FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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I finally made a decision this morning to take the trolling motor to Kresta’s in Edna.  I spoke with some guy at the repair shop in Corpus and he was rude, so that took care of that.  The side benefit of going to Edna was taking the skiff with me and dropping it in Garcitas Creek.  Since we have been talking about trout in rivers the last couple of posts, there is no better time to see how it is compared to last year.  And I can say they are not full on in there yet.

I did not look at the weather, tides, zip, I just hooked up and took off.  It was 67 degrees and sunny when I left.  By time I quit at 3:30 it was blowing 15 out of the north and a chilly 63 degrees.  To bad I did not look at the weather, no jacket and it was cool.  But I really love fishing rivers from the boat.  Kind of a hybrid bass/saltwater thing.

                         Fish #1 on plastic.                         A jerkbait fish.

The water color in the creek looked good, and though I have no temp gauge on the skiff, it was warm.  Since it was a quick exploratory trip I headed down river to fish the places that are always good if they are in there.  At the first place a baitfish jumped, I tossed a plastic, and caught one.  The next fish was the nice jerkbait fish above, and of course it was on my first cast with it.  Did I catch another one on it?  Of course not.

From that point on it was just keep heading down river fishing one side or the other.  It was slow, but it did pick up the closer to the bay I got.  Exactly the fishing I found on the Lavaca the other day.  It was just one here and there.  If we would get one of those hydro blasting norther’ both places would take off.

              Another plastic trout.                            A spinnerbait red.

I caught on jerkbait, topwater, plastics, and spinnerbait, though plastic was the preferred bait.  Fishing all of those different baits was simply getting an idea what they want, because in the morning I will be thrashing the water down creek.  A couple of really big reds got all over a topwater but just did not hook up, so I threw the spinnerbait and managed to catch a smaller one.  And then 3 more small  trout jumped on the spinnerbait and not another red.  Also, something broke my 8lb line, could have been a big black drum.  There never was a “hot” place but there is plenty of bait in the river and the color is good.  I probably boated around 10 and will do better than that tomorrow.

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Speaking of how, when, and why of trout movement into rivers on the Texas coast we are fortunate that our resident outdoor writer has taken the time to add to the discussion.

Doug,

Sorry for being slow getting back to you on fish in the river and creek.  Had some Louisiana flounder population control to help out with.

I also wanted to do some checking with a few anglers that fish the creek and river more than I do and certainly know more about it than I do.  So back to Matt’s questions on the river. He is correct there are some fish in the river and creek all year long.  Kind of like fish in the Army Hole or Fish Pond.  SOME fish are there at any time but the concentration of fish most anglers are interested in happens in the winter when the temperature in the open bay waters has dropped.  Another factor in fishing the river and creek during the warmer months is the mosquitoes.  Most anglers will not fish in parts of the creek and river because there are so many mosquitoes during the warmer months.

I agree with you that the water level does not have a lot to do with the fish being there unless for some reason, like a big rain or drought, the water level is abnormal.  Under normal conditions the fish are there for the food.  The life of the prey determines predator trout location more than anything.  You’ve heard it thousands of times but it’s true – find the bait and you’ll find the fish.  The bait is more concentrated in deeper water during the winter months and the reason they go up the creek and river.

Speckled trout and all of our bay fish spawn differently than largemouth bass.  They don’t make a “nest” in the way largemouth bass do.  Most are scatter spawners relying on the tides and currents to move their eggs and fry.  Speckled trout come the nearest to spawning something like a largemouth bass where the big females seek out a pothole to find a date.  But once the date is over the eggs do not lie in a “nest” like largemouth bass eggs do with the male protecting the eggs.  The trout eggs are moved by the current eventually ending up in brackish water to begin their growth cycle.  The brackish water is also where very small shrimp, crabs and baitfish all begin their growth and thus the reason for freshwater inflow being so important to the whole coastal fishing scene.  Without freshwater inflow there is no brackish water and no place for very small fish and food to shelter during their early days.  This is also one of the reasons there are class years of fish where one year has many more (or less) juvenile fish recruited into the overall population.  During a drought the young have no place to grow and are quickly consumed by larger fish, leaving no fish for that particular year or class.  During a rainy period more young fish make it through to adulthood and we anglers get to catch more trout over 15 inches just like what we’re experiencing right now.

Trout can move a lot.  A neighbor of mine worked for the Coastal Fisheries and they tagged a trout one day and re-captured it the next day 21 miles away!  That’s a lot of moving.  No doubt bay trout go in and out of the river and creek as the food and temperature change each day.

One of the seasoned anglers I fish with regularly said he had only caught small trout, most under 15 inches, in the creek in warmer months but had caught larger trout up to 28 inches in the same creek during winter months.  Again like the Army Hole or Fish Pond, you don’t see boats lined up in those locations during warmer months but they can get crowded during colder months.  Fish seek out deeper water during cold times and then return to their daily search along the flats as the water warms and conditions become more favorable.  Captain Sally Black used to call it their Bomb Shelter and that’s a pretty good way to think about it.  When the fish are getting blitzed by bad weather they seek out protection and warmth of the deeper water.  When the rough weather is over they search for food on the flats and in shallower water.  Next front hits and it’s back to the bomb shelter whether it’s the river, creek or a deep place in the bay.

Great subject and fun discussion.

Colby S.

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So by time some of you read this I will be on the water throwing topwater.  Billy’s suggestion to fish topwater on some shallow stuff down river is a good one, and is the plan for first things in the morning.   And before I let you go there is this.

Fresh speckled trout, gulf shrimp over squash and pepper white wine reduction cream sauce, with steamed broccoli.

Not only is Ro a great all around fisherman, he is a heck of a cook.  That looks freakin’ fabulous.  I told you those Austin Boys know how to eat!  Thanks for posting Ro, couldn’t resist grabbing it and sharing it with these folks.

So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines