May 2013

INCREDIBLE

SABINE LAKE TROUT

SHARKS RETURN FOR SURF ANGLERS

SOLID MID-COAST REDFISH ACTION

May 2013

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TIDE PREDICTIONS & SOLUNAR FEED TIMES INSIDE!

ABOUT THE COVER Glenn Winningham landed a personal best recently fishing the upper Laguna Madre with TSFMag writer, Capt.

David Rowsey. Glenn revived and released his 30-inch 8.5 pound trophy immediately after the photograph.

Congrats on a great fish, Glenn, and conservation kudos on the release!

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

CONTENTS

NATIONAL SALES REPRESENTATIvE Bart Manganiello Bartalm@optonline.net

MAY 2013 VOL 22 NO 12

FEATURES

08 Grind It or Find It? 16 When the Signs Aren’t Easy to Read 20 “How To” Waders 26 Bodie’s Ambassadeur Reel - Part II 30 Going Deep 34 A Fishing Diet

Mike McBride Kevin Cochran Billy Sandifer Martin Strarup Chuck uzzle Joe Richard

PRODuCTION COORDINATOR Donna Boyd Donna@tsfmag.com

34

DEPARTMENTS 40 Let’s Ask The Pro Jay Watkins 44 Shallow Water Fishing Scott Null 48 TPWD Field Notes Tom Wagner & Ed Hegen 52 Fly Fishing Scott Sommerlatte 54 Youth Fishing Marcos Garza 58 Texas Nearshore & Offshore Mike Jennings 62 Kayak Fishing Chronicles Cade Simpson 65 Science & the Sea uT Marine Science Institute 66 Extreme Kayak Fishing & Sharks...

Eric Ozolins 70 Fishy Facts Stephanie Boyd 101 Boat Maintenance Tips Chris Mapp

70

WHAT OUR GUIDES HAVE TO SAY

78 Dickie Colburn’s Sabine Scene 80 Mickey on Galveston 82 The view from Matagorda 84 Mid-Coast Bays with the Grays 86 Hooked up with Rowsey 88 Capt. Tricia’s Port Mansfield Report 90 South Padre Fishing Scene

Dickie Colburn Mickey Eastman Bink Grimes Shellie Gray David Rowsey Capt. Tricia Ernest Cisneros

98 4 | May 2013

CIRCuLATION SuBSCRIPTION – PRODuCT SALES Linda Curry Cir@tsfmag.com ADDRESS CHANGED? Email Store@tsfmag.com DESIGN & LAYOuT Stephanie Boyd stephanie@tsfmag.com Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine is published monthly.

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REGULARS 06 74 92 96 98

REGIONAL SALES REPRESENTATIvE Patti Elkins Patti@tsfmag.com Office: 361-785-3420 Cell: 361-649-2265

Editorial New Tackle & Gear Fishing Reports and Forecasts Catch of the Month Gulf Coast Kitchen

PRiNTED iN THE uSA. Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine (ISSN 1935-9586) is published monthly by Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine, Inc., 58 Fisherman’s Lane, Seadrift, Texas 77983 l P. O. Box 429, Seadrift, TX 77983 © Copyright 1990 All rights reserved. Positively nothing in this publication may be reprinted or reproduced. *views expressed by Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine contributors do not necessarily express the views of Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine.

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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine, Inc., P. O. Box 429, Seadrift, TX 77983.

EDITORIAL SHOW THEM THE LIGHT My job offers unique and enjoyable opportunity to correspond with fishermen of all walks, experience and skill levels. Emails and letters arrive daily running a gamut of great fish tales, opinion and questions on best months and seasons to fish for whichever species, tackle and gear how-to queries, and occasionally just a quick “thanks for the magazine” comment.

The most common themes are how much we all enjoy this sport, what drew us to it, and how we love sharing it with others. I enjoy them all and strive to always be a good listener, offering my best advice and encouragement when and where appropriate. I occasionally get chewed out, not everybody agrees with what I or our other writers have to say all the time, but that’s part of the job. I listen to boos as attentively as bouquets.

No doubt the greatest joy of fishing is catching and anglers always yearn for days when they bite like piranhas. But this doesn’t happen often enough to be the only draw; there has to be something else that keeps us coming back.

Some of the most intriguing tales readers share describe long days of effort, sometimes a string of tough days, rewarded by one or two bites that produce memorable fish. This reinforces the premise that there will always be greater pride of accomplishment when we have

6 | May 2013

to work hard for the prize.

Looking back over my guiding career, during which I fished with hundreds of people and liked to think of myself as a teaching guide above everything else, my proudest memories were made during “light bulb” moments. You’ve seen the light I’m sure, teaching and being taught, so you know light bulb moments are special.

Of course I had clients who came simply because fishing with a guide was supposed to produce more fish, and we had days when we caught plenty, made some fine memories too. But that light bulb thing thrilled me and stuck in my memory the most. The pride of accomplishment for me was in knowing I had enabled them to go out and do it again on their own. That’s why I wanted to be a fishing guide and I still love teaching people to fish…even if they no longer write checks or call me Captain.

You love fishing or you wouldn’t be reading this magazine. So when the kiddos get out of school in a few weeks you need to get them on the water and show them why you love it. If you have no kids, borrow some. Always be patient and repeat lessons if necessary.

Watch for that flash of light; that’s when you know they got it!

STORY BY MIKE MCBRIDE

“Hey McBride!

I’m really having a hard time here,” shouted one of my guys, shuffling toward me with a confused look. “You evidently like to fish areas instead of spots, and man, I just can’t do this. I need to at least be throwing at something I can see. It’s hard to have confidence when we’re just blind-casting like this! What’s up…?”

Amusing in a way but, reactions like that are understandable, especially from up-and-coming big trout enthusiasts, upper coasters, and newer tournament-hopeful types.

Despite five minute boatside seminars explaining what we are trying to do for the moment and why, it can be hard for some to shake pre-conceived notions about fishing for bigger fish. I guess the basic point I want to make here is that there is a heck of a lot more to see than what many of us have been trained to look for, and my almost automatic reply to him was - “Well, if you really think we are blindcasting here, you might just be blinder than I thought.” Let’s get the old white canes out for a bit and discuss.

I am fortunate enough to fish a lot of good fishermen (technicalwise anyway) but many seem totally brain-locked when it comes to finding their best opportunities. There is a limiting tendency for us to focus only on honey-hole spots and other perceived critical factors; such as needing to see visible bait or having definitive structure to cast 8 | May 2013

toward, and so forth. I know where they are coming from however; I was under the same spell during sixteen years of plugging the middle to upper coast.

Now then, as I have learned the worn-out bootie way (and please excuse the tired pun) but, there is a lot more to this than first meets the eye. As far as those sacred spots and concentrations of bait go; unfortunately they just ain’t always there where we often think they should be. No matter how many parts there are to a good catching formula, finding them always comes first. This whole discussion is merely another continuation of an ongoing theme - that the technical part of catching fish is far secondary to getting on them in the first place. In my opinion that is the whole game and, again, what you see above is not always what you get below.

Fishing with lures, at the highest levels anyway, is about putting all of the known sciences together trying to understand the complete picture of nature in motion. We will never know all of it of course, but to me, the very art of trying is what defines a true outdoorsman. It’s about learning the specific habits of creatures and their daily-monthlyyearly cycles. Only then can we appreciate them with more than just tarter sauce.

As far as trying to better understand the predictable cycles of speckled trout (and redfish), the most sensible explanation I’ve heard

Travis sent this one on her way in great shape.

TSFMAG.com | 9

We can grind things out and hope they show up, or go find them now based on conditions.

Hey we’re just blind casting here!

10 | May 2013

came from longtime Corpus Christi fishing guide, Billy Sheka. Years ago he called the process the Trout Clock, where trout could always be found doing one of a just a few basic things: feeding, moving to feed, moving from feeding, or resting. To summarize this great analogy, we can either fish for them where we want them to be, or “clock in” where they really are at that given point in time. Basically, we can grind things out and hope they show up, or go find them now based on conditions.

Back to that “Hey, we’re just blind casting here!” comment, true…there wasn’t much to see on the surface at the time, but what time was it? What did the trout clock say? Was it time to be in that feeding spot, or topwatering a raft of mullet, plugging a travel corridor, or perhaps dredging a resting type area with a soft plastic tail? This particular time there was no activity to be seen, so we were dredging an off-colored resting area while waiting for triggers to spur an aggressive bite. That can be hard to have confidence in, but if you slow down and think about it, it really shouldn’t be.

OK – so YOu say, but how do WE know what hour it is and where to best concentrate our efforts? Without obvious signs such as slicks and active birds, one way to find out is simply to eliminate water until we “hit.” Methods for this can be good or bad however, and a

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bad example might be what I thought was a funny story from a bass guide. He was listening to a typical group talking about the same kind of stuff.

“Man, we hit the back of Trailer Park Cove, then we worked over the back of Graceland Cove, then we ran all the way up to the back end of Longneck Lake. We never even got the first bite!”

“Well,” said the guide, “Guess what… they’re not in the back of the coves.”

Duh – and the bullet comes out of the small end!

To add further emphasis; Aristotle once said, “We are what we repeatedly do.”

We can never free ourselves from habits, but we can replace a few bad habits with good ones. The bad fishing habit here is always doing the same old things in the same old places, regardless of conditions or timing. So how do we get on them more consistently?

How do we know where to go? Without anything else to go on, again, the process of elimination can be made to work, and especially if we just think about that clock.

For a simple example, let’s say if we don’t find them in the back of the coves, it might

What time is it?

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What you see above is not always what you get below.

make sense to start working towards the guts or channels leading into them, those traveling routes to and from. If no luck, check the nearby resting area, normally a deeper and safer haven. Another way to put it, if you would, is to check the kitchen first, then go down the hall and start looking around in the bedroom. They’ve gotta be somewhere, right? Finding and catching bigger trout is really more about making the effort to use common sense, and being that most of us can only fish where and when we can, it makes working that clock even more important.

So, quite simply, if we are to continue this fool’s game as some call it, of hunting fish with lures, we can often make things more interesting if we learn to see beyond the routine GPS maps, shell humps, and flipping mullet. For me anyway, grinding where fish aren’t for the moment is kinda like using a clock that doesn’t work.

Well, I guess if we stand there and use it long enough we might be right at least twice a day, but hey, who got time for dat? I’d rather keep working by the hour and keep hoping that life will be good, God is real, and that we might actually get rewarded for our imagination and efforts. Let’s have the confidence to go see if we can find it!

The clock is ticking…!

Contact

Mike McBride Mike McBride is a full time fishing guide based in Port Mansfield, TX, specializing in wadefishing with artificial lures.

Skinny Water Adventures Phone Email Web

956-746-6041 McTrout@Granderiver.net Skinnywateradventures.com/ Three_MudSkateers.wmv TSFMAG.com | 13

STORY BY KEVIN COCHRAN

14 | May 2013

conSiStentLy Productive angLerS uSe a Pair

of related approaches. They rely on a catalog of proven “sweet spots” to determine where to fish, and they trust their fishing acumen to help them locate fish in less-familiar places. Some experts are more “spot fishermen”, while others tend to fly without a plan, using their senses to determine where to make the effort at a given time.

No successful angler can sincerely argue against the importance of accumulating an extensive list of reliable spots. understanding how environmental conditions affect the potential productivity of each place in the catalog is an important component in the quest for success. Expert anglers also recognize the need to avoid tunnel vision on fishing spots exclusively. This is best done through the thoughtful application of experience observing signs on the water which indicate the presence of fish.

Sometimes, the signs are easy to read. Slicks popping in a corner of a cove, endowing the air with a sweet melon scent, send a clear message to anyone with eyes and a nose.

Gulls hovering low over the water in bunches, dipping, diving and squawking, send music to the ears of those in the know. Bait fish jumping frantically out of the water, making a long, low, fast leap, betray the presence of predators close on their tails, as do shrimp hopping into the air, propelled by snapping tails.

These signs (and other more subtle ones like mud stirs, swirls and wakes) indicate the presence of fish indirectly. Sometimes the targeted fish can actually be seen in the water, or jumping out of the water. If trout or redfish are spotted chasing bait so aggressively that they fly out of the water, any angler knows the potential for catching in the area is great.

Making a decision to attempt to catch fish in close proximity to a place where such things are observed is a “no brainer”.

But what about those times when the signs aren’t so easy to read? What about the most difficult situation of all, one in which all signs of life are absent? This scenario presents itself perhaps most often in winter, when the water is cold, but “dead water” can be found during any season, under any conditions.

Calm spells occurring after frontal passages in winter can create difficulty for anglers who

Captain Kev appreciates Clint Shack’s willingness to release this fat trout after working so hard to catch it on a difficult day.

TSFMAG.com | 15

like to use their senses to locate fish. Looking across vast expanses of smooth water capped by a mirror-like glare and seeing nary a ripple, wake or anything else which would indicate the presence of a piscatorial creature can be intimidating indeed. On the other hand, whistling winds which whip the froth off the tops of tall waves can make spotting bait fish difficult too. And high winds often muddy the waters, making it impossible to detect mud stirs and color changes.

When the prevailing conditions create a situation where signs of life are non-existent over the entire targeted area, smart anglers resort to specific strategies to determine where and how to catch fish. Mostly, this strategy is “spot fishing” in combination with a calculated method of selecting lure(s) and presentation(s). Careful consideration of the long-term history of the spot in conjunction with the season, weather conditions and other environmental variables is critical.

When I encounter situations in which it is impossible to use signs to determine where fish might be, I rely first and foremost on my knowledge of exactly where I’ve caught fish in the area during the same time-frame. The time-frame or season has huge significance. I prefer to fish in proven places when signs are non-existent, meaning in places where I’ve caught fish many times before during the same month or part of the year.

I also feel most confident when I’m able to recall catching fish in the place when conditions were similar. Not necessarily the lack of bait fish or other signs, but factors like water clarity and temperature, wind speed and direction, and air temperature. If several of these things are like they were on many occasions in the past when fish were present in a spot, I can more readily assume fish will be there again, even if I can’t see a sign indicating the fact.

I like spots which have distinct features in addition to a healthy record of past productivity in the time-frame and prevailing conditions. Grass edges, drop offs, rocks, reef contours, potholes systems and other structural and cover elements can create “micro spots” within the area. These small-scale spots are potentially most productive when signs are weak and meek.

Without clear indicators of fish, I feel most comfortable throwing at something relatively small in scale, since I assume any fish within my reach is probably not actively feeding or moving around much. Without moving fast through the water, maybe without moving at all, I tend to make many casts around a known fish-holding feature, adjusting the precise location of the casts and subtleties of the presentation. Normally, inactive

fish are unlikely to chase a lure down from far away, so scouring an area thoroughly is often the best way to place a lure in close enough proximity to a fish to generate a strike.

Once a proven-productive place complete with some kind of smaller-scale feature known to regularly hold fish has been selected, the best plan for lure choice is to assume the fish will be difficult to catch. For me, that means using soft plastics first. Much of the time, negative fish are easiest to entice into biting soft plastics dragged close in front of their noses.

If the water is murky, a paddletail makes more sense, because it gives off vibration when it’s retrieved, and moves along a straighter path, making it easier for fish to locate. On the other hand, if the water is clear, a rat-tailed worm makes more sense, because it moves in a more erratic fashion, which tends to trigger reaction strikes more readily. The optimal size of the jighead depends on the water depth, temperature and presence of current. Lighter jigheads work better in cold, calm, shallow waters, while heavier ones are better suited to warmer, deeper water, especially if it’s windy.

Sometimes, dangling the soft plastics under a cork or topwater works much better than fishing them along the bottom.

Particularly when the water is extremely murky, corks and plugs trailing worms work well, creating plenty of attractive noise, but moving slowly and allowing the worm to settle enticingly in the face of the fish and remain there long enough to trigger a strike.

On some occasions, other lures like slow-sinking twitch baits will outperform soft plastics. I particularly like sinking versions of Paul Brown’s Original Lures in clear water, but I prefer louder, flashier ones like MirrOlure Catch 5s and Strike Pro Baby Busters if the water is murky. I feel most confident throwing twitch baits at the fish in a situation without signs when I’ve been successful with them regularly on recent trips, especially if water temperatures are much the same.

Those water temperatures usually range

Brett McDanald caught and released this 7.25 pound speck by showing diligence and persistence with a soft plastic in a spot known to produce a few quality trout during tough bite conditions.

16 | May 2013

Nicole Biggerstaff coaxed this long, colorful redfish to bite a soft plastic cast into sandy pockets endowed with small rocks on a day when the prevailing conditions prevented those bottom features from being seen.

from the mid-50s into the high-60s.

In warmer waters, I sometimes use topwaters to target fish when no signs of life are present.

Inactive trout in hot water are sometimes easiest to entice into striking fast-moving floating plugs.

Small ones like Super Spook Juniors and Baby Skitter Walks are easier to work fast, so I’m almost always throwing them on such occasions in the summer. Though I work them at high speeds, I also pause them frequently. Many times, the speed bursts make the fish follow, but the strikes happen while the plugs are sitting still.

In recent years, I’ve discovered the effectiveness of topwaters endowed with propellers in these types of situations too. I refer to lures like the MirrOProp as “slush baits”, paying homage to the sounds they make when retrieved. Mostly when it’s bright and windy, I find these plugs to be capable of turning a dead bite around, and won’t hesitate to try them, even if I can’t see any reason fish should be in front of me.

All these lure and presentation choices are made in consideration of the conditions of the moment. Ideally, I have past experience catching fish in the exact location on the same lures during similar conditions. In this way, choosing lures and presentations is much the same as choosing a specific place to fish when no signs of life aid in the location of fish.

