Summer, Start Your Engine CORPUS

Christi

Reported by CAPT. JOEY FARAH

MAY AND JUNE SIGNAL the o cial start of Summertime Fishing! Weekends will be ooded with local and traveling shermen, most hustling for live bait from local marinas and bait camps. is is the rst time that live croaker are available. the winds pick up, dri ing the shallow ats on the east side of Ba n Bay for shallow schools of red sh. e Meadows and Nine Mile Hole are miles of ats waiting for you to dri . I like long casts with small topwaters when we have a sti wind and not a lot of oating grass. Whitewater blow ups from furious red sh will stop drag and run you around the boat several times. Classic Summer Colors are the Red/white, Texas Croaker, and Mole’ in the DOA 3” CAL SHAD. I like a ¼ ounce jig head for long casts and burn it at a pre y fast retrieve. largest snappers hold up current of the platform or suspended half way up.

Another of my favorite summertime redsh baits is the DOA 5.5” JERK SHAD, with a light 1/16 ounce jig head. is bait will cast far and skip and dart across the shallow ats without diving into the bo om. It also mimics a ballyhoo, bait sh, or needle sh and sends red sh in a charge behind it, striking it in a ball of exploding water.

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CONTACT CAPT. FARAH:

Email: jfarah72@yahoo.com

By Phone: 361-442-8145

Fishing’s Favorite Months

Port Aransas

Reported by CAPT. RICHARD THOMPSON

MAY AND JUNE ARE TWO of our favorite months. Which leads us into summertime in the Fishing Capital of Texas!

For the rst few weeks trout limits will come easy. A er a month, trout within the new slot limit will be hard to nd. When you nd an area that produces a few sh, bump downwind 50-100 yds looking for similar structure, instead of picking up and moving long distances.

I will be using lures all summer catching trout on topwaters and so plastics at dawn, then when

At dawns rst light, we will be using so plastics to bring to hand lots of slot to over slot trout from the edges of the ICW Canal, the Land Cut, and the large rock piles in Ba n Bay. Refrain from casting over the rocks, as most of the trout will be just beside them, chasing bait around the structure.

Topwater baits are very useful in the mornings in May and June, during the rst hour of the day. I always get more strikes on topwater with mono lament line, or braided line with a longer than 2’ leader. is gives a stretch to the line and creates a more natural ow of the topwater bait.

Surf shing will also heat up here along the southern Texas Coast. Snapper season will start in June and will be popular for smaller boats when the seas lay at. Close oil platforms to Port Aransas, Packery Channel, and Port Mans eld will all o er good near shore snapper shing. Fish the bo om with squid, shrimp, or live pin perch. O en, the

Our coastal waters during this time of year, from Port Aransas to the Upper Laguna Madre, are some of the richest and plentiful feeding grounds for our sh species. If you listen carefully, you can almost hear the sh lickin’ their lips as they devour their favorite bait.

Having two unique passes so close together, creating very strong tidal movement between Pakery Channel and Port Aransas Je ies, literally creates a sh highway for outstanding shing in the water ways surrounding Mustang Island, where limits of red sh, black drum, and trout are commonplace. is is a great opportunity for those who enjoy kayak shing and or walk-in wade shing to take advantage of easy accessibility to sh these areas.