May 2017
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about the Cover Shark fishing hits full stride in May as a variety of forage and shark species become plentiful in the surf zone. Eric Ozolins and Dwade Hickie are avid shark anglers and conservation role models, tagging and releasing their catches. Check out Oz’s story on page 82 for a latespring shark fishing primer.
May 2017 VOL 27 NO 1
Contents
FEATURES
DEPARTMENTS
12 Under Construction 20 Achieiving A Tech-Savvy Angler 28 Overlooked, Under-appreciated... 36 Whatever Happened to Goliath Grouper? 44 Coastal Calamities
50 Let’s Ask The Pro 54 Shallow Water Fishing 58 TPWD Field Notes 62 Fly Fishing 66 Kayak Fishing Chronicles 70 TSFMag Conservation News 74 Fishy Facts 78 Inshore | Nearshore | Jetties | Passes 82 Extreme Kayak Fishing & Sharks... 112 Boat Maintenance Tips 114 Science & the Sea
Steve Hillman Kevin Cochran Chuck Uzzle Joe Richard Joe Doggett
Jay Watkins Scott Null Darin Topping Scott Sommerlatte Dave Roberts CCA Texas Stephanie Boyd Joe Richard Eric Ozolins Chris Mapp UT Marine Science Institute
36 WHAT OUR GUIDES
HAVE TO SAy
88 Dickie Colburn’s Sabine Scene 90 The Buzz on Galveston Bay 92 The View from Matagorda 94 Mid-Coast Bays with the Grays 96 Hooked up with Rowsey 98 Wayne’s Port Mansfield Report 100 South Padre Fishing Scene
Dickie Colburn Caleb Harp Bink Grimes Shellie Gray David Rowsey Wayne Davis Ernest Cisneros
REGULARS
94
10 Editorial 86 New Tackle & Gear 102 Fishing Reports and Forecasts 106 Catch of the Month 110 Gulf Coast Kitchen
110 6 | May 2017
66
Editor and Publisher Everett Johnson Everett@tsfmag.com VICE PRESIDENT PRODUCTION & ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Pam Johnson Pam@tsfmag.com Office: 361-785-3420 Cell: 361-550-9918 National sales representative Bart Manganiello Bartalm@optonline.net regional sales representative Patti Elkins Patti@tsfmag.com Office: 361-785-3420 Cell: 361-649-2265 PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Donna Boyd Donna@tsfmag.com Circulation Subscription – product sales Linda Curry Store@tsfmag.com Design & Layout Stephanie Boyd Artwork@tsfmag.com Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine is published monthly. Subscription Rates: One Year (Free Emag with Hard Copy) Subscription $25.00 E-MAG (electronic version) is available for $12.00 per year. Order on-line: www.tsfmag.com Make checks payable to: Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine Attn: Subscriptions P.O. Box 429, Seadrift, Texas 77983 * Subscribers are responsible for submitting all address changes and renewals by the 10th of the prior month’s issue. Email store@tsfmag.com for all address changes or please call 361-785-3420 from 8am - 4:30pm. The U.S. Postal Service does not guarantee magazines will be forwarded. how to contact tsfmag: Phone: 361-785-3420 fax: 361-785-2844 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 429, Seadrift, Texas 77983 Physical Address: 58 Fisherman’s Lane, Seadrift, TX 77983 Web: www.TSFMAG.com photo gallery: photos@tsfmag.com Printed in the USA. Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine (ISSN 1935-9586) is published monthly by Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine, Inc., 58 Fisherman’s Lane, Seadrift, Texas 77983 l P. O. Box 429, Seadrift, TX 77983 © Copyright 1990 All rights reserved. Positively nothing in this publication may be reprinted or reproduced. *Views expressed by Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine contributors do not necessarily express the views of Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine. Periodical class permit (USPS# 024353) paid at Victoria, TX 77901 and additional offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine, Inc., P. O. Box 429, Seadrift, TX 77983.
EDITORIAL
CCA STAR – Take Kids Fishing – Oyster Wars
May promises to be a very busy month. Already the numbers of boats on the water appears to be reaching a record, even with a flat energy economy that is generally believed to discourage anglers with energy-related jobs. One thing is certain though, fishing has been very good along the middle and lower coast so far this spring, and this carries a lot of weight. So, from whatever walk of life or economic situation, lots of folks are going fishing. One of May’s highlights is the kick-off of the summer-long CCA Texas STAR Tournament. The excitement and competition gets underway on Memorial Weekend at sunrise on Saturday May 27, 2017 and continues through 5:00 PM, Labor Day. Each year we hear disappointing tales of anglers missing out on great prizes and scholarships because they failed to register, or went fishing believing that being a member in good standing of CCA Texas was all that was necessary to be eligible. Take heed! You must be registered to win! Contact CCA Texas at 713-6264222 or at CCATexas.org for more details. Another May highlight is the winding down of the school year. I remember my own school years like yesterday and the excitement of family fishing and camping trips during summer. Introducing young people to the outdoors, especially our great coastline, can be one of the greatest gifts you can bestow. Life-changing, in fact. I fear that indoor activities such as electronic devices and games are robbing our younger generation of opportunities that we enjoyed. A summer is a terrible thing to waste. Take kids fishing. Teach them the wonders of the natural world. Teach them good sporting ethic and the reasons we
10 | May 2017
practice conservation. On the conservation front – oysters are gaining headlines – and for good reason. In addition to filling dinner plates, oysters are the subject of heated debate in our state legislature. Having been dealt a succession of staggering blows, beginning with Hurricane Ike silting over nearly all actively-producing reefs in the Galveston Bay System, and then five years of coastwide drought during which they suffered from the effects of prolonged high salinity, followed by two years of record-setting fresh inflow, Texas oysters are in great peril. While oysters are a highly-renewable resource, they need time, several years actually, to re-establish themselves. And so far they have not been getting it. Harvest regulations need to change. The oyster fishing industry needs to change. TPWD has the power to close areas where the percentage of undersize oysters exceeds established limits – but enacting closures alone is hardly a panacea. The commercial fleet moves en masse to areas still open, and/or adopts ever-shallower harvest methods; dredging around homeowner’s piers, even handpicking oysters from water too shallow to dredge. Texas House Bill-51, intended primarily to provide a license buyback program and thereby reduce participation, has unintentionally ignited a firestorm. Some commercial interests support the measure but resistance has been fierce from others. How it plays out will remain to be seen. CCA Texas encourages that you contact your state legislators in support. Oysters are a very important resource that greatly enhance game fish habitat.
STORY BY STEVE HILLMAN
Mike Sheehan capped off an epic day of trout fishing with this beautiful red - CPR!
A
s my wife and I were driving to my daughter’s volleyball game the other day, traffic bottle-necked on Interstate 45 because of the road construction. The highway department was adding more lanes to accommodate higher volumes of traffic. It seems that construction can never catch up to human population growth. Eventually, a section of highway is completed and traffic flows better for a few years, until the process repeats itself. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could increase the size of our bays to accommodate more fishermen? Unfortunately, managing the resources within our bays is not as simple as adding more lanes to make room for new generations of drivers. And, last time I checked there are no moratoriums, limited-entry or buy-back programs for recreational fishing licenses here in Texas. In other words, if you want to fish, you purchase a license and go fishing. If you decide you want to be a fishing guide, you register for the required courses, pass your tests, and buy a license. As participation increases so does the amount of pressure placed on the resource. Just like we can’t reduce the numbers of cars on our roads, we cannot tell someone they can’t buy a boat. No one in their right mind would ever want to deprive someone from going fishing. But, sooner or later, something has to give. Many believe that we no longer have a healthy speckled trout population here in Galveston Bay because so many of them were harvested during the freshwater “stack ups” during summer 2015 and again in 2016. Others will say that it’s transition time (this article was written in March) and they’re just spread out and more difficult to catch right now. While both beliefs are no doubt true in part, there are many other variables to consider that are seldom discussed. In 2008 Hurricane Ike blanketed about 50% of the live oyster reefs in the Galveston Bay Complex with a thick layer of silt as evidenced
by side-scan sonar mapping conducted by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Prolonged drought Eric Orril with a from 2010 to 2014 resulted in higher salinities solid CPR trout! bay-wide, sending large populations of trout and forage species searching for lower salinity near river mouths and other areas. Trout concentrated in such areas because that’s where their main food supplies had taken up residence. As is usually the case, it didn’t take long for word of easy limits to circulate. Subsequently, the trout took a beating during this high-salinity induced “stack up” period that lasted the better part of five years. Not only were legal-sized trout caught and retained at a very high rate but, larval and other juvenile populations were negatively affected as they require lower salinity habitat for survival. Exceptionally high salinity levels also had a devastating effect on Galveston Bay’s remaining live oyster reefs, which are this bay system’s primary bottom-of-the-pyramid habitat. Predators such as Dermo (Perkinsus marinus), oyster drills (Stramonita haemastoma) and sponges also took their toll on the remaining reefs spared by Ike. Everyone talks about the freshwater induced “stack ups” which occurred during 2015 and 2016, but the high-salinity ones seem to have become a distant memory. In my opinion, May is the first month when anglers can make accurate observations of the health of our Galveston Bay trout fishery. By then, what we refer to as the spring transition will have ended. As brown shrimp and other forage species continue to grow they’ll exit the brackish waters of marshes, bayous and rivers and migrate through the bay toward the Gulf. Trout and reds will begin forming actual schools in pursuit of them. With water temperatures holding in the upper-70s and low-80s fish will feed more frequently. Their increased activity will require increased food intake to sustain energy levels. This cycle will result in some of the most welcomed signs of the year to this point. Slicks caused by regurgitation and continued feeding will appear with regularity. Flocks of seagulls and terns will help lead the way to success as well. May is an excellent month to teach young anglers how to catch fish using lures for these reasons. As trout take up residence over their favorite reefs and other structures, anglers will gravitate to such areas catching trout with success for a period of time determined by the number of anglers, the size of the structure and, of course, the size of the school. Some patches of live reef are relatively small and it may only take a few weeks before there are not enough trout remaining on that particular reef to justify the effort. Other trout will filter in but it’s typically not the same as it was initially. Obviously, conditions can also move the fish but it typically doesn’t take long for groups of fishermen to follow. You may be thinking, “Well, heck! Isn’t that how fishing is supposed to work?” My answer is yes, but when a bay system has almost twice as many 14 | May 2017
anglers as it did a decade ago and roughly half as much habitat, the catching will diminish sooner. We witnessed this scenario last year. Other areas further south have experienced periods of habitat loss and increased fishing pressure in the past. When Mother Nature causes negative impacts on a fishery then there must be an equal man-induced change to ensure sustainability. She doesn’t always make corrections for recovery as fast as we’d like. Shoal grass and other bottom grasses (more bottom-of-the-pyramid habitat) typically recover more quickly than oyster reefs. Without adequate substrate some areas will never experience oyster growth without man-made reef-restoration projects. And even then, assuming that TPWD receives grants every year to plant river rock and/or crushed limestone, we likely will not see Galveston Bay’s oyster reefs restored to pre-Ike levels in our lifetime. More fishermen, roughly half the habitat, state-of-the-art technology in tackle and Les McDonald Jr. with a fat 6-pounder - CPR!
A quick photo of this 25-incher before the release.
Galveston Bay. The majority are solidly onboard with a limit reduction while a few are opposed. Those not receptive tend to be guiding only during the summer months when the availability of certain live baits greatly increase their chances of “filling the box.” Unless you fish more than 200 days, year around, it is my opinion that you cannot offer an honest assessment of how many trout we truly have in our bay system. Another question I was asked recently, “What if TPWD never goes back to 10 trout?” To this I say, “So what?” It’s time for some changes to be made.
Travis caught this bonus 4-pound flounder while probing the edges of a small reef with a MirrOlure Corky Fat Boy, then later followed it up with a few nice trout to 5-pounds on a tough day in Galveston Bay.
Steve Hillman
Contact
marine electronics, and let’s not forget social media, all contribute to the need for reducing the speckled trout limit to five fish. In addition, allowing an angler to retain one trout per day longer than 25-inches should be replaced with a tagging system similar to what we have for redfish. These would be steps in the right direction in the effort to present more opportunities for anglers to catch legitimate trophy-sized trout (28-inches and up). Saltwater guides should not be allowed to run multiple trips per day. A slot limit on spotted seatrout should also be considered. We have to find a way to manage our trout fishery for not only quantity of biomass but quality as well. I spent about half of the past several months fishing a bay system that has a five-trout limit. For those of my clients who wanted to keep some fish they were more than happy only retaining only five. We released every trout over 23-inches. There were mornings when my groups had early limits. We would then search for big trout or redfish. Other times we would just catch and release a few more average-sized trout. Regardless, every client enjoyed the experience, as did I. I’ve discussed this with guides from Matagorda to the Lower Laguna Madre who’ve indicated that their business hasn’t declined since trout limits were cut in half. As a matter of fact, some say their phones are ringing more. I’ve also solicited opinions from some local guides here on
Steve Hillman is a full-time fishing guide on his home waters of Galveston Bay. Steve fishes the entire Galveston Bay Complex, wading and drifting for trout, redfish, and flounder using artificial lures. Phone 409-256-7937 Email captsteve@hillmanguideservice.com Web www.hillmanguideservice.com
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16 | May 2017
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STORY BY KEVIN COCHRAN
R
ecently, while readying the boat to run a charter, I experienced a frightening dilemma. When I pressed the power button on the GPS, nothing happened. I tried to diagnose the source of the problem, but did not succeed. I then faced the choice of cancelling the trip, though my customers and I already stood ready in the vessel, or venturing into the darkness and the treacherous waters of Baffin Bay without the aid of the device. I chose the latter, and soon realized how much I now rely on the data displayed on the GPS screen. Normally, I leave Bird Island Basin and run the relatively shallow waters lying between the ICW and Padre Island on the way down south. I use a track line I’ve created specifically for the purpose, and running it proves relatively stress-free, since I placed it where it has hundreds of yards of safe water on both sides for many miles. Without the GPS, though, I had trouble seeing any reference points well enough to guarantee I wouldn’t run aground on the sand bars extending off the west side of The Island, or onto the shallow spoil banks lying east of the ICW. As luck would have it, thick mists made a dark night darker, and I couldn’t see much of anything, even with the bright beam of a spotlight shining forward from the console of my craft. These facts forced me to do something I generally don’t, run in the ICW, where I could maintain visual contact with the green, blinking lights lining its east side. I also slowed down from the pace I’d normally maintain, and made it to the mouth of Baffin without any mishaps. By then, the glimmers of early light allowed me to see the floating cabins and land masses which made navigating into the bay easier, in the old way. Running around that day, I felt a twinge of fear wringing my stomach into a knot the whole way. Without a screen showing me all the obstructions I’ve marked over the
years, I had to do things based on experience and blind faith. I also had to do them slower and with added caution, knowing a mistake could cost me a lower unit, or worse. I had not run around without a working GPS for over a decade. All of this made me realize the vital importance technological tools play in the life I lead today. Most modern anglers, in fact, rely heavily on GPS units and other technologies when making their forays onto the lakes, coastal waterways and open ocean. Partly because of the discomfort of this experience, I decided to produce and promote a new product, one which outlines many of the best ways to implement modern technologies into the angling experience. In Achieving A Tech-Savvy Angler, I provide numerous ideas about ways to become more proficient using technologies of various kinds to enhance navigation safety and angling productivity. I’ve copied and pasted the introduction to the product here: “For about a decade now, people all over the planet, from the richest to the poorest, have shared one thing in common. We all possess and use one of the most amazing devices ever invented—the smart phone. Nearly every human being walking the face of the earth today does so with a remarkably capable, miniature computer in hand. This truth has once and forever altered the social, political and other landscapes which comprise our complex, evolving world. Smart phones perform many useful, even incredible functions, taking pictures and videos with clarity and definition exceeding all but the best cameras available only a short time ago, and allowing for multiple types of communication, using access to the internet and other technologies. Singularly, these devices can perform functions which would have required multiple devices in times past, and they do these things efficiently and with high quality. Because of their unique, profound capacities, these gadgets have made life better and easier. Some people rely on their phones more than others; all of us rely on them to some degree. Only a fool would cling to the notion of the superiority of all the old ways of doing things. Snail mail moves much slower than email. Keeping track of old friends by sending them notes and calling them on a telephone attached to a wall worked cryptically compared to the seeming magic of Facebook. Finding restaurants by flipping through a phone book could not compare with the ease and efficiency of finding a place to eat using an app like Yelp. Similarly, a compass could help one travel in a known direction, but a modern GPS allows us to see exactly where we stand on the face of the globe at any given moment. Most folks realize the potential benefits of dazzling new devices and technologies like the smart phone and all its apps and attempt to use them to positively influence their lives and livelihoods. Anglers, like other people with different priorities, can choose to use technology to enhance their efforts. Doing so makes perfect sense, requiring little more than a conscious choice. Taking advantage of current technologies and using them to make fishing safer and more productive proves quite easy in some ways. Numerous tools, technologies and programs have the capability to help anglers navigate the waterways more safely and efficiently, and also to catch more fish. For the purposes of this document, I divide these things into two categories: those held in hand and used in the home or in everyday life, and those kept on the boat and used while on the water. In the first category, I place the cell phone and the personal computer. As stated above, a smart phone is, in essence, a miniature version of a personal computer. But a computer has a bigger screen, 22 | May 2017
Christian Lopez, 3/10/17
Adrian Valdez with a photogenic trout caught while wading with the Captain in March.
allows for typing documents more easily, stores more data, and in the end, provides a better format and context for studying and learning. So, I advocate the use of both devices to enhance angling efforts, and will provide details related to the use of each in the chapters that follow. The cell phone becomes a bridge to the second group, since it travels with us everywhere we go. In the second category, I place GPS units and their related devices, a hydraulic anchor and a trolling motor. All these tools offer an angler ways to fish more safely and productively. And that’s the ultimate goal of this product, to help the consumer navigate and operate with greater peace of mind and to catch more fish! The process works best when the person attempting to implement the concepts and strategies contained in this document and in the
the Captain Kev’s Products page of CaptainKevBlogs. com. I will offer it as a digital file, since it aims to increase the user’s effective utilization of the computer and other technological devices to aid angling efforts. Creating a paper book from the file makes little or no sense to me. In addition to chapters on using the personal computer, cell phone, Google Earth, GPS units and other Garmin devices, the product also includes a page which provides a long list of hyperlinks to sites useful for managing GPS data, downloading important programs and apps, monitoring weather and waterrelated information and many other things. Offering the document as a pdf will enable me to revise and make additions to it easily, as new products, technologies and ideas hit the market and my mind. Accordingly, I will encourage all who purchase it to check with me regularly for free updates. The Captain with a big trout caught in mid-May on a supremely effective lure for use in moderate water temperatures, a sinking Paul Brown FatBoy.
