for leader, and tie my own. Lately, I keep a few extra leaders pre-tied, because a big stingray or shark can take the entire rig, since we use 12-pound spin tackle. If catfish and small stingrays bite, it often means the party is over and it’s time to move. I still unhook hardhead catfish manually if the hook is showing, but definitely not stingrays. Anyway, that’s my tacklebox story, and I’m sticking to it. 30 | March 2021
Happy campers with a fine trout caught on a 6-inch twister tail worm.
JOE RICHARD
Joe Richard has fished the Gulf since 1967, starting out of Port Arthur, but his adventures have taken him up and down the entire coast. He was the editor of Tide magazine for eight years, and later Florida Sportsman’s book and assistant magazine editor. He began guiding out of Port O’Connor in 1994. His specialty is big kingfish, and his latest book is The Kingfish Bible, New Revelations. Available at Seafavorites.com
CONTACT
Hard baits Hardcore trout waders often stick with their tried and proven “killer baits,” as Joe Doggett calls them. I use only a few models, like Rapala’s X-Rap, Mirrolures in the surf or at the jetties, then Heddon’s Super Spook Junior or Storm’s Chug Bug for the flats, and of course, gold spoons. Not the little spoons, but the Johnson Sprite with treble hook in ¾-ounce. Also the Dixie Spoons that will throw a country mile—very handy when wading the surf and trying to reach green water beyond sketchy, muddy breakers. And that’s it. Not a big selection, by any means. But they’ve caught some fine fish in the areas I prowl. Limits of fish. We don’t throw plugs every day but when we do, those are my go-to items.
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Kyle Johnson of The Speckled Truth with nice Texas wintertime trout.
J AY WAT K I N S
ASK THE PRO
BUSTING WINTERTIME
TROUT MYTHS Winter continues with weekly frontal passages dropping air and water temps as well as tides. Collectively, all three can help fishing more than hurt, so long as water temperatures do not drop below 45° and remain for an extended period. Most Texas anglers that fish in wintertime understand the advantages of being able to fish prior to frontal passages. Adding a major or minor solunar event as the front is approaching often creates the best opportunity of the week. What about post-frontal periods, after the fronts have passed through the area, leaving cold air, clear skies, extremely low tides and a soaring barometer? Not all post-front periods are plagued with high barometric pressure, but it seems that at least 50-percent of them do. Mike McBride and I have had numerous conversations about the myth that trout seek deep water with muddy bottom and stay there during the winter months. In the areas I fish, this is just not true, and I continue to work on fine tuning this pattern. Here are a few things I have worked on the past couple of seasons that seem to provide an advantage to fishing tougher winter days.
32 | March 2021
In virtually every fishing article we read about the importance of bottom structure and I have always been of a mind to look immediately at what’s on the bottom that the fish relate to and how I can setup to catch them. I learn so much from watching and listening to freshwater bass pros when they discuss how to fish structure that fish are using during periods of high pressure. I mostly fish submerged grassbeds, even if they’re somewhat depleted during winter, or areas of broken (scattered) shell. Many such areas include deep water access, an advantage during periods of extreme cold. I believe the larger fish own the shallows and the shorelines during the colder months. For sure there are periods of extreme cold when these fish drop off, seeking deeper, warmer waters. But once the sun begins to warm the shallows, the fish will pull back up, seeking warmth and a much-needed meal. It only stands to reason that if the water is warming shallow, the bait will head shallow and the predators will follow. We also have areas of scattered shell around Rockport and some have what locals call “oyster grass” growing on them; one of my favorite structure types during
wintertime warming periods. I cannot express enough the need for every angler to monitor water temperatures throughout each and every fishing day. Without this information it is extremely difficult to recognize predictable patterns and utilize them in our game plans. Thirty years ago I presented my first winter fishing seminar at Tackle Town in Rockport. I asked for a show of hands, “How many of you have a water temperature gauge on your boat?” Two hands went up. I told the rest that they needed to purchase one. My first one was from my dad’s saltwater aquarium. We taped a string to it and drifted it alongside the boat. Crude, but it worked like a charm. Once I see air and surface water temps on the rise, I begin to shift focus more toward shallow water structure present in the area I have chosen for that particular day’s wind conditions. Windward is always my objective whenever available. Trout prefer to hunt into wind-driven currents. Positioning yourself slightly offshore and casting at angles across the wind will allow your lure’s path to “bend” favorably Kylee Dinwiddie showing off her toward the structure. This provides opportunity personal best trout; caught in for more fish to see and react to it than casting in Rockport with her dad, Shawn. straight-line fashion to any single piece of structure. Boys in shallow 50° waters. A dozen fish from 4- to 5-pounds were The mental game is a key part of fishing shallow in winter. You must believe in the area you have selected and stay the course. That caught over hard sand with submerged grass structure. Note that the grassbeds were very scattered. This can actually concentrate trout said, there must also be positive signs forthcoming to reinforce more than larger areas of solid grass this time of year. your confidence. I throw three basic types of lures in situations like this. We should Yesterday we discovered a line where single mullet flipped work on trying to allow the fish to show us which lure they prefer, numerous times along the edge of a shallow grassbed. The water which can be difficult for many anglers. The action of the lure is was 50°, having warmed from 47° earlier. Working that line for about crucial. All three types I recommend have specific action and body 45 minutes of slowly easing in and out, a Custom Corky Fat Boy styles that allow for variations in presentation. “Sea Grass” floater was met with an aggressive strike from a 5-plus Never discount soft plastics when chasing big trout in shallow trout. This set the stage for an awesome afternoon with Floating Fat water. I have caught many 30-inchers on soft Steve Henriksen with a gorgeous plastics rigged on 1/16-ounce 2/0 jigheads. winter fatty - 46° water on I’m a big fan of 2/0 hooks, by the way. Double Bubble Custom Corky. The MirrOlure Lil John XL and 5-inch Provokers are among my favorites, along with Bass Assassin’s 5” Shad. The Lil John XL never seems to do the same thing twice when screwed to a Texas Custom’s watermeloncolored 1/16-ounce 2/0 jig. Custom Corkys and the MirrOlure Pro Series in Custom Corky colors are my go-to Fat Boys. Both the originals and floaters are always in my box. I like three short lifts or twitches followed by dead-sticking to allow the lure to settle into the water column. Timing the sink rate with the depths of strikes being received establishes a pattern and then its game on. The “death wobble” as the lure is settling is killer and hard for a big fish to overlook. My third choice, which is by no means meant to infer last, is the Double D. This lure allows anglers of all skill levels the options of TSFMAG.com | 33
View The Video
Open Camera and hover over QR Code. When link appears at top of screen tap to open in YouTube.
Tips on selecting Corky Fat Boys
34 | March 2021
Kylee to learn by her own trial and error. She casts great, rigs her own lures, ties her own knots, and picks her own occasional backlashes. She lands her own fish. She is an angler. When she fishes with me I can spoil her and help her and she politely allows me. She is holding her personal best trout in the photo. She was fishing with her dad this winter near Rockport, I was not with them. She went one way while he wandered in another direction; he does this. This forced her to use what she has learned and make critical decisions as the conditions changed during this winter trip. Kylee only caught one fish that day, but it was the right fish. It was drive, determination, patience and focus that allowed her to be successful. Pretty awesome qualities that will help carry her to a successful and happy life. See, it’s not only all about fishing or catching now is it? Congratulations Kylee on a great fish and a great memory with your dad. I am a fan. May your fishing always be catching! -Guide Jay Watkins
C O N TA C T
twitching the bait, banging it, or simply swimming it in established parts of the water column. We have enjoyed tremendous success over shallow grassbeds and especially broken shell bottom the past two winters. We had a day when this bait over shallow sand and grass gave us one of the most memorable days of my 2020 Port Mansfield stay. I was taught in my early years that listening was how we learned. I definitely talk way too much, as any that know me can attest. I do however listen intently when I hear someone talking about fishing strategies. I recently listened to a Speckled Truth podcast with Chris Bush and Leroy Navarro. I have to say that it’s one of the best ones I have listened to. Leroy shared great insight into fishing shallow during winter. He says way too much for me to cover here but if you’re a serious trophy trout person you owe it to yourself to listen to his podcast. Oh, and when Speckled Truth’s Chris Bush and team features John Gill, you better really listen! Kylee Dinwiddie is the subject of one of my accompanying photos. Kylee has fished with me a few times with her dad, Shawn. Shawn is a great dad and coach; he listens and answers her questions but allows
Jay Watkins has been a full-time fishing guide at Rockport, TX, for more than 20 years. Jay specializes in wading yearround for trout and redfish with artificial lures. Jay covers the Texas coast from San Antonio Bay to Corpus Christi Bay. Telephone Email Website
361-729-9596 Jay@jaywatkins.com www.jaywatkins.com
TSFMAG.com | 35
Low tides this time of year often makes finding them easier.
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
WIND
To most folks, March means springtime. For myself and anyone else who enjoys the sport of sight-casting, it means wind. And lots of it. Yes, the waters are warming and fish are getting more active, but does it really have to blow so dadgum hard…and often? I know there are a lot of folks who love to say, “If it ain’t blowin’, we ain’t goin’.” Those people apparently aren’t poling skiff guides. They likely don’t swing a fly rod either. Being the guy on the poling platform with a fly zipping past my head makes me wonder whether or not I mashed that barb down. In my experience the likelihood of getting a new piercing greatly increase at wind speeds above twenty miles per hour. So do we just give up on fishing until it calms down a bit, or do we figure out ways to work around it. Or perhaps even use the wind to our advantage. Let’s face it, we’re going to fish anyway and as long as it’s safe, I’ll go. I will, however, give my clients the option to reschedule if they’d rather wait for better conditions. Small craft advisories, common this time of year, are a definite no-go. As a younger man I pushed those limits and learned a few tough lessons. Of course the best option is to go when it gets right. There will be some short windows of light winds, but the forecasts are usually off by a day or two. If I’m just going fishing for myself I’ll watch the forecasts and have the
36 | March 2021
Taking advantage of the few calm spells between fronts.
boat sitting on ready. People with flexible schedules and the ability to drop and go definitely have the upper hand here. I’ll often get up, check the winds and go back to bed. When it’s right, all I have to do is go get in the truck. I fully understand that not everyone has that option. I was once in that same situation. Back then if I had plans to fish my days off nothing short of gale force winds would stop me. Well that may not be entirely correct. We once spent a pretty miserable three days in a floating cabin on Baffin, dealing with steady 40-50 mph winds, with the gusts pushing the mid-50’s the whole time. On the plus side, we still caught fish. We only had to adjust our expectations and strategies. There are several things you can do to up the odds when the winds are howling. First off is adjusting your expectations. Understand that you’ll likely be doing more blind-casting than sight-casting. While it isn’t as much fun, it can be a lot more productive. A poling skiff can only be slowed down so much and you’re often running over or past the fish before you can see them. I call it drive-by fishing. Make your shots quick and accurate because you’ll only get one. The better option is to look ahead along the shoreline for targets and make the best use of each cast. Targets can be sandy potholes, patches of shell, or maybe just a nice little cove. All are worth a quick shot. But the ones I’m looking for are the tips of points or islands with the wind blowing water around it. A strong wind can push a lot of water. When that water hits a shoreline it travels along it working towards the point. The current is strongest on the point and creates an eddy on the back side. Baitfish follow the current and seek out the shelter of the eddy. Gamefish lurk in these areas waiting for a meal. Oyster reefs can also alter wind-blown currents. Learn to look for irregularities and take advantage of those instead of just casting in the general area. Breaks in the reef, longer points, holes, etc., are good places to shoot for. One way to fish an area more thoroughly would be dropping the Power Pole
Another lucky calm late-winter day. Tides were low; check out the sandbars in the background.