People who are stubbornly married to fishing signs are at a disadvantage at times like these.

Spot-fishermen are better able to fish confidently, relying on specific bodies of past knowledge, rather than temporal skills and instincts. When no signs of life present themselves to provide clues as to where the fish will be, wise anglers pick their spots carefully and work Kevin Cochran is a full-time fishing guide at Corpus Christi (Padre Island), TX. Kevin them thoroughly. The is a speckled trout fanatic and has created ability to do so effectively several books and dvds on the subject. requires them to have an Kevin’s home waters stretch from Corpus extensive catalog of spots Christi Bay to the Land Cut. with which they have TROuT TRACKER GuIDE SERvICE intimate familiarity.

CONTACT

KEvIN COCHRAN

18 | May 2013

Phone Email Web

361-688-3714 kevxlr8@mygrande.net www.FishBaffinBay.com www.captainkevblogs.com

Years of wintertime surf wading led me to refine my gear for safety, function, and comfort. I’ll be quick to share if I ever find a better combination.

20 | May 2013

STORY BY Billy Sandifer

Before David Sikes took over

the outdoor desk at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, our outdoor writer for many years was Buddy Gough. Buddy had tagged along on an outing with me, fishing down island for wintertime speckled trout in the surf. He came back and wrote a real nice feature article in the Sunday outdoors section about it. I received numerous phone calls from people interested in booking a trip for winter trout.

One call struck me as odd; it was to arrange a trip for five adults from Dallas, but when I mentioned the need to bring waders the individual casually assured me his group would do fine without them. Well along comes charter day and the conditions and water are great although it was in the mid-40s temperature-wise and overcast with a north wind. I knew right where the fish were and what they’d hit, so after a lengthy drive down the beach I stopped and told the customers the correct lures were already tied on their lines and all they had to do was get them off the rod rack and get after the fish.

They all five grabbed rods and went to stand at the water’s edge holding their rods and reels, totally motionless.

And then suddenly I snapped to what was going on and I hesitantly asked, “None of you knows how to cast; not one of you?”

They all shook their heads no; one spoke up saying they were not aware of the fact they would have to actually do their own casting. Now I get folks who can’t cast now and then but not five of them at one time and certainly not on a lure fishing trip. It turned out the guy that booked the trip had been right all along; if you can’t cast you sure as hell didn’t need waders.

I let them stay dry at first and taught them to cast the spinning rigs from dry sand. Then I nurtured them through the dynamics of the correct retrieve and fighting fish. Then I walked out knee deep and caught and released two nice trout on two casts just to show them the fish were there. Then I told them to not go out past waist deep and left it to them. They cast better than I would ever have believed and they caught quite a few nice trout before the icy water and cold north wind got the best of them. Every year I have individuals who don’t wear TSFMAG.com | 21

waders, but very few last all day. Common sense would dictate that that I wasn’t wet to some degree, either from sweating or leaking. you are not performing at your best if you are miserably cold and wet.

The breathable waders will take on more water than the neoprene Nothing is colder than wet wading in denim jeans in a 20-plus north style but the fabric itself won’t become waterlogged and add to the wind on a cloudy day. weight as the neoprene waders will.

Some of the younger kayak fishermen wear A pair of waders alone do not constitute a surf wetsuits instead of waders but the rest of us have wading outfit. A surf wading outfit is made up of three options to choose from. The old school, a hooded jacket and a wading belt in addition heavy-rubberized canvas waders with built-in to waders. And as far as I’m concerned it offers a boots, insulated stocking-foot neoprene waders, fisherman a real rare treat; buying the product best or stocking-foot breathable waders – the latter suited for the task affordably, instead of having to two with wading booties of some sort. Looking at pay for high-end products. I have had various highthe pros and cons of each type is interesting. The end foul weather jackets and I’ve found some to be ONLY positive outcome I can see from wearing the only water resistant; not waterproof. If caught in a old school waders is if you are doing some body hard, extended rain or getting hit by ground swells, building and WANT to haul them around all day. the angler is soon cold and wet. The bright yellow The downside is quite dangerous. If you take a slicker suits available at modest prices almost ground swell over your waders, the feet areas are anywhere are fully waterproof when buttoned up probably going to fill with water, in addition to properly. There are two different styles made; one the rest of the waders, and the next swell will pull very thin and lightweight, and a heavier-duty one. you right off your feet. It is extremely difficult to The heavy duty one is the best choice. A slicker suit regain your footing once it is lost and the current is awful handy if you have mechanical trouble and will pull you along the beachfront. In addition; end up crawling around in that sand under your when attempting to regain your footing you’ll find vehicle as well. the weight of the accumulated water to be very So, you’ve got your waders and your slicker heavy indeed. The only way I’ve ever succeeded top on and you wade out to cast. An unusually in regaining my footing is by getting on my knees high wave slaps at your knees and continues up and bending downward at the waist to empty out between your waders and your slicker top and as much water weight as possible. Scary stuff ; get down inside your waders – and you’re soaked. you dead kind of stuff.

And that is the reason for the third member of Insulated stocking-footed waders mold your outfit; your wading belt. The most important themselves to the profile of the wader and this will requirement of your wading belt is that it fits result in taking on less water if a swell overpowers TIGHTLY. IF you have buttoned up your slicker top While great for late-season you but you’ll still get soaked. With continued wear, properly and cinched a wade belt over the waders waterfowl hunting, this style of insulated waders tend to develop seeps at the and jacket, you are as close to being a submersible wader is dangerous in the surf. seams and I don’t know that I ever took a pair off as a human being can get.

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Modestly priced and high in function, this old-fashioned slicker jacket is perfect for inclement and cold weather surf wading.

Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea A slender, smallish heron, body plumage is slateblue, legs are bluish-green. Head and neck become reddish-purple and legs and feet become black in high breeding plumage. Bill is grayish with black tip. Immature white with grey in wings resembling snowy egret. Calico appearing birds are immature of this species. Colonial nester. Frequents fresh and salt water. Feeds on small fishes; loves crawfish.

Length – 24 inches Wingspan – 40 inches

Tending to be overly enthusiastic, it’s very common for me to realize I’m in water deeper than my waders, yet I am still dry as the slicker top and belt are sealing out the water. The belt can be fitted out with accessories to suit the individual angler. Mine carries a Boga Grip with a float attached to it, a knife, needle-nose pliers with side-cutters, and a storage pouch that can be used for everything from storing “Fishbites” and dead shrimp to a glove for landing jack crevalle.

There are two items that are never on my belt and that is a stringer or a dip net. Actually I never allowed customers to even bring them on a charter. I have seen things down there that no one would believe without seeing them and we’ll not trade our status as the hunters in exchange for being the hunted because of a trout on a stringer or flopping around in a dip net. When bringing hooked fish in we point the rod straight at them when they are 15’ away and very slowly back up and let the swells beach the fish. The fish is then lipped with the Boga Grip, unhooked and either returned to the sea or put in the ice chest immediately. All done quickly and neatly without ever even having to touch the fish.

All day long - haul back and make every cast for five lure fishermen.

Do I look like rubber band man or what? What a hoot!

If we don’t leave any there won’t be any. -Cap’n Billy

Photo credit: Linda Alley

24 | May 2013

Contact

Billy Sandifer Retired after 20+ years of guiding anglers in the Padre surf, Billy Sandifer (“Padre of Padre Island” to friends & admirers) is devoted to conserving the natural wonders of N. Padre Island & teaching all who will heed his lessons to enjoy the beauty of the Padre Island National Seashore responsibly.

Phone 361-937-8446 Website www.billysandifer.com

STORY BY Martin Strarup

Two Texas game wardens

pulled up to the stern of Tommy’s boat, purposely blinding them with their spotlight, ordering Tommy to remove the key from his boat’s ignition.

“We’ve been up here from South Texas for almost a week now staking out this boathouse due to all the recent burglaries and prop thefts – and we’ve come up empty-handed until tonight,” one of the wardens said from behind the bright light.

“Now you boys just hold on a second,” Red said.

“Yeah, you just hold on there,” Tommy chimed in, bolder than himself in Red’s shadow. “The only reason we’re in here with my boat is because the door was locked and we don’t have a key,” he squeaked meekly, suddenly remembering who he was talking to.

“Well that sure sounds logical to me; thieves don’t always use keys,” the other warden informed him rhetorically.

The wardens put life jackets on Tommy and Red and then applied handcuffs, much to the humiliation and disdain of Captain Red. “Bodie should have drowned you when he had the chance,” Red snarled to Tommy. “Now I’m going to have to do it instead.”

Tommy began whining to the wardens telling them exactly how the day had played out and how they were only trying to retrieve the reel.

Red even told them to call the owner of the stall and gave them Bodie’s cell phone number.

The wardens said that they would definitely give him a call but that they would do it from land, and much to Red’s horror they motored up to the busiest boat ramp in town. Red saw the mouths dropping open and could almost hear the whispers as the night fishermen saw Ol’ Red handcuffed in the warden’s boat.

“Say Red, d’you forget to buy a license?” one fishermen heckled.

“Nah, Ol’ Red don’t need no fishing license, he’s grandfathered in because he started fishing before there were any licenses,” another fishermen sputtered between belly-laughs.

“Who’s your partner in crime there Red, why is that Lil Tommy Meyers?” The whole dock erupted in laughter.

Once on land the wardens phoned Bodie while Red and Tommy 26 | May 2013

slumped on a bench just outside of the combination bait camp, general store and hamburger joint.

“If you got fifty bucks, I’ve got a hacksaw in my truck Red,” somebody cackled from the darkness.

“Careful what you say there, I won’t be in these cuffs for very long,” Red shot back at the wisecrackers.

“The owner of the stall is on his way up here and if your story adds up and he doesn’t want to file any charges we’ll be letting you go,” the taller of the wardens informed them.

When Bodie got to the dock and saw Red and Tommy handcuffed together he started laughing so hard that he had tears in his eyes.

“Well you caught you a couple of real desperados here boys,” Bodie said to the wardens, slapping his thigh.

“You know them Mr. Allen?”

“I sure do and I hate to tell you that you did not catch your thieves with this pair,” Bodie said while still laughing.

The shorter warden stepped forward and began removing the cuffs from Red and Tommy and everyone shook hands. The wardens headed back into the ICW in hope of catching some real crooks.

“Oh I have to hear this story, so which one of you is going to tell me all about it?” Bodie asked with tears still streaming down his face.

So Tommy and Red told Bodie all about it. How Red had a big magnet and that they were just trying to get Bodie’s reel back for him.

Bodie suddenly felt mighty sorry for his two friends and almost didn’t have the heart to tell them, but he did.

“Boys, I was so heartbroken when that reel fell into the water that I just went to the house, sat in my chair and stared at the wall. But then I got to thinking about that reel and it having a little steel in it and all, so I borrowed a large magnet from one of my oilfield pumper buddies and went back to see if I could snag it. Would you believe that I got it on my very first try?”

Red muttered some profanities that even Bodie had never heard before but Tommy was so happy that Bodie had his reel back that he was, well…just happy.

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28 | May 2013

“No, you’ll go to MY house and you’ll wait for me there!” Bodie muttered in a low tone. “I’m taking Red to Haddon’s to buy him a beer and some supper to get his mind off of you.”

“Oh I get it. Would you please bring me back a cheeseburger and some fries?”

Tommy ran out of the boathouse and threw a ton of dust into the air as he left for Bodie’s house. Bodie tied Tommy’s boat off and helped Red up on the dock. To Bodie’s amazement Ol’ Red shot by him like a rabbit to the parking lot, nothing left of Tommy but the squeal of tires in the distance.

“Where’d he get off to Bodie? So help me I’m going to have to remove him from the gene pool!” Red yelled.

“How about I meet you at Haddon’s, buy you a few beers and one of Eloisa’s tender-grilled T-bones instead?” Bodie offered.

“Well I guess I can kill him later. I’ll meet you there,” Red chuckled.

“You know he deserves every bit of it.”

MARTIN STRARuP

CONTACT

The wardens had towed Tommy’s boat to the dock when they brought them in, and as Tommy headed for it Red stopped him.

“Nope, I’ll take the boat back to the dock where my truck is and you can have it from there. I need some fresh air and I need to be away from you two,” Red informed both Bodie and Tommy.

So Bodie gave Tommy a ride back to his boat stall and they had a beer from the fridge while they waited on Red. “He sure is taking a long time to get here Bodie” Tommy said.

“You’re right about that Tommy; it doesn’t take this long to get from there to here,” Bodie said with a worry.

Just as Bodie was contemplating lowering his boat to go look for Red they heard a boat turning into the harbor from the ICW and sure enough it was Red. “Hold on to him and don’t let him get away Bodie; he’s dead meat,” Red said while pointing at Tommy.

“What’s got you all riled up now Red?” Bodie asked.

Red waved a piece of paper as he put the bow against the stall piling. “No anchor light, an expired fire extinguisher and no throw cushion is what’s up!” Red screamed. “And as the two nice Wardens pointed out to me after I told them that this is NOT my boat, I was the Captain and I’m responsible,” Red said. “So hold on to him for me and help me up out of this boat because the last few minutes of life as he knows are ticking off fast!”

Bodie turned around to find Tommy pressed up against the refrigerator, eyes wide and mouth open, and told him to head to his house pronto.

“Okay Bodie I’ll just go to Haddon’s Place and hide out from Red.” Tommy whispered weakly.

Martin Strarup is a lifelong saltwater enthusiast and outdoorsman.

Martin is also a collector and dealer of vintage fishing tackle and lures, especially those made in Texas.

Email

Trouthunter@swbell.net

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Photos courtesy of Dwayne Eschete and Angling Adventures of Louisiana.

STORY BY CHuCK uzzLE

30 | May 2013

“wHat’S tHat guy doing?”

asked one of my clients, pointing to a small boat. I throttled back and picked up my binoculars for a closer look.

As the boat came into focus I could see only one person aboard and he appeared to be working feverishly. It was apparent he was having a problem so we idled over to offer help. As we approached I learned he was working to free a net he had been dragging to catch bait. Apparently the net had tangled in a patch of heavy shell, one that I had no idea even existed. With a little help from the guys in my boat we were able to save his gear with only minor damage.

Before the guy departed he passed on a bit of knowledge, “There are plenty of spots just like this one where that shell is really thick. You gotta pay attention,” he said. I soaked up every word as he pointed out several landmarks that had previously meant nothing to me, hidden gems that would change how I fished certain areas from that point on.

That chance meeting opened my eyes to the world of structure fishing in saltwater. For years I had routinely headed to popular shorelines and flats, unknowingly turning my back on some of the best water in the bay. I guess the best way to describe my mindset would be “two-dimensional” because I concentrated mostly on the location and surface of the water, not what was below. With that brief introduction to the world of deep shell I felt like Keanu Reeves in the movie The Matrix when he realizes the world he could see was only part of the picture. The light bulb came on and I was instantly armed with a new three-dimensional arsenal, one that would soon pay dividends of a whole new world of fishing opportunity.

Now to most folks who fish Sabine, the thought of structure fishing is rather foreign, especially when compared to our neighbors over in Galveston, Trinity, and Calcasieu. Fishing deep shell is a tried and true method that has been a proven producer for years on those bodies of water and it still is today. Areas of heavy shell in deeper water are also likely to be less crowded than a well known flat near the shoreline. Take those same anglers and ask them to pinpoint a patch of shell in open water, set up correctly to fish it, and you would be surprised how many folks are not up to that challenge. Without an obvious target to cast toward

ultra low tides can offer up a great opportunity to find shell and other structure that’s often hidden.

Baitfish will often hang tight to areas where shell is present. These mullet were stacked up over oyster.

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32 | May 2013

big fish were all in such a small area was mindboggling and it got even better when they began rising from the deep shell to eat topwaters - easily one of my most memorable trips.

Perhaps the best of all happened on Calcasieu with friend Bink Grimes and his dad, Danny. We had opted to leave an armada of boats camped on Long Point and moved a few hundred yards off the main reef to where the shell was more scattered. The noise of 40 boats with people stomping decks, waves slapping hulls and all other sorts of racket, had pushed a lot of fish off the big reef to nearby shell patches. That move put us on an every-cast-bite while the anchored throng hooked up only occasionally. Danny caught a 30-inch trout that nudged 10 pounds during one of the many drifts and that fish is on his wall today.

It’s basically hard to go wrong this time of the year on Sabine because there are plenty of fish and fishing options to go around. We all know the amount of fishing pressure the shallow more popular flats receive on most bays, so it makes sense to have another area in mind that you have confidence in. Take time to explore and find these places. Check satellite imagery and bay charts, it will pay off.

Another great way to find these areas is by talking with commercial fishermen, shrimpers, crabbers, or oyster fishermen because if it is out there they will know about it. I have marked some great places in the past by shadowing oyster boats. You can learn reefs and smaller shell patches you never knew existed if you are willing to put in the time and are patient enough to watch. Once you do locate one of these areas you’ll see what I’m talking about, it’s always nice to be able to catch fish without competing for real estate.

Chuck Uzzle

Contact

many anglers get uncomfortable and lose confidence, which inevitably leads Drifting deep shell in the to fewer fish caught. By being able to spring after visualize what the bottom looks like and cold fronts is trusting your navigation (GPS, sonar, a great way charts, etc) you can often have a fish to locate and catch fish. producing area all to yourself.

I have historically done well fishing deep shell during spring and early summer. April and May have been really good to me over the years and I look forward to continuing that trend. As I have mentioned in previous columns, the south end of Sabine Lake, down by the Causeway Bridge, is what most folk think of when you say structure or deep shell but that’s not the only game in town. There are plenty of smaller “structure” spots in the lake and they tend to hold fish on a regular basis. Some of the better ones that are just off of the Louisiana shoreline are deep enough that waders can’t reach them so they seldom get fished. Drifting is the best way to attack them.

