FISH CATCHING TRAVEL
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Up and atem’ Boys, times a wasting!
In anticipation of the Austin Boys coming next week I fished Wednesday to do some looking, and was planning on getting a few more days in before next Thursday. When I got home that afternoon, washed the stuff and got settled I checked my email, and there was one from Ken to the listserve: “I am taking off for POC.” Huh? Is he coming a week early? Am I reading that right? Oh no, it is this week! Yikes. I had my weeks confused and was meeting them tomorrow morning. So after mulling that brain fart over it was a quick pack job and I was more than ready to hit the bay. And a funny thing happened earlier when I took the boat out that morning. I asked a guy walking by what time it was, I don’t wear a watch, and while I was talking to him I said since I retired I don’t even know what day it is. Guess that turned out to be true. But no harm no foul, and I was looking forward to the get together.
This picture says everything you need to know about the trip! Thanks Ro.
I am again thankful the Austin Boys invited me along this year for their annual Fishmas. It has been going on for over 10 years, for some of them it is their annual trip to the salt, for others, they get to the salt somewhat regularly. But all look forward to it and not only do they fish hard, they are good fishermen to boot. It is good fishing, good food, good tunes, lots of totally truthful stories, an adult beverage or two, and whole pile of fishing poles, tackle, boats, waders, and on and on. And Jesse had his new to him boat there and Ken had a new Yama, so all was right in the boating world. There is somewhere this side of 20 of them who make the annual trek. A couple started Wednesday catching a few, and I met Todd, John, David, and Pete, who would be my wading partners at the Lavaca Thursday at noon. I brought my boat, John jumped in and the fishing began.
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We also saw Ken, who started early and had his limit, on our way down river. The first bank no bites, the second, it started. Something happened that does not happen often, and would happen later in the trip, a stretch of no throwbacks. John and I fished a short stretch 3 times, caught our 1o trout limit, and every fish we caught there made the grade with no shorts. We kept hunting around looking for reds and the only keeper was a red fish who chased my bait out of a slough. Love seeing them coming. We kept at it and had 2 more good trout runs, both with tons of smalls, though we were not measuring them by then.
Todd’s Shallow Sport and my Mako on the river. (Thanks for Ken for a few of his pictures.)
In one spot they were chasing finger mullet all over the place and we boated maybe a dozen in 15 minutes. Todd and them added 3 keepers to the pot and we were off and running. As the sun started down it was off to POC to clean fish and get in the house. We met the big bunch at their place later, feasted on prime rib, and shot the breeze and caught up. In my case the quest continued to remember everyone’s name. So if I get anything wrong with names, or anything else sorry, but I am an old man!
The fish fry waiting to happen.
Day 2.
Funny how day 2 was actually like other day 2’s I have had with them, it was a grind, which often comes before the success. But first let me talk about one of the worst cases of potlicking I have ever seen, and you know I hate the term, but this was almost unbelievable. Pete and John were on a wade inside the Pringle shoreline while we were drifting the lake. Keep in mind that there were only 3 boats in Pringle, 2 from our bunch, when a boat came in, dropped anchor, and hopped out. They had a boat with a name on the side that shall remain nameless, (Guide business?) (You know how that makes you bad to the bone, or is it bonehead.) which was parked in POC down from where we stayed, and they gave freakin’ rude a bad name. As we approached to check on Pete and John one of the assholes basically sprinted down the bank and literally cut them off at less than 30 yards from where they were headed. I have never seen anything like it. What a cheap punk ass thing to do, and the very reason I do not fish the weekends down there. There was only thousands of acres of water with not a boat and they do that? I call BS. But enough of that.
Don and the boys. This is the Majek that got in a small fight with my 4Runner 2 years ago. The 4Runner lost!
When I say the day was a grind, it is the perfect description. Pringle was slow by any terms, and that is Todd’s go-to place to drift while some of us wade. The day was so remarkable that I can not remember what we put in the box there, but it was in the 3 trout range maybe. We hit several more spots and had periods of action, and though in one drain I caught 10, none measured. In fact the lots of small one theme continued he whole weekend for most folks. We fished Pringle inside and outside, and then a couple of more banks, and the best I can say is we ended up with 7 keepers, and I could not tell you by who, what, or how, it was a true grind. The most memorable thing of the day was Todd’s Muffaletta sandwiches he brought for lunch. They were awesome and the size of your head. And the 5 or 6 boats in the group reported similar results that evening, one of those days that everyone struggled some but did all catch fish. We cleaned fish, and ourselves, and headed over to the their place for supper.
