September 2007

Tide Predictions & Solunar Feed Times Inside!

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September 2007

Texas Saltwater Fishing

Texas Saltwater Fishing

September 2007

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September 2007

Texas Saltwater Fishing

26 10 Practically Artificial

Mike McBride

16 The Pattern Puzzle

Kevin Cochran

22 Saying Goodbye

Martin Strarup

26 Getting back to business

Billy Sandifer

28 Which fisherman are you…

Chuck Uzzle

30 Chandeleur Islands

Scott Null

38

68

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98

27 Coastal Birding

Billy Sandifer

34 Let’s Ask The Pro

Jay Watkins

38 Fly Fishing

Casey Smartt

42 Tournament Trails

Brandon Jenewein

46 Offshore

Bobby Byrd/John Cochrane

50 Conservation

CCA-Texas

54 Science and the Sea

UT-Marine Science Institute

56 TPWD Field Notes

J. Dale Shively

60 Kayak Fishing

Scott Null

68 According To Scott

Scott Sommerlatte

70 Youth Fishing

Aaron Cisneros

80 Dickie Colburn’s Sabine Scene

Dickie Colburn

82 Mickey on Galveston

Mickey Eastman

84 Capt. Bill’s Fish Talk

Bill Pustejovsky

86 Mid-Coast Bays with the Grays

Shellie Gray

88 Catching up with Cliff

Cliff Webb

90 Capt. Tricia’s Port Mansfield Report

Capt. Tricia

92 South Padre Fishing Scene

Ernest Cisneros

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Editorial

8

Letters to the Editor

78 New Tackle & Gear 94 Fishing Reports and Forecasts 96 Photo Gallery–Catch of the Month

Printed in the USA.

98 Gulf Coast Kitchen

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.

103 Index of Advertisers

Application to Mail at Periodicals Postage Rates is Pending at Victoria, TX 77901.

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

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WRITING AN EDITORIAL PIECE seems never to be easy. Granted, the degree of difficulty runs hand-in-hand with the topic so, I have only myself to blame here. I have deep beliefs and strong feelings leading me out on this limb. I therefore pray I have done a good job and my writing will be well-received, I also pray some good can follow.

I am taking direct aim at my fellows in the fishing guide business, but much can apply to non-guide anglers as well. This is not to chastise or ridicule, but to encourage. I want to talk about how and where we as high-profile fishermen are leading the general sportfishing public. I am in my eighth year as a fishing guide, long enough in my mind to be entitled to this opinion and make these statements.

During my seasons of guiding fishermen, my attitude, my style of fishing, as well as my personal conservation ethic have all evolved. I didn’t always think this way.

Like it or not, fishing guides are role models. Anglers who cannot fish every day live vicariously through the exploits, accomplishments and actions of those who do, especially those who have figured a way to make a living from it. We all have fans, most we’ll never meet, and some of them hang on our every word. They learn to do as we do and strive to fish as we fish.

In the beginning I did not understand the role model thing fully. Yes, I always tried to be upstanding in my business practice, and yes I have always invested great effort to conduct myself as a gentleman. Naturally, I have always tried to deliver a good product, using my best judgement in selecting fishing areas and methods to suit client ability and desires, but there is more to it. Along the way it has occurred that some fishermen will copy me and that I will therefore share responsibility to some degree for the fisherman they will ultimately become.

Over the years I have enjoyed the good fortune to be able to hunt and fish in many places, much of this has been with guides. They taught me many things and led me in the pursuit of some great hunting and fishing successes. I was always careful to hire professionals who had earned solid reputations; therefore I have been in the company of many outstanding hunters and fishers. The best of these always supplied more, though. Along with their ability to place me where I could take game and fish, they taught respect for the environment, conservation of the resource we were using and generally good citizenship in the natural community.

I am offering a challenge. I want to challenge every fishing guide in Texas to consider their actions, all their actions. I want our industry, if we could term it such; to become more responsible in the harvest we lead our clients in, and especially in the way we teach them to measure success. It disturbs me that we the guides were the first to sensationalize the hero stringer. We used the piles of fish displayed variously to book more trips. We’d see one guy staging photos one way and pretty soon we did it. Somebody had a better idea and pretty soon others were using it. Then came the internet and we all built websites and began posting reports that included photos of great catches. But where is all this taking us?

I visit lots of internet sites. Some are moderated to a greater degree than others with strict rules governing what you post; other sites are moderated by the regular readers who by their own convictions set certain decorum. One of the most striking things I have observed is that a site that allows guides to place pictures and reports of great catches also have considerable posting by non-guides doing the same.

“Congrats on the awesome haul,” are the accolades such posts often earn.

So the challenge goes like this; what say we clean it up? What say we try to lead our fans and followers to fish more conservatively? Let’s walk some walk here.

People will follow as we lead. Consider how long we can continue advertising limits if we run out of fish. Fish them for half a limit and then switch to C&R. Most everybody wants some to take home, but is all the best number? Personally I have found that a cool C&R or action photo emailed to the client after the trip is every bit as effective as ten trout slung over the shoulder. There’s my challenge.

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September 2007

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September 2007

Texas Saltwater Fishing

Mr. Everett Johnson, Editor Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine Mr. Johnson, I am writing this note to express my gratitude for publishing the finest fishing magazine printed today. I read every article and ad from cover to cover. My second choice of reading is Texas Fish and Game, but I don’t read all the articles because I’m not a hunter so I just skip them.

The article I am please to see added is “The Lore and Legend” article. I know without a doubt that there are many more readers that enjoy it, like myself. I am 71 years young.

I started fishing with my dad when I was about 13 years old on the Sabine River and Sabine Lake in Orange, Texas. In 1948 my dad bought a brand new Sea King 5-hp outboard motor from Montgomery Ward in downtown Beaumont. We had to bring it home on the Greyhound bus because we had no car. From our house in Riverside Addition to Blue Bird Fish Camp on Cypress Bayou was about two miles and we would get up at 3:00 am. Mom fixed a sack lunch and we walked to the fish camp and rented a cypress flat bottom boat, put the Sea King on it and headed for the old ship grave yard or Sabine Lake. This was years before Sam Rayburn and Toledo Dams and the saltwater would back up several miles on the Sabine River. While it was still dark you could see the phosphorus glowing in the prop wash. It would take about two hours to get to Sabine Lake. The sun would be just coming up. We would cull 3 and 4 pound specks and keep 6 to 7 pounders. We would keep golden croaker up to 3 pounds and over.

Everett, this could get to be a long letter but what I would like to see is one article per publication stepping back in time with the old boats, motors and fishing equipment. There was the Mercury, Johnson, Evinrude, Elgin, Sea King, Elto, Wizard, Neptune, Champion, Goodyear, and Flambeau. All made in the U.S.A. Keep up the great work and I’ll keep reading and fishing and a little catching.

Mr. & Mrs. Johnson Wow… What a front cover on the May issue. What a great expression on Pam’s Face. Congratulations! Is your new name: “Burnt Thumb Pam”?

Jack Crevalle are truly a worthy challenge, an athlete of the Gulf and yes, a thumb burner on light tackle. What speed and power…wow!

Enclosed is my picture of my Jack caught and released. Yes, I was in a boat but it was anchored. Meaning you had a better battle wading.

• Location – Near Baytown, Texas • Reel – Shimano Chronarch SF • Rod – 7 ½’ medium Castaway • Line – 12 lb Trilene Big Game • Lure – a wet one The photo “I know the feeling” was taken by Rodney Wright, in his boat “Old Blue”.

Continue with life’s adventures.

Your Friend, Abel “3 Moons” Ruiz

Charlie Watson Vidor, Texas PS – My wife and I have been married 52 years. She is my fishing buddy. Also when we were in high school all of our friends were gong to dances and movies, we spent our time on the Sabine River frog hunting and trotlining.

Dear Charlie, Thanks for taking the time to write. Glad to hear you are enjoying the “Lore and Legend of Texas Saltwater Fishing.” It is readers like you who inspire much of what is in the magazine. It may take a while but your idea to take a step back in time to review old boats, motors, and tackle sounds like a great project. I’ll get busy on it!

Good fishing, Everett Johnson

Send your letters to: TSFMag, P.O. Box 429, Seadrift, TX 77983 8

Texas Saltwater Fishing

September 2007

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Texas Saltwater Fishing

N TODAY’S COMICAL FISHING WORLD, THERE IS LITTLE THAT WILL INCITE a stampede quicker than the rumor of a hot new lure. Human nature being what it is, the mere illusion of a fling and forget lure that automatically catches fish is right up there with a “free while they last” sign.

There are many forms of wobbelry and shiny wonderment for sale, all guaranteed to make our efforts instantly more successful. It is big business these days, but I’m convinced that many manufacturers fish for people more than fish and we the consumers are the true prey.

Unfortunately, we can’t pull skill down from a store rack. Fishing with lures is rarely about the particular lure we are throwing. It’s more about the science of understanding what the fish are doing at the moment, and then making a practical decision as to the best way to challenge them. To put it another way, the sooner we understand that it’s the Indian more than the arrow; the sooner we will become better anglers.

Let’s try to look at some basics as far as what we need or don’t need, but first, let’s back up a minute and try to figure out why we do all of this stuff in the first place… fishing with lures, that is. If we can truly answer that, and identify the underlying goals, we might end up being able to do it all better. That’s a good goal too, right?

So, why do we fish with lures? There are certainly more productive ways to take a bunch of fish out of the water than thrashing with a rod and reel around all day. It’s physically demanding, flirts against human nature (hard work), and you often don’t catch as many and perhaps on some days none at all. However, if fishing is all about the food part of it, let’s just all use nets! Personally, I think we throw lures for the same reason we chase a little white ball around and whack

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Male ego in the arena (James Garner.)

it with a stick. It’s not about food any more than golf is. Quite simply, it’s male ego in the arena. We need to hunt, conquer and capture something, and we lure guys do it with artificial baits because we want to be an angler more than a fisherman. We want to understand and provoke a fish more than we want to wait on them to eat something. Nothing here against

September 2007

the organic folks, it’s just a different religion.

The religion of fishing with artificial lures is a self-imposed science, the study of fish behavior and how one might better deceive nature through effort and trickery. Izaac Walton fueled much of this idealism back in 1653 with his book The Compleat Angler.

He wrote that the true angler is, “one who

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fishes for the love of fishing and that catching fish by sporting means is far superior to other methods of fishing.” To him, “sporting” meant fly-fishing. Yes, it’s fishing, but with a self-imposed handicap. Likewise for lure fishermen, it’s not about what you throw as much as it is figuring out where, when, and how you throw it. It’s the luring part of it… not the lure. Let’s look at some examples of how to determine what the fish are doing, and then pick a lure that might work for the moment.

What do we really need out there? Well, we need to cover several bases, but it doesn’t take a big tackle box to do that. We basically just need a few tools that will get us to where the fish are. A few soft plastic tails with jig heads of various weight and a couple of topwaters will do most all of what we need to do. The whole key is knowing when to choose what, and after that, where in the water column it needs to be and how aggressively we need to work it. Other than figuring out where the fish are and what they are doing, it’s mostly about placement, size, and motion.

Just to impress the idea, others have had similar thoughts, like William C. Vogt in his 1928 book entitled Bait-Casting. To prove that it was the motion of the bait and not the bait itself that attracted fish, he wrote of catching bass on everything from a carrot to an ear of corn and even a turnip. If we really want to embarrass our shopping selves, there’s a

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certain guide in Port Isabel who will put on a clinic for you by using a house key or a noserigged jalapeno. With all this in mind, let’s try to get application specific.

Lures: As far as topwaters go, we just need something with a big presentation, something delicate, and then something in between. Many will work, but my preferences have been MirrOLure’s She Dog, Rapala’s Skitterwalk, and then Pradco’s Super Spook Jr. With just three baits like these we can address most surface applications. Color?

Most in my box have little paint left on them… and they keep working. I find myself using the bigger presentation (the She Dog) in a few specific situations. One is where the bait is up, active, and predators are obviously feeding.

Another is when it’s a totally down period and I’m just trying to jack a fish up from structure through shear agitation. Usually, but not always, I also reserve it for off-colored water, high wind /choppier conditions or in deeper water over about thigh-deep or so.

For most ‘normal’ situations, when we don’t need something quite as loud, or there is danger of spooking There is little more practical than a fish instead of simple jig-head with calling them, a piece of plastic the Skitterwalk screwed on it. has been a

September 2007

good all-around bait and can be worked in various ways, from spanking it hard and throwing water to dead-stick still. It’s just not as obnoxious as the She Dog and its size makes it appropriate for many situations.

For more subtle work, such as shallow, clear water, any time the fish seem skittish and easily frightened, or when the preferred forage is small, the little Super Spook Jr. can often wreak some serious havoc. Again, the biggest challenge is reading your fish. Are they in an aggressive mode, neutral, or negative? Watch other activity for clues. Are the birds up or buttoned down on the shore? Is the bait acting threatened or just happy-jumping? Often, just a small change in presentations will change the entire session. That’s where the fisherman in us needs to come out.

For subsurface work, again, we just don’t need all that much. In fact, we can all take a lesson from the many minimalists out there such as my partner Capt. Tricia. She and many others would just as soon tie on a tail and be done with it… much preferring

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to concentrate on presentations rather than puffery. These types of anglers are production oriented, and trust me, they produce. In terms of keeping things minimal and practical, there is nothing that beats a jig-head screwed into a piece of plastic. There are a ton of choices, but the pair that qualify as most practical are the swimmers and rat-tails. Good examples of swimmers are the Brown Lure Mullet and Norton Bull Minnow. For rat-tails, the time-honored Bass Assassin, Brown Lure Devils, and Texas Tackle Factory TTK-II make the box. Each of these baits have their own application, but what we are really looking for is appropriate sink rate and presentation speed, easily adjusted by the jig-head weight. A 1/16, 1/8, and 1/4 ounce will cover most situations.

The decision governing when to use a paddle-tail versus a straight tail, again, is a practical one. For example, in shallow water, where you may only have a ten inch clear zone between floating grass and growing grass, a paddle-tailed swimmer makes sense because you can fly it straight and don’t need to jig it up and down for action. However, swimming baits don’t cast as well without help from the wind. So again, trying to be practical, when casting distance is critical, the straight-tail may get the nod. If the fish want a bigger profile, the bulbous shape of the TTKII can do many things based on the weight assigned to it. On a 1/4 ounce head we can probe depths, and on a 1/16 we can almost fish it like a Corky. (The Corky family is a different subject. It is a very versatile bait but mostly reserved for when we are targeting mullet eating fish. More on this later.)

As far as colors go, that’s a highly controversial subject. We do see times where they will hit one flavor before another. However, on a consistent basis, they certainly look for, detect, and react to motion, which seems to trump other factors. In choosing, the question is more of “can they see it?” That’s where contrast comes in, and does it fit the setting?

There are many opinions, but I usually get away with something light, something dark, and then something neutral and

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Lures are just tools.

They still require a craftsman behind them to make them work.

non-threatening. Examples would be black or plum, white, and the dependably producing, low key pumpkinseed. I make the decision based on water clarity, fish activity, or basically, how much contrast do I need for them to see it without shying away from it. It also doesn’t have to look exactly like the bait they are eating, just fairly representative. Remember, we’re addressing the instincts of a spinal stemmed predator, not rational thought.

The gist of all of this is that lures are just tools. They still require a craftsman to make them work. The biggest craft will always be reading fish and their attitudes. After that, presentation skills are what turns a fisherman into an angler.

It’s deceiving nature through effort and trickery, so don’t be tricked by the lure salesman. Let’s remember to be the Indian, be practical, and try to concentrate more on what we are doing with our line than what we are tying on it. Izaac would be proud!

September 2007

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I

have watched and learned from fishing shows on television for many years. Recently, two programs on bass fishing led me to some important conclusions about “pattern fishing”. On one, a famous B.A.S.S. pro defined pattern fishing by saying that a pattern exists when all of the bass in an area behave the same way at a given time.

In other words, he said, if a bass is caught on an isolated stump near the drop off of a creek channel, it would indicate that all the bass in the area are relating to stumps in the same way. The esteemed expert (who has won many tournaments and earned over a million dollars while

fishing professionally) went on to draw a distinction between a “single fish” pattern and a “school” pattern. A stump, rock or small bush, he said, would be likely to hold only a single or few fish, but other types of cover like tree tops and grass beds and structures like channel edges might hold entire schools of fish.

The key to successfully fishing patterns, the “old fresh” advised, is to learn to differentiate between single fish and school patterns, because single fish patterns necessitate searching far and wide for scattered fishholding spots, while school patterns allow anglers to thoroughly cover an area and catch numbers of fish without moving around much.

What he said makes good sense and is undeniably useful advice to anglers seeking many types of fish, not just “old bucket mouth“. All anglers should attempt to determine the significance of the variables whenever a fish is caught, in attempt to glean some kind of pattern that can be repeated.

But the famous bass guru lost me when he went on to give this advice to the viewers: “Whenever you catch a bass, stop, take a deep breath and really try to determine whether you have discovered a single fish pattern or a school pattern, because your subsequent efforts will depend on which it is.”

I fail to see how breathing deeply will help someone make such a judgment! In my experience, thinking harder and longer about something is not useful unless the variables being considered are completely understood. What he did is analogous to giving someone a complex home theater system without a set of instructions for assembly and use.

Fishing experts give advice and clarify concepts to a point, but when it comes to the most critical components in the equation, they often leave the listener/viewer/reader hanging. For example, they might simply suggest making a lure look like a wounded fish, rather than specify the method used to produce such a presentation.

Novice anglers armed with such advice aren’t much better off than a five year old attempting to complete an older sibling‘s calculus homework.

The bass pro’s comments would have been more useful if he’d better clarified how to recognize the two types of patterns. Doing so is not always easy, because in a way, the distinction between them is arbitrary.

Single fish and school patterns are essentially the same if numerous single fish spots can be located within a relatively small area. If there are enough fish-holding stumps clustered close together on a given flat, that flat can be said to be the site of a school pattern.

The best way to prove that a school pattern has been found is to cast back to the spot where one fish is caught and catch others. If several subsequent casts don’t produce a strike, locating other similar spots in the area and casting to them can indicate that a single fish pattern is repeating itself. Then the angler must determine whether the immediate area has enough of these types of sites to justify staying or whether a move to another area with more of the same kinds of sites is justified.