Normally during this time of year we have no shortage of wind and that plays right in to the drifters favor. Long casts with the wind at your back allows you to cover a ton of water and often reach those patches of shell without disturbing them. If you are fortunate to have some of these areas marked on your GPS it’s a great idea to have the anchor handy so you can stop upwind and work the area thoroughly. Once you get into position and Good start catching you may not have to move again numbers for a while. of solid I can remember several days on Calcasieu trout will when there was just an unreal number of fish congregate around shell stacked on a reef in about seven feet of water. in deeper The area was relatively small and you had to water. be in the exact spot or you were out of luck.

For a week straight I jockeyed with another guide everyday to get position on the shell, some days I got it right and just wore them out. Other days all I could do was sit and watch anglers in the other boat hooked up nearly every cast. It was so good at one point that I watched the other boat I’d been competing with tie a float to his anchor line, untie from his boat, leave the anchor line floating, back out, and let another boat come in and tie up to his anchor and immediately start catching the fish he left. It was just stupid how good that spot was.

Over a similar reef structure my clients and I stumbled onto a herd of really good trout that were holding on the backside of the shell and crushing mullet. Drift after drift through the area resulted in one good fish after another, in fact all four of my clients caught personal-best trout on that trip and that in its self was amazing. The fact that these

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 cuzzle@gt.rr.com Website www.chucksguideservice.net

Inshore Ad.7.5x4.875

1/28/13

1:20 PM

Page 1

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STORY BY JOE RICHARD

As fishing summers

continue to get hotter,

we’ve been adapting to the increased heat using our own methods, a mix of common sense and learning from past mistakes. So far, none of my crew has been hauled into the ER, which is something of a miracle after all these years. However, last summer, two friends on different boats were hit with heat prostration, or hyperthermia, as it’s called, the opposite of cold-related hypothermia. One guy thought he was coming down with the flu—not likely in August—went home under his own power and recovered. The other friend thought he was having a heart attack and was hooked up to an IV bottle in Port Lavaca hospital. Lack of hydration, they said, after running a few expensive tests.

Drinking Right “I was slightly nauseous, but not thirsty,” says Bill. “Jittery feeling, but not necessarily faint. Not sleepy but feeling like I needed to rest. Keep in mind it was a nice cool day around Labor Day, we actually had a NE wind. That’s probably what threw me. I could have kept going on the water all day. It didn’t hit me until we were back at the cabin and had slowed down and was getting ready to eat.

“After they’d taken my vitals and hooked me up to the EKG, the nurse asked me when I’d last hydrated [drank water]. That’s when I cursed to myself and wished I had time to unplug and walk out and save the fees. About a month later I was in the restroom at an NRG power plant. They actually had a color chart on the wall that said you could identify the signs of either heat stroke or dehydration by the various colors of urine listed on the chart.”

Said chart brings back memories of achieving the darkest color on 34 | May 2013

the pissing scale, years ago while seasick on the snapper boat Defiant, during three days in heaving seas. There was only a grim closet for a bathroom, and Capt. Dan Henry’s wife Dixie was on the boat, always within view, or so it seemed. This left the railing, which leaned far over the water every few seconds. There were Cokes and water to drink, but in 1972 we’d never heard of Gatorade, and in any case I was losing whatever I drank while hanging over the rail. The only substance I could keep down at times was watermelon, which probably kept me

Fishing way offshore means you can’t return for lunch and a nap, so this crew from Port Neches now eats plenty of pickles (for potassium) with their sandwiches. Washed down with gallons of Gatorade.

TSFMAG.com | 35

Dealing with the heat seems more vital for older guys like us. How else to explain our complete lack of diet and even water during our younger fishing years?

alive. When I was finally able to…finally go after three days, in a scene below decks best left unwritten, my urine looked like Lipton Tea. Okay, water is the most boring drink ever, unless it’s flavored, or if you’re in dire straits—like drifting in a lifeboat, or crawling in the desert—when you’d be happy to bury your face in muddy water flavored with mosquito larvae. While out fishing on day trips, one can get dehydrated like Bill, even when the weather isn’t bad. One scenario: You had plenty of Crown the night before, woke up at dawn and grabbed a big cup of coffee and breakfast taco, then spent a day on the water, sweating up a storm by afternoon. That’s when dehydration and heat problems can ruin your day. The chances of that may hinge on your diet going back a few days, but your rate of dehydration increases with alcohol and caffeine.

As one remedy, I’ve found that a case of La Croix sparkling water is a handy item on the boat. Lightly flavored, carbonated, with zero sugar.

When Bill was hit last summer in POC we were nearby, fishing during the same days. We kept three cases of flavored water in our own cabin, adding more to the boat box each morning. We fished long hours and did okay. Bill’s crew had lots of bottled water and Gatorade, but he Fishing under a hard August sky. Ever wonder why Sunday morning anglers are scarce? The majority had the starch taken out of them, so to speak, during a tough Saturday on the water. What we eat and drink may directly affect our fishing stamina.

36 | May 2013

Another way of keeping cool, is just stay in the water all day. While camping in southern Venezuela, other than steaks twice a day, we didn’t have many modern amenities. So, we wade-fished during the heat of the day. Much to the chagrin of our hosts, who had a healthy respect for piranha and freshwater stingrays.

forgot to drink it. A carpenter, who works outdoors, introduced me to La Croix and swears he drinks 10 cans a day without gaining weight, and buys 20 cases when it goes on sale. In recent years we relied heavily on Gatorade, but they’re proud of it and the new G-2 version available today tastes like liquid Jello and is full of corn syrup. We stick with water, thanks.

Eating Right It’s a simple slogan, but we really “are what we eat.” This may sound overly health-conscience, but there are ideal foods you can eat before and during a day on the water, food that will keep you going. Ironically, a perfect snack for fishermen is bananas, but that’s become a taboo item, bad luck juju. We won’t transport bananas on the water, but figure they don’t count if they’re inside you, so we make a point of having several before backing down at the ramp.

The reason bananas are good for fishermen (and athletes) is potassium. To quote from one medical journal: Potassium is an electrolyte, an electrically charged molecule involved in various body functions. Potassium is important for the heart, kidneys, muscles and You can dress for success, but wade a mile from the boat and you may need a snack to make it back. On this day we didn’t know how far away the bonefish were, when we began wading. Our guide kept pushing ahead until his boat looked like a dot on the horizon.

TSFMAG.com | 37

nerves to function properly. It helps regulate the amount of fluid in the body, helps in the contraction of muscles, and works to maintain the heart at a regular rate and rhythm.

Potassium is an essential nutrient and a deficiency causes fatigue, irritability, increased blood pressure and chance of stroke. unless you are on dialysis, or have a special condition, an overdose of potassium from natural sources is nearly impossible. So, if you have a friend who is a cranky S.O.B. after a day of fishing, or doesn’t have near the stamina he or she used to, they may well be lacking in potassium.

My dad always said to eat a banana every morning, along with a handful of raisins, to prevent stroke. Add milk, and you’ve got a triple hit of potassium before going fishing. You could easily dump all three over cereal, though that means an old-fashioned, time-consuming breakfast difficult to eat, when making that dawn patrol. That taco is high in protein and will keep you going, but unfortunately is low in potassium. Keep in mind the medical association says 4,700 milligrams of potassium are needed daily by the average adult (leaving most people woefully deficient), so it’s best to fortify yourself before a strenuous day in the sun.

What to pack in the boat? I did a little research and found that an avocado provides one of the biggest hits of potassium—though only a third of a daily recommended dose. Squeeze lemon juice over one, and sprinkle with salt. In the restaurant, grab a bowl of guacamole whenever you can. In recent summers we’ve mostly depended on pickle slices during the heat of the day, consuming one jar daily between three of us, because we know pickles are high in potassium.

Last summer we had a boatload of Port Neches anglers cranking up big snapper, and an old friend named Mike froze up; he couldn’t move his arms at all, even though his snapper was only 10 feet away. I reeled it up for him and coerced him into eating a slice of pickle, even though he made a face, and he returned to fishing. Our younger captain, half our age, also remarked how much better he felt after eating a few slices. It was mid-afternoon, the Gulf was glassy and hot as perdition, and we were sweating like politicians on election day. We literally keep three jars of pickles in the icechest every trip. Athletes have taken to sipping two ounces of pickle juice, rather than the same potassium hit in a quart of Gatorade. However, it’s been cautioned that pickle juice carries a lot of salt, garlic and flavorings.

Many fruits are high in potassium. According to various sources, papaya is way up there, with 781 mg per serving. (They’re very good dried and easily consumed while wading or in the boat.) Other fruits include banana and kiwifruit with 450 mg per serving. Peaches and plums have 230 mg, cantaloupes and grapes 240 mg, nectarines and oranges 250 mg, apples have 260, watermelon 270, and sweet cherries 350 mg. Years ago, when at the end of our rope (so to speak) during long offshore tournaments, we’d pulled out an entire watermelon from the cooler, which felt like a life-saver. And maybe it was.

We need that potassium. When our old friend Capt. Jesse collapsed offshore of Port O’Connor, his fishing charter drove him back to the dock, and he was carted off to Port Lavaca.

The doctor diagnosed low potassium, and stuck a spoonful of horseradish under his tongue while he lay comatose. That woke him up, real quick. Horseradish isn’t that high in potassium, a teaspoon is only five percent of daily recommended, but it’s very compact and easily delivered to the fallen. The doc compared his condition to a 12-volt battery that had completely lost its charge. Lack of potassium also promotes kidney stones, and sure enough Jesse returned to Port Lavaca for that very reason, this time a more expensive visit. Anyway, it sounds like keeping a small jar of horseradish on the boat is good insurance, in case someone collapses and needs to be jump-started.

Another POC guide we know returned to port last August, thought he was coming down with the flu, felt bad all over. He drank a lot of water and next morning felt somewhat better. When I mentioned bananas and potassium to him, it turned out that, for a week, he’d neglected his usual diet of bananas bought at Speedys. Next morning we showed up at the store, dropped a big banana bunch on their counter, and announced we were going offshore…This raised eyebrows from everyone in hearing, including employees. The cook looked up from her breakfast tacos. Real jokers—we were eating bananas before launching the boat, just to be safe.

So, aside from late night crankiness and leg cramps, we’ve been doing okay during summer.

But we should be consuming even more foods high in potassium, especially during our strenuous five-day visits to POC.

38 | May 2013

J AY WAT K I N S

ASK THE PRO

Some of what you’ve heard

is true!

“So Jay, teach me how to find and catch more fish. And by the way, if you can tell me one thing today that will make me a better fisherman, what would it be?”

Honestly - I can usually look at the type of tackle and the way it is rigged and get this question out of the way before the boat ever pulls away from the dock. I know that sounds awful and maybe cocky but truth is; most people don’t take fishing nearly as serious as I do.

I understand that for most folks fishing is an extremely good form of relaxation and a big stress reliever. The same is true for me on the surface but at its core the game changes dramatically. I am a teacher of the how-why-when-where of fishing the middle to lower Texas Coast. I feel I have one of the best fishing 40 | May 2013

clientele on the entire coast. I trust many have learned a lot of what they know from me and some of the other excellent guides as well. It’s taken 30 plus years to build such loyalty but it has proven to be worth the effort.

Problem is many of the younger generation of anglers depend too much on the written word instead of real practice. Practice is supposed to be hard so that Friday nights are not. I know a lot of people that talk a really good game of basketball or baseball but don’t play the game worth a lick. My advice is to spend more time practicing and less time reading, texting, twitting or face-booking.

After all the years of fishing and teaching people about how to become better anglers I am still daily

amazed at how many hear the words but don’t heed the message. I have guys that have been to seminars that I have put on that show up with not one single item I recommended. I then see it not working so well for them and have to scratch my head in wonder.

Daily I see rods and reels go in the rod holder with old and too little line on the spool. The line trails from the reel, not strung through the guides. Waders haven’t been checked for leaks and clothing inappropriate for the conditions. Who wades in flip flops? C’mon Man! I remember as a young boy preparing my tackle and laying my cloths out the night before my grandfather was to take me out on Taylor’s Bayou near Beaumont. I was so excited I could hardly sleep. Come 5:00 AM I would smell the fried eggs and bacon cooking in the kitchen. Talk of great fishing was had at the table, mostly by me. My grandfather was a man of few words as was my dad, which was good because I talked enough for all of us. Still do!

Fact was, I was ready for the day and I know that pleased my grandfather as he loved to fish and wanted me to love it. Mission accomplished!

In my teenage years sleep became more important so I would drag out of the sack to go fishing with my dad. When unprepared he would simply say, “Not too excited about going are ya?” I use that comment to this day.

I want you to want to be a better fisherman. It is more fun when you’re good at something versus just being mediocre. Mediocrity is not something I was taught nor has it been something I have allowed to become ingrained in my children.

I go to great lengths on my website and in emails to try and get this point across. Despite that effort many still don’t get the message. For the record, I wade fish almost exclusively. I want you to bring your own tackle.

If you went to take a golf lesson from your area pro you would not show up and ask to play out of his bag. Truth is you would not be able to hit his clubs, and more truth is you might not be familiar enough with my choice of tackle to cast effectively enough to do what I need you to do.

I need to teach you to use what you have because it is what you have. Yes I will suggest the right type of gear and yes I will have extra rods and reels and all the right lures if the need arises. I think plain old laziness is sometimes the reason behind not bringing one’s own stuff.

So what is the real purpose of this article?

Well, it’s to get you prepared to be more prepared. To get you to decide what direction you want to take with your next fishing adventure. The success of your day depends on your ability to perform. After all, this is what you’re paying for if you’ve booked a guide and what you learn from him or her you’ll put to use when on your own. There are a lot of good guides out there

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42 | May 2013

my clients, as will MirrOlures Top Dog Series surface plugs. Spring is probably the best time of the year to tie on your favorite topwater and give it some real playing time.

In closing I wanted to thank the three young men that fished with their parents and grandparents over the 2013 Spring Break. Oldest was 13, I believe, but all were the most respectful and patient young men I have seen in a long time.

They all caught some fish, they all waded, and I think they all learned a little something more about real fishing. You guys inspire me to continue my quest to teach all that want to know, everything I think I know. In closing we need to make up our mind as to what it is we want out of fishing and get to it, time is growing short.

May your fishing always be catching. -Guide Jay Watkins

C O N TA C T

that fish in many different ways and you can learn something of value from all of them. Might be that you will never fish with them again but even that is worth the price of admission if you really think about it.

So when you hear the stories, and they’re out there, about me turning someone down for a charter or sending a group back to the car after arriving with literally nothing I asked them to bring, you’ll know that the reason for my attitude is really simple. I want you to be prepared so I can provide the best possible experience.

Now let’s talk about fishing. Spring has arrived here in full force with SE winds gusting over 20 mph most days and still the occasional frontal passages that drops tides and stifles our springtime patterns.

Obviously, we still need some more rain as our drought conditions continue. I am in full sand and grass mode on the southern end of the Aransas Bay complex, monitoring bait migrations and looking for the first big trout arrivals to our shorelines.

This time of year I spend a lot of my time marking areas that are holding good submerged grass beds and an abundance of consistently available baitfish. These areas will hold fish in good numbers as water temperatures increase and the trout spawn approaches. It is vital to your success that you check these types of areas numerous times during the day. Big fish eat in small windows but eat with vigor when they do. Paying very close attention to the solunar tables printed conveniently for you in this publication is most important.

Bass Assassin’s 5-inch shad will get big time play with me and

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

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

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

what’s in your toolbox?

Every job requires tools. Picking the right tools for the job will make things easier and much more enjoyable. You can drive a nail with a wrench if that’s all you have handy, but a hammer obviously does the job more efficiently. Going a step beyond that, choosing the correct hammer is better still. A heavy framing hammer is great for driving home a large nail with a minimum amount of effort, but it isn’t going to work out so well when tapping a finish nail into a piece of trim.

Rods, reels and line are the staples of the fisherman’s tool box. Walk into your favorite tackle store and you’ll be confronted with a dizzying array of choices. Through the years I’ve spent a good amount of time talking tackle with a wide variety of folks in fishing shops, at trade shows, seminars and on the water. I’m always surprised by how many saltwater anglers don’t spend much time thinking about matching the tools to the job they hope to accomplish. They’ll fret and fuss over getting the latest killer lure in the perfect color, but then not think twice about how the rod they choose to throw it with will affect the presentation of that lure.

I’m certainly not throwing a blanket over everybody, but I’ve fished with a lot of people who show up with a quiver of rods all in the same length and action with a wide variety of lures attached to the business end. In essence they have a box of identical hammers and they’re going to use them no matter the size of the nail. There’s 44 | May 2013

a reason the manufacturers provide us with such a wide variety of rod choices.

I’ll admit that many years ago I was that guy. I liked the feel of a 7 foot medium-light. I was generally throwing a 1/8 to 1/4 ounce jighead or spoon. My main goal was to fling it as far as I could and cover as much water as possible while looking for trout. That rod worked fine. Then along came the trend of throwing big topwaters. With that same rod I could just about empty the spool on my old Shimano Bantam reels with a Rebel Jumpin Minnow, but within a couple hours my forearms would be screaming from the constant pumping of the rod to make that lure walk.

One day while wading alongside an older and wiser fella he suggested I might want to try a little shorter and stiffer rod. His reasoning was that you weren’t going to lose much casting distance and with the stiffer action you didn’t have to move the rod tip as far to get the lure moving. My next day on the water was much more enjoyable and the light switch had been turned on.