24 | May 2017
Kevin Cochran Contact
websites and other sources Captain Kev’s new product describes ways to use Google Earth, Homeport to which it provides links and other software systems to learn takes seriously the need more about the anatomy of the for a multifaceted and waterways and also to generate disciplined approach. Only effective strategies for fishing them. by breaking the process down into two major components can one expect to maximize results. These two components, research and implementation, both contribute mightily to the potential success of the endeavor. Research works best when done in the home, in a quiet setting, far from hull slap, thunder clouds and the promise of the next bite. The cerebral acts of studying data, scrutinizing images, making plans, recording and reflecting on outcomes, all serve to increase knowledge, first and foremost of the anatomy of the waterways, but also of the impacts various natural elements exert on the attempt to catch fish. Implementation must occur on the water, and ideally involves the intelligent execution of well-designed plans. Essentially, using technology to enhance angling safety and productivity means using all available resources to facilitate a maximum level of control over the elements within our command. At the highest level, implementation involves making adjustments, whether moving the wheel of the craft in attempt to maintain contact with a track line, finding a new place to fish when one doesn’t produce a desired number of bites or altering a lure choice or presentation to account for a change in weather, tide movement or some other aspect of the fishing situation. People who effectively adjust locations, choices and strategies do so because they accept a basic fact about life – changes aren’t permanent, but change is. As a primary force, change provides an inescapably complex reality. In order to grow and improve, one must constantly adapt and evolve. Embracing new technologies and working to include them in the formulation and implementation of angling strategies can provide major assistance in the never-ending quest for consistency.” By the time this issue of the magazine reaches the shelves, I expect to have Achieving A Tech-Savvy Angler finished and up for sale on
Kevin Cochran is a full-time fishing guide at Corpus Christi (Padre Island), TX. Kevin is a speckled trout fanatic and has created several books and dvds on the subject. Kevin’s home waters stretch from Corpus Christi Bay to the Land Cut.
Trout Tracker Guide Service Phone Email Web
361-688-3714 kevxlr8@mygrande.net www.FishBaffinBay.com www.captainkevblogs.com
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Fly-caught black drum. It’s what’s for dinner!
STORY BY CHUCK UZZLE
Photos by Ron Begnaud
F
or many years I have tried to bring the readers of TSFMag stories that are not the same old repetitive and predictable season specific topics. It’s a given that during certain months there will be tons of ink dedicated to the pursuit of certain fish. This includes the big trout months, flounder runs, and spotted fever epidemics during summer when redfish steal the show. I get it, believe me I truly get it. And while so many continue to believe that the sun rises and sets with the Big Three – specks, reds, and flounder – this may not be totally true. I cannot count how many times I have told attendees at my seminars or during conversations at the dock just how much that Big Three type of thinking limits your fishing opportunity in so many ways. I recently had this proven to me firsthand and I will admit it was beyond eye opening. My wife and I were down in Corpus Christi watching my son play baseball for the weekend so we decided to kill some time and take in a few sights. After checking out the beach we made our way to Doc’s under the causeway bridge for a cold adult beverage. As we sat at the bar overlooking the water, a group of guys came in and sat next to us. After ordering drinks they began to enthusiastically recount their day of fishing and all the fun they had. My wife, being the more sociable one, asked if they’d had any luck, to which they replied, “It was awesome; we caught over 200 pounds!” I was immediately baffled, everybody down here chases the Big Three, or so I thought. And catches of these species are typically described in limits or numbers landed. Maybe they’d been offshore. Still trying to figure out just exactly what the guy meant, he handed me his cell phone so I could see the photos. There, lined up next to cleaning table, was a dock filled with black drum. I nearly shot beer out of my nose. In glorious digital color was proof that there TSFMAG.com | 29
are other species to target and enjoy on the dinner table. I must admit the premise was foreign to me, hiring a guide to chase black drum, but I quickly gathered myself and congratulated the anglers on their great day. I wasn’t exactly sure what I had witnessed as we left Doc’s, never seen anything quite like it, but I knew I was both intrigued and happy at the same time. I needed to know more and called upon longtime fishing guide and Corpus resident, Jim Leavelle, to help me out. Later that evening at supper, which coincidentally was fried black drum and shrimp, I recounted my story of the successful anglers to Jim and he sat back and smiled before answering my questions. “You have no idea,” he said. “How big catching black drum and other species is down here. You can go to a tackle shop and there will be a full wall display of bottom rigs and other gear intended for drum and sheepshead.” For years I had been telling anglers that believed the whole world revolved around wading, artificial lures and other expensive techniques that, they were actually in the minority and here it was
“
in living color. Now don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of folks who target the “Big Three” fervently and there always will be, but the number of anglers who just want to catch a fish is exponentially greater and it is still growing. I’ve said before and I’ll say again, “Go to your favorite tackle dealer and watch how many lead weights and live bait rigs go out the door compared to $10 topwaters and $300 breathable waders.” Now with all that being said, let’s look at what it’s going to take to go catch some of these fish. For my part of the world, Sabine and Calcasieu, the majority of the black drum are taken in deeper water along the rivers and channels. The most popular and productive bait by far is blue crab, especially the claws. Commercial drum fishermen love using the claws because they are very durable and hard for small, non-target species to steal from the hook. When using crab, either claws or cracked bodies, most anglers employ a Fish Finder rig, a variant of the popular Carolina rig – adapted to bait fishing. This consists of an egg sinker threaded onto the main line, next comes a barrel swivel with 18- to 24-inches of heavy mono leader on the opposite end, and finally a live bait or Sheepshead – aka Convict circle hook attached to the Fish – aka Texas Permit. heavy mono. Plentiful along jetty rocks and Black drum are opportunistic occasional double-digit studs feeders and will scavenge the can be found cruising the flats. bottom, trailing up the scent leaking down-current from the crab you are using for bait. Some anglers even take a few crabs and crush them up in a burlap sack and anchor it to the bottom to create a scent stream, sort of like chumming. By the way, this technique works equally well for red drum, black drum and sheepshead. Speaking of sheepshead, these guys have also received a bump in popularity in recent years, thanks mostly to fly fishermen. Jetty anglers have Their nickname is Big Ugly but never long been fans of these hardjudge a fish by its looks. These bruisers pulling bucktoothed fish, are dogged fighters on light-tackle usually plentiful around the and easily accessible along shorelines, channels and jetties. Great for dinner, too! rocks. Many a savvy angler has probed the granite with a free-lined shrimp and caught their fair share. Fly anglers have gotten into the act and elevated the sheepshead from “convict fish” because of its stripes, to “Texas permit” because of it picky and wily nature. The fancy moniker adds credibility and stature to the once frowned upon barnacle chompers, at least in their eyes. To make matters even more
As different species are being targeted, the pressure on the Big Three could diminish, and that’s a win-win no matter how you measure it.
30 | May 2017
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32 | May 2017
I would like to encourage you to consider targeting black drum and sheepshead, especially if you enjoy a fish supper after a day on the water. Both species make awesome table fare. Anything I can offer to make fishing fun and accessible to folks who cannot afford boats and other expensive gear is yours for the asking. Sheepshead and black drum can be successfully targeted from banks, shorelines and jetties. Families can walk right in and go fishing. How’s that for opportunity?
Chuck Uzzle
Contact
interesting, fly anglers have taken to targeting them on the flats alongside the more popular redfish. I know in the marshes that I frequent there are numerous opportunities to take some real stud sheepshead. I’m talking about double-digit fish that will get even the snootiest fly fisherman’s blood pumping. The largest fish I have seen caught was over 12-pounds, on a topwater plug, no less. My theory was that the fish was following the plug like they always seem to do, and opened its mouth at the same time the angler paused his retrieve – the perfect storm, so to speak. Most fly fishermen who target sheepshead in the shallows prefer small crab or shrimp patterns they can scoot along the bottom to entice these finicky eaters. Sheepshead are very curious by nature and will follow a lure or fly for long distances without committing to a strike, an attribute that causes them to be compared to permit. Even though it’s somewhat blasphemous in the eyes of purists, the practice of spraying an attractant on a fly obviously increases your odds when targeting sheepshead. In fact, renowned Florida fishing guide, Mike Holliday, used to tie scent attractants into the body of some of his flies so his clients wouldn’t know it was there. The hookup ratio magically increased and the clients were happy – everybody wins. The opportunities that are presented by some of these lessglamorous and less-targeted species are being discovered daily by scores of anglers who normally wouldn’t think twice about them. Just the fact alone that these fish are gaining credibility is a bonus for all concerned. As different species are being targeted, the pressure on the Big Three could (might) diminish, and that’s a win-win no matter how you measure it.
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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exas used to be known for catching monster “jewfish,” which today are called goliath grouper. The name changed only a few years ago, but the jewfish’s name origin apparently dates back to 1697 and before. In his book published that year, William Dampier the explorer logged an expedition to Jamaica, where the Jewish minority there favored the grandest kosher fish. He said: The Jew-fish is a very good fish, and I judge so called by the English, because it hath scales and fins, therefore a clean fish, according to Levitical Law.” Back in the 1930s, huge ones were landed at the Aransas and Galveston jetties. The old-timers knew how to catch them, but years later it has become something of a lost art. Probably because these fish have been federally protected since 1990. In Florida, with this protection, they’ve become something of a problem, eating countless hooked fish, even blacktip sharks. But in Texas? Nada. We hear nothing about them. They have to be down there in the depths somewhere, around old shrimpboat wrecks, the jetties, and murky waters around old Gulf platforms in state waters. And make no mistake, goliaths are perfectly happy in murky, even milk chocolate muddy water. When they’re hungry, they simply inhale whatever bottom fish is passing by. This is the most shallow grouper of about 14 species in the Gulf and Atlantic, spending perhaps its entire life in less than 100 feet of water. A big one might lurk right under the dock, at least in warm weather. There is a story from years ago of a big one that lived under the dock at Clark’s Marina in POC. They said when the shrimp boats docked, they would soon dump buckets of shrimpheads overboard, and they’d see the big grouper come up and inhale gallons of heads. Eventually the behemoth was caught. If memory serves, it weighed 300 pounds or so. Back in our serious spearfishing days at the platforms off Sabine Pass, or
Smaller goliath grouper in the landing net, about to be released.
the South Padre jetties, we’d see big goliaths, but our light spears slowed. Years ago I scuba dived the end of one jetty, and saw four big practically bounced off them. Our boats were small and we weren’t very goliaths cruising by, averaging about 150 pound each. The water was far offshore—the serious divers with bigger boats always passed by, a very rare blue and the incoming tide had almost stopped. Those big heading for blue water much further out. Shooting at a variety of fish puppies would have been real happy to find a fresh stingray, of which species, we became very accurate with the short 3-band guns we had; I Texas bays are in plentiful supply. After getting hooked, these fish would even speared pompano a few times. But a goliath? We knew we would make a power dive into the nearest hole unless stopped with heavy need a bigger boat and heavier gear. When we did, we soon landed a tackle. With these fish, it’s brute force stopping them or they reach their pair of big goliaths. The smaller of the two fish dragged me endlessly rocky lair, where they can wait out most anglers. The typical snapper through bottom murk and pipes overgrown with barnacles like an tackle of old, like a Penn 4/0 reel, would not suffice here. Best consider a underwater obstacle course. The bigger fish dragged both of us around 6/0 or 9/0 reel. until my buddy’s scuba air ran out, leaving me alone. Sensing time In Florida I’ve hooked a few goliaths in recent years, often in water as was running out, I pulled myself up the cable onto his back and finally shallow as 12 feet. We caught eight of these fish up to 25 pounds without steered him up to the boat; the water was only 30 feet deep. Even with moving the boat, while anchored near Shark River in the Everglades. It a gaff, it was difficult dragging both fish into my 15-foot Thunderbird was like fishing a cove at Toledo Bend, the water was so calm with lots boat; the gaff almost straightened. We set both fish in the bow, so we of shade trees. However, the water was salty at high tide. We used live could get the boat up on plane, the Johnson 70 horse outboard straining with the heavy load. Back at the Sportsman’s Supply in Sabine Pass, the two fish weighed 165 and 210 pounds on the store scales. Filleting each fish was like cleaning a hog, and I wasn’t impressed with the quality of the meat, with lots of fatty strips. After that, we never speared another. That was the summer of ‘79 and we’ve left them alone ever since, at least while underwater. But hey, catching one of these giants on a hook and line would liven up any fishing trip, even if they do have to be released. They have to be down there after so many years of protection. I talked to several old-timers years Author’s estimated 400-pound Author with a small Author with two Gus Pangarakis, at right, goliath grouper, caught in 12 feet goliath grouper caught goliaths he speared caught the Texas state record ago, and they always advised me to of water in South Florida, after on live pinfish at Shark out of Sabine Pass goliath grouper in 1937. It use stingrays for bait. Apparently, using a live jack crevalle for bait. River in Florida. in 1979. weighed 551 pounds. goliaths are crazy about platter-sized stingrays, like we see so often in shallow water. A goliath will scarf one down like a boneless steak. I’ve seen one video of a hooked cownose ray circling under the boat, and a huge goliath rising to inhale it near the surface. And, pictures of guys on a Florida pass using heavy tackle and frozen stingrays for bait. The rays were easily collected while flounder gigging. These guys would gig and then freeze an entire flat of stingrays, and then peel off a few for their beach trips. The frozen rays worked just fine with goliath grouper. This is not a picky fish. So, imagine drifting a fresh stingray deep around the end of a Texas jetty, when the tide has 38 | May 2017
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which are plentiful enough. It was Gus Pangarakis, a Houston firefighter, who caught our state record goliath grouper at Galveston’s north jetties. That grouper was way bigger than he was. He had a talent for catching huge fish; he also landed the state record sawfish at better than 700 pounds. Sawfish were pretty much wiped out by nets in Texas, and the goliath population laid low perhaps for other reasons. But they’re still out there and their population should be rebuilding. This summer, I may try dropping a fresh stingray bait around the jetties, just to see what happens. Maybe a mean old bull shark will grab on, something I’m not looking forward to. But if it’s a goliath grouper, it would certainly liven up the day.
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
pinfish on “knocker” rigs, which is just a one-ounce egg weight knocking against the hook. With a 50-pound mono leader. The water was shallow with little current. What a region: That incredible maze of sheltering mangrove islands stretches for about 70 miles, from Flamingo to Naples, now the center of the universe for goliath grouper. Perfect habitat for juveniles but also hiding some big ones, too. On a previous trip we stopped at a channel marker in Florida Bay just south of Flamingo and I tossed out a live, 2-pound Don Castille from Bridge jack crevalle, and a huge goliath City speared many goliath inhaled it within 10 seconds. It was grouper off Sabine Pass, a savage battle at close quarters, back in the day. more like fighting a manatee, and we had to crank the engine and motor away from the pilings about 40 yards. When the behemoth was finally brought alongside, we took pictures and twisted loose the 20/0 circle hook. The guys estimated the fish at seven feet and perhaps 400 pounds. We kept it in the water; it’s now considered uncool and I think prohibited in Florida, to drag goliaths into the boat for hero pictures. These fish are said to age very slowly and deserve protection. Lip-gaffing one of these heavy fish and holding it up might pop a vertebrae behind the head. The Texas state record for goliath grouper is still about 550 pounds, and that will be hard to beat. Aside from illegal harvest, an inshore fish of that size is pretty rare these days. However, there has to be plenty of old wrecks off the beach that could harbor a big, residential fish that doesn’t move much, just sits there and inhales passing bottomfish,
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TSFMAG.com | 43
STORY BY JOE DOGGETT
Calm conditions look great but gathering storm clouds over the open water bear watching.
A
dark stain of low clouds was spreading across the eastern horizon as our scooter nudged to a halt along the Matagorda Island shoreline. A distant storm was “making up” over the dawning Gulf but the weather seemed to be drifting to the north. “I think it’ll miss us,” I said, grabbing my rod and wading belt. We began shuffling and casting, angling with a moderate southeast wind. The open-water storm was at our backs, unnoticed until a cool gust ripped across the leeward shoreline. My friend turned and promptly started backpedaling to the anchored boat. A purple wall of wind and rain had swallowed the low island. “Man, that thing’s bearing down fast; we’ve got to get out of here!” The first salvo struck as we climbed into the scooter. “We’re screwed,” I yelled. “We’d better just lay low and ride it out.” And, for once, we followed the correct plan. The open bay awash in torrential sheets and hammering chops was no place for a small boat. We donned foul weather suits and flotation jackets and hunkered down in the semi-protected cove and took our soggy whipping. We both needed at least one additional layer of clothing but the squall pushed through in 30 or 40 minutes and, shivering, we were able to limp back to the dock.