I believe his concepts apply well to trout fishing. If a trout is located in a particular place, it’s important to attempt to determine several things about that place. Depth of the location should be considered, along with the presence of structural elements and types of cover. If the fish was on the windward side of a sand bar in a knee-deep pothole, how many other potholes like it are to be found in the immediate area? If enough are present, a school pattern is more likely to unfold.

Another factor to be considered is the likelihood that fish are moving and actually searching for food. This can be done by “reading” signs like the activity level of baitfish, the presence of current, water temperature and ease of getting bites. If lots of movement and activity are observed and strikes are easy to solicit, it probably means that fish are roaming in search of food.

In an active bite, fish are likely to show up in certain places when ready to eat, so staying and casting to a site like a current rip in a reef, the deep edge of a rock or a pothole at the end of a dead-end gut will be more likely to transform a single fish pattern into a school one. If things are more negative, a move to another area with similar terrain might be wiser, given

that fish may be stationary, and after one or two are pulled from a site, others aren‘t likely to move in and take their place.

Sometimes, the pattern is the bait fish themselves. By casting at tightly bunched, surface-hugging schools or obviously fleeing singles, anglers can often locate prowling predators hot on their tails.

The reality of pattern fishing is not nearly as simple as the old bass pro would like us to believe. The other fishing show I’d seen the day prior to watching him define patterns made clear what I mean. It documented a Bassmasters tournament held on Lake Amistad earlier this spring.

Big bass were biting, the stringer weights were nearly unbelievable, and the competition was close. Several anglers maintained a five pound average for twenty fish over the four days! That was impressive, but what relates to this discussion was the way the anglers did their catching.

Every one of them was fishing a pattern. Some were fishing single fish patterns, while others were fishing school patterns. The most important factor, though, was the wide diversity of the patterns themselves.

One proven veteran was fishing vast, shallow flats covered with weeds and bushes, making numerous short casts with a crank bait, ticking it off

the vegetation and catching enough scattered fish to give him a high finish.

Three of the top finishers were working another pattern, swimming large soft-plastics through submerged tree tops in about twelve feet of water until they found their “magic tree”, which often held groups of eight to ten suspended big fish.

The winner of the tournament, a 23 year old rookie fishing his first Elite Series event, was fishing in 25 to 30 feet of water, slowly hopping a heavy jig along a narrow secondary ledge next to 60 foot depths. He was catching his fish regularly, but not quickly. Often, he’d wait thirty minutes or more between bites, but he fished one short stretch of water all four days and won the event. He seemed to be catching cruising fish as they appeared on the ledge looking to eat.

I doubt most of the competitors on Amistad that

week were concerned with the actions of their peers, at least not while the fishing was underway. Each probably was convinced he’d found the best way to win the event, especially one famously brash, wellknown participant, who yelled into the camera, “That‘s the tournament right there. I just caught the winning fish. I‘m a bad dude!” He thought he’d solved the pattern riddle better than all the others he was up against. Later, he would be forced to admit that there were many ways to catch big bass on that lake on those days.

The event proved it’s all too easy to get tunnel vision on one pattern and think it’s the only way to catch a fish. The veteran who defined pattern fishing was actually wrong in one sense. He implied that once a pattern is discovered, it’s the only one available in an “area”. Often, that just isn’t so. All of the fish in a given area will not act the same way at a given time, at least in some situations. If that were true, there is no way that such radically different patterns could produce similar catches concurrently in one lake.

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N THE WALK BACK TO MY OWN BOAT, I wondered if anyone would ever follow my tracks and if they would learn from them the way I had learned from those I followed.

Did I leave deep enough tracks? Was my path straight enough or did I venture too often from the straight and narrow into the unknown? Would they hesitate at the hard places and take the easier way around or would they follow where I had gone and succeed as I had? Would they wonder who I was if they did go where I had gone? Would they feel a twinge of sadness when my tracks ended and only theirs remained?”

The above quote is from an article I wrote years ago that was simply entitled Tracks. I thought it was appropriate to use again in this article since I am attributing the tracks in this case to my father who passed away recently. I can only hope that I will someday fit into the tracks he made during his life.

It’s a hard thing that a lot of people have already experienced, saying goodbye to their daddy; it was a new experience for me.

How do you say goodbye to someone you’ve known all of your life, someone who taught you the basics of everything you hold dear? It’s not easy; it’s not easy at all.

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I’ve written before of how I learned from my dad by watching and listening to what he said. I wrote about the red Ambassadeur reels and the Hump lures that he was so fond of fishing with. I’ve written about floundering with him and having to catch up to him due to my fooling around with crabs and stingrays and other creatures of the bay. I’ve told the story about how he taught me to run a boat and to navigate West Matagorda Bay with a compass and then turned me loose when I was 13 years old.

I would hope that everyone has the same chance to spend time with his or her dad and I feel very fortunate to have been able to spend almost 50 years with mine. A dad can teach you so much if they have the inclination and patience. And if you have the will and the want to learn from him, you will. I did, and I’m so thankful that I listened to what he had to say and didn’t do the typical teenage thing and consider his wisdom just typical “old man” stuff.

I’m not going to take up a lot of space this month. In order for me to tell all my stories of my adventures with my dad I’d need much more than the two pages our esteemed Editor allows me September 2007

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each month, and besides, I’m not so sure that Dad would want me telling too many of our secrets.

I owe my father for instilling in me a love for boats and for chasing and catching speckled trout and for teaching me that a full cooler of ďŹ sh is not all that makes a trip successful. I owe him for my ability to know where that buck will be on opening day of deer season and for teaching me the best location to place a deer blind. I owe a great debt to him and I can only hope that he considers that debt paid in full.

Godspeed Daddy. I hope that I made you proud; I hope that I can leave deep enough steps for your grandson to follow and that I will always be as patient with him as you were with me.

Be Safe.

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September 2007

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September 2007

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T

HE UPWELLINGS OF COLD OFFSHORE CURRENTS CONTINUED ON THE BEACH OF PINS

throughout the month of July and sure made for some tough fishing. Combine this with 2007 being the year of record for the amount of sargassum weed impacting the shorelines and the amount of rain and it’s easy to see this has been a tedious year in the surf zone. We had some good catch days on speckled trout but other species were hard to come by as water temperatures remained 80 to 82 degrees and water murky. Typically water would be crystal clear throughout July with water temperatures in the neighborhood of 87 degrees.

Every time I would hear of an increased number of shark encounters by bay fishers I would instantly think, “why not; that’s the only place the water temperature is warm enough to suit them.”

On July 23 we felt the impact of a mid-summer cold front and although it brought back substantial amounts of sargassum for the short term it also seemed to have an impact on the offshore upwellings. The upwellings became smaller in scale and of shorter duration following the cold frontal passage and water began to clear and warm to more normal temperature levels. The catches improved and then on 3 August the water temperature reached its typical 87 degrees for the first time this year.

Immediately large

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shoals of dusky anchovies moved into the surf zone followed by Spanish mackerel and large numbers of ladyfish. Tarpon were observed slightly offshore and it appears that barring tropical events and red tide we are back to business as usual.

It’s impossible for September not to be my favorite month of the year for fishing in the surf.

The abundance of tarpon, large jack crevalle and sharks has led me to reserve September for big game and fly fishing charters.

The dusky anchovies will reach their highest numbers and the first northers will start the finger mullet migration through the surf and it seems everything in the Gulf of Mexico moves into the surf to feed on them.

Predators will be taking on as much protein as possible to be ready for their own migrations in the upcoming months.

Redfish will follow the finger mullet out of the bay systems in the largest numbers of the year but it is often difficult to concentrate on redfish with so many genuine gladiators available. I’ve always thought of September as the “Time of the Frenzies” and it is indeed a wondrous spectacle of the Natural World. Busy times lie ahead through early November and I look forward to them even more this year as I will be chartering my 25’ Panga nearshore after these big game species as well as surf fishing.

A word of caution; anytime one is fishing in the midst of a frenzy it is a given that apex predators are present, regardless of whether they are visible or not. Take the utmost caution to be on the lookout for large sharks approaching and do not wade deep guts to cast farther offshore.

The art of topwater fishing in the surf has been on my mind daily for the past

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two months. I’ve told friends they need to outlaw all those TV shows about peacock bass fishing because it’s almost impossible to convince my customers to work their lures in a moderate “walk the dog” fashion. They seem determined to “rip” the lure a foot or more at a time and the simple truth is that the trout in the surf show no interest in such a presentation.

There are so many more dynamics at play in the surf than when bay fishing that it is indeed a different game. Constant waves are breaking over and obscuring the lure and the waves and the current move it through the strike zone quite rapidly.

The trick in the surf is to retrieve in a moderate and steady fashion intentionally attempting to make the lure touch its own tail with minimum forward progress and maximum noise and time in the strike zone.

Methodically casting behind an incoming wave will keep the lure from being swept along by the swell and increase time in green fishable water rather than being in white foamy water

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CAPT. BILLY SANDIFER

Billy operates Padre Island Safaris.

His specialties are fishing for sharks to specks in the Padre Island surf and bayfishing for trout and redfish from a poled skiff.

Contact Billy Sandifer Telephone 361-937-8446 Website www.billysandifer.com where it goes by fish undetected or too rapidly to attempt to catch. Most often at this time of year the trout aren’t really feeding at all and the strike is pure aggression. Thusly, the longer you pester them with the lure in their immediate area the more subject to striking it they become. The surf is the only place I know where the majority of bait fish movement is into the current. Casting up current hinders both the action of the lure and the chance to remain in constant contact with it. Instead, I always cast slightly down current so that the lure is moving slightly into the current during my retrieve. It appears more natural when cast and retrieved in this fashion and it is easy to maintain constant contact with the lure and to have better control of its movements during the retrieve.

I want to put in a plug for Daiwa while talking about recent top water fishing. I fish long days and last month I used my Team Daiwa Advantage 150H Baitcasting reel 18 days in all types of conditions while only cleaning it twice and replacing one side bearing. The drag remains superior to many reels costing twice as much, even after battling jack crevalle. Both the Team Daiwa Advantage 150H and 153 HST are excellent products and I highly recommend them. If they can survive both me and the surf they are truly something special.

Juvenile green sea turtles are being observed in record numbers on the beach this year. Unfortunately there have been observations of people intentionally catching these turtles and bringing them on shore to pose for photos. The danger of them being hooked by fishermen has also increased. All sea turtles are protected under the Endangered Species Act and the green turtle is listed as threatened. Enjoy seeing them as one of nature’s wonders but do not bother them. To do so is in violation of the Endangered Species Act. If you observe individuals engaged in the above activities notify TPWD Game Wardens. This is not a game. While fishing wrecks on the beach there are usually several of these small turtles observed constantly. I only fish the wrecks with lures when the turtles are present as they will eat baited hooks. Should you unintentionally catch a sea turtle, release it immediately and as gently as possible and if it is injured notify park officials so that it can be taken to rehab.

Can’t wait to be knee deep or on the panga in the middle of one of those frenzies! What a Hoot! Be Careful, Be Courteous, Be Kind.

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Terns are graceful fish-eating birds often found in the company of Gulls. The royal tern is present year round in Texas Coastal areas on bays, beaches and in the Gulf. Royal terns are often seen hovering and plunging headfirst for fish; they are easily identified by a bright orange bill and a black cap. Breeds on spoil islands March-August. The second largest tern species, the royal is a good indicator of baitfish presence to anglers while smaller species often feed on tiny prey and are called “Lairs Birds” by anglers as their food source is too small to tip anglers off to fish presence. The royal tern is one of the species encountered daily by fishermen throwing live croakers or fishing with top waters. Length: 20 inches, wing span: 41 inches, weight: 1 pound.

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tortoise or hare?

STORY & PHOTOS BY CHUCK UZZLE

I

Jimmy Winfrey Older model lower speed reels can still produce fish.

nstant gratification; speed is what we need. Only $20.00 extra will get it there tomorrow. All these examples of a world in a hurry and don’t think for a minute the sport of fishing is immune. Motors are getting bigger, boats are getting faster, and the whole process seems to be on the fast track to who knows where. A perfect example of the speed sensation are the new reels that boast 7:1 or better gear ratios- talk about burning a bait across the grass. Well in this quest for more speed, we as anglers have forgotten how to be patient, we have forgotten how successful we were when we took time to reel a bait all the way back to the boat with our antique 4:1 ratio bait casters. The fact of the matter is that we are in some ways going so fast that we are missing some of the best fishing out there.

Saltwater anglers who chase schooling fish along with freshwater fishermen who also key in on flocks of birds over hungry groups of stripers, hybrids, and whites are perhaps the worst. The frenzied activity puts everyone on the boat in high gear, often leaving the majority of the water column untouched. It’s a proven fact that smaller, more aggressive fish will be the first to attack a bait, so consequently the “speed fisherman” may never see what caliber of fish are really down under the surface. Savvy anglers will let a bait get down under the surface melee and are more often than not are rewarded with better quality fish. Saltwater enthusiasts often find better speckled trout and redfish down under all the small trout hustling shrimp and shad near the surface. By allowing the smaller fish to hit the bait and not setting the hook, anglers can get down past the smaller fish to where the big boys play. Some anglers will actually crawl their baits along the bottom with very little action and catch some of the best fish out there, it’s difficult to do but well worth the effort.

By taking the time to patiently work a school of fish with a slower retrieve and perhaps a little larger bait, anglers can effectively cull out smaller fish. The smaller fish will peck at the larger baits while the better fish will usually strike them with more gusto. This slightly different approach proves itself in some of the strangest ways. Think about how many times you have caught a fish while dragging a bait and correcting a backlash, it makes you wonder. If we could see our baits under the

water we would see what little of the actual area we are fishing, most of the time our lures are running less than 2 feet deep.

Burning a lure at a high speed has it’s applications but it’s awful hard to argue with the success that the slower approach often produces.

Saltwater anglers can take a page from the freshwater fishing playbook by methodically working cover such as shell pads, potholes, and other shoreline cover. If you have ever watched a bass fisherman work an area with a jig it would amaze you how many times they pitch or flip to a particular piece of cover. The saltwater equivalent to this scenario would have Louis Manuel to be flounder fishermen who Note the old school reel and big employ artificial lures instead of league trout. conventional live offerings. On Sabine Lake it’s a standard method for chasing flounder to work a shoreline with small jigs. Once you catch a fish it’s not uncommon to cast back to the same area and pick up quite a few more.

Thorough anglers will really capitalize in these situations while “speed demons” will only see a small piece of the action.

Now I have to admit I certainly don’t fall into the “patient” category when it comes to how I fish, I know I fish too fast but that doesn’t mean I am not thorough when I need to be. Over the last several years I have slowed the pace considerably since I have been spending so much time poling around shallow water and chasing redfish. I have learned to slow my pace and concentrate more when I get a bite and this has produced some impressive results at times.

One very good way to see just how fast you fish is to use a swimming pool and watch how your lures work. It’s a down right eye opening experience to see where you lure spends most of its time. Waiting for a bait to hit the bottom in 6 or 7 feet of water seems like an eternity for most of us but the patient anglers know it’s worth the wait.

Like most things in life we are all in a hurry to get to the end result; we are so worried about getting to the finish line that we miss the race. I’m not saying that we need to just go out and sit still, but most of us do in fact need to slow down. The last example of this school of thought is a classic and I know I have shared this one with a ton of people. Think about the guy in the small boat who could only fish certain places because of weather, the run was too far, or some other factor. That guy learned his area and really fished it as hard and thorough as possible and he caught fish. Now the same guy after having some success in a local tournament or two feels the need to get a bigger boat so he can fish more places. Our hero buys a big center console with a massive outboard and is ready to tackle the world. Now instead of fishing, our guy is running all over the place looking for the “next” place to fish. I have seen this happen more than a few times. With no limitations the guy looses all the patience he developed fishing from a small boat and consequently he quits catching as many fish. That’s really something to think about isn’t it?

Deon Gipson A beautiful marsh redfish taken with a slower presentation during the heat of the summer.

HE CHANDELEUR ISLANDS HAVE LONG BEEN A PREFERRED destination of Texas anglers looking for adventure and top-notch angling. As a teenager the islands always held a special place in my fishing-obsessed mind. I first heard the glory of the Chandeluers during the late-seventies and early-eighties working at Marburger’s Sporting Goods. I still recall the customers coming in with a shopping list provided by my fishing idol, Rudy Grigar.

They’d clean the pegs holding the gold Johnson spoons and fill their baskets with MirrOlures and Kelley Wigglers. I longed to join them, but as a kid making minimum wage I might as well be wishing for a trip to Alaska. I couldn’t afford the stockpile of lures much less the cost of a guided trip. Around 1982 I almost got my chance when Mr. Marburger set up a sales competition among the store employees. Whoever sold the most Ambassadeur reels would win a free trip. I lost out to the store manager, Lonnie Smith, by only a few. Thus my trip would have to wait many years.

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During my 20’s and 30’s I got busy with a career and raising a family. I still thought of the islands and upon reading Rudy’s book, Plugger, I had a renewed interest. I vowed to make the trip happen. Then a few years ago I met Captain Troy Fountain at the Houston Boat Show.

Troy runs Chandeleur Charters out of Biloxi, Mississippi aboard his 65 foot boat, Double Trouble. A couple months later I was on my way.

And the islands didn’t disappoint. The fishing was fantastic and Captain Troy’s crew made the trip most enjoyable. In the following year I managed to sneak aboard the Double Trouble a couple more times and loved every minute of it.

The Chandeleur Islands have an interesting history dating back approximately 3000 years.

It is a history that is in peril of coming to an end within our lifetime. The islands began as the outer edge of the Mississippi River delta back when the river had a more easterly flow. Around 2000 years ago the river began to change course September 2007

and migrated west. In time, the marsh behind the outer beach sank into Breton Sound leaving a long and graceful curve of a nearly unbroken barrier islands.