A lot of lure types and techniques have come along in the thirty or so years since that day. There have also been incredible advances in rod materials, blank design and manufacturing techniques. Bass anglers have always been at the fore of matching rods to lures and techniques. In my opinion some of these guys take it to a level that’s a bit insane. Keeping ten rigged rods on the bow would be inviting a disaster of splintered graphite if I were aboard,

but the general idea does have some merit.

These days most of my fishing revolves around sight-casting. Getting max distance to cover more water is no longer a priority, now it’s all about accuracy. I spend a lot more time pitching and tossing lures at shorter distances than I do trying to hit the horizon. It more closely resembles bass fishing than traditional saltwater tactics. A lot of bass fishing involves finessing a lure into tight spots and then wrestling the fish out of thick cover. With that thought in mind I started looking to the variety of rods offered in the bass world. What I found were rods designed with somewhat softer tips that load with less force while still maintaining stiffer mid and butt sections. My favorite for throwing 1/16 to 1/8 ounce jigs is what the bass guys refer to as a “drop shot” rod. For me it is the perfect action to gently toss a lightweight jig onto the nose of a redfish, yet still has the strength to control a really mad eight pounder.

The only issue with this plan was finding rods with components that would hold up to the saltwater environment. No matter how much I rinsed, I still watched a lot of eyes disintegrate. I was about ready to get back into building my own rods, but thankfully Temple Fork Outfitters (TFO) came out with their new line of Gary’s Tactical Series rods. Every rod in the series, whether designed for fresh or saltwater, is outfitted with their proprietary Tactical Series guides. The stainless inserts are swaged into stainless frames. I’ve been using them for the past year with no popped eyes and no rust. I think they have a winner.

I’ve also taken this same line of thinking into my fly fishing. I used to carry one stick, a nine foot 8wt with a weight forward floating line. It is considered by many to be the standard for Texas saltwater bay fishing. It will certainly get the job done and if you’re only going to have one rig, this would be a good bet. But where’s the fun in that?

A couple years back I started playing around with setting up different rigs for specific conditions or situations. My first venture was directed at finding a setup for hitting those reds that suddenly show up really close to the boat. We don’t always have those perfect conditions of light winds, cloudless skies and clear water. When conditions are less than perfect a lot of the shots are too close for the old standard rig. You can’t get the rod loaded for the cast without enough line off the tip and thus end up spooking the fish with a poor cast.

TSFMAG.com | 45

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What I came up with was pairing TFO’s Mini Mag 6/8wt with an 8wt Bermuda Shorts line by Royal Wulff. Much like the bass rods I lean towards, this eight foot rod is designed for casting accurately into tight spaces with enough butt strength to yank a big fish out of thick cover. The Bermuda Shorts line has a very short 22’ head instead of the standard 30’ found on most lines. You won’t win any distance competitions with this rig, but it excels at the short game.

Having the ability to quickly load the rod with a single backcast and deliver the fly to the red without spooking it has put a lot of fish in the boat that would have been difficult, if not impossible, to pull off with a standard set up.

Since then I’ve added a 7wt with a bonefish line set up for long distance shots on calm clear days, a brutish 10wt for tossing bigger flies when the reds are eating big crabs or large mullet and a cool little 4wt for playing with the rat reds. Having a wide variety of rods available probably isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ve found it to make me a more productive fisherman and I don’t get frustrated trying to make a rod do something it wasn’t designed for. Step outside the box and you might be surprised how much more enjoyable your time on the water can be.

46 | May 2013

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

Telephone Email Website

281-450-2206 scott@tsfmag.com www.captainscottnull.com

B y To m W a g n e r & E d H e g e n Rockport Marine Lab

FI E L D N O T E S

no boat, no problem... go fish Why do people fish? Because they can. Where do people fish? Anywhere they can.

For almost forty years Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has focused its saltwater recreational fishing survey on sport-boat anglers, with the goal of estimating number of man-hours fished and number of fish landed. During formative years 1974-1976 an extensive array of sampling was conducted to define and develop understanding of the rapidly growing coastal sport-boat recreational fishery. Over the years data trends have become apparent that have been helpful in managing this valuable fishery resource. For instance, estimated annual sport-boat fishing pressure has increased from 3.4 million man-hours in 1976-77 to 5.0 million manhours in 2011-12. The latter year’s man-hour effort yielded 1.7 million fish. This type of fisherman (fishing from a boat launched at a boat ramp) accounts for about 70% of all recreational saltwater anglers in Texas.

TPWD has identified other types of fishermen, including boat fishing from residential canals, night fishing (mostly for flounder or from lighted piers), daytime jetty or pier fishing, surf fishing, or fishing from any shoreline access point, either from the bank or by wading. Coastal Fisheries staff has made a couple of concerted efforts to identify shorebased anglers over the past 40 years. Coastwide surveys of these anglers were conducted in 1974-76, 1979-1980 and again in 1990-1991. Spotted seatrout, Atlantic croaker, 48 | May 2013

southern flounder and sand seatrout were the species landed most often during these surveys. Along with red drum, these same species are landed most often by sportboat anglers as well.

To determine if there has been a change in the number of shore-based fishing trips, Coastal Fisheries staff are planning to repeat the shore-based surveys during the upcoming year. In preparation for the year-long (May 2013May 2014) study, staff from the eight bay systems from Port Arthur to Brownsville began identifying and compiling lists of bay and pass shoreline, pier, and jetty sites. In order to identify the shore-based sites accessed by fishermen and determine which locations anglers were using the most,

fishery staff drove around the entire shorelines of their respective bay system, noted any shorebased access point, and counted anyone with a fishing pole in their hands. The accompanying graph shows that angling pressure at shore-based sites during January and February 2013 was greatest in Corpus Christi Bay and lowest in San Antonio Bay. These roving counts will continue from now until May 2014. Beginning in mid-May 2013 TPWD staff will conduct fishing surveys (similar to those conducted at boat ramps) at piers, jetties, and stretches of shoreline where anglers were observed during the roving counts. Survey locations will be determined proportionally based on roving counts, so that high pressure sites are surveyed more often than low pressure sites. For example, the Texas City dike and Port Aransas jetties are busy fishing locations that will be surveyed more often than would the Matagorda Bay shoreline near Indianola.

These surveys will be conducted from 10 am to 6 pm, as are the routine boat ramp surveys.

We want to determine if this time slot is still the best survey time for both the boat ramp and the shore-based surveys. TPWD staff will survey some of the busiest ramps and shore-based sites from sunrise to sunset. This is called a diurnal survey. It will tell us how many anglers are fishing and what they are catching before the hour of 10 am and after the hour of 6 pm of our standard survey period. These data can then be included as adjustments in our total effort and landings calculations.

Since the shore-based survey will be in addition to TPWD’s ongoing boat ramp surveys, the Coastal Fisheries Division has been privileged to be able to hire 11 temporary fish and wildlife technicians coastwide to insure that this project gets completed. Frequent boat ramp users are familiar with TPWD staff and the interviewing process. Old and new staff members are excited about this new project and look forward to seeing familiar faces at boat ramps and new faces at shore-based access sites.

Check the TPWD Outdoor Annual, your local TPWD Law Enforcement office, or www.tpwd.state.tx.us for more information.

50 | May 2013

S C O T T S O M M E R L AT T E

F LY F I S H I N G

Fly Rod Flatties While sight-casting to flounder with any type tackle is rare, catching them on fly is not. In fact many fly anglers can count these bottom-hugging denizens as their first saltwater catch.

Most catches of flounder on fly can be attributed to the fisherman blind-casting a deep channel or bayou for speckled trout, others are incidental to the angler sightcasting to a redfish. When the red refuses the fly and the line is being stripped in for another presentation, an unseen flatfish will sometimes jump out of a pothole and engulf the offering. But, for those anglers willing to concentrate their efforts, the southern flounder probably ranks as one of the easiest caught fish on the entire Texas coast for the buggy-whipping club.

By design, flounder are the ultimate ambush feeders.

They lie on the bay bottom, camouflaged, awaiting any tasty morsel to swim by. This is accomplished through their chameleon-like ability to change color to match their surrounding and also by their habit of wriggling into the sand or mud until silt covers their body. This process leaves only their eyes, which both happen to be on the same side of their body, protruding above the bay bottom. When a critter such as a shrimp, mullet, or mud minnow swims over the fish’s eyes, wham! The trap is sprung. A maw full of sharp teeth takes hold and 52 | May 2013

settles back to the bottom. If the baitfish is small enough it is just engulfed, but for a bigger meal such as mullet, the flatfish holds firm until it stops moving then slowly opens and closes its mouth until the meal is devoured. It is for this very reason that fly anglers have great success in catching flounder.

For most light-tackle anglers, the baits that they choose to throw are much too big for a flounder to get all the way into its mouth. This accounts for numerous missed or poor hook-ups. Lucky for the fly fisherman, most flies are the perfect size for a slam dunk, resulting in very few missed strikes.

Finding Flatfish Flounder, like any other fish can be found just about anywhere in our coastal waters. Whether in a bay shoreline, the Intracoastal Waterway, a marsh bayou, river, or a Gulf pass – flounder can be found in all of these places. However, for the fly fisherman, learning to identify the points from which a flounder might choose to ambush its prey in these waters is the key to success.

Flounder typically choose to lie in areas where baitfish are funneled to them, which make them easy targets for the fly rod. The most obvious spots to find in our Texas bays are where there are small marsh drains or

ditches between the bay and a backcountry lake. Some drains are as long as a football field and others are no more than a cut through a narrow strip of land.

On an outgoing tide, anglers should start out fishing where the water dumps into the bay and then move up into the cut, making their casts into the current. Working the bait with the current allows the fly to be fished on the bottom where the flounder are, rather than being pulled higher in the water column and out of the strike zone by the current. Anglers should also make an effort to cover every inch of the drain width-wise, from the shallow edges to the deepest part of the channel, because as the tide falls the fish will gradually descend from the shallow banks into the depths of the channel. As for the incoming tide, just reverse the process, working towards the bay.

When fishing bigger water such as a river, the ICW, or Gulf pass, flounder are usually found laid up on the shallow edges and drop-offs facing into the current, waiting for a meal. The best time to look for flatfish in these areas is during the fall run when the fish start moving towards the Gulf of Mexico to spawn. This migration varies somewhat from year to year – in general though, it begins in late September, peaks sometime in November, and continues in some amount through December.

As for the method in which the fly is presented when fishing these bigger waters, the drill is the same, except the angler concentrates effort between the bank and the dropoff. This piece of underwater real estate can be anywhere from a foot or two wide up to 10 or 15 yards wide. Casting up current and keeping the fly near the bottom should pay off.

Anglers should also look for confluences where a smaller creek or bayou merges with another.

Shoals are usually created on the points or corners where the two waters come together providing flounder the perfect place to lay up waiting for an unsuspecting school of baitfish to swim by..

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Tackle and Flies The choice in tackle for flounder is about as simple as it gets. A 6-8 weight outfit will do in just about any situation, and because flounder fishing is rarely done in water deeper than about 5 ft, a floating line is all that is needed. The one exception might be when fishing a dropoff in big water where a strong current is present and getting the fly into the strike zone is difficult – a sink-tip line could come in handy. Leaders should be the standard 8’-9’ length with a 12-20 lbs breaking strength.

As for flies, baitfish patterns seem to work best. With that being said, it is very hard to overlook the fish catchingest fly of all-time, the Clouser Minnow. Tied in chartreuse/white or pink/white. Mr. Bob Clouser’s creation probably accounts for more flounder landings than any other pattern out there. Just toss it out and bounce it off the bottom, and let it work its magic. After that, I would say that a Seaducer tied with bead-chain or lead eyes to assist the fly in getting to the bottom is a close favorite. No matter, when choosing a pattern to fish, the most important things to consider are weight, hook size, and whether or not a weed guard is necessary. The weight of the fly is important to insure the fly stays in the strike zone near the bottom. Hook size is simple- #2 and #4 with a #2 being as close to a perfect choice for all sizes of flounder there is. As for the weed guard, I personally try to avoid it when possible, however there are times when that just isn’t possible.

You have hooked-up…now what? Unless you have hooked a truly unbelievable “saddle blanket” of a fish, most southern flounder can just be stripped in. Don’t get me wrong, flounder do fight – they just do it a little differently than most fish. The flounder will likely try to run to deeper water, and then fight their way back to the bottom. This is where they put their unique body shape to work, struggling “broadside” to the rod. However, a large fish, especially if hooked on the flats, is quite capable of taking the line away from you.

Once the fish has been fought to hand or boat side, depending on if the angler is wading or fishing from a boat, handling the fish without a net can be tricky. For the angler in the boat it’s a no-brainer to get the net out. As for the wading angler that probably does not carry a net, lead the fish up onto the bank or some matted grass to remove the hook.

Best of tides and stuff like that!

Scott Sommerlatte is a full time fly fishing and light tackle guide, freelance writer and photographer.

Telephone Email Website

979-415-4379 vssommerlatte@hotmail.com www.scottsommerlatte.com TSFMAG.com | 53

MARCOS GARZA

YO U T H F I S H I N G

patience is a virtue We have to learn to appreciate the times when the fishing is easy because it will not always be like this. The times that we go out and just hammer the fish are good for stories, but seldom does anybody tell the stories about the times they had to work for a few. This time, it is my duty to tell the untold stories of these fishermen.

It was spring break and my dad had invited me to fish with him and his customers since I wasn’t doing anything at home. We woke up and met with Michael and his dad at the dock. Michael was on a mission to sight-cast to reds with his fly rod this spring break. He and his dad had fished with a guide in Baffin the day before and were unsuccessful. Port Mansfield was their last stop before going home, which meant we had to at least get him a shot at a few reds.

In the morning, we started with conventional tackle and later in the day moved into the shallows to find some reds. We headed south for the morning; we went almost all the way to SPI we went so far. The morning was slow and we moved a few times before putting a 54 | May 2013

few fish in the cooler but Michael and his dad hung in there for the duration.

Fishing was hard most of the day but we managed to catch our limit of trout and a few reds. After we ate lunch, Michael decided that it was time to go sight-casting. We packed up and we went up into a spot that my dad has taken me to before to sight-cast. My dad shut down the motor and we started drifting. Michael got out his fly rod and waited for a shot at a red.

We drifted down a ways and he had a few long shots at a few reds but then we drifted up onto what looked like a monster of a trout. Michal and I got out and we walked up close enough to get a good shot at it. With a decent cast Michael put the fly right in front of it and he stripped it right over its back and foul hooked it on accident. The fish didn’t know it had a hook in its back so the fight was almost too easy, until it got close to us and when it did we saw that it was a huge black drum. It wasn’t a big trout or a red but a big black drum is just as good. Michael fought it and eventually the fly popped

off and he had lost it. He did all he could, but in the end, it just wasn’t meant to be so we went back to conventional tackle and he caught some decent reds on plastics.

My next story happened more recently and this time I was fishing with my dad, Sonny, Sonny’s nephew Derrick, and Sonny’s brotherin-law Aaron. We went north this time in hopes of catching a few big trout. We went to a few spots and we caught nothing (but it wasn’t from a lack of trying). We moved twice before we hit our sweet spot and when we got there, boy did things get good.

We spread out to cover as much water as possible so that we would have the best chance of finding the fish. It wasn’t an automatic thing, we had to wade a ways before we even caught the first fish, but man was the first fish a wondrous sight. In front of us were a bunch of potholes that, with the wind blowing from the south, my dad thought should hold some fish, and like most of the time he was right.

I cast to the edge of one of the potholes and I worked my lure carefully across it. Not 45 seconds after it hit the water, I set the hook.

I thought it was going to be an average sized trout but when it came up and started thrashing its head, I knew different. I immediately backed off the drag and let her run her course. Finally, I get her to me and I realize it is probably my personal best. After this, the fishing got a whole lot better.

To me, stories of how you had to work for your fish are much more exciting because it shows that you didn’t give up when the fishing was bad. Waiting is the best thing you can do because you never know how things will turn out. When fishing is bad, remember, things can only get better.

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TSFMAG.com | 57

MIKE JENNINGS

TE X A S N EA R S H O R E & O F F S H O R E

why do we fish With each group that I take fishing the questions most often asked revolve around what we should expect to catch and how many we can keep? Even when I’m speaking with people on the telephone, those subjects will always come up as they begin preparing for the trip.

As a fisherman who makes his living taking people fishing I often let that line of questioning cloud my perspective of what is really going on right on the deck of my own boat. At times I find myself so concentrated on driving the boat, keeping us in the fish, tying lines, spouting orders to my deck hand, and just simply focusing on my customers staying as busy as I can keep them, I simply lose site at times of why we are really out there.

Recently I had the pleasure of fishing with a father and son that spent the entire day giving each other a hard time, telling jokes and picking on each other to the point they had me laughing at the mutual jabs. From the time we left the dock to the time we returned these two were making the best of their day together despite their 58 | May 2013

captain’s intense nature and his insisting that they aren’t going to catch many fish without keeping their lines wet.

Well about halfway through the day we had managed to land about twenty vermillion snapper, a few nice grouper, and a single amberjack.

At this point they were talking about all the fish they had in the cooler and how great a day it had been. For me though, I still was still failing to truly listen to what they were saying. I had it in my mind that we were short one amberjack and I was determined to see it caught. We proceeded to break off a couple that were just too large to pull out of the structure.

About this time there must have come a point that they could see my frustration building at our string of dumb luck and one of them grabbed me by the shoulder and said, “Captain, we don’t need that much fish.” That one comment set me to thinking that afternoon, and during the two hour run home.

