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ABOUT THE COVER Noah Falcon made his fishing debut recently on Galveston Bay with Capt. Steve Hillman. Capt. Steve says he is a natural talent – first time on a boat, first time with a baitcast reel in his hand, caught a bunch of trout and this nice flounder.

AUGUST 2020 VOL 30 NO 4

CONTENTS

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

8 Applying Old School Values to Today’s Fishing 14 Nirvana and the Numbing Effect 18 Good Vibrations 24 Tarpon Tactics

28 30 32 34 36 38 40 61 78

Steve Hillman Kevin Cochran Chuck Uzzle Joe Richard

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

Science & the Sea Boat Repair & Maintenance

18

WHAT OUR GUIDES

HAVE TO SAY

44 46 48 50 52 54

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

46

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

40 REGULARS 6 Editorial 42 New Tackle & Gear 56 Fishing Reports and Forecasts 58 Catch of the Month 60 Gulf Coast Kitchen

60 4 | August 2020

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

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EDITORIAL

HOTTER’N BLAZES

& COMMONSENSE SAFETY PRACTICES You will notice numerous mentions in this issue of beating August’s searing temperatures by getting on the water early – real early. Our writers who fish for a living learned long ago that leaving the dock as early as you can see well enough to navigate safely in August is the surest way to find the day’s best bite. A handheld spotlight can get you underway earlier, provided you have an assistant holding the light. Safe boat operation requires one hand on the throttle and the other on the wheel. Nobody has three hands; don’t tempt fate by pretending you do. LED lightbars shining forward are great navigational aids but please take care to avoid blinding others with the high-intensity beam.

I have noticed several instances lately of anglers anchoring and getting off to wade in morning darkness, leaving the boat at anchor without lighting of any type. This is an unsafe practice that could result in a collision or waders being run over. Another good practice is to anchor the boat as near the area you plan to wade as possible. I see anglers wading neck-deep with their boats anchored hundreds of yards closer to shore. I’m not suggesting you should never chase the bite this deep but for heaven’s sake take a few minutes to reposition the boat. Your head bobbing like a crab trap float is a poor way to alert passing boats to your presence.

August’s weather patterns typically allow great opportunity for the small-boat fleet to participate in nearshore and offshore fishing. Safe

6 | August 2020

captains monitor VHF weather frequencies to track weather developments.

Squalls can appear in minutes and seas can become dangerously rough.

That cell phone might work on the bay but signal strength is often unreliable a few miles into the gulf.

No month can match the potential for chasing trout and redfish in the August surf. Walking into the surf from the beach is popular in some areas, boating along the shoreline is another great option. My favorite is exiting the boat and wade fishing. No matter your preference, just remember the gulf is very different from the bay in terms of boating and wading hazards.

You would do well to learn these from an experienced companion before venturing out on your own. I recommend wearing an inflatable PFD at all times when boating and wading the surf.

It is still a few weeks early at press time to say recreational anglers will be able to enjoy the full 63-day projected red snapper season in federal waters but it is beginning to look that way. Seas this summer have been rougher on average that last year, which translates to reduced fishing effort, and greater probability the season will remain open until the projected August 3 closure. Snapper anglers are encouraged to use descending devices such as Seaqualizer when releasing fish suffering barotrauma and report their landings via the iSnapper app.

Be safe on the water and take a youngster fishing!

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This man has taught me more about life than anyone alive.

Special thanks to Capt. Tommy Alexander for showing us a great time on the lake!

APPLYING

Old School Values

TO

Today’ s Fishing STORY BY STEVE HILLMAN

I

believe the year was 1975. Along with my cousins and a few buddies, I was sitting on the little pier dad built where we lived on Dickinson Bayou. With our legs dangling off the end of the pier we would catch countless croaker, gar, redfish and hardheads. Our bait choices ranged from raw bacon to anything we could catch in a cast net. Things were simple back then or at least they were in our eyes. We built a fort in the vast undeveloped acreage behind my great grandma’s house down the street. We’d shoot doves with our pellet rifles then bring them home and cook them. We made our own live traps and trapped possums, raccoons and sometimes the neighbor’s cat. I remember the zip line my Uncle Robert and his buddies constructed in the tall trees covered with muscadine grape vines.

My pawpaw and grandma had a marine supply store there on the bayou where we had access to cable, pulleys and all kinds of other neat stuff. Dad also built a treehouse in a giant oak tree where our property sloped down towards the bayou near the middle of our beautiful, grassy five acres.

None of our families had much money so we kids were “forced” to find ways to entertain ourselves.

Occasionally, me and some of the neighborhood kids would get into fights over silly stuff. It was usually while playing neighborhood football. We’d just duke it out and the next day we were best friends again. I once got into trouble for being mean to my foster sister. My dad whipped my butt when he got home. I wish I could say that was the only time he had to use his belt. Like most kids, I did some stupid stuff but I learned from all of it.

We always sat down as a family for supper and mom or dad always said grace before we were allowed to start eating. I remember eating vegetables from our garden along with venison that mom prepared just about every way you could prepare it. We also ate a lot of Hamburger Helper and Spam. When we finished dinner we asked to be excused before leaving the table. My brother and I would help mom clean the kitchen before we went to our room to do homework.

None of us went to bed without saying “goodnight” and “I love you” to each other.

TSFMAG.com | 9

Brooks Domann’s dad got him into hunting and fishing and taught him how to use a baitcaster at a very early age. It showed on this day as he caught the heck out of trout!

Steve Mistretta with a solid Galveston Bay trout on our first stop of the morning.

The closest thing we had to a video game was a Lite-Brite. For those who aren’t familiar, a Lite-Brite was nothing more than a plastic housing shaped somewhat like a television. There was a lightbulb inside and a plastic pegboard in the front. It came with colored plastic pegs that we used to form pictures of things. I remember making a lot of pictures of fish. The Lite-Brite was only for the rainy days though because we always wanted to be outside.

Dad would ultimately clear our property to pursue his dream of going into the seafood business. A bulkhead eventually replaced that little fishing pier where we dangled our legs. The front of the fish house where we sold fresh seafood to the public was about where my treehouse once stood in that beautiful oak tree. Our vegetable garden was somewhere underneath many yards of packed oyster shell parking lot.

I remember working in our retail market during the summer months filleting fish when I was 12 years old. Dad always encouraged me to get the highest yield possible. Customers were answered with “yes ma’am and yes sir.” That was a no-brainer back then. He paid me $2.00 per hour. That “job” enabled me to buy a tiller handle 9.9 horsepower Johnson Seahorse outboard for my johnboat.

I started working on oyster boats when I was 14 and continued doing that until I graduated high school. I had several other jobs which included cutting firewood, mowing lawns and working in our family restaurant. Dad was a firm believer in keeping us busy. He taught us not only a good work ethic but to take pride in our work.

He taught us to be selfless and always treat others with respect while at the same time not letting anyone push you around. The most important thing is that he practiced what he preached.

My brother and I worked our way through college. He blazed through the five year master’s program in accounting at the University of Texas and I graduated from the University of Houston at Clear Lake with a degree in environmental management. After a couple of years in the chemical industry I returned to our family 10 | August 2020

Couldn’t start here because of boats.

Came back as the last stop of the day and the solid trout were feeding! CPR!

seafood business where I handled the marketing of our products.

I would take our customers fishing when they came into town. I got a real kick out of seeing their excitement level and very much enjoyed teaching them what I knew so I eventually decided to get my captain’s license. The rest is history.

I mention these tidbits about my life growing up because I sincerely feel like I was raised the right way. I believe many of life’s lessons can be applied on the water. I can think of many examples but let’s discuss a few.

It starts at the boat ramp. I’ve seen guys yell at others because they didn’t turn off their headlights while backing down their boat. While this is definitely annoying (and sometimes blinding), simply asking them nicely if they’d mind turning them off is usually more productive.

Most of the time their reason for leaving them on was simply because they just didn’t know. Besides, who wants to start their day of fishing on a negative note before even leaving the dock? A little patience and respect will go a long way.

Saying that our bays are crowded these days is an understatement.

There are fewer places to catch fish, especially on days when high winds force everyone to the same protected shorelines. This can cause tensions to run high. If you want to fish an area under these circumstances then you’ll need to get there early. Unfortunately, it may not matter if you’re the first one there because sometimes others will pull in regardless. While this is a frustrating scenario we have to remain calm. Some won’t put forth the effort to find other areas holding fish. Certain areas, however, can handle multiple boats as long as everyone fishes them the right way. Another option is to just avoid such areas until later in the day.

The law of averages says that when you’re on the water almost every day it’s inevitable that an altercation will occur. All I can say is try to be the adult in the conversation. If tempers seem to be flaring up then continue the dialogue at a later time. Chances are that two grown men can work it out in a civil manner. After all, with all of the

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hatred and chaos going on in the world are we really going to argue over a fish?

Over time it seems that many fishermen have exhibited more aggressive behavior when it comes to chasing trout and redfish. I still know a few guys who would run over their own grandmother to catch a trout. Those are the bad ones and we will never convince them to change their ways. I don’t think it’s necessarily a generational thing because I’ve seen folks of different age groups use poor judgement. Regardless, I think anglers should use the same My pawpaw and grandma’s marine supply store in present day. I spent many hours hanging out there 40 principles on the water that they’re plus years ago. Years after my pawpaw passed away, I could still smell the unique smell Gojo hand cleaner supposed to live by in everyday life. Being coming up through the sink drain when I washed my hands. Funny how certain smells take us back in time. courteous and practicing sound ethics will gain you a lot more respect. Acting in a selfish way and wanting instant gratification will cause you to gain a reputation that will follow you for a long time. People will take notice.

Steve Hillman is a full-time fishing guide After all, fishing is supposed to be fun. It’s something that many on his home waters of Galveston Bay. Steve don’t have the luxury to do. We should be thankful. My dad told me fishes the entire Galveston Bay Complex, wading and drifting for trout, redfish, and years ago that your name is all you have. I’ll add to that and say that flounder using artificial lures. your name is like your brand. You wouldn’t want to ruin your brand would you? Let’s all try to do better and lead by example. It’s the least Phone 409-256-7937 Email captsteve@hillmanguideservice.com we can do for our children.

CONTACT

STEVE HILLMAN

12 | August 2020

Web www.hillmanguideservice.com

TSFMAG.com | 13

and the

Numbing Effect STORY BY KEVIN COCHRAN

O

ver time, I’ve become more analytical when thinking about the art of fishing. These days, I often work to describe aspects of the endeavor in scientific or mathematical terms. This allows me to draw conclusions about the decisions and actions I and others make and take, and how we might refine our processes to optimize their efficacy.

Measuring productivity in fishing usually means adding up how many fish come to hand, or how many fish one can convince to take a bite. For anglers who deploy artificial lures exclusively, two aspects of the effort affect productivity profoundly—intensity of focus and effectiveness of presentation. Significantly, these parts of the effort simultaneously contribute to and vary in response to the rate at which bites occur.

For most anglers, almost all the time, intensity of focus and effectiveness of presentation are directly proportional to the frequency of bites produced. Stated more simply, people tend to pay more attention and function at a higher level when bites come regularly. In contrast, they lose focus and effectiveness when bites come less often.

Of course, many variables affect an angler’s ability to earn strikes, in addition to their own levels of focus and effectiveness. The relative abundance of fish swimming within an angler’s reach ranks high on the list (perhaps at the top) of external factors which affect bite frequency. This relates to what I call Absolute #1: You can’t catch a fish that isn’t there.

No amount of focus, creativity and/or persistence can change that fact. But, in most situations, anglers do stand within reach of a number of fish with some level of appetite. Fish don’t always have ravenous appetites, so their level of hunger also plays a role in determining how many bites an angler in their midst will likely earn within a given period of time. Certainly, more hungry fish swimming close to the angler creates a higher potential for earning strikes.

So, assuming one makes an effort in a place holding an adequate number of feeding fish, intensity of focus and effectiveness of presentation will affect how many strikes an angler earns. If and when bites begin to come regularly, focus and effectiveness both increase. In some cases, this can produce an optimal scenario, where the angler achieves a form of fishing nirvana and becomes fully engrossed in the tasks of casting, working the lure, reacting to strikes, fighting and landing fish, then repeating the drill.

In the past, I’ve compared an angler in such a scenario to a bird dog “on point,” after the animal has spotted a pheasant or covey of quail. This analogy now makes little or no sense to me. A trained canine freezes when it sees the bird(s), but an angler in “hyper catch mode” constantly incorporates motion into the mix. I now prefer comparing the angler in such a scenario to a well-trained hurdler running a race.

When functioning at the highest level, these athletes focus intently on the steps they take and how those steps conform to the

need for executing a leap over each hurdle, all while maintaining as much forward speed as possible. They take measured steps in anticipation of the leaps, ideally without altering the fluidity of their movements. When executed properly, this makes an accomplished hurdler appear to glide down the track smoothly, before leaning forward to tear the tape ahead of the other runners.

Perhaps an athlete participating in the steeple-chase event makes an even better analogy, since that race requires jumping over hurdles and over a water feature, with fairly long spaces between the barriers.

Track stars who master the steeple-chase must learn to adjust their steps and the pace of their running throughout the event, in order to conserve energy to use in bursts throughout the race. This more closely resembles what an angler does (though in a much more subdued form) when bite frequency reaches its highest level.

