Jones Lake (Brazoria) 16-Jul-2023

[deptrai]

I headed back into the Jones Lake complex last weekend. I purposely started later in the morning and didn’t launch until about 8 am. There were ~6 other kayak launch vehicles in the parking lot, but I never saw any of them on the water and they were all gone when I landed around 4:30 pm.
I went back to areas where I saw and caught fish a few weeks prior. In the first spot I stopped at, I caught a 17” Red and then moved on.

I found it odd that all morning there were no birds crashing on the baitfish. They were flying around and diving down at the water, but would always pull up a couple of inches before hitting the surface.
It was slow the rest of the morning until about 11:30. A few things happened simultaneously.
1. I made a turn around a corner into a lake I hadn’t visited on my first trip
2. The birds finally started hitting the water (Pelicans and the little guys)
3. The wind kicked up more than forecast
4. I started getting a few bites
I hooked something big and it spit the hook after peeling line off my reel for about 5 seconds. I moved a bit and started seeing lots of BIG tails sticking out of the water. They were all around me, so I used my stakeout pole and fished. I threw everything in the box at them but couldn’t buy a bite. I saw white tails and black tails sticking out. I know the white tails were Red Drum and I’m assuming the black ones were Black Drum. They were in front of me, behind me, to the left of me and to the right of me. It was like they were doing circles around me and giving me the flipper. A flounder even jumped in my face and did a summersault. Some of the Reds came as close as 20’ and didn’t seem to be bothered by my presence. It was mostly a mud bottom and <2’ depth. What are they sticking their noses in the mud for and why couldn’t I get a bite? I’m thinking the hull slap of my Outback bouncing around on the stakeout pole in the wind alerted them that something was off and to not eat anything artificial. I later unstuck-out myself, moved over 150’ and hooked another big guy that came off after about 2 minutes. It seems that being mobile and drifting up on a spot of fish yields better results. I kept moving in that same area and hooked another one 5 minutes later that finally stuck. A 25 incher in the bag. My only keeper of the day.

I moved on again and came back to the same spot where I found big Reds munching on crab on the surface. They were doing it again and again, I wasn’t prepared. I will definitely have some terminal tackle geared for this situation next time. I’m thinking that a flylined live crab would be a guarantee in this situation. Is it legal to fish with live crab? I threw everything in the box again and couldn’t get bit. They wanted that crab and nothing else.

It was low tide when I exited the complex. I won’t do that again. I only almost died three times getting back to the ramp.

Dave

[shoffer]

Sometimes those black tails could be tailing horse mullet. I have been surprised by that before. If the wake is a side-to-side wake, it is a mullet most likely. Reds and Black Drum tend to bull forward in a straight line.

Yes - it is legal to fish with crab and when reds are keyed in on a certain bait, that's all they will eat.

[OldTownYakBoi]

Great report and photos! I definitely agree that drifting or being on the move and intercepting fish is more effective and you’re much less likely to spook them, especially the redfish. I’ve had the same experience you described above. When I try to stake out I get some hull slap as well.

The redfish stick their nose in the mud rooting around trying to spook up a shrimp or crab, I’ve always had a tough time catching the tailing fish with their face down. In my experience the easier fish to catch are the ones cruising a shoreline and crashing bait that way. I can tell you’re learning and getting better, and it’s enjoyable to see others learning and figuring it out!

Congrats on the nice red!

[Ron Mc]

Cool photos - glad you survived.

[deptrai]

I'm going to try it again early tomorrow (Sunday) and get launched before the barges start running in the morning.

Dave

[Music Man]

I’m hitting Churchill in the AM mostly to put the new Nomad on the water. I might do well since I’m playing and not trying so hard fishing