Why do we fish? What is it that makes us chase an

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animal that we can’t see and often wonder if it is even there? Is it the chase or is it the battle? Is it something deeper, some primal urge to conquer one’s environment? Or are we modern men still haunted and driven by the hunter-gatherer instincts of our ancestors?

I’m sure if you asked twenty different fishermen those questions you would get as many different answers. For me there is no simple answer, nor is there a definitive answer to any one question.

Personally I began to see the entire package as the overall draw to the sport. I love the boat ride, especially in the morning just as the sun begins to break the horizon. Although it is a barrage of smells, motion and noise from running motors, there is still something uniquely peaceful about that time of day with land slipping out of sight behind you. Fishing offers times that you can be in the company of friends or family, yet still totally alone with your thoughts.

It’s the point that you begin to plan the day before you, knowing that the fish are bound to change those plans. It is the challenge of outsmarting your quarry. Or on the other hand maybe it’s the challenge of not being outsmarted. To some it may be a milestone, the end of a pursuit to catch something that they have never seen in the past. Or it may be the opportunity to learn more about any given fish to become better at catching them in the future.

There are many simple thoughts, such as the sense of accomplishment when it all works our way and we land that fish, or when we first accomplish a limit through our own hard work and persistence.

To me there is something about open water in every direction as far as the eye can see that just grabs you and won’t let go. It goes from being a sport to a way of life, and a part of who you are. So much so that you couldn’t imagine what it would be like to live without those opportunities and those days on the water.

We did end up catching the last amberjack after all, and as I made my way home that evening, I thought about those two men seated behind me and was reminded of the days I had on the water with my own father. I thought to myself, that although we often seem to be the most concerned about how many fish we will catch or how many we can keep, it probably isn’t the real reason we are there. Sometimes we are sent the simplest of messages that makes us ponder our motives.

I’m thankful to have been a part of a memory that I know will last those two gentlemen a lifetime regardless of what drives our passion when it comes to fishing.

You know, I remember seeing it written somewhere that, some men fish their entire lives without ever realizing it isn’t the fish they are after. Now that may be a prophetic statement, but how sad would it be if that were true.

60 | May 2013

Captain Mike Jennings is a professional charter captain with more than 25 years offshore experience. Mike is the owner/operator of Cowboy Charters in Freeport TX and is known locally for running further and fishing harder for his clients.

Telephone Email Website

979-864-9439 texassportfishing@gmail.com www.cowboycharters.com

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CADE SIMPSON

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

a wind-wind situation Everything in life has give and take, ups and downs, if you like that phrase better. As I see it, in a kayak, the plusses are vast. An angler is able to get into waters most boats can’t access. It’s relatively inexpensive (no gas, registration, oil changes, etc). Kayaking is also quite peaceful and good exercise. You are at one with nature when on a kayak. However, if kayaking has an enemy it’s the wind.

I have been brainstorming various aspects of kayak angling and ideas for my upcoming articles. Repeatedly the love hate relationship I and most anglers, especially kayakers, have with the wind is one topic that kept going through my mind. If any of you readers have been following my write-ups since the beginning, you may recall I went on a stretch of outings where the wind was unrelenting last year. It seemed I could not catch a break and was met with strong winds each and every 62 | May 2013

time I planned a trip.

As I have matured as a kayak angler I have learned to better plan my fishing efforts around favorable conditions. Henceforth, this past winter and spring have been more pleasant for me. You can’t escape the wind completely but all in all, I have had more trips where I reminisce the quality of the day’s action rather than dwelling on how crappy it was fighting a constant 20mph wind in my face.

Learning to work with the wind is perhaps the best generalization of making your next kayak angling effort more efficient and pleasurable. Do not hesitate to rethink your original plan for a new one that affords easier paddling and better all-around fishing opportunity at another.

As a personal example and again referring to the past, you may remember I have a bass fishing

Avid reader Miguel Martinez shares this photo of an awesome Lower Laguna speck – 33" CPR!

membership at a property in East Texas. I find myself looking at the coastal forecast as well as that for the region where my lease is located. I tend now to go and fish the place where the forecast is more promising. Even more specifically, I will look at several places along the coast and choose one that is most suitable to the weather (wind) that is to be.

There are other ways for kayak anglers to adapt to the wind or other conditions such as current. The use of a Stake-Out Stik or anchor

are obvious for holding position in a windy situation. Most of you are probably aware that your paddle can be feathered to help reduce drag while paddling. Drift socks are very effective in actually using the wind as a tool to slowly work an area. Hobie even makes a kayak that uses pontoons and a sail to get around efficiently in the wind.

The seasons will come and go and the wind will follow. As kayakers, we just have to be adaptable, in our strategy and with our equipment. Ask not what the wind will take from you but what you

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can do to conquer the wind. Didn’t some famous guy say something like that a few years back?

Well guys, I must say that the past few months have been great in the reader response department. I am getting a great number of emails and Facebook messages and the like. Last month, I included a question and photo from a fellow Texas kayak angler. I would love for this to become a trend for my article. So feel free to email me your kayak questions and a photo of yourself or a buddy with a nice catch. Please remember that photos for publication need to made with a camera, not a cell phone, and resolution (file size) needs to be at least 300 KB. This month’s guest kayak angler photo came from Miguel Martinez showing off a huge trout. Awesome catch Miguel! Good luck the rest of the year and be safe out there.

64 | May 2013

Telephone Email

936-776-7028 Cademan11@sbcglobal.net

Find me on Facebook to follow along in my outdoor adventures

Science and the Sea

TM

When the Hunter Becomes the Hunted Sharks may be top predators in the sea, but they can be prey as well, especially as babies. Researchers have learned that young sharks can sense nearby predators and then act to avoid detection – even when still in their egg case.

Biologists already knew sharks can sense possible prey by detecting electrical fields produced by nearby fish. However, scientists did not know whether shark embryos would adjust their own biological processes to reduce their risk of being discovered as prey themselves.

So researchers conducted an experiment with brown-banded bamboo sharks. These bamboo sharks spend five months developing within an egg case on the sea floor. During this time they are vulnerable to predators.

Bamboo shark embryo in egg case. Credit: Ryan Kempster Scientists exposed the shark embryos to micro-electrical signals that resembled those that nearby predators might emit. Almost immediately after the micro-electrical signals began, the embryos stopped their breathing movements for a short time. When they started again, they breathed very slowly and shallowly. These smaller gill movements are less likely to give away the location of the embryos.

Interestingly, the stronger the electrical field the scientists used, the longer the baby sharks held their breath. It’s possible the embryos interpret a strong electrical field as a closer or larger predator. But the more often the scientists sent the micro-electrical signals, the less the sharks responded. They may have learned the electric pulses were not actually a threat.

Although adult sharks are usually top predators, young sharks are more likely to be the hunted. Fortunately, the same feature that helps them find prey as adults helps them avoid being prey when they are young.

The University of Texas

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

TSFMAG.com | 65

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

ERIC OZOLINS

the magic of may

A tale of shark adventure Sharks may be encountered in any month anywhere along our coast. Various species make their appearance as seasons and conditions evolve, sometimes predictable and other times not. Late spring brings aggressive southeast wind and raging currents that deliver loads of seaweed and other debris that can transform the beach into a war zone for driving. Despite such issues, May brings a multitude of sharks and shark anglers to the surf zone. Nearly every species we are ever likely to encounter along our coast will be present and quite active.

Because of the great potential in landing multiple species measuring ten feet and longer, May can be truly magical for surf fishermen.

While cherishing many incredible shark catches, I would like to share one that stands out particularly in my memory. The date was May 11, 2007. I was still ironing out my personal technique and equipment for an optimal shark system. Shark fishing is always about learning, adapting, and experimenting. Until that day my largest shark from the surf was a 9.5’ mako at 400 pounds that I tagged and released a few years earlier. For 66 | May 2013

two years leading up to this particular day I consistently deployed massive baits; half jacks and whole jacks, even whole 30 pound stingrays were kayaked offshore nearly every trip. There were periods of unfortunate luck; lonely nights when some sea monster would pick up one of the huge baits, but fate would not favor me. All I could do was keep trying.

As a kid my dream shark was always a tiger and my early trips were based on the anticipation of one day breaking the 10-foot mark. Along the way I had tagged and released numerous sharks, many respectable specimens, but no tigers, and no 10 footers. With summer just around the corner the water was warming quickly and toothy critters were on the prowl. In one way that day seemed just an ordinary solo run down the National Seashore, although recent reports had been favorable and I had established an official game plan.

Pre-sunrise – I began to rock down the beach. Driving was horrible with sargassum weed layered into the sand, leaving the only drivable track up near the dunes. At about five miles a truck flagged me down, apparently

some out-of-towners had partied a bit and drained their battery. Feeling bad for them being stranded and being hammered by mosquitoes, I happily gave them a jump and went on my way hoping karma would follow. Continuing the drive I had to dodge random debris, including a couple very large trees with entire root systems still attached. After two hours I had made only twenty miles and there had been no bird or bait activity until at last I spotted a number of hawksbill and green sea turtles cruising the surf zone – traditionally associated with the arrival of the larger sharks.

After surveying all 60 miles of beach to the Mansfield Jetties, my only choice was to turn back north, still hoping for an ideal spot. While I had large cownose rays with me, the skipjacks were thick, and fresh skipjack is like candy to sharks. Fresh baits are usually picked up sooner than frozen, reducing the threat of the nuisance weed on the line. I eventually arrived at an area where I felt comfortable to set up camp, and with the skipjack crashing bait in-close, I collected a few and began deploying baits. Almost instantly I began jumping decent sized blacktips. Most were running fivesix feet and a blast to catch. My luck was changing.

I had a blacktip on the beach, waiting for a self-timed photo to trigger, when one of my other rods went off. I gave it a few seconds as I walked the beached shark out for the release. Looking back I noticed the line had gone slack up and I ran over thinking I had been cut off. Reeling for a bit, I felt tension and then the line began to dump slowly. The fish was heading straight offshore at will. A couple of minutes passed and I started thinking I might be out-gunned. The shark had picked up a small skipjack and I was fighting on a 6/0 class reel, a setup meant for small-tomedium sharks. Fortunately, I had it stacked with several hundred yards of heavy braided line. As the line continued to disappear I jumped into the bed of the truck for elevation to avoid the weed.

The tug of war raged on and though I managed to bring the shark to the second bar repeatedly, I had no success getting it over.

An hour passed. The sun was just above the dunes and daylight was fading. I was solo and strapped-in with the drag locked down on 100# braid with most of it dumped far back into the sea – THIS IS WHAT I LIVE FOR! I was eventually able to control the bursts to 20 yards or less as the fight became a stalemate.

Scenarios run through your head and you pray your terminal tackle will hold up. The fish at this point was being very stubborn and after two hours I speculated on the species – logic suggested either a mega-bull shark or maybe an early-season tiger. A few minutes passed and I was able to get the beast over the second bar. The surf had cleared throughout the day and my first glimpse of it came through a crash of emerald water near the first bar. Even in the low light I could see it was massive and the profile said it might be a mammoth bull – very cool. Not liking the first bar, the shark made another run peeling off at least 100 feet of line.

By now a camp further north that had been watching me through binoculars had arrived to inspect and help. The anticipation of the shark’s identity and length-weight stats was absolutely killing me. Once again we were stalemated – the fish had fought for two hours, an incredible display of endurance, yet it continued to resist. After a couple more encounters with the first sandbar I finally wrestled her into 2-3’ of water where she thrashed violently.

I got a good look and realized the shark was even larger than I’d thought. Just then a good wave pushed it along the edge of the water. I was still a good distance back and walking toward it when

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I noticed something wasn’t right. I saw TWO large dorsal fins and the reality shocked me. Neither bull nor tiger, my mystery shark was a Texas LEMON. A monster at that!

Two hours and thirty-two minutes after picking up the bait (calculated via timestamps on photos), the fight was done and I beheld the biggest toad of a shark I’d ever seen. Scrambling around, my newfound friends helped me with measurements and photography.

The beast taped 121 inches with a 65 inch girth. The Texas state record was and to this day remains 470 pounds – 122 inches. I have landed lemons in Florida and also in the Caymans but none like this. Due to the massive girth, I feel it would have likely made up that missing inch of length and its weight would have surpassed the record. However, the same as my rare beach mako nearly 10 years ago, I would not kill the creature to break a record.

I spent the night reliving the incredible battle and I am still in awe.

While the shark wasn’t a tiger, in the end, I have always been happy with the outcome. Any fish that tests you physically and mentally for more than two and a half hours demands the greatest respect, and it was only fitting to release her back to the sea.

68 | May 2013

For the past decade, Eric ‘Oz’ Ozolins has been a key figure promoting catch and release with sharks and assisting various shark-research programs. Oz is renowned in the kayaking world for extreme biggame fishing and runs Kayak Wars – one of the largest kayak fishing tournaments in the world.

Email Websites

Oz@extremecoast.com extremecoast.com kayakwars.com

TSFMAG.com | 69

Lightning whelk with pear whelk for comparison.

Photo credits: TPWD

STEPHANIE BOYD

F I S H Y F ACT S

state shell of texas If we were to measure evolutionary success in the Animal Kingdom by the diversity of species in a given group, insects would take a runaway first, but creeping up in all their slimy glory for second would be the snails. The total number of snail species in the world seems to be a mystery, with estimates ranging anywhere from just under 50,000 to over 80,000 (and a few much higher).

One well-known characteristic of snails is caused by the process of torsion. Simply put, torsion is the modern snail’s version of contortionism. Have you ever seen those contortionists in Cirque du Soleil who sit their behinds right on top of their heads? That is a snail’s natural position. Its internal organs are all situated above its head in a lump, and this is what the shell covers. In most snails, this lump is coiled, and as the shell grows, it follows this pattern. Thus, the spiral shell that most of us use to recognize snails is grown.

Sometime around the beginning of the Mesozoic era, a lineage of predatory gastropods evolved that eventually gave rise to the modern whelks, a family of sea snails. So what distinguishes a whelk from other sea snails? Not color.

While there may not be chartreuse or electric blue whelks, they come in just about every other hue, including hot pink. Not size either. Adult whelks range from less than a half an inch to over two feet. The key is shell shape. Whelk shells are typically biconical and spindle-shaped, widest 70 | May 2013

Live lightning whelk.

Notice the sinistral coiling...

vs. dextral coiling.

in the middle and tapering to points at each end. The opening is usually oval and has an operculum (basically a door attached to the snail’s foot).

Distinguishing whelks from other snails is not so difficult. Distinguishing whelks from other whelks is another story. Identification books with illustrations are sometimes useful. Then again, whelks of the same species can look drastically different. A whelk’s appearance is genetically determined, but the expression of those genetics can be influenced by environmental conditions. For example, the frilly dogwhelk does not always have frills, but if put into an aquarium with a certain snail-eating crab, some chemical given off by the crab will induce frill growth.

Another impediment of whelk ID is an extended juvenile period. Whelks are long-lived snails, thirty or forty years old being an average. They may not reach sexual maturity for several years, though they will reach their adult size sooner. Unfortunately for the avid identifier, a whelk’s distinguishing characteristics often don’t appear until sexual maturity.

A very small percentage of whelks have a trait that gives them away. If you looked at the top of whelk shells, you’d notice that most spiral in a clockwise, or dextral, direction. A very few spiral counter-clockwise, or sinistral. Less than one percent of whelks display sinistral coiling, and why they do this is a mystery.

One such subspecies of whelk possessing this rare “left-handed” characteristic is Busycon perversum pulleyi, the lightning whelk. Found only on the Western Gulf of Mexico, it possesses one of the largest shells of the region. Busycon, from the Greek word bousycon, meaning large fig, describes the shell’s general shape. Its sinistral coiling is reflected in its species name, perversum, which comes from the Latin word perversus, meaning turned the wrong way. The subspecies, pulleyi, was named for Dr. T. E. Pulley, a Texas naturalist and director of the Houston Museum. The common name, lightning whelk, comes from the lightning-like radiating stripes along the shell’s sides. B. pulleyi is a subspecies of Busycon sinistrum, though sometimes the two are interchangeable, depending on the author. There is still much debate surrounding the scientific name...

Lightning whelks can reach up to sixteen inches, but are more commonly seen at about eight inches (and it takes them a decade or two to reach that size). While the shell’s main purpose is protection, both from the abrasive surf and from predators – such as stone crabs, gulls, and other whelks – it’s outer surface can also be home to smaller creatures, such as barnacles. The whelk and the barnacles have a commensalistic relationship: the barnacles benefit and the whelk is unaffected.

People generally hold a whelk shell vertically, with one pointed end up and the other down, but the whelk crawls with one of these ends, the closed spiraled end, directed backward, and the other pointed forward. This is the business end. While lightning Lightning whelk egg case. whelks generally stay buried, this

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long slender end can be seen poking out of the bay floor for hunting purposes. Though they prefer live or freshly dead food, they’ll eat almost any animal matter. They prey primarily on bivalves (clams, oysters, scallops, etc). By holding on with its foot and wedging the edge of its shell between the oyster’s valves, the whelk can pry open its victim just enough to send in its proboscis, armed with a tongue-like radula.

Unlike a herbivorous mollusk’s radula, with rows of relatively flexible teeth meant for grazing, a whelk’s radula has three large, scimitar-like teeth. The teeth are replaced regularly as they are used up, similar to shark teeth. The radula is specifically designed for lacerating shell and flesh. Whelks have their radulas (and mouths) at the end of a long proboscis. And by long, I mean looooong. An inchlong whelk can have a foot-long proboscis! This is so they can devour prey down burrows or tubes.

With its slicing radula and some digestive enzymes, the whelk makes a clam slurpee and sucks it up.

Lightning whelks spawn annually, mating during the autumn and laying eggs in the early spring.