TSFMAG.com | 37
It certainly helps if you can pick your days.
as you see something worthwhile. Employing this method lets you pick it apart with multiple casts and cuts down on the pressure to make quick and accurate casts. Or you could just park the boat and wade the spot. It all depends on the fish that day. If you feel they are scattered out you might want to do the faster drift method to cover more ground. If they’re stacked on structure, the stop and go method may be the formula for success. Another productive method that will be pure blind-casting is to hit the wind-blown coves. Wind blowing into a cove pushes current much like it does on those islands and points. The difference is that the current has no place to go and stacks into the back of the cove. Baitfish get pushed along on the current and become trapped where gamefish can take advantage. This water will most often be dirty and look like a washing machine so you’ll want to throw louder, flashier offerings. While I’m not real big on it, a popping cork and GULP combo can be very effective in that situation. Constant hard wind sure can get in your head and make it easy to get discouraged. Give these methods a shot and see how it works out. Something I learned during my tournament fishing days, no matter the conditions, somebody is going to come in with some fish. Those anglers worked the problem and kept a good attitude. Fish gotta eat.
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C O N TA C T
Coastal Fly Tackle Selection For Beginners
38 | March 2021
Capt. Scott Null is a devout shallow water fisherman offering guided adventues via kayak, poled skiff, and wading. Telephone Email Website
281-450-2206 captscottnull@gmail.com www.captainscottnull.com
TSFMag Tested & Recommended
What’s New at
?
BY TSFMAG EDITORIAL STAFF Waterloo Rods has been recognized for many years as an innovative manufacturer of highquality custom fishing rods, and this is no accident. Waterloo Rods feature a wide range of custom options including not only rod blank actions and lengths, but also reel seats, handles, line guides, custom wraps, and color schemes to match your favorite reel, and even your boat. Customer service is their byword – from the time an order is placed – until it’s in your hands. Service after the sale amounts to little more than sales pitch with some brands, but not Waterloo. And best of all; Waterloo strives to include as many American-Made components in every custom build as any rod manufacturer has ever been able to achieve! It has been almost two years since we last visited Waterloo and thought a recent trip to Victoria would be a good time to catch up and see what’s new. Luckily, owner Jimmy Burns was there and not on the water chasing wintertime trophy trout. He’s a hardcore angler and known to be doing just that when conditions are prime and the bite is on. My personal favorite Waterloo is the HP-Lite, a versatile medium-light rod that is designed for whipping fish with soft plastic baits and does equally great work with small- to-medium surface plugs and slow-sinking twitchbaits, such as Corky Fat Boys. The itch for another to add to my current collection got the better of me and I placed an order during the visit. Whoever heard of too many Waterloos in the rod rack, right? Continued on page 57...
Preparing to apply final coating to rod.
Custom colors are applied during the wrapping stage.
TSFMAG.com | 39
B y J e r a d F u e l l i n g | S h r i m p I n s p e c t i o n Te a m
FIELD NOTES
LIVE BAIT SHRIMP USAGE IN TEXAS WATERS:
ARE ANGLERS SWITCHING TO SOFT PLASTICS? For many coastal anglers in Texas, their fishing trip begins with a quick stop to the local bait shop to pick up a bucket of live shrimp. Live shrimp have always been a popular bait among anglers and for good reason; it is easy to use and successful at catching fish. However, over the last few decades, soft plastic baits have improved dramatically, and today there are more styles and colors to choose from than you can possibly imagine, making them more popular among anglers. The question is: how popular have soft plastic baits become and are more people choosing soft plastic over live shrimp for bait? To answer this question, we looked at data collected from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) Creel Survey Program which has been active since the 1970s. These creel surveys take place at public boat ramps along the entire Texas coast. Biologists and Fish and Wildlife Technicians perform these surveys in-person as fishermen return to the boat ramp. These surveys collect important information about fishing trips such as how many anglers per boat were fishing, how long they fished, location, bait type, targeted species, which species were caught, and the length of each fish harvested. This information helps the Coastal Fisheries Division manage our coastal resources and can even help answer questions like “Are more anglers switching from live shrimp to soft plastics?” Looking at the data collected from the TPWD Creel Survey Program since 1983 from all Texas bay systems, the answer is yes. The percentage of anglers fishing with soft plastic baits has steadily increased since the early
Figure 1: Percentage of anglers using soft plastics and live shrimp from 1983 through 2019 from the entire Texas coast.
40 | March 2021
1980’s while the use of live shrimp appears to be slowly declining (Figure 1). The data also show that a noticeable shift occurred in 2006 when the percentage of anglers using soft plastics versus live shrimp went from being roughly equal to soft plastics to steadily surpassing live shrimp in the following years. This interesting data shows a clear shift in bait choice, but why might this be? To understand some of the reasons for this shift in bait preference, a small survey was conducted at Adolph Thomae Jr. County Park located in Rio Hondo, Texas. Anglers that were fishing with only soft plastics or live shrimp were interviewed and asked whether that bait type was their preference and if so, why they chose that bait type. Most of the anglers that were interviewed were using soft plastic baits and said they always fish with soft plastics. There were a few common responses when asked why they choose soft plastics. The most common responses were, “I catch more fish with soft plastics than with live shrimp,” and “I feel it’s more of a challenge using soft plastics.” Many anglers also stated they catch more targeted species such as Spotted Seatrout and Red Drum using soft plastics versus live shrimp, which catch a lot of less desirable species such as Hardhead Catfish and Pinfish. Since some anglers reported that they catch more fish using soft plastic baits than with live shrimp, we looked at creel survey data to determine if indeed this was true. This was determined by calculating the catch per unit effort (CPUE) from fishing trips where anglers used soft plastics and live shrimp. CPUE was calculated by taking
Figure 2: Shows the Catch Per Unit Effort for each bait type from years 1983 to 2019 from the entire Texas coast.
Figure 3: Shows the Catch Per Unit Effort of soft plastics and live shrimp side by side from years 1983 to 2019 from the entire Texas Coast.
the total number of anglers per boat and multiplying that number by the total number of hours fished, this gives the total angler hours per boat. Then dividing the total number of fish caught per boat by the total angler hours per boat gives the CPUE for each interview. This calculation was done for every survey conducted before the data is separated by bait type and the total CPUE is calculated for each bait type. According to the data, the total average CPUE of soft plastics was 0.20, meaning that an average of five angler hours are required to catch one fish using soft plastics. The CPUE for live bait shrimp was 0.17, meaning 0.17 fish were harvested using live shrimp per hour (Figure 2). Though the two bait types present similar CPUE’s, there is a significant statistical difference in CPUE between the two bait types. When comparing the CPUE of soft plastics to live shrimp another trend can be seen. In years when the CPUE for soft plastic baits dropped, so did the CPUE for live shrimp. The same pattern occurred when the CPUE of one bait type increased, the other increased too (Figure 3). So, what does this mean exactly? In fisheries management, the CPUE is generally used as a measurement to determine overall species abundance and changes in CPUE can indicate a rise or drop in the abundance of a species. The two bait types have similar patterns in CPUE in 1983 to 1984 and 1989 to 1990.These years had big freeze events that killed large numbers of fish and resulted in lower CPUEs for
those years. This means that when the fishing is poor using one bait type, it will generally be poor with others as well. This is not to say that these baits aren’t working well, but that the overall fishing conditions are poor and species abundance is lower. Overall, TPWD data show the following: (1) more anglers are switching from live shrimp to soft plastic baits, (2) Anglers state they are catching more targeted species using soft plastic baits and the data does indeed show a significant difference in catch rates between the two baits, and (3) when one bait type is having a good year catching fish, so is the other. No matter what your preference is in bait, pick up some soft plastics or stop at your local bait shop to purchase some live shrimp and go fishing, because they are both successful at catching fish! Remember only purchase native shrimp species such as Brown Shrimp, Pink Shrimp, and White Shrimp for bait. Never use imported or exotic shrimp species for bait as it could potentially spread diseases to our native species of shrimp.
Check the TPWD Outdoor Annual, your local TPWD Law Enforcement office, or tpwd.texas.gov for more info. TSFMAG.com | 41
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
ACCIDENTALLY DOING
SOMETHING RIGHT
“We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.” -Bob Ross For some reason, that quote has stuck with me since the very first time I heard it. Often times when a mistake occurs, we take it personally and view it as a missed opportunity. Instead of having this negative thought, we should start looking at these situations as a learning experience. Although Mr. Ross said that with regards to one of his paintings, I believe that quote could be equally applied to most things in life – especially fishing. I have spent countless days on the water and some of those I have had great success. Of course, despite having enjoyed many successful days fishing, there have been even more days that I failed. After having trips that did not go as planned, I would head back home, stare at google maps and try to figure out where I went wrong. Once you take a look back and study your mistakes, you can put together a game plan for the next outing. Eventually, all the pieces of the puzzle will come together and you will accidentally stumble onto what you have been looking for. Here recently I decided to check out an area that I 42 | March 2021
fished several years back. I haven’t fished for trout in the area since the hurricanes caused so much damage. Now that the Sabine trout fishery is again on the rise, I decided to pick up the waders and see if I could find a few better fish on my old flats. I paddled and staked out just far enough away from where I was planning to fish. Instead of fishing out of my kayak this time, I figured it would be best for me to jump out and re-learn the bottom structure with my feet. It has been three years, and between floods and hurricanes, I expected the bottom would be quite different. I headed in the same direction as I always did and before I even launched my first cast I stumbled onto a big clump of oyster. I stopped immediately, began casting and moving laterally to the newly discovered bottom structure. A short distance from the first clump, I found a second. After realizing where I was standing, I knew that it was too late. I was right on top of where I should have been placing my lure. Needless to say, my trip was over before it started. No worries, I made a mistake, but had learned exactly how to approach the spot on my next visit.