The islands belong to Louisiana even though they lie much closer to the Mississippi shore. I’ve never been able to find any verification, but the story I’ve heard regarding this is another chapter in the area’s colorful history. Apparently there was some dispute between the states regarding where the state line should fall and to whom the islands belonged. To settle the dispute a whiskey barrel was set afloat in the Mississippi River. A floating party followed the barrel on its course out into the Gulf of Mexico. By chance, the wind and currents pushed the barrel eastward between the north end of the Chandeleurs and the coast of Mississippi. Thus, the islands became a part of Louisiana.

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large land mass. It is hard to imagine, but there were woodlands, farms, and fishing villages scattered along the length of what has now become little more than a large sandbar. In 1904 President Theodore Roosevelt declared the area a protected bird reservation because the islands’ brown pelican populations were being decimated by plume hunters looking for fancy hat feathers.

Breton NWR became the nation’s second preserve in the National Wildlife Refuge system.

Though he created many other refuge areas, this was the only refuge ever visited by President Roosevelt.

A strong hurricane in 1915 swept over the islands and wiped out the settlements. The area has remained for the most part uninhabited since that time. Today the Chandeleurs are listed as a Class I protected refuge and can not be disturbed. Visitors may roam and explore the islands, but no overnight camping is allowed.

Thus the emergence of operations such as Captain Troy’s where large motherships are used as a base for multi-day fishing trips.

Over the decades many storms have struck the Chandeleurs with devastating

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power. Each time the unique currents and positioning of the islands has allowed Mother Nature to replenish the beach and marshes with sediments from the Mississippi River. A huge upwelling of currents along the continental shelf colliding with the outflow of the river combined to rebuild the barrier island. The effects of the river water were evident in the area based on the presence of oyster beds which require a mix of fresh and salt water to thrive. The health of the islands is vital to the protection of the Louisiana coast during times of storm surge. This important protective barrier appears to be in severe jeopardy at present.

Historically the time between storms affecting the area has been sufficient to allow the natural rebuilding process to take place. A 1980 survey found that the islands were retreating towards the mainland at a rate of 20 to 30 feet per year.

At the time, geologists estimated that the islands would last another 300 years. However, since 1998 the hurricane activity has apparently been too much to handle. The area has been heavily affected by seven storms in eight years.

The most recent storms being Hurricanes Ivan (2004), Dennis, Katrina, and Rita (all in 2005).

With each successive storm the erosion has

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been greater and the recovery slower. During Katrina the area lost approximately 50 percent of its land mass. And it is showing little signs of recovery.

Geologists with the USGS have found disturbing evidence of landslides all along the continental shelf adjacent to the Chandeleurs.

These slides have disrupted the flow of currents and thus the replenishing sediments necessary to rebuild have been redirected. Without the sandbars and beaches the relentless pounding of ocean swells is quickly eating away at what is left. The current rate of retreat since 1996 has been estimated at 300 feet per year. So don’t count on your GPS when navigating through the islands. Waypoints I had marked as marsh are presently in the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists now fear that the islands will be completely submerged within the next decade.

I recently witnessed the effects firsthand on my first trip back to the Chandeleurs since the stormy summer of 2005. I’d read all of the rumors on the fishing websites immediately following Katrina stating that the islands were gone. On the long boat ride out I wondered what I’d find. Well it’s bad, but not that

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bad. The beaches and sand dunes simply no longer exist. On previous trips I had great success fishing the surf side of the islands. There were beautiful sand dunes towering 15 to 20 feet and a wide, gently sloping beach. The first gut was deep, but the first and second sandbars were easily visible. Behind the dunes was a vast marsh network where I explored in my kayak for hours.

I was deeply saddened when I approached the islands from the marsh side.

There is very little left of the marsh. In fact I found a mile wide cut to the open gulf where I had enjoyed some classic marsh redfishing a few months prior to Katrina. While running the skiff towards the back side of the islands I could easily see the tops of the waves in the gulf. The point of land was perhaps four feet and most was much lower. The swells from the Gulf of Mexico were crashing onto a barren, narrow shell bank. As I stood atop the shell there was no first or second bar, only deep open water. It is easy to see how even a modest storm will have no trouble cresting the entire island, wreaking even more havoc.

And now for the good news. The fishing on this last trip was superb as always. The lush grass beds have recovered and the rafts of baitfish seem to indicate a healthy ecosystem. Our crew consisted of several husband and wife couples. Many of the women had little fishing experience, yet they all caught fish. My wife and I had no trouble catching dozens of trout on a variety of lures. One of my buddies stuck with his topwater throughout the day and still managed good numbers of solid fish. The trout seemed to be a good bit larger than in years past. The Chandeleurs have always been known for big numbers of rather small trout. Our party caught plenty of solid specks in the two to three pound range with a few pushing five pounds and more.

So if you’ve always wanted to experience the Chandeleurs and have been putting it off for one reason or another, I’d suggest you get busy. Give Captain Troy a call. He’ll take good care of you and your party with great food and comfortable accommodations. The fishing is as good as ever, but who knows for how long. As I type this, tropical depression four just formed in the Atlantic and another area of disturbed weather is making noise in the Caribbean.

The next storm to slam this special place could possibly be the last and you’ll never get another chance. As I was leaving the islands I had some mixed feelings. While I was concerned at the very real possibility I might never see them again, I was pleased to know I’ve had the great fortune of spending some quality time in this unique environment.

You can contact Capt Troy Fountain through his website www.chandeleurcharters.com or by calling 228-669-9579.

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THIS IS AN ARTICLE I HAVE WANTED TO WRITE for a long time. It

You’re drifting the shoreline and you see a

You might hate the noise but they do virtually

boat anchored farther down and it is in your drift

zero damage to the sea grass, not to mention

has nothing to do with game plans or seasonal

line. Drift to within about 100 yards and then

that redfish seem to settle down faster after

patterns and you will not need a GPS or bottom

quietly ease or troll motor out away from his

an air boat runs over than when an outboard-

recorder. All you’ll need for this one is a little

area and then resume your drift.

powered boat does it. I learn a lot by watching

common sense. What I want to talk to you about

This is a great one. You’re wading down a

the guys driving airboats. They will point out just

are the things we should and should not do

shoreline and you’re hooked up as a boat runs

about every fish they see and stop when they

while we are fishing. These are my ideas and

offshore of you. The group spots the action and

spot large numbers. Make notes as to where

my beliefs. Now I know what you are going to be

eases in and starts wading right up to you. It

you see them and return to that area the next

thinking, so before you say it, please let me say

is easy to get irritated, but usually anglers who

time you are on the water.

it first… I have been guilty of not heeding my

would do this don’t know any better and mean

own advice at times. Hopefully, with age, I have

no harm. Just continue fishing and catching and

you a positive slant on things. Life is way too

grown wiser and mellowed somewhat.

politely educate them as you release the biggest

short to be all bent out of shape about the little

of the fish you catch. I once released a trout that

things. Now let’s talk about some other, lighter-

close? A football field is 120 yards long from the

I wanted to mount just to impress the guys that

hearted, topics.

back of one end zone to the back of the other.

had walked into my wade. Those guys still fish

I think if you add 80 yards to that it should be

with me today. Don’t get me wrong; I believe

by the tip. It is weakest at the tip and you could

more than enough room for just about anyone.

pulling in on somebody like this is bad manners,

damage or break it, not to mention it makes you

Sure we all want the entire shoreline, but none

but it is going to happen. When it does, just roll

look bad.

of us is more or less entitled to it than the other.

with the punch.

Now let’s get down to it; How close is too

If there are two anglers standing in the mouth

I hope you are seeing that I am trying to give

Never show up at the dock carrying your rod

When netting a fish while wading; do not grip

Here’s another good one: burning shorelines.

the rod in the middle of the blank. If the rod

of a slough and you want to fish in the lake that

Never run near the bank if it will affect the

manufacturer wanted you to hold it there they

the slough feeds, what should you do? I would

fishing of others, period! I own the best burn

would have put you a piece of cork there.

pick another lake or wait until the anglers move

boat in the world, a Majek Illusion, and I burn

on. They are not fishing the lake, so your fish

with it when it affects only my fishing. If I see

through both lips. I prefer top to bottom. By

are not being disturbed. If the anglers wave you

fish on the shoreline I will get off of it and start

going through both lips the fish slide off the

in it’s cool to ease by them.

fishing. If I see you, I will pull off hundreds of

stringer much easier.

Never string your fish through the gills, always

Got an angler working your favorite rock in

yards before I get to you. If it is a weekend I

Cat Head? It’s his or her favorite as well; go to

will not get up on the shoreline and run at all.

back through the hole it has created. Pulling,

your second most favorite rock.

Do not burn in lakes where there are already

tearing and jerking just weakens the hook and

anglers fishing. Try watching them, if they are

ruins your knot.

When using pliers, grip the hook and push it

catching fish you know there are fish in there and you know they will eat, what else do you need to know?

If you are fishing in one lake and I am running in another, please do not get all bent out of shape. It’s hard on your heart and you can only fish one area at a time. If the anglers in the boat are breaking some kind of game laws then that is different, report it to your local game warden and be prepared to testify to the illegal acts.

Airboats – this one gets lots of folks fired up and there is definitely good and bad in airboats.

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Never show up to wade

spool. Go to the boat and dry it out and lube the

Last, but by in no way

with flip flops or cowboy

bearings lightly. The reason you go to the boat

least, please guys, always

boots. Simms makes some

is so you do not drop your spool or any of your

wear underwear with your

stylish wading boots that

magnets in the water.

Columbia wading pants at all times.

offer comfort and style.

ForEverLast has Ray Guard boots that help prevent bad encounters

Wading belts with rod holders are nice if you

On a serious note, I hope you realize that

are standing in knee deep water, but when

part of the content of this article was meant to

you’re in waist deep stuff do not put the rod in

amuse. I do hope however that you might find

the holder when handling your fish.

some of it useful, and I want you to know that

with stingrays. If

I am always laughing with you and not at you.

you are fishing from

After all, laughter is life’s best medicine; enjoy

the boat, no black

your day on the water and don’t let anyone get

soles, please.

in the way of that. Remember — You are in

Do not wade in

control of you!

Wrangler cowboy cut jeans, it makes me hot just looking at you guys and some of the worst cases of leg chaffing I have ever seen came from a day in the bay in blue jeans. The

a dozen topwaters and a fanny pack of soft plastic, a net, a stringer or do-net , two bottles

poor man was trying to get someone to shoot

of water in holsters at your side and a floating

him to put him out of his misery.

portable stool? If you stumble you might drown.

For all that is Holy, please replace that

Try this instead — one good rod, a couple of

four year old line on your reel before hitting

favorite topwaters and a spoon or two, along

the water. The curly Q’s are not suppose to

with a few jigheads and three or four plum Bass

be there.

Assassins in a small flat tackle box that fits

Come on guys; take the plastic off the cork

between your wading belt and the small of your

handle on your new rod. The handle was

back… and be happy. I have done plenty of

designed to get wet, it’s cork!

damage with this setup for many years.

Try pushing a few of the magnets in on your

Sunscreen; you’ve got to have

new reel once you have mastered casting 5 or

it, but please spread it out. White

6 feet. One, maybe two, out is o.k. but when

globs of the stuff in your ears and

you have them all out it is like driving down the

nose looks horrible. Why is it that

highway with your parking brake on.

nobody wants to tell the guy?

Oh, and when you dunk your reels, the next

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What about carrying two rods, a box of about

To me it’s like having a booger

cast is going to be a backlash. Reason? The

in your nose and I want to know

brakes on your magnetic spool are hydroplaning

when I have a bat in

on a thin layer of water on the inside of your

the cave.

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AS ANGLERS WE OFTEN TALK about fishing “the edge.” Edges in the water column are important because they create opportunities for predators to attack or ambush prey. A few examples of edges include reefs, mud lines, weed lines, temperature and current gradients, sandbars, submerged structure, and shorelines. These are all good places to deliver a fly. The surf, where a giant mass of water collides with a giant mass of land, is perhaps the ultimate edge. And yes… it too can be a good place to deliver a fly.

Fly fishing in the surf is the topic of many e-mails and phone calls I receive from anglers who want to try something beyond bay and flats fishing. I love the surf so I encourage most folks to try it. A fisherman could spend his entire life, and many have, trying to figure out the secrets and endure the hardships of the surf. There are so many facets and so many things to learn, but the mystery is what keeps us coming back for more.

The easiest fish to catch in the surf are the ones feeding at the surface. When predators amass in large schools, they push balls of bait to the top and pound away until they get their fill.

These surface blitzes can be seen rolling down the beach from a long distance and are usually marked by diving gulls and pelicans. For a guy with a fly rod, this is a no-brainer. Just get within casting range and flop your offering into the middle of the explosions. It is pure excitement.

Like nearly any place else, fish in the surf are opportunistic feeders. They seek out the easiest most efficient way to get a meal. Sometimes it is at the surface, but more often it requires predators to stage along ambush points, using the currents and structure in combination to attack prey.

Learning to identify these ambush points requires some imagination and at least a partial understanding of the forces at work below the breaking waves and foam. From the bank, the surf may appear to be a static system — a simple intersection between flat sand and curling waves. But there is way more to it than that.

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Anticipation at the end of the blacktop.

Predators often await baitfish fleeing the wade gut on a falling tide.

that is alive and ever changing. Currents driven by wind and celestial powers sculpt the sand into a series of guts and bars. These structural features follow the shoreline along the full length of the beach. They look like uniform submerged windrows that pile up below crashing waves, but in reality they are altered and broken. Subtle variations like small potholes or bends and large variations like j-hooks and washouts or breaches in the bars are present throughout their length.

The currents forming these features also make them great places for predators to stage and attack prey. This can happen several ways. Bait can be tumbled off the bars by wave action or swept around or through the bars by currents.

Predators lie in wait for the delivery, concealed either in the depths or in the confusion of the froth. The challenge as an angler is to spot these areas and get your fly into them.

At high tide, if you wade across the shallow wash area called the wade gut and plant your feet on the first bar, you will be staring out across the first gut toward the inside of the second bar.

Waves are breaking over the second bar and the wash from those waves is carrying into the gut in front of you. Where are the fish?

Imagine that you are staring upstream toward a waterfall. Hungry fish are waiting below the waterfall for prey that tumbles helplessly down to them. That is the image. Now cast across the gut and drop your fly on top of the second bar.

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Make a short retrieve and drag your fly “over the waterfall.” The strike occurs as the fly falls down into the gut. This tactic is one of my favorites and has accounted for many fish over the years.

If the wind or distance is limiting your ability to reach the second bar, then slide your feet slowly toward the outside of the first bar to a point where the bar begins to slope into the first gut in front of you. Now imagine the gut in front of you is a river and you are knee-deep on its edge.

Visualize the way the fish in that river would patrol its banks and its bed, working the currents and searching for an errant victim. Make your casts and deliver your fly to the fish you envision in that river.

When you encounter special features in the surf like prominent j-hooks or washouts, take advantage of them. The inside curve of a j-hook is often a stake out point for fish. Water driven over the edge of the j-hook carries with it all sorts of food. Again, it is like a very small waterfall.

Casting your fly onto the shallow edge of the j-hook and allowing it to tumble over the waterfall and into the trough is a tactic that can draw strikes from waiting fish. You also can deliver a fly directly to the pothole and let it fall in.

Standing on the first bar, casting to the base of waterfalls. www.TSFMAG.com

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Bird activity signals action below. Look for it.

The surf... edge after edge.

The edges of washouts and breaches in bars also hold fish. They can be fished several ways. One way is cast a fly directly into the breach and let the current suck it out to waiting fish. A second method is to actually stand on the bar that is breached and approach the washout from the upstream side. Make a cast on the inside edge of the bar and allow the current to carry the fly down to and out through the washout. Predators will stake out the outside edge of the washout. It is exactly the same technique you might use to catch fish along secondary channels on the edges of flats during a falling tide. The predators lie and wait outside the secondary channel and pounce on prey swept out to them.

If you are lucky enough to find yourself casting to nothing but breaking fish in the surf you won’t need to fall back on creative tactics.

But at some point you’ll likely find yourself staring across an endless expanse of water wondering where to start.

Remember that the structure below the surface is very much alive and changing.

Currents collide and combine, bars collapse and rebuild, channels are gouged and filled again. It is the ultimate edge.

A Perfect Fish: Illusions in Fly Tying by Ken Abrames is fundamentally different than any fly tying book I have ever read. It is poetry, art, and craft all woven into a very unique piece of literature.

Most tying books are organized around step-wise photos that show how to assemble a particular fly or series of flies. They describe why it is important to use a certain technique or material and why following each step is critical to success. These books teach technique, material management, and attention to detail. They assume that if the finished fly exactly matches the sample, it will catch fish because of it.

Abrames on the other hand, takes a spiritual approach to fly tying. His flies begin as feelings. They spring from memories — fleeting images and flashes of light. He visualizes the illusion of life… the emotion, the spirit, and the elusive energies that tie together living creatures. These images and ideas grow and develop and eventually they are reduced to an essence. When the essence is revealed, Abrames ties what he sees. He is far more an artist than a curator.

Abrames writes, “Within a brief moment I realized that to fish, flies are perceived as living beings and even if they are perfect replicas to the human eye they may not catch fish because what a fish responds or reacts to in a fly is not exact physical likeness but the illusion of life. This single realization changed my awareness and from that moment on, a new and powerful direction emerged in my fly tying, that of trying to create the illusion of life within the fly itself.”

Although Abrames poetry, art, and unique fishing philosophies wind their way through the pages of A Perfect Fish, it is not just a spiritual fishing guide.

It is much more. The book is full of Abrames fly patterns and it provides guidance on when, where, and how to fish them. Most of Abrames patterns are tied using natural fibers (hair and feathers) and many of them are tied in a flat wing design. Flat wing flies incorporate a slender feather, tied flat, into their bodies. The feather causes the fly to suspend and plane in a seductive manner. Currents and turbulence add to the lifelike movement of these flies, so they are often fished by setting up drifts in moving water, especially in the surf zone. Flat wing flies have never gained wide popularity among Texas surf fishermen, but fly fishing the surf is somewhat of an infant sport here.

Abrames calls his unique creative style of tying flat wings and other spirited patterns the “R.L.S. Method.” At the bottom of the last page of the book, Abrames writes, “R.L.S. stands for Roccus Leneatus Saxatilis, the old Latin name for striped bass which seems to reflect the spirit of the fish much better than the modern Latin name. A perfect name for a perfect fish.”