The trip was a bust but at least we had the survival sense not to try to “make a run for it.” Tragically, each year too many coastal anglers get caught by dangerous weather. There are two reasons for this: First, hard chargers have a tendency to overstay amid marginal conditions; second, we tend to think, “Oh, nothing’s bad going to happen to me.” Well, it can and it does. Fast-moving and powerful storms can occur at any time of the year along the Texas coast. The hard northers of winter probably are most dangerous because the bitter conditions can quickly sap a stranded and soaked boater; the toxic mix of, say, 55⁰ water and 45⁰ air is a no-nonsense killer but keep in mind that hypothermia from prolonged exposure can be a mortal threat even under relatively mild air/water temperatures. The spring/summer storms and squalls typically spawned in the Gulf are warmer than the winter northers but the trade-out can be the increased danger from lightning. Horrifying bolts are a real hazard on open water. The worst summer storms I have experienced were in Costa Rica and the Florida Everglades, but the Texas coast certainly generates its share of violent electricity. Afternoons seem to be prime time for energy-charged weather. Twice, I have escaped extremely close lightning strikes. The first occurred while I was wading for bass in a small lake south of Houston. A major afternoon storm billowed up and the cooling cloud cover triggered a fast flurry of topwater fishing. Naturally, with the typical “one more cast” mentality, I stayed too long. A fuzzy tingle buzzed through the graphite rod and, an instant later, the whole world went white as a flash bomb exploded in my face. The blast almost knocked me down in the thigh-deep water – I am extremely fortunate I wasn’t killed. The second near-miss occurred in the surf near Surfside Beach. A dark storm rolled from the west, but the inland cell looked to be five or six miles away. The sky was sunny over the beach and I continued to plug the green tide. A jagged flash ripped from nowhere and struck the open Gulf about 50 yards offshore. It was the classic “bolt from the blue,” and sufficient to shake me to my core.
You don’t want anything to do with lightning storms; anyone who stays out, refusing to duck and cover, is tempting awful fate. Lightning is terrifying but wind-driven waves probably are the greatest storm danger. But, from the perspective of a longtime surfer, I believe many reports of “big waves” in our bays are exaggerated. The bays are too shallow and the fetch is too short to generate much swell. But the waves don’t have to be that big to be a disaster to the small boat being tossed and bashed. Ragged two- to three-foot chops stirred by the passage of a powerful storm can overwhelm a 16- to 18foot boat. The waves are close-packed, one almost on top of the next, giving the frantic driver little time to compensate. The shallow-water hulls of scooters and flats skiffs especially are vulnerable. Slew sideways or plow into a rising crest, and it’s easy to swamp the rig. If a dunking is imminent, you’d better hope the flotation vest is where it belongs, cinched around your torso, and not tangled amid the anchor line in a forward compartment. Wait – I’d better modify that statement about big waves in the bays. The channel just inside a major jetty or pass or river mouth can stack swells pushing from the open Gulf. Incoming waves banging into a strong outgoing current can create a gauntlet of extremely uncertain navigating. And, worth note, deep-water swells usually arrive in “sets” of maybe five or six waves, each several seconds apart. These set waves are significantly larger and more powerful than the rubble in between, and the wary skipper is well-advised to allow a set to pass before attempting to cross a shallow bar. And don’t dawdle when you pull the trigger; the lull is fleeting and another set almost certainly is gathering “outside.” If you get caught and a big wave starts rising ahead to break, idle back and allow it to curl, then punch through the incoming whitewater – much less punishing than taking the full force of the crest coming down. Better yet, don’t get sucked into such a precarious predicament. Years ago, I tore the elevated bow swivel seat from the deck of a bass boat by smashing into a heaving swell just inside the channel of the north Galveston Jetty. That was a rookie mistake – but there you go. Also, the wake from a heavy-laden tanker can be a hazard for the unwary bay boater anchored along a ship channel spoil bank. This especially is true if the tanker maybe is moving faster than it should (strict regulations apply, but don’t bet your boat or your life that they always are heeded). Of course, many ship wakes pose no significant threat but I’ve seen some downright impressive swells grinding along certain shorelines and reefs in Galveston Bay. Keep in mind that the tanker might be way over there but the wake can become a real and present danger. The safe plan is to use a long anchor line, allowing the boat to ride up and over each humping swell. A short line on a sharp angle can Punching a heavy center console through rough surf in a river mouth or jetty channel demands timing the sets, wearing life jackets, and knowing when to say “No!”
46 | May 2017
plunge the bow into an abrupt “pearl dive” – incredible disaster happening before your very eyes. Once, near the Texas City Dike, I was in an anchored center console that took at least a foot of water over the stern as a thick tanker swell rolled past. Assorted flotsam such as Igloo coolers and tackle bags aside, we were fortunate to recover. Worth note, the size of the wake is not the whole story. Much depends on the depth. The skiff tethered in, say, four or five feet of water along a spoil bank or over an oyster reef might be in a great spot for pecking away at a box of specks, but that hot spot can rapidly turn into “el wipeout grande” as the first rising wave reaches the shelving bottom. The upside to a big tanker wake is that it really can’t sneak up on you. The dark lines start fanning across the placid bay, giving ample time for the savvy skipper to react and retreat from a shallow shellacking. In short, haul the hook and aim for the The tropics are notorious for late-afternoon boomers, cushion of deeper water. A lot of energy is but the Texas coast can generate dangerous electrical storms during spring and summer. coming your way. Wind, rain, waves, lightning – oh, yes, and fog – are among the elements that can imperil the coastal boater. And, to reiterate, we sometimes get into trouble by lingering too long before seeking shelter. Or, worse, with cavalier indifference we push the limits in the rash belief that we somehow are special. I reckon Moses was the last individual to part the sea for safe passage, so don’t bet on that happening. Old Man Gulf could care less what a killer trout-master you are, and Lady Luck might be hung over from the beach party the night before. So, one dark day, if you find yourself thinking, only a moron would get into a situation like this – you probably are making a remarkably astute observation.
Staying for “one more cast” in the face of an advancing storm can trap the openwater boat in a dangerous situation.
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Joe Doggett was an outdoors columnist with the Houston Chronicle for thirty-five years. Retiring in 2007, Doggett writes occasional freelance pieces between hunting, fishing and surfing adventures.
Mild winter and favorable salinity have contributed to earlier-thannormal grass development. We typically do not see this until at least a month later into spring.
J AY WAT K I N S
ASK T H E P R O
Pumped about Rockport’s
springtime prospects
Getting back on my home waters, I have discovered the grass in our back bays and barrier island shorelines is coming back very quickly due to warmer than normal water temperatures through the winter months and very favorable salinity. Driving to Victoria last week I noticed the Guadalupe River and several sloughs running near bankfull. Farmers who haven’t planted yet may not be too happy but this is a great sign for fishermen. Freshwater inflow plays a critical role in our estuaries and my records say that years of above average rainfall and inflow produce above average trout fishing. So, with that said, I am already seeing terrific numbers of very solid trout in a whole lot of areas in the Aransas Bay region. I made mention last month the importance of focusing on edges of grass beds that lie adjacent to slight drop-offs. This is such a reliable structure situation that I want to follow up and add a few more thoughts for your spring arsenal. For the past two weeks I have been fishing different bay systems and different shorelines and spoil areas within them to understand how the fish were relating to the structure. Fishing 6 to 7 days a week since returning to Rockport I have already 50 | May 2017
identified numerous areas in several bays currently holding the type of trout I like to target. We are seeing some slicks, which helps confirm what we think we know. I like testing myself, head game stuff, and enjoy presenting these ideas and lessons to my guys of equally competitive and inquisitive fishing nature. I have always believed the wind is our friend and in no season is this more evident than springtime. Seasonally high tides create larger zones of clean water along most of the barrier island shorelines. Where the wind can get a grip on the water, along protected shorelines, we see water color changes beginning to occur. These are super areas to target IF certain factors exist. First – We need the water color change to come in close enough to the shoreline to cover up the OUTER EDGE of the submerged grass that makes up along the edges of the drop-offs. Second – The water color change and the submerged grass edge needs to be located on or close to the migration line on the shoreline. What’s the migration line? Bait fish definitely use specific paths along water depth changes when entering and exiting coves and
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secondary bays. Current controls this line and can be formed by tide or Trey Jackson with nice trout this wind. I have no science to support this, past week – CPR!. just years of experience. Third – We need bait to be present along the line where water color change covers the bottom structure. A frequent problem for me is my height. Casting toward the desired structure from offshore when tides are high and we’re still in waders, I face the constant threat of getting wet. When tides drop it becomes easier, plus with lower tide levels the color line usually makes up nearer the shoreline. I like to work on a zig-zag path along the shoreline for the simple reason that it allows working varying depths Author about to to discover where they have chosen to release a solid Aransas Bay speck. set up for the feeding period that day. Don’t get stuck on a specific line until with the wind-generated current, slowly rolling along bottom. the fish establish that line for you. This often changes throughout Small crustaceans and tiny bait fish seek shelter in the grass mats. the day, so being aware of things such as changes in wind direction, Trout and redfish then mill around the edges. Add some potholes and bait fish location, tidal flow, water clarity and water temperature things can get very interesting. I have had the chance to fish these changes all play big roles in your ability to follow the pattern as the types of structure in Rockport as well as Port Mansfield and found day progresses. them to be very productive on most every occasion. And, don’t forget the dreaded but inevitable boat traffic. Traffic Finally, but certainly not least, we have the drain pattern, which moves fish but over the years I can honestly say that I have obtained can be fished productively most of the year. The opening of Cedar great confidence in placing my clients in areas where boat traffic Bayou has literally supercharged the northern portion of the Aransas actually helps rather than hurts us. Let the traffic push the fish toward you. More head game stuff. Fellow guides tell me they don’t know how system and southernmost waters of San Antonio Bay – Long Reef all the way up to Panther Point. Water flowing through the Bayou is I stay sane when boats are running all over the fish. creating trout fishing in our drains and back lakes that we did not see Fishing spoils in springtime, I like SE wind that pushes water onto prior to the opening. the spoil shorelines or over submerged spoil island reefs. These areas In springtime, when tides bull up, the best trout congregate where are not always wind-friendly so I have to pick my days. Rare occasions the drains enter the back lakes – the opposite of fall and winter. of a calm night followed by a calm morning are the absolute best on Fishing where the drain enters the lake can be physically challenging; the spoils as the grass beds and reefs form havens for bait fish to hide soft bottom and bank edges, deeper water, mosquitos, etc. Drains and trout to lie in ambush. with multiple bends are the best for sure. The bends or turns cause the An element that most spoil areas have in common is quick currents to speed up and scour deeper holes – think ambush points. deepwater access and wind-driven water movement. These two Find a hairpin turn close to the lake mouth and you’re golden. Still characteristics are bait and game fish magnets. I like the fact that need water movement and an ample food source but most of you water clarity around the spoils is typically not as clear as shorelines know this by now, I would think. in general. Having been shaped by erosion, spoils also typically have It’s looking really good here in Rockport so far, and I am excited small areas of shallow water flats, places where predators can slide about the future of this fishery. Hope to see some of you on the water up and feed easily and then retreat quickly to deeper and safer water and around the docks. where they seem to prefer to spend their downtime. These fish in their May your fishing always be catching. -Guide Jay Watkins deeper, darker comfort zones can still be caught when located. In fact, I believe the sheer numbers that can congregate in these areas will often result in instinctive feeding, even though they are probably not hungry. Grab it before your buddy does kind of deal – greed can be Jay Watkins has been a full-time fishing guide at Rockport, the deadliest of sins. TX, for more than 20 years. Jay specializes in wading yearround for trout and redfish with artificial lures. Jay covers A fairly new springtime tactic for me is what I call the floating grass the Texas coast from San Antonio Bay to Corpus Christi Bay. pattern. Along the middle and lower Texas coast, strong SE winds push and stack grass, which eventually sinks to form half-moon shaped Telephone 361-729-9596 underwater mats. I think these winds might also shape oyster reefs – Email Jay@jaywatkins.com seems every bay system has at least one Half Moon Reef. Anyway, the Website www.jaywatkins.com difference between these mats and the reefs is that the mats move 52 | May 2017
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C A P T. S COT T N U L L
S H A L L O W W ATE R F IS H ING
Henry Stokes –
Texas Lure Inventor I saw a t-shirt the other day that said, “I survived the Texas Winter of 2017 – January 6th-8th” Yep, that was about it. I spend nearly every day outdoors and had very few occasions to wear anything heavier than a sweatshirt. Water temperatures hit that magical 70⁰ mark earlier than I can ever recall and never looked back. I’m not sure what all of this means for fishing throughout the coming year, but it has been a really good spring, so far. One thing I’m pretty confident in predicting is thick seagrass. I’m already seeing a lot more grass than normal and figure some back lake areas will be headed towards unfishable matted-up conditions well ahead of schedule. Even if you don’t hit those grassy lakes, you’ll likely be dealing with that annoying floating grass in the afternoons a little sooner than normal. Given all of that, it might be a good idea to step up your weedless game. Over the years I’ve tried every trick in the book to modify my lures, but nothing really worked all that well. Recently I ran into Henry Stokes of Skinny Water Arsenal in his booth at Rock the Dock
boat show in Aransas Pass. We got to talking about his lures and how they came about. I thought it was a pretty cool story that falls right in line with the history of other Texas handmade lures. It all started when Henry found himself dealing with a grassy problem during a tournament several years ago. He was looking at a pod of upper-slot reds tailing in inches of water surrounded by thick grass. “I just knew the red I needed was in that school, but I flat out couldn’t get a lure in there without spooking them by fouling in the grass.” He spooked those fish along with several others that day and it lit a fire. Henry decided he was going to come up with some sort of lure that would work. He shared his thoughts with his fishing buddy, Capt. Dean Thomas of Slowride Guide Service. I’ve known Dean a long time and he isn’t one to mince words, so it was no surprise when he told Henry to save his time and money because it can’t be done. Dean continued with, “Don’t you think out of all the thousands of lures out there somebody hasn’t tried the same thing you’re thinking about? There are lots of
Henry Stokes took a short break at Rock the Dock Boat Show to prove the lures work.
54 | May 2017
56 | May 2017
Capt. Dean “Slowride” Thomas and Carrie Suggs with a solid red on a Stoker Shrimp Tail.
Slowride says specks love Stokers, too!
they’re weedless I’ll go with that. I did get to play around with them a bit to see the action and I really liked what I saw. Both versions settle upright at a steady, slow pace. The Rat Tail has a nice “dying baitfish” wobble to it. Next trip out I’ll have them tied on for some serious testing in the nasty stuff. If you’d like to get your hands on some of Henry’s products, you can pick them up at Slowride’s shop in Aransas Pass or online at www.skinnywaterarsenal.com.
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people who sit around at those companies every day thinking about new lures. What makes you think you can pull it off in your spare time?” Well, that did it. Henry was more determined than ever. He knew he wanted a durable soft plastic with a slow sink rate and a good hook-up ratio – that was totally weedless. One little problem, he knew nothing about making a soft plastic lure. “Hell, I didn’t even know what kind of plastic they used. Not to mention how to make a mold or correctly pour it.” Through several months of studying, asking questions and tinkering he eventually got all of that figured out. Now the really hard part – designing a lure. Henry spent every evening after work carving resin blocks into lure blanks. “Man, I can’t tell you how many hours I spent sitting in my spare bedroom at a TV table with a Dremel Tool and sandpaper.” He made dozens of blanks, turned those into silicone molds, and poured some lures. “I’d take them down to Aransas Pass and show them to Dean and he’d go through the pile saying, “Nope, nope, nope.” We threw some of them and, he was right. Henry credits Dean with pushing him by being his harshest critic. Dean didn’t hesitate to point any and all flaws. After several months, he sent a package of lures to Dean and asked him to take a look. Dean decided these were worth throwing and agreed to give them a shot. Henry was at work when he got a text with a photo showing his lures tied on every one of Dean’s customer rods and the message, “We’re killing it.” He had the action right, but still wasn’t quite satisfied with the way the hook went through the lure. The lure is designed with a slotted hole on the tail that allows the hook point to ride in a small depression on the top, but allows it to slide upward freely for a solid hook-up. That hole looks pretty simple, but I bet we went through another 20-25 molds trying to get it perfect.” Dean wandered up and threw in, “Yeah that was a pain in the butt, but he finally got it figured out. And it really is perfect.” High praise from Mr. Negativity. The new lure was christened The Stoker Rat Tail. It is a mullet or small baitfish imitation. Taking what he had learned throughout this design process, Henry was able to come up with the weedless Stoker Shrimp Tail a few months later. Both are available in unweighted or 1/8-ounce version with all the standard Texas coastal colors. Henry recently graduated from working out of his garage to a small shop in San Antonio where each lure is assembled and poured by hand. A specially bent 600# stainless wire runs from the nose tie to a stainless split ring with a hand-bent wide gap hook. He also adds a dehydrated concoction of shrimp, menhaden and mullet to his plastic. And yes, he makes that himself as well, using fresh-caught bait he buys in Aransas Pass. As a side note, if he ever offers to blend up some margaritas you might want to decline. I have yet to personally throw them into a thick mess of grass, but Dean fishes some of the grassiest water on our coast and if he’s says
Capt. Scott Null is a devout shallow water fisherman offering guided adventues via kayak, poled skiff, and wading. Telephone Email Website
281-450-2206 scott@tsfmag.com www.captainscottnull.com
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F IE L D NOTES
Feeling the Squeeze –
Trends in Red Snapper I have spent many years fishing in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) for red snapper. Some of this fishing was for fun (and food) and sometimes it was for research. These fish mature and grow very fast. They may reproduce as early as 2 years old, and reach 25” and 10 pounds in 6 years. And, whether or not you agree with the reasons, it appears the highly restrictive regulations for red snapper in the GOM have succeeded in quickly rebuilding the population. However, this population rebuilding process has come at a price, as we have had fewer and fewer opportunities to target this highly-prized fish in the federal Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ, from 9 nautical miles to 200 nautical miles off the gulf beach). Texas anglers are definitely feeling the squeeze, and so are the fish! Red snapper support an important commercial and recreational fishery. In both the EEZ and Texas Territorial Seas (TTS, from the gulf beach out to 9 nautical miles), the recreational fishery is managed through bag and size limits as well as seasonal closures. Even though red snapper are no longer overfished, red snapper populations are still
considered overfished compared to historical population levels. In order to comply with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act mandate to rebuild the red snapper population by 2032, fishery regulations in the EEZ have become increasingly restrictive over the past 10 years (Figure 1). In recent years, the EEZ private recreational season was reduced to as little as 9 days with anglers only allowed to keep 2 fish of at least 16 inches. In contrast, current TTS regulations have been in place since 1999 and consists of a 4 fish bag limit, minimum size of 15 inches, and a year-round season. However, there is a need to monitor TTS red snapper populations due to increased harvest pressure resulting from the shortened EEZ season. Through an extensive harvest survey program, TPWD has been monitoring fish landings since the mid-1970s. If you’re lucky, you’ve met some Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) Coastal Fisheries staff at a boat ramp as they gathered information from anglers about their fishing trips. This information is very important, as it allows biologists to estimate the number and sizes of fish harvested from
Fig. 1: Private Recreational red snapper regulations (1991-2016) for the Federal Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the Texas Territorial Sea (TTS).