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A few days later I made my way back out and remembered my mental note of the location of both patches of reef. I positioned myself a full cast length away and right between the two patches. I had a Bone Super Spook tied on and the current was moving in the perfect direction to drag my topwater over the reefs. Like clockwork, I began to catch trout, on about every second cast. Although I didn’t catch any trophy-size fish, I had enough action to remain there until the bite stopped. Even small ones slamming a topwater is exciting! If it wouldn’t have been for me getting out to wade, I likely may have never found those new reefs. Odds are I would have just paddled over it, continued fishing, and ultimately writing that spot off thinking that the fish never returned. I may have ruined one opportunity but my happy little accident is sure to provide success in the future. I have been kayaking for years now and when I look back at when I started, there were several aspects of kayak fishing that I had to learn the hard way. One of my favorite spots, one that I still fish to this day, I found by losing dozens of jigheads. At the time, I was fishing 3/8-ounce jigheads as I was working a deeper channel and wanted to get to the bottom. Well, it never failed, I would reach this bend in the channel and start hanging up and losing lures.
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Frustrated and not knowing what I was missing, I would just pass over that spot and continue on down the channel. After a few trips, I had mostly forgotten the location of each shell clump. One trip after, I talked myself into trying that spot again, and just like that, I got hung
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up. Instead of simply breaking off and moving forward, I decided to try working my lure loose. I positioned directly atop it and bounced my rod tip hoping to get it free. It worked. But no sooner was my lure free when I felt a healthy thump that nearly ripped the rod out of my hands. I landed a nice upper-slot red and that was the “Ah Ha!” moment. I quickly realized there were fish staging just above the shell patches. On my next visit I tied on a 1/4-ounce jighead instead and was able
C O N TA C T
to avoid hanging up in the shell below. I then proceeded to have a fantastic trip and caught plenty of trout and redfish. That same little hole may not hold the numbers like it used to but it’s still good for one or two! I guess instances like these are what keeps fishing entertaining and challenging to me. You can be doing everything correctly, except you are twenty yards off the sweet spot. And then there are those lucky encounters when you just happen to be paddling over places where the fish are staging. Putting the pieces of all these puzzles together is a learning curve that enables you to repeat your successes and become a better angler. Never allow your mistakes to deter you. Take them back to the drawing board and devise another plan. Mistakes and lucky accidents are yours for earning future angling rewards.
Dave Roberts is an avid kayak-fishing enthusiast fishing primarily the inshore Upper Coast region with occasional adventures to surf and nearshore Gulf of Mexico. Email: TexasKayakChronicles@yahoo.com Website: www.TexasKayakChronicles.com
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As the new flounder hatchery facilities ramp up, TPWD and the recreational community hopes to see many of these fingerlings released along the coast.
Story by John Blaha
T S F M A G C O N S E R VAT I O N N E W S
MOVING FORWARD IN 2021 CCA Texas volunteers and staff are busy moving forward in 2021. As the nation continues to deal with the COVID pandemic, businesses and people continue to adapt as needed to live their everyday life and maintain their businesses. CCA Texas is no different and continues to look for new ways to carry on the day to day business of the organization. By the time this issue hits the newsstands, banquets will have been held by Trinity Valley Chapter (Dayton) and San Bernard Chapter (East Bernard). March begins to start getting busy with events on the books for Sabine-Neches Chapter (Port Arthur), Helotes Chapter (Helotes), Aransas Bay Chapter (Rockport), and Port O’Connor Chapter (Port O’Connor). The larger CCA Texas events including Corpus Christi, San Antonio and Austin are all being pushed back to late summer. Please watch your calendars closely for updates as they come for your local chapter and chapters across the state. As the chapters are getting busy, so are the staff and committees. The Management, Governmental Affairs, Finance & Budget, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Scholarship, STAR, and Habitat Today for Fish Tomorrow (HTFT) committees are all busy wading into the new year.
46 | March 2021
Habitat The CCA Texas HTFT committee met recently to review projects completed in 2020 and those that are ongoing. To date, CCA Texas and Building Conservation Trust (BCT) have funded $8,349,666 for 43 projects and future habitat restoration and creation work. These funds are a direct result of the grass roots efforts of local chapters to raise the money through local banquets and the work with local partners to secure funds for this work. CCA Texas and BCT were recently awarded $75,000 from the Golden Pass LNG facility based in the Sabine Pass area. This contribution was specifically earmarked for the Sabine HI20 Nearshore reefing site. CCA Texas and Friends of Sabine Reefs are working to secure the remaining funds necessary to deploy over 540 culverts, donated by Forterra Pipe and Precast, as well as other materials of opportunity that have been secured. This phase of deployment into the Sabine HI20 area will place approximately 3,500 tons of material into the site. Additionally, another 150 pyramids will be deployed in the 2nd and 3rd quarter. The deployment of the 150 pyramids is being made possible by contributions of $100,000 from Sempra Energy, $30,000 from Cheniere Energy and $100,000
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from BCT/CCA Texas. As 2021 evolves, CCA Texas and BCT look forward to continue its work to partner and fund habitat restoration and creation projects along the Texas coast. Advocacy Update by Shane Bonnot The 87th Legislative Session is currently underway and State Representative Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) will lead the House of Representatives as its newly elected speaker. Phelan, serving his fourth term for District 21, has proven himself an effective leader and broker in previous sessions, serving as Chairman of the Committee on State Affairs, Vice-Chair of the Natural Resources Committee, as a member on the Select Committee on Ports, Innovation and Infrastructure, and as member of the Calendars, Appropriations, and Elections Committees. During the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, Phelan was on the ground in his flood-stricken district, ensuring that aid was provided to his constituents and listening to their needs. In response, he sponsored a much-need relief package for mitigation projects that will help prepare the coast for future flood events. Phelan is a husband, father to four sons, avid angler and a CCA Texas Member. Prior to each legislative session, committees submit interim reports for incoming members. This year, the House Committee on Culture, Recreation and Tourism of the 86th Legislature interim report provided implementation update and future recommendations for HB 1300 (oyster mariculture) and HB 2321 (increased oyster penalties). The charge to the committee was as follows: Monitor the implementation of the cultivated oyster mariculture program, the implementation of increased penalties related to the regulation of oyster harvesting, and the effectiveness of these state laws as related to the protection, conservation, and sustainability of oysters in Texas coastal waters. CCA Texas is keeping a close eye on legislative activity and will keep the membership abreast of any future action relating to the sustainability of the Texas oyster fishery.
“
southern flounder enhancement efforts since the early 2000’s and all told have donated over $1 million to support southern flounder research and enhancement. Want to learn more about southern flounder? Check out the CCA Texas Website and search the “News” section for the Southern Flounder Information and Resources page. Click on the QR code that accompanies this update for a behind the scenes look at TPWDs efforts to raise southern flounder. 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. • $40,000 to the Sea Center Texas Hatchery in Lake Jackson for flounder larvae culture equipment. • $325,000 to the Sea Center Texas Hatchery for a flounder culture larvae culture building.
CCA members should take pride in knowing they have supported southern flounder enhancement efforts.
”
Shane Bonnot, CCA Texas Advocacy Director, recently visited the facility and has provided a video tour with an update on flounder enhancement activities. Be sure to click on the QR code for CCA Texas and see what is going on at this new start of the art facility. For more information about CCA Texas, be sure to visit www. ccatexas.org. You can also find us on Facebook at @CCATexas, Instagram at cca_texas, and Twitter at @CCA_Texas.
Flounder Update by Shane Bonnot With steadfast determination, CCA Texas and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) are working to turn the tide in the declining southern flounder populations. Forterra Pipe and Precast donated 543 culverts of different sizes that will be deployed in 2021 to the These efforts have focused on better management of Sabine HI20 Nearshore site. This deployment will place the fishery and supporting TPWD stock enhancement approximately 3,500 tons of materials into the site soon. programs. The new flounder hatchery building at Sea Center Texas (SCT) in Lake Jackson came on line in 2020, and the staff at SCT are beginning to see the results of the effort to View The Video bring this building to reality. CCA Texas contributed $325,000 to the Open Camera and hover over QR Code. When link appears at top of screen tap to open in YouTube. construction and furnishing of this building and is excited to see the batches of flounder larvae that are now being raised, studied and CCA Texas Flounder Update grown out to harvest size for release back into Texas bays. CCA members should take pride in knowing they have supported 48 | March 2021
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This picture clearly illustrates the two different species of brain coral found at the Flower Gardens. In the foreground is boulder brain coral (Colpophyllia natans). In the center is the symmetrical brain coral (Diploria strigosa). (photo by Frank and Joyce Burek via NOAA)
STEPHANIE BOYD
F I S H Y FA C T S
BRAIN CORAL Most structures that we call “coral” are, in fact, made up of hundreds to thousands of tiny animals called polyps. Coral polyps are tiny, soft-bodied organisms that secrete a hard, protective limestone skeleton, called a calicle, at their base. Reefs begin when a polyp attaches itself to a rock on the sea floor, then divides into thousands of clones. The clone calicles connect to one another, creating a colony, and as colonies grow, they join with other colonies and become reefs. All corals are in the phylum Cnidaria, along with jellyfish and anemones. All but the fire corals (named for their strong sting) are in a class called Anthozoa, or “flower animals.” Stony corals, the most important reef builders, are members of the order Scleractinia (“hard-rayed”). Brain coral is the common name for a number of stony coral species in the Mussidae and Merulinidae families. Brain corals are generally round or oblong, with a wrinkled surface that looks like the contours of a human brain. They can reach more than six feet in diameter, but only the outer few millimeters are alive; the rest is skeleton. As polyps on the surface die, new generations make their homes on top of the remains. The coral structures only grow a few millimeters each year and may be hundreds of years old. Each structure is formed by hundreds of genetically identical polyps. Each polyp has two layers – an outer ectoderm and an inner endoderm, which are 50 | March 2021
separated by a jelly-like mesogloea. They also have a single opening which acts as both mouth and anus, and is ringed by tentacles containing nematocysts (stinging cells). Inside the body of the polyp are digestive and reproductive tissues. The soft polyp tissue houses zooxanthellae (symbiotic dinoflagellate algae), which give these corals their coloration, ranging from varying degrees of yellow and brown to brighter colors; some even glow under UV light. Coral polyps are actually translucent, so reefs get many hues from the billions of colorful zooxanthellae algae they host. The alga benefits from being in a protective environment in an elevated position. The coral benefits from the nutrients produced photosynthetically by the algae, which provide part of its needs for growth and calcification. Unlike the polyps that make up some other corals, those that make up brain corals are all connected. This integration is advantageous because the polyps can transfer nutrients, hormones, and oxygen, making it easier for the colony to communicate. But it also makes it more vulnerable, because if even one polyp gets sick, the pathogen can quickly spread to the rest of the colony. Brain corals live in shallow, warm-water reefs around the world, including the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico, which lies roughly 100 miles south of the Texas-Louisiana border. They need to be
The coral reefs of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary have over 50 percent coral cover, dominated by massive star and brain corals. This image was taken on the flanks of the East Flower Garden Bank, where coral cover is upwards of 80 percent. Photo by Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary / Hickerson.
