LHL

[Kitsune]

Entered the western end of LHL around 6:30am on Sunday with moderate winds. Water clarity was fantastic, floating grass was minimal, and the tide was slightly lower than usual. Black Drum were scattered and were playing hard to get. I didn’t see very many Redfish in LHL after casting topwaters and spoons for an hour or two.Only a few rat reds and one or two spooked. So I exited into South Bay to see if anything bigger was out there. Nothing too exciting either. I did catch 5 dinks or so and a handful of rat reds. There were 4-6 kayakers in South Bay at the time and they may have had better luck. Anyone? I did see an older gentleman with a sit-in-side kayak that I often run into out there? He was fishing with a kayaker in a long orange (tarpon?) yak. Nonetheless, it was a good day to get out there and log-in the current situation.

I look forward to late August in this location. June and July can be tough fishing this area consistently. Black Drum have been there for a while now, some are skittish, but with fresh bait and patience they are there.

[wittich]

I fished the LHL on the previous weekend. We found fish but they were not eating anything we threw at them. we caught one redfish and then we fished the potholes along the ICW and Southbay and caught two trout.
I find that the fish are hard to catch when it gets this hot. What is is about August that you like in LHL?

[Kitsune]

I fished the LHL on the previous weekend. We found fish but they were not eating anything we threw at them. we caught one redfish and then we fished the potholes along the ICW and Southbay and caught two trout.
I find that the fish are hard to catch when it gets this hot. What is is about August that you like in LHL?

Towards the end of August, at least in my experience, the Redfish change their patterns and LHL becomes “alive” again. They become a little more predictable especially going into September.

[wittich]

Good to know. I have always felt that happened in October when it starts to cool off.

[Kitsune]

It’s definitely in full swing by then. I think it starts Septemberish and ends the middle of November or so. Of course this is just a guide and are not hard facts. Weather, tides, and other non-foreseeable events can play a major role.

Last August I ran into a lot of schooled up upper-slot Redfish in the back lakes that were not there a month previous. I’m hoping that happens again .

This is my report from late August last year.

viewtopic.php?p=2330355#p2330355

Thanks to TKF for saving these post.

[Ron Mc]

Thanks for the report - no day on the water is wasted.

Fall fishing phenomena are about the strongest tides of the year, and spawning migrations from the gulf.
Juvenile redfish inshore clump from pods for comfort to herds out of instinct.

[Kitsune]

Thanks for the report - no day on the water is wasted.

Fall fishing phenomena are about the strongest tides of the year, and spawning migrations from the gulf.
Juvenile redfish inshore clump from pods for comfort to herds out of instinct.

Such a good graph. It makes sense, tides would be a good indicator for fish to start changing their patterns.

[Ron Mc]

We've hit the Marker 60 pass at LHL on a falling tide, had schoolie (male) specs and even jacks coming into the pass to feed from Aransas channel.
My daughter nailed 3 big sheepshead this day, also (Didn't want to mess with them, wanted the spec fillets).



The general rule, fish the shoreline and sloughs in a rising tide, and fish the passes (or the mouth of a draining slough) on a falling tide.

When you have to drive from San Antonio to fish, maybe hang 3 days, you pick your fishing days from a tide chart.



We planned this Sept trip for Estes to get this morning tide fall and fish the Aransas side of Little Cut at first light.
We began the first morning with a half-hour of stacked snook. Tony got a fly rod snook.



We always plan Estes trips this way. Paddle in the dark to get to Little Cut (Trout Bayou cut on a NE wind) as quickly as possible, fish the strong tide current in the cut. While we couldn't plan our snook "accident", it was our gravy for planning properly and picking the trip days from the tide chart.

On a 3-day trip with this tide chart, we have 3 shots at it - planning this way, on average, we get 2 hot days out of 3.
We may not always find action at the cut, but the dice roll is loaded in our favor.
From there, we will paddle back onto Estes, and finish the morning drift fishing with sock - always back toward home if we planned around the wind properly.

[wittich]

RonMC,
Do you have any pictures of the snook?

After the freeze I saw a large one dead in a pothole in South bay right near the ICW. I had no idea that snook were around as I have never seen one caught in Aransas pass.

[Ron Mc]

No friend, we were too busy trying to catch the next one in the dark.
They were all about 14", but they're a blast - they really pour on a short determined fight - a lot like Smacks.
We have 3 species of snook here, and only one of those reaches the slot.

I have an Arroyo photo - I've caught one slot fish there, and broken off (more likely gill-cut) a couple that were over-slot, but most are 14" to 18".
This 18" is hopping off the table and went right back into the channel.