An angler who earns a strike on several consecutive casts becomes much like a finely tuned track athlete, supremely focused on the details of all the movements involved in the process, effectively repeating aspects of the presentation to produce strikes, while remaining ready to react appropriately when they come. The angler moves seamlessly from one catch to the next, like the hurdler or steeple-chaser moves from one hazard to the next. Of course, the angler’s “race” has no set length, like a track star’s does. The state of fishing nirvana might last for four or five caught fish, or much longer, depending on the number of fish available and their levels of appetite.

Of course, if bite frequency stays high enough for long enough, another rule governing these processes will inevitably come into play. The angler will either succeed in catching all or most of the fish swimming within reach, or at least in causing most or all of them to take a bite. Or, the feeding mood of the fish will change, as they become sated and full. Either way, bite frequency will predictably diminish, ending the catching frenzy and the seemingly magical angling mindset associated with it.

Then the negative effects of declining bite frequency will exert their influences on intensity of focus and effectiveness of presentation. If this goes on for long enough, and bite frequency drops to a low enough rate, a kind of numbing effect will occur, and many anglers will fall into what I’ve regularly referred to over the years as “autopilot mode.” Fishing in autopilot means mindlessly repeating movement patterns which don’t produce desired results. In this mode, intensity of focus and effectiveness of presentation fall to near zero, and people predictably begin daydreaming, or participating in other distracting behaviors.

Most anglers have the capability to use at least some of their lures without really thinking much about what they’re specifically doing to Eric Grones caught this solid trout on a soft plastic tossed atop a shallow grassy hump surrounded manipulate their movements. Most by deeper water during the morning hours, a typically productive pattern during the hot months. use a single, favorite presentation

16 | August 2020

bite rate on effectiveness of presentation. Even an angler who spent considerable time slowing down the presentation, focusing on a specific speed or cadence within the movements used to execute it, will normally speed up once a bite is finally earned. I assume adrenaline plays some role in this process.

The best golfers in the world seem to experience something similar, especially when they feel the pressures associated with contending in a big event.

I’ve heard many of them talk about it, how they consciously attempt to avoid getting in a hurry, walking faster, rushing through their pre-shot routines and otherwise disrupting the rhythm and pace of the movements which put them into contention in the first place. Some say they actually try to slow down each of the steps they take as the pressure mounts.

For an angler, I’d say slowing down aspects of the presentation in response to rising bite frequency is actually a mistake; the goal should always be the same, to identify and maintain the precise intensity and pace of the aspects of the presentation which proved successful. An angler who gets excited after catching a fish or earning a strike and ending a long span of dead time should do everything possible to repeat the movement patterns which created the strike. This means actively fighting the tendency to rush things in anticipation of another bite.

An angler who becomes too focused on the next bite becomes like a golfer who allows the mind to focus on the next shot, or next hole, or worse, the final score, Ronnie Kim tricked several nice trout on a specialized broken-back called an ‘ED Special.’ This lure or the outcome of the match, rather than the shot at often produces bites at a faster rate than most others on days when the bite is somewhat sluggish. hand. In both golf and fishing, anticipation of future events diminishes focus on the moment in a destructive manner. In with any given type of lure. Inevitably, these become the de facto all facets of sports and life, dwelling on the future or past too much presentations when an angler falls into autopilot mode, and stops generally causes one to make mistakes in the present. This relates catching fish. All aspects of these presentations become dulled by to another fact which governs all aspects discussed above—we the low bite rate. Obviously, if the angler still stands within reach of can only control what we’re doing now, precisely now, not what an adequate number of fish, adjusting aspects of the presentation happened earlier or what might happen later. thoughtfully and creatively would increase the odds of earning Anglers who recognize this fact and remain intently focused on more strikes. identifying and deploying an effective presentation on each cast In some cases, people snap out of autopilot once they realize will inevitably earn more strikes than those who don’t. They will they’ve fallen under its spell. When this happens, they make a then enjoy the benefits associated with the synergistic relationship conscious decision to think more actively about what they’re doing between their own actions and the effects of an increasing bite rate. and intentionally elevate their intensity of focus with the aim of Occasionally, they’ll temporarily experience fishing nirvana. finding some more productive presentation, one which will earn more strikes and activate the positive effects of increasing bite frequency. Ironically, an angler who succeeds in this endeavor and earns a strike after making a bunch of unproductive casts risks experiencing the consequence associated with another Kevin Cochran is a full-time fishing guide at Corpus Christi (Padre Island), TX. Kevin phenomenon related to this pursuit. is a speckled trout fanatic and has created The longer the lag between bites, the more intense and powerful several books and dvds on the subject. this phenomenon becomes—an angler’s speed of movement Kevin’s home waters stretch from Corpus Christi Bay to the Land Cut. increases after a strike is earned at the end of a long lull without one. This relates to the first principle about the proportionality of TROUT TRACKER GUIDE SERVICE focus, effectiveness and bite frequency, but in an exaggerated form.

Phone 361-688-3714 The sudden increase in intensity of focus spurred by a strike causes Email kevxlr8@mygrande.net Web www.FishBaffinBay.com an angler’s movements to speed up, sometimes with the effect of www.captainkevblogs.com dulling or possibly nullifying the positive influence of an increasing

CONTACT

KEVIN COCHRAN

TSFMAG.com | 17

Good

Vibrations STORY BY CHUCK UZZLE

I

f asked to sum up the current state of affairs on either Sabine or Calcasieu, I would quote one of the most popular Beach Boys songs from the 60’s; “She’s giving me good vibrations.”

It’s no secret that Mother Nature has not been kind to these border estuaries in recent years. Thankfully, it appears the bad luck is finally in the rearview. Let’s hope it stays there.

Both Sabine and Calcasieu took an absolute beating for a couple of seasons from a combination of floods and abnormally cold temperatures at the worst possible times. These two ultra-productive bodies of water, known for both prodigious numbers as well as the size of fish historically available, were relegated to the back-burner of angling interest when fishing success began to sour.

Anglers working swimbaits along the Sabine jetty rocks have been enjoying excellent catches.

I’m not going to lie to anyone or pretend that I was comfortable with the situation at the time because I was far from that. I was downright worried that I had seen the last of the good times until there was a little spark of life, like a soap opera scene where the patient comes out of a coma and the plot suddenly takes an unexpected twist. The first signs of rejuvenation appeared last fall on Calcasieu when schools of open-water specks under feeding birds became more common. As that pattern began to emerge more fully there was cautious optimism that things were headed in the right direction.

Fast forward to this past spring and all of a sudden some really good catches began to show up on the south end of Calcasieu, and then a few folks on Sabine began to run into some nice fish as well. As in years past Calcasieu was ahead of Sabine when it came to recovering from a weather event and so far that has been the case again. The patterns enjoyed by anglers on Calcasieu earlier in the year are now beginning to pay dividends on Sabine as both bays are enjoying some outstanding fishing, particularly on the jetty systems and in the ship channels. So far this year the program “down at the rocks” has easily been the most consistent game in town for many species, especially speckled trout.

Just knowing that the numbers of fish and quality fish are again showing in good numbers has been a shot in the arm for Sabine anglers that prayed earnestly for a rebound.

Current conditions on Sabine thus far are about as good as we have seen in quite some time.

Toledo Bend and Sam Rayburn have been relatively quiet as far as water discharges is concerned.

Freshwater flow that was so heavy and detrimental to the saltwater species has been average to below average for much of this year and that has allowed some much needed salty tides from the gulf to enter the picture again.

20 | August 2020

An explosion of vegetation in the surrounding marshes will make chasing these redfish extremely difficult.

A few minutes extra effort in reviving redfish helps insure their survival after release during August heat.

Just recently I was out scouting along the north end of Sabine Lake and ran into a group of dolphins feeding about a mile south of Coffee Ground Cove. As always, the encounter with dolphins was very cool to watch but seeing them so far north after such a long absence was extra special. The experience gives me hope that better numbers of trout will soon follow and things will begin to resemble something more akin to the old normal.

In the meantime, while we wait on the water conditions to continue to improve, the best bet in town for consistent action will be the southern half of both Sabine and Calcasieu. So far the best bet for me in these areas has been a combination of one of three different presentations. Early morning and late afternoon has been really good for folks throwing topwater plugs along the rocks at the jetty or over some well-defined shell in the ship channels. Once the sun gets up its time to switch to a rattling cork and soft plastic while making long drifts in cleaner water near the rocks. If the rattling cork is not your preferred method, the next best thing is throwing a swimbait parallel to the jetty rocks, which is one of my personal favorites.

Swimbait selections fall into a couple of categories; hardbaits like the Swimming Image, squarebilled crankbaits, and soft plastic versions like the Mullet Run from Marker 54 Lures. Either selection will work and will definitely catch fish but the soft plastic version is by far the most versatile in my opinion.

The new Mullet Run has been very good for me and can be fished on a 1/4-ounce jighead or rigged on a weedless-weighted wormhook to better probe the rocks and shell with fewer hang-ups. The great vibration created by the Mullet Run’s tail and the natural scent impregnation are true game changers when you get on this pattern.

For the most part, both Sabine and Calcasieu are making up for lost time and appear to be more

TSFMAG.com | 21

or less on the road to recovery. If there is any significant negative or drawback at this time it has to be the shape of the surrounding marshes and the explosion of vegetation that has taken over in many areas. I have never seen the grass so thick in so many areas to the point of making hundreds of acres of water virtually impossible to fish.

Right now there are very few ponds or lakes that are clear enough to fish and that’s a bad thing because the pressure in those areas will be off the chart. Other areas in the marsh are dealing with some sort of salvinia bloom that has just shown up out of nowhere.

Hopefully, the improvement in salinity that is becoming more prevalent will help equalize things and get the vegetation back under control. Until that happens all we can do is wait and watch. All in all, the outlook for the rest of the summer is as good as it’s been in several years and steadily improving, which is sweet music to many fishermen’s ears.

CONTACT

CHUCK UZZLE

22 | August 2020

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

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

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TA S C TIC STORY BY JOE RICHARD

Tarpon rising to gulp air.

That’s how schools of these fish are spotted from a distance.

A

nglers with tarpon on their bucket list would do well to fish August along the Texas coast. The diehards will be out there too; some of them have caught hundreds of these magnificent fish over the years. And paid their dues, of course. Which may involve a long boat run in choppy seas—and while waiting for a bite must deal with sharks, big jacks and bull redfish that run interference and can wear out the anglers.

If you succumb to tarpon fever like many of us have, with access to a Gulf-worthy 20-foot boat or bigger, here are some tips and tactics to consider: Tackle: If you see tarpon boats a mile or two offshore, refrain from crashing their party. You won’t be welcome, without a decent electric motor for silently keeping up with these moving fish. Outboards are loud underwater, spooking entire schools, and the most serious guys who often get multiple hook-ups use diesel inboard engines.

You don’t want to hook and harass one of these great fish while using what amounts to Mickey Mouse tackle, which is 12-pound casting gear meant for trout and reds. With that gear, you’re wasting your time and the tarpon’s too. Aside from inadequate gear, you may also be motoring through a school of surface tarpon, which will usually dive and disappear. I’ve caught some modest 60-pounders using 25-pound spin tackle and a stiff rod, and know how to pressure a fish to the breaking point, but off Texas beaches in 20 or 30 feet of water, hooked up to a six-foot tarpon, there’s nothing that can be done with 12-pound tackle. These fish can dive deep and just keep cruising along, and light gear won’t even stretch their upper lip. Think bigger reels with lots of 40- and 50-pound line, and stiff rods.

Florida Tarpon This June we once again visited Boca Grande Pass, the most famous tarpon honeyhole of all, south of Tampa. At a half-mile wide and 80 feet deep with healthy daily currents, the sand has been scoured down to bedrock.

Every year during May and June it hosts thousands of tarpon. The water exchange from Port Charlotte bay to the Gulf is impressive, with lime-green water in the Pass all summer. In the past century, nobody knows how many tarpon have been caught there.

It’s a spot worth visiting, and smaller boats are welcome. Boats of all sizes are seen drift-fishing here, one of them an old cabin cruiser right out of Gilligan’s Island.

There are basically two main techniques employed for tarpon in this area: > Those who prefer a little solitude away from the more crowded pass use tower boats with outboards, running just the beaches north and south, looking for small pods of tarpon. Once sighted, they ease ahead of the moving school, shut down the motor and pitch live bait and lures. > In the Pass itself, the tarpon may be deep or busting on the surface, hundreds of fish knocking whitewater three feet high like a school of tuna, which we saw in June. It doesn’t matter what style of boat is used in the Pass, from kayaks to old cabin cruisers, they drift with the current using deep twister tail jigs or live bait. (Kayaks are rare here; those 15-foot hammerhead sharks that call this place home make kayak fishing a little too exciting, even for the YouTube crowd.) Boaters simply drift along, lowering twister-tail jigs deep, often while marking deep schools of these fish with depth finders.

They catch tarpon in relative comfort, sitting in deck chairs until a rod takes a bend. After a hook-up, it can be tricky easing the boat along through other boats while following a hooked fish.

The boats we saw behaved well, there was no Saturday craziness. Each boat patiently idled around for another drift, avoiding other boats or running over the fish. It’s quite a place to visit.

26 | August 2020

Many tarpon guides around Boca Grande use this type of boat, with elevated steering for spotting fish along the beach.

Artificials: There’s a wide arrangement of plastic, twister-tail worms up to seven inches long that can be cast or trolled for these fish. Louisiana anglers, where these “Coon Pop” style lures were first invented, will troll up to six of these jigs. When they mark a school of deep tarpon, they slap the diesel motors into neutral, allowing the two-ounce, leadhead jigs to twirl and sink like a spread of depth charges down to the school. Some boats have hooked six big tarpon at the same time, resulting in complete mayhem. You can bet they use fifty-pound line on the reels, for starters.

Natural baits: Tarpon aren’t picky and when they’re hungry, look out. One Texas bay guide was knocked out, while trying to lift a ladyfish into the boat: a big tarpon tried to eat it, launched into the boat and knocked him out. He woke up amidst fish poop and broken fishing rods. Natural bait choices are many. For years, we mostly fished along the beach and Pass Cavallo with natural baits, and that meant throwing a castnet. Everything seemed to work; menhaden, croaker, sand trout, pinfish, ribbonfish, mullet. Our biggest daytime tarpon was hooked with an eating-sized croaker during a fast, outgoing, muddy tide. Perhaps that croaker was sending out low-frequency pulses that trout favor so much. It was a scary big tarpon, our boat was small, and we were actually glad it broke brand new 50-pound line only 40 feet away while in mid-air.

Leader and hook: Tarpon have sandpaper lips that can sometimes chew through 80-pound mono leader. We always preferred 150-200 pound mono. It’s difficult to tie a big circle hook to heavy leader, though we often managed by hooking a porch railing or something solid and pulling hard.

Using a crimp sleeve mashed with proper crimping pliers is better. It’s often been said that a dull circle hook works better on tarpon, because it settles fully over their lip before digging in, like a can opener. Tarpon have seriously tough lips. It’s like trying to penetrate rawhide.

The Texas record is 210 pounds, but many big ones have been caught that were never weighed.

We fought two huge ones until 10 p.m. at night that were never weighed. One was lip-gaffed, and two of us could only lift the head out of the water, before releasing it. The other we followed with the boat in very dark, breaking surf for a long time. Finally dropped anchor to stop him, and the huge fish swam around the rope and broke off. There are big tarpon out there, but the biggest are off the Texas tarpon takes to the air.

This one was hooked in the bay.

Boston Whaler crew having a good day off the Texas coast. Those blue flags are tarpon release flags…

Leadering a big tarpon in a Texas bay. Every August, some of these fish venture inshore.

Tarpon jig, meant for casting or trolling. The jig’s hook is cut off with bolt cutters, and all-important big circle hook is attached with a small plastic zip-tie.

where it flopped and pooped all over the deck. What a mess. We agreed to never boat another. However, we become huge tarpon fans and in the following years caught a lot of big ones. Our catch rate was high; it helped that we packed up the kids and moved to POC back when rent was cheap and the Pass was 30 feet deep. One could fish there every day in calm water. With the Pass to ourselves most of the time, we often jumped three big tarpon every evening. The only other tarpon we ever again lifted from the water was hooked at twilight and eventually traveled up into the bay at night. Motoring to the nearest shoreline, I jumped out in thigh-deep water, and cranked that puppy in with a Penn International 30 reel. My two buddies jumped in and lifted that fish of 120 pounds or so just above water level for a quick flash picture, then we watched the noble fish swim away.

JOE RICHARD

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

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

CONTACT

coast of West Africa, where 300-pounders exist that are eight feet long, with ponderous girths. A number of world records have been set there, notably by Clear Lake’s Tom Gibson, a NASA engineer whose life goal has been to catch thousands of these fish. Which he’s done. Today, Tom fishes in Trinidad where deep water only a hundred yards from shore is home to schools of tarpon of all sizes. It’s much easier there, than rocking and rolling off the Texas coast, running a dozen miles of choppy seas, hoping to spot a moving school. Guides in Trinidad were using reef squirrelfish for bait, but Tom showed them how well ribbonfish will work, caught by local shrimpboats there, and now the locals mostly use ribbons.

Texas tarpon are precious every one. There aren’t that many of them, except on ice cream days when a boat might encounter hundreds or even several thousand migrating fish, rolling along on the surface. When that happens, fortune has truly smiled. Tom Petty said it best: Some days are diamonds; some days are rocks. Return the following day, and you may not see a fish.

Do No Harm: It’s always good to refrain from dragging one into a boat, the beach or worse, a pier. Tarpon should be kept in the water the entire time before it is released. In Florida, it’s against the law to boat a tarpon except when using a special harvest tag, like for trophy deer. (Few people ever use them; they know a fiberglass mount will last decades longer.) Tarpon can be photographed by standing on the gunnel with a cell phone, while the angler drags his fish across the surface. Wear gloves to twist out that circle hook.

When we caught our first tarpon near Pass Cavallo in 1988, just a 50-pounder, we became instant fans. Brought it aboard for photos

TSFMAG.com | 27

J AY WAT K I N S

ASK THE PRO

FINDING & CATCHING DOG DAY TROUT As water temperatures begin to rise into the mid and upper 80s I start looking for areas of bottom structure that provide quick deep water access, shallow ambush opportunities, water movement, and cooler nighttime feeding possibilities. It’s a lot to ask of an area but we actually have plenty of them. Some of the best are shoreline and mid-bay reefs.

During dog days, mornings are mostly calm, so midbay reefs become a prime target. I frequently fish half-day charters to escape the afternoon heat. I go early and return to the dock much earlier than other times of the year. I tend to be more selective of the areas I plan to fish and allow these areas time to develop once setup. We learn so much if we pay attention to everything that happens each day and note the timetables in which they happen.

It took me a few seasons to learn productive strategies for small mid-bay reefs. There was a time I would pull up close enough to get out and wade, and we would move quickly toward the points of the reefs where consistent bites were often found. When the bite wasn’t happening I would be quick to return to the boat and head for another reef.

Many times as I was getting back to the boat I would notice my guys catching a few fish. Took a while for me to put a timeline on it but I eventually learned it might take 15 to 30 minutes of standing quietly near the end of the reef for the first fish to be caught. The longer we remained quiet,

Lisa Laskowski preparing to release a nice summertime trout.

28 | August 2020

meaning that we were not crunching shell, the more fish we caught. I also discovered that drifting to the reef rather than motoring, and then walking on any available sandy or scattered shell bottom to reach the points created less disturbance and a shorter wait for the fish to turn on.

I typically look for reefs holding good numbers of mullet. Early morning, larger trout typically stage where water currents push bait to them, or they will sometimes stage directly under pods of mullet. It’s always awesome to see the bait begin to shy from what we believe to be the approach of our lure, when in reality a trout or two is following it and that’s what spooks the mullet. Sticking a better than average trout a few seconds later confirms this. When the water is clear and calm we can actually see the trout’s gills flare before we feel the strike. It’s a flash and an instant thump.

As the sun rises higher the baitfish will remain shallow but the trout will drop down to the deeper edges of the reef where the shell becomes scattered and the bottom turns to sand and then mud. By noon they’ll be even deeper, farther from the reef, staging on mud. We need heavier jigs in order to get the lure down to them as we slowly twitch it along bottom. Try to imagine vibrating the lure more than twitching. Quite often we crush the trout with this technique, once I get everybody dialed in.

Lures were very limited in my early days. We threw

Taylor Fritz was pleased with this summertime flat fish.

C O N TA C T

gold and silver Johnson Sprites and Tony my clients. It happened twice this week Accetta spoons. I used the gold H5 with and it killed me. yellow and red bucktail. And, of course, we You’re right, they don’t bite every day, threw 51 and 52 Series MirrOlures. I was a but at this stage of the game I feel that I big fan of the 51M - white with silver flash. should be able to put 15 to 20 fish days To this day my favorite Custom Corky’s, together no matter what. Just proves Double D’s, and MirrOdines are white with to me that I still have some work to do. I gold or silver flash. have never been shy about the fact that When I was a kid we had very few soft I like to be in control and find my own plastic baits. Ray’s Worms were my first, I areas. I like knowing that after all these think, and my favorite was root beer with years my brain’s search engine can pull up yellow spots. Next was Boone’s that came dozens of files to solve puzzles related to out with Tout Tails, and then it was Kelly tough conditions and seasonal patterns.

Wiggler and H&H Cocahoe Minnows.

Although changes occur yearly, the basic Soft plastics have come a long way the patterns can be trusted most of the time. past 40 years. My favorites today are the Jay Ray and I make a good team MirrOlure Lil John, Lil John XL, and the when tough sets in. With Ryan’s return 5” Provokers. I am also a big fan of the 5” to Rockport the Watkins fishing team is Bass Assassin Shad. I have confidence in once again complete. Ryan is not guiding my ability to make these lures do what I but has his license should he ever decide need them to do. to take a trip here and there. This gives The good thing about rattail baits is us three separate skill sets, all based on a The mouths of marsh drains can that I sometimes want a lure that creates sound foundation as to what the fish are be great summertime targets. as much or as little action as I need for doing on a daily basis. I talk with both of the day’s conditions. I know it sounds crazy but I have years of shallow them daily, bouncing ideas and thoughts off their younger brains. What water sightcasting history that tells me there are times when a lure a wonderful life fishing is still providing me and the boys. Jay Ray brings can have too much action, too much flash, and make too much noise. I raw grit and energy to the table and Ryan brings a thinking fisherman’s am a huge believer in “less is more” if that makes any sense. These two brain to our game. I am the combination of both, I think. Grit, yes, still brands work for me and at the end of the day that is how a lure earns a some. Energy, a little less by midday, but my brain is definitely still my place in my tackle box. strongest suit at this stage of my career.

I also have tremendous confidence in Texas Customs Double Ds. Summertime is when we have to do more of the little things right These baits swim very well, have a subtle rattle, and float slowly to the and typically have to do them early in the morning before the heat surface when paused. They are effective on both slow-roll and aggressive shuts the bite down. Narrow your lure selections to soft plastics and presentations. I love this lure in moving water over shell when bait is shallow running swimbaits, and work shallow structures with deep stacked on shallow reef crowns. water access. You will also do well to concentrate early morning Last August, we had a couple weeks of terrific trout fishing in Copano efforts in areas most likely to have nighttime feeding taking place – Bay with Double Ds, over shallow sand and reefs where we found large shallow coves and shorelines with thick bottom grass. As the morning concentrations of bait. The water around the reef structures was very progresses, fish will typically be found where the carpet of grass gives clear and the bait was thick enough to foul hook them with regularity. way to sandy bottom along the drop-off toward deeper water. Be What was cool was watching the baitfish bail as a trout charged our patient and work these areas thoroughly. lures. Many times I would see the flash of the trout before feeling the I often suggest picking an area and spending the entire morning, strike. There are few things as exciting to a lure enthusiast than seeing allowing a pattern to develop as the day progresses. This can the fish hammer his offering. sometimes cost you but when one is able to experience one pattern Right now we are experiencing some tough days due to elevated developing into another the knowledge and confidence gained is water temperatures and solunar feeding periods that do not align priceless. With this new knowledge an angler can expand his search to with our morning wading schedule. I try not to beat up the areas that I other areas of similar makeup. I hope what I’ve had to say here helps know are holding fish on a daily basis and I typically don’t do the dink get you through the tougher days of summer. thing – trying to scratch a box of keepers from a hundred small ones.

May your fishing always be catching. -Guide Jay Watkins Larger trout become increasingly unpredictable during tough years. The concept of running and hunting while fundamentally sound can also Jay Watkins has been a full-time fishing guide at Rockport, lead to a morning of searching and little catching.

TX, for more than 20 years. Jay specializes in wading yearround for trout and redfish with artificial lures. Jay covers During August through September, the best bite will often occur the Texas coast from San Antonio Bay to Corpus Christi Bay. extremely early and for a brief period. Miss that window and you will likely struggle in the effort to make the day a successful one. I Telephone 361-729-9596 personally feel more confident when I know of numerous areas with Email Jay@jaywatkins.com high possibilities in order to be comfortable with the day’s prospects.

Website www.jaywatkins.com Here in my fortieth year of guiding I still get highly upset when I fail for TSFMAG.com | 29

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

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

TIDES & WATER MOVEMENT While co-hosting the Bite Me Saltwater Fishing Podcast I have come to realize just how confused many people are about these two subjects. We receive a wide range of questions via Facebook and email but some come up more often than others. I get it.

Any advice you get about saltwater fishing tends to start off with water movement, but figuring out the when and why water moves can be confusing. This will likely seem a rehash of Tides 101 for old salts but

30 | August 2020

hopefully there are enough people out there who need this to justify the magazine space.

I’m often asked whether I like a high or low tide.

Depends on what I’m targeting and time of year. Do I prefer incoming or outgoing? Again, it depends. There are no hard and fast rules but the need for some kind of water movement is as close as it gets. Generally speaking if the water is stale things aren’t going to go well.

Texas is huge. We have roughly 367 miles of coastline from Sabine to the Rio Grande and hundreds of thousands of surface acres of inland bays, marshes and tidal waterways. The Galveston Bay complex alone accounts for nearly 400,000 acres. Take a good look at a map and note how Texas bays are oriented – the long and gradual curve from east/west along the Upper Coast to the north/ south orientation of the Lower Coast plays a huge role in water movement.

No matter how many times I fish the Lower Laguna Madre I still can’t get used to where the sun comes up.

Why is the shape and orientation of our bays so important to water movement? In a word – wind. Wind plays a huge part in water movement.

Give me a low tide in the marsh!

clear. I finally figured it out when I decided to stay in that cove all day. The morning low tide had clear water and easy pickings for sightcasting bull reds. As the tide came in I noticed a plume of dirty water emanating from two very small bayous that seemingly led into nothing but a big marsh. Where I had assumed water would be flowing into these areas on the incoming tide, I found it was actually coming out of the bayous. I poled into the larger of the two and found that it did indeed lead into an expanse of marsh with a soft, silty bottom. And then it led farther back to the main ship channel.