in shallow, clear, and warm waters for their symbiotic zooxanthellae to photosynthesize. Depth is limited to about 165 feet, depending heavily on water quality. Brain corals are suspension feeders that survive mainly on zooplankton and bacteria, and also get some essential nutrients from their zooxanthellae. At night, the corals rope in small drifting organisms with their tentacles and mesenterial filaments (string-like extensions attached to membranes that partition the stomach cavity). Nematocysts in the tentacles render the prey immobile. Mucus and cilia aid in transporting the food to the mouth. In the daytime, the brain coral uses its tentacles to cover the grooves on its outer surface, or withdraws them completely to minimize the effects of heavy predator grazing. Despite being armed with nematocysts, corals are not immune to predation. Gastropods, polychaetes, sea urchins, starfishes, sea spiders, and parrotfish, among others, will all take a bite out these brains. Corals also have to contend with competitors. They use their nematocysts to keep encroaching corals at bay. Seaweeds are a particularly dangerous competitor, as they typically grow much faster and sometimes have compounds on their surface that are toxic to the coral. Corals have many reproductive strategies – they can be male or female or both, and can reproduce asexually or sexually. Asexual reproduction increases the size of the colony, and sexual reproduction increases
A bleached Boulder Brain Coral (Colpophyllia natans) at East Flower Garden Bank on October 5, 2016. Photo by FGBNMS / Hickerson.
genetic diversity and starts new colonies that can be far from the parents. Most stony corals are broadcast spawners. Colonies release millions of sperm and eggs into the water column at the same time (usually related to environmental cues, such as lunar cycle, temperature, or day length). The gametes join together to form larvae called planulae that float along with the ocean’s currents for a few days until they settle. During its planktonic larval stage, the coral has locomotion. After that time, it becomes permanently sessile. Once the primary polyp settles, asexual reproduction commences, producing new colonies. Spawning often occurs just once a year and usually occurs at night. Some corals brood their eggs in the body of the polyp and only release sperm into the water. As the sperm sinks, polyps containing eggs take them in and fertilization occurs inside the body. After the eggs hatch, larvae are released into the water column. Brooders often reproduce several times a year on a lunar cycle. Brain corals are hermaphroditic – each individual produces both eggs and sperm – and can be broadcast spawners or brooders. A big coral colony or reef takes a long time to grow, because each coral grows slowly. The fastest corals expand at more than six inches per year, but most grow less than an inch per year. Brain coral can grow outward at a rate of approximately 3.5 millimeters per year, reaching over six feet in diameter and living up to 900 years. We know this because corals lay down annual rings, just like trees. These skeletons can tell us about what conditions were like hundreds or thousands of years ago. The coral reef communities of Flower Garden Banks probably began developing 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. NOAA’s Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary protects these reefs, which are famous for boulder-sized brain and star corals. Discovered at the turn of the 20th century by anglers in search of snapper and grouper, the banks’ colorful reefs are the northernmost in the continental United States. Due to its more northerly location and lower average temperature, nearby Stetson Bank is home to smaller coral colonies and dense arrays of large and vivid sponges. The next closest tropical reefs lie 400 miles away, off the coast of Tampico, just north of Veracruz, Mexico. Corals are the cornerstone of the world’s reefs, which cover less than one percent of the ocean floor, but support about 25 percent of all marine creatures. Brain corals are some of the most common coral in TSFMAG.com | 51
the ocean, making them a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List. However, just because they are plentiful, doesn’t mean they are immune from threats like physical damage, bleaching, ocean acidification, warming oceans, or pollution and debris. The greatest threats to reefs are rising water temperatures and ocean acidification linked to rising carbon dioxide levels. High water temperatures can cause coral polyps to expel their symbiotic zooxanthellae algae, a condition known as coral bleaching. Without their zooxanthellae, you can see right through the translucent polyps to the stony white skeleton. Temperatures more than 2 degrees F above the normal seasonal maximum can cause bleaching, and while bleached corals do not die immediately, if high Not all corals respond equally to stress events as seen in these two brain coral colonies, side temperatures persist for a long time, corals either by side. One is completely bleached and the die from starvation or disease. other is not. Photo by FGBNMSa / Schmahl. Meanwhile, ocean acidification makes it more difficult for corals to build their calcium carbonate skeletons, and Marine Species Identification Portal species-identification.org/species.php?species_group=caribbean_diving_ can even break apart the existing skeletons that already provide guide&id=309 structure for reefs. Scientists predict that by 2085, ocean conditions will be acidic enough to begin dissolving corals around the globe, and IUCN Red List without significant action on climate change, our oceans could lose www.iucnredlist.org/species/133257/3657726 www.iucnredlist.org/species/132884/3476602 many of their colorful reefs by the end of the century. Half of the Great www.iucnredlist.org/species/133155/3605234 Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef system, has died of coral bleaching since 2016. It’s important that we make individual choices The Cephalopod Page and support policies that protect coral reefs, because in addition to www.thecephalopodpage.org/MarineInvertebrateZoology/ Diplorialabyrinthiformis.html being beautiful attractions for ecotourists and anglers, they provide habitat for many of the world’s recreationally and commercially National Geographic important fish species, protection from hurricane storm surges and www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/group/corals/ erosion (in areas where they form the basis of barrier islands), produce www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/08/explore-atlas-greatbarrier-reef-coral-bleaching-map-climate-change/ medically significant compounds, and are some of the world’s oldest, most biodiversity-rich ecosystems, rivaling even the rainforests. The University of Warwick coralpedia.bio.warwick.ac.uk/en/corals/diploria_labyrinthiformis
Where I learned about brain corals, and you can too! National Marine Sanctuary Foundation marinesanctuary.org/blog/sea-wonder-brain-coral/ NOAA oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral.html oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/brain-coral.html oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/oct15/flower-garden.html flowergarden.noaa.gov/about/naturalsetting.html#reef Smithsonian ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/corals-and-coral-reefs Oceana oceana.org/marine-life/corals-and-other-invertebrates/grooved-brain-coral Science and the Sea www.scienceandthesea.org/program/201804/brain-corals Thala Beach Nature Reserve www.thalabeach.com.au/brain-coral/ World Register of Marine Species www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=289826
52 | March 2021
The University of the West Indies sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/documents/ogatt/ Diploria_labyrinthiformis%20-%20Grooved%20Brain%20Coral.pdf Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org/accounts/Diploria_labyrinthiformis/ Corals of the World www.coralsoftheworld.org/synonymy_lookup/ BBC www.bbc.com/autos/story/20160308-from-brain-coral-a-smarter-tyre Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_coral en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scleractinia
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Jonathan Bird explores the seamounts of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Lucious coral is abundant on Cayman reefs.
ERIC OZOLINS
E X T R E M E K AYA K F I S H I N G & S H A R K S F R O M T H E S A N D
ADVENTURES AFAR –
CAYMAN ISLANDS PART 1 Many moons ago, on an island far, far away, a youthful, adventurous Oz explored a hidden tropical gem, a place with much mystique and pristine water. On this remote patch of sand in the Caribbean Sea, a young man learned many new things about the marine world. I spent many days solo, free-diving coral reefs in the company of creatures that could kill me at any moment. The memory of my six month adventure in the Caymans, living as one with the reefs, the iron shores, and mangrove-laden shallows still holds a special place in my heart. While there, I learned techniques that helped me catch one of my rare, iconic sharks. While attending Texas A&M Corpus Christi in 2002, I learned of a job opportunity in the Caymans, and couldn’t resist, though doing so required putting my college education on hold. An adventurist already obsessed with the Texas coast, I yearned to see other famous beaches. I went to the islands to take part in a massive project, to build the Ritz Carlton Resort. We labored 10 hours a day, 5 to 6 days a week, but still found time to explore the beauty of the place. The good friend who provided this rare opportunity, Curtis Mai, would later become the 54 | March 2021
founder of Sharkathon and Texas Shark Rodeo. Curtis has played a role somewhere between father figure and big brother to me. He possesses a wealth of knowledge and lives an adventurous lifestyle, which earns my admiration. This also gave me greater confidence about the wisdom of making our expedition. Truth is, we embarked on the journey with almost no money in our pockets, and more fishing and snorkeling equipment than tools. I vividly recall my first glimpses out the window of the plane as we approached the islands. The offshore water was bluer than blue, turning distinctly turquoise over the reefs just off the beaches. I felt a palpable sense of adventure as soon as we landed. The company we were working for gave us our own place to stay; though small, it stood just a short walk from a reef lying along the western shore of the island. Our first afternoon, Curtis, our friend Mike Cunningham, and I walked straight to the reef and started snorkeling. We found ourselves in water that seemed too clear to be real. A vibrant array of reef fish and exotic corals provided color and texture to the scene. Countless spiny lobsters took refuge under various coral formations. Amazed, we
played in the water until dark. That evening, we took a short walk up to the island’s biggest town and capital, George Town. Grand Cayman’s primary industries are banking and tourism. The cruise ships pulling up to the docks often hold more people than the population of the town. Most importantly, Grand Cayman is one of the world’s diving meccas; the quality of their water ranks second to none. In this remote village, we found seductive and beautiful Sirens—young female Canadian bartenders, and all three of us spent virtually every penny we had celebrating our triumphant arrival with tropical beverages. I knew the exotic nightlife would be a problem—a good problem. The next morning we quickly brushed off a hangover, completed our safety orientation for the job, and were all set to work, our papers and visas filed. The following morning we would begin our first day of work, but before then, we had an afternoon to ourselves. With our business taken care of, we predictably decided to try some fishing. Using our normal mode of transportation during this adventure, we walked to our destination, the iron shore surrounding the reef, where we would cast our lines into the Caribbean Sea for the very first time. Before long, we found ourselves catching our first fish! Turned out sundown is a great time to catch jacks, both horse-eye and bar. Both species work well as shark baits. We were told over and over by the locals, “Oh, no man, there are no sharks here in Caymans.” We believed this until we had our first encounter a couple nights later, when we chose to fish AFTER the fall of night. We started catching jacks over the reef on topwaters, only to have them repeatedly mauled as we reeled them in. We knew we were tapping into unknown territory and wanted to find out what kind of sharks lurked among the shadows in the reefs. Armed with a 12/0 Senator shark reel, I had a proper leader ready, but without kayaks, we had no idea how to deploy our baits safely. Initially, we tried launching live, plate-sized jacks under balloons, using the hammer-throw method. The baits never lasted long as they would get picked up and taken straight towards the depths lying beyond the offshore side of the reef. We hooked some hefty sharks but never managed to land one. Despite making some adjustments to our techniques, we found no success in the sharking department.
We soon learned there was no shortage of evening tarpon along Cayman shores.
Curtis Mai hooked up with a Cayman jack.