58 | May 2017
Your Catch Counts!
Report your Red
Snapper Landings
Get involved. Help manage the red snapper fishery for future generations.
At the end of each day’s trip, parties that land red snapper are strongly encouraged to report their landings via a mobile app or online. It’s fast, simple and easy!
load n w o D pp the a ! today
Download the free app at
www.iSnapper.org or report online at iSnapperonline.org Each submittal is important to the management of the red snapper fishery off Texas shores and beyond.
Anglers fishing from party boats are exempt as the captain reports for you.
FOR INFO ABOUT THE REPORTING PROGRAM Harte Research Institute iSnapper@sportfishresearch.org www.sportfishresearch.org
FOR INFO ON THE RED SNAPPER FISHERY TPWD Coastal Fisheries cfish@tpwd.texas.gov www.tpwd.texas.gov
different areas along the Texas coast, and identify Fig. 2: The percent of the total red snapper that were harvested from Texas Territorial Sea trends in landings. One such trend is the significant (TTS, red line). The percentage was calculated based on the estimated total number of increase in the percent of red snapper landed that red snapper caught from both the EEZ and TTS from 1991-2015 (grey dotted line). Black dotted line shows the point where 50% of red snapper would be harvested from the TTS. come from TTS as the EEZ season decreased from 194 days to 9 days over the last 10 years (Figure 2). Also, while TTS size limits have been unchanged since 1999 (EEZ changed to 16” in 2000), the average size of red snapper landed from both TTS and EEZ by Texas anglers increased until 2011 (Figure 3). In 2011 the average size of red snapper harvested from TTS decreased and then leveled off over the next 6 years. This decrease coincided with a decreased season length in EEZ waters from 77 days in 2010 to 9 days in 2016. These increased harvest restrictions in EEZ waters have shifted more pressure into TTS in recent years resulting in increased landings in state waters, removal of the larger more desirable fish, and a reduction in the average size. Another impact of the shorter EEZ season is a decreased opportunity for biologists to collect harvest data from this area, which is one of the reasons that an online/phone app reporting system, such as iSnapper, has been developed (iSnapper.org). To supplement this angler harvest data, over the last two years TPWD has initiated an alternate Fig. 3: Mean length of red snapper from creel surveys data collection program that isn’t dependent on that were caught in the EEZ and TTS from 1991-2016. angler harvest. The Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (SEAMAP), which is a state/ federal program of the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, involves using commercial-style vertical long line equipment, in a very standardized way, to census red snapper populations at natural and artificial reefs along the Texas coast. Three lines with 10 hooks each spaced at 2-foot intervals are dropped to the bottom near a chosen habitat. Three different sized hooks are used, (8/0, 11/0, or 15/0 circle hooks), which allows red snapper of a wide size range to be caught. The vertical lines are dropped for 5 minutes, retrieved, and all fish caught are measured and weighed. Among the data yielded by this methodology are catch rates and mean size of red snapper. As we collect more of this type of data, we can start to look at trends in our Texas red snapper populations and compare to what our anglers are catching. There’s some good news on the horizon. Our TPWD Artificial Reef Program is working with various partners to put out numerous (several thousand) concrete pyramid reefs in our state waters offshore most major ports along our coastline (up-to-date information at https://www.facebook. com/TexasParksAndWildlifeArtificialReefProgram/). So, hopefully these additional reef habitats will allow the red snapper population to expand and spread out the fishing pressure, and release the squeeze! Next month Dr. Mark Fisher, Coastal Fisheries Science Director, will remind us how important it is for anglers to use the iSnapper app or webpage to report their red snapper landings.
Check the TPWD Outdoor Annual, your local TPWD Law Enforcement office, or www.tpwd.texas.gov for more information.
60 | May 2017
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S C O T T S O M M E R L AT T E
F LY F I S H I N G
Got Coyote? Clients on my skiff ask frequently: What is your favorite fly? That’s a tough question; given that I fish so many places for so many species. Having been asked the question again recently, I decided to thumb through my fly boxes and see if anything caught my eye as being extra special. Two flies did in fact immediately catch my eye. One was the highly-classified super-secret Metcalf fly, of which I have only two left. Then of course there is old reliable – my Shrimp Slider pattern. Surprisingly though, what really stood out the most was not a specific fly, but of a theme of sorts. It was very obvious that I really like shrimpy-looking flies, and one particular material seemed to be included in almost every one of them. Now before I get on to what this mystery material actually is, let me give you my opinion on something. Imagine that. Of all the forage species that swim in our bays, the shrimp is by far the most important. And, when I say shrimp I do include all of the various sub-species, white, brown, pink, etc. To me, the shrimp is as important to the fish as the water they swim in. So when looking at just about any species of shrimp, one thing is clearly obvious and that is pretty much all of them are somewhat tan in color, and that is why coyote is such a great material for creating shrimp flies. So, I guess the answer to the question of what is my favorite fly
would be a shrimpy-looking fly tied with some coyote. I still remember the first time I incorporated coyote into a fly and it was when my Suicide Crab and Shrimp Slider patterns were born. I needed a tuft of some natural material for a wing to help insure the fly would always ride hook-point up, and started with a small bunch of kip tail and seem to remember being unimpressed with the look of it. I then went rummaging through my materials and came across an old coyote tail and decided to give it a try. The rest, as they say, is history. As for where the coyote tail came from; well, we had this coyote that kept coming through the neighborhood about dusk every evening. In the beginning he visited only when the camp was quiet in the middle of the week, but eventually grew bolder. Considering that there were several dogs in the camp as well as young children on the weekend, I made the decision to take him out. So one night I found me a comfortable spot to hide along his normal route and waited for about twenty minutes until he showed up. The ‘yote was only about five yards away and the shot was clean, a quick dispatch with no suffering. Something about me does not like to see one of God’s creatures suffer but, equally important, I do not want an animal’s death to be for nothing. In short, I feel that some part of that animal should be utilized so that it’s death is not totally in vain. By the way, this was the first
Everglades tarpon ate our shrimp pattern!
62 | May 2017
Shrimpy-looking flies tied with coyote tail.
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coyote I had ever killed so I stared it over and thought wow, that tail is beautiful. Bet it will make some great redfish flies. To this day coyote is one of my favorite materials to tie with. Since that day, like I said, I love tying with coyote and because I am a hunter, coyote tail is somewhat easy to come by. It also helps that my buddy Theron Stanley brings me a couple every year. I have tried tying with coyote that is commercially available but is usually body hair and I prefer the tail. However, there is a product that is available commercially and it takes tying with coyote to a whole new level. A few years back my good friend Enrico Puglisi joined me down at the Marco Island guide shack and we sat down and worked on developing some new EP Foxy Brushes that he was able to bring to market. One of the things we explored that week was how much I love coyote and asked if there might ever be a way to create a brush utilizing the stiffer, more buoyant hair of a coyote. The answer – yes, he could, and he did. Anyway, the coyote is blended with his signature fibers and a very small amount of flash, and then spun up into what is the perfect brush for creating very shrimpy-looking flies. To me, the trick to working with the coyote brush is to wind close and tight and then create tapered slider heads utilizing long scissors. Also, because the coyote is more buoyant and traps more air than the brushes with only synthetics and/or arctic fox, you have to sometimes weight the fly with either bead-chain or lead eyes, or even a hidden strip or two of lead wire. Anyway, just last week we had some great luck utilizing the fly in the accompanying photo to coax a few tarpon that were slurping big shrimp on the surface. We also had a big red gobble it up. But dammit – we just couldn’t find a snook to complete the slam. Maybe tomorrow.
64 | May 2017
Scott Sommerlatte is a full time fly fishing and light tackle guide, freelance writer and photographer. Telephone Email Website
979-415-4379 vssommerlatte@hotmail.com www.mangrovefly.com
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K AYA K F I S H I N G C H R O N I C L E S
The Right Questions
for Kayak Fishing
A few months ago I was contacted by a representative of Paddling Anglers of Canoes and Kayaks (P.A.C.K.) with an invitation to be a guest speaker at one of their monthly meetings. I agreed, so it was time to start tossing a few ideas around on the topics I wanted to cover. I was struggling on pinning down the theme of my presentation until I watched a TED talk concerning the success of certain products. One of the highlighted corporations was Apple and their business strategy compared to others. Competitors strategies all come from a base of What they do whereas Apple’s is Why they do it. That is when I had my “Aha!” moment and began to work on my presentation. Randomly enough with the subject and this article, it also coincides with my very first article two years ago in this magazine- Why I Kayak Fish. After putting together my power point and speech, I figured it was all worthy enough to share with TSFMag readers. How do you catch fish? This is a question that comes up frequently in conversation. The answer is really very simple but does not explain much. It’s as basic as putting a lure in the water, I tell them. If your bait is not in the water you cannot catch fish. The more important question is why did you catch that fish? Now that is a completely different question that will result in a completely different 66 | May 2017
answer. Why is the question we need to ask ourselves to gain the information and knowledge we are searching for. It is no secret that a majority of the fishing I do is catching redfish in the marsh, and trout during winter. Both of these species are exciting to catch and I have never had a dull moment when chasing either. The moment you see the tip of a redfish’s tail break the water’s surface is a welcome sight that automatically puts a smile on my face. Also, after setting the hook on a big trout, and watching her sit there shaking her head – that’s another sight that always gets my blood flowing. These are but two of many reasons I enjoy chasing redfish and trout. These fish have different characteristics and distinct habits but have one thing in common – they are lazy opportunistic feeders. I believe that when fish feed, they want to work as little as possible and when feeding, they want to have the advantage over their prey. When you look at it as if they will feed more often when the ball is in their court, you can start to figure out Why they are acting the way they are. For an example, weather, that is something that all anglers pay close attention to before going on a trip. So if I go fishing on a day that is overcast, I am going to change my lure selection up a little bit. On overcast days with low light, I have confidence to throw a topwater all
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will help you keep a pattern on fish and make you a more efficient angler. It all comes down to knowing and asking Why. I have come to realize though, there is more to kayak fishing than meets the eye of most observers. More than simply another way to fish, it becomes a lifestyle. I have met people from coast to coast with all the same passion and the kayak community in general never ceases to amaze me. I have had complete strangers guide me on their home waters and others have offered to do the same. I honestly believe I can go just about anywhere, find a kayak angler, and they will take me fishing. Some of my best friends were first met at a boat ramp while I was preparing to launch. I have spent countless hours fishing with my brother. I have enjoyed more sunrises and sunsets sitting in my kayak than most people probably have in their life. Regardless how the rest of the day might go, I have learned that catching fish is just a bonus. One thing about it that has never changed is why I do it. The reasons above are exactly why I still kayak fish. Continue striving to learn and never forget Why you do it.Â
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day. I believe topwaters are effective on such days because there is no glare and fish can look up and see the bait better. And, baitfish such as finger mullet, do not have enough light to see the predators beneath them. This gives redfish and trout the advantage, as I mentioned above. Another condition that we often run into are windy days. I have always heard about this and was skeptical until I actually did it, but targeting windward shorelines can be very productive. I know this is not the most ideal way to fish out of a kayak but these shorelines hold fish. The reason is that bait is forced against the shoreline and makes for an easier target for lazy, hungry fish. This is Why windward shorelines are a good place to target. Time of day is another important factor when it comes to targeting fish. It is no secret that fish tend to feed right at daylight or right at dusk. I believe they react to the change in light accordingly and take full advantage of it. The reason Why this happens is because when the sun comes up or goes down, there is a window with minimum light. With this small amount of light the game fish have the advantage and will feed more readily. Also, staying with time of day, fishing during the solunar majors and minors that are driven by the moon phases is another key factor. Sometimes the major will occur in the middle of the day. This is a good reason to sleep late and enjoy a more leisurely start. Also with the moon phase, it is directly related with the tides which we know turns the bite on. These are all just a few factors of Why fish tend to react the way they do. When you start asking the right questions, you will start getting the right answers. This will make you a better angler and I believe it
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
Representatives of the groups that participated in the Matagorda Island Marsh Restoration Project – left to right: Jake Herring (CBBEP), Rosario Martinez (CBBEP), John Blaha (CCA Texas), and Felipe Prieto (USFWS).
Story by John Blaha | Photos by Lisa Laskowski
T S F M ag C o ns e r v a t i o n N e ws
CCA Texas and Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program Help Restore 2,300 Acres of Marsh Habitat on Matagorda Island CCA Texas and Habitat Today for Fish Tomorrow (HTFT) partnered with Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program (CBBEP) to restore 2,300 acres of marsh on Matagorda Island. In the 1950s, roughly 15,000 acres of marsh on Matagorda Island were negatively impacted when vast areas of estuarine marsh were sectioned with levees and drained for cattle grazing. These areas remained this way until the late 1970s when several dozen culverts where installed in attempt to restore natural flows in and out of the marsh. Since that time many of the culverts have collapsed or become plugged, once again either restricting or completely cutting off the critical water paths to and from the marsh. The end result was impaired water quality and negatively impacted habitat. Matagorda Island has a long and rich history dating back to the original Karankawa Indian inhabitants, its period of private ownership in the 1900s and until U. S. Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS) took over in 1979. The island has seen many uses through the years that include Recently completed military, rocket launch sites, culvert work to enhance flow and circulation ranching and even a presidential within the marsh. visit by FDR. Through it all, Matagorda Island has remained 70 | May 2017
resilient. Although changes were made to the island in the 1900’s that were a detriment to the ecosystem, the restoration efforts today are helping ensure its resilience remains, once again becoming the rich estuarine marsh system it historically had been. Working with the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), CBBEP and ANWR developed an Adaptive Management Plan (AMP) to restore the flows back into the marsh. With the AMP in place and dollars secured through the General Land Office’s Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) ($700,000) and CCA Texas ($70,000), work began in 2013. The project eventually
TSFMAG.com | 71
Water circulation Culvert installation.
Remains of old cattle fencing and wintering whooping cranes in the marsh.
removed 4 levees, repaired 2 culvert systems, and installed 1 new culvert system restoring water flow and circulation. The end result is improved water quality and increased wildlife abundance and diversity to 2,300 acres of emergent estuarine marsh. “Restoration projects in remote areas like this one present many challenges. Through the efforts of our contractors and partners, 2,300 acres of estuarine marsh are now benefiting from restored water flows critical to the health of the not only the marsh, but the entire ecosystem,” commented Rosario Martinez, Senior Project Manager for CBBEP. CCA Texas, HTFT, and Building Conservation Trust (BCT), CCA National’s habitat program, are dedicated to creating and restoring habitat along the entire Texas Gulf coast. Partnerships, such as this one with CBBEP, are paramount parts in making restoration projects happen and completed successfully. Please visit www.ccatexas. org to find out more about CCA Texas habitat projects or contact John Blaha at jdblaha@ccatexas.org or Building Conservation Trust Executive Director, Sean Stone, at sstone@buildingconservation.org. CCA Texas Advocacy Update By Shane Bonnot The Eastern Oyster is perhaps one of our most valuable coastal resources, providing critical habitat for fish and invertebrate species, shoreline stabilization, water quality enhancements and numerous other ecological functions. Sadly, oysters on Texas public reefs are under enormous pressure from commercial interests. Make no mistake, the commercial oyster industry is a big business, and historically oysters rank just behind shrimp as our most valuable commercial seafood product. The public oyster season is open from November 1 to April 30 of each year with harvest hours set from sunrise to 3:30 PM, coast-wide. There are a total of 35 public oyster harvest areas dually managed by Texas Health and Human Services (THHS) and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). THHS can close a harvest area if there are any public health concerns, and typically you will see an approved area closed as a result of high rainfall, excessive runoff and/ or other harmful algae blooms. TPWD, on the other hand, manages the resource based upon abundance and can close an area if there are resource concerns or enforcement issues. We are seeing a shift in the way the commercial oyster 72 | May 2017
industry is conducting its fishing operations. Many of the vessels utilized nowadays are small, draft little water and are very mobile. They are pushing further back into secondary bay systems (i.e. St. Charles Bay, Carancahua Bay and Christmas Bay) that historically have not been fished, harvesting adjacent to homeowners’ fishing piers, and getting out of boats to hand pick oysters from shallow waters. The simple truth is that there are not enough oysters remaining in Texas to fill our nation’s demand for this delicacy. TPWD routinely samples oyster reefs and will close a public harvest area if more than 65% of the sampled oysters are smaller than the legal size, which is currently set at three inches. At the time of this article submission, 26 of the 35 public harvest areas have been closed by TPWD. So, let’s look at it another way. Currently in the large majority of public harvest areas, less than 35% of our oysters measure greater than three inches. That statistic should alarm us all and certainly begs the question: Is there more that we could be doing to manage the oyster fishery? CCA Texas is concerned about the status of the oyster fishery and is working with TPWD to develop solutions to this critical problem.