If you are looking for a catalogue of fly patterns and taxonomic designs, A Perfect Fish is not the right book for you. But if you are searching for a different type of book — one that will generate in you a spark of creativity and possibly enrich your entire approach to fly tying and angling, you will enjoy A Perfect Fish.

A Perfect Fish: Illusions in Fly Tying 110 pp. Frank Amato Publications, Inc. $29.95

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By Ken Abrames ISBN: 1-57188-138-7

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MOE (MOTHER OF EPOXY) flies have been around for quite a while. The original MOE’s were developed for tricking bonefish and other species on the Florida flats. The diamond shaped heads of these unusual flies were made by pressing a prepared hook shank into a dollop of hot glue on wax paper. The glue was allowed to cool around the shank and then pulled free from the wax paper. The head was then trimmed with scissors and shaped by dipping in hot water and molding with delicate finger pressure. Forming the bodies by hand was a somewhat tedious process but worth the effort. The finished

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MOE flies were outstanding flats patterns with a universally appealing “fleeing crustacean” look.

As methods for tying with epoxy improved, many tiers began using it to form the heads of MOE flies instead of hot glue. Epoxy held up far better in the summer heat and formed a dense durable fly with a beautiful glass-like finish. Different color heads were created by tinting the epoxy with dies, or applying the epoxy over reflective materials.

I’ve tied hundreds of MOE flies using epoxy. They are tough reliable flies that are killer on redfish and pretty respectable on smallmouth bass too. But working with epoxy is no cake walk. It’s messy, the fumes are bad for you, and a turner is required to achieve consistent results. And if uncured epoxy ever finds its way onto your nostril, eye lid, or worst of all — your contact lenses, believe me… you’ll be cryin’ for mama. But there is an alternative to epoxy and hot glue that works great on MOE flies and a host of other patterns. It is non-toxic, water based, inexpensive, and easy to work with. What is it? Tulip fabric paint.

Tulip fabric paint is a “dimensional” paint, meaning it imparts both color and shape. It’s sold in nearly any department or craft store and is available in an endless assortment of colors and sheens.

The paints labeled as “slick” are ideal for tying because they hold their shape when wet (no fly turner required) and they dry to a tough

Tulip Fabric Paints come in an endless array of colors and sheens including glow in the dark, glitter, and metallic.

flexible finish. Most fabric paints will shrink and tighten as they dry, so remember to add a bit more bulk than you think you need when you apply the paint. The longer you experiment with fabric paint, the more uses you will find for it. You can use it to form shrimp backs, crab bodies and claws, baitfish heads, and awesome 3-D eyes. The neat thing is… if you mess up, just wipe it off and try again.

The chartreuse Tulip MOE shown here takes just a few minutes to tie. It rides with the hook oriented upright for weedless action and its slender shape casts accurately in the wind. Other good colors for the Texas flats include orange with a red head, and root beer with a bronze head. Shallow redfish love this pattern.

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Hook: Mustad 34007 or equivalent, size #2 to #8 (#4 shown) Thread: Clear nylon mono Head Coating: Tulip fabric paint Eyes: Mono eyes or black bead chain Wing: Supreme hair over bucktail Flash: Krystal Flash September 2007

1. Attach thread midway between eye of hook and hook point. 2. Tie down a small clump of bucktail fibers.

3. Overlay a small clump of Supreme Hair synthetic fibers and add a strand of Krystal Flash on either side of the wing. 4. Rotate the hook and tie on mono eyes. Make sure eyes are set back from eye of hook. 5. Tie off thread and apply a coating of Tulip fabric paint to the thread wraps. 6. Gently work the fabric paint out toward the eyes, coating around them and forming a diamond shaped head. 7. Repeat this process on the top of the fly. 8. Remove the fly from the vise and allow it to dry overnight.

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A well planned and equipped tournament fishing rig.

LITTLE THINGS MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE in tournament fishing. One thing most anglers are proficient at is controlling the boat with the big motor. Navigating with the quiet power of an Evinrude ETEC HO seems easy when compared to working a windward bank with the trolling motor. At 200+ horsepower, the outboard easily overcomes wind and current such that maneuvering the boat basically becomes similar to driving a car.

Controlling and maneuvering the boat while fishing is a different ballgame where equipment and tactics can make the difference between catching fish and not being able to cast to fish.

So how well is your rig prepared to tackle any situation encountered? First and foremost at the front of a tournament rig there needs to sit a trolling motor. A bow mount provides the best maneuverability and makes it easier for the angler to fish, operate the trolling motor and control the boat. Just as it is easier to pull a trailer rather than push it, a trolling motor will guide a boat better by pulling it from the bow.

When picking a trolling motor, remember that a 36-volt model will last longer than a 24-volt model on a charge due to its lower amperage draw. The trade off is a 36V trolling motor adds another battery. Personally, I like the MotorGuide Great White due to the smaller propeller diameter that allows it to be used in shallower water without “whipping” the water and causing noise. While at it, mounting the trolling motor on a removable mount allows it to be moved to the back of the boat on rough days.

Second, and beginning to be standard equipment on most boats, is a Power Pole. The Power Pole has become a key tool in pursuit of skinny water fish. The Power Pole comes in two sizes, one for 6’ and one for 8’ deep water. Take your pick, but I have used the 8’ high-speed unit for the last two years and no one is going to pry that baby out of my hands. The Power Pole has become essential to making a quick, quiet stop while drifting or trolling. It is an efficient 42

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Bow mount trolling motors allow the best control of the boat. One factor to consider is the trolling motor shaft length. This motor is setup to allow steering at waist height.

way to replace dropping an anchor over the side. The Power Pole can be operated with a switch, but it is preferred to purchase the optional remote control that allows two people to have a remote wherever they are on the boat. Whenever either angler decides to stop the boat, they can Power Pole down and instantly bring the boat to a stop. A standard routine is when anyone gets a bite or hooks a fish the Power Pole goes September 2007

Here’s a good view of the 8’ Power Pole XL. www.TSFMAG.com

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down and that area is thoroughly fished.

The last and simplest boat control item to have is a Sea Anchor or Drift Sock. The drift sock is used to slow the boat while drifting.

Originally designed to put off the bow to keep it headed into the waves during rough weather, the drift sock can be used in a variety of ways.

Normally, while drifting, a sock can be put off the side of the boat to slow a drift in windy weather. If it is extremely windy, you can put out two socks or put the sock off the stern of the boat such that the wind does not have as big an area on the boat to push.

So we have discussed most of the tools except for a push pole that normally is used on small technical poling skiffs and its use is an art in itself.

Everyone should be familiar with how their boat drifts. Normally when drifting with the wind, a boat will not drift directly down wind. If 44

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the wind is blowing north to south, most boats will drift slightly southwest or southeast depending on which way the bow is pointed. Knowing how your boat drifts will let you line up on a slick or reef and not drift by it, but to it. Most boats can be “steered” somewhat while drifting by turning the steering wheel in the direction you want to go.

The trolling motor can also be used to correct any drift that has gone awry.

Let’s discuss some different situations encountered on the water.

While fishing a windward bank the wind is strong enough to keep blowing you into the bank. In this situation place the boat away from the bank and drift in towards it. When the boat gets close to the bank, troll back out and drift in a little further down the bank. This technique is ok if the fish are not holding tight to the bank, because you drift through the target area. If the fish are right on the edge of the marsh, you may have to put the bow to the wind and keep the bow into the wind while at the same time keeping the angler in the back of the boat in the optimum position for fishing the bank. In these types of situations, I like to use a long rod and a rattle cork rigged with a Red Killer on a circle hook. This allows me to make long casts (since I am at the bow of the boat), not have to set the hook immediately, keep out of the way of the stern angler and it gives me a little more time to maneuver the boat. When working the trolling motor almost full time, it is difficult to retrieve and work a soft plastic jig.

You are trolling in a crosswind and get a bite at approximately 15 degrees off the bow of the boat near a small shell pad. The first inclination is to Power Pole down and fish the pad for a few minutes. Remember that when you Power Pole down, the bow is going to swing around September 2007

and you may not be in the optimum position to reach the shell pad. Consider the wind and where the Power Pole is on your boat.

If the Power Pole is mounted on the port side of the boat, when you use it the bow will swing to the left of the point the pole is deployed. It will most likely be better to troll the length of the boat then Power Pole down to allow the bow to swing around in line with the shell pad.

Understanding how the boat tends while Power Poled down is the key in this situation. When completed with the shell pad, you can use the trolling motor to swing back around the Power Pole and then Power Pole up and resume your original track.

Sometimes while fishing a marsh bank with the wind, the boat will get blown into the bank and move the boat to quickly to effectively fish the area. Deploy the drift sock off the stern of the boat. The sock out makes it more difficult to troll, but it slows the boat such that working a bank can be more effective. Again, like a Power Pole when you decide to move the boat out from the bank, you need to maneuver to where the drift sock is located, because when you stop the trolling motor, the boat will swing around the drift sock.

There are way too many situations to discuss where the angler must adapt his equipment to the conditions. There is no substitute for time on the water and practice fishing just like you would in a tournament to help an angler make adjustments as necessary to fish in all conditions. The best tournament anglers have mastered controlling their boat and understand how to move the boat quietly and efficiently to fish areas needed no matter what the wind and water are trying to dictate.

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THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY USES AMAZING technology to bring up petroleum from underneath the ocean floor.

These offshore oil rigs, located off the Texas and Louisiana coasts in the Northern Gulf of Mexico, number in the thousands and extend from near shore to depths of over 6,000 feet of water. However, there is another amazing thing these “Islands of Steel” do; they concentrate baitfish and attract large ocean predators like marlin, sailfish, tuna, wahoo and dorado. Fish are attracted to stable objects. Anyone who has spent much time offshore knows that a buoy, a piece of wood or any kind of floating debris can attract fish. Savvy fishermen know to always check these floating objects for gamefish. Baitfish use this floating structure to hide in an otherwise featureless open expanse of water. A food chain forms as larger species prey on smaller ones. The offshore rig is one big fish attracting device and it has made a tremendous difference in the success of bluewater fishermen.

Nansen platform in Gulf of Mexico.

For many years, bluewater fishermen along the Gulf Coast relied solely on bottom structure, weed lines and visual signs like birds or surface feeding bait schools to find gamefish. These features were not always available and many times unproductive. Trolling for billfish was sort of like mowing the lawn, criss-crossing an area in hopes of running across a fish. With the placement of the first deepwater oil production platforms, the fishing immediately became more consistent and reliable. Many fishermen don’t realize or have forgotten what a difference the rigs make in our fishing. We take them for granted. On a recent trip to the southern Gulf of Mexico near Veracruz, where oil rigs are just now being developed, it was interesting to watch what the local fishermen did. Even though they had great natural structure and great fishing, when a semi-submersible drilling rig moved in nearby to do some temporary exploration, they ran to the rig whenever they could. The fishing was just more consistent

and productive, proving once more the value of these manmade structures. It’s hard to imagine the Texas coast without rigs, the fishing success we have enjoyed for years, the Mexican bluewater fishermen in the southern Gulf are now discovering for the first time.

When fishing an oil rig it is important to understand what is going on around you. You should first establish which way the current is going. This will give you an idea of where to look for bait. Most of the time, the bait will be on the up-current side of the rig. If it’s not, there is probably a counter-current of some kind deeper in the water column. Once you have found the bait, you know that area is the most likely place a big predator like a blue marlin or yellowfin tuna, is going to show up. So, you will want to concentrate your efforts in that location and watch the surface for signs of feeding fish. You may also want to catch some bait to use for live bait fishing. While close to the rig, be aware of oil field activity like supply boats loading and offloading. Be sure to be courteous

Offshore mooring buoy.

Bait around rig.

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Fishing around bait.

and give them plenty of room. The last thing we need is to be prohibited from fishing the rigs due to problems caused by sportfishing boats getting in the way of oil rig operations.

Recently, sportfishing boats have been denied use of the mooring buoy at Nansen, a floating platform 100 miles off the coast, owned by Kerr-McGee. This is an unfortunate situation since the buoy represents a convenient and safe place to tie off during the night. Mooring buoys used to be deployed around most of the deep rigs offshore, but now are few and far between. Most oil field supply boats have dynamic positioning technology onboard that holds the vessel automatically in one position.

The cost, liability and maintenance of the mooring buoy have made it obsolete. This is unfortunate for us fishermen because when a mooring buoy is placed near a rig, it spreads the bait out and makes it an easier target for billfish.

Many veteran bluewater fishermen have fond memories of the phenomenal fishing success these buoys have provided in the past.

Offshore rigs are now being deployed in deeper water at a rapid pace. Ironically, these structures that enhance our fishing so much are now becoming so numerous that it has been suggested the fish are getting dispersed between them. Any rig in 30 fathoms or deeper can consistently attract these larger

gamefish, especially when located near the edge of the continental shelf. When there were fewer rigs, anglers had fewer choices on where to fish. Consequently, the fish had fewer choices also. Now that’s not the case, trying to find the rig where the fish are is the real challenge. Fishermen use oceanographic data like current, water color, altimetry and sea surface temperature to determine which rigs to fish. All things considered, it’s a nice problem to have. Without these rigs we wouldn’t enjoy the enhanced fishing they provide. If you haven’t tried it, take advantage of our unique situation here in the Gulf of Mexico and experience big game fishing at the rigs. Want to catch a blue marlin? Don’t worry about hopping on a plane, they are right here in your own backyard!

For more information about big game fishing at the rigs or rigging your boat, give us a call at Byrd & Cochrane. Remember, Byrd & Cochrane is an authorized broker for Fox Yacht Sales, the Texas dealer for Cabo and Riviera Yachts. Come by the Fox Yacht Sales office at Tops-N-Towers and check out the line up of Cabo Yachts as well as Riviera Yachts, made in Australia. Fox has an extensive inventory of brokerage boats and we will be

Bait around mooring buoy.

glad to help you find a boat or sell yours. We specialize in sportfishing boats and motor yachts. Come by and get a great deal on your next boat. For more information call our office at 281-291-0656 or check out our website at www. byrd-cochrane.com or www.foxyachtsales.com

Born in Galveston, graduate of Texas A&M, Capt. John grew up fishing and diving the Gulf of Mexico. A professional captain for over 25 years, he runs a 46’ sportfishing boat out of Freeport, Texas. Capt.

John is also partners with Bobby in Byrd & Cochrane, specializing in yacht brokerage and sportfishing consulting. For more information go to www.byrd-cochrane.com or contact John at captjohn@ foxyachtsales.com.

A native Texan, Bobby Byrd began fishing at the young age of eight, when he was a deck hand on his Dad’s boat. He fished with his father in the Gulf of Mexico, Bahamas and Mexico for many years of his life. In 1995, Bobby combined his love of the water and boating into a business when he opened Tops-N-Towers, a custom aluminum fabrication business in Seabrook, Texas. For more information you can contact Bobby at www.topsntowers.com.

Contact Byrd & Cochrane 281-291-0656 Tops-N-Towers 281-474-4000 Website www.byrd-cochrane.com www.topsntowers.com www.foxyachtsales.com www.stingercustomlures.com 48

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LESS THAN A MONTH AFTER WINNING A PRECEDENT-SETTING victory to reduce the impact of shrimp trawl bycatch on Gulf red snapper stocks, Coastal Conservation Association has funded the next step in its ongoing strategy for the conservation of the fishery. CCA Texas approved a request to fund a study at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute to assess the catchand-release mortality of recreationally caught red snapper and to develop best practices for handling and proper release.

“The only way to address a complicated fishery issue like red snapper is with a methodical, systematic approach,” said Mark Ray, chairman of CCA Texas. “We believe our lawsuit and the Gulf Council’s subsequent decision earlier this month to reduce shrimp trawl bycatch by 74 percent from 2001-2003 levels laid the foundation for red snapper recovery.

Now we are prepared to move on to other factors, including reducing recreational bycatch.”

At its meeting earlier this week, CCA Texas’ board of directors approved the request to fund a $37,000 catch-and-release study to be conducted

by Dr. Scott Holt and Dr. Joan Holt of the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas, Texas. The study will involve catching undersized red snapper from depths of 50 to 300 feet at different times of year. Researchers will retain a number of fish in various stages of health for observation; experiments will be developed to evaluate the influence of season, depth, initial condition after capture and venting on the overall survival of released red snapper.

“There is a lot of contention out there among anglers about how effective catch-and-release is for deep-dwelling fish, and there are a lot of different opinions floating around. We feel we need to put our money where our mouth is and get the science that will help us make the best decisions for this fishery,” said Robby Byers, executive director of CCA Texas. “There is no question recreational anglers have a role to play in the future of red snapper, and we want to make sure we have the best information available to do our part.”

Numerous studies have been conducted on the release mortality of red snapper since 2000, producing a wide range of estimates. The UTMSI study is designed to fill in some of the gaps in the current body of science and bring a new look to this important factor in the management of Gulf red snapper.

“It is going to take a holistic approach and a long-term commitment to find solutions to all the challenges facing red snapper,” said Pat Murray, CCA director of conservation. “No single thing is going to fix this fishery, but we are steadily putting the pieces together. From improving catch-andrelease practices to enhancing habitat, CCA is committed to the recovery of this important species.”

JACK CREVALLE MIGRATE INTO OUR BAYS EVERY SUMMER. They are wonderfully game fish and will take pretty near anything you like to throw. Inshore anglers seeking exceptional challenge on light tackle need look no further than the nearest flock of screaming gulls hovering over wildly boiling water.

Schools of jacks are easy to work; cut the main engine and use your troll motor and/or drift within casting distance, chunk your offering, wait for the strike, and then hold on! Jacks are famous for emptying spools of light reels in record time. Landing a big one usually means chasing it with the boat or literally galloping down the shoreline if you are wading. The action is fast-paced and quite often lasts 30-minutes or more, plenty for anybody I’ve ever introduced to this pastime.

So why if jacks make such great sport are they so commonly disrespected? Is it because their flesh rates low as dinner fare? Maybe it’s their abundance and tackle-wrecking style that leaves anglers cussing and re-spooling so they can get back to trout fishing. Whatever the reason I find it wholly unacceptable, much the same as killing sharks for jaws or fins.

