I know some of you guys were headed to the coast in the last few weeks, Roger S, Neumie...
Lets hear some reports, don't be imbarassed if you got skunked not everybody can catch fish like us Okies
I am getting good reports right now from buddies that live down there but I don't want to make the drive this time of year for two reasons: the weather seems to be more unpredictable and it is deer bow season in Oklahoma.
Had a great trip. Fish wise hands down the best we've ever had. Got there on Sat. the 27th right along with the cold front. Set up at Goose Island late afternoon and fished B&R on Sunday due to the winds. My son got one dink trout for all our efforts.
Monday was different. Went back to B&R. Found tails but could not get an eat. Around 11 or so staked out at the channel edge and caught a good bunch of Trout. Some dinks, some keepers.
Fishing Tues. fished Terminal Flats and Wed. did South Bay and it was stellar for trout with easy limits (they're all still swimming) with some overs. Found rat reds mixed in with the trout.
Thurs. the fishing was off and I only managed 2 trout and 1 lizzard fish. Found tailing reds. The fly would land they were gone and if not then on the first twitch of the fly.
Friday we were tired and trying to figure out where to go. Decided to launch again at Tarpon Shores. Had a good outgoing tide and cleaned up on trout again and again a bunch of rat reds in with the trout.
Best all round fly for the week was the Blind Chicken. Clousers would catch trout but the chicken caught everything. For me the highlight was hooking up with 4 good sized ladyfish. Those things are a blast on a 6wt.
Final count;
Trout, who knows, would have needed a clicker to have kept track.
Reds 15 up to 18"
Ladyfish 4
We must have hit a lull between y'alls trips, because it was slim pickings for us. Of course, we had small craft advisories Sunday and Monday of our trips.
Saturday morning we fished Estes Flats from Palm Harbor. Went across and poked outside Traylor for a bit. Undersized reds and dink trout. By 10 the winds really picked up and so did the boat traffic. Every time I caught a few undersized reds I had boats roll in behind and either drift or anchor. It got annoying. I stood and fished a bunch and could see slot reds, but could never get them to take. We pulled off around 2. Around 4:30 we relaunched at Port Bay rd and headed around the piers. The wind was really kicking and it was struggle to get there. Spiney landed a nice tournament red 27 7/8", but that was it. Maybe some small fish.
Sunday we were faced with a small craft advisory so we unloaded out kayaks at LHL and drove to Palm Harbor to leave our trucks and trailers. We went one way from LHL to Palm Harbor and covered about 12 miles from 8am to 6 pm. It was a long day on the water and think we managed 2 keeper reds, 3 keeper trout, and a flounder, with small ones tossed in. On one flat we found lots of upper slot reds (I probably drifted over 40 of them) but had zero takers. It was frustrating. California Hole produced all of our keepers for the day.
Monday we again had SCA and fished B&R. We went up the Sailboat channel and across B&R. Again, some undersized reds were caught with the larger reds not wanting anything to do with what we were throwing. We were off by 2.
Sunday we ran over to East pocket in St Charles Bay are were skunked. I did manage to paddle over a 10ft gator in a slough that was just deep enough and wide enough for my 15' kayak and himself. Actually I had to paddle over it twice because it was the only way out of the back lake. By far the scariest moment I've ever experienced in my kayak.
The trip was fun as usual because of the great company, but we got beat down from all the wind. The nicest day was the Tuesday that we left.
Basically, the bigger reds were exceptionally spooky even when using finesse techniques.
I'll be back down next week with the folks and powerboat.
Maybe the post front conditions got the trout active. Drains on the outgoing were the ticket. You did better than us on the reds. We only caught rats and yes we saw a lot of slot fish but they were spooky as can be. Figured it was the full moon that had them that way.
Made 2 trips in past 30 days. The first was decent and the second was on fire. On the second trip I got tx slam limit in first 14 hrs then limit of trout and reds the next day.
Nice to catch up with you too. It has been a long time 8+ yrs. I may be headed back down to the coast in Dec for a few days. Not sure where yet that will depend on what the weather has been and will be doing.
Danny casting in the Galveston marshes Thanksgiving weekend.
Galveston slot red caught on fly. 6# / 26"
Salas and first red on fly. 5.5# / 25"
Danny and red on fly. 5.5# / 25"
We launched from Louis's Bait Camp Bar & Grill. We were lead by local Danny Scarborough, and he certainly gets the credit for taking us landlubbers to the promised land. Not a bad morning at all. Story will run at length tomorrow at Texas Fly Caster.
texasflycaster wrote:
Danny casting in the Galveston marshes Thanksgiving weekend.
Galveston slot red caught on fly. 6# / 26"
Salas and first red on fly. 5.5# / 25"
Danny and red on fly. 5.5# / 25"
We launched from Louis's Bait Camp Bar & Grill. We were lead by local Danny Scarborough, and he certainly gets the credit for taking us landlubbers to the promised land. Not a bad morning at all. Story will run at length tomorrow at Texas Fly Caster.