Aha! A strong incoming tide was pushing from the channel, kicking up marsh silt and delivering it to my cove.

Get out there and figure it out. For me, that’s the best part of the journey from newbie to old salt.

C O N TA C T

In many areas the wind is a greater influence than the actual tide schedule. While you’ve got that map out, take a look at the passes along our coast. We are somewhat short on openings considering the length of our coastline and the amount of water that lies inland. With the recent closings of Rollover Pass and Cedar Bayou, I count fifteen openings. Of these I’d consider only eight or nine as major passes capable of allowing a significant amount of water movement.

It becomes readily apparent that many places within our bay systems have little or no communication with the Gulf of Mexico. This leads to the first bit of confusion many people have regarding the effect of tides on areas they plan to fish.

The further away from one of these passes you travel, the less the tide predictions will matter. When I fish the jetties or a natural pass, the tide schedule is really important. The tides will generally occur as predicted, but can be thrown off a little by wind or a heavy flood. A strong wind blowing straight into the pass will slow an outgoing tide and accelerate an incoming.

This next piece of information is important no matter where you fish. Sustained southerly wind blowing through a pass for several days will elevate the overall water level in adjacent bays, sometimes a couple of feet. That’s when you see coastal flood warnings issued even though it hasn’t been raining. The incoming tide is pushing a greater volume of water than normal and the outgoing is partially blocked.

Also of note, the first calm day following such a wind and tide event will result in an outgoing tide that runs longer and harder than predicted. As the wind relaxes, the dam breaks and all that excess water leaves.

The opposite occurs in winter when a strong norther blows through the region. I’ve written several times about “drain days” being my favorite time to fish the marshes. The exact wind direction required for a huge tide dump to occur varies according to the orientation of the bays and passes. This one requires on-the-water experience to figure out.

The further away from a pass you get the less moondriven tide will affect you. It will also affect the timing of highs and lows. Compare the Galveston jetties to the upper end of Trinity Bay. Even though Trinity’s tide originates at Galveston it is far different in both timing and strength.

San Antonio Bay, Baffin, and parts of the Laguna Madre are so far removed from a pass that their tide prediction are almost a flat line.

Highs and lows are measured in a few inches. Water movement in these places is largely dependent on the wind. While much of the coast welcomes a calm day, you’ll often hear guys from these areas praying for wind. Dead calm conditions in these bays can lead to really tough fishing.

When you combine solunar charts, tide schedules, and wind predictions it’s easy to see why there is so much confusion over choosing optimum fishing days. Waiting for all these to align favorably could mean you’ll rarely venture out. My advice is to go when you can and learn to deal with the conditions you are given. Experience is still the best teacher, even with a world of information at our fingertips.

When I first started fishing Louisiana I was confused how a cove I liked to fish would go from perfectly clear to nasty in a matter of a few hours with no change in the wind, and adjacent areas remained

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

Telephone Email Website

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

TSFMAG.com | 31

By Justin Cournoyer | Coastal Ecologist, Dickinson Marine Lab

FIELD NOTES

MICROPLASTICS: A CLOSER LOOK Over half a century ago, the mass production of plastics rapidly changed the world and was hailed for raising our standard of living. In its infancy, the plastics industry filled the gap created by unsustainable harvest of wildlife products such as horn, tortoiseshell, and ivory by generating imitation luxury items that were difficult to tell apart from their original counterparts. These imitation luxury items, however, could be enjoyed across all socio-economic classes and not just the wealthy. Soon thereafter, metals, wood, and other natural resources were no longer necessary for manufactured goods and were replaced by a uniformly made product that would revolutionize food and health safety practices worldwide.

It was not until the second half of the twentieth century that communities observed the hidden cost associated with the resiliency of plastics in our environment.

Miniscule in size, with the potential to become a Texassized problem, microplastics have been trending as one of the largest pollution concerns in our waters. Microplastics range in size from 5 millimeters (mm), or about the width of a drinking straw, to 50 micrometers (Îźm), about half the width of a human hair. Larger plastics in common household items like water bottles and clothing are made up of microplastics and microfibers known as primary microplastics. Secondary microplastics are the result of larger plastics degrading into incrementally smaller pieces due to weathering. Commonly washed into the sea by runoff or from treated wastewater, microplastics can enter Texas waters through different avenues and are documented in higher densities near urban areas.

These tiny particles have been found inside some of Texas’

Fig1: Microplastic waste on the beach at Galveston Island State Park, found on the nearest high tide line.

32 | August 2020

primary seafood species including shrimp, oysters, and fish. How these plastics affect marine life after they are ingested, and the cumulative effects they have on people who consume shellfish and fish are not well understood.

With a majority of microplastic pollution being created on land, it is no wonder fish living near shore ingest more plastic than open ocean species. Another likely contributor to differences in plastic accumulation across species is the specific feeding strategy used by each. For instance, sedentary filter feeders like oysters are unable to discern food particles from microplastics in the water column. Forage and bait fish, as well as many juvenile fish, are found to have ingested significantly more plastics than their predatory counterparts. Many of these nearshore species feed on phytoplankton, zooplankton, or other miniscule organisms, leading to intentional feeding on drifting plastics mistaken as food items. Piscivores, carnivorous predatory animals that feed primarily on other fish, have been discovered to have significantly fewer microplastics in their digestive tract than forage fish. This is most likely due to predatory fish feeding on living, moving prey, which creates less potential for the misidentification of plastic as a prey item. Consequently, predatory species are most likely consuming plastic inadvertently during feeding or by circumstance when their prey has already consumed microplastics.

As microplastics increase in the environment, it is imperative to determine how both recreational and commercial fisheries in Texas may be impacted. Popular recreational fishing targets like red drum, speckled trout, and southern flounder appear to be less of a concern, as their predatory feeding habits present limited opportunity for plastic consumption. Similarly, offshore Texas predators like red snapper and dorado are ingesting very limited amounts of microplastics. In contrast, nearshore and filter feeding species such as the Atlantic croaker, blue crab, and eastern oyster have an affinity for smaller food items and frequently consume plastic debris that appears similar to their intended prey. It is likely that these species will become a priority in future plastics monitoring as they are more vulnerable to microplastic accumulation in their digestive systems.

Once thought to be merely an

aesthetic problem, microplastics are now linked to our food supply. Other than seafood, microplastics are encountered in an assortment of familiar consumables, namely bottled water, beer, honey, and sea salt. At present, there is minimal information on the duration that plastic remains in the human body once consumed. Observations indicate that the amount of plastic passed on to humans through food is minimal.

While plastic is known to contain toxins, current research cannot describe if and how humans are absorbing them. As a result, the effects of microplastics on the human body are not completely understood. Fortunately, many seafood options have their digestive tracts removed prior to consumption, greatly reducing the chance of ingesting seafood-borne microplastics.

Nevertheless, microplastics have been found inside the tissue, exoskeleton, and livers of various organisms. Future research efforts may seek to understand the mechanisms involved in the translocation of microplastics from inside the digestive tract to other anatomical systems.

Worldwide, over 9 billion metric tons of plastic, or about 1.2 tons per person, have been produced. According to current projections, each new decade will bring an additional billion tons. If discarded improperly, a small percentage of plastic is capable of making a substantial impact.

While microplastics are a rising concern worldwide, researchers are working to explore the impacts of microplastics on fisheries and human health. Local partners of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department like the Galveston Bay Estuary Program have begun funding regional studies to better understand the occurrence and impacts of microplastics in Galveston Bay’s tributaries. Texas anglers can do their

Fig2: Close-up of microplastic waste found on the beach at Galveston Island State Park.

part by remembering to stow it – don’t throw it. Recycle used fishing line, and avoid single-use plastics when possible. Anglers can also support and participate in research efforts by local universities and nonprofit groups, such as the Galveston Bay Foundation. As consumers of plastics, we all have a vital role to play in reducing the amount of plastic waste that escapes into our coastal environments.

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

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DAV E R O B E R T S

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

WHY NOT HERE? Time on the water has taught me a lot about fish behavior.

Among these are seasonal forage preferences, where they go during low and high tide periods, and how they react to changes in salinity during rainy seasons. While fish can become somewhat predictable at times, it is important to recognize that their patterns change frequently; sometimes slowly, sometimes rather abruptly. The ability to stay with a pattern and predict their next move is a skill anglers can develop by being observant.

During conversations with other anglers, I am frequently asked what they were biting on and where did I find them. These are easy questions to answer as regards a specific day of fishing. However, when the questions become more general they become much tougher to answer. One question that has always left me stumped is, “Why are the fish NOT here?�

While on the face this might be a fairly simple question, let me elaborate on a situation with which I have consistently drawn a blank. A year or so back I was doing my usual scouting on Google Maps, searching for promising areas I had never fished. Studying a particular 34 | August 2020

set of marsh ponds I decided to explore and investigate on my next outing.

The first time back there, I paddled a small slough that led to series of small ponds that would eventually take me to a set of larger, more open bodies of marsh water. I tend to favor the smaller, overlooked ponds. Upon arriving, I noticed the banks were lined with grass and that is always a promising sign. Working my way along I did not receive a strike or even a blow-up. Neither did I see or spook a redfish. I continued farther back, figuring to target the mouth of the main channel where it intersects a larger pond. I managed a pair of rat reds on a popping cork rig. I continued exploring, fully expecting to locate a school of feeding fish. Despite a thorough effort I came up short.

This area is beautiful any way you look at it. Decent tidal movement, access to deep water, structure, plenty of bait, and no boat traffic. To top it off it was midOctober, a time when we’d expect such a place to be stacked with fish. To say I was mystified would be an understatement. I chalked it up to an off day but kept it on my radar as a place to revisit on a future trip.

what they do, even if we may never fully understand all of it, is what continuously challenges us and draws us to the water.

C O N TA C T

A few weeks back, I got the urge to go look at something different and I remembered that forgotten spot from the year before. I figured I would give it another shot. This would be my fourth trip there, the first three having produced similarly disappointing results but I still held hope for a better outcome. I called my buddy Wesley to see if he wanted to make the journey and he quickly obliged.

We launched at daylight and were greeted with the makings of a near perfect day.

The beginning of an incoming tide and a slight southeast breeze, just enough to ripple the surface. As is our normal fashion, Wesley and I split up as we entered each pond, with a plan to explore the shorelines and meet again to follow the slough into the next one.

We fished a large portion of the area thoroughly with nothing to show for the effort.

Putting our heads together we decided to change our presentations in hope that it might change our luck. We paddled on, planning to not stop and fish until we spotted something promising.

Almost to the back of a large pond I discovered a large patch of grass surrounded by clear water. It piqued my interest and I stood in the kayak for a better look. I spotted a nice redfish, made a cast and hooked up instantly. Finally, a decent redfish! We hoped we were onto something but that fish turned out to be the only one that day.

Back at the launch we reviewed the events of the day and agreed there was no reason for the area to be so void of redfish. It’s so perfect in so many ways. Which begs the question; “Why not here?”

I fish many areas and can normally assign a reason why fishing might be slower than expected. Little to no tidal flow, excessive boat traffic, poor weather; the reasons can be many and varied. These I can comprehend. But when an area with prime conditions seems to never hold fish after so many visits leaves me puzzled.

It’s still fishing, though. And seeking the answers to why they do

Dave Roberts is an avid kayak-fishing enthusiast fishing primarily the inshore Upper Coast region with occasional adventures to surf and nearshore Gulf of Mexico.

Email: TexasKayakChronicles@yahoo.com Website: www.TexasKayakChronicles.com

TSFMAG.com | 35

Sabine Reef will soon receive cultch materials in the restoration of this historic reef in Sabine Lake.

Material deployment should be completed by late-August. -Lisa Laskowski Photography.

Story by John Blaha

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

THE YEAR OF CHALLENGES 2020 has become a year many of us are ready to see pass on in the world of conservation. While great strides have been made in different areas of conservation, the COVID19 pandemic has caused many issues for CCA Texas and like organizations across the state and nation. Fundraisers have been cancelled, rescheduled and/or totally re-designed so that the long traditions of conservation efforts led by our diligent and dedicated volunteers can continue to move forward. The legislative efforts of CCA Texas continue as well. The 2020 session brought great strides in the management of southern flounder, the committees continue to keep a watchful eye on issues surrounding the expansion of the Port of Corpus Christi, and other issues that affect the health of Texas’s coastal resources.

Habitat work continues as well. After delays in the delivery of materials, the Dagger Island project that CCA Texas and Building Conservation Trust (BCT) have partnered with Ducks Unlimited and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is nearing completion on the current phase. Once this work is completed the contractors will begin their work on the Sabine Lake oyster reef restoration project. Hopes are high that this will be completed by late summer and early fall. Bid packages were released the week of June 29 and TPWD will have a contractor in place mid-August.

Work will begin as soon as possible and the project 36 | August 2020

has a completion date set of August 2021. So while the challenges are many at the present time, CCA Texas, BCT and others continue to work tirelessly for Texas’s coastal resources. If you know of any individuals, companies or foundations that might want to support the habitat creation and restoration efforts of CCA Texas and BCT, please contact John Blaha at jdblaha@ccatexas.org or Pat Murray at pdmurray@joincca.org.

TPWD Commissioner Patton Makes Commitment to Flounder Research | By Shane Bonnot In late May, The University of Texas Marine Science Institute (UTMSI) announced that Bobby Patton, a Fort Worth businessman, donated $1 million to UTMSI to support southern flounder research. As a part-time resident of Port Aransas, member of the UTMSI Advisory Council, member of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission and avid angler, Patton is no stranger to the plight of the southern flounder and wants to see meaningful change in the fishery to ensure a recovery of the species.