Seeing as many as fifty boats dredging small areas of public reef is not uncommon. CCA Texas is concerned about the status of the oyster fishery.
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©2017 EAGLE CLAW FISHING TACKLE | DENVER, COLORADO | EAGLECLAW.COM
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Milky seas.
STEPHANIE BOYD
F I S H Y FA C T S
Living Light “While sailing in these latitudes on one very dark night, the sea presented a wonderful and most beautiful spectacle. There was a fresh breeze, and every part of the surface, which during the day is seen as foam, now glowed with a pale light. The vessel drove before her bows two billows of liquid phosphorus, and in her wake she was followed by a milky train. As far as the eye reached, the crest of every wave was bright, and the sky above the horizon, from the reflected glare of these livid flames, was not so utterly obscure, as over the rest of the heavens.” ~Charles Darwin, Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle Creatures that use their sense of sight to interpret the world around them often have a hard time operating without light. Some have evolved adaptations to compensate for low-light situations. For example, nocturnal animals often have large eyes, relative to body size, and pupils that dilate far wider than human eyes, maximizing the amount of light that enters into the eye. Many also have a tissue layer called the tapetum lucidum in the back of the eye that reflects light back through the retina. Some animals even see the infrared and ultraviolet spectrums. Bats use sonar when light levels drop too 74 | May 2017
low for vision alone. Humans, on the other hand, make more light. But we’re not the only animals, or even the first, to make light. Bioluminescent organisms also create their own light – and carry it around in their bodies. Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism as the result of a chemical reaction within that organism. It neither requires nor generates much heat, so it is sometimes referred to as “cold light.” Bioluminescent life forms live all over the planet. One of the most widely known luminescent creatures is the firefly. People often think of them as flashy adult insects, but firefly larva glow as well. Glow worms are also insects (the larva of various fly and beetle species). The eerie nighttime phenomenon known as foxfire is a glowing species of fungus that feeds on rotting wood. There are other luminescent creatures on land, but most of the world’s bioluminescence exists in the ocean. Bacteria, algae, jellyfish, worms, squid, crustaceans, fish… all contribute species to the limelight. Though they can be found throughout the ocean’s depths, most live in the twilight zone (also called the disphotic zone), so named because only a small amount of sunlight reaches these depths. In general, the twilight zone extends from about
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660 to 3,300 feet deep. In this part of the ocean, bioluminescent animals, not the sun, are the primary source of light. Light’s color is determined by its wavelength. Although the colors of the visible spectrum are different lengths, they all travel fairly equally through the air, and therefore, we see all of them. But light travels differently underwater because longer wavelengths, such as red, have less penetrating power than shorter wavelengths, such as blue-green, which is why most bioluminescence in the ocean is produced as blue or green light. Long wavelengths don’t reach the deep sea at all. Being red in the deep sea is effectively the same as being invisible as many deep-sea animals have lost the ability to see red at all. However, some animals have taken advantage of their brethren’s loss of red sight. Dragonfish evolved to emit and see red light, in particular. By shining red light in the deep sea, they can see all the other creatures without being seen themselves. Ever see footage from a nighttime critter cam that shines a bright infrared light? It looks almost as bright as day to the camera, but the animals are completely oblivious. The dragonfish is its own critter cam. Very little is known, comparatively, about bioluminescent deepsea creatures, partly because they’re difficult to observe. Transparent and camouflaged organisms simply vanish, even in strong lights. Some bioluminescence can’t be seen under ordinary visible light, and bringing deep-sea critters to the surface often kills their light. And their life. Luckily, bioluminescence isn’t completely relegated to the deep. Some well-known displays occur right at the surface of the ocean. Many small planktonic surface dwellers are bioluminescent. With the right conditions, these dinoflagellates bloom in dense layers, causing a sparkly sheen in the waves at night. Charles Darwin wrote of another glowing manifestation: milky seas. These continuous glowing waters are sometimes large and bright enough to be seen by satellites, and it is thought that this light is produced by millions of bioluminescent bacteria and/or dinoflagellates. Attempts to unravel the exact science behind living light have been in progress since the 1600s. It began when a chemist, Robert Boyle, discovered that bioluminescent fungus stopped glowing when it was deprived of air. But it’s only recently that researchers have started to isolate the precise biological functions that create light, at least in some species. Different animals use different substances, so discovering how one species does it, or even multiple species, isn’t the whole truth. It’s also difficult to study since the process of capture often exhausts or destroys the lightproducing organs. What does apply across the spectrum is that bioluminescence requires, at minimum, two chemicals: a luciferan and a luciferase. The luciferan is the light-producing substance. The luciferase is the enzyme that catalyzes the reaction. Introduce one to the other, and let there be light! The terms luciferin and luciferase are derivatives of the Latin word lucifer, which means “light-bringer.” They are generic terms rather than the names of particular chemicals. A variety of substances can act as luciferins and luciferases for the purpose of this reaction, depending on the species of animal. Often, the process requires the presence of other substances, such as oxygen, a charged calcium ion, or adenosine triphosphate (ATP is a molecule that stores and transports energy in most living organisms, including the human body). Dinoflagellates that dine via photosynthesis use a luciferin that resembles chlorophyll. Their luminescence is, predictably, brighter after very sunny days. Some shrimp and fish apparently manufacture their luciferin from the 76 | May 2017
food they eat. A few species of midshipman fish, for instance, obtain luciferin through the seed shrimp they consume. Some animals have evolved symbiotic relationships with bioluminescent bacteria instead of creating their own light. These bacteria live in a light organ in the host’s body. The bacteria produce light continuously, so to keep from also glowing constantly, the host either retracts or covers the light organ. A few animals can adjust the color of light they emanate by using a fluorescent substance, such as a green fluorescent protein. The protein absorbs the original blue-green light and emits it as a different color. A very few number of creatures can glow in more than one color. The railroad worm, a beetle larva, has a glowing red head and a glowing green body. Both the arrangement of luciferan molecules and the specific luciferase can affect the color of light produced. Because of all the variations in luciferins, luciferases, and how organisms use luminescence, many researchers believe that the ability to make light has evolved independently at least 40 times. Now you know the “how.” Let’s talk about the “why.” Reasons include, but are not limited to, eating, mating, hiding, and screaming for help (when hiding fails). That’s life in the ocean? Many marine animals use light as a lure to catch prey. Sometimes the prey is as small as plankton, such as those attracted to the bioluminescence on the suckers of the Stauroteuthis octopus. Other times, the prey is as large as whales. The cookie cutter shark has one dark patch on its belly that resembles a smaller fish when viewed from below. When a large predator approaches, the shark bites off a chunk and flees. This technique allows the cookie cutter shark to prey on whales and squid several times larger than itself. Probably the most well-known light lure is that of the deep-sea anglerfish, who dangles it off a “rod” protruding from its forehead and lures little fish into its mouth. And we’ve already talked about the dragonfish, whose red light lets it stalk its prey in plain sight, so to speak. Fireflies flash at one another in species-specific patterns to find mates, and it’s assumed that light shows serve a similar purpose in deep-sea fish. However, a strong flash is probably meant to scare off an impending predator. Squid are famous for squirting ink at their predators to leave them in the dark. The vampire squid lives in the dark, but it still uses this classic defense, slightly modified. It squirts bright, sticky mucus to blind potential attackers. Bright and sticky seems to be a favorite misdirection tactic of many species. Another deep-sea squid doesn’t bother with mucus, it detaches a whole bright, sticky arm to dupe the predator. Some species of sea cucumber go one step further; they detach glowing body parts and stick them on nearby fish, so the predator follows the (newly glowing) fish and loses sight of the (now dark) cucumber. Lots of fish use countershading for camouflage in the ocean, but some fish use the more advanced form: counterillumination. Photophores on the underside of an animal can match the dim light patterns coming from the surface, making it more challenging for predators searching below to see their silhouette. If misdirection and camouflage both fail, there’s always the burglar alarm, a glowing survival adaptation. If small fish begin to feed on plankton, the plankton start to flash (the combined flashes creating a glow), which attracts larger fish to eat the small fish, thus saving the plankton. Some predators even seek out communities of their prey’s prey and wait for the alarm to flash. While we don’t know all of the reasons animals glow, people have discovered their own uses for bioluminescence. Some are
still experimental. Bioluminescent trees, for instance, could help light city streets and highways, reducing electricity consumption and related carbon dioxide emissions. Scientists have given bioluminescent traits to non-luminescent animals in order to track the progression of cancer and Alzheimer’s. A team in San Diego devised a way to illuminate nerves during surgery so that they are less likely to be cut accidentally. The technique has worked in mice, but has yet to enter formal trials. Bioluminescence clearly has great potential in medicine, but it also has a role in war. One of the last German submarines to be sunk during the first world war had disturbed enough bioluminescent organisms in the Mediterranean to produce a glow that could be seen from above the surface, resulting in the sub’s discovery and destruction. But while the living lights spelled doom for the German submarine, they were the path to salvation for astronaut and navy pilot James Lovell. When Lovell’s electronic navigation systems failed on board his aircraft, he switched off his cabin lights and followed the glowing trail left by the wake of the aircraft carrier. They led him to a safe landing. Here’s hoping we all have a trail of light to follow on our darkest day. May the blessing of light be on you, Light without and light within. ~ An Old Celtic Blessing
Where I learned about bioluminescence, and you can too! National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/biolum.html oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/bioluminescence.html Ocean Portal ocean.si.edu/bioluminescence National Geographic www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/bioluminescence/ phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2016/06/08/the-many-origins-ofglowing-fish/ Annual Reviews www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-marine-120308-081028 Darwin Online darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=side&itemID=F10.3&page seq=30 The Lost Art of Finding Our Way by John Edward Huth How Stuff Works animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/bioluminescence.htm The Economist www.economist.com/node/18304146 Sea and Sky www.seasky.org/deep-sea/bioluminescence.html Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioluminescence *Topic inspired by Katrina Repman
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Here’s a fine jetty trout caught by Dale Fontenot of Vidor, landed by Pete Churton of Beaumont.
JOE RICHARD
I N S H O R E | N E A R S H O R E | J E T T I E S | PA S S E S
Big trout in May We all realize the biggest trout, including state records, are generally caught in February and March. But for big trout, I’ll take May any time. I don’t have the patience for wading all day in Baffin Bay, my lower back slowly growing stiff from cold water, casting for that one big fish. No, I’d rather catch a lot of trout up to seven pounds, and May is the month. We used to walk the jetties a lot and I still do each summer. Up there we have a vantage point, sometimes eight feet above the water, and we’re close to the rocks where a parade of fish go by, something boaters can’t see. And in late May we’ve seen some impressive sow trout swimming by, attended by smaller male trout. Getting ready for spawning duties, or so we assumed. Our 3/4-ounce gold spoons hardly drew their attention; they seemed preoccupied. But in general we caught lots of trout without really targeting big ones. Back in the day we could only afford one sow-catcher MirrOlure each, and Spanish mackerel with their sharp teeth were a constant menace to our meager lure collection. We weren’t about to use wire leader, because trout don’t like it. Still, we boxed trout up to seven pounds on the spoons. May is also a great time to hit the surf, slinging plugs 78 | May 2017
on deserted beaches. Water temps aren’t that high yet, and an early morning session with a rising tide, throwing plugs, can yield a stringer of quality trout. These days we can afford a box full of plugs, but they’re at much risk in the surf, at least from mackerel. Jacks and the occasional tarpon can mean a stripped reel and lost plug, of course. I still have pictures of a great day we had at San Luis Pass on Memorial Day Weekend. I was throwing a soft plastic of some sort and bouncing it on bottom. We were anchored in a jonboat near the bridge, in the shade on the bay side. The water was lime green with a slow incoming tide. I had the magic touch that day, which is nice, because I’ve seen it go the other way—where a boat anchored close by made us look like tourists. But on this day we must have anchored over a narrow gut about 12 feet below, and the trout were stacked in there. We strung 15 trout, all of them from three to five pounds. We had George, who was 78 years old, stand up in the boat with the heavy stringer for pictures. He was grinning from ear to ear. Around us, more and more boats crept closer, sometimes anchoring within 50 feet. Baits splashed all around us but drew no hits. We were heroes that day. Sometimes a blind hog finds an acorn,
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Author’s wife Miss Amy with a brace of trout.
Keeper trout landed with a Yo-Zuri plug.
as we used to say in East Texas. We headed back to the ramp at noon with one more triumph for jonboats. I later heard George passed away in a coastal duck blind that November. His buddies thought he was napping and tried to wake him at shooting time but he was gone, just gone. (We should all be so lucky). I’m fairly certain we put George on his last good trout trip. That happened in May, but it wasn’t our only good trout trip that month by any means. We’ve also cruised up and down the Matagorda Island surf, watching for jumping mullet and, after anchoring, bailing out of the boat to wadefish. That can get pretty dicey if the south wind cranks up, or swells arrive from a distant storm. If the Gulf remains flat, you can have 30 miles of calm beach with no prowling trucks. It’s hard to get potlicked out there: If a boat passes by when you’re on fish, simply keep the rod down, droop your shoulders and look bored. Anyway, Houston Chronicle outdoor writer Joe Doggett recently 80 | May 2017
agreed that May action at the jetties was the best he ever saw on the rocks: Years ago we were anchored near the old lighthouse near the end of the Gulf side of Galveston’s south jetty. It was mid-afternoon on a weekday and conditions were “ice cream.” We were free-shrimping at first, then ran out of live bait and caught several big trout on Bingo Flash plugs. It was the best session I can remember on quality fish. We only caught 25 or 30, but most were over five pounds. My cousin caught a 9-plus (largest I had ever seen). I caught an 8 1/2 (my best at the time) and we had five or six others in the 7-pound class. Several other boats nearby had similar fish. We spent the night in Galveston and went back early next morning and couldn’t find a parking spot on the rocks! Word travels fast…That was my best big-fish day at the jetties, but we had many excellent spring/early summer trips. After we kept all those big spawners, I became increasingly supportive of trout limits and catch-and-release. I would agree with Doggett, those big May trout are females laden with eggs, just quality fish. But they aren’t as tasty as smaller trout, because we’ve compared them before at fish fries. Even a sheepshead probably tastes better than a sow trout. These big trout are a prestigious fish, far more valuable than just two fillets in the freezer.
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The guys from GPM Pump & Seal are pleased with this May trout and Capt. Jason Brumley on Galveston Bay.
Joe Richard has fished the Gulf since 1967, starting out of Port Arthur, but his adventures have taken him up and down the entire coast. He was the editor of Tide magazine for eight years, and later Florida Sportsman’s book and assistant magazine editor. He began guiding out of Port O’Connor in 1994. His specialty is big kingfish, and his latest book is The Kingfish Bible, New Revelations. Available at Seafavorites.com
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Hammerhead caught, tagged and released from the PINS surf.