The accompanying photo was made along Lane Road that runs down to Charlie’s Bait Camp between Port O’Connor and Seadrift. Late one afternoon in early August I was trailering up the Lane when I spied Old Jack in all his glory, dumped in the ditch like a sack of empty beer cans.

The buzzards had not found him yet. By lunch time the next day only his skeleton remained amid trampled grass. We ran the last of the buzzards off to snap the photograph.

It disturbs me that somebody found Old Jack enough of a trophy to bring to the dock, but not enough to take to a taxidermist. I decided to place this account on our Conservation Page so that readers, perhaps even the miscreants who slew Old Jack, might consider the wastefulness of this act. Our marine resources are precious, too precious to be used in such wanton and reckless fashion.

Everett Johnson - Editor

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Field Notes

What can you do with a historically significant, obsolete, steel-hulled ship that is 473 feet long, weighs about 7,000 tons and has seen its last days of sailing the high seas? If it is the USTS Texas Clipper, you convert it into an artificial reef for the enhancement of marine life and increased diving and fishing opportunities. The 473-foot Texas Clipper was launched on September 12, 1944 as the USS Queens (APA-103), a WWII transport and attack ship. She carried troops and wounded from battlefields in the Pacific and was the first attack troop transport arriving at Iwo Jima. After the war until 1958, she was commissioned as the SS Excambion, one of the post-war four aces for the American Export Lines. She carried cargo and passengers between New York City and Mediterranean ports. From 1965 to 1994, she sailed as the USTS Texas Clipper, a Texas A&M University – Galveston maritime training vessel until her retirement in 1993.

As an end to this long career, later this fall the Texas Clipper will be reefed approximately 17 nautical miles off South Padre Island in the Gulf of Mexico. It will become the latest addition to Texas Artificial Reef Program (TARP), one of the strongest artificial reef programs in the nation.

Actually, resource managers have been involved in artificial reef development off the Texas coast for over 50 years. In the mid 1970’s, the Texas Coastal and Marine Council reefed 12 obsolete WWII Liberty Ships in the Gulf of Mexico, forming the foundation of the current program. In 1989, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) was designated by the Texas Legislature to develop artificial reef potential off Texas. To date, TARP has put more than 90 obsolete petroleum structures located at 58 reef sites and has received over $10 million in donations. Other materials used in the construction of reefs include: a T2 Tanker, a 56

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navy YR dive barge, several other barges and tugboats, and over 900 land based materials such as concrete culverts, concrete reef balls, and one-ton quarry blocks. Material is assessed on a case-by-case basis to determine its appropriateness as reef material.

Ships have been used as artificial reef material in marine environments worldwide for years, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico which has little natural hard substrate. The Texas Clipper will make an ideal artificial reef and provide benefits for local communities through revenue generated by the recreational and charter fishing and dive industry. Since ships have life spans as reefs that can exceed 50 years, economic benefits will continue for many years.

Artificial reefs in general enhance the fishing opportunities for hook and line anglers. Over 400,000 of licensed saltwater recreational anglers in Texas fish at artificial structures. Likewise, an estimated 250,000 divers reside in Texas, and 50% of diving activities occur in salt water. With this heavy

demand for fishing and diving, the creation of the Texas Clipper reef and its proximity to shore and metropolitan areas will help meet these demands.

The ship will create 76,000 ft2 of hard surface habitat to enhance biological resources. It will provide substrate for habitat-limited sessile invertebrates such as barnacles, oysters, mussels, bryozoans, hydroids, sponges, and corals to attach to. Its high vertical profile of Texas Clipper will attract many fish species such as Atlantic spadefish, red snapper, barracuda, almaco jack, cobia, and various sharks. The ship may also be visited by endangered sea turtles such as the hawksbill and Kemp’s Ridley and marine mammals.

TARP will work in conjunction with the

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Cutting the kingpost in preparation for sinking.

Over 400,000 of licensed saltwater recreational anglers in Texas fish at artificial

Towing in Intracoastal near Port Arthur.

structures.

University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College to conduct biological monitoring of the ship to determine the types and quantities of marine organisms that take up residence at the ship and its successful function as an artificial reef.

The Texas Clipper reef site was selected because of its adequate water depth in clear water close to shore. The reef site is located in federal waters of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the western portion of the Gulf of Mexico in Outer Continental Block South Padre Island 1122. The nearest municipality is Port Isabel, Texas - 23 nm from the reef site. The ship will be placed at a depth of 134 feet with a minimum navigational clearance of 50 feet. The 2,640-foot by 2,640-foot area site will be marked with a lighted 10-foot yellow spar buoy.

Hull modifications have been made to insure the Texas Clipper will meet the depth clearance and to retain as much of the ship’s original external characteristics as possible. The ship will be sunk in an upright position using controlled flooding instead of explosives to minimize harm to fish species nearby. Diversafe modifications were made to allow limited penetration of the ship by scuba divers while insuring diver safety.

The Texas Clipper was towed from the US Maritime Administration National Defense Reserve Fleet in Beaumont to ESCO Marine ship yard in Brownsville on 3 November 2006 where she has been undergoing final remediation and hull modifications at a cost of over $4 million. The ship has been cleaned of debris, loose items, and hazardous materials to

REEF SITE COORDINATES ARE:

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LATITUDE

LONGITUDE

Permitted Center

26° 11’ 11.228’’

96° 51’ 20.508’’

NW Corner

26° 11’ 24.471’’

96° 51’ 34.808’’

NE Corner

26° 11’ 24.130’’

96° 51’ 05.829’’

SE Corner

26° 10’ 57.985’’

96° 51’ 06.208’’

SW Corner

26° 10’ 58.326’’

96° 51’ 35.185’’

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comply with federal guidelines on reefing ships.

Hazardous materials removed included fuels and oil, 1,680 cu yds of asbestos, over 237,000 pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), paints, mercury, and 1,400 cu yds of debris (e.g. floatable items). Any loose paint was removed to reduce debris on the surface during sinking. All machinery, nonferrous materials of salvageable quality, and pollutants were removed or cleaned and left in place.

Large holes (96 inches wide x 60 inches tall) were made in the side of the ship to allow for water circulation and limited diver access. The upper decks were made diver-safe with doors/ hatches sealed shut or welded open, and glass and sharp objects removed.

Currently, TPWD is working with the US Environmental Protection Agency on final approval for the sinking of the ship. A reefing date is projected for later this fall. The reefing of the Texas Clipper will provide the state of Texas with a premier artificial reef dive and fishing attraction that will enhance recreational opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico while enhancing marine life.

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I JUST GOT BACK ON THE GROUND IN HOUSTON after nearly a week in Salt Lake City attending the Outdoor Retailer Show. This is the largest outdoor industry show of the year and many of the kayak companies take this opportunity to launch their latest and greatest kayaks and accessories. EJ has been gracious enough to allow me to slide a few days past the usual deadline so that I can share with you folks the upcoming product introductions for 2008.

The first day of the show was dedicated to an on-the-water demo at Pineview Reservoir near Ogden, Utah. It was quite a sight to see over a thousand kayaks stretched out for several hundred yards on the beach of a beautiful mountain lake. It was a bit overwhelming at first, but with some effort I was able to narrow everything down and concentrate on the products of greatest interest to kayak fishermen.

It was nice to be able to paddle so many of the models, jumping out of one into another. The kayak fishing community is always preaching to demo before you buy, but this was pretty amazing. Most consumers will never see this variety of models simply because it would be impossible for one retailer to carry them all.

I’ve purposely avoided any paddling reviews in this column because I’ve come to find that two people rarely feel the same about the characteristics of different boats. Instead I’ll let you know what’s new and then encourage you to go out to a local demo day to try the boats out for yourself.

Let me start off by saying that overall I was somewhat disappointed at the number of truly new kayaks aimed at the fishing crowd. Given that kayak fishing is the fastest growing segment of the paddle sports industry I fully expected to see more. That said, there were still enough new and interesting things at the show to keep me and my camera busy. There were some new models, models with added features or tweaks, as well as currently established models that will now be offered in new materials.

By far the most active company was Legacy Paddlesports, owner of the Native, Heritage, and Liquidlogics brands. Legacy has only been around for two years, but they have solidified their line-up by adding some new boats and moving models between brands in an effort to simplify. With the recent purchase of Liquidlogic, Legacy found themselves with fishing kayaks in all three of their brands. They have now moved

A beautiful setting for the demo.

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Legacy’s fitted bow cooler.

the Manta Ray kayaks out of Liquidlogic and into the Native line. Liquidlogic is now focused on whitewater. Owner Andy Zimmerman stated that the move was made in order to make things easier and less confusing for retailers as well as consumers. He described the Heritage brand as their “value” line with fewer features and lower prices. The Native is considered their highend line with many added features as well as integrated accessories designed specifically for the fisherman.

Heritage basically stood pat on their line-up of Redfish kayaks in ten, twelve, and fourteen foot models. For 2008 the Redfish received a new seat and upgraded foot braces. The seat is the same as that used in the Native boats and is referred to as the DVC (drains, vents, and cushions) system.

The Native brand contains three lines aimed at fishermen. The three lines come in various sizes and configurations which are the Ultimate,

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The Tegris Ultimate 12 weighing in under 35 lbs.

Manta Ray, and Magic. The Ultimate’s overall design remains basically unchanged; the big news lies in material upgrade. The Ultimate is now available in Tegris, the material that was introduced by Liquidlogic at last year’s show.

Tegris is described as a 100% polypropylene thermoplastic composite that features multiple layers of woven fabric within a sheet of plastic that can be thermoformed. The fabric lends greater durability and impact resistance than standard thermoformed plastic. The best way I can describe the look and feel is that of a Kevlar composite kayak. The result is a 12’ kayak fully outfitted with seat and foot braces that weighs less than 35 pounds.

As noted above, the Manta Rays are now flying under the Native banner. There were no structural design changes for the Manta.

However, it did get the DVC seating system as well as the larger foot braces that have been standard on the Ultimate boats.

The Magic line got a new 14.5 foot boat in addition to the previous 12 footer. These boats use a unique Plug and Play System giving you the ability to adjust the seat and foot braces to properly trim the boat and balance the load. The system consists of a series of molded grooves along the gunnels and an aluminum locking strip.

The new 14.5 can be configured as a solo or tandem by simply moving the single seat forward and inserting a second seat. The system also accommodates a host of specialized fishing accessories such as rod holders and paddle clips that can be plugged in to the same grooves as the seats.

Speaking of accessories, Legacy’s fishing manager, Jimbo Meador, has been quite busy developing solid, functional fishing accessories 62

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for all of the lines. There is a complete set of soft-sided coolers designed to fit the open spaces of the Ultimate.

The coolers can do double duty as dry storage when needed. Two of the coolers have a middle divider making it possible to store fish separately from cold drinks. Another cool toy Jimbo showed me was a combination push pole, paddle, and stake-out pole. It has multiple sections that can be easily changed. He also noted with a sly grin that there were many more cool toys in the works.

Ocean Kayak premiered a couple of new siton-top models that were pretty interesting. The new Trident has already hit a few of the stores and is drawing good reviews. It is an addition to the established Prowler series and comes in at just over 15.5 feet. Compared to the original

Prowler 15, the new boat has more volume in the bow and slightly less rocker resulting in a longer waterline.

The literature claims better speed while maintaining solid stability. There are a couple of new angler-inspired features on the Trident tagged as the Rod Pod and the Sonar Shield. The Rod Pod is a large rectangular hatch in the floor of the cockpit which allows you to store several fully rigged 8 foot rods inside the hull and retrieve them without leaving the seat. This is a mighty handy option to protect expensive gear for those who head out through the surf. The Sonar Shield is a hinged hood covering a recessed area at the foot of the cockpit. The design allows you to protect your sonar or GPS unit while crashing through surf and then acts as a shade to help you view the screen more easily. The Trident also borrows from last year’s Big Game with a transducer compatible front scupper.

West coast kayaker Jim Samons was hovering around the new Trident showing off all the new features as well as the new soft-sided bait tank that was sitting in the tankwell. Most of you know him from the famous photograph circulating on the internet of the kayaker hooked up with a marlin. Jim helped design the new baitwell which is being produced and sold by Shimano. It was good to see two major players like Shimano and Ocean working together to develop new products for kayak fishermen. The baitwell is basically a heavy-duty soft-sided cooler bag

The Trident Rod Pod.

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the basic idea. According prove me wrong. I can see to sources within the the usefulness of a kayak company they have that deflates and packs obtained new equipment into the size of a large suitcase and weighs 54 that will allow them to pounds. It would come in handy for air travel include more detailed or perhaps to carry along in an RV. Hobie has in their thermoformed also added a molded livewell designed to fit in boats. Bob McDonough, the tankwell of their fishing kayaks. The livewell the company’s head of holds approximately 8 gallons and includes a 6 R&D, stated that the new volt battery, recirculation pump, and rod holders.

The rear tackle box compartment of the Grand Slam.

Tarpon should come in Emotion Kayaks has introduced a serious at around 44 pounds. entry into the fishing market with their new There was no firm date Grand Slam. Dave Hadden, sales and product set for the launch of the manager for Emotion, stated that he spoke with outfitted with plumbing, a pump, and a gel cell new boat, but they were talking about getting a number of kayak fishermen from all across the battery. Shimano also incorporated four rod it to market before the end of the year. Nobody country to get input on the design. He then took holders into the design making this a great piece would say whether or not the rest of the Tarpon these suggestions and designed a functional of equipment whether you use it for keeping line would be duplicated in Airlite. Other news fishing craft. The Grand Slam has a sharp entry bait or as a semi-dry storage unit. And should out of Confluence is the redesign of the fishing to keep it quiet and reduce bow spray, while the bag fall overboard, it is designed to float dashboard for the sit-inside kayaks. The new extra volume in the bow allows it to carry more with approximately forty pounds of gear inside. dashboard incorporates a sealed storage weight and ride over waves more efficiently.

It looks like a well-designed upgrade from the compartment and a hanging pocket.

There’s a large forward hatch with a hard standard milk crate and will fit the tankwell of any Likewise, Hurricane didn’t offer up any plastic cover backed up by a neoprene cover fishing style sit-on-top. new models, but they did tweak their current underneath to keep water out. The rear tankwell The second all new sit-on-top from Ocean is boats with some cockpit refinements. All of is sectioned off to create two storage areas. The a bit gimmicky for serious fishing, but might be their Phoenix sit-on-tops now have recessed display model had three large tackle boxes in the fun in certain situations. The Peekaboo is a 12 mounting surfaces for their adjustable foot forward section behind the seat and there was foot kayak with a large polycarbonate viewing braces including the P120 which previously had still plenty of room in the rear section to store window in the floor that allows you to see what’s molded foot wells. your standard gear. An additional 11 by 15 inch going on under your boat. It also has a rearward Hobie’s new model is an inflatable sit-on-top floor hatch is available on the angler model and facing kid’s jumpseat. The boat is wide, stable, with their patented Mirage Drive pedal system. allows for stowage of rods inside the hull similar and has a large load capacity making it a good I didn’t get to try this one out, but the company to the Prowler Trident. Overall this looks like a pick for taking the kiddo out on the water. representative claims performance similar to solid fishing kayak.

Ocean has also brought angler packages to their roto-formed boats. They also claim the Feel Free Kayaks is the newest player in our two of their previous models. The Caper Lady heavy duty material can withstand the rigors of market. They have several models to choose Angler is the standard Caper rigged with an fishing. Call me old-fashioned, but I just can’t get from, but the one that should appeal most to angler package. And yeah, it comes in pink! past the fact that that this is an inflatable boat anglers would be the Moken. The Moken is One percent of the sales from this kayak will be in an environment of hooks, oysters, and fins. an interesting design with a covered donated to breast cancer research. The other I have to admit the material center console for is the Malibu Two XL, a tandem kayak rigged seemed pretty solid so with four rod holders, a tackle box, and a center Ruben from FTU playing with maybe they can hatch. I’ve never been a huge fan of tandem the new Peekaboo floor.

kayaks for two adults going fishing, but if a parent wanted to take a young child this would be a great boat.

Confluence Watersports, owner of Wilderness Systems, Perception, and Mad River lines, had no new hulls for this debut, but they still have a lot going on! Last year’s whirlwind introduction of five new fishing sit-on-tops gave them a solid line-up of fishing boats. This year’s big news is their new Airlite material and the Tarpon 120 Ultralight. The prototype boat unveiled at the show is still getting a few tweaks and probably not an exact representation of what the finished product will look like, but it gave us 64

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pedal drive system. The pedals rotate the same as a bicycle, not back and forth like the Hobie Mirage Drive. The circular motion felt more natural than the Hobie system and will also allow for the kayak to be propelled forward as well as reverse. It looks like a fairly simple device and weighs less than the Hobie system. From the promotional videos it appears it will be faster with less effort. The entire device pivots up into a cavity in the hull when you enter shallow water. I’m looking forward to testing this one on the water.

Feel Free Moken with front hatch open.

stowing tackle boxes or other gear you want to keep handy and a large removable hatch cover over the bow storage area. This section is not open to the interior of the hull as are most kayaks of this style. Instead it is much like a standard rear tankwell with scupper holes, but you have the option of leaving it open or protecting it with the hatch cover.

Well there you have it. Like I said in the

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beginning, we really didn’t see all that many new boats, but there does seem a lot coming in the way of upgrades and accessories. There was however a teaser that really stood out. I got permission to talk about it, but I was not allowed any pictures. Legacy’s Andy Zimmerman took me to the private area of their booth to show me a kayak they hope to have out around March of next year. It is their Ultimate model with a

September 2007

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IT IS THE SAME FOR ME EVERY WINTER. About mid January, as hunting season is winding down and fishable days are few and far between, I get a very bad case of cabin fever. This past winter was no exception except for the fact that, rather than sit around waiting for the sun to come out, I would go and find it. To do so I contacted my good friend Andy Packmore who runs the Travelin’ Angler at Fishing Tackle Unlimited. I explained to him that I needed some sun but had some budget restraints due to the time of year. As it so happens he had just the place for me and turned me on to what has become one of my favorite places to be — Bahia la Tortuga Lodge.