Thanks Ken and the boys for a couple from his boat on day 2.
That night Todd was back at it. Broiled redfish over rice smothered in his Cajun concoction. Talk about good, that boy can cook. Some folks like me make it, and it just does not get there, when Todd does it, it is amazing. And his assembly line got folks fed in nothing flat. And then the Flan. Ken is famous for his yearly Flan, not to mention his cheese balls, and he takes a massive amount of ribbing about it. But guess what? For some reason every last bit of it disappears every year. It was freaky good. So after a long day we headed back to our place looking forward to day 3.
Day 3.
We roll out of bed around 6:30, and after some water, a few Tylenol, coffee, finished off with a Speedy Stop breakfast taco, more beer, and some ice, we finally hit the water. We headed down to fish the reefs on the first chain. Of course when we got there 6 boats were where we wanted to fish so we switched reefs and made the first wade. It was a total strike out. As we rolled back in the boat low and behold the birds were getting after it. Those of you who fish POC know that is usually Gafftop hell, but this time it was trout. We made a couple of drifts before they quit and put 7 or 8 keepers in the boat. Todd was the man with everyone else catching a few. David started caroline rigging with shrimp, which would come into play for him later. Then Pete hooks up on plastic and can’t figure out what it is before it comes over the side, a Pompano. His first, which we all got a kick out of. I have only caught one on plastics since I have been here and we were all surprised to say the least. Things were looking up.
Pete’s Pompano, his first.
Fishing involves skill and planning, but nothing helps more than blind luck. One of our party needed to hit the bushes so we beached the boat and waited. I noticed a reef with water flowing over it and bait jumping, so I jumped in, and things were about to get interesting. My only real goal this weekend was to fish a twitch bait. It was Academy’s knock off corky style in a croaker color, which I thought looked killer, so I bought it. Good choice, and it actually ran perfect with a super slow sink on 10lb fluoro.
I was getting twitchy with it.
The bait looked mean, and my first bite was a 20″ trout that actually did the “smash it” thing. Pete and John jumped in and off we went. They liked it best twitched a couple of times and then stopped, I like the way it felt, not to mention the way they ate it. It should only get increasingly effective as winter wears on. I ended up adding a couple of 18″s and a 24″ red, who had that thing way down his throat. They kept with the plastics and added a few more trout, all keepers. That would be the theme in that area the rest of the afternoon. Todd and David had gone up to another reef in the boat, then came to get us so we headed above a couple of drains and it was every man for himself. It was not fast but it was freakin’ good. Catch one, add it to the stringer.
Pete’s drum that started the big bite.
As we started the second wade in that area Pete spotted a dark spot and made a couple of casts, got a couple of bites, but did not hook up. We were not sure what that spot was when we noticed when one rolled and it was a huge pod of drum. I could reach them so I tossed the twitch bait, turned the handle and was hooked up. It turned out to be a 28″ + red who had that twitch bait in his gut, so tagged and on the stringer. First one I have ever tagged, he was just to close to chance it and it is headed to Austin as redfish on the half shell.
Then Pete hooked up, then John, then Todd and David jumped in and the catching began. The bite was fast and furious with the pod moving around where we could occasionally see them, then you were immediately hooked up. We had a couple of doubles. One of those times when wading is king.
Drum Roll Please! Nice one John. I think he added 2 to the cooler.
Before it was over 5 drum and 3 reds joined the cooler, along with the trout, all nice keeper fish. As the tide began to rip and the wind began to blow they turned on and were steady for most of the afternoon.
David with a couple of good ones including a 27″ red. He put on his big boy pants after major wader failure.
Time for a couple of relevant stories. David’s waders literally fell apart day 2 and sieve might be the most appropriate word to describe them. The water was cool but he could not take it in the boat any more so he jumped in without them, and was a man about it. It must have been tough, but as you can see above it was well worth his effort. And of course with that many folks fishing of course there was another wading fubar.
Ken’s boat partner, Alan, with a 23″ + trout and a 17″+ flounder basically back to back. Nice job.
David was wading in Big Pocket with his boat partners when he stepped in a hole that was deeper than his waders, so full of water he was trudging to the boat and it actually happened again. So now his waders weigh a ton and he manages to get in the boat, the video of him laying on his back struggling to get his feet up in the air with the water pouring out of the waders, and over him, is hilarious. Additionally there was one trailer issue when one hit the concrete thing at a gas station. Unfortunately it is still down at POC and should have a new axle and fender in a couple of weeks. Luckily that was the size of the major happenings. Like the Boss always asks me when I get home: What did you break? But no one got hurt and with a crowd that size stuff can happen.