The routine became quite regular – work hard, fish hard, party hard. Falling quickly into this routine came naturally to all three of us. For the first few weeks, we hit the same location every evening, catching a variety of fish, including jacks, tarpon, and barracuda. Soon, I experienced one of my most bizarre and incredible fishing memories; it happened while I stood in darkness on the edge of the iron shore, elevated about a foot or two above a calm sea, looking at the ocean’s bottom beside the virtual wall created by the reef, through about 10 feet of air-clear water. Sharks came cruising in with fierce intentions, swimming along the perimeter of the shore. In the glow of our headlamps, we could clearly see the shapes of many. I stood still and simply dangled a bait just out in front of my feet, watching in awe as a shark measuring at least 8-feet picked it up. Still holding the leader in my hand, I fed line out steadily. After sucking down the bait, the shark ran at least 300 yards to the drop-off outside of the reef. Mike and Curtis held onto me so I would not get launched into the water. Needless to say, we did not land that shark either; it cut our line once again on the reef. Hooking and losing that fish sent us on a quest to land our first Cayman shark. Soon, our mission became briefly interrupted, but also improved, as our housing was relocated to the northwest side of the island, placing us even closer to the water, less than 100 yards from a different Caribbean reef. The move revealed new waters to explore, and we proceeded to experiment with tactics at the location. This cove presented us with the same problem— hungry sharks came in at night, stole our baits and left us with tattered lines. We realized we needed to formulate new plans and think outside TSFMAG.com | 55
Youthful Oz poses with his first Caribbean reef shark.
View The Video
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Padre Island Hammerhead Release
56 | March 2021
a 5-gallon plastic gasoline can and glue to seal it air-tight. We then attached a custom, buoyant shark leader to its handle, using a looped section of heavy line. That afternoon, just before sundown, we headed out to our new location, and I swam the bait out past the point where we could launch it from the beach, then created a system which kept the bait and float stationary until a shark broke them free. On the very first attempt with the set-up, we succeeded in hooking a shark; the gas can did its job of preventing the beast from diving to the bottom and cutting our line on the reef. After a short fight, our efforts had finally paid off, and we beached our first Cayman shark, a 6-foot Caribbean reef shark. While our prize was not a monster like the several we had previously lost, the catch did prove our system would work. After tagging and releasing our first foreign land-caught shark, we made the wise decision not to swim another bait out in the dark, and headed to town, lured again by the Sirens, intent on celebrating our newfound success with drinks.
C O N TA C T
the box. Our techniques had to be redeveloped to accommodate the environment in which we were fishing. Eventually, Curtis and I went to the hardware store in search of components to create the perfect sharking “bobber.” We purchased
For the past decade Eric ‘Oz’ Ozolins has been promoting shark catch and release and assisting various shark research programs. Eric offers guided shark fishing on Padre Island National Seashore. Also renowned for extreme kayak big game fishing, Eric is the owner of Catch Sharks Tackle Company. Email Websites
oz@oceanepics.com oceanepics.com | catchsharks.com
TSFMag Tested & Recommended
...continued from page 39.
The highlight of the visit was an announcement from Jimmy that he is currently working on a new rod series, something we didn’t expect but were certainly keen to learn about. His goal is to fill a niche that Waterloo has not previously filled, and he was tight-lipped to say the least. All I can say at this point is that we will just have to wait and see. Moving on to the manufacturing area, Jimmy walked us through every stage of rod-building. Selection and testing of blanks to fitting reel seats, handles, and line guides. The custom wrapping station was especially interesting as skilled workers applied thread and cement with painstaking care. Finally, the application of the ultimate custom touches, decals and final cement coatings. Particularly interesting was the number of finished rods awaiting customer pickup. I had no idea Waterloo turned out so many. Back in the front showroom, we glanced through the aisles, wide-eyed at the hard-to-find items in stock. While the Waterloo Pro Shop’s purpose is not to stock everything an angler might need, it is certainly popular with anglers headed to coast and needing one or two critical items. Believe me, they carry some of the hottest lures and best reels money can buy, as well as Waterloo-branded clothing items. Next time you’re passing through Victoria, drop in for a visit and be sure to ask for a tour of the rod building area. Jimmy and his staff are always helpful and will be happy to see you!
TSFMAG.com | 57
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TSFMAG.com | 59
DICKIE COLBURN
DICKIE COLBURN’S Sabine Scene
Over the past couple of months, Mother Nature has certainly done her part in helping the trout population rebound here on Sabine Lake. She even served up a winter of sorts and it has helped! S ab i n e We saw very few days below freezing, but enjoyed a number of days in the 40s punctuated by brief warm-ups that would have you fishing Dickie Colburn is a full in shorts by the end of the day. The first time guide out of Orange, few hours of most trips are still on the Texas. Dickie has 37 years chilly side, but no one is complaining. experience guiding on Sabine and Calcasieu Lakes. Before reporting on what has been a very respectable trout bite, I Telephone would be remiss in not reminding you 409-883-0723 that a quality rain suit is every bit as Website important as the best rod and reel in www.sabineconnection.com your arsenal. We obviously fish a lot of days in the rain, but it is also a welcomed friend on that first boat ride of the day throughout the early spring and fall. Olivia Frederick and dad, Rusty, made a memory during a brief warm-up!
60 | March 2021
A quality rain suit may cost a little more than you probably hoped to spend, but not unlike that rod and reel, it will serve you well for years. I wear the same suit year ‘round whether it be fishing or sitting in the rain at a high school football game. Most of the better suits are heavy enough to ward off frigid breezes yet light enough to wear year ‘round. Because I rely on mine so much of the time while on the water, I prefer bibs rather than pants. They are drier when having to bend over to pick something up! Aside from a real winter and very little rain, the absence of fishing pressure has also helped our trout rebound. I haven’t fished as frequently while continuing to recover, but it has been unusual to see more than a couple of boats on any given day. Two factors have contributed to having the entire pond to myself. The first being that persistent wade fishermen looking for the trout of their dreams have always provided most of our winter pressure. Those kind of trout are still in hiding and few local anglers are dedicated enough to fish in miserable conditions for three pound specks. Add to that the fact that the big trout bite has really improved on Calcasieu and an added thirty minute drive doesn’t merit a second thought. The second reason is that much of the lake has been, and still is, really off-colored. Extremely low tides and even modest winds now keep the loose bottom stirred up much of the time. The good news, and something that it took us a while to figure out, is that the salinity is still good and the fish have apparently adapted to hunting down their next meal in water that does little to promote angler confidence. In spite of the fact that I am currently relegated to far more drifting than wading, my arsenal has not changed. The only change is that we are forced to fish those same lures much slower. Even choice of color has not made as much difference as speed of retrieve. The Fat Boy and Softdine XL have been our go-to lures and the Catch 5 has shined at times as well. Confidence has made more difference than color, but I would say our two most productive colors have been pink and morning glory. Easily, the most perplexing thing about this bite is that while we have caught at least a few fish all over the lake, they seem to hold in tight bunches on short stretches of shoreline. It may require a lot of casting to locate them, but you can bury the Talon when you do! Three- to five-feet has been the most productive depth and strangely enough, a non-descript stretch of shoreline can be as good as a point or drain. It goes against the grain, but the trout have been solid 2- to 3-pound fish and I have found nothing any better. When just drifting with no clue, there is no better choice than a chartreuse GULP Jerk Shad rigged on a 24-inch leader under a popping cork. While ferreting out tight groups of trout it will also attract the nearest redfish. It is not unusual to find the reds hunting in small schools as well. The best aspect of fishing the cork is that the kids are very much in the hunt while you are prospecting, with no need to change lures once you find the fish!
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TSFMAG.com | 61
BINK GRIMES
THE VIEW FROM Matagorda
Sunshine and bent rods put a smile on most Texas angler’s faces. March in Matagorda brings us the unofficial start of the 2021 fishing season for many anglers. We are tired of being told where and where-not to go – outside in M ata go r d a the salty air is our comfort and refuge. Our beaches and bays are waiting. A nice boat ride clears the head and speaks promise to a prosperous Bink Grimes is a full-time fishing year. We are ready to catch a fish on a and hunting guide, freelance topwater, wade a grass flat, pop a cork writer and photographer, and over shell, and walk the granite at owner of Sunrise Lodge on Matagorda Bay. the jetty. We are ready for a bite of Coastal Que Barbecue, quite possibly the best smoked meats Telephone 979-241-1705 you have ever tasted. Email Take a gander at Matagorda binkgrimes@sbcglobal.net Outfitters. Their inventory consists Website of the most respected brands in matagordasunriselodge.com the business. Their logo attire turns heads; and, if you need last-minute tackle or a complete outfit, their doors are open right at the base of the big bridge across from Stanley’s. Now to fishing. We will be splitting time in East and West bays during March. Most of our drifting trips will be in East Bay over deep shell with the same baits. Live shrimp are deadly in spots like Lake Austin, Oyster Lake, Crab Lake and Boggy. Redfish are usually everywhere. We can make long drifts or anchor on reefs. Tides are traditionally above normal in March, so there are plenty of places to get out of the wind if spring weather holds true to form. Redfish are not the only drum in abundance in March, juvenile black drum, the eating kind, frequent reefs in West Matagorda Bay. Twin Islands, Shell Island and Oyster Lake are all proven drum haunts in March. Live shrimp under a popping cork is the best bet, but dead shrimp will work, too. Over-sized black drum, those over 30 inches, are the spawners and are catch-andrelease only by state law, but that doesn’t mean they are any less fun to catch. Big black bruisers frequent the channel and jetty leading to the Gulf, and a cracked blue crab or mullet gets eaten quickly. The jetty is a great spot to intercept big reds and drum for Spring Breakers. There are some folks who target nothing but large sheepshead against the rocks with live shrimp. If our mild winter persists, March could be more like May. Water temps in the upper 60s and lower 70s is not out of the question; and, if you like throwing topwaters, those big tides push big fish to the shorelines. Waders seeking big trout most certainly work the east end of East Matagorda Bay. Brown Cedar Flats, Half Moon Reef and Catch-All Basin have soft mud bottoms that hold heavy trout in the spring. Flats adjacent to the ICW on the north shoreline are players as well. Big trout slide in to the depths of the channel on low tide, then creep back up on the flats on the incoming. Hangout there long enough and you may meet one or two of Matagorda’s finest. 62 | March 2021
We are ready to get back to church, movies, ballgames and plain ole’ simple civilization. We welcome you back to Matagorda, although many never left. In fact, 2020 saw a boon of visitors tired of the concrete restrictions. Real estate is booming and so is our economy. Put a smile on your face and love your neighbor. Spring renovations at the lodge are almost complete. Sunrise Lodge and Properties offers vacation rentals as well as a full service hunting and fishing lodge right on the water. Follow our reports on Instagram (@matagordasunriselodge) and Facebook. Check out Sunrise Lodge video: http://vimeo.com/m/58631486 www.matagordasunriselodge.com
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Kicking Off Springtime Fishing in Matagorda
TSFMAG.com | 63
CAPT. SHELLIE GRAY
MID-COAST BAYS With the Grays