Per a May 29, 2020 UTMSI press release, Patton states, “I’m passionate about fishing and committed to making decisions with the best facts available.

As a commissioner on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, I want to do what is right for flounder and what is right for Texas. I think there is universal

December 15 was also adopted but will be delayed until 2021, citing economic concerns arising from the Covid-19 Pandemic.

While it remains to be seen what specific research will be conducted, UTMSI states that the donation will dramatically increase their efforts to research flounder reproductive capability and the critical times in their life cycle that require special attention from fishery managers and anglers to reverse the population decline.

It’s not often that you see such a generous donation directed at such a specific problem in fisheries management and harkens back to the early days of the red drum recovery when there was an outpouring of support and donations from dedicated anglers and conservationists to establish a stock enhancement program. Thank you, Mr. Bobby Patton - Your donation to such a worthy cause is much appreciated by the angling community and your name will be recalled when the stories of the southern flounder recovery are told by Sabine HI20 out of Sabine Pass, and Big Man’s and Kate’s Reef sites will future generations.

agreement that flounder populations are in trouble not only in Texas but nationwide.”

Patton’s donation came on the heels of a decision by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission to raise the minimum size to 15 inches and strengthen language for commercial fishers to report all landings.

An additional measure to close flounder fishing from November 1 –

both have pyramids deployed in the near future. The bid requests are out and contracts will be awarded soon. -Lisa Laskowski Photography.

TSFMAG.com | 37

This is one of two giant isopods (Bathynomous gigantus) seen during Dive 11 of the 2019 Southeastern U.S. Deep-sea Exploration. Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2019 Southeastern U.S. Deep-sea Exploration.

Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

STEPHANIE BOYD

F I S H Y FA C T S

GIANT ISOPOD

Giant isopods are the largest known member of the isopod family, a group of crustaceans that are closely related to shrimp and crabs. They are also related to Armadillidium vulgare, who you might know as the pillbug or roly-poly. Like its terrestrial cousin, the giant isopod’s body is protected by a hard shell that is divided into segments. The first shell segment is fused to the head; the posterior segments are often fused to their body, forming a “caudal shield” over the abdomen. The shell comes in two varieties: brown and pale lilac. The top of the first shell segment extends out over the isopod’s large, fixed eyes. Just like its land-based counterpart, the isopod has compound eyes, with over 4,000 individual facets, giving the animal a large field of view and sensitivity to fast movements. Any light that shines on their eyes is reflected back through the retina by a part of their eye called the tapetum lucidum (located at the back of the retina), creating a glowing effect. The tapetum has evolved in many different species of animals, including cats and alligators, and serves to assist with vision in low light conditions. However, even with these highly specialized eyes, the giant isopod’s vision is very poor, thanks to their generally lightless environment. Giant isopods are found in most oceans of the world, ranging in depth from the dimly lit sublittoral zone at 550 feet to the pitch darkness of the bathypelagic zone at 7,020 feet. Typically bottom dwellers, they prefer mud or clay seafloor.

They have been recorded in the West Atlantic from off Georgia to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and the 38 | August 2020

Caribbean. Bathynomus giganteus is one of four known Atlantic species and the only species recorded off the United States. Because light is extremely faint in the deep sea, giant isopods have developed large antennae to feel their way around as they crawl along the ocean floor.

They have two sets: a smaller pair used more for chemical sensing, and a larger pair about half the length of their body that are used for physical sensing. Giant isopods have seven pairs of pereopods (legs). The first pair is modified to move food to the isopod’s four sets of jaws.

Segments on the abdomen are modified for swimming (called natatorial legs) and breathing (called rami, flat respiratory structures acting as gills). They also have little hooked claws at the ends of their legs. Makes it easier to move around on the ocean floor.

Bathynomus giganteus averages between 7.5 and 14 inches in length, but can reach up to 2.5 feet and nearly 4 pounds. The enormous size of giant isopods is a result of a phenomenon called deep-sea gigantism, or abyssal gigantism – the tendency of deep-sea animals to reach much larger sizes than similar species in shallower waters.

Another example of this phenomenon you might be familiar with is the giant squid, which grows to a length of nearly 60 feet in the deep sea. In comparison, its shallowerwater cousins only grow to about two feet. There are many theories as to the cause of deep-sea gigantism. It may help creatures survive the extreme pressure of the deep ocean.

Or it could be an adaptation to food scarcity, delaying sexual maturity and resulting in greater size. Also, decreasing

temperature is thought to increase cell size and life span, which would lead to an increase in maximum body size. Another possible factor is that the deeper an animal lives, the less predators there are, so animals can safely grow to larger sizes. All in all, it’s a mystery.

The giant isopod is carnivorous, generally scavenging the sea floor.

Food is extremely scarce at these great depths, so the isopod eats whatever happens to fall from above, such as the bodies of dead whales, fish, squid, crabs, and shrimp. There is some evidence that isopods will also prey on slow-moving animals, such as sea cucumbers and sponges. They are known to attack trawl catches. One was filmed latching onto and eating a larger dogfish shark in a deep-water trap; the footage was aired during the 2015 episode of Shark Week, “Alien Sharks: Close Encounters.” These isopods can fast for long periods of time, even years. A giant isopod at the Toba Aquarium in Japan survived for 5 years without eating (even though food was offered every day). At the Aquarium of the Pacific, one keeper reported that their isopods only eat a few times a year; one only ate twice one year.

When they do eat, they gorge themselves to the point where they can’t move anymore. They’re always in a state of semi-hibernation since meals can be few and far between. Luckily, they don’t have many natural predators. When a predator does approach, the isopod will raise its legs up in the air and try to make itself appear as large and as dangerous as possible. But if that doesn’t work, it can roll itself up just like a pillbug, exposing only the tough exterior shell. While they do spend most of their time trundling along the sea floor, they are capable of swimming – upright, straightforward, and even upside down.

It is believed that giant isopod spawning peaks in the spring and winter months because more food is available than in the summer.

Mature females develop a brood pouch, or marsupium, when sexually active, which can hold up to 30 half-inch eggs (the largest eggs of any marine invertebrate). Males have two specialized organs: 1) peenies, small white appendages that carry sperm, and 2) an The "charismatic" deep sea crustacean, Bathynomis giganteus.

Gulf of Mexico, 9-2-05.

Credit: Operation Deep Scope 2005 Expedition: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration. Licensed under CC BY 2.0.

appendix masculina, which transfers sperm to the female. (Fun fact: smaller isopods usually have bigger peenies, according to a keeper at Aquarium of the Pacific.) Males inject sperm into the female after her parturial molt (aka spawning molt) – because she’s softer. Females bury themselves in the sediment until the eggs are ready for hatching. This is when having a slow metabolism really comes in handy. Young isopods escape from the marsupium as fully formed miniatures of the adults.

They are about 3.5 inches long and almost fully developed, lacking only the last pair of legs. At this stage, they are known as manca. Bypassing the larval stage increases the young’s chances of survival. Younger isopods molt often to gain size. Adults molt more rarely.

Bathynomus giganteus is not listed on the IUCN Red List, and giant isopods in general are not usually fished commercially – although some can be found in the occasional seaside restaurant in northern Taiwan, where they are boiled and served with rice. The main threats to giant isopod populations include deep sea trawlers, which are catching brooding females with increasing frequency, and pollution.

Analysis of the stomach contents of three specimens collected in the southern Gulf of Mexico, north of the Yucatan Peninsula, included large quantities of plastic. Just another indication of the prevalence and persistence of plastic debris in the oceans. From the fossil record, it seems that giant isopods existed more than 160 million years ago (middle of the Jurassic period), during the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea. So there’s a good chance they’ll outlive us all.

Where I learned about giant isopods, and you can too!

Aquarium of the Pacific www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/giant_isopod Natural History Museum www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/giant-isopods-curious-crustaceans-on-the-oceanfloor.html World Register of Marine Species www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=259252 SeaLifeBase www.sealifebase.se/summary/Bathynomus-giganteus.html Oceanwide Expeditions oceanwide-expeditions.com/blog/deep-sea-dwellers-10-facts-about-theantarctic-giant-isopod Sea and Sky www.seasky.org/deep-sea/giant-isopod.html Radiolab www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/i-wont-eat-you-cant-make-me Mental Floss www.mentalfloss.com/article/56278/18-awesome-facts-about-giant-isopods Diving Almanac divingalmanac.com/largest-isopod/ Japan Times www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/02/26/national/tanks-deep-sea-isopodhasnt-eaten-for-over-four-years#.XsQknGhKjBV Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_isopod TSFMAG.com | 39

Close encounter with a magnificent frigatebird is more likely to occur on a kayak than any other watercraft.

ERIC OZOLINS

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

THE ADVENTUROUS WORLD OF

KAYAK FISHING

Offshore kayak fishing has been a passion of mine for over two decades. I helped pioneer “beyond the breakers” kayaking. Today, the sport has grown to previously unimaginable popularity.

Kayaking provides the ultimate in personal freedom on the water. The ability to travel to otherwise remote, isolated spots dramatically enhances the productivity of the sport. These days, world-wide, individuals of all ages take advantage of the stealth kayaking provides.

I planted my roots in the sport somewhat by accident. Shark fishing has served as the primary obsession of my adult life. When sit-on-top kayaks hit the market, shark fishermen began using them to deploy big baits, eliminating the need for the surf boards, inflatable rafts and jet skis they used previously.

By the turn of the century, kayaks became the norm for

40 | August 2020

dropping baits far off the beach.

I purchased my first kayak around that time, a smaller Ocean Kayak model which I utilized for both fresh and saltwater. The more I became focused on shark fishing, the more I dedicated the tool to that purpose, but I also recognized its broader potential.

Summertime shark fishing can feel relentlessly dull, especially during the day. Hot, grease-calm waters can seem stagnant and lifeless, until one sees organized bird and bait activity just offshore. One day, while sitting on the beach bored, waiting for a bite, I decided to break the monotony by hopping in the kayak and chasing the birds.

I soon found myself catching bonito and jack crevalle.

All I could think of at first was how the fresh bait would increase my odds of getting a shark to bite. After making forays to catch bait for about a year, I evolved. I began to drive the beach without any Cobia add thought of catching sharks, simply excitement to to pursue the variety of fish offshore padding feeding just outside the breakers. adventures…both At some point, my fellow bigfor the angling thrill as well as on game kayaking pioneers Curtis the dinner plate.

Mai and Kyle Lamoureux joined, and we started to catch fish like bonito and then free-line them live on light rods. Proudly, we were among the first anglers to actively target and catch sharks from kayaks.

Over time I found myself thirsting for more opportunities and adventures; catching king mackerel from the kayak became

C O N TA C T

the next big thing. The kings’ tremendous speed and airborne antics make fighting them from atop a raft of molded plastic a real thrill ride. We started to paddle around the jetties and found plenty of the silver bullets.

While doing so, we hooked giant jacks which took us on summertime sleigh rides. Our appetites for adventure pulled us farther from the rocks, and we began venturing to nearshore oil platforms. Paddling up to four miles in the kayaks, we discovered a virtually untapped fishery. By conventional power boats, reaching these rigs would require long, largely unwarranted hauls. Paddling to them from the beach provided quick access to Some call them pristine locations, where we explored the idea of little tunny, most catching red snapper from our kayaks! know them as bonito…all Thoughts of new kinds of exploration continued anglers love their racing around in my head. What if we could fish secret feisty attitude. locations, with no visible structures? With thoughts of more and bigger fish, I and a couple others became the first to actively target hidden structures near the South Texas Coast, mostly within two miles of the beach.

The ocean floor close to our coastline generally looks flat and sandy, but anomalies do interrupt its uniformity. The remnants of ancient formations pepper the bottom under our waters, just off the beach. Many of these rocky structures are the size of a school bus, some even smaller; each provides a home to many reef fish.

We also located a handful of larger structures, some bigger than a football field. All these underwater gems provide refuge and food to gamefish year-around.

Small rock Until about ten years ago, we had these inshore formations as close as a few miles from secret spots mostly to ourselves. Few people knew the beach often anything about them. I understood the importance hold surprising of keeping the locations of these anomalies secret. numbers of reef fish.

Secrecy in the fishing world is useful; exposing the locations of productive spots leads to knowledge the breakers time after time. spreading like wildfire.

Offshore kayak fishing is unique. It provides a precious, revered This eventually happened, when boats coming out of Port sense of adventure. On my kayak, I’ve been dragged miles offshore Mansfield openly revealed the locations of these spots, which started fighting and landing hammerhead sharks. I’ve won tournaments at a self-sustaining dynamo, at times creating a fleet of vessels visible some of my secret spots and lost track of how many STAR-worthy king from the beach. Kayakers began to venture out and join the fray. Now, mackerel we’ve admired and released. I’ve landed giant, leaping cobia crowds of people fish these spots regularly. In less than a decade, we and seen freakishly huge sharks while floating atop my plastic yak. lost the secrecy of most of our spots, but I’ve discovered new ones Strangely, paddling just a couple miles out opens up a whole through disciplined observation of the depth-finder. Rest assured I’ll new world. Offshore kayaking provides the ultimate in personal vigorously guard the locations of those! angling adventures and lifts my spirits like no other form of fishing.

