Freeport Floater. 2-Oct-2022

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deptrai
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Freeport Floater. 2-Oct-2022

Post by deptrai »

After being out of commission for three weeks due to my Hobie Mirage drive exploding, I finally made it back on the water today.
I launched near the Freeport Coast Guard station. I really like that launch. Its free, plenty of parking, never crowded and has a toilet.
I headed straight out the jetties and took a right turn once I cleared the tips. Trolled a big Rattle Trap the whole time. Once I rounded the tip, I noticed the wind was out of the north and there were no birds working to the south. I made a U-turn and headed south. There were lots of birds working to the south. I went about a mile trolling that stupid Rattle Trap for nothing.
IMG_1374.jpg
I then dropped down a type of creature bait on a jighead and drug it across the bottom while the wind blew me back towards the jetties. Never got touched. I tied on a big spoon on another rod and cast it out and retrieved while dragging the other bait on the bottom. Still nothing. The wind was picking up so I headed back inside while trolling the spoon. It was pretty sporty coming back inside. The swells really build near the entrance.
Cruising along the inside of the north jetty, I finally hooked a fish. It went on two big runs and I was concerned that my rod/reel combo wasn’t quite suited for whatever it was I had hooked. I chased it down with the newly repaired ($300) Mirage Drive and finally got on top of it and was making some progress bringing it to the surface. Then it just came unbuttoned before I ever saw what it was.
I trolled up & down that same stretch a couple more times, but never got hit again.
I decided I’d go try for some flounder so I headed back past the Coast Guard station and made a right turn onto the InterCoastal Waterway. The current was ripping in there and I had to pedal like a madman to make any progress. I made a left turn into this channel and fished the area in the red circle for nothing.
FF.JPG

Fifth time on my kayak in Texas and still zero keeper fish. I did manage to net a crab. This guy was just floating along in the channel between the jetties.
IMG_1375.jpg
Dave
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Re: Freeport Floater. 2-Oct-2022

Post by mwatson71 »

If you want some company the next time you want to get out, send me a message a couple of days in advance. I will gladly give you a tour of some spots where we have been lucky lately as a “welcome to Texas” trip.
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Ron Mc
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Re: Freeport Floater. 2-Oct-2022

Post by Ron Mc »

Here's an upcoming week of tides.
Image
The way you fish these days.
The week begins with sharp falling tides. You want to fish tide passes, especially at first light. This would be a killer time for your jetty trip.
If you're fishing a flat, set up your drifts to follow the fish from the shallower water into deeper water.
Later in the week are neap tides. You'll do best fishing reefs early. The rising tides peak about noon, and late morning would be the time to drift into shorelines.
When wind and tide current are going opposite directions, passes can really stack up bait.

If you don't see Life on the water surface, you're in the wrong place. Here, a power boat can be a real advantage for trying somewhere else.
We don't have that luxury in a kayak, so we focus our fishing in advance to be in the right place.

The biggest advantage of TKF is making friends.
As Michael has suggested, time on the water with experienced friends makes for great days, and fish are gravy.

If you'd like a lure recommendation, especially for drift fishing, our own Tobin's TSL Grasswalker is a great lure to learn how to fish on the flats.
it dog-walks in the zone with a slow retrieve. Another bait I particularly like is Z-man Texas Eye jighead with matching shad bodies.
Image Image
Lure colors, I would guess you're fishing turbid water.
Red and pink are choice for low-angle sunlight after sunrise and before sundown.
White and chartreuse in tall sun and turbid water.
Purple is tough to beat in turbid and overcast.
Go more for blend colors in clear water, darker blend colors in overcast.
All that said, many people fish nothing but chartreuse or nothing but pink under all conditions and catch fish.
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deptrai
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Re: Freeport Floater. 2-Oct-2022

Post by deptrai »

mwatson71 wrote: Sun Oct 02, 2022 4:37 pm If you want some company the next time you want to get out, send me a message a couple of days in advance. I will gladly give you a tour of some spots where we have been lucky lately as a “welcome to Texas” trip.
Thanks. I'm looking to get back on the water again somewhere this Sunday.