March is officially the month when feeding we see in the face of an approaching winter front or summer spring arrives but Mother Nature can storm is caused by swifter current speeds associated with a rapidly still have a few tricks up her sleeve. Here falling barometer. on the Middle Coast temperatures can So, if you’re wondering why I’m talking about something as simple range anywhere from 40s to 80s and as water levels, let me say that I have very few clients who take this into the wind can be anything from a gentle consideration when they are planning their fishing strategies. Types of Port O'Connor breeze to gale force. We just have to be lures, locations, structure that fish might be using and lure presentations, Seadrift prepared to deal with whatever the Ol’ are almost always discussed while water levels tend to be overlooked. Gal gives us. Tides traditionally begin to When fishing with low water levels in back lakes, I usually concentrate rise during March, and since we have my efforts towards the middle rather than tight to the shorelines. Captain Shellie Gray was born been experiencing predominantly lower- When water levels drop dramatically, look for fish to fall off into nearby in Port Lavaca and has been than-normal tides this winter, I would channels and deeper troughs within the lakes. Why? Because as water guiding in the Seadrift/Port like to discuss the change in water levels levels drop out from under them, baitfish move into deeper water. And O’Connor area full time for the we all know that redfish and trout stay in pursuit of the baitfish. past 18 years. Shellie specializes and how it can affect fishing. We sometimes hear anglers referring The opposite is true when water levels are higher than normal – think in wading for trout and redfish year round with artificial lures. to tide and current as if they were the springtime high. Gamefish are opportunistic feeders and will scatter same but they’re actually quite different. and begin to search for food in areas that might have been out of play a Tide is defined as the vertical movement day or two earlier. This is when we focus our efforts closer to shorelines. Telephone of water – higher or lower. This is caused Redfish, especially, are known for venturing as far back into marshes 361-785-6708 by the gravitational pull of the moon and estuaries as the water allows. The fish you will find in these areas Email bayrats@tisd.net and to a lesser extent, the sun. Current are typically feeding very aggressively and are downright fun to target Website refers to horizontal movement of water. because they are not hesitant to strike whatever you put in front of them. www.bayrat.com Some currents are created by the I personally love it when water levels are super high, enabling me to Facebook vertical movement of the tide. When explore new backcountry ponds and creeks. On the flip side, extremely @captsgaryandshelliegray the tide increases in height it moves low water levels have also showed me many things, including hazardous inshore spilling into the bays and eventually into the back lakes and obstructions over the years. Unfortunately, there are old tires, stumps of marshes. The shoreward movement of water creates a tidal current – the pilings and other debris that would be submerged with normal water incoming tide. The outgoing tide is exactly the reverse of the process – levels. A lot of clients peer at the many marks saved on my GPS screen water flows seaward as the tide falls. and think they must be secret honey holes. But honestly, the majority are Other factors such as weather events can also create current. The places to avoid when navigating during low light or foggy conditions. variability of early spring weather, strong southerly flows followed by When putting your game plan together for your next fishing trip, powerful northers, is a great example. Wind-driven currents occur when take a minute to observe the water level before leaving the dock. the friction of wind movement forces water to move ahead of it. When Lots of exposed barnacles and oysters on pier pilings and bulkheads wind and tide are from the same direction much higher and much lower are very useful signs and should tell you whether the shallow water tides can result. Given our location on the Middle Coast, strong north you navigated the days or weeks before will allow you to run those wind pushes water out, creating lower water levels. Some anglers take same routes this time. note of low water levels when launching their Emma Kraus showing off one of boat while others don’t the many fish she even think to look. caught all by herself Strong southerly winds from start to finish. have the opposite effect. Another factor that often creates current is barometric pressure. These changes in atmospheric pressure Two weeks out of usually happen before the month of March and after a cold front we are booked up with family or strong summer “spring break” storm. Low pressure, in trips. I love to see general, tends to create families fishing higher tides. Quite together! often the aggressive 64 | March 2021
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DAVID ROWSEY
HOOKED UP WITH Rowsey
We are now into the heart of trophy trout season here on Baffin and no other month signifies giant trout more than March. Truth is that every cold weather month can produce a stud specimen, but March is a virtual guarantee that the girth will be there along with the length. Upper There will be some cold days in Laguna/ March but warmer days and southeast Ba f f i n winds should prevail to make big trout more comfortable in the shallows of Baffin and the Upper Laguna. Shallow shorelines, skinny flats, and sandbars David Rowsey has over 25 years will start to hold fish on a regular basis, in Baffin and Upper Laguna especially the big girls that are heading Madre; trophy trout with toward the first spawn of the season. artificial lures is his specialty. In preparing to fish this month, one David has a great passion for thing to keep in mind and plan for is conservation and encourages the wind. March can be as cantankerous catch and release of trophy fish. as my old friend, Capt. Billy Sandifer. If Telephone you knew Billy you will get the analogy. 361-960-0340 Sweet as honey one minute and giving Website a beat down the rest of time. March www.DavidRowsey.com Email tests us and makes us earn her bounty david.rowsey@yahoo.com on an almost daily basis. One way of dealing with her on @captdavidrowsey these windy, “bad” water days is to always remain confident that the fish are there and they have to eat to survive – and they can be caught.
I remember one day I was whining about water clarity to my clients and unbeknownst to me, one of them (Mac McCune) happened to manage lakes and ponds for a living. Mac grabbed an empty water bottle from the trash, filled it with the pitiful looking bay water and held it to the sun. The water was surprising clear and Mac said, “This is what the fish are looking through.” Voilà! That was a game changer for me and how I deal with “bad” water conditions to this day. Although we couldn’t see the structure, Mac, Bill, and I got out of the boat and beat them up pretty good, best I can recall. Thanks for the lesson, Mac. Lure choices also play an important role when the water color is more similar to creamed coffee than a Blue Hawaiian. I tend to lean toward hard plugs such as MirrOdine XL or Double D that have a lot of gold flash. It probably comes from my youth and throwing spinnerbaits in muddy waters, but I’m a big believer that gold puts off more reflection than silver when the conditions go south. Many of you know that I am a diehard Bass Assassin man, with most of my time casting a 5” rattail. I’ll shift to Bass Assassins Turbo Shad paddletail in these conditions and work it more as a swimbait than our traditional jigging of soft plastics. Of course, the MirrOlure Pro Dog and He Dog are my favorite choices for topwater lures when it’s muddy. Each of these has their own signature sound on top and I often find the trout may want one or the other on any given day. Per TPWD, our trout fishery is in great shape, but I will remind the reader that this is based almost wholly on numbers of fish and not quality. “Great shape,” is deceiving, considering that it includes trout less than one inch. The truth of the matter is that every bay system in Texas is producing fewer quality trout over the past five years, a fact proven by guys and gals on the water hundreds of days per year. The growth of recreational bay fishing has far exceeded what a daily bag limit of five trout can keep in check, in my opinion. While many fishermen are now practicing catch and release, the old days still prevail when it comes to putting trout in the ice chest. Croaker sales started in late March last year, and ran into early November on the Upper Laguna. Considering that 99% of the trout caught with this method likely go into the box, you should understand why this long selling season is so alarming to me and others that fight for a quality fishery. Truth is, though, croaker is not the issue. It’s the kill mentality and social media “likes” of most that are utilizing them as bait. I do not see TPWD doing much about it, but the elimination of croaker as bait would eliminate 80% of the guides who likely encourage most of the killing. I believe the trout population, and especially the quality, would multiply by leaps and bounds in a few short years. Not to mention that the traditional croaker fishery would make a comeback without commercial netting for bait sales. Remember the buffalo! -Capt David Rowsey
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Capt. David Rowsey – Skillfully Landing a Great Upper Laguna Madre Speckled Trout 66 | March 2021
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WAYNE DAVIS
WAYNE’S Mansfield Report
Howdy from Port Mansfield! Wintertime fishing will soon be in the rearview and springtime is quickly approaching. Hopefully we still have some cool to colder weather opportunities ahead Port as well as a fish of a lifetime. If you are Mansfield reading this in late February or early March, the best time for a heavyweight may be upon us. So, read this article quickly and get out there! Captain Wayne Davis has Winter fishing has been good. I rate been fishing the Lower it 6.5- to- 7 on a scale of 1- to- 10. Of Laguna-Port Mansfield for course, 10 would be epic. So, what does over 20 years. He specializes a 7 rating amount to? Thus far we’ve in wade fishing with lures. had some trout close to 30-inches with one going well over eight pounds. It’s Telephone 210-287-3877 ironic that the 30-inchers weighed less Email than some of the 28s. I’m convinced that captwayne@kwigglers.com timing is everything regarding weight of wintertime trout. My trips have yielded some nice fish in the three-tofive-pound range, with several over six pounds and a few touching the seven-pound mark. Additionally, I have identified some redfish zones for field testing soft plastics. This pretty much sums up a 7 rating in my mind. With another month or so left in trophy trout season I am hopeful that my rating could improve to 8 or possibly even 9. Now is a good time to point out the attached QR code. I’ll try to be brief but this is an excellent learning opportunity. Several years ago at the Chandeleur Islands with some buddies, we were wading a reef about 300 yards long and 20 yards wide. A big school of bull redfish came through and corralled some mullet. Had I not witnessed this I would not have believed it. Those bulls were running the mullet up on the bank and smashing them with their bodies. I was not sure if they were eating them afterward but time after time they crushed the mullet against the shell. I did not think much of it at the time because they were also crushing my topwater. Now, fast forward to the other day. I was tossing a Corky and working it through shallow potholes and feeling a strange strike. I landed quite a few, all foul-hooked on the belly and lower gill plate area. Amazingly, I recalled the Chandeleur trip and connected the dots, or at least tried to. Here I was, years Boone Stutz, former later identifying and relating Atlanta Falcon and to something that happened current president while fishing in an entirely RGV Chapter CCA different state. Case in point Texas – personal best trout on a recent trip. – Always listen and watch 68 | March 2021
what the fish are telling you. This is just another piece of the priceless education you gain while enjoying the sport of fishing. Lately, I’m still working the shallow stuff, even when it’s cold. The coldest water temp documented this season has been 47°. I quickly identified nothing likes knee-deep 47° water – not even my toes. So, I relocated to an area more likely to warm quicker as the day progressed. Once the water temps reached 53° we started catching fish. As it rose to 55°-57° we had solid action. It is awesome to see fish gradually move up on a flat as temps rose, and even better to watch them become more active and begin to feed. Same goes for water temps being too warm in the winter on a flat, although this mainly affects big females. Male trout tend to “deal with” warmer water temps better than the big girls. As the water warms too much on a particular flat the females fade away and stage wherever they are comfortable. With another cold snap they move again. Pretty cool to watch this unfold. Best baits have been KWigglers new Ball Tail Shad color called, The Truth. This color was designed by the team at The Speckled Truth. We partnered with them and agreed that a portion of the proceeds from The Truth’s sales would be donated to Doctor Greg Stunz and his team at Harte Research Institute and the Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Lab. Likely the donations will be small, but glad to see this collaboration to help our resource. They say every bit helps. We are still working our baits low and slow, on light 2/0 jigheads. A few of the big fish have also been taken on KWigglers Willow Tails and Corkys. Heading into March, winds will become more consistent and will increase from the southeast prior to approaching northers. It’s easier to accept this than fight it…learn to use the wind to your advantage. Don’t get discouraged with muddy water, the fish will still eat. Stay safe and remember our resource is fragile. Mother Lagoon does not have an endless supply! Speckled Truth founder, Chris Bush, with a nice redfish on a recent outing.