Bahia la Tortuga Lodge is a quaint adobe

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lodge located on the Pacific Ocean about an hour and half drive south of Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo in the small fishing village of Puerto Vicente.

The lodge is owned and operated by John Lorenz who is a native Texan who visited the small town that time forgot nearly 15 years ago.

“The first time I fished out of Puerto Vicente I hired one of the local fishermen to take me and was surprised to find that there were no rod and reels on his boat and I had to catch a sailfish on a hand-line,” said Lorenz. “I fell in love with the place and started looking to buy some property.”

The same simplicity that captured the heart of Lorenz has apparently had the same effect on me. From the moment I arrived at the lodge I knew I would be back

September 2007

again and again. Oh, and did I mention, I have been back.

For me, part of the allure is fishing from small tiller-steered pangas (boats) for big game. In many ways it is a great deal more challenging to capture a large pelagic fish from a small boat than from a large sportfisher where you fight the fish from a large open cockpit with a mate to assist you. Once you hook up with a large fish from a panga, it is you, the fish and the captain crammed into a very small cockpit area trying to control chaos. And chaos is exactly what I experienced just less than a month ago.

Back in June, I decided to pack up and head down to try to catch some roosterfish on my fly rod. I knew that we were a little early in the

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I cannot even begin to tell

artist Tim Borski resulted in just under a dozen sailfish and one marlin raised and hooked on fly but that is a totally different story in itself.

The reason I mention it is because sailfish are much more plentiful in the winter and I normally would rig up a fly rod, but because we were now fishing in June, I opted to give Jason the chance to catch his first billfish on conventional tackle.

We trolled all day with no success and we were about ready to call it a day when our captain, Rodie, started screaming ‘Vela’ as he pointed back to the bill slashing at one of our baits. (Pez vela is Spanish for sailfish). I then turned to Jason who informed me that he was feeling a little green so I took the rod in hand which I had already thrown into free-spool and prepared to set the hook. Of course when I did, I got a big surprise on the 40-lbs tackle we’d set out for 80 to100-lbs sails. As I drove the hook home I thought I saw a marlin turn and head down to the depths. I quickly informed Rodie of the fish and his eyes widened at the thought of a marlin. Let me tell you, this kiddo gets jacked up when a marlin comes into the baits. Anyway, still unsure of the identity of the fish, I put the screws to him knowing that if it was a marlin I was going to have to put the stick to it and do the damage early in what was sure to be a long fight on the lighter tackle. And, that is exactly what I did.

After a short fight I had the fish, which still had not jumped, coming to the boat. That is when all hell broke loose. The first jump happened just 10-15 feet from the boat and of course confirmed what I had previously suspected — I was doing battle with my first black marlin and it was over 200 lbs. I

you how many times this

fish jumped but every one of them occurred within 50 feet

of the boat which added to the previously mentioned chaos. season for roosters but it was my only window so I took it. While I did not land one on fly, I did sight-cast to several and had a very exciting follow. I also had the chance to watch my buddy, Jason Wood, land his first rooster ever on conventional tackle which was a pretty exciting event in itself.

After several days of catching numerous skipjack tuna and jacks on fly, but still no rooster, we decided to move offshore for a billfish.

Now to put things in perspective, as I alluded to above, this was not my first trip to Bahia la Tortuga and my previous trip with friend and

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cannot even begin to tell you how many times this fish jumped but every one of them occurred within 50 feet of the boat which added to the previously mentioned chaos.

Now fast forward about 30 minutes (I am proud to say that I whipped him in about 45 minutes) when we landed the fish. The fish was still somewhat green when Rodie leadered and billed the fish and I calculated the fishes chance of survival should I bring it into the boat for a quick photo or two. I quickly made the call and we brought it in and Jason framed a couple of quick shots of me and then the marlin decided it wanted to be back in the water. In short, words can not describe what it takes for three grown men to get a 200 lbs plus, very irate fish out of a small boat. Once the fish hit the water I grabbed the bill and Rodie put the boat in gear. Moments later the fish made a powerful tail stroke and was gone — no worse for wear, I hope.

Needless to say it was poor judgment on my part to bring the fish into the boat and I am going to have to say that I will never do it again. Beside the fact that it was very dangerous, I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I would lose many nights sleep over the memory of killing such a magnificent creature.

Now here I am a month detached from that fish and am already planning my next trip. In fact, I am loving it down there so much that I now offer to host fly-fishermen down to catch billfish and roosters on fly. I’m telling you — big game fishing out of a small boat is tough to beat. I fell in love with it and I bet you will too.

Bahia la Tortuga Lodge is an inexpensive destination for anglers on a budget. For more information visit www.escapeixtapa.com or if you are interested in knowing more about fly fishing for billfish you can contact me at my website.

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s I write, the month of August has quickly come and gone.

What does that mean? It means that I am now back in school attending my sophomore year and only dreaming I was out experiencing the beautiful sunrises and sunsets or chasing fish out on the flats. Gone are fishing the weekdays where boat traffic was minimal; I will surely miss the Monday’s and the Tuesday’s at one of our favorite restaurants that would prepare our fresh catch just the way I like it. It seemed just like yesterday when I wrote my article back in May talking about school being let out. Where did the summer go? I could have used a few more fishing trips before school started. If you’re like me, I can jump out of bed on the flick of a light before a fishing trip.

But now that school has started, it seems my parents have to pull me out of bed with a crane to get me going.

As in every summer, I got to fish a lot and experienced many old and new things. I met and fished with many wonderful people and learned some new tricks and techniques from some really good anglers. I made it a point this summer to fish and explore new areas.

The adventures were a blast. I really enjoyed the days I would break off from the group and hit secluded shorelines only to findhungry redfish with their backs exposed out of the water.

I also had the opportunity to show a few adults how to stalk redfish up shallow. Their biggest problem was wading too noisily and alerting the redfish of their presence. I was able to teach them how to wade quietly, look and listen for signs of fish feeding, and show them the proper bait to throw in certain situations. That was pretty cool in seeing immediate results of improvement and helping them bettering their chances of catching fish up shallow.

On a few occasions I got to fish from sun up to sun down. We literally started fishing before sunrise and got back to the 72

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dock as night time fell. Talk about fishing till you drop! Fishing all day allowed me to observe feeding patterns and learn more about how tidal movements have an effect on fishfeeding behaviors.

The summer event that stands out without a doubt is my participation in the Texas International Fishing Tournament (TIFT). It is considered the largest fishing tournament in the country with well over 1,578 anglers both offshore and inshore. My dad and I fished it with Al and Adrian Villarreal who both work for IBC Bank of Brownsville, our

sponsor for the tournament. In 2005 I was able to capture Grand Champion Bay division in the 13–16 age group. The following year my participation was cut short on the first day when I got hit by a stingray while fishing for a flounder. This year I was really looking forward to doing well and of course not get hit by a stingray.

The first day was a success on my redfish and trout but no flounder came near my net.

This tournament requires a consistent catch over a period of two days. The second day got even better; I had my redfish and

FISHING FROM SUN UP TO SUN DOWN IS ALWAYS A TREAT. September 2007

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trout by 8:30 a.m. so I had until 5:00 p.m. to catch a flounder. Again I struck out on a flatly, but something interesting and exciting occurred while flounder fishing.

I was wading the edge of the ICW along a spoil when a barge traveling along the channel sucked up the remaining water on a shallow flat, leaving a huge trout exposed in merely inches of water. The commotion caught my eye so I headed straight towards the flopping trout. I estimated the trout to be in the eight to nine pound range. I made a perfect cast as the water had returned to the pothole she was laying in. My lure crossed millimeters from her mouth and she quickly took a bite and began taking out drag. The moment did not last very long because she broke me off and left me with an empty

feeling. As she swam away, all I could think about what I could have done differently. I consoled myself by thinking it wasn’t her time and certainly she wasn’t that big by being outsmarted.

Day two ended, and I was still in the running. However, the results would not be announced until the next day. I could not help but feel nervous during the awards ceremony knowing that I had a good chance to place and perhaps repeat what I had done in 2005.

All my hard work paid off. The soreness of all the wading I had done for the past two days went away as I was announced Grand Champion Junior Bay Division for the 13-16 age group. Every year I look forward to participating in TIFT, and now I have something to remember this tournament

by besides my scar on my left foot.

September will have me waking up not as early as going fishing but early enough to catch a bus. Arriving late evenings will be the norm for the next few months not because of fishing from sun up to sun down but because football season is just around the corner. During the week I will spend time hitting the books and chasing pigskins (footballs), dreaming only of wading a flat as another sunrise brings on another adventure. I love my summers, but all good things must come to end. The summers come and go, but the memories will remain with me forever.

TOP: AUTHOR DISPLAYS HIS 1ST PLACE FINISH IN TIFT JUNIOR BAY DIVISION BOTTOM: A FUN DAY SPENT WITH TSFMAG AND GRAPHICS BY DESIGN STAFF AT A HUNTING AND FISHING EXPO. (JACKSON, AARON, JASMINE, TRACY)

TOP: SUMMER REDS LIKE BONE SUPER SPOOK JR’S. BOTTOM: AS THE SUN SET ON THE HORIZON WE RELUCTANTLY CALLED IT A DAY.

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AM EX

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New Tackle & Gear American Rodsmiths Pink Ladys Rods “The Pink Lady” was developed to give Lady Anglers a fishing rod that was not only functional but also stylish. Available in both spinning and casting models, these rods feature 38-million modulus graphite blanks and American Rodsmiths’ patented reel seat with built-in hook keeper. These rods also feature custom tapered cork

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handles designed to fit a lady’s hand.

The perfect gift for the lady angler in your life, your daughter or grand daughter.

If you have been wanting to introduce them to the great sport of fishing, do it now!

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The Devil Eye from Brown Lures is back and better than ever. The new painted eyes are brighter and more durable than ever before. Look for three new fish-catching colors: Plumtreuse, Limetreuse and Rootbeer.

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New Long Neck D.O.A. custom hooks now available.

When you use our Long Neck custom hook, you grab more of the bait.

D.O.A. Custom Made Long Neck wide gap worm hook allows for a deeper bite in the lure.

D.O.A.’s latest innovation reduces your chances of the lure tearing while casting or fighting fish. The 5/0 hook is the right size for our new 5.5” Jerk Bait. This new hook is also available in 3.5/0 size for your other D.O.A. favorites. Package of 6 is only $2.95.

FLOATING POLARIZED SUNGLASSES FROM FISHGILLZ FishGillz - Designed to float, provide maximum protection, ultimate comfort and affordability.

FishGillz - No awkward float pads, cords or straps to restrict vision. Frames are unique polymer blend, tough and durable, yet light and flexible. Weighing only 0.5 ounce, FishGillz are ideal for fishermen who spend long days in the sun.

Micro-Filter Lenses offer UV protection, the sleek wrap-around frame provides extra protection from the elements.

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FishGillz completely block glare. In shallow water they help anglers see fish and other objects below the surface.

FishGillz lenses includes dual anti-reflective, scratch resistant hard coat, a waterproof layer, and polarized micro-filter for total UV protection.

FishGillz were created for water-related sport; their ultra-light, wrap-around frames, and distortionfree polarized lenses make them perfect for any outdoor activity. www.TSFMAG.com

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Rapala introduces three beautiful fillet knives. Introducing the Witch’s Tooth Collector Fillet, Classic Collector Fillet and Rosewood & Eagle Collector Fillet. Each is meticulously crafted for the perfect filleting experience time after time.

Witch’s Tooth A knife collectors must have. Finnish folklore says the witch’s tooth locked inside each handle protects the

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user from harm. The handle is crafted of curly birch and reindeer antler with a stainless blade.

Classic Designed for the ultimate angler, this work of art incorporates a classic Finnish-style handle constructed of reindeer antler and curly birch and features a stainless steel blade.

Rosewood & Eagle Wrap your hand

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September 2007

Texas Saltwater Fishing

79

SABINE

DICKIE COLBURN

IF LAST MONTHS’ EDITION OF YOUR Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine felt a little heavier than usual, there Dickie Colburn is a full was ample reason for the additional time guide out of Orange, weight.

Every report from the middle Texas. Dickie has 35 years to upper coast was waterlogged! experience guiding on Sabine At one point in mid-July, every and Calcasieu Lakes. major river system in the state of Contact Texas was at flood stage and water Colburn’s Sabine still runs down hill. Coastal anglers Connection not only had to deal with the excess Telephone water released from impoundments 409-883-0723 upstream, but their own daily Website www.sabineconnection.com downpours as well.

I cannot imagine the freshwater negatively affecting a bay any more dramatically than it has Sabine Lake. Both the Sabine and Neches rivers empty into the north end of the lake less than three miles apart via the Intracoastal Canal. When they open the gates on both Rayburn and Toledo Bend at the same time, the challenge for the saltwater fisherman is daunting.

I would hope at this point, that I never have to refer to these daily logs again. In truth, they would be of little use. Survival has not been a matter of adjusting to an influx of freshwater and putting together new patterns, but more a case of seeking out new water altogether.

The one positive that has emerged from the soggy conditions is that after all of these years, I am begrudgingly becoming a more efficient jetty fisherman. Our only decision each morning has been making a long boat ride from the north end of the lake or trailering around to the Causeway and dealing with the absence of fish cleaning facilities.

The good news for the saltwater angler lies in the fact that if you were forced to retreat in any direction in search of better conditions, the jetties would rank high on the list. The ageless granite walls have always been fish magnets and they are no different today.

Once you snap to the fact that these nondescript piles of rock are far more than parking places for folks with a little live bait and a good anchor, you will find yourself even more appreciative of their fish producing potential. You still have to deal with the tide changes and wind direction each day, but they harbor their own subtleties that increase your fish catching odds.

Let’s assume that it does not quit raining this year and you find yourself dealing with the greener and saltier water surrounding the jetties this month. Those two features alone are alien to lake and marsh fishermen that typically celebrate eighteen inches of visibility Ron Williams with nice on most days. trout off the rocks.

Having fished that area very rarely over the 80

Texas Saltwater Fishing

years, I am amazed by the variety of fish that will hit the same lure as well as the incredible numbers of fish that can be caught without ever touching the troll motor. On the best of days, we do not sit on the north end of the lake and catch limits of two Teamwork puts another big red in boat. to five pound trout casting at the same rock nor do we catch everything from sharks to thirty-pound bull reds on the same lure.

Because it looks as though the ship channel and jetties may be the hottest areas well into football season on Sabine, I will gladly share a few things that have worked for us thus far. Make no mistake, nothing has shortened my learning curve like observing other fishermen and talking with anglers that have fished the rocks all of their lives.

Ken Miller with 39 inch red caught If you are headed this way for the and released at the jetties. first time, do not leave your topwater lures at home. It is not unusual to catch the largest trout, as well as redfish, very early in the morning on Top Dogs, Super Spooks, and Skitterwalks. The largest models seem to eliminate unwanted strikes from smaller trout and bone or pearl chartreuse patterns have worked well for us. Fish them right up against the rocks, but expect a strike all the way back to the boat.

When fishing soft plastics, once again, we have done better with longer tails like the Assassin Eel or Split Tail. Colors do make a difference in the clearer water and I have not left the launch without glow, pumpkinchartreuse, morning glory or LSU. We have used nothing smaller than a quarter ounce jig head, but regardless of the size, you will not consistently catch fish if you are afraid to lose a jig head or maybe a dozen. Once again, expect the strike as soon as the lure hits the water, but fish the jig all the way to the bottom bouncing it off the rocks.

We are fishing 12 to 15 pound test line with a heavier fluorocarbon shock leader, but I would bring a few short wire leaders along for those days when you find yourself covered up with Spanish mackerel. The heavyweight predators that share this stretch of water do not know that you are targeting trout and redfish, but opting for heavier equipment to deal with them only results in making casting more difficult.

When fishing the channel side of the jetties always be aware of the commercial traffic. If you are on anchor, tie a jug on the tag end, simply toss it overboard, and ride out the wake with your big engine. When it subsides, retrieve the jug and tie off again.

Should things settle down and dry out this month, look for the trout and redfish bite to start around the north and south revetment walls first. It should be a visual affair, as the gulls will once again hustle shad and shrimp forced to the surface by feeding fish.

September 2007

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81

it was fall already. What a summer, I am ready for it to go away as it has been a tough one for me. I would like to be able to say a lot of good things about fishing right now but I do not use croaker and I am not catching a lot of fish like those who do. Right now fishing is pretty slow, we are catching some fish, but we’re working hard for them most days. I have to place most of the blame on the freshwater situation because we have lots of fish in our area bays. It is mostly a problem of finding salty pockets and working them like you’re digging diamonds; the past couple of summer seasons spoiled us.

Every river that feeds our Galveston system is running at or near flood stage and many of our marsh drains are running fresh as well. Right now the hot spots are the ship channel, the ship channel, and the ship channel. This seems to be about the only area producing consistently and it’s not hard to figure why. The tides that flow through the jetties deliver good gulf water to the channel, so naturally it remains salty when other areas turn completely fresh. We do have some good water layered underneath the fresh in East Bay and places like that, but the fish have been real finicky. They seem to be going through a shock period because all this freshwater has changed all of their habits up. We as lure fishermen do not yet understand how to catch them consistently.

TRINITY BAY For the purpose of this report we can go ahead and say Trinity Bay is toast. There are still some fish around here. For example; Everett and I caught our winning fish for the Texas Redfish Series here, but we got lucky. I knew they were there and we kept messing with them and finally late in the day we came up with two heavy reds. I guess you could say

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I teamed with our editor, Everett Johnson, to fish the Kemah leg of the Texas Redfish Series. It was tough day but we hung on and felt very lucky to find two fish that weighed 16.9 pounds, enough to win!

Photo courtesy of Texas Redfish Series.

HERE WE ARE IN AUGUST AND I WISH

persistence paid off. If we can get a good incoming tide, the areas around Trinity Bay Marker 70 and 72 should become a hot spot for trout. The water turns over quickly with strong incoming flows and fishing gets pretty good there at times.

EAST BAY I ran all of East Bay today and water clarity in general is poor. The notable exceptions are isolated spots along the south shoreline. There are some fingers of good water over there around Fat Rat, Elm Grove Point and the Hog Pens. The wade fishermen are still catching some nice fish over there with topwaters and of course soft plastics and live bait. The Channel is holding good water all the way up to Marker 68.

