Fish Catching Travel
After spending a couple of long days at POC I finally can sit down and catch up on the fishing news. Day 1 I fished with my friend Chris, our primary goal was to potentially catch some big bait for the shark fishing tournament next week. Day 2 I was lucky enough to be able to share the day with Todd from Austin. Let me tell you what a difference a day makes. As I have only been here for 5 years I am still learning every time I hit the Gulf.
Day 1
When Chris and I left the ramp about 7:30 it was cloudy and windy with a chance of rain. Well both happened all day. We first headed to the Pass area and started looking for some jacks. On our way we noticed birds working but as we were looking for big shark bait, we kept on going. But in the time I have spent fishing the coast I have never seen the birds working like they were in so many places. And that was everywhere. We saw them working all day from the Pass to Big Bayou, and everywhere in between. I guess the front had everybody on the chew.
We saw lots of action like this all day.
We started looking for jacks. As usual the birds were over more lady fish than anything else. And during the day we caught a bunch of those, some were pretty big and in the cooler they went for shark bait.
Chris did catch a nice bait jack on topwater right in the pass. We did not stay there long as the wind was blowing from the north into the pass and with the tide coming in the swells were big.
We kept hunting and pecking where we saw birds or surface action. We did throw a little plastics for trout, and though we caught a few, they were small. As we headed back to use bait shrimp for some sheepsheads in the ICW we saw another bunch of birds, so we headed that way. And then we saw another group of fish working on the south side of Barroom. We let them come to us and they were some of those really big jacks. Now I was using a low profile small reel, which turned out to be problem. When they came up right by the boat I just flipped the Skitter Walk and reeled it. I was hooked up immediately with one of those giant jacks that prowl the Texas Coast.
Now why the small reel was important. With 15lb. test it does not hold all that much, and the second that fish ate that topwater he was off to the races. I hollered at Chris that it’s going to spoil me, start the boat. That fish already had about 75% of my line when Chris started the boat. As soon as he got moving he jumped up to pull the trolling motor out and the boat of course started to turn in a circle. I helplessly watched as my line peeled off, got to the last wrap and popped. Bummer, but funny. There went $15 worth of line and bait. I have not been spooled in a long time and I am always amazed at how powerful a really big forked tail fish can be. That whole episode took about 30 seconds at most.
So we watched for more, but as usual they were fast moving and we did not see them resurface. Next we headed into the ICW to use dead shrimp and see if we could catch some sheepshead. That did not work out, but boy was the snapper fishing good. One I caught was big for those guys, and before we ran out of the shrimp we put about 8 in the cooler. We called it a day so we would have time for a little dove hunting. So with one jack and a pile of big lady fish, our bait gathering trip was fairly successful. And add a nice snapper supper, it was all good.
As a side note we left POC about 2:30 and headed over to Chris’s duck lease to check on some pumps and do a little dove hunting. He started a pump at the lease and then we headed to a cut cornfield to shoot a couple of doves. A couple turned out to be right as we only killed 3. There were not tons of them flying, but it was not the bird’s fault only 3 hit the ground. That’s dove hunting. When we got done hunting we checked the lease where we left the boat and some of the other members were working on a pump. We stopped and hung out a while to help. By time we left it was dark, and with the drive back to Victoria, it would be a late night and early morning. The doves are tonite’s appatizers to go along with the snapper dinner. Should be delicious.
Day 2
Todd was down from Austin wanting to fish together so we met at the dock at daylight. It was the first time I saw his new-to-him boat. He bought a refurbished Shallow Sport, the re-fit was done by the factory, and it was in great shape. With a quality graph, 36 volt trolling motor, and a jammin’ stereo, it was a fishing machine.
Overnight we had our first real cold front of the fall. Yesterday morning when I fished with Chris it was blowing and raining, the day’s high was 74, and that was at 4 in the morning. It dropped all day, and when Todd and I left the ramp the wind was blowing out of the north and it was cool. Before the day was out we fished from Barroom to the J Hook. From Grass Island to Mule Slough, and lots of places in between. And unlike yesterday there was not a bird working anywhere, the front’s effects were immediately evident.
As we fished we threw plastics, popping cork, and topwater. I threw the topwater to much today, they were not in the mood. We caught a small trout here and there, but until Todd caught this black drum, the cooler was empty.
Amazing how hard these thing fight. Hard to clean, they are still good to eat.
We did a lot of drifting looking for some trout, and though we would catch one every once in a while it was slow, and they were small. Around 2 we returned to the dock and picked up his friend Paul from Louisiana who was going to fish with him the next couple of days.
From then on they started to bite a little better as the evening wore on, the wind finally laid, and it was actually a beautiful day. We decided to head back to Big Bayou and see if the reds were moving . They were, but we had a hard time getting them to bite. As a side note, we added 4 keeper trout in there on plastics and popping cork. I stayed with the spinnerbait and finally caught a good one.
Funny how a nice big red can turn a so-so day into a good day.
This red came out of some grass and wolfed that Redfish Magic. Where is this guy on tournament day? This fish was exactly 27 and 7/8th inches long. As perfect a slot fish as you could find. We finished off the day with 6 or 7 keepers, not to bad as far as I am concerned, considering the cold front.
It was nice to spend the day with Todd, meet his friend Paul, and get to fish out of his new-to-him boat. After years of being in charge, running the boat, the trolling motor, and often the whole show, I am finally learning to let others take the lead. We can all take a little away from that lesson. Fishing is not always about catching them, it is more than that. In this case it was a little bit of catching with a whole lot of fun with friends. A great way to spend the day.
A beautiful end to a good day.
It would have been hard to have any 2 days be more different. Day 1 the front is coming and everything was on the move. Day 2 they took a break for most of the day after the big front, and then slowly bit better as the day wore on. Each day was different, and the fish reacted completely different and predictably. Hopefully as time goes on I will get a little better at dealing with post cold front trout. With winter coming on I should get plenty of opportunity to work on that.
So thanks for stopping in. I have not made a decision what is next on the fishing calendar. I just know there will be a next and I will report it to you as soon as I can. Keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