E X T R E M E K AYA K F I S H I N G & S H A R K S F R O M T H E S A N D
ERIC OZOLINS
Shallow Water Monsters I have always had a profound respect for the unique and remarkable creatures that frequent our waters. As we progress further into the spring season, a multitude of bait species and predators storm the surf zone, dispelling the misconception that sharks and other big game reside only in the deepest of nearshore waters. Your first glimpse of a bull shark patrolling knee deep water can you get to rethinking a swim at the local beach. Fish big and small are all in shallows to take advantage of the feeding opportunity this time of year. For anglers, this means the ability to cast baits for big sharks. The spring months are traditionally a time of raging wind-driven currents. Tough for angling. Those seeking shark action typically employ kayaks to place baits several hundred yards from the beach, but using the kayak in this manner is relatively modern. While the newer generation of shark anglers have more or less grown up believing that kayaking baits is the single-best method to target sharks, nothing could be farther from the truth. Fact is – sharks and other large fish commonly run the first gut in their search for prey. So long as water clarity remains decent – the rougher the water, the closer the sharks actually come in. So many people have over-analyzed 82 | May 2017
methods and procedures that they don’t realize the simplistic nature of things. Bottom line – while a great method - you don’t necessarily have to kayak out huge baits to catch huge sharks in late-spring. Larger shark species move in during May chasing everything from whiting to red drum and jack crevalle. It is well known that scalloped hammerheads run the late-spring beaches and the majority are actually caught on close baits, often on baits casted from the sand. The scalloped hammers have very small mouths compared to the size of their bodies, which means they usually take smaller prey, and nothing seems more to their liking than whole, fresh whiting. Whiting can be caught on rod and reel, bottom fishing, using fresh-peeled shrimp or Fishbites. A large whiting weighs about two pounds – perfect-sized bait for scalloped hammerheads. My surf charters that have produced scalloped hammers have nearly all been caught on whole whiting casted from the sand, and many times on lighter rod and reel setups that cast these baits more effectively. But – given that scalloped hammers are speed demons – line capacity comes quickly into question. You do not need a giant reel, but make sure you have at least
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300-400 yards of line available to fight them. May is also known for producing the occasional lemon Blacktip taken in May on shark. While common in Florida and other parts of the Gulf a “close bait” cast from the beach - released. of Mexico, lemons are fairly scarce along our coast. On south Texas beaches, there is usually a small window in May when they can be encountered. They may not be the most powerful fighters but they can attain lengths of 10-feet and several hundred pounds, which is quite formidable in itself. As with the scalloped hammerheads, lemons are often caught in the first gut and much of the time on a casted bait. The mouth and jaw structure of lemons is more typical of sharks their size and are able to take in larger baits. However, since they are more of a “relaxed” feeder, they will eat anything they can find and that usually includes smaller baits such as whiting and skipjack. Both of these baits can be rigged for easier casting. I have caught more tigers off our beaches than lemons, so every lemon landed is a very cool experience. Our Texas lemons will average just over 8-feet but I have landed A relatively scarce Texas monsters up to 10-feet. lemon shark picked up a small Perhaps the most active inshore sharks by far are the bait in the first gut - released. blacktips. These medium-sized predators prowl the shallows and at times can be seen swimming in water less than two feet right next to shore. Blacktips are very aggressive and despite maxing out at just over 6-feet, they will take a bait of any size. We have caught large blacktips on baits from the size of your fist to as large whole jack crevalle. They seem always hungry and are usually found where bait is most abundant – often in the first gut. Fresh whiting is again an excellent bait. One of the few shark species known for aerial leaps and flips when hooked, it is always a thrill when a 100-pounder explodes out of the water at short range. In shark fishing, no species dominates inshore like the bull shark, which incidentally are also responsible for the A hefty bull shark majority of shark attacks on humans, worldwide. Texas has from shallow water a healthy bull shark population, large and small. The upper of the PINS beach. coast is a nursery for bulls and waters along Galveston and Matagorda islands teem with them. Bulls are typically larger In south Texas, averaging a bit more than 6 -feet. On occasion we will get a run of big bulls in excess of 8-feet. Bull sharks care nothing about water depth, they will swim as shallow as needed to obtain prey. While we get bulls during both day and night, a good casted bait at night, whether a slab of stingray or whiting, will often entice a bull. Bulls, though very aggressive, are not the fastest swimmers but will devour anything in their path to make up for it. Many 300-pounders have been caught beaches in the morning hours. Not many people can say they have on baits casted into shallow water. successfully sight-casted a shark from the beach, but if you happen As spring turns to summer Mother Nature presents increasing to be so lucky, you will understand the thrill! opportunity to hook into large fish. Whether highly-energized jack crevalle or large and hungry sharks, no water is too shallow for any of them to feed aggressively. Blacktips and bulls will patrol the first For the past decade Eric ‘Oz’ Ozolins has been promoting shark sandbar and, if you are wade fishing or casting a shark bait, you may catch and release and assisting various shark research programs. Eric offers guided shark fishing on Padre Island National Seashore. Also get a sudden surprise. Fortunately, unless it is a large feeding bull, you renowned for extreme kayak big game fishing, Eric runs Kayak Wars; should have no problem as the instant they detect your presence they one of the largest kayak fishing tournaments in the world. will flee back into deeper water. Any organized bait “trains” running the beach, whether mullet Email oz@oceanepics.com extremecoast.com | oceanepics.com | Websites or menhaden, will likely have sharks in tow. Be sure to have a rod kayakwars.com rigged and ready for sight-cast opportunities while driving the 84 | May 2017
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TSFMAG.com | 87
Dickie Colburn
DICKIE COLBURN’S Sabine Scene
Sabine
Dickie Colburn is a full time guide out of Orange, Texas. Dickie has 37 years experience guiding on Sabine and Calcasieu Lakes.
Telephone 409-883-0723 Website www.sabineconnection.com
“Okay, so wading wasn’t the answer,” shouted Darren Lindsey following his third backlash after slipping into the waist deep white caps. “The fish are here,” I assured him, “but we have been unable to wade and catch more than a handful of fish out of a small area.” Catching multiple fish with any consistently has been all about utilizing your Talon or a drift sock (sometimes two) in the worst of winds. Despite the difficulty associated with making productive drifts across the whitecaps, none of the hardcore fishermen are complaining. Back to back years of flooding just all but shut us down regardless of how hard we worked so we are well aware of the fact that there is something worse than wind. Scattered trout rank well ahead of no trout! Dirty water has not contributed to the problem as it is expected and we fish it with confidence. The single biggest reason that a solid bite is fleeting most of the time is boat traffic and it only takes a few boats. Even as few as three boats making repeated drifts across water less than four feet deep hurts the bite! We can only assume that the wind will continue to make the catching a little tougher this month, but should Mother Nature elect to give us a break, the
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fishing could get as Capt. Chuck Uzzle says, “stupid good” overnight. So much of the lake hasn’t been fished at all for the past two months and while the big trout have been few and far between, the average size has been very good. Choice of lures will not change – wind or no wind. Because the best bite has been taking place in the top part of the water column, topwaters like the She Dog, Skitter Walk and Spook will continue to be good choices. If a good topwater bite suddenly dies on you for no apparent reason, try a smaller or larger version before totally switching gears. Suspending lures like the Corky and Catch 2000 will continue to work especially well on the revetment walls, but we will be fishing them less as they are not my favorite lures for hunting fish. A shallow diving crankbait like the Swimming Image is hard to beat for this application. Wind or no wind, we are already running into small schools of reds crashing their way through small shad and finger mullet in the open lake. A single gull or tern can tip you off to their presence before the first fish ever breaks the surface. Lure presentation is of no advantage when in reach of these bullies so why
waste a high dollar lure. My first choice is a Hoginar followed by a tail rigged on a heavier than normal jighead in order to gain casting distance. A tail fished under a cork is effective, but can get expensive as well as it is not unusual to have one fish grab the bait and another inhale your cork! I do very little fishing on the south end of the lake, but the diversity in depth and structure just north of the Causeway can
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be lights-out when the rest of the lake is dead. The number one decision is whether to bounce a jig over the deeper shell or fish the upper portion of the water column. Trout are the only reason I run down there, but the reds probably school in that same area more than any other place in the lake. That is not news and you can expect more fishing pressure. Weather permitting, there is no better month to fish the shallow flats on the north end of the lake and the flats on the Louisiana side of the lake all the way from Coffee Ground Cove to Greens Bayou. Coffee Ground gets a lot of pressure not only because of the bite, but because it always holds the clearest water in the lake. Wading at first light can be incredibly good, but depending on tidal movement, the bite can easily last all day long this month. To extend the bite we will drift 4 to 6 feet of water with a tail fished under a cork or rigged on a light jighead. Keep an eye out for birds, terns count too, ratting out huge schools of immature bait fish. Fishing trips are more fun when shared with kids. Sign up the entire family for Nothing really big yet, but the average the S.T.A.R. tournament and double the size is improving. fun on every outing this summer!
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TSFMAG.com | 89
Capt. Caleb Harp
The Buzz on Galveston Bay
Galveston
Capt. Caleb Harp has fished the Galveston Bay System since childhood and, now a charter captain and fishing guide, he uses his knowledge to enable clients to enjoy the excellent fishing the area offers. His specialty is the yeararound pursuit for trophy trout and redfish with artificial lures
Telephone 281-753-3378 Website harpsguideservice.com
The Galveston Bay complex seems to be headed for a fairly normal year – first time in a while. Most everyone thinks about the flooding the past two years but it’s actually been abnormal for the past seven. Five years of drought preceded consecutive years of extreme fresh water inundation, certainly enough of a puzzle to keep our heads on a swivel. With that being said, this article is being written a little more than two weeks earlier than you are likely to read it – so forgive me if we pop another flood during April’s famed showers. IF, the bay keeps up the way things are presently headed, we will finally see normal salinity and a long-awaited rebuilding year in our estuary. Everyone knows that the last two years were very detrimental during the flooding and the freshwater stack-ups that occurred when untold thousands of trout took up residence on East Bay’s reefs. Fisherman by the hundreds gathered on those reefs
and pounded the fish that were corralled up, escaping all the freshwater that was gushing down the Trinity River. The moment the rivers started to subside and the salinity tried to creep back up, the fish then got hammered by the croaker men on the Ship Channel as they slowly followed the salinity back toward Trinity Bay. It was a free-for-all of catching all along the Channel, at Smith Point and the Exxon A Lease wells. The summer of 2016 was a full replay of 2015. My father, Roger Harp, with a nice We all remember the flooding red taken on a but are quick to forget the drought. MirrOlure Lil John. Sure, we forget, we were content catching big fish daily in the back of Trinity, back of East Bay, and far up the Houston Ship Channel. But the drought was equally as injurious for our bay system, stunting the reproduction cycle and diminishing the quality of a lot of our habitat. During the drought years the salinity was 30-35 parts per thousand at the mouth of the
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Trinity River. Trout, shrimp and every other kind of larva and fry in the full water column to find them. Redfish will inhabit the marshes and food chain need lower salinity to thrive. The river flows were so weak take MirrOlure Marsh Minnows and topwaters. during those times that the tides pushed saltwater so far up the rivers and bayous that it all but wiped out the reproduction cycles. The further Trinity Bay you go up the rivers, the more the habitat for these animals diminishes Trinity has been very inconsistent due to the scarcity of resident trout. – no sea grass, no brackish marsh, only raw clay banks. Not including the With perfect conditions a few wade fishermen are catching some on saltwater stack-up situation, where we hammered fish and brought back the east shoreline with 51MR MirrOlures and topwaters. Redfish are in quick limits daily, our habitat struggled and reproduction did as well. Jack’s Pocket and the North Ridge. With all of that being said, we still do have fish. Even after days of poor fishing success during March and April, we have to remember it’s West Galveston Bay the spring transition and it’s always tougher this time of year. It’s not West Bay has been giving up decent catches for waders along the easy to gauge a fishery through fishing success south shoreline from Snake Island Cove to Bird Drift fishing in late-spring when fish are moving and not eating every day. Island. Warmer water temps will bring more and summer is fun for As May approaches the water temperature will consistent action behind San Luis Pass. Wade the anglers of all ages. rise and forage becomes more plentiful – glass sand flats with topwaters early and then switch minnows, mullet, shad and shrimp bunch together to MirrOlure Provoker plastics. Drifting is a good in their migrations and game fish school more way to cover water on the flats. Hop out and wade tightly following them. Fish metabolism also wherever bait or slicks are prevalent. Redfish can increases, which means more frequent feeding. be found in the Greens Lake and Carancahua Lake The more they eat, the more they’ll slick and make area. Set up on the mouths of these lakes or along our job easier. We will learn a lot more about the adjacent points. state of our fishery in May. Please be courteous on the water. Fishing in May can get crowded and a little hectic at times, East Galveston Bay make sure to keep a respectful distance from other Trout should be thick on oyster reefs in the middle fisherman and don’t run your big motor over areas of East Galveston Bay. Drifting with MirrOlure soft other boats are drifting. plastic lures is a great approach as you can play the
TSFMAG.com | 91
Bink Grimes
The View from Matagorda
Matagorda
Bink Grimes is a full-time fishing and hunting guide, freelance writer and photographer, and owner of Sunrise Lodge on Matagorda Bay.
Telephone 979-241-1705 Email binkgrimes@sbcglobal.net Website matagordasunriselodge.com
Spring winds dictate how we fish for trout in April and May. Matagorda anglers are always trying to get in the middle of East Bay in five feet of water because there is always a chance of catching a speckled trout as long as your arm. I have said so many times but it is worth repeating: I can’t believe how many big trout continue to be caught in East Matagorda Bay. The cool thing is anyone has a chance at catching a gator trout - rookie or expert. The really cool thing is most Matagorda anglers are taking care of the big fish. Smile, take a photo, then let her go. Keep smiling, keep talking about how big she was and then pat yourself on the back for taking care of
our natural resources. I and everyone else thank you for putting the good of the bay ahead of your self-worth. When tides are above normal, the east end of the bay around Brown Cedar Flats seems to hold more fish while the west end around Raymond Shoals holds bigger fish on low tides. Best baits have been a Gulp or live shrimp under a popping cork, but Bass Assassins, Down South Lures, Hogies and MirrOlure’s Lil Johns have worked as well. When the wind blows harder than 15 knots from the south, the best option is to wade West Matagorda Bay. Grass beds along the south shoreline hold clean water, but it is the dingy water that
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actually holds most of the fish. Afternoon incoming tides are ushering in wads of glass minnows and trout follow the minnows. We are throwing small topwaters, MirrOlure Soft-Dines and soft plastics on 1/8-ounce jig heads. Back lakes are holding beautiful reds while wading or drifting. If you wade you can really stay with a school and keep from dispersing the crowd with hull slap from your boat. If you must fish from a boat, make long casts with plastics or shrimp under corks. Aim for the potholes in the sand. Reefs along the north and south shorelines of West Matagorda Bay are holding large concentrations of reds. Popping corks with about a foot of leader and a live shrimp have been deadly. Lure guys are chunking gold spoons, broken-backs, soft plastics and Humpbacks. The reefs around the Cullen Houses have been good on the south side and Shell Island and Twin Island has been best on the north shore. Flounder are beginning to show in the bayous along the south shoreline of West Matagorda Bay and Espiritu Santo Bay. Waders have scored more bites on
scented soft plastics like Gulps and MirrOlure Lil Johns. Dragging the muddy bottom of sloughs and bayous has been the best bet. Spring tides have pushed more flatfish tight to the grass where they are dining on mud minnows, small shrimp and glass minnows. Work the same terrain off the Intracoastal and around Brown Cedar Flats near Sargent. Offshore guys like Capt. Michael Kubecka said wahoo are moving in to the deeper rigs and around the Flower Gardens. Swordfish bite has been good along the Hilltops. Tilefish and barrelfish have been very productive dropping in 900-1000 ft. Grouper are good on the shallower rigs and wrecks in 150-250 feet of water. There are lot of amberjack, too, but AJs are not in season so they must be released. Watch the Texas Insider Fishing Report on Fox Sports Southwest April-September. I’ll will be giving the weekly middle coast report. Show times are 11 p.m. Thursday and 7 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Follow our catches on Instagram @ matagordasunriselodge.
TSFMAG.com | 93
Capt. Shellie Gray
MID-COAST BAYS With the Grays
Port O'Connor Seadrift
Captain Shellie Gray was born in Port Lavaca and has been guiding in the Seadrift/Port O’Connor area full time for the past 14 years. Shellie specializes in wading for trout and redfish year round with artificial lures.
Telephone 361-785-6708 Email bayrats@tisd.net Website www.bayrat.com
Fishing on the Mid-Coast remains very good. fishing. Another good option, for stopping the boat on Planning trips is basically a no-brainer, the wind promising structure or when several bites come from dictates most of our game plans. The speed and a specific area, is what I call a stake out stick. This is a direction tell us whether seek protection in back slender fiberglass pole of about eight-feet, there are lakes, head for main bay shorelines, or maybe a several styles and brands available. You can certainly morning visit (at least) to mid-bay reefs before the use the Power Pole to stop the boat, but being wind comes up. Comfort and safety of the folks on mounted on the transom, the bow swings downwind my boat are always my primary concern. and does not provide casting room for more than one With warmer water temps, most of our wade trips or two anglers on the bow. are along sandy shorelines of West Matagorda, Espiritu Lowering the Power Pole and “staking” the bow of Santo and San Antonio bays. Occasional fronts are my Shallow Sport before it turns downwind, positions still arriving and must be taken seriously but the predominant winds are now south and southeast. Twenty-knot wind and stronger means wading leeward of the barrier islands, and while back lakes are always an option, the bottoms are not all wade-friendly. Sometimes drifting is the best choice. That’s my boat way over there! I have discussed drift anchors You just never know how far you in the past and I use them might wade – multiple methods of anchoring gives me peace of mind. often, great tools for slowing the boat for more effective drift
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94 | May 2017
the boat at a more favorable angle for multiple anglers to fish along to wade. It may take a long anchor line but that’s okay, the longer the the length of the boat. When you decide to move on and continue anchor line the better the anchor will hold. If you get it right, the stern drifting, you simply lift the Power Pole and pull the stake. should stop in 1- to 2-feet of water when you tie off at the bow. Now On the few spring days when the wind is down you will find me out drop the Power Pole, making sure to get it as far down as possible. in San Antonio Bay. This bay is one of my favorite areas to fish when Raising and lowering in rapid succession helps it penetrate the shell. the weather allows because there are so many reefs that can hold Next, push the stake out stick as deeply as you can and tie off to a great potential for catching. If you decide to side cleat. Don’t be surprised if you have to Using a stake out stick, as venture out to San Antonio Bay to wade the crunch through the shell to get the stake to shown here, can be a useful tool reefs, there is a major safety concern that stick. Now that you have the boat anchored for stopping and positioning deserves discussion. securely you can get out and wade with the boat during a drift. I have seen TOO MANY fishermen using peace of mind. It may seem like overkill ONLY their Power Pole to anchor their but I promise you will never find yourself boats while they get out to wade. This is boatless on a mid-bay San Antonio reef, or very unwise! anywhere else for that matter. Oyster shell makes it tricky for the Power I shouldn’t have to remind all of you that Pole alone to maintain solid contact with Mother’s Day comes in the month of May. the bottom. Another judgment error Our days on this earth are numbered so is assuming the wind will not change never take having your mother with you direction or increase in velocity. When for granted. I know I sure don’t. My mother this happens, and you are relying only on is the most important person in my life the Power Pole, you could find your boat and I tell her that often. And Mom, if you drifting away into deep water. are reading this you should know I love To be safe, I use all three of my anchors. and appreciate you more than you can First, a #8 Danforth style with wide flukes for imagine. Because of you, I am me! I got all maximum hold. Drop your anchor and set it of my best qualities from you. Aren’t we in about 5- to 6-foot depth and allow your lucky that you had enough for both of us? boat to drift back toward the reef you plan Happy Mother’s Day!
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TSFMAG.com | 95
david rowsey
HOOKED UP WITH Rowsey
Upper Laguna/ Baffin
David Rowsey has over 25 years in Baffin and Upper Laguna Madre; trophy trout with artificial lures is his specialty. David has a great passion for conservation and encourages catch and release of trophy fish.