Aside from fishing these gloriously productive structures, one After twenty-some years, I know I’ll be paddling beyond the of the most enjoyable aspects of kayaking beyond the breakers is breakers as long as I’m able. chasing birds. As summer rolls on, baitballs begin to form and run the nearshore waters. Birds and predatory fish find them. Those who For the past decade Eric ‘Oz’ Ozolins has been promoting paddle out to meet them encounter Spanish mackerel, skipjacks, jack shark catch and release and assisting various shark research crevalle, and sharks. Sometimes, kings, cobia, and tarpon join the mix. programs. Eric offers guided shark fishing on Padre Island These baitballs always travel with the current, so folks who chase them National Seashore. Also renowned for extreme kayak big game should be ready to cover water. fishing, Eric is the owner of Catch Sharks Tackle Company.

While I have not landed one from a kayak in Texas waters, I’ve oz@oceanepics.com Email seen sailfish slicing through the baitballs. For many, this is a bucketWebsites oceanepics.com | catchsharks.com list fish to catch from the yak; the dream keeps us paddling through TSFMAG.com | 41

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DICKIE COLBURN

DICKIE COLBURN’S Sabine Scene

If you were new to this area you might well believe that it rains every day, but locals would tell you that it has really been pretty dry this summer. When it does rain it storms, but salinity levels continue to rise and the water clarity S ab i n e remains stable.

While the trout bite thus far has been anything but textbook, numbers and size continue to improve across most of Dickie Colburn is a full the lake. Fishing pressure has increased time guide out of Orange, as well due to more and more folks Texas. Dickie has 37 years turning to the outdoors as a respite experience guiding on Sabine and Calcasieu Lakes. from the dreaded virus.

A stiffer south wind seemingly Telephone blows every day and it has kept the 409-883-0723 water stacked up in the lake and Website surrounding marshes. An unexplained www.sabineconnection.com run of stronger than usual incoming tides has also contributed to the glut of water. The saving grace is the fact that the extra water is salty.

How to avoid the heat and Covid-19!

44 | August 2020

Without a doubt, the most consistent trout bite has been, and still is, taking place from Light House Cove to the end of the jetties. When they are doing their thing, a lot of 16 to 20 inch trout are riding home with fishermen at the end of the day.

The ship channel has been very dependable, but the action gets even more exciting when anglers can slip through the boat cuts and fish the Gulf side of the jetties. Once you have decided which cut you will fish, and the wind usually helps with that decision, it is simply a matter of electing to work to the south or back toward the beach.

I am convinced that I have made the wrong decision more times than not. We still catch a few fish either way, but that mistake is easily confirmed when we get back to the landing!

A She Dog or Skitter Walk have their moments, but crankbaits and four inch Swim Baits get most of the playing time. Having said that, I cannot recall a trip when at least one of the people in the boat wasn’t catching fish on a four inch Sea Shad or Lil” John rigged under a cork.

The cork set-up has also been very effective when drifting shallow shell in the lake, but those fish on average have been smaller.

I have been launching on the Louisiana side, not to keep more and smaller trout, but to eliminate a long uncomfortable boat ride most days. The parking lot is usually full and I don’t think most of those fishermen are simply trying to avoid a long boat ride.

I don’t have enough years left to learn how to more effectively fish the ship channel, but up until this year I have done well enough simply bouncing plastics off the bottom all the way from the shoreline out to the twelve-foot breaks.

With the exception of a few healthy flounder, however, I was struggling to locate both trout and redfish.

When we unexpectedly caught a solid trout or two while quickly retrieving our swimbaits to make another cast, the light flickered a little and we switched to small-bodied crankbaits that run 8 to 12 feet deep, tied on 12 pound monofilament. We seldom catch just one or two fish when we locate them and expecting my next strike rather than hoping for one makes fishing more fun.

Color has been a difference maker thus far and the hottest colors for us have been Sexy Shad and gold with a black back. We are also cutting off the barb opposite the other two and losing fewer lures to the rocks. More often than not, they will simply float free when you quit reeling.

You have got to fish where the fish live and I am convinced that not doing just that is the main reason I am currently not catching more redfish. Capt. Chuck says he is finding a lot of slot reds in the flooded marshes, but I don’t fish that program. I do, however, usually spend a lot more time fishing the cuts exiting those marshes, but that tactic does not fit well with trying to exploit the trout program on the south end.

I look for that to change very shortly and I expect surface feeding schools to start hounding the shad later this month. When the lake is flat, it is not unusual to hear them before you see them!

No baseball and very little swimming has created even more fishing time for the youngsters and I am loving it!

TSFMAG.com | 45

BINK GRIMES

THE VIEW FROM Matagorda

A slight switch in the wind direction means everything to coastal Texans.

Southeast wind normally brings a low barometer with it; and, falling barometric pressure is generally more conducive for fish to bite. North winds M ata go r d a flatten the summer surf, giving us miles and miles of guts and bars to work all along the beach.

More good news with an easterly Bink Grimes is a full-time fishing flow is that tides rise and push water and hunting guide, freelance writer and photographer, and to back lakes and upper reaches of owner of Sunrise Lodge on estuaries devoid of tidal inflow for Matagorda Bay. most of the summer. To put it plainly, the bays get a shot in the arm when Telephone southeast winds blow.

979-241-1705 Many days in August we pray for Email wind.

Sure, it›s hot, but if you leave binkgrimes@sbcglobal.net the dock a little earlier and head to Website matagordasunriselodge.com the dock before it blisters, August can be just as profitable as June.

Don’t be surprised to find birds working along the north shoreline with calm conditions. Since the ICW runs along the northern boundary of East Bay, those shrimp running the “ditch” often enter the bay on the incoming tide.

Likewise, the reefs along the north shoreline are a boon for waders tossing topwaters on the incoming tide. Never underestimate the cuts leading to the bay on the incoming tide as well. Those fish enter and exit the ditch daily through the cuts. Growing up in Chambers County we frequented nearby Rollover Pass and fished up on the moving tide. The same principle applies here.

The mid-bay reefs consistently hold good trout in August. We start out in waist-deep water on the shell drop then end up in chest-deep water on the end of the reef as the water warms. Know your tides. There have been many mornings I have arrived to find nothing, but patience prevails knowing the incoming tide will bring fish to the reef. Slicks popping in deeper water adjacent to the reef are good signs.

When winds are light, we drift the middle of East Bay. Trout and redfish hang there all year, and slicks become more prevalent during August, especially for schooling redfish.

There are some good trout on the shorelines for waders as well. Again, it’s an early bite with the heat. We find those trout over the grass early – then mosey away toward the ledge a short distance off the shoreline in about 4-5 feet of water later in the day.

August normally brings with it weak cool fronts that knock down the humidity, flatten the Gulf of Mexico, and usher in the first batches of blue-winged teal. We will work the surf and 46 | August 2020

jetty on these days, concentrating in the first gut on the incoming tide and tossing topwaters on the outer bars on the falling tide.

Speaking of teal, the 16-day season will run Sept.12-27 this year. During the special season we will be hunting the morning and fishing the afternoon. If you are considering a guided teal hunt, don’t wait till September to book it.

Follow our daily reports on Facebook and Instagram and weekly on the Texas Insider Fishing Report on Fox Sports Southwest and AT&T Sportsnet.

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CAPT. GARY GRAY

MID-COAST BAYS With the Grays

Fishing and catching here along the middle-coast has been excellent all year. Sure, there were some days that I zigged when I should have zagged and missed a good trout bite in another area but, hey…that’s fishing.

Port O'Connor One thing that did stay consistent Seadrift during the several weeks has been the wind. From about the third week of June and up until the writing of Captain Gary Gray is a full this article the first week of July, the time guide, born and raised in wind has been steadily in the fifteen Seadrift. He has been guiding to twenty-five mile per hour range, the Seadrift/Port O’Connor even during the overnight hours it just region since 1986. Gary wouldn’t give us a break. I suspect the specializes in year ‘round wade fishing for speckled trout and wind will be slowing down to more redfish with artificial lures. normal velocities during the latter half of July and into August.

Telephone Going into August we will be 361-785-6708 planning on having light winds, Email bayrats@tisd.net barring any tropical storm activity in Website the Gulf of Mexico, of course. With www.bayrat.com that being said you can depend on my Facebook Shallow Sport X3 heading out through @captsgaryandshelliegray Pass Cavallo and pointing west down the beachfront. I will be looking for my friends the brown pelicans to show me to the Promised Land. The Promised Land of speckled trout and redfish, that is. There are many types of signs along the beachfront to help you locate the quarry you are seeking but I have found that I can almost solely rely on the brown pelican as my fish locator.

There are certain things I look for when I am watching for pelicans.

Number one on the list is pelicans standing on the water’s edge or even swimming in the first gut. When you see this it is practically a guarantee that you will be knee deep in reds and trout unless you spook the fish off trying to get to them.

The other pelican sign I look for is pelicans diving within the first three guts of the beachfront. I will stay away from any bird action occurring outside the third sandbar because this is where you will

discover some rather undesirable creatures: large sharks, giant stingrays, and a host of other toothy critters.

There have been days when I would be cruising the surf and never came across a pelican. In this case I had to depend on other signs such as seagulls or terns hovering over the first two guts, or actually seeing baitfish such as mullet fleeing from a predator.

Another tip I would like to pass along would be to avoid dirty water in the surf as much as possible. Dirty water in the surf usually means we are more likely to catch undesirable species more frequently than trout and redfish – sharks, gafftop, hardheads, and stingrays.

Something else you would do well to avoid is shrimp boats working along the beachfront. Fishing near a shrimper dragging the beachfront is practically a guarantee that you’re going to be catching sharks. The sharks follow the shrimpers as they drag their nets, eating all the scraps that get pushed through the net, and also because they learn very quickly that a smorgasbord of goodies will be dumped in the water when the shrimpers cull their catch.

When the surf gets flat and you want to try something new, start scanning the surface offshore to about 400 yards. Look for birds to lead you to schools of tarpon, bull reds, sharks, and jack crevalle. My customers and I have enjoyed countless hours throwing “coon pops” at schools of rolling tarpon but, like I said, be prepared to hook up on the aforementioned sharks, jacks, and bull reds.

Tarpon will generally hit a variety of lures. We have had success with the 6” Bass Assassin Sea Shad in Chartreuse Silver Glitter, Crystal Shad, and Fire Tiger. I rig these on 1/2 to 3/4 ounce jigheads. Large curlytailed plastics work well along with the larger DOA shrimp imitations.

Of course it’s hard to beat a large live shrimp tossed at a school of tarpon, or an eight-inch mullet drifted near the bottom or thrown into a school of rolling fish.

One thing to remember when chasing tarpon schools it to get upwind and drift toward them or use a trolling motor for the final couple hundred yards. If you try motoring in with your outboard you will push the school away and worse, you’ll get ugly looks from anyone else that may be trying to intercept the school.

Just remember, your options are almost without limit when the winds lay and the bays and gulf calm down. Be safe and courteous, and drink plenty of water because it’s going to be a hot one.

Fish hard, fish smart!

Bass Assassin 6” Sea Shads are like candy to tarpon and bull redfish.

John Byeseda landing a nice trout.

48 | August 2020

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DAVID ROWSEY

HOOKED UP WITH Rowsey

Well, the end of summer will soon be within our grasp. Speaking for myself, I’m pretty happy about that as the days have been long and too hot. I’m Upper having clients meet me very early in the Laguna/ morning hoping to pull off a good trout Ba f f i n bite and beat the afternoon baking.

August can be a pretty tough month to fish in all Texas waters.

Some bays will shine a little brighter, David Rowsey has over 25 years especially those with good tidal in Baffin and Upper Laguna flows from the gulf. Unfortunately, Madre; trophy trout with Baffin doesn’t have this and our water artificial lures is his specialty. temperatures usually become quite David has a great passion for elevated. As previously mentioned, it conservation and encourages catch and release of trophy fish. is critical to start your day early down here if catching trout is your preferred Telephone game. The dark of early morning until 361-960-0340 0900 or so is going to be your peak Website bite on lures. When the stars align, www.DavidRowsey.com Email meaning that the conditions are calm david.rowsey@yahoo.com and you have found a school of mullet circling a rock formation, you better @captdavidrowsey buy some lotto tickets because this scenario can keep you in quality fish all day long…even in August’s heat.

The heat of the summer finds me “rock hopping” with the trolling motor more than any other time of the year. I typically wade 98 out of 100 days, but August heat changes things for anglers wanting to focus solely on trout. The deeper rock formations in Baffin are awesome fish attractors and provide much cooler water to help beat the heat. Mullet use them for safety and also for forage, trout especially use them for shade, safety, and hunting grounds.

This time of year we have large schools of mullet throughout the bay system. As they make their way through the bay you can be assured there are trout cruising with them, waiting for an opportunity to take advantage of a straggler here and there. At some point these mullet are going to make it to any number of the hundreds of rock formations in Baffin.

My best guess is that they feel safe amongst the rocks (and they probably are to some extent), but this is the perfect opportunity for the trout to corral them and keep them pinned down. As the mullet congregate on the rocks and begin to sense predator presence the school gets tighter and tighter. For every mullet that braves an escape to a safer place, there are multiple trout ready to pounce on the one that broke from the safety of the formation.

From a fisherman’s perspective, this is as good a scenario as you could ever ask for and the catching will be almost be automatic… provided the angler practices good judgement. What I mean by that is the approach must be made quietly, staying a long cast away from both the trout and the mullet school.

Any number of lures will work but a lure that suspends or sinks slowly, such as a MirrOdine or a Bass Assassin on a light 50 | August 2020

jighead, is going to provide a more prolonged bite opportunity.

Why, you ask? There is no doubt you could catch a few on topwater, but the commotion of working the lure and the inevitable blowups that follow can be just enough to cause the school to bust out and scatter. We don’t want that!

