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Copano Bay 5/18
Posted: Tue May 24, 2022 8:52 am
by Music Man
Winds were brutal but I had scheduled this trip a couple of months ago and was too stubborn to cancel. We put in at the Rattlesnake kayak launch and skirted around to the point, trying to stay out of the wind. Bait was everywhere. Tried some top water and got some half-hearted swats but no hookups. Switched to some gulp and started getting flounder. I managed to hook up 4 times but lost every one
. Son hooked up a few times and landed this nice one.
In spite of the wind it was a beautiful day and a great time fishing with my son and Ty Southerland.
Re: Copano Bay 5/18
Posted: Tue May 24, 2022 10:17 am
by TexasJim
Nice flounder. I launched at Port Bay Club Road launch at 7 AM and the NE wind was pretty strong, so I hugged the shoreline and went South. Like you said, there was bait everywhere, fish hitting them, a few birds fishing, but they didn't want anything I was tossing. I tried wake baits, topwaters, soft plastics on the bottom, suspended lures, but nothing. I finally went to a marsh drain and got no results. I put on some frozen shrimp under a popping cork and finally scored a hardhead. The wind laid for a while, until I started back to the launch, so I had a hard slog into the wind. Oh, well, it was a pretty day. Ty can usually find good fish. TexasJim
Re: Copano Bay 5/18
Posted: Tue May 24, 2022 10:23 am
by Music Man
I got all of my hook ups on a Gulp lemon pepper jerk shad. I think that' what my son caught his on as well.
I want to fish down there more. The water clarity is amazing - I'm used to the murkiness of Churchill Bayou
Re: Copano Bay 5/18
Posted: Tue May 24, 2022 5:33 pm
by Dandydon
Those Gulp jerk shad sometimes catch fish when nothing else will. I also like the smaller curly-tail models in white and chartreuse.
Enjoyed your report of father/son fishing on Copano and your good Flounder action.
And yes, Churchill Bayou can often be an irritating mudhole compared to our clearer saltwater down south. Soon these gusting Spring winds will relax and it will officially be "hot as Hell."
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Re: Copano Bay 5/18
Posted: Wed May 25, 2022 7:02 am
by Ron Mc
Thanks for the report. Flounder go insane when you get them off the bottom.
I think May has always been my largest flounder month - got a 24" on fly rod in Panther Lake casting to sand holes.
Last May, Lou boated one that size, and discovered how much trouble they are inside a kayak as he watched it hop away.
Re: Copano Bay 5/18
Posted: Fri May 27, 2022 9:04 pm
by Music Man
My PB best flounder was 22” - I can’t imagine the fight of a 24” monster. I hook up far more than I boat. Losing one out of my yak might make me remember some unpleasant language
Re: Copano Bay 5/18
Posted: Sat May 28, 2022 7:35 am
by Dandydon
I like your funny logo of a squirrel playing his trumpet with a beer.
It suits the Music Man
.
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Re: Copano Bay 5/18
Posted: Sat May 28, 2022 7:52 am
by Ron Mc
Music Man wrote: ↑Fri May 27, 2022 9:04 pm
My PB best flounder was 22” - I can’t imagine the fight of a 24” monster. I hook up far more than I boat. Losing one out of my yak might make me remember some unpleasant language
We were catching specs on the outgoing tide at Ceday Bayou, and the guy across from us was hooked up to a flounder.
All of us limited out (10 then) before he landed the thing, and we waited to see his result before loading the boat to head back.
It would have blanketed a coffee table - it was a carpet of big flounder.
Used to travel to Alaska every summer on business, and of course, stay to play. (It's amazing how often you run across Texas fishing friends at the Anchorage and Salt Lake City airports). While I was there one trip, a 600-lb record halibut was boated, and the photo in the paper showed it hanging over both sides of his pickup bed.
btw, should you make it to Anchorage, the fish-n-chips at Humpy's Alehouse is (fresh) halibut, and maybe the best place in the world to sample ales and porters.
For DD, a Los Comales fishbowl top shelf Rita - walking is optional.
Re: Copano Bay 5/18
Posted: Sat May 28, 2022 10:40 am
by Music Man
Dandydon wrote: ↑Sat May 28, 2022 7:35 am
I like your funny logo of a squirrel playing his trumpet with a beer.
It suits the Music Man
.
Sent from my SM-G973U1 using Tapatalk
Well, I spend hours a day playing trumpet and do a lot of home brewing - currently have about 25 gallons kegged up right now
Re: Copano Bay 5/18
Posted: Sat May 28, 2022 10:42 am
by Music Man
Ron Mc wrote: ↑Sat May 28, 2022 7:52 am
Music Man wrote: ↑Fri May 27, 2022 9:04 pm
My PB best flounder was 22” - I can’t imagine the fight of a 24” monster. I hook up far more than I boat. Losing one out of my yak might make me remember some unpleasant language
We were catching specs on the outgoing tide at Ceday Bayou, and the guy across from us was hooked up to a flounder.
All of us limited out (10 then) before he landed the thing, and we waited to see his result before loading the boat to head back.
It would have blanketed a coffee table - it was a carpet of big flounder.
Used to travel to Alaska every summer on business, and of course, stay to play. (It's amazing how often you run across Texas fishing friends at the Anchorage and Salt Lake City airports). While I was there one trip, a 600-lb record halibut was boated, and the photo in the paper showed it hanging over both sides of his pickup bed.
btw, should you make it to Anchorage, the fish-n-chips at Humpy's Alehouse is (fresh) halibut, and maybe the best place in
Alaska is on my bucket list. Alas, with one son in vet school and another in under-grad…Texas fisheries are the only thing in my budget. Well…some room for bourbon and bucket sized ‘Rita’s!
Re: Copano Bay 5/18
Posted: Sat May 28, 2022 11:18 am
by Ron Mc
Alaska was never in my budget - I worked there as a metallurgist in power plant life analysis (land-based gas turbines).
Paid my dues on the North Slope in winter, but also got to fish most every week of summer into fall.
The first thing when you arrive, your client asks if you have a plan to play when the work is done.
If you don't, they get pissed..., "I bought you a ticket up here, and you're not going to take advantage of it."
I took enough advantage, I guided my friends on Kenai when they flew up to meet me.
this one's me
True about Alaska - you take part of Alaska with you, and you leave part of yourself there.
Re: Copano Bay 5/18
Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2022 9:49 am
by Kitsune
When I fished shamrock, deadman’s, and laguna shores with a jig and gulp I would come across flounder quite often. My largest was 25”,only had one eye, and went ape crazy when that one eye saw my kayak. It flipped over the front end of the yak and I was certain it was going to come off. It stayed on, the jig buried deep in throat tissue. I now fish LHL and shallow water using spoons and topwaters and I have not caught near the flounder. I like them, but the flounder along with dink trout can go take a swim when it comes to getting the hook out and not in me.
. Son hooked up a few times and landed this nice one.