It is hard not to laugh. It was all in good fun at David’s expense. Thanks Tony for the video.
And last but not least I could not find my crappy stringer so I grabbed Todd’s on my last wade. I caught the big red and put it on. When he caught a couple of trout I strung them, them it came off and I did not have a clue. When Pete caught it one trout was gone and the other was making his escape. So for the rest of the day Todd decided I could not count a trout and he could count it, or some such nonsense! Dang fishermen. Either way it turned out just fine and I didn’t feel stupid, at least not much.
The last wade. Where do the days go?
The last wade was a long one. Halfway through it I took the long walk back to the boat and let them have at it. It had the feeling of more good fish, maybe the Big One on the way and I was hoping someone would get it done, and it almost happened. Todd jumped in the boat with me and kept tossing his shrimp while David fished a drain. John got into a good topwater bite and added a couple, using the bone Spook One Knocker slow, it was getting pretty rough. He strung a couple but unfortunately what I felt was coming did, but it did not happen. He had the big blow up, big trout written all over it. A heart pounding moment, one of those he will remember for a lifetime. Pete added another to his stringer on top, and at one point he had a trout boiling on it from below while at the same time a gull was attacking from above. It was one of those bites.
David ended his day by catching several rats and a puppy drum on shrimp, along with the ones above, then the trip was over. With Todd cooking the fish fry for the crowd we headed in. Believe me it took Pete and John a little to give it up with an hour of light left, but we left them biting. Of course the wind was up and the ride the usual bumpy mess to POC from South Pass. The afternoon stretch was one of the best bites I have had in a while. Of course we have all caught more, bigger, etc, but this stretch was hook a bite and put it on the stringer, the average was good and they were aggressive. It really was a great way to finish the fishing.
Turn out the lights, the parties (I mean the fishing!) is over. Our boat and Ken’s running to Froggie’s.
Luckily the house had a cleaning table because when we got to Froggie’s it was the Christmas Parade, which we crashed a couple of years ago, not to mention lots of folks cleaning fish. So on the trailer we went and we did them at the house. When we officially counted it was 21 trout, 5 blacks, and 3 reds for our boat. The biggest red 28″ 1/4 (tagged), a 20″ trout, and a 27″ drum. It was a good day and the best thing was everyone in the boat contributed by catching fish. As far as what we caught on, it is simplier to just list them in no particular order as far as success, each had a time: Lots of different plastics, several topwaters, a couple of twitch baits, and shrimp. David, who is a bass fisherman, actually fished his shrimp Carolina style, and once he got it down he sacked them. Todd stuck to his popping cork. It rarely lets him down and today it did not. The other boats also reported good catches, so it was a great finish to their weekend.
The Saturday haul.
The guys all showed up around 8:00 and the feast began. And let me say this about Todd, he is not only a fantastic cook, but he fixed supper 2 nights for 25 guys, including the redfish smother . The first night Ro made a giant prime rib, Todd fed the crowd the next 2 nights. The fish, hush puppies, and tator tots went faster than water out of a drain on a full moon falling tide. And the crowd cheered when Ken’s last cheese ball made it from their house and the trip was finished off, as well as a couple of players, when topped off with Margarita Night. Everyone was prettier, smarter, and funnier! Good times were had by all. And at each evening meal there were tons of fish caught, lots of “you had to be there” stories, and every bit of it was the truth.
Ken, David, and Todd doing fish like it is supposed to be done. And all are doing great in the work release program.
My major contribution to the last day’s pot. Nothing like catching them on 10lb line. Talk about eating a twitch bait!
I know I have forgot things, names, happenings, but all I can say is what a good time I had. There is so much more to say but this has to end somewhere. (Please excuse any grammer errors, though I could care less.) I have a couple of friends I need to start this with. Sometimes you just have to make time, and these guys did, and do, year after year. Their yearly get together is a testament to their friendship and their mutual love of fishing. So I consider myself lucky to horn in on such a cool thing. Fishing is all about the memories and it is never to late to make some with a fishing rod in your hand. I know how lucky I am to be able to spend time on the water with friends, to hear the owls, see the gators, the sunrise over the bay, all that south Texas has to offer. So after a day or two of rest it will be back out there making more. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff. And a special thanks to the Austin Boys, and my boat partners, Todd, David, John and Pete, every thing folks say about you is true!
Good Luck and Tight Lines