The female lays eggs in long strands of horny, disc-shaped capsules and connects the capsules with a tough cord-like string. Each strand can have 50 to 175 capsules, and each capsule can have 20 to 200 eggs, but only a small percentage of those hatch. These whelks develop a taste for blood early in life. The first hatchlings out of their eggs in the capsule feed on the eggs that have not hatched. The young mature within the capsules, emerging as miniature whelks in late spring. The young whelk’s shell grows very quickly as long as food is abundant. Shell growth gradually slows with age, and shell color pales so that the older the whelk, the paler the shell.

Typically, these whelks are found on the bottom of shallow bays, tidal canals, and around jetties, though they also live offshore. They seem to prefer relatively firm bottoms, sand or mud, near shoal grass or turtle grass meadows, usually with a good prey base nearby. Well, who doesn’t like to have a grocery store around the corner?

In 1986, Mildred Tate, one of the founders of the Brazosport Museum of Natural Science and its curator of malacology (study of hard-shelled mollusks), began the process of selecting a state shell for Texas. After discussing her aspiration with several Texas legislators, Tate decided to champion the subspecies of whelk, Busycon perversum pulleyi. With this candidate in mind, Tate asked Texas shell clubs for support. In 1987, the state shell resolution was presented to the Texas legislature by Representative John Willy. On April 22, 1987, Governor Bill Clements signed the state shell bill, and the lightning whelk joined the ranks of Texas emblems.

It’s fitting since lightning whelks have a history of usefulness. Many Native American tribes believed that the sinistral coiling gave the shells sacred status and harvested them for religious ceremonies. However, the whelks were also eaten, and their shells used as practical tools, such as scrapers, gouges, cups, and bowls. The egg cases were even used by sailors as bath sponges.

Permits are not required for collecting lightning whelk shells in Texas, though there are laws limiting the collection of live lightning whelks, along with other saltwater and freshwater mollusks.

There is a daily bag limit of 15 univalve snails, in aggregate, and no more than two each in the daily bag of lightning whelk, horse conch, Florida fighting conch, pear whelk, banded tulip and Florida rock snail. As always, any harvest of live marine animals from Texas coastal waters requires a current Texas fishing license with a saltwater fishing stamp.

In some other world, gigantic seashells hold humans to their ears and listen to the echo of machines. ~ Jeffrey Mcdaniel

Where I learned about whelks, and you can too!

– A Spineless Column by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-11/rs/index.php – State Handbook & Guide Resources: Texas Symbols, Shell: Lightning Whelk http://www.shgresources.com/tx/symbols/shell/ – TPWD: Lightning Whelk, the State Shell of Texas http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fishboat/fish/didyouknow/whelk.phtml – TPWD: Lightning Whelk (Busycon perversum pulleyi) http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/lwhelk/ – Busycon Taxonomic Travail http://www.jaxshells.org/trava.htm – Texas Marine Species http://txmarspecies.tamug.edu/invertdetails.cfm?scinameID=Busycon%20sinistrum 72 | May 2013

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TSFMAG.com | 75

Story by Everett Johnson | Photos by Pam Johnson

The author field-testing FTU Green Rod retrofitted with Tour Star grip.

Today’s younger

generation of anglers

have no clue how fortunate they are. As a youngster I fished with my granddad’s hand-me-downs; direct drive knuckle-buster reels filled with Dacron line and rods made with steel blanks. My first good casting outfit, purchased when $3.00 was a decent hourly wage, was much better but probably still weighed close to two pounds. A two-handed cast would launch a heavy spoon nearly out of sight but an all-day session was torture. The rigs I currently fish are sensitive beyond belief and so light that some actually float!

So if it took homo sapiens several thousand years to finally devise a primitive rod and reel system for fishing, how was this present evolution in modern tackle accomplished in such a relatively short time?

Innovation and adaptation! Incredible advances in materials science and manufacturing technology developed for a host of industries has been adapted and applied to fishing tackle.

Brett Crawford is one such innovator. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, Brett was the owner of All-Star Graphite Rods when the company was based here in Texas. Early on, All-Star earned acclaim for quality and function, building custom rods on Gary Loomis’ blanks. A critical growth step was taken when Brett’s desire to take the brand further culminated

Removing cork handle with pliers.

76 | May 2013

Tour Star Products Intimidator Inshore Series built on IM10 Graphite blank with Winn V-17 Grip. (right)

in the development of in-house rod blank construction. Brett brought in Don Mook to assist and jointly they created All-Star’s successful rod blank tapers, actions and rod styles. All-Star really hit the big time, capturing freshwater and saltwater limelight, with start-to-finish production of premium custom fishing rods in their northwest Houston factory.

Now wind the clock forward. In 2004 All-Star was acquired by the group that eventually formed tackle conglomerate - Pure Fishing. Brett sat on the sidelines for a while but love of the fishing tackle industry lured him back to create Tour Star Products.

Launching a new rod company in today’s competitive tackle industry is no mean feat. However, armed with a vast knowledge of fishing rod manufacture and an entrepreneur at heart, Brett was hardly your average beginner. Being an angler that understands rod manufacture from top to bottom and also how tackle is used in the real world sealed the deal. Brett is also proud to offer products made in USA – Booyah!

Tour Star’s Intimidator Inshore saltwater lineup currently includes 36 flavors in lengths of 6’-6”, 6’9” and 7’ available in medium-light to medium action, casting and spinning style. Also available are reel handles that provide ability to telescope rod length from 6’-6” to 7’ for more specialized application using just one rod. All are equipped with Tour Star’s premium non-slip

Scraping blank to remove glued-on cork remnant.

Using Dremel to remove cork from reel seat counterbore.

Applying base tape.

A liberal shot of adhesive.

grips, a boon to wade fishermen especially.

The Tour Star Rod Grip is a story in itself, an idea that stretches back about ten years, born of cork handle warranty claims.

Developed originally for the golfing industry, Winn Incorporated developed successive generations of “tacky to the feel” grips that are very easy to replace and not only feature a fantastic gripping surface, but also cushion the shock of club to ball contact and those inescapable dips into turf.

As designed for golf clubs, the WinnLite V-17 grip uses a rubber core but rubber was too heavy to compliment a super-light rod blank, so Brett introduced the idea of an EVA foam core. EVA is widely used by itself as rod handle material but lacks in UV resistance; however, Brett says it makes a wonderful cushiony core for a rod handle when molded with an outer layer of Winn’s V-17. The marriage is a revolution in rod grip design and a notable tackle innovation. Tacky to the feel when wet, even coated with fish slime, all while cushioning the shock of casting

Sliding the grip in place.

strokes that create arm, hand and wrist fatigue during a long day of plugging!

Tour Star Grips are also available separately in varying lengths to fit most existing rod styles and brands, and replacement/installation is actually easier than you’d think with a Dremel Tool, slip-joint pliers, knife and proper adhesives.

Back to the rods, true made-to-spec customs, standard features include PAC Bay reel seats and stainless steel titanium-coated guides with no inner ring to fail during prolonged hard use. Traditional full length handles as well as the newer split-grip designs are also available. Check them out at your local tackle shop or on-line at www.TOURSTARPRODUCTS.com.

Tour Star Grips are available as replacement for your existing rods.

Sportsman’s Night Out

Calhoun County Chapter – Ducks Unlimited Saturday May 11, 2013

6:00 PM Bauer Community Center Port Lavaca, TX $35.00/Single & $40.00/Couple RAFFLES GALORE! 12 Guns • Duck Hunter’s Package • Fisherman’s Package • Decoys • Lots of gear and equipment Grilled pork chop dinner, dessert, & refreshments by Del Papa Distributing For more information, contact Jake Huddleston at 361/237-6803 TSFMAG.com | 77

DICKIE ColBuRn

DICKIE ColBuRn’s Sabine Scene

Sabine

Dickie Colburn is a full time guide out of Orange, Texas. Dickie has 37 years experience guiding on Sabine and Calcasieu Lakes.

telephone 409-883-0723 website www.sabineconnection.com

78 | May 2013

If Sabine Lake attracts more CCA S.T.A.R. tournament entrants than usual this summer it will come as no surprise to locals. It wasn’t as though we weren’t already aware of what we had but two ten pound trout on the same Saturday generated a tad more interest!

The longer of the two trout weighed two tenths of an ounce less and was caught while drifting. That trout ate a Catch 2000 in eight feet of water and was not released as a gill was damaged and it was bleeding badly. The lucky angler had also caught two trout over nine pounds in the same area in the past five weeks.

The heavier trout, a 10.65 pounder, was well documented and rightfully so as once it is certified it will rank among the ten best trout caught in Louisiana waters. That fish was caught while wading and it ate a pink Super Spook in much shallower water.

I reported last month that we were enjoying a great year on trout over seven pounds and it has obviously only gotten better. The biggest surprise lies in the fact that the majority of these fish have been caught while drifting rather than wading.

Obviously the fish have to be in the area, but I am convinced that the Talon and the Power Pole have significantly impacted the numbers of big fish caught thus far. Drift fishermen are now stopping their drifts

quickly enough to more efficiently and quietly pick a small area apart and are catching multiple fish rather than one and done. I am using a Stake-Out Stik in tandem with a Talon and it is becoming evident that I have drifted over more big trout than I have caught Die Dapper/ Shiney Hiney rig duped Steve's big trout. C&R!

over the years!

This nice trout fell The topwater bite in early spring for a tail under a ruled the scene in spite of colder water cork. C&R! temperatures. Some days they preferred the noisier She Dog and some days they opted for the more subtle thump of the Top Dog Jr., even the floating Fat Boy worked better than the slow sinker.

I am not benching my topwaters any time soon but we have done better recently locating the fish transitioning from a steady diet of mullet to shrimp throwing H&H Usual Suspects and the Assassin Die Dapper.

The little H&H swimbait is deadly on trout, redfish and flounder while the Die Dapper has been the ticket for big trout looking for just one more mullet.

The Die Dapper is only half of the equation. I began rigging the big paddle tail on a TTF Shiney Hiney head for clients that just could not fish a Corky and now fish it that way almost exclusively. The dumbbell style eyes on the head give the bait more balance which keeps it from rolling over on a slow retrieve and the thin ribs on the lead body extend the life of the tail.

The fluorescent eyes make the rig even more appealing, but we had already cashed in on that feature when fishing it under a cork with smaller tails. When fishing it with the Die Dapper I trim off most of the tinsel to take advantage of the plastic gripping ridges on the lead

body. A little clear finger nail polish will also keep the fluorescent eyes glowing.

I fish the cork and two-foot leader setup year round, but it is exceptionally productive right now. We are fishing everything from tails to Gulp! under the cork and rigging them on the same Shiney Hiney head. I don’t cut the tinsel off for this application. When a slow fall is not as important as distance we are rigging everything on 1/8 or 1/4 ounce Assassin JA05 jigs.

While the trout bite can’t get much better, the redfish have already started schooling in the open lake and that action will just continue to improve all summer long. They love to do their thing in the middle of the lake where fewer boaters disturb massive schools of baitfish and shrimp. There isn’t a wrong lure to throw and a single gull often marks the spot just prior to all hell breaking loose.

The flounder bite is also improving daily and, not unlike last year, the average size of these great eating fish has been excellent. It’s hard to beat a live finger mullet or mud minnow, but the larger numbers are falling victim to a chartreuse or white Gulp! 4-inch curly tail grub rigged on a jig. The drains off the east shoreline and the bayous are currently as productive as the major passes on either end of the lake.

Take the kids with you!

TSFMAG.com | 79

mICKEY Eastman

mICKEY On Galveston The Galveston Bay Complex has been as good as you could ask for so far this spring, especially considering the adverse weather anglers have had to contend with.

Even with strong winds from north and south every couple of days fishing has been better than expected.

Up here on Trinity Bay, on days behind strong north winds and low tides, drifting the open water clamshell Galveston dumps has been productive for nice trout from three to eight pounds on various soft plastics Leo Ryza – 7.5 lbs! rigged on 1/4 ounce jigheads.

Baits that have been working for Mickey Eastman is a full-time fishing guide out of Baytown, TX. me include Tidal Surge Split-tail Mickey has over 30 years guiding Mullet, MirrOlure Lil Johns, and experience on the Galveston H&H Cocahoe Minnows in the area bays and is the founder 3-inch size. Depending on the of Gulf Coast Troutmasters, water conditions we have been the largest speckled trout throwing plum, Chicken on a tournament series of all time.

Chain, East Beast, Morning Glory, jalapeĂąo, and rootbeer. telephone 281-383-2032 Where glass minnows are prevalent the smaller baits are working best with a straight and

80 | May 2013

fast retrieve, especially the swimbait style, whether wading or drifting. When concentrations of larger baitfish like mullet are prevalent, MirrOlure Top Dog Jr, Super Spook Jr, and the 7M MirrOlure surface plugs are working well for wade fishermen.

During slower periods when nothing is happening on the surface and soft plastics are ignored, suspending soft baits such as the Maniac Mullet and MirrOlure Corky will continue to produce some strikes.

Anything in the white-pearl-glow family with chartreuse tails or backs, and also the clear-bodied patterns with lots of glitter are all good ones to try. The time-tested black-orange-gold is another.

Good tidal flow and hard bottom is producing good numbers of trout and reds in Trinity Bay when water clarities are good. Usually after a front stabilizes and the first day of an easterly or southerly flow,

Derek Ryza – 9.1 lbs!

early morning shallow water fish are lighting off consistently for about two hours. If the water is too clear it only lasts until the sun breaks the horizon. Traditionally the glass minnow pattern makes the bite exceptional early and late.

Working that glass minnow pattern I have been wading early and late if tides are right and then drift fishing deeper water during the middle of the day if the sun is bright. On cloudy days the fish seem to bite a little better in the shallows for most of the day, this sure helps when you want to keep plugging for that big bite. All of our upstream small bays are still yielding good catches for drift-fishermen in 3-6 feet of water on various plastics and live shrimp and popping corks. Bayous and rivers are still holding fair numbers of trout and good numbers of redfish.

Moving over to the East Bay system, fishing has been generally good here as well, wind and weather permitting. Protected shorelines near drains and towheads along the south shoreline have been giving up good numbers of solid trout on topwaters and soft plastics early and late.

Before too long the shallow hard-sand flats will start to pay off when mullet start to raft up. Tide-running trout from the jetties and the Galveston Channel will soon begin to migrate eastward along the south shoreline and areas adjacent to the Intracoastal Waterway, following the hoards of baitfish. On calmer days the deeper shell bottoms off adjacent flats will start to produce from Siever’s Cut to Marsh Point. Anglers targeting trout should focus on green water, wind-created color streaks, slicks, and rafts of mullet for better success and quality fish.

The west shorelines of Lower Galveston and Campbell Bays are starting to heat up as well for wade fisherman when the wind cooperates. The Galveston Jetties and lower portions of the channel are hot right now for redfish and black drum - the drum run is still on!

Trout action in West Bay over near San Luis Pass traditionally becomes very good during the month of May as tides strengthen and water temperature continues to rise.

We always look forward to the flounder making their way back into the bays following their offshore spawning run but so far the action has been spotty. Most of the flatfish have been coming from backwater coves, marsh sloughs, and adjacent flats. Your smaller soft plastics slow-rolled on bottom with the current are usually the best ticket.

So there you have it folks; fishing’s been good when we’re not blown off the water. I expect excellent catches during May from all across the Galveston Bays Complex. Be safe and courteous on the water. Stay on ‘em my friends.

TSFMAG.com | 81

BInK GRImEs

thE VIEW fRom Matagorda

Matagorda

Bink Grimes is a full-time fishing and hunting guide, freelance writer and photographer, and owner of Sunrise Lodge on Matagorda Bay.

telephone 979-241-1705 email binkgrimes@sbcglobal.net website www.binkgrimesoutdoors.com

82 | May 2013

Some say the magic number is 70 – I say 72.

Whichever, both opinions suffice. Catches consistently improve when water temperatures finally reach the 70s.

Why is the 70-something mark so magical?

Warmer tides elevate activity among all species, baitfish included. When mullet, shad, shrimp and glass minnows are on the move, they are more readily available to predator species we target like trout and redfish. Think about it: you have become a lot more active since temperatures have risen and the sun has shown daily. The same applies to the specks and reds.

In West Matagorda Bay, glass minnows began to show up along the south shoreline on afternoon tides during the first week of April, mostly around grass beds. There should still be a few anchovies left in May, but the return of shad and mullet to the shorelines is what we are looking for to afford a consistent topwater bite.

Hopefully we will be ditching the waders for wet wading soon, but with changing weather patterns, you never know. Recalling Mays past, I can remember a cold front dropping

temperatures as late as May 20 and the misery of that day on the water; I can also remember catching limits in the surf on May 15.

Our baits of choice will be Bass Assassin 5-inch shads in Chicken on a Chain, Roach, Morning Glory and Fire Tiger when jigging, and She Pups and Super Spook Jrs when plugging.

I can’t wait to make my first wade on a hallowed flat stationed between the Port O jetty and Pass Cavallo. With an emerald incoming tide, few wading sessions rival it.

Of course, when waters are green in East Bay we will opt for heavier trout there. You have heard it like a broken record, but deep shell in East Bay holds quality fish; and, if my clients choose to stay in the boat for the day, and if the weather allows, I will be working the reefs. Specks there like plastics and Gulp! under corks as well as live shrimp rigged with a three-foot leader.

I tell all my clients if they will keep an open mind and let the weather dictate wading or drifting, we have a better opportunity to catch fish. Few bay systems in Texas rival wading mid-bay reefs in East Matagorda Bay with a topwater or plastic.