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Knowing what the fish are telling you.
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TSFMAG.com | 69
CAPT. ERNEST CISNEROS
SOUTH PADRE Fishing Scene
Many things occur in our bays that cannot be predicted while others happen like clockwork. During my high school years, March was all about Arr o y o spring break. We’d be out of school for a C ol o ra d o week and practically lived on the beach. t o Po rt Loads of fun for everyone, plenty of I sa bel loud music, and everything that comes with being a teenager. You could bank on it. Nowadays, as an adult with a A Brownsville-area native, fishing obsession, March occurrences I Capt. Ernest Cisneros fishes the Lower Laguna Madre from can predict accurately are rising tides, Port Mansfield to Port Isabel. warmer weather, the beginning of trout Ernest specializes in wading spawning, and locations the fish should and poled skiff adventures for prefer. Notice I used the word should. snook, trout, and redfish. March’s unpredictable side means we still have to do our homework and get Cell 956-266-6454 out there and find them. Website From experience over the years, www.tightlinescharters.com I can predict that close to the third week or so in March, the tides will begin to rise considerably. And, with that said, fish will begin to cruise with the rising tides into areas of recently barren or mudflats too shallow for them to inhabit. The big trout will follow hordes of mullet onto shallow, grassy flats. Most of the spawning trout will lay up along tucked-away shorelines, away from boat traffic and most anglers. The most prolific spawns will occur on strong tides that occur during new and full moon phases – two
tide days. April gets most of the glory as regards spawning activity, but don’t be fooled. We have caught trophy-size fish dripping eggs in March. Redfish have been very predictable over the past month, especially during cooler periods with lower than normal tides. I expect they will begin to scatter somewhat as the tide rises and opens new territory. We will also begin seeing more brown shrimp and you can bet the reds will gorge on them every opportunity. I like to target reds on recently flooded flats and shorelines in March. Signs of their presence will be numerous mud boils visible from the boat when running and brown shrimp skipping across the surface. Look for active mullet on shorelines and in nearby potholes. March can be tough with the wind and all, but redfish use wind to their advantage and you should, too. Strong winds pin shrimp, small crabs, and baitfish against shorelines. Seagulls will be hovering and diving. Don’t ignore the signs! It’s hard to beat KWigglers Ball Tail Shads for redfish during early spring. My favorites are the Plum-Chartreuse and Mansfield Margarita. Not saying KWigglers Willow Tails won’t work, but I prefer the Ball Tails for the faster sinking qualities. Don’t let the wind get you down; just like you, redfish get hungry on windy days the same as calm days! During January and early February, the bigger trout tended to congregate in deeper holes due to the cooler temperatures and lower tides. The same as stated above about redfish, I expect rising tides and warmer weather will cause them to begin dispersing more widely across the flats. Keep in mind that binge feeding under optimum conditions will likely mean they will not eat every day. Maybe only every other day. What I’m leading up to is that if a trophy trout is your goal, you must be ready to patiently put in lots of time. Wait them out until they’re ready to eat. You probably wouldn’t believe how many phone calls I receive, people saying, “I want to catch a thirty-inch trout.” My answer to them is always the same, “So do I, and I spend over two hundred days a year on the water and haven’t caught one.” That’s not exactly true, I have caught some giants over the years. I do not say that to be mean but to help them manage their expectations. The reality of the matter is that it takes hundreds of hours (on average) and the right conditions to land a trophy fish. The good news, I tell them, is that we will be fishing areas known to produce trophy fish, and I leave it at that. Trout will begin showing preference for sandy potholes during March. If the water conditions do not allow you to see them, a good satellite image on your GPS or Google Maps can put you in the general area. Keep in mind that looking for clean water this month might be challenging, especially when the wind pushes toward 30 mph. A few words of caution in closing; Always check the weather forecast before you go. March winds are some of the most dangerous of the year. Let others know where you intend to fish and when you plan to return. Wear your kill switch lanyard. Best fishing and be safe out there.
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FISHING REPORTS
Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com - 409.935.7242 James mentions a couple of changes in his daily fishing routines in March. “This is the time to spend more time wading. We’ve got more fish in the coves and in the shallows along main bay shorelines this month, and it’s easier to catch them wading than out of the boat. If we get some late fronts, and the water falls out of the bay, like it sometimes does, the fishing will be better for a short time out in the middle again, but as soon as the tide gushes back in, the wading will become the way to go. We tend to get steady east and southeast winds in March, which can make the fishing good on the west shoreline, if it’s fairly light, but is generally better for the pockets and shorelines on the south side of West Bay, and in Christmas Bay. When wading, we throw a lot of the Assassin Sea Shads, Catch 5s, MirrOdines, SoftDines and ShePups. I really like the tiny topwaters this time of year, especially the pink/silver ones. I don’t know if it’s because they look like minnows, or what, but the fish eat ‘em up, and they’re easy on the wrists.” Jimmy West - Bolivar Guide Service - 409.996.3054 Jim starts fishing more in March, once the duck seasons end for good. “We caught a bunch yesterday. I like the conditions we had. Felt a lot like what we fish in March. Water was about 62 degrees, and the east wind was blowing pretty good, from 15 to 20 or so. Water was holding up nice, like it usually does with east winds. We caught ‘em everywhere we stopped, mostly keeper trout, nothing big. Great numbers though. We had some in the bayous and drains, right when we went out, around lunch time. Then we caught better on the shoreline in the back of the bay late in the afternoon. This is typical for me, in March too. I leave the dock in the middle of the day and fish until about dark, unless it gets really good, then we might stay for an hour or so longer. We should be set up for good fishing here in East Bay for a while. Upper parts of Trinity are fresh right now, so that usually moves some fish around Smith Point into our bay. It’s also good for Upper Galveston Bay, if the San Jacinto River isn’t running high, which it hasn’t been.” West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays Randall Groves - Groves Guide Service 979.849.7019 - 979.864.9323 In March, fishing near a major pass connecting the bay with the Gulf, Randall keys on new species arriving in the shallower inshore waters in order to figure out where to fish. “I’m looking for glass minnows mostly, this month. Usually, we find the schools not far from some of the thicker concentrations of dark grass on the bottom. We also use birds to find them. I especially find terns reliable in showing us where the concentrations of minnows are located. They are known as liar birds, and they can’t be trusted when they’re flying along in straight lines and occasionally diving. But, when they start wheeling and circling and diving over and over again in a small area, they are usually showing you where a cloud of minnows are being pushed toward the surface. When fishing around glass minnows, I find several lures effective, all of which look somewhat like the minnows. Norton Sand Eel Juniors in natural looking colors with some flash work well. One example is the clear one with silver glitter and a chartreuse tail. SoftDines in similar types of colors also work well sometimes. Later in the month, we’ll be watching for the shrimp to arrive.” 72 | March 2021
ORECASTS F from Big Lake to Boca Chica
AND
Matagorda | Bay Guide Service Charlie Paradoski – 713.725.2401 Charlie touts East Matagorda as one of the best big trout bays in Texas during March. “Many of our customers are willing to wade and target big trout in East Bay this month. When we’re over there targeting those fish, we throw topwaters and lures like Catch 5s, Catch 2000s and Paul Brown Lures mostly. We’ve still got plenty of big trout in this area. In West Bay, the fishing around grass beds on the south shoreline usually improves quite a bit this month. We catch more reds and numbers of trout over there, in general. The topwaters and twitch baits do work at times, but we throw soft plastics quite a bit when working for numbers of trout and schooling reds. Of course, one of the best things about fishing the Matagorda area is the fact we have two great places to get out of the wind, which can be a consistent issue at the end of the winter, beginning of spring. Both the Colorado River and the Diversion Channel provide places to hide from strong winds and catch fish. Right now, both stretches have plenty of fish, and unless we get some really big rains, they should stay there.” Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam www.palaciosguideservice.com - 979.240.8204 Warmer than normal temperatures have the fish acting like spring has arrived in the Palacios area. Redfish have been attacking topwaters presented over shell out in front of back lakes and bayous, with most of the fish falling in the middle of the slot. Pink ShePups and chartreuse Baby Skitterwalks have worked best lately. The trout have been biting steadily as well, mostly over shell in waist-deep water. We’re throwing Paul Brown FatBoys in pearl/black and pearl/ chartreuse most of the time when targeting them. Night fishing remains productive on the local piers and in the turning basins, with lots of solid eating sized speckled and sand trout coming to the planks. Tandem swimming shads in glow and pink/pearl speck rigs have worked best under the lights. Gigging for flounder is becoming a great option already, as low tides have pulled lots of flatfish out of the marshes and lakes. Efforts for black drum along the sea wall and on the piers has produced lots of fish exceeding the 40-inch mark. Tossing crab and mullet well out into the deeper water attached to slip sinkers and maintaining a tight line has worked best for those wanting to tangle with these beasts. Port O’Connor | Lynn Smith Back Bay Guide Service - 361.983.4434 Targeting big trout is the name of the game in March, for Lynn. “We do a lot of fishing around mud and shell this time of year. We’ll fish more around grass if the weather warms up for several days, but we spend most of the month fishing close to oyster reefs in bays like Mesquite and San Antonio. If the water is high and moving, we’ll target the fish right on top of the main concentrations of shell. If the water is lower and not moving as much, we spend more time throwing in the guts and depressions adjacent to the main parts of the reefs, where the bottom is mostly mud, with some scattered shell. Paul Brown Lures, especially the floating ones, work well when we’re fishing areas like this. Because they sink so slowly, it’s possible to work them over the shell at the right speed without snagging on the bottom. This is also true when we’re fishing the warming trends, throwing them over