GALVESTON BAY Upper and Lower Galveston Bay – the water has been good. There has been a lot of bait but the fish have been real scattered. There is no schooling action where we can just nail down a school of fish and stay on them. You really have to work hard, pecking and scratching.

GALVESTON JETTIES Even the jetties have been slow; you would think that they would be stacked. I did not catch these fish, however some kids I know who fish the beachfront said they were catching one hundred trout a day on topwater.

They were not even getting their feet wet, just standing on the sand and casting out past the sand bar, catching a lot of nice trout.

Better days are ahead and I cannot imagine it could get any worse.

We are just paying our dues, having to work hard to catch our fish right now. If you are not in the mood to really work hard and give it all you got then you might play a round of golf or just stay home and catch up on your honey-do list. Some days are better than others with conditions depending on the tide and the moon. When we hit it right it is fair to good, but hardly consistent. To offer an overall rating I would say that fishing is just fair right now, that is the best I can give it. Live baiters, especially your croaker fishermen, are making some pretty good catches along the channel, but that’s not my game. We will just have to weather it out and hopefully next month we will have a better report to give you.

September 2007

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September 2007

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83

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW SEEMS to be the recent trend in Matagorda.

With the new bridge being built to replace the old swing bridge and businesses sprouting up, Matagorda is experiencing a little cosmetic surgery. Heck, I’ve even been caught in traffic jams lately heading down towards the beach. Change is inevitable — it’s always just a matter of time.

If you’re looking around for bait camps while you’re on the way to the jetties or the Gulf of Mexico, stop off at Rawling’s Bait Camp 979-8637669 on Beach Road. Mike or his helpers will be able to supply you with bait, including offshore, along with maybe a few tips on local fishing. If you’re over in the Matagorda Harbor area, Russell’s Bait & Tackle 979-863-7620 is another prime spot to stop off for your fishing needs. Available here you’ll find free boat ramps, gas and diesel for your boat, live bait, artificial lures, good eats, and a variety of other items. Hint; Russell, who professes to be a chef, cooks up a mean hamburger with all the fixings and most likely the best you’ll find around. Breakfast is available at Russell’s Thursday through Sunday mornings with live bands and food on some Saturday nights.

Russell’s cooking talents and my hungry stomach have come into contact frequently and I’ll be the first to admit you won’t be disappointed.

If you’re looking for a restaurant offering a varied menu of land and sea items look no further, just before you get to Russell’s Bait & Tackle in the Matagorda Harbor, you’ll see the Waterfront Restaurant where local owners, Craig and Suzanne Hinton, offer up some great food with a nice view of the harbor’s activities. If you’re over on Beach Road or heading in that direction, stop off at River Bend Tavern overlooking the Colorado River to enjoy a tasty meal and if you’re an evening visitor you might take in some local wild hog activity. Needing to purchase some fresh local Capt. bill released this 26” trout.

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seafood, Buddy’s Seafood is easily accessed as you’re coming into town and he will provide you with your seafood desires and even dehead your shrimp for you.

There are new and upcoming restaurants and businesses in the Matagorda area and I don’t want to leave anyone out so I suggest

Ricky and Papa Nentwig, Sr. and Joel Nicholson with 22” trout.

Ralph Aulds and Larry Gerdes having some fun on the water.

calling the local Matagorda Chamber of Commerce 979-555-6526 and Robin Dixon will help you with any additional information for places to eat, stay, shop, or just hang out.

For the latest in fishing trends, West Matagorda Bay is somewhat fresh on top but salty underneath from all the recent rainfall. Mark Talasek, Tommy Countz, and Bobby Gardner have all been doing fairly well on trout and reds from Oil Field Cut to Airport Flats. My preference is to stick to East Matagorda Bay which at this point is only fresh on the north shoreline and Chinquapin Reefs to Bird Island. Amidst the odds, we are still able to catch fish in this tea colored water. The north shoreline of East Matagorda Bay is loaded with millions of shrimp in knee-deep to waistdeep water with lots of big redfish located in the grass along the shoreline.

Look for some things to change in September if we don’t get the torrential rains we had in August.

Presently, East Matagorda Bay is in good shape with our bait fish, mainly shrimp which should be moving towards the middle of the bay by September, and with birds working a lot along the north shoreline so it looks like we’re in for a good fall season of fishing.

September fishing patterns will be to drift and wade the Mid-Bay Reefs while keeping an eye on Oyster and Crab Lakes because of all the shrimp activity. The usual Bass Assassins in 10W40, Pumpkinseed, and the Blurp Golden Bream will work for me as well. Small top waters like the She Pup have been good and should continue to be effective the month of September.

Whatever you do be safe on the water, wear your kill switch, just keep 5-7, and by all means enjoy your day and May God Bless You along the way…

Rex Richards fighting a 26” trout.

September 2007

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September 2007

Texas Saltwater Fishing

85

“HOW’S THE FISHING WITH ALL THAT freshwater in the bays?”

This question seemed to turn

than a salty bay. The stain of freshwater can be seen stretching all the way to Port O’Connor and beyond.

How long will it stay this way? Well, that is tough to say, simply because it is hard to forecast what the weather may bring and there are other

up in almost every conversation

factors, such as the Guadalupe River continuing to run near flood stage.

we had with customers for the

It could take months before our bays return to normal salinity. For me it

past two months. With the huge

couldn’t be soon enough. Unfortunately my favorite, San Antonio Bay, will

amounts of rainfall we have had

be one of the last to recover given the distance from passes to the Gulf.

locally and regions to the north, it

Having all of this fresh water in the bays has definitely put a kink in

is understandable why our bay

our normal seasonal fishing plans. While there may be some smaller

systems are so fresh. The bay

concentrations of fish to be caught, they will be few and far between. We

waters have turned from their usual

have been concentrating our efforts a little further north in Matagorda Bay

sea green to an ugly tea-stained

and in the surf whenever the weather allows.

brown. As I approach San Antonio

Freshwater isn’t the only element working against us; September is one

Bay around Turn Stake Island it is

of the hottest months, making it hard to get good results some days. You

apparent just how fresh the bay is,

either need to get an extremely early start or plan to fish late afternoon.

not only from the color, but it also

Some will even venture into the darkness of night to improve their odds.

smells more like a freshwater lake

If fishing at night has little appeal there are other ways of improving your odds and these involves using all your senses. I know Gary and I have talked about some of these things before, but I feel it is worthy to mention them again.

First, are you using your sense of sight? Paying attention to everything going on around you can pay off big time. Do you see baitfish in the area?

Do you see structure such as a reef or grass beds? If you see baitfish leaping out of the water like someone just lit a fire under them make sure to cast in the direction they are fleeing from. This may be your only clue to a feeding fish nearby. Sometimes as redfish feed close to the grass lines you will also see the grass blades moving as they rummage around for small crabs and shrimp. Their tails may even surface for a second, but if you are not scanning the area closely you may miss it. Don’t forget about the birds. Several birds hovering just above the surface is a sure bet fish are feeding.

Are you listening? Taking note of all the sounds around you can also be of benefit when the fishing is slow. While fishing, you should make yourself feel at one with nature. A good example is a cat listening for prey it cannot see. Listen for tell-tale smacks or thrashing as fish try to catch their prey.

Even if you think it is only mullet making all that racket, fish it thoroughly before you move on.

Warmer water temperatures will usually congregate fish along drop offs and in deeper water. This is where your sense of feel comes into play.

Better your odds of hook ups by fishing where the drop off begins. Cast your line toward the deeper water making sure to bump your lure off the bottom slowly as you reel it back. Feeling your way along, searching for grass and/or shell along these drop offs, can improve your odds as well.

Bobby Thompson and Mark Werner of Spaw Maxwell happy to show off one of their redfish. Mark, who is an avid bass angler, was totally shocked at just how hard the big red bruisers fought.

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Texas Saltwater Fishing

All three of these key elements can be used whether you are a hardcore artificial chunker or a “swear by bait” kind of guy. Although these tips I

September 2007

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Youngsters like Max Wright and Jed may be fishing a little less now that school is back in session.

mentioned are not new by any means, I believe they are simply too often overlooked and should be a part of everyone’s strategy every time they ďŹ sh, especially when the bite turns tough.

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September 2007

Texas Saltwater Fishing

87

THE RAIN HAS FINALLY LET UP AND FISHING has improved some in the Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay. This area recovers quickly from all the rain because there are not many creeks and rivers that empty into the bay system. Also, the water here has a naturally high salinity level so some fresh water isn’t too bad. The weather is hot, the water temperature is in the high eighties and it has been difficult to find clear water for lure fishing. The average visibility is two to three feet.

I’ve had to move around a lot to find clear enough water with the right structure and the right baitfish around.

The pattern has been to fish the deep structure and channel walls with current moving through. The fish stay close to deep water access this time of year. Packery Channel seems to have helped fishing in the upper Laguna Madre by putting a little current and cooler gulf water in the flats around the JFK Causeway and the Humble Channel. The fishing in Corpus Christi Bay has been good, too. Usually, this time of year I’m fishing in the Land Cut but, it’s been slow and hasn’t been worth the run down there especially with the price of gas. So, I’ve been fishing the deep rock structure in Baffin Bay. This summer I have had several trips that included father and son teams and it has been great to see.

Maybe the video games are getting old. These kids have been great fishermen and a pleasure to have aboard. On one trip, there were three adults and a seven-year-old boy. We were scheduled to wade fish but I wasn’t sure how we could do it with this young man. He was no problem and he was all for wade fishing along Rhett and Jeff Trlicek with us. He cast artificial lures and enjoying a day on Baffin Bay. worked hard all day. He caught and released a couple of nice trout all on his own. I was extremely impressed with his fishing ability at such a young age. I have included a picture of Rhett and his Dad, Jeff Trlicek.

On another recent trip, Jimmy Walker from Costa Del Mar Sunglasses, came down and brought his son Tony who is seventeen. We were drift fishing the deeper rock structure in Baffin Bay, using the trolling motor and working around the rocks. It was kind of slow in the morning; we 88

Texas Saltwater Fishing

only caught one or two trout off each structure of rocks. We were Jimmy Walker and son Tony with casting the Salt a beautiful Baffin trout.

Water Assassin, 5inch Shad in plum/chartreuse tail with the 1/8 ounce lead head. We cast toward the deep rocks and let it fall next to the rocks all the way to the bottom in six to seven feet of water. In the heat of the day the bite picked up. Tony caught the best trout of the trip that measured twenty-eight inches and weighed about seven pounds. Here’s a picture of him and his Dad with the trout right before it was released.

In talking with Jimmy I learned that Costa Del Mar has made great improvements in frame material and in lenses. We both agree that the vermillion lens is the best for seeing fish underwater. My glasses are prescription Costa Del Mar that I have made by T. Roberts Optical here in Corpus Christi. I’m seeing the fish and bottom structure better than ever; they are amazing.

This is the time of the year that wade fishing on the beach is good. The surf has been flat and the water is clear and there is not much seaweed. Early on a calm morning recently I had the opportunity to fish with friend Joe Duckworth. The conditions came together just right for topwater lure Joe Duckworth with a fishing. We were wading in good surf trout. the first gut in knee deep water. We were casting the Mirrolure S7MR Series III floating twitch bait.

This is a hologram with a blue back, chartreuse belly and silver sides.

The fish can’t resist it. It looks too good.

The bite was good and we caught several nice trout in the three to five pound range. It was a lot of fun and an enjoyable change of a pace.

However, there is a shark and stingray factor to consider. I’ve been seeing a lot of stingray right on the edge of the water and I’ve had a couple of shark incidents where the shark ripped trout off of my line.

The sharks will rip your lure off, too. They own the water, they are extremely fast and they will come up shallow. So, I do not recommend using a stringer.

In the month ahead I’m looking for tropical storms to play a factor in the fishing by bringing in high tides and a push of gulf water into the bays.

This big push of water will usually improve the fishing. Until then, I will continue to target the deeper water, where there is current, structure and bait fish.

September 2007

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Texas Saltwater Fishing

89

THE TYPICALLY HARSH, ARID ENVIRONMENT of the Lower Laguna is sporting a fresh attitude this season. According to records, it was the wettest July this country has seen since 1976. When you put water on an area which normally doesn’t get it the land jumps, green and remarkably lush. The final approach into Port Mansfield, along the intriguing but normally desolate Hwy 186, now looks more like a scene from an African savanna.

Herds of fattened Nilgai antelope graze in the distance and are framed in the foreground by turkey, quail, dove, and bucks showing off their new large velvet racks. The rain seems to have also given our hyper-saline Laguna a welcomed boost. There are more shrimp dancing on the surface and blue crabs scurrying in the grass than we’ve seen in several years. In short, deep South Texas is robustly healthy for now, and with any luck, so will be September’s fishing!

To recap late summer, it was fairly typical with low tides, lowered winds, and topwaters fouled by floating grass. Yes, we shake our fists at those floating weeds, but an abundance of grass is largely why we enjoy clear water and a thriving nursery. What was different was the overall temperatures. Cloud cover and chilling rains helped keep things cooler than normal for a while, and quite by accident, we found that some good fish were cooling off shallower than normal as well.

We noticed that the reliable pattern of mid-day fish pulling down into deeper holes was in some areas becoming less consistent. Were they fished out, did they simply move, or were they feeding at night? One day after waiting again for fish that never showed we failed to jump the boat up in time before drifting onto an extremely shallow flat. Committed to a long drift to where we could get back on plane, we raised the motor and just watched. To our amazement, there, in water perhaps 6 to 10 inches deep, choked with grass almost to the surface and detached clumps of thick reddish algae, were numerous fish of all sorts. They were buried in that heavy cover like rabbits in a briar patch. You wouldn’t see any indication of how much life was there until the drifting boat spooked them. There lay trout, redfish, drum, sheepshead, and even flounder in water barely able to float a boat and in the middle of a hot summer’s day at that. According to standard fire-side fish talk, they weren’t supposed to be there.

It was difficult to fish, but we were eventually able to catch them with long casts, small weedless spoons and tails, and small topwaters rigged with single hooks. On several days we were able to repeat the pattern.

One beauty about hunting for fish with lures instead of waiting for them on anchor is that the potential for new discoveries is always there. After 90

Texas Saltwater Fishing

Mike enjoying another big red, which will become more common in September.

looking closer, we may have discovered another reason why fish chose to use this uncharacteristic area during the middle of the day. While weather records were being set, another pinnacle in the Laguna this year may very well have been boat traffic. This particular area (and others we have found since), are very close to heavily trafficked areas, but where few if any boaters normally venture. It seems like new safe havens are forming, and new approaches are starting to make more sense. This was another wake up call to keep the discovery part of fishing fresh in our minds, which is the really rewarding part of lure fishing anyway.

We may have to change our habits if we want to continue enjoying what we do. If something we already know quits working, let’s don’t be afraid to invest the time and look for something else. Being a fisherman means much more than simply being able to catch a fish. Almost anybody can catch them if they are present, but these days, finding them is as much the art as anything.

As far as a September outlook, traditional patterns suggest increasing water levels, more redfish bunching up and tailing along the shorelines, and larger trout feeding more aggressively in preparation for the last spawn. That can mean more consistent topwater action, something all lure fans look forward to. Unless something revolutionary happens, we will probably stay with She Dogs, Skitter Walks, and Super Spook Jr.’s depending on conditions. As far as colors go, I lean towards chartreuse September 2007

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Scott Stavinoha, having fun both catching AND releasing fish he didn’t need for the table.

and bone. If nothing else, I can see these colors well and am better able to pay attention to working them. Yes, single Gamakatsu hooks will be on all of them. They let me negotiate floating grass much better, and I like the security of not being threatened as much by the errant headshake of an angry fish full of trebles.

As mentioned, groups of tailing or water pushing redfish will become more available. Some of them can show up in places you didn’t expect, so always be ready to cast while running the boat. When you do spot a group of these fish, please resist the urge to “torpedo” them. “Torpedoing” means running into them on purpose and casting while they are fleeing. A much more responsible approach is to circle back with a trolling motor, pole, or feet. Not only will you be in a much better position, you will not harass these fish. The intentional crashing of fish is one of the things causing them to alter their habits. In fact, there is a new law coming this September which states we cannot use a vessel (any vessel, not just airboats) to harass fish. It will be interesting to see how this law will be interpreted on the water.

As another reminder, we are going to a five trout limit south of Marker 20 on September first. Any boat launching from this entire designated area is expected to abide by this new ruling. It will also be curious to see how most fishermen handle this. Will more people fish simply for the love of fishing? Will there be more like Scott Stavinoha and party, who retained the fish they wanted the first day and then released everything the second day, opting to concentrate on fun instead of food? Most we talk to look forward to the catching of better quality fish in the future, whether they fillet them or not. Again, we, like our fish, may have to look at changing our habits if we want to continue enjoying doing what we do.

We all need to remember that the Laguna Madre, as in all sacred places along our coast, is fragile and in a constant state of change. Let’s all do our part to make it more enjoyable, whether it means hunting up new patterns, having new goals, or giving schools of fish and the other boaters a wider berth. Let’s discover September together this year with a fresh and robust attitude. It looks like it’s going to be a good one.

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WE LEFT THE DOCK AT DARK WITH NOT another stern light in sight as we scooted across a shallow flat. The night air was filled with the noticeable aroma of fish slicks. There was no telling how many mullet would be getting their last glimpse of the moon, never to see another beautiful sunrise on the Laguna Madre. I had been experiencing the same aroma every morning for more than a month with the only difference being the names and faces onboard. One of those mornings inspired this adventure and story.

During the last two months it seems that our tides have been running hard, dumping out in the evening, causing the bait and gamefish to move to deeper water throughout the night. This drop in water level caused mullet to ball up in tight schools. I’m pretty sure a feeding frenzy was taking place in the stillness of the night. Sure evidence of another night feed was visible in the slicks that popped up under the moon’s brightness.

By keying on the movement of the baitfish, we positioned ourselves in the face of the oncoming traffic. There were hundreds if not thousands of mullet milling, jumping and scurrying for their lives. Much the same as a US Customs Inspection Station is positioned at a point of entry; we assembled ourselves where the flow was heaviest. Our inspection instruments were topwaters with sharp hooks. The pattern of bait movement was very recognizable and among them were hordes of big, hungry gamefish that seemed to enjoy inspecting our topwaters. Let me tell you, these fish were as defiant as they come.