Telephone 361-960-0340 Website www.DavidRowsey.com Email david.rowsey@yahoo.com @captdavidrowsey
By the time this article makes it to mailboxes and newsstands our Simms waders will be back in the closet and we will be wading wet. Hard to believe it has arrived so quickly but such is the annual cycle. Early April started bringing us a bit of new water from the gulf. Overnight, we started catching skipjacks alongside our trout bite and giant schools of cownose rays have invaded the bay. The rays are not much for sport but standing on the bow of the boat and watching these stealthy creatures glide along by the hundreds in clear water is mesmerizing to even the saltiest of anglers. They are just one of the first clues of what is to come via the gulf. The bait fish and game fish that ride the spring tides back into the bay is what makes May one the best fishing months of the year here in the Coastal Bend. Along with great numbers being landed in general, we will still be catching some super-fat trout that are egg-laden and about to complete their first spawn of the season. In fact, if you are registered in the
CCA Texas S.T.A.R., Memorial Day Weekend (when the tournament opens) and the days that follow can be one of the best opportunities to land a tournament winning trout south of the JFK Causeway. But don’t delay – the window of opportunity is fleeting. Rolling into June, increasing numbers of the really big girls will be spawning very actively and the chances for a spawn-heavy nine or ten-pounder will be diminishing John Brown from Virginia made a long haul to Texas to pull on some great trout and reds for four days.
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$10 Entry for Open Bait Division $25 Entry for Artificial Bait Division Open Bait (live, dead, prepared bait, or artificial,) and Artificial Bait (artificial lures only) This will be an individual effort tournament. Multiple Anglers may fish from the same boat.
Age Group Division: Youth Division: Ages 12 and under Junior Division: Ages 13-18 (Junior anglers age 18 must be attending grade school at time of event)
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by the day. Impressive numbers of seriously solid fish will remain for several weeks, and between the gulf trout finding their way into the bay and schools of roaming redfish, it’s hard not to be giddy over the prospects the Mother Lagoon has to offer. With so many areas looking primed for big trout, it is sometimes hard for me to decide where to go first when beginning a day on the water. This is a good problem to have, and one that I and most other guides are not so blessed Capt. Rowsey to deal with regularly. Trout are already dropping with a 42-inch red that eggs, so my first thought is of areas that hold a smashed a She lot of grass. Unlike bass, trout do not spawn in Dog. Epic fun! nests and do not hang around to protect their eggs once released. What spawning trout do is slip into areas where thick grass is prevalent, waters are shallow and warm, and release their roe for the males to fertilize. Catching unusual numbers of grunting males is actually a good indicator that larger females are in the immediate area. The south shoreline of Baffin, amongst the rocks and shoreline of Rocky Slough, the flats of Yarbrough, and the spoil islands of the Laguna (Nighthawk Bay) are ideal spawning areas that will hold all the necessary structure and water depths to attract the big females. Mix these areas with a stable bait supply and we should all be on our way to some good fishing – and big catching.
Fishing has been pretty darn good, as of this writing. Overall numbers seem to be down, but that has much to do with us concentrating on larger fish versus just getting any kind of bite. Most of our efforts have been concentrated in Baffin and will remain so as the green water rolls in from down south. As the charter day winds down we always check a few spots in the Laguna on the way back to Bluff’s Landing. The Upper Laguna is definitely where the redfish action is most reliable and I do not foresee that changing through summer. Regardless of your take on reds, to me, they are still a hoot to catch. One thing to remember is that reds and trout are eating the same thing and it is very common to pull a big trout out of a school of reds. On a final note, the trout are full of eggs and in the process of dropping them to be fertilized by pesky, grunting males. If there is ever a time to practice catch and release it is now to enhance the future of trout fishing. Contrary to old-timer’s beliefs, there is not an endless supply of fish in the bay. No matter if we are grinding with lures or soaking croaker, it is in all of our best interests to be good stewards of the fishery so that we have one for years to come. Remember the buffalo! -Capt. David Rowsey
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TSFMAG.com | 97
Wayne Davis
WAYNE’S Mansfield Report
Port Mansfield
Captain Wayne Davis has been fishing the Lower Laguna-Port Mansfield for over 20 years. He specializes in wade fishing with lures.
Telephone 210-287-3877 Email captwayne@kwigglers.com
Howdy folks, all is well in Port Mansfield and we’ve already had a taste of summer. Yep, as of this writing we’ve had a couple days of wet wading. I love my Simms waders but it is nice to hang them up for a season. Having said that, there may still be a few mornings when you elect to wear them, but those days are closing fast. Water levels in Port are currently fluctuating between influences of strong southerly wind and light- to moderate northers. Simply put, water levels rise on strong southerly flows and recede during northers. The change can be as much as 12-inches. Plan your days with this in mind to improve your odds of catching fish. The best tip I can provide is to establish a mark at the boat ramp you use most often and relate that to the day’s water level. This simple tip can not only help refine your fishing plans but save you running aground as well.
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May starts the summer fishing pattern that can range from back lakes when tides are high enough, to fishing potholes on the flats and deeper grass lines. Another important variable will be the nighttime
Dan’s first-ever day of wade fishing delivered this beautiful 7-pounder. How lucky!
radiation cooling and the water temperature. If it is a mild earlysummer, the back lakes will hold fish longer than say, in August. If the days are hot and the nights are humid with little radiant cooling, the back lakes will not hold those fish much after 10:00 a.m. I actually prefer those back lakes and sloughs but we have to follow the fish. When they’re out deeper, so are we! Our trout bite has remained strong and we have landed (and released) some true monsters and personal bests for many. My clients have landed trout up to nine pounds that broke the 30-inch mark, quite a few seven-pounders, and a slew between four and five pounds. I am happy to report that all of those just mentioned were set free unharmed and I have photographed and videotaped most releases. When the trout are being difficult, we are hitting the flats over grass beds and scattered potholes for hungry reds. Sometimes we have to Father-son duo of Dominic and Josh enjoyed a great day make long wades to get our fish and on the water. Josh’s big red ate some days it’s a little easier but, it’s a KWiggler Willow Tail Shad. called fishing – not catching. Something else we have started seeing are large schools of mullet “dirtying up” the water. Some schools can range in diameter of 200-plus yards and it is distinct, (a large mud boil). Stop nearby and observe for a short period and you should see mullet being busted from hungry reds, trout and other predators. If you have a few people in your group, consider setting up with one or two wading into the dirty water and others just outside. Adjust the plan to whoever catches the most. Hang on to your rod when fishing this pattern because big jack crevalle can often be found around those mullet schools. We recently hooked two jacks on one charter and I told my guys… plan on a 45-minute fight if you want to land it. We landed one and the other came loose after 30 minutes. If you enjoy battling hard-fighting fish the jacks can be a hoot. Heading into summer we spend a lot of time in calf- to knee-deep water. This is also the time of year we start seeing bait fish becoming more active, so try to concentrate your efforts where you see life. As the days warm we will eventually find ourselves fishing thigh-deep or even a little more. Early in the morning I will start by throwing One Knockers if the floating grass allows, and then switching to either a four-inch Paddle Tail or a Willow Tail Shad. It is tough to beat a Willow Tail Shad in that shallow water because of the versatility it offers – natural buoyancy and ability to fish it weedless, if needed. Once it warms up and I head out a little deeper I will switch over to the Ball Tail Shad. For me, the Ball Tail works best in deeper water than shallow. But, saying that, many of our big fish have been landed on the Ball Tail in extremely shallow water. Just ask Dan Doss who nailed this nice seven-pounder in knee deep water on a Flo-Mingo Ball Tail. Oh, and as luck would have it, this was Don’s first-ever day of wade fishing and he is knocking on 70. Go figure! Until next time, good fishing and be safe and courteous on the water. -Capt. Wayne
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Capt. Ernest cisneros
SOUTH PADRE Fishing Scene A rr oyo C olorado t o Port I sabel
A Brownsville-area native, Capt. Ernest Cisneros fishes the Lower Laguna Madre from Port Mansfield to Port Isabel. Ernest specializes in wading and poled skiff adventures for snook, trout, and redfish.
Cell 956-266-6454 Website www.tightlinescharters.com
100 | May 2017
The busy season is upon us and from the amount of boat traffic it looks like we might set a record on the Lower Laguna this summer. There have been two boating accidents recently and unfortunately one resulted in a fatality. As a boat operator you hold responsibility for yourself, your passengers, and others sharing the water. If you are new to boating, I suggest you take a boater safety course or have an experienced person show you how to operate your boat, the rules of the road, and also the unwritten courtesy rules. So many times I have seen inexperienced boaters make mistakes that could have resulted in serious injury to themselves or others near them. As for the experienced, we need to be on alert constantly, not only on the water but also at the boat ramp. I’m hoping the wind will lay down sometime this month. I remember a few years back it stayed windy the entire summer and I hope we do not see a repeat. Wind can actually be your friend if you learn to use it to your advantage. April has been windy thus far but we have been doing very well. The bait stacked on windward shorelines and the game fish were right in there with them.
The owner of Diamond J, James Rosalis, was a partner in Circle J Enterprises at the time our office and son’s home were built by Circle J. Workmanship and attention to detail were both excellent! – Everett Johnson, Editor/Publisher, Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine
These two photos were made two weeks apart. Some fishermen are good and some are lucky; Gordon Karstedt is both! Both fish CPR.
Our redfish catches have been pretty solid but it hasn’t been easy. Our water level came way up causing the reds to scatter over back lakes and drains that connect to the bay. The key has been finding concentrations of mullet. Most of the reds we have harvested have had mullet and pinfish in their stomachs. I expect to find them eating a lot of shrimp very shortly. I mentioned earlier to use the wind to your advantage and windy days seem to always spark a great amount of bird activity. Some days the bird activity will be over redfish schools but it is not uncommon to find trout on the edges. There were days last summer when we prayed for the wind to come up to get the party started. Late afternoon can often deliver the best bird action of the day when the wind really gets to howling – even when the water looks like a chocolate shake. Most of this bird action will occur in shallow water over muddy bottoms; in the bay, back lakes, and also along the spoil islands. I’ve been told that shrimp bury in mud during daylight hours and emerge again towards dark. Perhaps this is the reason the redfish get after them and gulls join in as evening approaches. When fishing under birds, the last thing you want to do is cast into the middle of them. Hooking up in the middle of the school almost always results in scattering the rest of them. Also, I have learned that the better reds are usually on bottom – let your lure sink and work it slowly to avoid connecting with undersize or barely-legal fish near the surface. Trophy trout fishing has taken a sharp turn for the better. We are currently seeing and catching more and bigger trout than we did all winter, and that’s a good thing. Some of the larger fish have already spawned so their weights are down a bit, but there are still some late bloomers out there and May is an excellent month to target these highly-sought trophies. Where these big trout were in February and March is a mystery; thankfully they are now showing up along the shorelines and in potholes on the deeper flats. Their main diet is still mullet and pinfish, so put yourself amongst the food source. Fish a moving tide and work the major and minor feed periods, especially around the new and full moon. periods. The topwater bite has finally turned on, the noisier the better on the windier days. If that action slows, try a KWiggler Willow Tail Shad. This new lure has already proven itself on big trout. I would like to thank AFTCO for their great sportswear that enables me to enjoy my days on the water in greater comfort. I highly recommend their Cumulus LS Tech Shirt for its comfortable fabric that is both cool to wear and resists stains better than any I have worn. I have also grown fond of their sun mask; the many openings help prevent your glasses fogging, even when it gets steamy. The full AFTCO line is available at Fishing Tackle Unlimited, both in-store and online. Best fishing and keep it safe on the water!
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FISHING REPORTS
Lake Calcasieu Louisiana Jeff and Mary Poe - Big Lake Guide Service - 337.598.3268 We look forward to the month of May every year. Speckled trout action really heats up at this time. Water temperatures will be anywhere from the mid to upper 70s, salinities will be high, and the spawn will be in full effect. This makes May one of the best months to catch really heavy trout. Most of the time, we are still finding big trout on shallow flats in less than four feet of water. Barring a major rain event, trout will be found throughout the entire estuary. If there is an influx of freshwater, trout will seek higher salinity in the south end of the estuary, even to the Gulf. Suspending baits like Paul Brown FatBoys, Devils, SoftDines, and MirrOlure MirrOdines are excellent choices during this time-frame, but the topwater action in May can be epic. We like MirrOlure TopDogs, SheDogs, Skitterwalks, and Super Spooks. Folks should throw colors they have confidence in. I like chrome/blue back, but topwaters are more about confidence than colors for the most part. Good luck to all of you in your fishing journeys this May. Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com - 409.935.7242 May is a transitional month for anglers in Galveston Bay, and James says the quality of the catching will definitely depend on the weather. “When winds are light in May, options are wide open. We usually have fish spread out in various places, unless a lot of freshwater is flowing down the rivers and into the bays. If
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ORECASTS F from Big Lake to Boca Chica
AND
the water is pretty salty, we will be able to catch plenty of trout and redfish in open-bay areas from Upper Galveston to both East and West Bays. We key on slicks out there, and like to stay over areas with mud and shell on the bottom. If mullet are jumping, the topwater bite can be good, even out in the middle. Of course, if it's windier, we will have better luck wading along protected shorelines. Normally, areas around San Luis Pass and in the east end of East Bay produce some good trout for waders this time of year on topwaters and sinking twitch baits. Places close to the channel like Pelican and Sand Island do too.” Jimmy West - Bolivar Guide Service - 409.996.3054 Weather plays a big role in spring fishing in the Galveston area, according to Jim. “It's been kinda hit or miss lately. The water is warmer than normal most of the time, but the tide level is really inconsistent. Right now, the fish are pulled out in the middle, and if you can get at 'em, it's pretty easy. Of course, when the wind blows twenty, that plan is ruined. We should see more fish moving onto the shorelines soon. In fact, we had plenty in the shallows a couple weeks ago, but the tide went out again, and the fish moved back into the middle. We should see more consistent early-morning activity in May along the shorelines and in the marshes, especially when tides are coming in and winds aren't
blowing too hard. The fronts will come through less and less often, so we will see more good days than mediocre ones. Topwaters and tails have been working well lately, and that should remain the basic game plan throughout the next couple months. Good news is we've got fish in lots of parts of the bays, so that should spread the crowds out some.” West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays Randall Groves - Groves Guide Service 979.849.7019 - 979.864.9323 During the time Randall gave this report, a strong northwest wind had him tied to the dock. “We are having the typical ups and downs which come with spring weather lately. On some days, we just can't get out. But really, the fishing has been excellent, even on the windy days. We've got tons of bait pouring into the bays right now, glass minnows, button shad and rafts and rafts of mullet. Lots of predators showing among them, of course. Plenty of Spanish mackerel, jack crevalle and redfish feeding frantically. The trout should show up in better numbers any day now. Best luck lately has been on red magic Norton Bull Minnows rigged on three-eighths ounce screwlock jigheads. We've also had a vigorous topwater bite during parts of most days recently. The red-head, white body Skitterwalk has been producing well. As have many of the MirrOlure sinking twitch baits. We've made some nice catches lately throwing a black/ silver/white 51MR MirrOlure, working it really fast, with lots of twitching, to create plenty of flash and rattle.” Matagorda | Tommy Countz Bay Guide Service - 979.863.7553 cell 281.450.4037 “May is one of my favorite months of the year,” Tommy says. “April is good too, but I like May even better. We like to start off early in the morning this time of year working grass beds tight to the shorelines in West Matagorda with small topwaters. We will move out to the bars with deeper grass beds and drop offs as the sun moves higher. And we switch over to soft plastics on light jigheads then. Sometimes, we wind up going back up shallow and throwing the soft plastics at the grass beds on the bank again and catching more fish. Drifting the west end of East Bay is also productive this time of year. We catch quite a few trout in the 25 to 27-inch class over there on soft plastics rigged on heavier heads and bumped along the bottom. Another thing we look to do this time of year is get into the surf anytime the winds allow it. We'll work the shallow guts early with topwaters, then move out a little deeper with soft plastics later out there. And, we are always looking for tripletails to show up in the bays this time of year.” Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam www.palaciosguideservice.com - 979.240.8204 Spring fishing has arrived full force in Palacios. We are seeing tons of mullet, crabs, shad and shrimp throughout our estuaries, and we can't wait to see how good the bite will be. Trout fishing has been off the charts. We're wading area shorelines with a bottom of of mixed sand and grass. Bone Spook Juniors and MirrOlure ShePups in bone have worked great. When the topwater bite dies, pearl/ chartreuse paddletails have accounted for better action. Redfish have been hammering black/gold/orange ShePups most mornings and quarter-ounce weedless gold spoons TSFMAG.com | 103