Dave
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deptrai
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Re: Freeport Floater. 2-Oct-2022

Post by deptrai »

Ron Mc wrote: Mon Oct 03, 2022 7:00 am Here's an upcoming week of tides.
Image
The way you fish these days.
The week begins with sharp falling tides. You want to fish tide passes, especially at first light. This would be a killer time for your jetty trip.
If you're fishing a flat, set up your drifts to follow the fish from the shallower water into deeper water.
Later in the week are neap tides. You'll do best fishing reefs early. The rising tides peak about noon, and late morning would be the time to drift into shorelines.
When wind and tide current are going opposite directions, passes can really stack up bait.

If you don't see Life on the water surface, you're in the wrong place. Here, a power boat can be a real advantage for trying somewhere else.
We don't have that luxury in a kayak, so we focus our fishing in advance to be in the right place.

The biggest advantage of TKF is making friends.
As Michael has suggested, time on the water with experienced friends makes for great days, and fish are gravy.

If you'd like a lure recommendation, especially for drift fishing, our own Tobin's TSL Grasswalker is a great lure to learn how to fish on the flats.
it dog-walks in the zone with a slow retrieve. Another bait I particularly like is Z-man Texas Eye jighead with matching shad bodies.
Image Image
Lure colors, I would guess you're fishing turbid water.
Red and pink are choice for low-angle sunlight after sunrise and before sundown.
White and chartreuse in tall sun and turbid water.
Purple is tough to beat in turbid and overcast.
Go more for blend colors in clear water, darker blend colors in overcast.
All that said, many people fish nothing but chartreuse or nothing but pink under all conditions and catch fish.
I've still got a lot to learn with the tides here. The bodies of water are so mingled and meandering, its hard to tell by looking at a table, which direction the water is going to be flowing. A 2' swing seems to be a big deal here. In Oregon, I would fish 6' swings.
I threw that exact Z-man lure and Texas Eye jig for a while Sunday and got nothing.
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Re: Freeport Floater. 2-Oct-2022

Post by mwatson71 »

I won’t be around this Sunday, but if I was, I’d probably launch somewhere around Ernie’s and fish the drains and deeper holes in Churchill Bayou when the tide is moving. I’d also hit the sandy flts at the edge of the grasslines opposite the marsh drains hoping to pick up a few flounder. And for sure I’d troll a 3” Vudu shad with a little Procure on it when moving thru the bayou from spot to spot.
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Re: Freeport Floater. 2-Oct-2022

Post by Ron Mc »

deptrai wrote: Mon Oct 03, 2022 7:03 pm
I've still got a lot to learn with the tides here. The bodies of water are so mingled and meandering, its hard to tell by looking at a table, which direction the water is going to be flowing. A 2' swing seems to be a big deal here. In Oregon, I would fish 6' swings.
I threw that exact Z-man lure and Texas Eye jig for a while Sunday and got nothing.
It's not about the lure until you find the fish.
Check out this trip, a tide harmonic planned months in advance, improved to epic by a draining 2' storm tide.
Even then, we had a bad day between two legendary days.
https://texaskayakfisherman.com/forum/v ... ?p=2310194

Our time to travel to the coast is valuable. We don't fish randomly, and pick our best-looking days weeks or months ahead.

You should be able to look at the chart I posted above and see why tide movement is significant on Tues 18 Oct

The example of renting a canal house, we check the tide prediction against the days the property is open, pick the best several choices, check on friends who want to play. This has to be done months in advance for friends to secure vacation, and to reserve the property.
Someone ramrods the property and sends out an e-mail proposal, estimating the cost of man-nights.

Here's a good tide, good wind, good location, and two different structures close to each other where the wind and tide current concentrated bait on both.
https://texaskayakfisherman.com/forum/v ... 5#p2310965
One is the passes from the flat to the channel with wind reversed from tide current. The second is shelf structure on the flat with both tide and wind moving fish to deeper water.
I saw the tide prediction, and made a special trip down to join my friends who were already there for a week.
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Re: Freeport Floater. 2-Oct-2022

Post by karstopo »

I wonder what it was you hooked? Deep strong runs on a spoon? Possibly a jack? Maybe a bull redfish?
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Re: Freeport Floater. 2-Oct-2022

Post by Ron Mc »

Mackerel have soft mouths, and this is the time of year for them - they'll run in pretty far on fall bull tides - catches have been reported at Corpus Bayou on Lydia Ann channel. Even a small smack hits like a freight train. I've seen them in blackwater off the South Padre jetties - the bait makes it black, but the water is so clear, you can see the sand 25' below - the smack school makes a sine wave through the full water column chasing bait.
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