On to my point of “Fishing the Highways,” in my mind I like to visualize the area that I am going to fish with all the water gone. The bottom contours would be easy to identify if they were exposed. We can never drain away all the water, but by wading we can gain a better understanding of the locale and it helps us locate otherwise This 31 inch redfish broke the undetectable humps, rod into two pieces drops, and mud or shell but an army of bottoms to name a few Texas Lady Anglers structures that could hold helped her land it. fish. I have heard others compare the bay to a pasture. The cows tend to travel the same path over and over again unless something causes them to change their route.

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travel can be noted in the worn paths their repeated footsteps create.

I am not much of a hunter, but I know this also applies to deer hunting.

Hunters that recognize signs of deer movement can bring great success to their hunt. Just like the hunter, fishermen can learn to look for signs of well-traveled highways that fish use in their daily travels. Many times these same pathways are used as they move at nightfall and sunrise and also to escape the heat of summer or the cold of the winter.

When people travel, where do they congregate along the roadway?

It is usually at restaurants, gas stations, or other stores. At the mall it is usually at the food court. In fishing, gamefish will follow the movement of bait. Tidal movement will cause bait to move as will sunlight and wind.

Temperature is also a key element when trying to find concentrations of bait. Is the bait holding shallow early and then deeper later in the day?

Is the bait over shell, mud or grass? Have you ever noticed at particular times of the day the bait is very active, then suddenly nothing moves as if someone turned off the lights? The bait is usually still present but has gone down in the water column. Another thing to ponder is what travel route is the bait using at daybreak, midday, or late evening? Are they using grass lines, bank lines, channels, off-colored water, or perhaps holding in potholes? These are a few examples of water highways that fish or bait may use. It may take some time and careful studying of these patterns to find fish highways. Studying tidal flow is a key element when placing oneself at the right time and place. Do know that fish don’t spend all of their time feeding just like we don’t spend eight hours at the table (unless you’re like me). But, fish are opportunistic feeders, and if an easy prey swims inches from their jaw, they are apt to take a bite out of it. Of course there are exceptions when you can’t get even a piggy perch to nibble on your lure.

Spending time on the water and not just reading articles in the comforts of your sofa will bring you better results. Each time out should bring a new learning experience. Not all trips should be measured on the numbers you caught. I have probably learned more and certainly worked harder on tough days than on days where the fish were willing to jump in the boat. I have mentioned this before and it merits mentioning it again. Keeping a log of your trips is critical; the information may not bring immediate results, but the rewards will follow in the future as you begin to recognize patterns from your log results of each trip.

Patti Polensky Fishing the Highways is proudly displays what has brought us recent her first Texas success. On a recent four snook - 28 3/4”. day stretch with the same client we experienced a good morning bite on a strong incoming tide along a grass line marked by a gut (Fish Highway). Bait was thick up until mid-day and then everything would shut down. We made a decision to go in during the slow period and return later when the tide was ripping out. Upon returning to our morning spot in the evening, we found the bait using the same route

September 2007

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A study in the making, John Anderson - Rice University and Graduate Student Davin Wallace digging for core samples on the Laguna bottom.

to make an exit. Good choice, because we experienced a good bite that had been lacking through the hottest part of the day. We used the tidal flow to our advantage and set up our wades along the highway that the fish were using early morning and late evening. Learn to use the Fish Highways during peak solunar periods or when traffic is congested, which is a good thing, right?

Lately it seems rain has become commonplace up and down the coast and down south has been no exception. Since Independence Day it has been raining everyday here in the Valley. The amount of freshwater in our bay system has certainly made for some tough catching days. Nevertheless, we always have fun. One recent group that I had the pleasure of fishing with was the Texas Lady Anglers. What a fun group to fish with! The amount of learning that took place was immeasurable. I will not write about it, but if you know one of their members please ask them about the shark incident. Warning — you could die laughing. Congratulations ladies for a job well done.

Another party I would like to mention had all to do with the water but nothing to do with fishing. I had the pleasure in taking out Professor John Anderson from Rice University and graduate student Davin Wallace. Their task for three days was to collect core sediments from the Laguna bottom, which would give them historical information on the impact of hurricanes on the Laguna Madre. It was hard not being able to fish, but I did learn a lot about the formation of our Lagoon thanks to John and Davin.

September is sure to bring rain and desirable cooler temperatures. Another sure thing will be the vast amount Capt. Ron of forage that will Shepherd - 28 be available and 1/2 inch snook. able to show you where you need to be. Learn to read the maps of the bays and familiarize yourself with the major highways that fish will most likely use. The more you familiarize yourself with a new town the faster you learn the best routes. Well, www.TSFMAG.com

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Xtreme the same applies Reel Plus on the water. Now is a must is a good time to in your take a vacation and tackle box.

(Can be start learning the purchased major highways of at FTU.) the water. The best part is that every bay system has its own fish highways.

So get off that couch (rest area) and hit the road, excuse me, I mean the water.

On a final note I would like to mention a few words about a product that is a must in your tackle box. I fish with a Shimano 50Mg and it was recently cleaned but I wasn’t getting the casting distance that it should deliver.

I was about to give up on until my trip with Joe Meyer (FTU) and Capt. Ron Shepherd. They brought me a bottle of this new dry lubricant called Xtreme Reel Plus. I told Ron that I was going to put that lubricant to the test, so Ron was nice enough to add a few drops of the lubricant to two of the bearings and the results were amazing. I got twice my casting distance as before and the smoothness was immediately noticeable. The product has other applications and is certainly worth looking into; it made a believer out of me.

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September should be a great month for fishing in southwest Louisiana. This is a month of change with cooler weather returning to the state. Trout will be moving north in the estuary if the salinities increase. The bait migrations will be underway and the number of birds following the schools will be on the increase as the month progresses. In early September, there will be lots of ladyfish under the gulls, but by the end of the month they’ll mostly be hovering over trout and reds. September is our best month for bull reds along the beaches and at the Cameron jetties. The reds will hit artificials when schooling along the beach. It gets pretty exciting, sight casting topwaters at twenty to forty pound redfish. The best tripletail fishing also normally occurs this month. Tripletail are usually found just offshore, around any floating objects in the area. They’ll also be hugging the structures at the close rigs, under seaweed, buckets, lumber, etc.. Basically, anything that casts a shadow can be holding a tripletail.

“Fishing is a bit inconsistent around San Luis Pass this summer,” Randall says.

“We’ve had some good days, especially on redfish. We were really hammering them in the first half of August. Trout fishing has picked up a little in West Bay. We are working large rafts of mullet out in the middle. Best catching has been on glow Sand Eels. The surf is still a little dirty on the Freeport side of the Pass, but the Galveston beachfront is beautiful. We are having our best luck on topwaters in the surf, but it’s a short lived bite. By eight thirty or so, it gets tough. Offshore fishing has been more steady. We’ve been getting good numbers of king mackerel and snapper when we go. And the dolphin are biting even better. They really seem to like the red magic Sand Eel. Catching a mess of them is a hoot, with all the jumping they do. Ling are showing as well. Had a twelve year old catch a 70 pounder the other day.” Randall says his calendar was recently stolen, and asks that anyone who has him scheduled the rest of the year call and confirm the date(s).

“Trout fishing is pretty easy right now,” James says. “We are working Lower Galveston Bay well pads and catching plenty. Throwing limetreuse Bass Assassins and the cream colored Blurp baits for best results. There are also some herds of big redfish roaming around out here and we’ll bump into those from time to time. The real story lately is the tarpon fishing. It’s as good as the old days. I had at least one fish caught every day last week, then it busted wide open this past weekend. The four boats in our group hooked 32 fish. I found a school about two miles long and they were biting. Biggest fish was about 170 pounds. It taped out at 84 inches long and 40 inches around. There are swarms of smaller fish in the 70 to 100 pound class, all the way from Port Arthur to the San Bernard River.

When it’s calm like this, you can locate them much easier. Now that we have contacted the schools, the rest of the summer should be outstanding if we don’t get any big storms to stir things up and move them around.”

“East Bay reefs are still holding some nice fish. We have been drifting some in there and catching them on small Assassins, mostly dark colors like pumpkinseed/ chartreuse and morning glory/chartreuse. Small topwaters like the Spook Jr. are working some of the time too, as are the pearl and pink Skitterwalks. Topwater bite is better when the surf is on, as it has been most of the time lately. It’s an early morning thing for the easy bite, but it’s possible on some days to keep catching them well into the afternoon if you stay with the schools of bait and fish hard. The stretch west of the jetties has lots of fish, but not too many big ones, but the area to the east is holding some bigger trout. Broken backs seem to be working best on them. We are also catching a few big reds mixed in with the trout in the surf. One customer had a fat 29 1/2 incher the other day.” Action continues to be steady on both trout and reds in West Bay too, especially around Cottons and Greens, two classic mid-summer spots for those who love to wade, he says.

Fishing is extremely hot and cold lately in the Galveston area, reports Jim. “We are having some really easy days fishing slicks on deeper reefs when the winds are light and the water has decent clarity. Tides are pretty low at night and the tide’s coming in strong in the morning. And that makes for a good early bite most of the time. On other days, we are struggling to box eight or ten fish. On those days, the winds are limiting where we can fish. Put wind together with all this freshwater, and you’ll struggle some of the time. The fish are stacked in the saltiest water around and when winds and storms keep you off those areas, it’s hard to catch a fish.”

One of the salty areas is, of course, the surf. “The guys are really smacking them in the surf every time it gets clear. I heard rumors of a trout just under thirty two inches coming out of the High Island surf a couple of weeks ago. Reports had it just under ten pounds. There are easy limits coming off the beachfront from the jetties all the way past Rollover when morning west winds knock the waves down.”

Freshwater runoff still has the Palacios area unfishable. The water in front of the mouth of Tres Palacios River is fresh for about 10 miles. All local bays including Turtle Bay, Coon Island and Carancahua are fresh. Fishing over on the south shoreline of West Matagorda and in the surf has been outstanding. Reds and specks have been pushed to the shoreline and surf by all the freshwater and we have followed to find them. Reds have been running in schools tight to the shorelines, biting weedless gold quarter ounce spoons. Topwaters such as the Spook Jr. in clown and bone flash have also worked. Trout catches have been consistent on deeper sand flats with rolling guts on pink Skitterwalks and roach colored Trout Killers. The tripletail bite has picked back up, with most fish being found back toward the elbow in the channel. We have had some solid fish up to 18 pounds on live shrimp under popping corks. Until the heavy rains stop and area bays clear up, we will continue to work the south shoreline from Oilwell to Airport Flats.

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In recent weeks, the fishing in the Laguna Madre has been fair and I believe that the reason for this is excessive freshwater from all of the rain we’ve had recently.

The storms have finally stopped and hopefully the water’s salinity and clarity will return to normal. The water level has also subsided and this is helping to concentrate fish along drop offs and some of the shallow flats that are adjacent to the drop offs.

Poor water clarity in Baffin Bay has forced us to fish with croakers along grass lines and close to rocks. The speckled trout sizes have been ranging from 17 to 26 inches, but mostly from 17 to 20 inches, and the numbers have been low. In recent weeks, I’ve seen a few small schools of reds mostly along the King Ranch Shoreline and around some of the spoil islands. They are very easily spooked, so once the school is spotted, it’s best to approach them quietly with a trolling motor or wading.

Bass Assassin Blurps in pearl and good penny have been the most productive lures, and are working best in waters least affected by brown tide.

“Fishing has been good in the surf around Pass Cavallo lately,” Lynn says.

“Today, we caught our fish in the first gut all the way up to about two o’ clock, but usually, we catch them early close to the beach, then on the drop off of the second bar as the morning sun gets hotter. Live bait works for easy limits in the waves, of course, but topwaters will normally get almost as many fish for those who know how to walk the dog properly. We’ll be trying to get into the surf for more of this action as much as we can throughout September. It’s taken a while for the winds to die down this year, and now that they have, we want to take full advantage of it.” When not on the beach, Lynn expects to be fishing hard grass beds with sand pockets in the bays. “I’ll be sticking with topwaters as long as I’m getting blown up, then switching to soft plastics when it slows down. I’ve been doing great lately on a Norton Major Minnow in orange/black with a chartreuse tail. And when the water’s really off color, I’ve taken to a five inch Gulp jerk bait in chartreuse/pepper neon. It’s a killer.”

According to Joe, fishing has picked back up in the Upper Laguna Madre system after the effects of the heavy rains diminished. “The water is clearing up some in certain areas, and the fish have been biting pretty good. I’ve been catching both trout and redfish from the JFK bridge south along the King Ranch, and at the spoils along the intracoastal too. We have been doing a bit better on the redfish than the trout. The key this time of year is to locate the schools of reds. They will often push visible wakes in the water. When it’s calm, it’s pretty easy to see them as they are cruising in response to your boat when you pass by them. Then you can stop and approach them with the trolling motor. Sometimes, you will locate black drum instead of reds, but even then, there are often pods of reds mixed in.

September is historically a great month to run this pattern. The fish move north up the Laguna and gang up on the flats near the Causeway. I’ll be looking hard for them throughout the next month or so.”

Like many others, Blake reports finding and catching a bunch of nice trout in the surf in the time just prior to this report. “We had fun in the surf today,” he says. “The water was calm as a bathtub all the way to the beach. Trout up to about twenty five inches were blasting off on our chrome/black topwaters all day. This has been a good run of fishing since the winds calmed. Actually, our bay fishing has been excellent since the floods too. I’ve been fishing Aransas, Corpus Christi and Mesquite Bays and doing well on both trout and redfish. The best lures have been Sand Eels in the bays. The freshwater influx had the reds amped up for a couple of weeks there. We were really hammering them on the reefs. I plan to continue heading out to the beach as much as possible throughout September. As for bay fishing, I’ll be looking for the trout on deeper grassbeds and throwing topwaters early, then switching to the Sand Eels. Also, it will be time to look for herds of reds on their way to the passes.”

Offshore fishing is incredible near Port Mansfield this summer. Bruce says, “We’ve been catching bull redfish ranging from 35 to about 44 inches almost every day. When it’s calm, all you have to do is cruise up and down the beachfront until you see a golden glowing spot in the water. Then you can catch them pretty much however you want to. I’ve been making quite a few blow up on the small topwaters, and we’re catching them on a Pradco paddletail too. Of course, we aren’t keeping any, just fighting a good fight with them. Action on slot reds should be sizzling on the northeast flats in September as the schools of fish in the Laguna Madre move toward the pass and get ready for their spawn. Trout action will continue to be best off the edge of the deepest grass beds. Topwaters will work to catch them, if the floating grass allows their use. Late night and early morning are the best times to catch some specks in the heat. A few long fish are still being caught, such as the thirty incher we had a couple of weeks ago.”

Barring tropical events and an outbreak of red tide, September marks the beginning of the best surf fishing on Padre Island National Seashore. The first cold fronts will move large numbers of finger-sized mullet into the surf, shoals of dusky anchovies peak in annual abundance, and a wide variety of opportunistic big game and medium sized predators will move into the surf to feed on them.

Redfish numbers will peak as they follow the finger mullet out of bay systems. Large ladyfish and Spanish mackerel will be readily available as will jumbo jack crevalle and at times both tarpon and sharks. Target areas of maximum food chain activity to connect with these large predators. Sharks can often be be good targets for sight casting. Use ladyfish for bait. A wide range of artificials and live finger mullet will work on all species. Wire leader is recommended for Spanish mackerel, at least 52 lb. fluorocarbon for large ladyfish and at least 80 lb. fluorocarbon for tarpon. Be wary of large sharks whenever fishing in areas of high food chain activity.

Even high tides are relatively low and there are still some areas of brackish water locked into the coves on the west side, making it hard to find takers, but the east side is clear and reds are scattered over Gas Well and east of Dunkin’s hitting topwaters and gold weedless spoons. Due to heavy traffic, we’re not having much luck finding the large schools of reds that usually are easy pickin’s during the dog days of summer. We are catching trout on soft plastics in light colors or Gulp three inch shrimp in molting and new penny under Cajun Thunder corks and on bottom rigs, working drop offs and pot holes on the Game Refuge and the Long Bar. There have been some tarpon hook ups and small black tip sharks landed in the same deep water that’s holding schools of small trout and plenty of South Bay snook.

Freddy says, “September’s not just for white wing doves, it’s also the season for higher tides and similar expectations. We’re looking forward to increased redfish action, with more wind and currents this coming month.”

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The sweetest aunt in the world, Carolyn Johnson drove all the way from Tennessee to trick this trout into taking her lure. Way to go Aunt Carolyn!

Tim Jarzombek tricked this 30 1/4” 9.29 lb. trout while fishing the Upper Laguna Madre.

Charles Brown, of Buda, proudly shows off this nice drum landed while out fishing in Port O’Connor.

Eli Martinez & friends land this drum after a 30 minute fight.

Sam Reynolds getting ready for his next fishing trip, sitting in his favorite chair!

Kaylin Winther caught and released this huge 29”, 7.5 lb. trout while out fishing in West Bay.

Baylor Moore snagged this 5 lb. trout while out fishing in Baffin.

Robert Martinez caught and released this drum, estimated size over 30”.

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Bailey Barrett lands her first red on an artificial while fishing Shoalwater.

September 2007

Omar Arroyo and Dominic land this bull red while fishing in East Galveston Bay.

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Linda Palacios snagged this 27.5” red while on her first trip to Arroyo City.

Hadyn Strain proudly shows off her 22” trout caught while fishing the Matagorda Jetties in P.O.C.

Lauren Sandow boated this nice triple tail while out fishing with Capt. Lloyd Pepper.

Reid Snider tackled this 27” red while out in West Bay.

John Arevalo, of San Antonio, caught and released this 42” drum while pier fishing in Port Lavaca.

Aggie, Chris Brzozowski caught and released this 29 3/4” trout while fishing with Capt. Bruce Schuler.

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Crystal “pistol” Bryant shows off her 20” trout caught on a top water while fishing the Chandeleur Islands.

Eric Orozco caught and released this 37” drum while out night fishing the Cosway Pier.

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