Texas’ jetty systems are the lifeblood of its estuaries.

Like an artery pumping blood to the heart, a jetty is a thoroughfare pumping new recruits of fresh brine to the upper reaches of bays and backwaters. It is a haven for shad, shrimp, anchovies, pogies, mullet, ballyhoo and crabs filtering in and out, and the jetty coughs up a new crop of fish with every summer tide.

On a normal May day, big reds, jacks, sharks and even tarpon hang out around the rocks; and, the largest speckled trout of the summer are routinely caught there as well. The new Matagorda jetty is nearly two years old now - ample time for fish to make it their new home, and you don’t have to have a boat to fish it.

More boaters will be on the water this month. Be patient, courteous and treat others with respect. A smile and neighborly wave never hurt anyone.

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CaPt. shEllIE GRaY

mID-Coast BaYs With the Grays

Port O'Connor Seadrift

Captain Gary and Captain Shellie Gray fish year-round for trout and redfish in the Port O’Connor/ Seadrift area. Gary started his Bay Rat Guide Service 20 years ago.

The Grays specialize in wade and drift fishing with artificial lures.

Gary and Shellie also team up to fish many tournaments.

telephone 361-785-6708 email Gary@BayRat.com website www.bayratguideservice.com

There are certain things every good angler should know, one is how fish react to weather. Although no one will ever truly master the art of seasonal patterns, a better understanding of them will make you a better angler. Our springtime patterns here on the Middle Texas Coast are in full swing and seem to be right on par with where we were last year at this time.

Most anglers keep mental notes and/or written diaries of our outings in hopes that the details of past successful trips will help us succeed when faced with dilemmas under similar conditions when the time arises. Many of my customers believe I have "secret spots" and while the idea of having my very own "spot" that produces fish every time I fish it sounds great but it just isn't so. I do however have places that I prefer to fish under certain conditions.

When deciding what areas I should target on any given day, there are many things I take into consideration. Variables such as air and water temperatures, wind speed, and water levels, are just a few of the things I think about before deciding on what area should be holding the most fish under those particular conditions.

With our water temperatures being considerably

warmer than what they were a month or two ago most of the fish that were inhabiting our warmer back lacks will now be moving out to the cooler outside sandy shorelines of our bays. The reefs in San Antonio Bay will also hold good numbers of trout but unfortunately opportunities to fish the reefs in the open bay can be hit and miss due to our seasonably high winds this time of year.

Shorelines are paying off this spring.

Tournament: July 25th-28th Awards: July 29th Registration begins July 26th @ the Chamber of Commerce Pavilion.

Bay and offshore divisions for men, women, & juniors.

Piggy perch division for the kids.

Live Band Fri & Sat night: The Andrew Wade Band

Fun for the Whole Family!

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Please call 956-944-2354 or visit www.portmansfieldchamber.org for pre-registration or more info.

We invite you to come participate in the 39th Annual Port Mansfield Fishing Tournament!

84 | May 2013

Maturing shrimp start to leave their backwater estuaries into the bay in early spring so on calmer days expect to find birds working over shrimp in Matagorda, Espiritu Santo and San Antonio Bay. It is hard not to get excited when you find birds working over shrimp because everyone knows there are fish to be found under the birds. Unfortunately more often than not, fish found feeding under “our� birds are typically skipjacks, gafftop and small schoolie trout. However, there is a different scenario that may play to your advantage. If you ever come across birds feeding up shallow or near the crown of a reef you will find those fish to be of better size and very few non-target species will be in the mix.

Elyse White with her first-ever red, and wow what a fish!

Since these fish are usually feeding aggressively the use of live bait is not needed. I prefer to rig my lines with a cork, a mauler-type being my first choice, above a short leader attached to an 1/8 ounce jighead. I typically opt to use a 4 inch Bass Assassin Sea Shad. Color selection is not of huge importance since fish feeding under the birds will strike at just about anything that hits the water. The use of soft plastics also gives you an advantage over live bait since you do not have to replace the bait after every catch.

If the wind is blowing, keeping you off of the mid bay reefs, find a good sandy leeward shoreline to concentrate your efforts. Keying in on fleeing baitfish will be essential on where to start your wade.

Redfish are known for hugging shorelines in an attempt to ambush their prey up against the grass. Two lures that are a must have in your arsenal when looking to hook up with a redfish are a 1/2 ounce weedless gold spoon and my personal favorite, a Mann's Waker crank bait in the croaker color. Both baits are easy to use and reap big rewards when targeting reds.

Don't be leery of tying on a topwater this time of year. Water temps should still be mild and floating grass doesn't start to become a real problem till around mid-June. When the wind is calmer I will opt for a smaller size topwater and just the opposite for windy days. If you get lots of blow ups but no hook ups switching to a soft plastic lure usually seals the deal.

Mother's Day comes in the month of May so here's hoping all of you mothers have a totally awesome Mother's Day because you deserve it! And to my fishoholic mother, I send you a big hug and many kisses. You should know you are my hero!

TSFMAG.com | 85

DaVID RoWsEY

hooKED uP WIth Rowsey

If you have not been on the water in a while, you may be the only one. It has been a crowded spring with all the warm weather we’ve had and I expect it will continue leading into summer. Armadas of anglers Upper have been jamming the bay since spring break, taking advantage of the clear water in the Upper Laguna Laguna/ Madre (ULM). Friday seems to be the new Saturday, Baffin and I’m not sure if anyone works anymore – unless of course you are a fishing guide. In all seriousness I believe the brown tide in Baffin has kept everyone pushed further to the north making the ULM a floating David Rowsey has 20 years parking lot from Friday through Sunday. The good experience in the Laguna/Baffin news is that the fishing has been very good Monday region; trophy trout with artificial lures is his specialty. David has a through Thursday.

By the time this article makes it to the newsstand great passion for conservation and encourages catch and we will be coming out of our Simms waders and release of trophy fish. wet wading. Hard to believe it has gotten here so fast, but such is the annual cycle. Early April telephone started bringing us a bit of new water from the gulf.

361-960-0340 Overnight, we started catching skipjacks alongside website www.DavidRowsey.com our trout bite and giant schools of cownose rays have email invaded the bay. The rays are not much for sport but david.rowsey@yahoo.com standing on the bow of the boat and watching these

stealthy creatures glide by in crystal clear water by the hundreds at a time is mesmerizing to even the saltiest of anglers. They are just one of the first clues of what is to come via the gulf.

The baitfish and gamefish that ride the spring tides back into the bay is what makes May one of the best fishing months of the year here in the Coastal Bend.

Along with great numbers of trout, we will be catching some super-fat trout the first couple weeks, still heavy with eggs during the early stages of the spawning season. Too bad for CCA STAR participants the tournament isn’t open until Memorial Day weekend as most of the big girls will have already begun losing weight by the time the event gets under way. From a numbers viewpoint though, trout action will be at its peak for the season at that time. Between the gulf trout that have now invaded the bay and schools of roaming redfish it is hard not to be giddy over the prospects the Mother Lagoon has to offer this month.

The King Ranch Shoreline (KRS) has virtually no potholes this year. Two warm winters have made conditions ideal for seagrass growth. That sounds all good and dandy in general but the bottom line

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Tommy Gibilterra with a 31-inch 9-pound monster; after catching a 30-inch 8.25-pound “career best” earlier the same morning.

Both C&R, both on Bass Assassins.

is diversity (mixture of sand and grass) is needed for the gamefish to prevail and have ample opportunity to hunt their food. When a trout hunts mullet or piggy perch over a 10” thick carpet of grass and goes in for the kill, all the bait has to do is dive into the thick grass for protection, and the trout has a very little chance of finding him.

Now if that same trout is hunting alongside of the grass where there is ample sand for bait to pass over, where does the bait have to hide?

Nowhere! He just has to hope he is fast enough to get away.

There is definitely more grass in the ULM than I have ever seen in my tenure on these waters. This has changed my style of fishing to some extent, only because it has changed the trout’s traditional feeding patterns that we have grown to expect over the years. The solution for me has been to take the time to find potholes in deep water or on large expanses of flats, mix in some scattered bait, and get to catching. Keep in mind that these fish move fast on the flats and it is rare to catch them in the same place for more than a couple of days in a row. Be a fisherman and move with them!

Grass permitting, I love to throw the MirrOlure Fat Boy during this vast movement of new baitfish into the bay system. The MirrOdine gets just about equal play time and both are just deadly when shad are invading the flats. As a general rule I like the natural colors in both while fishing clear water conditions (which we have a lot of ), and the brighter colors as the water gets on the trout-green, milky side. The same rule applies for my go-to 5” Bass Assassin and the Houdini color pattern has been my favorite all spring.

Remember the buffalo! -Capt. David Rowsey

TSFMAG.com | 87

CaPt. tRICIa

tRICIa’s Mansfield Report Every month is unique on the Lower Laguna but the calendar doesn’t always reflect which season we are enjoying. One day finds us bundled up in waders with north wind and the next we are sweating in shirt sleeves. However, watching huge rafts of bait flipping below gulls and parking lots filling up might be a clue Port that spring will soon blossom into early summer.

Mansfield You probably do not want to hear this but our weather and our fishing have been consistently inconsistent over the past month. We found ourselves struggling under howling north and south winds that Capt. Tricia’s Skinny Water alternated in record time, only to encounter dead Adventures operates out of calm and begging for the slightest breeze to ripple the Port Mansfield, specializing in surface a day later. Putting a pattern together was nearly wadefishing with artificial lures. impossible at times. In general though, we’re still getting it done and our better trout came from the shallow grass flats just outside the sand line, and redfish were best in telephone 956-642-7298 muddy backwater areas with deeper depressions. email Best lures depended on the user as much as the shell@granderiver.net conditions and I remain convinced that we catch the website www.SkinnyWaterAdventures.com most fish on what we believe we can catch them on.

Full-sized topwaters were often slammed hard by scattered flats fish but when the wind picked up and pushed them toward color or depth changes it became

88 | May 2013

a soft plastic game. Kelley Wiggler’s new Flomingo color on 1/16 ounce jigs did really well for us when the water trended slightly murky to off-colored. The key was keeping the lure just on top of the grass.

We should have plenty of topwater opportunity ahead and I’ll be throwing my favorite Skitter Walks; green mullet, bone chartreuse and hot chartreuse.

Lately it’s been all about the pause after a few chops

with the rod tip, especially true the shallower we are.

Strong south and southeast wind will become a major factor, sometimes forcing us to fish where we can, not necessarily where we want. But, a go-for-it attitude along with a good eye for bait activity can put fish on your line, even when forced out of favored areas. Start shallow early and when the wind increases head for the color changes, first grass lines, and then toward the waist-deep dropoff. As redundant as it sounds, just watch for bait, color streaks and birds for good places to start.

I’ve mentioned in previous articles that our sea grass is still not fully recovered from the 2010 floods and this causes some traditional springtime honeyholes to lose clarity almost immediately under strong southerly wind. When this happens, running the majority of flats areas and spotting fish from raised consoles no longer works, but many persist in trying in the few clear regions that remain. The result is a circus at times, with slow-planing boats cruising every which way, and the trout and reds now seem trained to avoid clear shallows where they consistently get run over. Surely we can come with a better plan.

Its springtime and the trout are thick-bodied and full of eggs. It is not uncommon for a 24-inch trout to push over six pounds. Please handle trout with care when releasing.

Rat reds are everywhere, but when conditions are right, some large schools of upper-slot brutes are pulling up way shallow. Typically this has been when the winds first start to really honk, and from among them have come some of our best trout. Play them all very carefully as your next hard-pulling flats fish could be the trout of a lifetime.

May has traditionally been great for big trout and redfish enthusiasts.

The specks will remain heavy into June and redfish schools should get thicker. Tide levels will continue to build and while this can scatter fish it also presents lots of opportunity to explore new water. Pray that the wind will remain steady S-SE and not hamper our explorations too severely.

As surely as temperatures will be on the rise, so will boat traffic. I meet a steady stream of folks on their first adventure here, and trust me, it probably won’t be their last. Some will know what they are doing and be respectful; some won’t have a clue from the launch ramp to the cleaning table. Much of what they learn can be taught by the seasoned anglers that display courtesy in everything they do on the water. Let’s all strive to set good examples and be good teachers.

I am very thankful for all my great clients and the wonderful fishing opportunities I’ve been blessed to enjoy. I hope you can come down and join us this month, the fishing should be great!

TSFMAG.com | 89

CaPt. ERnEst CIsnERos

south PaDRE Fishing Scene Fishing the past few weeks on the Lower Laguna has not been a cakewalk. As a matter of fact, unless you have patience to keep searching and more waiting for them to bite even when you know where they are, you’ve probably been going home empty-handed.

This is not meant to say we have struggled every day as that is not true, but we have certainly been working for our bites more often than I had hoped we’d be this spring season.

One major aspect of fishing that many anglers do not grasp is patience – something we’ve needed a lot of lately. If you research the word you will find several definitions and wise sayings associated with it. My favorite is, “patience is a virtue” and right alongside is “good things come to those who wait.” Being patient and waiting for the fish to turn on would certainly describe my game plan the last several weeks.

In my opinion, the main factors driving this slow bite have been gusting wind churning lots of good fishing grounds into chocolate foam and longer than normal periods of slack tides. While we cannot control the wind, we can certainly concentrate our efforts in prime areas with fairly decent clarity when the tide is moving; and that is how we turn tough

A rr oyo C olorado t o Port I sabel

A Brownsville-area native, Capt. Ernest Cisneros fishes the Lower Laguna Madre from Port Mansfield to Port Isabel.

Ernest specializes in wading and poled skiff adventures for snook, trout, and redfish.

cell 956-266-6454 website www.tightlinescharters.com

TM

90 | May 2013

days into decent trips.

Redfish have been a tad harder to target than I predicted in this column last month. We have been finding them generally scattered in small groups as opposed to schools and this has been a daily puzzle.

I have noticed that around the new and full moon when the falling tide drops a greater amount, the reds will tend to school at the edges of flats adjacent to channels where the bait is being pulled toward deeper water. When this happens we find the kneeto-thigh-deep potholes in generally grassy areas the

Yvette Brysch displays one of several solid trout she caught recently on MirrOlure Corky baits.

best spots to target. Shallow sandy humps rising from deeper grass have also been good for us. Most of our redfish have been caught on Kelley Wiggler Ball Tail Shads in Flo Mingo and also the plum with blue metal flake rigged on 1/8 ounce heads. During windy conditions when the baits tend to rise in the water column when we work them, we have been inserting a small piece of lead solder to the bait to help hold it lower. I wish I could say we are getting reds on topwaters but that has not been happening, even with the rise in water temperature. Hopefully this will change soon.

Trout, on the other hand, have been easier to locate. With that being said the future of this fishery looks bright given the number of small fish mixed with the keepers. We are still catching solid trout A big thanks to Shallow Sport Boats and Mercury Marine.

I truly look forward to representing both companies well.

in the four to seven pound class, but the numbers of fish in the seven-and-over class have declined as they have scattered since the rising of our water temperatures and water levels. Never rule out a late afternoon or evening trip this time of year if your preference is chasing bigger trout. Our late evening outings have produced the best numbers of heavier fish by far and another point to consider is the reduced traffic in the evenings allowing you to fish more prime locations. If you don’t have the time or the patience to fish all day, I would definitely suggest you target the last hours of daylight.

Trout have been more aggressive on the surface than the reds, and the smaller plugs like the Spook Jr. are doing better than full-sized baits. As floating grass becomes an increasing problem you might consider rigging your topwaters with Gamakatsu single hooks. Look for trout to take it to another level of aggression on surface plugs as May rolls around.

I would like offer special thanks to Wes Hudson and the crew at Shallow Sport for making my 1986 classic new again. They did an awesome job! I am also proud to announce that I have recently joined Mercury’s Pro Team. My rig now sports a brand new Mercury 150 Pro XS, thanks to Bass Pro - Tracker Marine Boat Center in Harlingen. I have nothing but praise for their service and their very competitive pricing. This outboard is giving me a great hole shot and I’m burning about half the fuel my old engine used.

May marks the beginning of the summer tournament season and heavy boat traffic will be common on Fridays and weekends. Please exercise greatest caution and courtesy for your fellow anglers. Best of fishing luck and remember good things come to those who wait.

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FISHING REPORTS

Lake Calcasieu Louisiana Jeff and Mary Poe - Big Lake Guide Service - 337.598.3268 May is generally when we start to catch large numbers of speckled trout. Our mainstay pattern during this month will be working birds.

We fish them using a quarter-ounce jighead and soft plastics. We stick to shrimp imitations like MirrOlure Lil' Johns, Norton Sand Eels, H&H Sparkle Beetles and Salty Grubs. Our best colors are usually glow, avocado, black/chartreuse, opening night, and golden bream. May is also a great time to catch the heaviest trout of the season. The May full moon is usually very productive for heavy fish. Topwaters are usually our weapon of choice for big trout. Right at daylight and just before dark are usually better than mid-day. They will still be located on sand flats and shallow oyster reefs. During mid-day situations try just off the flat or shallow reef in about five to six feet of water. Black/ Chrome, Blue/Chrome, Green/Chrome, Black/Chartreuse, and Bone are some of our favorite colors. Our fishing has been excellent lately, and we are looking forward to having a great spring and early summer.

Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com - 409.935.7242 Like others in the Galveston area, James says the fishing has been steady leading into the time of this report. “We're catching fish both wading and out in the middle. When it's windy, we pretty much have to wade protected shorelines, but when it's not, it's possible to catch plenty of 2013 Catalog_Sampo 9/17/12 11:26 AM Page 1

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fish out in the middle. When we're wading, we're having good luck with small, loud topwaters like SheDogs and TopDog Juniors in colors like white and pink. Catch 5s are also working well at times. And, of course, we're still using soft plastics in colors like slamming chicken on H&H Flutter jigheads. The same soft plastics on slightly heavier jigheads are working best when we're drifting, and we're also catching some on 51 and 52 MirrOlures, especially in the 808 color. We should see a steady improvement in the fishing around San Luis Pass and the jetties as we get into May. If the weather cooperates, it should be one of those deals where you can catch 'em wherever you want to, since the water is salty and pretty in all the bays.”

Jimmy West - Bolivar Guide Service - 409.996.3054 As usual, Jim says the success of the fishing lately has been mostly dependent on the weather. “Our fish are scattering out all over the place, and that is a good thing for the most part. The people can spread out and not be so bunched up in the same small areas. We've had some good days lately wading, especially in the afternoons and evenings.

Lots of three and four pound trout and a few fives and sixes. Good numbers of reds mixed in too. The fishing out in the middle is starting to pick up and will likely get better as we head into May and beyond.

Fish are already showing up on the reefs and the numbers should improve on that pattern as the weather heats up. The key to catching out there, of course, is fishing on days when winds are light enough to

allow the water to stay in decent shape. We'll be targeting areas with lots of shell where slicks and mud stirs are showing up and where there is plenty of bait. Sometimes, we catch pretty good on topwaters out of the boat, but it's more of a soft plastic thing in general.”

West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays Randall Groves - Groves Guide Service 979.849.7019 - 979.864.9323 Randall was busy working on building lifts for two JH Performance boats when we spoke. “I'll be hanging both an Outlaw and a B240 over the bayou soon. I'll be willing to let people test drive them if they call and make arrangements. Fishing has been good overall lately.

We're still finding our trout over shell mostly. The button shad have hatched out thick, and we're using them to locate the fish. Our best indicator over the last couple of weeks has been a sea gull sitting on a pelican's back. When we find that in close proximity to areas with lots of shell, we are catching plenty of fish. Best lure on recent trips has been a Norton Sand Shad in a color called tequila rock. It works great when winds are relatively light and the water is pretty clear. On the days when the wind is up, we are thankful for the redfish. It's possible to catch them even when it's blowing and the water turns to mud, but the trout bite is much tougher on those days. And, we're mostly using live bait when we find ourselves fishing in strong winds.”

Matagorda | Charlie Paradoski Bay Guide Service - 713.725.2401 Charlie expects to be bouncing back and forth between West and East Bays in May. “May is the month when the fishing on the grass beds in West Bay really starts to pick up. We catch a lot of small keeper trout between about sixteen and eighteen inches when working that pattern over there, but we also mix in fish up to five pounds or so on a regular basis. Topwaters work well early and

sometimes most of the day. Soft plastics keep us catching when the blow ups stop. When it's windy, West Bay is usually where I'll be found. If the weather is nicer, meaning less windy, a couple of other options come into play. One is the drifting around the mid-bay reefs and over scattered shell in East Bay. As always, we'll primarily use soft plastics on fairly heavy jigheads when we're fishing out of the boat over there, bouncing the lures off the bottom. If winds get really light, and the surf gets right, we will be headed out there immediately. Last year, around the end of May, we had some outstanding action in the green water along the beach.”

Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam www.palaciosguideservice.com - 979.240.8204 Fishing has been steady as of late. We have not had any outstanding days, but we haven't had any zero days either. Redfish have been pretty consistent on windward shorelines on Gulp! shrimp in purple/ chartreuse and root beer/chartreuse fished under popping corks. We have also been throwing She Dogs and She Pups in gold/black/orange and bone/chrome/chartreuse for good results. Our trout bite has picked as the water temps have risen, and we have been on a good bite, fishing tails over scattered shell in three to four feet of water. Best tails as of late have been Texas Trout Killers in chicken on a chain and pumpkinseed/ white. May should be awesome this year with all the bait I am seeing in the local bays. We have a good hatch of shad in the river, and lots of hopper shrimp are showing in the area back lakes. Redfish will be schooling soon, trout will be schooled up over shell at the rigs, and tripletail will begin their annual migration to the bays. Life will be good!

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port o’connor | Lynn Smith Back Bay Guide Service - 361.983.4434 Lynn expects to be targeting his area's trout around reefs in May. “We haven't gotten hardly any rain in quite a while, and the fish are pretty thick up the rivers and in the Victoria Barge Canal. Eventually, I expect them to move out of those areas and into San Antonio Bay proper. When they do, they'll show up in abundance on the reefs in there. The key factor which would make that happen would be some freshwater flow. If we can get some rain, that pattern will kick right off. If we don't get any rain, I'll mostly be keying on areas with a mix of sand and grass, tossing at the sandy pockets in the grass. This time of year, I love to throw topwaters a lot. In particular, I like the white Super Spook Junior with a chartreuse head. It's been a real producer for me over the last few years. I keep it handy all the time.

If they won't bite it, they probably can't be caught on topwaters, or so it seems. We have a lot of small trout biting in the area right now, and that bodes well for the long-term future. Overall, things are looking pretty good around here.”

Rockport | Blake muirhead Gator trout Guide Service - 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894 Blake says the fishing has been excellent around Rockport during recent weeks, and things look great for the remainder of the spring. “I'll be wading shorelines with lots of grass on sandy bottom this month. There have been some pretty big trout caught around here lately, particularly in bays with lots of sand and grass, like Aransas, Corpus Christi, San Antonio and St. Charles. I'll also hit the reefs in San Antonio and other bays when winds are light enough to allow the water around them to stay pretty clear. Also, this month is when I start keeping my eye on the surf. If winds are right, we usually have a shot at a good run on trout out there during May. Still catching plenty of fish on topwaters most of the time. Of late, I've been throwing the chartreuse split-tail Gulp! when

the blow ups slow down. That lure is especially productive for reds. At some point, I'll start using live croakers again too. I'll let the customers make the call on that. Certainly, the croakers are extremely effective early in the warm season.”

Upper Laguna madre - Baffin Bay - Land cut Robert Zapata – rz1528@grandecom.net - 361.563.1160 Everything warms up in May, including the air and water temperatures, and the fishing and catching should get red hot! The trout will still be spawning, and that means they will be in water depths of less than two feet along grassy shorelines. I like to fish where there are scattered potholes in these areas as well. Approach the target areas quietly by shutting the outboard engine at least 100 yards away and drift, troll, and/or wade up to the target area. If you’re not wearing ForEverLast Ray Guards, don’t forget to shuffle your feet if you’re wade fishing.

Working natural colored MirrOlure She Dogs will be a good way to start the day. If your favorite topwater lure is not working, try Bass Assassin Die Dappers in colors like sand trout, plum/chartreuse and chartreuse dog. Berkley Ripple Mullet and Gulp! products will also work rigged on sixteenth-ounce Bass Assassin Spring Lock jigheads. The month of May is also time to begin free-lining live croaker on a number three wide gap Mustad croaker hook along grassy edges.” corpus christi | Joe mendez – www.sightcast1.com - 361.937.5961 May is a great month for fishing the Upper Laguna Madre and Corpus Christi Bay, Joe says. “The Land Cut is usually a good bet, especially in the early part of May. Areas adjacent to it are also historically productive, including places like Summer House, Rocky Slough, Murdock Flats and Nine Mile Hole. People who are after big trout would be best advised to stay shallow and either try to sightcast the fish or make lots of casts around sets of potholes in grassy flats with lots of bait in the area. If numbers of trout and a variety of fish are

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more of a priority, it will pay to fish the edges of structural elements close to drop offs to deeper water. The edge of the channel in the Land Cut is one such feature, as are the deeper parts of the rocky shoreline flats between the Land Cut and the mouth of Baffin on the Kenedy Ranch Shoreline. If the water quality is poor down south, areas in Corpus Bay like East Flats, Shamrock Cove and Shamrock Island can be a better choice. Particularly when winds are whistling out of the southeast, that corner of Corpus Bay has great potential, since the water stays in good shape better than most of the area.”

Padre Island National Seashore Billy Sandifer - Padre Island Safaris - 361.937.8446 The month of May can be wonderful on PINS. So far this year we are ducking the sargassum bullet and if it continues we may well have excellent fishing in May as sargassum in large amounts is our biggest problem at this time of year. Winds and tides can still be high but have moderated from earlier months. Ladyfish and tarpon arrive and join bluefish, pompano, redfish, black drum, sheepshead and whiting and Spanish mackerel. All our shark species become available and some should be available to casters as well as those fishing kayaked baits. The possibility of trout on topwaters exists but they are more prone to hit blue/chrome Rat-l-Traps and silver spoons in the spring.

Actually the silver spoon is your go-to bait in May. Whiting and jack crevalle are prime baits on the sharks until the skipjacks arrive and then they become the food of choice. Shrimp and Fishbites are the biggest producers on the bottom feeders. Remember turtle nesting season is in progress and the PINS speed limit is 15 miles per hour for the entire beachfront.

Port Mansfield | Terry Neal www.terrynealcharters.com – 956.944.2559 Record heat and drought continue to plaque South Texas. I am confused

from one day to the next; there is just no way to put a pattern together.

We are wise to remember God and Mother Nature are in control.

Best strategy is to find a spot with some bait activity, color changes or birds, and fish till you catch. Strong currents are bringing in some much needed bait, mullet and other small finfish, and the shrimp migration is in full swing. Water temperatures are in the mid-70's, so fishing (catching) should pick up soon. I am seeing lots of skipjacks and cownose rays (they are not dangerous) sure signs that gulf species are entering the bay. The rays are continual swimmers and can tangle up in your fishing line. They fight like a big red. Just be aware that there are a lot of them in the water at this time. Enjoy your fishing and if you’re lucky; keep what you will eat fresh and release the rest.

Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel Janie and Fred Petty – www.fishingwithpettys.com – 956.943.2747 Recent trips have produced nice trout averaging between eighteen and twenty four inches; we have also seen a rise in the redfish numbers, catching a couple of oversized specimens a week, but finding fish is more difficult now, than at this time in years past.

Conditions are still very windy and dry, which means fishing in muddy water, especially on the west side. We have not seen the regrowth of turtle grass we were hoping for so far this spring. We lost this habitat after the 2010 flooding that filled the LLM with fresh water, and with the west bank, from Holly Beach to Cullen’s, silted in with dredge spoil, it doesn’t even look like the same bay. Freddy says, “You just have to make long drifts, throwing Cajun Thunder round corks with a fifteen to eighteen-inch leader, a Norton Lock 3/0 quarter-ounce hook, and a new penny Berkley Gulp! three-inch shrimp. Most of the fish we’re catching are coming from two to three feet of water.” Please help us stop open-bay dredge disposal!

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Jacob Ryan Fonseca Arroyo City - redfish

Bill Clark Placedo Creek - first big black drum from kayak!

Connie Chamberlain Port Mansfield - first red!

Hunter Grant Matagorda - 16.5” first keeper trout!

Debbie Haynie Trinity Bay - 28” redfish 96 | May 2013

Stephan Davidyan Aransas Wildlife Refuge - 24” red

John Jimenez Port Aransas - red snapper

Daniel Duran, Jr. South Padre - redfish

Trenton Gordon Trinity Bay - redfish CPR

Randy Jaso Aransas Wildlife Refuge - black tip shark

Wanda Haynie Trinity Bay - 40lb black drum, personal best!

George Martinez Port Mansfield - redfish

Nikki Owen Trinity Bay - 40lb black drum, personal best!

Ben Maxwell Sea Wolf Park - 43” bull red

Alan Parker Trinity Bay - 6’ 3” alligator gar

Doug Ramsey Sabine Lake - red

Grzegorz Mentellis San Luis Pass - sheepshead

Gilberto Rodriguez Fulton Pier - 42” black drum

Steven Wheeler Galveston - red CPR

Doris Chapman Trinity Bay - 24" Texas Slam red!

Tiffany Aransas Wildlife Refuge - 28” first red!

Bill Jackson redfish

Juan Robert Aransas Wildlife Refuge - 22” red

Nancy Ramirez Arroyo City - first redfish!

Please do not write on the back of photos.

Email photos with a description of your Catch of the Month to: Photos@tsfmag.com

Ciro Zuniga San Martin Lake - 42” black drum

Chreighton Westbrook Rockport - first keeper trout!

Betty Baker Wade In her element... trout CPR

Mail photos to: TSFMag P.O. Box 429, Seadrift, TX 77983 TSFMAG.com | 97

Pam Johnson

Gulf Coast Kitchen

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

Email them to pam@tsfmag.com or send by fax: 361-785-2844

Redfish & Shrimp Veracruz We were introduced to this delicious dish by Dawn and Jeff Larson. We came in from a chilly afternoon duck hunt on San Antonio Bay this past January and Dawn had it ready to serve. Her version did not include the shrimp but we still licked the platter clean as they say.

1 pound redfish fillets – diced to 3/4 inch 1 pound shrimp tails – peeled and diced to 3/4 inch 1-1/2 Cups Louisiana-brand Shrimp Fry Mix 1/2 Cup olive oil 2 Jars Cookwell & Company Veracruz Sauce 4 Cups cooked white rice Salt and coarse ground black pepper to taste Chopped green onions and fresh cilantro for garnish

Note: To spice things up add a finely diced Serrano chili to the Veracruz mixture, a few dashes of cayenne pepper, or sprinkle with Tabasco Sauce.

98 | May 2013

• Cook rice per package instruction to yield four cups after cooking.

• Rinse and dice redfish fillets • Peel and dice shrimp • Heat olive oil in large non-stick frying pan, dredge fish and shrimp in coating mixture per package instruction.

• Fry redfish until golden, remove from frying pan and then fry the shrimp. Shrimp fry up quicker and it is better to fry separately.

• Drain oil from pan after frying fish and shrimp, do not wipe, place fried fish and shrimp chunks back in pan and add the Veracruz Sauce.

• Simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

• Serve in bowls or deep dishes over rice, garnish with chopped green onion and cilantro.

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t chris mapp’s Boa s maintenance tip

SaLtWatEr CorroSIon – UnDEr thE CoWLInG The past few months have brought us several cases of severe saltwater corrosion damage that occurred under outboard engine cowlings. These photos are from Yamaha and Evinrude outboards but the issues I am describing here can and will affect all brands the same.

Saltwater can get under the engine cowling in three ways: 1) Through the cowling and/or pan seals. 2) Via a leak in the engine’s cooling system. 3) Through the air intake system at the rear of the cowling.

Saltwater entering past the cowling or pan seals usually occurs when the cowling is not installed and/or latched correctly. Removing the gasket from the lower pan and cleaning occasionally is a great practice. Applying Corrosion X Red will help keep this gasket in pliable condition, allowing for a good seal.

Catamaran hulls or boats where the engine is mounted very low on the transom can have seawater wash over the top of the engine when the boat comes off plane abruptly and also when running in a heavy following sea.

A saltwater “trailer” will be visible no matter how or where the leak originates. This will be a sign to change your operating techniques and also to inspect more regularly. Spraying the powerhead with Corrosion X Red is a great preventive measure.

The other areas to inspect will be more subtle and will require a little more looking. The water pressure line, cooling system pop-off valve, or head gasket can produce enough salt spray to be ingested into the engine that after sitting for two weeks or so, the engine could be locked up due to corrosion occurring inside the engine. If the engine does not lock up, the ingested salt will definitely shorten the life of the engine.

Pull the cowling regularly and investigate any visible sign of saltwater entering under the cowling. No matter how well they are built, saltwater can destroy anything!

Good fishing and safe boating, Chris Mapp Coastal Bend Marine Port O’Connor, TX 361 983 484 www.coastalbendmarine.com

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galveston tides & Solunar Table Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine May 2013

The BEST Choice‌ Any Place, Anytime!

To find a location near you, please visit us at www.speedystop.com

Tidal Corrections Location Calcasieu Pass, La. Sabine Bank Lighthouse Sabine Pass (jetty) Sabine Pass Mesquite Point Galveston Bay (S. jetty) Port Bolivar Texas City, Turning Basin Eagle Point Clear Lake Morgans Point Round Point, Trinity Bay Point Barrow, Trinity Bay Gilchrist, East Bay Jamaica Beach, Trinity Bay Christmas Point Galveston Pleasure Pier San Luis Pass Freeport Harbor

High -2:14 -1:46 -1:26 -1:00 -0:04 -0:39 +0:14 +0:33 +3:54 +6:05 +10:21 +10:39 +5:48 +3:16 +2:38 +2:39 +2:32 -0:09 -0:44

Low -1:24 -1:31 -1:31 -1:15 -0:25 -1:05 -0:06 +0:41 +4:15 +6:40 +5:19 +5:15 +4:43 +4:18 +3:31 +2:38 +2:33 +2:31 -0:09

For other locations, i.e. Port O’Connor, Port Aransas, Corpus Christi and Port Isabel please refer to the charts displayed below.

Please note that the tides listed in this table are for the Galveston Channel. The Tidal Corrections can be applied to the areas affected by the Galveston tide.

Minor Feeding Periods are in green, coinciding with the moon on the horizon, and the last from 1.0 to 1.5 hrs after the moon rise or before moon set.

Major Feeding Periods are in orange, about 1.0 to 1.5 hrs either side of the moon directly overhead or underfoot.

Many variables encourage active feeding current flow (whether wind or tidal driven), changes in water temp & weather, moon phases, etc. Combine as many as possible for a better chance at an exceptional day. Find concentrations of bait set up during a good time frame, and enjoy the results.

Te x a s S a l t w a t e r F i s h i n g M a g a z i n e l

w w w. t e x a s s a l t w a t e r f i s h i n g m a g a z i n e . c o m