grass beds in shallow water in the back lakes and coves. Conventional topwaters do work well at times this month, especially toward the end of the month. When April rolls around, we’ll throw them more often.” Rockport | Blake Muirhead Gator Trout Guide Service - 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894 This month, Blake gets back to fishing all the time, and sees the start of a transition from muddy backwater areas to places with more grass and sand on the bottom. “This is a great month to target both trout and redfish in really shallow water, tight to the cordgrass stands, especially on the south shorelines of the bays. We get a lot of strong onshore winds this time of year, so the water tends to hold up best on that side of the bays. In places like Aransas, Mesquite and San Antonio bays, all of which have firm sandy stretches dotted with grass beds on their south shorelines, the fishing can be great this time of year. Small topwaters work well some of the time, especially if it’s not too windy early in the mornings. Dark soft plastics with bright tails work well too, especially during the brighter, windier parts of the days. On days after fronts when winds are light, fishing out in the middle around the shallow shell reefs can be great. As we head into April, topwaters start working better on a regular basis, and we usually catch some of our biggest trout of the year.” Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut Robert Zapata – rz1528@grandecom.net - 361.563.1160 Everything is headed up during the month of March. The water and air temperatures are on the rise, and the fish are moving up into more shallow water. Catch rates normally rise as well, when spring arrives. Though the water is warming up, I’m still wearing my breathable waders and my ForEverLast Ray Guards. I don’t look for areas with muddy bottoms; now the search is for areas with sandy potholes with some gravel in them, in water less than three feet deep. I’ll also key on areas where I see lots of mullet jumping or swirling around on the surface and where slicks pop along grass lines, drop offs and close to rock formations. Topwaters work well this time of year. I throw MirrOlure SheDogs in natural colors a lot, and switch to slowsinking lures like Catch 5s if I get a lot of blow ups but not many hook ups. Other consistent lures this time of year are Bass Assassin Texas Assassins and Die Dappers in colors like trickster, salt & pepper silver phantom, sand trout and chicken on a chain. March is a windy month, and if the wind wrecks the water clarity, I switch to live shrimp under an Assassin Kwik Kork. Corpus Christi | Joe Mendez – www.sightcast1.com - 361.877.1230 When spring arrives, the fishing for big trout and redfish in shallow water becomes the norm. “We see lots of big trout mixing with the redfish in the shallows this time of year,” Joe says. “Water temperatures are perfect for the fish to lounge around in places where there’s barely enough water to cover their backs. We catch most of our fish after seeing them first, usually on flats with lots of grass, but some bright, sandy areas too. Throwing soft plastics in natural colors rigged on light jigheads usually works best to target trout and reds by sightcasting, making sure to keep the lures out in front of the fish, and not splashing down too close to the fish, so they don’t spook. If strong winds muck up the water, or when cold snaps send the fish into deeper water, we like to make controlled drifts around grassy edges at the perimeters of the shallow flats, or around rocks lying just offshore on places like the Kenedy Shoreline, and throw soft plastics rigged on heavier jigheads to keep the lures down in the water. In these situations, lures with contrasting dark and bright colors work better than natural colors.” P.I.N.S. Fishing Forecast | Eric Ozolins 361-877-3583 | Oceanepics.com
In March, when spring starts, we begin to see various species of fish migrating along the Texas coast. Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated are the jack crevalle, the bulldogs of the sea. Pound for pound, jacks show strength equal to or superior to any other fish. During spring, jackfish make their way inshore in large numbers, feeding on many different species. When they’re running, nothing attracts their attention better than live mullet about 6 to 8 inches in length. At times, these brutes can be seen patrolling through clean, rolling waves. If so, lures usually work well to catch them; I’ve lost count of how many I’ve caught on topwaters, swim baits and spoons. In addition to the jacks, plenty of redfish should show up on the beach this month. They readily take both live and fresh dead mullet, also cut whiting. Pompano will still be around through the month, and sheepshead and black drum usually show up toward the end of March. Dead shrimp or shrimpflavored Fish-bites work well to target them. As March bends toward April, sharks become more plentiful as well, with bulls and scalloped hammerheads replacing the sandbar sharks of winter. We also see some of the biggest blacktips of the year this month. Port Mansfield | Ruben Garza Snookdudecharters.com – 832.385.1431 Getaway Adventures Lodge – 956.944.4000 Expect tides to be lower than normal this month and keep an eye open for unexpected debris scattered by Hurricane Hanna. Also, remember it’s easier to run aground on these tides. Fishing behind the cabins in the Saucer area should be productive, especially close to the edge of the ICW. If water temps fall below normal, casting into the deeper water works best, letting the lure sink and working it slowly. Often, the bite is light, or impossible to feel. The deeper potholes both south and north of the Pipeline Markers also produce well on low tides. Parts of West Bay and the dumps north of Bennie’s Bar usually hold fish too. Heading north, key areas include the stretch between Cortese Island and Jones Cut. Early morning, I like to work the shallow break between the sand and grass, then work my way out to deeper water over grass later in the day. Drifting the color change in even deeper water can work well in colder temperatures. The west shoreline from Century Point to the mouth of Glady’s Hole is usually good when winds are light, especially for redfish in the shallows. Some should be tailing by the time spring arrives. Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel Aaron Cisneros | tightlinescharters.com – 956-639-1941 We’ve had a warm winter in South Texas, and February has started off the same. Our flats have been covered with fish, full of life. We’re having our best trout bite at the beginning of incoming tides. We’re catching good numbers and quality fish in one to three feet of water, throwing KWiggler plum/chartreuse Ball Tails rigged on eighth-ounce screw-lock jigheads. We’ve been working them pretty slowly, to keep them close to, or in contact with, the bottom. Most potholes where we’re finding one trout are holding at least a few. Finding plenty of bait has been the main key to locating the trout. The redfish bite has remained consistent along shorelines with ample bait presence. Like the trout, the reds are lurking in the sandy patches and potholes. KWiggler Willow Tails in dirty jalapeno have worked wonders to trick the reds, which have been a bit more aggressive than the trout, willing to strike the lures worked faster and closer to the surface. When floating grass becomes a problem, swimming soft plastics through the middle of the water column prevents dredging up strands. Seems these patterns should hold steady, as the winter ends and even warmer weather arrives with spring. TSFMAG.com | 73
Jessica Sarpu Galveston Fishing Pier - black drum
Trace Bucey Baffin Bay - 28” redfish CPR
Clifton Gillock Port Mansfield - redfish 74 | March 2021
Krystal Becker Laguna Madre - 28.5” trout
Brooks Young Bastrop Bayou - first redfish!
Madalyn Beach Baffin Bay - redfish CPR
Faith Henry Hog Island - 24” trout
Joseph Port O’Connor - 20” first keeper trout!
Danny Harvard Port Aransas - redfish
Jude & Luke St. Joe shoreline - redfish
Jaime Quiroga Lower Laguna - 25” redfish
TJ Walker Copano Bay - 34” redfish
Photo Gallery Guidelines First come – first published! Photos are judged on artistic merit and sporting ethic displayed. No stringer, cleaning table, or hanging board images allowed. Digital images only. Adjust camera to high or best quality. All images become property of TSFMag. Email to: Photos@TSFMag.com Include short description of your catch with name, date, bay system, etc.
Melissa Kopecky Palacios - personal best black drum!
Halle Maxwell Port O’Connor - 40 lb personal best drum! 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
LJ Guillotte’s Grilled Oysters ala ACME Anybody who’s ever been to one of Acme Oyster House’s famous restaurants has likely tried their grilled half-shell oysters, lathered in savory butter sauce and hot off the charcoal-fired grill. I have, and I must say they are delightful. Good friend LJ Guillotte grew up east of New Orleans and is 100% Cajun to the bone. Always curious how ACME prepared their signature half-shell grilled oysters, I was delighted when LJ offered to help me prepare these tasty morsels. We began by visiting a reef in San Antonio Bay to gather oysters and shucked them fresh!
INGREDIENTS
PREPARATION
24 freshly-shucked oysters (half shell) 1lb salted butter 2 bunches green onions (chopped fine) 20 cloves fresh garlic (pureed) 1 tsp crushed red pepper 3 tbsp fresh thyme (chopped fine) 3 tbsp fresh oregano (chopped fine) 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce 2 tbsp creole seasoning 2 oz white wine 8 oz fresh Romano cheese (grated) 1 loaf French bread
-Melt butter in saucepan and combine all ingredients except oysters and grated cheese. -Shuck oysters and place on half shell. Be sure to detach the connective muscle. -Spoon butter-seasoning mixture equally on each half-shell oyster and place on grill over hot fire. Cook several minutes and then sprinkle liberally with grated Romano and continue cooking until cheese begins to melt. (Hint: Close lid on grill or cover with large, inverted pot while cheese is melting to capture smoke and heat.) Serve with slices of toasted French garlic bread as an appetizer or entrée; they’re great either way!
76 | March 2021
Science and the
Sea
TM
Dragons in Texas? Dragons usually conjure images of massive, fire-breathing reptiles that fly through the air. But the dragons that have been showing up on Texas beaches recently are tinier than your thumb—and they’re in the water, not the air. Blue dragon sea slugs can’t turn you into a crispy critter with their breath, but these deceptively beautiful little creatures can deliver a sting that hurts more than second-degree burns.
Blue dragon sea slugs have recently been found on Texas beaches. Credit: Sylke Rohrlach, Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 2.0 Blue dragon sea slugs, a type of nudibranch, have a gorgeous deep blue on their underside. They float upside down on the surface of the water, blending in with the water as they ride ocean currents. Their top side (which faces downward) is silver/gray, allowing them to blend into the sunlight on the water’s surface when viewed from below. But why are they called dragons? Like their mythological namesakes, these sea slugs have a powerful jaw with a tooth-like radula that can rip off chunks of its favorite food, Portuguese man-of-war. And that’s not the worst of it. Though blue dragon sea slugs are only about 3 cm long, they pack quite a punch with their venom—or rather, the venom they steal from their prey. These thieves don’t actually produce their own venom. Instead, after eating, they stockpile their prey’s stinging cells in their fan-like “fingers,” called cerata. With all these stinging cells crowded together at the tips of their cerata, their sting can actually hurt worse than that of a man-of-war. So if you come across a blue dragon, it’s no time to be a knight in shining armor. Keep your distance and admire them from afar.
www.ScienceAndTheSea.org © The University of Texas Marine Science Institute
TSFMAG.com | 77
S P O N S O R E D B Y C O A S TA L B E N D M A R I N E
C H R I S M A P P ’ S R E PA I R & M A I N T E N A N C E
CHANGING LOWER UNIT GEARCASE LUBE Changing lower unit gearcase lube is not expensive and pays huge dividends. Start to finish takes only about twenty minutes. Manufacturers Chris Mapp, owner of offer gearcase lube pumps as part of Coastal Bend Marine and their parts and accessories packages; Flats Cat Boat Company. average price is $11. Fluid is sold by the Great Service, Parts & Sales. “What can we do for you?” quart, prices range $8 to $18/quart. Lube change process: 1) Remove prop nut and discard locking components. 2) Remove prop and hardware. Caution – blades can be sharp! 3) Remove lower and upper drain plugs. Discard plug gaskets. 4) Drain lube; engine position straight down, then tilted slightly forward. 5) Begin re-filling gearcase from bottom until fluid runs out the top. Let sit a few minutes for the air to settle. 6) Place new gaskets on plugs and install top plug first. Disconnect lube pump and quickly install lower plug. 7) Apply waterproof grease to prop shaft; install hardware, prop, and new locking hardware. When the prop is off, inspect the hub for looseness, inspect shaft splines for twisting, examine old oil
78 | March 2021
for milkiness (water contamination), and check for metal particles on drain plug magnets. Tiny, hair-like shavings are normal, metal shards are not expected. Dispose of used oil responsibly. We recycle at CBM. Thank you, and have a great spring season on the water! Chris Mapp Coastal Bend Marine Port O’Connor, TX coastalbendmarine.com 361-983-4841 Tiny metal particles are expected on drain plug magnets.
Reusable gear lube pumps simplify filling the gearcase.
TEXAS SALTWATER FISHING HOLES M ATA G O R D A B AY Speckled Trout / Redfish
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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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