have earned many bites too. May is one of our top months to fish this area because of many options. The surf will be the top choice when we get light north winds. Drifting deep shell and working the rigs out in West Matagorda are other great options, using live shrimp rigged a few feet under popping corks Trolling backlake shorelines looking for feeding redfish is another great idea. Match whatever they are feeding on, and catching fish from the schools can be easy. Port O’Connor | Lynn Smith Back Bay Guide Service - 361.983.4434 Lynn had been catching good numbers of trout in the 24-25 inch class on trips leading into the time of this report, and he expects similar action to continue during the month of May. “We're fishing in the back lakes a lot, targeting areas with a grassy bottom and targeting the big trout. The same places hold lots of aggressive reds this time of year too, but we're making the bigger trout bite consistently on recent trips. We throw topwaters quite a bit this time of year, and May is one of the best months of all for the floating plugs like Super Spooks. But right now, our biggest fish are liking the sinking twitch baits best, especially the broken-back Corky. When I fish that lure, I like to keep my rod tip up really high. I'll make one twitch with it, then sweep the lure through the water with the rod tip, then let it fall on slack. Lots of the bites come on the fall. The tail of the lure imparts quite a bit of action when it settles into the water. By far, the best color has been the one with the red back, silver side and white belly. The trout have been inhaling it.” Rockport | Blake Muirhead Gator Trout Guide Service - 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894 Blake expects to be fishing areas with a sandy, grassy bottom in places like Aransas, Mesquite and adjacent bays, and also heading out into the surf quite a bit in May. “Lately, the fish have been biting topwaters well. We've been catching plenty of fish on the small Skitterwalks and also on TopDogs in black and silver. May is typically one of the best months for fishing topwaters, and I expect it will be this year too. We like to target our trout in water about waistdeep most of the time in the spring, and we'll use the old stand-by soft plastics like the Norton Sand Eels in dark colors with chartreuse tails any time the fish aren't taking the topwaters readily. Another pattern that seems to produce every year about this time is related to the hatching of the menhaden. When we start seeing lots of schools of menhaden, the fishing usually gets good around the mid-bay reefs in bays like Aransas, Mesquite and San Antonio. The
104 | May 2017
small topwaters really get lots of action once that pattern kicks off in earnest, probably because they look like the little menhaden.” Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut Robert Zapata – rz1528@grandecom.net - 361.563.1160 The month of May is a great time to be fishing! The fishing menu is loaded with big trout, big redfish and big flounder. It’s easy to catch fish in May because you can use a variety of lures and baits during this month. Most of the fish will be in less than two feet of water, along grass lines, drop-offs and areas with scattered pot holes. The trout will especially be in these type of areas, as they will be spawning. I will be looking for areas with concentrations of bait and approach them quietly from a good distance with my trolling motor or wade into it. The different tactics will include live shrimp under a popping cork, smelly baits like Bass Assassin Blurps or Berkley Gulp! Shrimp rigged on an eighth-ounce Assassin jighead hanging about ten inches under a Bass Assassin Kwik Kork. Two other effective tactics involve throwing natural-colored Assassin Die Dappers rigged on sixteenth-ounce jigheads and free-lining live croakers on a #3 wide-gap Mustad Croaker hook attached to at least eighteen inches of twenty pound test fluorocarbon. Corpus Christi | Joe Mendez – www.sightcast1.com - 361.937.5961 The clear water has been moving up and down the Lagoon with the rising tide lately, and Joe says he likes to stay in areas where he can clearly see the bottom and the fish. “If the tide comes in, the clear water pushes south a ways, and we are able to see into the water really well in areas around Beacroft's and Emmord's Holes, and all along the ICW from Bird Island north. Nighthawk Bay has some really clear water too. The fish are really shallow right now, and they stay shin-deep or shallower most of the time in May too. We like to target them with paddletails and other soft plastics, either blind-casting into the potholes in the grass or throwing directly at the fish when we are able to see them, making the lures land well out in front of the fish and bringing them into their sightcones steadily. Of course, when the tide moves out, the clear water moves from south to north. Then, areas around the Land Cut tend to hold the best water in the area. We target our fish then in places like Summer House, Rocky Slough and South Yarbrough. Fishing high up on the flats in the shallows, where potholes create bright spots in the grass.” P.I.N.S. Fishing Forecast | Eric Ozolins May is an interesting month in the PINS surf. Many bait species are running,
so jack crevalle and skipjacks feed in force. Jacks can be caught on live mullet, topwaters and spoons. Red drum will be plentiful, sometimes large schools of slot-sized fish. With all this activity, expect sharks to be present. The first gut will have everything from bulls to lemons. Scalloped hammerheads and greater hammerheads should start moving in at any time. All these sharks will be possible on close baits, especially during late-afternoon and evening. Water clarity should be fairly clean and the only main issue will be sargassum. If the water is semi-clear, expect Spanish mackerel mixed with the jacks. During most years, May is also a prime month for large trout. Topwaters are killer speck lures, especially cast early and late around structures. Expect some continuing high tides early this month. Be careful when driving, as decomposing weed can create a quicksand effect with potential to mire your vehicle. Keep watch for nesting Kemps Ridley turtles while driving. Port Mansfield | Ruben Garza Snookdudecharters.com – 832.385.1431 Getaway Adventures Lodge – 956.944.4000 Spring has definitely sprung, and fishing has really taken off. Trout and reds are smashing topwaters. The west shoreline and ICW spoil banks north and south of port have been very productive for waders and should continue so through spring into summer. Don't be surprised to hook a beast of a trout in these areas. If you do, please practice CPR. When topwater action slows, switch to a KWiggler Ball Tail or Willow Tail on sixteenth or eighth-ounce jighead. Mansfield margarita and plum/chartreuse have been great producers. Another favorite is the Willow Tail in red shad. Over on the east side, target potholes on grassy flats. They’re taking topwaters there, too. When the trout action gets too slow, I break out the gold, weedless spoons and target singles and pods of cruising reds. Any time you spot a stingray skimming along the sand bottom, make a series of cast along its trail. Trout and reds often shadow these guys to snap up any small bait the rays spook from the bay floor. Be courteous to your fellow anglers. Tight lines and calm seas! Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel Janie and Fred Petty | www.fishingwithpettys.com – 956.943.2747 Catching trout has not been a problem with FP3 and Berkley Gulp!. The reds have been easier to fool with strong tide movement and medium-strong winds. The best fishing has been early-morning or late-afternoon. Weekends are not the ideal time, with heavy boat traffic a huge factor, especially when the tides are low. Freddy says. “If you want fish to bite when the conditions are not perfect, you have to really pop that cork, then let it sit after the first two or three pops. The noisy action draws the attention of hungry predators, but the Gulp! bobbing under the cork makes fish hit.” We’re throwing the three-inch Gulp! shrimp in pearl white or new penny, twisted on a sixteenth-ounce spring-lock jighead under an eighteen inch mono leader tied to a red FP3. Fishing the clear potholes or the muddy drop offs does not affect presentation, unless you want to shorten the leader in really shallow water. We’re seeing lots of reds on the low side of the slot, but trout and flounder that are exceptionally large. Help stop open bay dredge disposal!
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Ardon Lewis Copano Bay - first flounder!
Bob & Bill Skinner Flour Bluff - bull red
Victor Contreras Port Aransas - 17” pompano
Trace Gresham San Leon - first red! 106 | May 2017
Logan Travis Bailey Smith Matagorda - 24” flounder Matagorda surf - jack crevalle
Jonathan Arizmendez 38” & 36” reds, first big fish!
Craig Vance Hall’s Lake - 57” black drum CPR
Darren & Emma Doria Jake Bruce Nueces back bay - 31.5” & 27.5” red Port Mansfield - first speckled trout!
Sule Welpy King Ranch - 31” redfish CPR
McKinley Mote Surfside Beach - 15” trout
Adrian Spencer & Carlos Juarez South Padre - 5’5” first shark!
Calvin Haynes flounder
Don Lancello Galveston - 6 lb 11 oz red
Rogelio Camero Port Isabel - 33” trout
Luke McKinney 22” first flounder!
Richard Clark 5.5’ Baffin Bay art
David Newton Galveston - redfish CPR
Trevor Sanchez Port Lavaca - 28” redfish
David Newton Galveston - redfish CPR
Carlos Adrian Cienfuegos Jr Galveston - 18" trout
Marita & Angela Texas City - 28.5” & 25.5” first reds! Sara Clark Baffin Bay - 27” redfish
Julie Hinojosa Freeport - 31” redfish
Please do not write on the back of photos.
Email photos with a description of your Catch of the Month to: Photos@tsfmag.com
Mark Jackson 28.5” trout
Sabrina Leteff Lower Laguna - 22” trout
Mail photos to: TSFMag P.O. Box 429, Seadrift, TX 77983 TSFMAG.com | 107
Barclay Briggs first blacktip! CPR
Sandy & Julie Cavazos Lower Laguna - mother/daughter trip
Haley Kemp Port Aransas - first keeper
Weston Pomykal Galveston - 38” redfish 108 | May 2017
Steven Bradshaw Port Aransas - 48” personal best red!
Ioben Borbiliac High Islands - 40.5” 23.8lb redfish
Ellie McDonald Port Aransas - first black drum! CPR
Buddy Prince Port Bolivar - 34” jack
Kim Nagle South Padre - 28” redfish
Kay Purifoy Trinity Bay - 25” first red!
Melba Delgado South Bay - first snook!
Cayetano Silva III Estes Bay - 27” personal best red!
Cristian Villanueva 27” first kayak redfish!
Chance Schkade Galveston - 24” redfish
Anna Berry Greens Cut - first keeper red
Sean Sullivan Galveston - 43” first bull red!
Lisa Howard Mouth of the Brazos - first red!
Felicia Beck Crystal Beach - 38” red
Jeff Kettler Trinity Bay - 40+lb drum CPR
Reilly Lawrence Port Bolivar - 23” flounder
Felton Johnson Rollover Pass - 35” drum
Carter Lawrence Galveston Bay - spec
Raymond Reyes Jr. Galveston West Bay - 20+" trout
Debi Screnci San Luis Pass - 40” redfish CPR
Rhonda Borbiliac High Islands - 42.5” 25lb bull red
Please do not write on the back of photos.
Email photos with a description of your Catch of the Month to: Photos@tsfmag.com
Craig Speers Superman’s redfish
Jared Esley Freeport - 29” redfish
Mail photos to: TSFMag P.O. Box 429, Seadrift, TX 77983 TSFMAG.com | 109
Pam Johnson
Gulf Coast
Got ideas, hints or recipes you’d like to share? Email them to pam@tsfmag.com or send by fax: 361-785-2844
Seatrout Francese INGREDIENTS
PREPARATION
1 cup milk, or as needed 1 cup bread crumbs 1 cup grated Romano cheese 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 1 cup olive oil salt and ground black pepper to taste 1 lemon, thinly sliced 1 cup white wine 1 cup chicken broth 1/4 cup lemon juice 1 ounce Grand Marnier liqueur
**Optional – Place individual filets between pieces of Saran wrap. Gently press with the palm of your hand and pat away any moisture with paper towel. (Filets can be left as-is, if desired.) 1. Place filets in bowl and add milk to cover; soak 30 minutes. 2. Mix bread crumbs, Romano cheese, and parsley together in another bowl. Remove filets from milk and dredge in crumb mixture until each piece is evenly coated. Place on a cookie sheet and sprinkle additional crumb mixture over filets. Refrigerate 20 mins. 3. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat; cook filets until lightly browned, 2- to 3-minutes per side. 4. Preheat oven to 350⁰F. 5. Transfer filets to lightly buttered baking dish and season with salt and pepper. 6. Top filets with thin slices of lemon and bake in preheated oven until filets are firm and flaky, about 15-minutes. 7. While filets are baking – remove all but about 1-tablespoon olive oil from the skillet. Add wine and bring to boil while scraping the browned bits off the bottom with a wooden spoon. Add chicken broth and lemon juice and continue boiling until reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in Grand Marnier. 8. Remove filets from oven and drizzle with sauce mixture. 9. Serve with your favorite sides and mixed salad – yields four servings.
110 | May 2017
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Compact, durable and rattles, the PT-7’s aerodynamic body casts like a bullet, rattles like crazy and skips into tight places where others can’t. 3” length and 5/8 oz., this soft plastic minesweeper detonates explosive strikes like no other topwater on the market today. Redfish, seatrout and largemouth bass find its “walk-the-dog” action simply irresistible. Pre-rigged with a single premium 6/0 EWG hook, it keeps big fish on where standard trebles fail. 10 realistic colors with several more on the way.
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170980_DOA_3.15_TxSF_PT-7_3.685x4.875_redfish.indd 1
3/15/17 2:39 PM
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CHRIS MAPP
B O AT M A I N T E N A N C E T I P S
Ins and Outs of Boat Insurance
– Advocating for Owners
Chris Mapp, owner of Coastal Bend Marine. Evinrude, Suzuki, Yamaha, Mercury, Honda, BlueWave, SilverWave, Shallow Stalker Boats, Coastline Trailers, Minnkota & Motor Guide Trolling Motors. Great Service, Parts & Sales “What can we do for you?”
112 | May 2017
What do you do when your engine is still under the manufacturer’s warranty, and after experiencing a covered failure, your insurance company only offers to use a remanufactured gearcase or requires your repair shop to rebuild yours, rather than replacing with a factory-new unit? There are great insurance companies and there are others. There are companies who offer special policies for lower units as their way to help the consumer get the claim paid, as mechanical failures are not covered, though sometimes it is not easy to tell which came first – the chicken or the egg. This is why we are here, to advocate for the customer and to help guide the direction of the settlement via real facts and evidence – not opinion! Once the decision is made to pay the claim, it is important for the owner to understand that there are several types of policies. Actual Cash Value: This is a depreciating policy based on how long the unit has been in service. Another type is Replacement Cost: Usually applicable only on new units and costs a little more, yet you get a whole lot more. Agreed Value: This one is more for the boatengine-trailer package, not just then engine. The most important thing to remember is the boat, engine and trailer are covered separately. Some insurance companies prefer to go the least expensive route and this is where things can get interesting. Let’s say you have more than a year’s warranty
remaining on the engine (maybe five or six years when purchased) and the lower unit is rebuilt using factory parts with a one-year warranty on parts and labor. Who covers the remaining portion of the warranty – the insurance company, the engine manufacturer, or you? The answer is the consumer. The insurance company is not going to honor the manufacturer’s warranty. The myth here of “having the dealer do it with the manufacturer’s parts” does not make this a new unit. Rebuilding it still makes this a rebuilt unit and this will only carry the replacement parts warranty. The manufacturer offers the base warranty and extended warranty on a sealed unit, built by the factory. No one thinks about insurance – until the time comes to use it. Ask your agent about your policy and about any type of exclusion. Meaning, if you are past the line of demarcation, are you covered? Inland lakes, rivers and streams, are you covered? Buying insurance on line can be quicker and cheaper, though sitting across from your agent who can explain everything can be far more informative and satisfying. Have a great spring fishing and boating season, and thank you for your business! Chris Mapp Coastal Bend Marine | Port O’Connor, TX coastalbendmarine.com | 361-983-4841
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Designer & Manufacturer of Specialized High Performance Fishing Rods Office: 361.573.0300
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• Bay Fishing, Offshore, Floundering, Waterfowl, Dove • Night Fishing off Lighted Pier • Right On The Water • Lodging with/without Meals www.matagordasunriselodge.com 979-241-1705 TSFMAG.com | 113
Share your
Pet Onboard
photo for a chance to win Starbrite Boat Care in a Bucket!
Email a photo of your pet enjoying time on the boat to Photos@TSFMag.com and win Starbrite’s Boat Care in a Bucket (MSRP $100). Contest will run May-June-July 2017, one winner will be selected each month. Please include shipping/mailing address to receive prize. We will be posting winning entries on Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine’s Facebook, and also publishing here in TSFMag print and digital versions. Brought to you by Starbrite and TSFMag!
Science and the
Sea
TM
Do Basking Sharks Bask in the Sun? Although they frequently swim with their massive mouths wide open to feed, basking sharks don’t look like the Jaws-type predator most people think of when they imagine a shark. The biggest of these 4-ton fish are just a few feet shorter than a typical school bus. Their gaping mouths reveal their gills and filter-feeding structures, which together resemble the inside of a rib cage. Basking sharks are the second largest shark in the world and just like their bigger cousins, whale sharks, they are filter feeders. Their hundreds of tiny teeth are too small to do much damage.
Basking Sharks have gills and filter-feeding structures that together resemble the inside of a rib cage. Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Scientists know very little about basking sharks because they stay far from land and swim at the water’s surface for only short periods. But over the last couple of years, British researchers tracked more than two dozen basking sharks to learn about their movements — and it seems many follow the sun in winter. The 28 electronic tags that transmitted for more than five months revealed three main wintertime destinations: staying near Britain’s chilly waters, heading to the waters off Spain, Portugal and North Africa, or staying in the Bay of Biscay, west of France. If they left Britain’s waters, they headed out in late summer or fall and came back in spring or early summer. Learning about the routine journeys of these gentle giants can help scientists determine better ways to protect basking shark populations since they are vulnerable to the nets used to catch other species and their fins are illegally harvested to make a soup that is popular in some cultures.
www.ScienceAndTheSea.org © The University of Texas Marine Science Institute
114 | May 2017
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OPEN TROUT REDFISH FLOUNDER
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Wade & Drifting the Back Bays & Surf
Call 361.983.4434 (cell 361.935.6833) Email lynn@tisd.net (tswf.com/lynnsmith)
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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.
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TSFMAG.com | 115
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T h e N EW 2017 RECO N d e l i ve r s d r y s p e e d
T h e R ECO N s p o r t s a n a d d i t i o n al l aye r of
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tru ly s h i n e s w h e n
n ew f u l ly fo a m i n j e c te d “ r i b - c a g e”
c a r r y i ng heavier loa d s . T h e R ECO N i s
s t r i n g e r sys te m m a k i n g i t u n s i n k a b l e .
a b ro a d-shouldered c at t h at ref u s e s
T h e R ECO N 2 4 i s n ot a t y p i c a l fi s h i n g
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and
to s a c r ifice draft - in l aye d
b o at fo r o rd n a r y fi s h e r-
w i t h t r iple stepped c h i n e s
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built
and
com p et i t i ve
ex p l o re r s l o o k i n g fo r t h o s e
p e r fo r mance - an inte l l i g e nt c u s to m design bui l t to u g h &
un-fished
u n s i n k able.
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Models
100% composite 7 year Hull warranty
Our boats are designed and built to maximize horsepower efficiency, shallow water capability, quality of ride, and fish ability.
Come design the JH model that’s right for you! 3925 FM 359 Richmond, Texas 77406 Ph: 281-238-0060
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