The ideal way to approach it is to cast outside of the school and entice the trout on the farthest edges. Less commotion makes for catching many trout versus a few. When you have exhausted the edge bite you can begin working in closer with each successive cast. I have used this technique with great success for many years. It has not only worked well on the Baffin rocks but also on shell humps in bays as far north as East Matagorda and wrecks on the beach.

In closing, I will also add that we are seeing good schools of black drum throughout the Upper Laguna and Baffin right now. They are far and away the largest biomass of fish in our waters. They are also the best eating, in my opinion. If clients want fish to take home, drum are pretty easy to catch on any darker shade of Gulp baits. A big bonus to working a school of drum is that there are often a few good trout staged on the outside edges of the drum school, grabbing a free meal as the foraging drum spook smaller bait off the bottom. Food for thought.

Police yourselves. Give back and be a good steward of the bay.

Release trout over 20 inches!

Remember the buffalo! -Capt. David Rowsey

Pat Murphy is new to wading with lures but has put in many days with me this summer. Results of putting in the time and work are greater every trip. CPR!

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TSFMAG.com | 51

WAYNE DAVIS

WAYNE’S Mansfield Report

Greetings from Port Mansfield! What a rollercoaster; everything from a complete Covid-19 shutdown to a strong re-opening, to another pause in full-open operations. All this for Port the greater good I suppose, but it Mansfield sure is a challenge to the fishing industry. This is the busiest time of year for coastal vacationing, fishing Captain Wayne Davis has tournaments, and some been fishing the Lower of the largest fishing and Laguna-Port Mansfield for hunting expos. This year will over 20 years. He specializes not soon be forgotten. in wade fishing with lures.

Over the years I have gained some knowledge and Telephone experience that relates to 210-287-3877 Email the fishing community and captwayne@kwigglers.com I am beginning to sense a paradigm shift in the way this community views the resource. I see this as a grassroots thing and if you take time “to have the conversation” you might be pleasantly surprised how well it goes.

Our coastal fishery is currently facing pressure never before seen or even predicted. The increase in anglers and fishing tournaments is astonishing. There seems to be little accountability regarding tournament formats and the number of fish being retained. Some tournaments have been around for decades and refuse to recognize their impact on the fishery. Some recognize there might be an issue and have made small adjustments to their formats; i.e. number and size of fish being weighed for competition.

Many of us enjoy the challenge of competitive fishing but we should never forget the purpose is to declare a winner and it doesn’t take every participant killing a legal limit to decide this important question.

So, where does it begin? I would say with anglers such as yourself and guides like me and a few others. I do my best to encourage a balance of fish retention and conservation. I believe it is better to keep and eat a few 18-inch trout than 26s, 27s, and 28s. I also believe fish are better fresh than frozen for months, or forgotten and left to waste in freezers.

I care enough to be involved in programs such as Empty Stringers Catch and Release Program, Release Over 20, and have recently been invited to serve as an ambassador of ReleaSense; an initiative and outreach by Texas A&M University Corpus Christi Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies. I believe in these programs because I know they have potential for improving our fisheries. I have received training in fish tagging and will be assisting Dr. Greg Stunz and his team with this project. I will be focusing on flounder, trout longer than 25 inches, and snook. If you catch one with a tag, please report it.

About 50% of my charters are Empty Stringer trips and 52 | August 2020

the other half are fish-keeping trips. When I book new folks, I have what I call “the conversation.” It is simple. I ask them if they might be willing to release trout over 20 inches. I follow this by saying that keeping reds and a flounder (if we get lucky) is perfectly fine. The coolest part is that everyone agrees, most with eagerness. Sure, we may have a conversation about resource conservation but never has a single angler pushed back at the suggestion.

Aubree Garcia; firstI am willing to bet if more ever redfish on her guides, especially influential first-ever wading trip. ones, would simply have “the conversation” they would be pleasantly surprised, and what a positive impact they could have long term on our fishery.

Tides have been generally high but slowly beginning to diminish.

Our water remains in good shape, thanks to plentiful seagrass.

Some hot fishing areas can be challenging due to floating grass, especially during low tide periods.

Doubling back as the day’s tides increase can often be productive as the mats of grass drift away.

Lots of small trout right now, typical of summertime. KWigglers Willow Tails and Ball Tails in Texas Roach, Bone Diamond and Strawberry White are attracting lots of bites. Switching to weedless Colin Gay; a nice rigging with Willow Tails helps flatfish always with the floating grass problem. puts a smile on an angler’s face.

I have been catching lots of trout a bit shallower than waist-deep with a good percentage of keepers in the mix. About every other trip somebody will get a five pounder.

Reds have been generally scattered in shallow water but there are a few schools showing in deeper water. Flounder are also being found about every two or three trips; the landings seem somewhat lower compared to last year. We can expect a few more redfish schools to show as we move further into August and late summer. This is great fun when your group walks into a school of them.

Until next time, stay safe out there and remember it does not hurt to have “the conversation.”

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TSFMAG.com | 53

CAPT. ERNEST CISNEROS

SOUTH PADRE Fishing Scene

So here’s a little funny for you, with a bit of a serious twist. I have noticed recently that I can measure daily fishing success by the number of snacks I eat Arr o y o during a charter. The slower the bite C ol o ra d o the more I tend to eat. When we are t o Po rt enjoying a steady bite I eat less as I am I sa bel preoccupied with fishing. I’ve put on a few extra pounds over the past month.

That ought to tell you something.

A Brownsville-area native, We are now into the hottest part Capt. Ernest Cisneros fishes of summer with water temperatures the Lower Laguna Madre from Port Mansfield to Port Isabel. continuously rising. This factor alone Ernest specializes in wading can put a damper on fishing success, and poled skiff adventures for but never in all my experience can I snook, trout, and redfish. recall a summer when it has been so difficult to locate fish and get them to Cell bite on a consistent basis. With fishing 956-266-6454 Website participation and boat traffic at all-time www.tightlinescharters.com highs, even the tucked-away places I relied upon for years have been letting me down. There’s no such thing as a secret spot nowadays, and I believe our fish have changed their patterns because of it.

The majority of our fish are coming from deeper water compared to the past few months and fish in shallow water are becoming nearly impossible to approach without spooking them. Water temperatures are averaging high-80s and occasionally reaching the mid-90s, which always causes a picky bite. Topwater action has been slower than normal and most of our catches are being made with KWigglers Ball Tails on 1/4-ounce heads rather than our 1/8-ounce to keep the baits lower in deeper water.

But all is not doom and gloom. August is traditionally a rainy month for us as tropical weather events become more frequent. These storms

Sandy's first redfish came on a KWigglers Ball Tail Shad.

54 | August 2020

push our tides way above normal and the influx of water from the Gulf helps reduce bay water temperatures. Cloud cover helps, too. Higher tides give us more acres of fishable water in the back bays and fish feed more predictably in cooler water.

Summertime boat traffic has pushed the majority of our redfish off the flats and into deeper water. Bumping bottom with soft plastics has been our best presentation. With the rise in tides mentioned above, I expect to see redfish returning to shorelines, edges of spoils, and back bays on the west side. Keep a weedless gold spoon handy.

Hopefully, we’ll see better topwater action. Meanwhile, a pocketful of KWigglers Ball Tails and Willow Tails is probably the surest way for getting your line stretched.

Until about a month ago, our trout were running very solid; many mid-twenty-inchers and a few upper-twenties. As the water temps reached the upper-80s the trout numbers increased but the average size declined. If the reduction in water temps I am predicting actually happens, I expect to begin seeing even greater numbers and improved size as well.

Most of our trout effort has been focused along and near the ICW and deeper, green water of old oilfield cuts. There have been lots of small fish but a limit of decent keepers can be found during solunar feeding periods when the tide is moving. This is also the time of year when stingrays can be most numerous and, believe it or not, the rays are often trailed by both trout and reds taking advantage of bait they flush from the bottom. Keep a close watch, not only to avoid stepping on one, but also for the gamefish trailing them.

Slicks are always a good sign that trout are feeding. Most of the clues are visual but their sweet aroma drifting on the wind should alert you to feeding activity occurring upwind, behind you while wading. Slicks popping repeatedly from an area are often a sign of productive bottom structure you might have overlooked and always worth investigating. Hopefully this Covid-19 thing will settle down and schools will reopen later in the month. Reduced boat traffic and cooler water temps should provide a nice boost to our trout fishing success.

AJ Harmon's The flounder and snook bites have first redfish been rather disappointing so far this while wading. summer. We haven›t ruled out the snook just yet, a bunch of rain could be the spark we need. Snook thrive when the salinity declines due to rainfall and runoff. Flounder have been hard to find, even in known hotspots. Hopefully, they too will bounce back soon.

Between changes in our weather patterns, schools (hopefully) reopening soon, reduced boat traffic, and some anglers shifting priorities toward upcoming hunting seasons, I am excited about August’s fishing prospects…especially the latter half of the month. The best fishing of summer is right around the corner!

TSFMAG.com | 55

FISHING REPORTS

Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com - 409.935.7242 James says the fishing in the Galveston area has been typical for him lately.

“The ability to catch easily is weather dependent, for sure. We've got lots of fish around deeper structures in open parts of the bays. When winds allow, and the tides are moving right, those fish are pretty easy to catch, if you know exactly where to set up and how to target them. Too much wind will render some of those places obsolete, though. On windier days, we do much better wading shorelines with a mix of sand and shell, with some fairly deep water close by. Small topwaters like She Pups work well this time of year, as do some of the shiny, small twitch baits like MirrOdines. Old school MirrOlures work well too, since they can be presented a little deeper in the water more easily. When we're fishing out of the boat, soft plastics usually work better, but on some days, using the twitch baits and just reeling them in steadily produces a good number of bites too. Out in the middle, we key on slicks to locate the fish. Some days require more patience and a longer search than others.”

Jimmy West - Bolivar Guide Service - 409.996.3054 Jim says the fishing out in the middle of East Bay has been good lately, when winds allow for getting out there and functioning at a high level. “We've had some big schools of reds, mostly over-sized, with a few keepers mixed in. Also plenty of solid trout around the reefs. Best catching out of the boat has been on soft plastics. Key to locating the fish is finding slicks. They're much harder to find if they aren't throwing slicks. We also had some good days wading recently, when the tides pushed a decent water level up on the banks. Topwater bite was good then. If tides get real low and the fish pull off the bank, we need light winds to target them out in the middle. On the windier days, fishing in places like the Bolivar Pocket or on the lee side of the jetties is better. People have been doing pretty good out there. Things should remain much the same in August. We'll wade early in the mornings when the tide's higher, throwing topwaters, focus on slicks out in the middle when the tide drops out, and hide behind the rocks when winds dictate it.”

West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays Randall Groves - Groves Guide Service 979.849.7019 - 979.864.9323 Randall expects to be catching plenty of trout along the beachfront in August, at times without getting his feet wet! “Most people wade right through the fish when they go fishing in the surf at daylight. They usually trudge through the first gut onto the first bar and move out to waist-deep water. I catch most of my fish that time of day while wearing flip-flops and standing on the sand. Especially when the tide is coming in, the fish will move into the shallows late at night, and plenty will still be in the first gut at daybreak. I like throwing topwaters in the surf, especially early. Best ones lately have been pink Skitter Walks. Of course, later in the morning, the bite is often better in the second gut, or even farther out. Then, soft plastics usually work better than topwaters, unless we have some cloud cover. When throwing soft plastics, I generally go to either Norton Bull Minnows or full-sized Sand Eels in chicken on a chain, or similar, natural looking colors. If it's too windy for the surf to work, we'll be hitting some of the guts and drains in the bays, targeting both trout and reds in moving water.”

Matagorda | Bay Guide Service Tommy Countz – 979.863.7553 | cell 281.450.4037 Tommy mentions a couple of ways in which August weather and other conditions typically make the fishing easier in the Matagorda area. “We generally have lower than normal tides this time of year. In West Bay, low tides means the redfish will pile up in the guts and drains close to the south shoreline. It also means the trout fishing will be best on the outside of the big bars fronting the coves, around the deepest grassbeds, in water at least 56 | August 2020

ORECASTS F from Big Lake to Boca Chica

AND

waist-deep. These facts simplify things. Mostly, catching fish in this heat means fishing soft plastics low and slow. Using light jigheads, which can only be worked at depth when they're worked really slow, helps, as does using braided line. Often, the bite this time of year is subtle; the sensitivity of the braided line helps us detect the light strikes. Another predictable thing in August is we get some days with light winds. Which allows the green water to move up to the beach. We've got about fifty miles of surf to work with, so when we can, we like to spread out along the beachfront and work the guts early in the mornings.”

Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam www.palaciosguideservice.com - 979.240.8204 Fishing has been excellent in the Palacios area this summer, with lots of options working well. Our best pattern lately has been working the deeper well pads and reefs in West Matagorda Bay. We're catching plenty of solid trout out there. We've been rigging live shrimp about three to four feet under popping corks, also throwing DSL magic grass on quarter-ounce jigheads and bouncing them off the shell. Incoming tides have by far produced the best action. Early mornings are the best time, for sure, especially when tides roll in during those hours. Redfish have been holding in the creeks and bayous, taking Matrix Craws and white Gulp! shrimp rigged on eighth-ounce jigheads.

Finding the reds by looking for jumping grass shrimp has been pretty easy.

The tripletail bite has kicked off nicely, and we've caught lots of smaller fish.

Finding the big ones has gotten tougher since we lost lots of our visible structures. Best way to target these tasty fish is rigging live shrimp pretty deep, like four or five feet, under popping corks and throwing them right next to structures. August patterns usually stay much the same as in July, so I expect the fast action to continue around deeper structures.

Port O’Connor | Lynn Smith Back Bay Guide Service - 361.983.4434 Lynn reported excellent fishing in the back-lakes around Port O'Connor in the days and weeks prior to offering this August outlook. “We generally spend as much time as possible fishing the surf this time of year, but it's been too windy on lots of days. When it's windy this time of year, we venture into the protected waters of the back-lakes much of the time. In those quiet, shallow corners, the fishing for reds is usually consistent and outstanding. This time of year, the reds really like topwaters. If we get some west in the winds, or if it's calm, we like to fish the spoils and flats close to the channel. Places where grass and shell grow on sandy spots within fairly close range of the fifty-foot depths often produce excellent catches of trout. Best time to fish those kinds of places is early in the morning, especially if the tide is coming in pretty strong. Topwaters work well on a daily basis this time of year for trout, too. Soft plastics keep the bites coming when the blow ups become less frequent. When fishing close to deep water, with strong currents, heavier jigheads sometimes work better than lighter ones.”

Rockport | Blake Muirhead Gator Trout Guide Service - 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894 Blake says fishing for trout and redfish in the Coastal Bend Bays has been steady this summer, and he expects the action to continue hot throughout August. “We've got plenty of trout hanging out on the deeper grassbeds along the shorelines protected from the effects of south and southeast winds.

Catching is easiest in those places on live croakers, but we're doing well with dark soft plastics with chartreuse heads some of the time, too. The topwater bite has been good early on some days, as well. When winds are lighter, we are finding more trout around some of the mid-bay reefs. Out there, the topwaters have been working well, as long as the tide is moving. Fishing for reds in the back-lakes has been steady too. Higher tides tend to scatter the fish out in those areas, and lower tides tend to concentrate them in the deepest parts.

People wanting to take part in that action need shallow running boats and some knowledge of the areas, or it can get dicey. The surf has tremendous potential this month too, so I'm always ready to run around the Port A jetties and head up the beach when conditions get right.”

Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut Robert Zapata – rz1528@grandecom.net - 361.563.1160 Fishing has been quite consistent this summer, and I expect the fast action to continue during the month of August on the Upper Laguna Madre. Because of the hot temperatures this month, the trout and reds will begin the day in the shallows, in water less than about three feet, but they'll move to deeper water pretty soon after the sun climbs over the morning cloud bank. Once they move a little deeper, the catching is usually best along grass lines, around submerged rocks, or in some of the sandy potholes lying close to the main drop-off into the depths. This time of year, smaller lures like Bass Assassin Sea Shads work well in the blazing heat, especially colors like Calcasieu brew, chicken on a chain, and glitter bug. Generally, eighth-ounce spring-lock jigheads work best for presenting the soft plastics at the right depths. Bass Assassin Die Dappers in colors like trickster and salt and pepper/chartreuse rigged on sixteenth-ounce heads work better in the shallower water, or when winds and currents are light. In the middle portions of the sunny days, we have great luck sightcasting redfish and black drum in water less than two feet deep, using shrimp flavored Fishbites.

Corpus Christi | Joe Mendez – www.sightcast1.com - 361.877.1230 When fishing the Baffin Bay and Upper Laguna Madre in August, anglers would do well to stay fairly close to the deepest water around, for best results. “The fish will move shallow some of the time, but most reliably, they'll move to shallow places lying close to deeper water. Of course, the ICW is the deepest water in the area, so the spoils lying adjacent to it are known productive spots this time of year. Some of the less obvious sand bars which don't stick out of the water offer better potential than ones people can see easily. When fishing the spoils and the edges of the channel, using the right size jighead is critical. Stronger currents and winds dictate the need for heavier heads, to allow for keeping the lure in contact with the bottom some of the time. Other productive areas this time of year include the outside of the Tide Gauge Bar and rock formations in the Badlands, at Penascal, Marker 9, Los Corrallos, East Kleberg, and other places, where the shallow structures lie close to the deep part of the open bay. The long line of shallow rocks lying close to the depths on the Kenedy Shoreline produces well too.”

P.I.N.S. Fishing Forecast | Eric Ozolins 361-877-3583 | Oceanepics.com Hot water temperatures this time of year generally cause a slow daytime bite along the Texas beachfront. Most of the best potential during the day occurs early in the mornings, or around dusk. Trout fishing is usually productive since we normally have clear water to work. Driving along the beach and locating nearshore structures like gaps in the bars or suckouts in the guts can lead to some impressively fast action on quality trout. Topwaters worked with a steady dog-walking retrieve usually produce best. Soft plastics sometimes

work better, so smart anglers remain ready to try both. This time of year, dusky anchovies move down the beach in large numbers, attracting hordes of predators like skipjacks, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, jack crevalle and tarpon. When these fish focus on the anchovies intently, it's usually easy to catch 'em. It's important to remember bull and blacktip sharks follow these bait balls, so remain cautious when wading. Always shuffle the feet! Atlantic stingrays are abundant in the surf this time of year. In the midst of hurricane season, it's wise to watch the weather closely, since storms as far away as Louisiana can send tides surging all the way to the dunes.

Port Mansfield | Ruben Garza Snookdudecharters.com – 832.385.1431 Getaway Adventures Lodge – 956.944.4000 This month, the fishing along the beachfront should be consistent, especially early in the mornings. Best bests out there are fishing around the jetties or chasing birds up and down the surf zone. Live bait works well in either case.

Best lures to use are soft plastics and Gulp! on quarter-ounce jigheads. 52M MirrOlures and Rat-L-Traps also produce lots of strikes along the beach. When fishing in the open ocean, rigging all lures on wire leaders makes sense. It's not uncommon to encounter king and Spanish mackerel and sharks, especially around the fringes of schools of other fish pushing bait to the surface and attracting the attention of gulls, terns and pelicans. When fishing the bay waters this month, starting off each morning with a topwater makes good sense.

Rigging them with single hooks will likely be necessary, given the floating grass.

Bone and pink One Knockers are hard to beat. Soft plastics in natural colors also draw plenty of strikes this time of year from both trout and redfish, in places like the Weather Station, Butcher's Island and Wagner's Bar. All these places hold clear water, which allows for watching the fish strike, which is quite a hoot.

Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel Aaron Cisneros | tightlinescharters.com – 956-639-1941 So far this summer, we've had the best luck on the Lower Laguna Madre fishing pretty deep water. Areas adjacent to sand bars, where deep guts lie near spoil islands, have been holding good numbers of trout, and the action has been steady most days. We're getting most of our bites in water at least three feet deep, up to around five feet or so. Most of our trout have been caught on KWiggler Ball Tails in lagunaflauge color, rigged on eighth-ounce screw-lock jigheads. Presentation style has been important. The fish get pretty finicky in the heat, and slow retrieves which involve some contact with the bottom have produced best. Redfish have been roaming the back bays in a foot or two of water early in the mornings, feeding on shrimp and small crabs. We're also encountering some reds mixed in with the trout in the deeper water later in the day. Plum/chartreuse Ball Tails have worked best to get the attention of the reds. These patterns should hold throughout the month of August, which normally presents a carbon copy of the weather we have in July—hot, dry, calmer in the mornings, with winds cranking up in the afternoons.

TSFMAG.com | 57

Steele Austin Clear Lake - 5.4 lb largemouth bass

Fernando Leza Estes Flats - 25” redfish

Karen Karner Corpus Christi - 18” personal best flounder!

58 | August 2020

Mitzi Green Port Mansfield - 39 lb red

Chris Cuellar Laguna Madre - 23” trout

Eli & Ravi Boyareddigari POC - jack crevalle CPR

Steve Sullivan Padre Island Canals - 24” trout

Alex Green Port Mansfield - 28 lb king mackerel

Raul Casas Sargent Beach - personal best black drum!

Ron Green Port Mansfield - 25 lb redfish

Chris Casillas Estes Flats - 18” redfish CPR

Jacob Casillas Estes Flats - 28” redfish

Photo Gallery Guidelines First come – first published!

Photos are judged on artistic merit and sporting ethic displayed. No stringer, cleaning table, or hanging board images allowed.

Digital images only. Adjust camera to high or best quality. All images become property of TSFMag. Email to: Photos@TSFMag.com Include short description of your catch with name, date, bay system, etc.

Sam Buyajian Galveston - 25” 6 lb trout CPR

Jesse Leza 28.5” redfish TSFMAG.com | 59

PAM JOHNSON

Gulf Coast

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

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

Joe’ s Redfish on the Half Shell with Curried Mango Grille Sauce

INGREDIENTS

PREPARATION

2 redfish fillets (skin on)

Rub flesh side with olive oil and dust liberally with your favorite seafood seasoning

Joe Meyer of Fishing Tackle Unlimited shared this recipe and I am so glad he did. The tangy combination of curry and mango give the grilled fillets a wonderful flavor and the second application of sauce while grilling keeps the flesh moist and delicious. If you like grilled fish I think you will enjoy Joe’s recipe.

60 | August 2020

Set aside and rest for 15 minutes.

Pre-heat grill to 365° and season grate with olive oil.

Place fillets flesh side down and grill for 3 minutes, rotate 90° and grill additional 3 minutes. This produces those beautiful grill marks.

Flip fillets and lather flesh side with Curried Mango Grille Sauce.

Continue grilling for 4 minutes or until flesh flakes easily with fork – apply a second coating of Curried Mango Sauce after 2 minutes.

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Science and the

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Loggerheads Share Their Homes You’ve probably heard, “a turtle carries its home on its back”, but the shells of loggerhead sea turtles are home to more than just the marine reptile inside. Researchers recently learned that turtles carry on their shells a thriving, diverse community of microscopic critters that is twice as big and diverse as scientists previously realized.

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Loggerhead sea turtles carry a plethora of microscopic organisms on their shells. Credit: Brian Gratwicke, Wikipedia Researchers captured 24 loggerhead turtles that had traveled to lay eggs at St. George Island in Florida in the summer of 2018. After clearing off some barnacles, the biologists scraped and sponged a section from the front, middle and back of each turtle’s shell. In the lab, the researchers discovered tens of thousands of creatures in the samples. In fact, more than 146,000 separate microscopic animals were living on just one of the turtle’s shell. The largest variety of organisms was toward the back of their shells, near the turtle’s rear flippers.

Until this study, fewer than 100 species of creatures were known to live on loggerhead turtles’ backs. But those earlier studies did not look for tiny organisms, such as small worms called nemotodes, on the turtles’ shells. The scientists expected to find some nematodes on the shells, but they had no idea they would discover more than 111 different species of the critters on the turtles’ shells. And it’s possible there are even more species they haven’t yet identified.

The scientists suspect these tiny animals hitchhike on the turtles’ shells, just as Marlin and Dory rode the backs of sea turtles in Finding Nemo.

If scientists can identify where in the world the individual species originated, they might learn loggerheads’ travel patterns—information that conservationists can use to ensure loggerheads always have a home.

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

TSFMAG.com | 61

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

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

DOWNTIME IS NOT YOUR OUTBOARD’S FRIEND What time is to compound interest is what salt can be to an outboard motor. We are seeing many fourChris Mapp, owner of stroke outboards this season as Coastal Bend Marine. they are now a more significant Evinrude, Suzuki, Yamaha, portion of the market.

Mercury, Honda, BlueWave, The four-stroke outboard motor SilverWave, Shallow Stalker Boats, Coastline Trailers, under the right conditions can last Minnkota & Motor Guide up to 6000 hours. This application Trolling Motors. would be primarily commercial, Great Service, Parts & Sales where the motor is run all day, “What can we do for you?” every day, throughout its life.

The problem for recreational saltwater anglers is that their outboards are operated only 100 hours per year, on average. Many owners log about half this number. A four-stroke should be run at higher RPMs to achieve higher temperatures, and when completed, the engine should be flushed at least five minutes.

The time between outings is when salt does its nastiest work, causing deterioration of metal components and mineral buildup inside and outside the motor. This buildup is never completely

62 | August 2020

removed from some areas and downtime is when aluminum oxidizes and steel components rust the most. The process never stops and a primary reason life expectancy can be shortened to eight, ten, or twelve years before replacement becomes necessary.

Periodic applications of CorrosionX Red will help stave off corrosion of external powerhead surfaces. CorrosionX Green is excellent for protecting trim and tilt components. Regular flushing of the outboard will help protect the cooling passages. Yet, time is more the decisionmaker when it comes to engine replacement than the consideration of operating hours.

A final note, I had a customer recently experiencing engine stumbling and surging. He argued, nicely, that he never had to squeeze the fuel primer bulb since the boat was new in 2003. Today he is the happiest angler on the water. Squeeze the primer bulb every morning until firm. And remember that ethanol is not your outboard’s friend.

Have a happy and safe summer season!

Chris Mapp Coastalbend Marine | Port O’Connor, TX coastalbendmarine.com | 361-983-4841

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

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Capt. Robert Zapata

If you are having difficulty catching fish on a consistent basis, the clinic is designed for you. Learn Capt.Robert Zapata’s secrets to finding and catching more fish from his 25 years of experience as a professional fishing guide.

For Information Call 361-563-1160

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

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

805 B. South Bridge Victoria, TX 77901

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Fax: 361.573.0304

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

Wade & Drifting the Back Bays & Surf

Call 361.983.4434 (cell 361.935.6833) Email lynn@tisd.net (tswf.com/lynnsmith) TSFMAG.com | 63

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