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Summer Fishing
in Full Swing Now! |
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The transitions we experienced this
past week were a sign of the seasons, fishing season that is! This
week started off with some great offshore Wahoo fishing and ended up
with big Trout and Redfish in the bay using Piggies. When all of
these elements culminate in the coastal bend you know the hot summer
bite is present!
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Offshore
– As the first hint of the sun was peaking above the
horizon we could make out the rocks of the Port Aransas Jetties and
beyond. What the day would bring us you can never tell when your
heading 50NM plus offshore is search of big game, there is always a
surprise and this day was no different. Our heading was 100
degrees, toward South Baker rocks where I had experienced some good
fishing a few days earlier and had reports the fish were still
there! |
Open Wide |
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Wahoo for Chance! |
We were out on my father’s boat
a 36’ Express with twin 500hp diesels and the crew consisted only of
family members - My father Bruce (captain on this day), Chance (my
son 10yrs old), Billy (my uncle of sorts) and last but not least
yours truly! As we were approaching the south baker rigs we decided
to put out the baits and lures to make a few passes for Wahoo but
had no takers. It was a few minutes after one of the passes that I
heard some boat chatter on channel 68…one Wahoo and a Sailfish
release and the signal was strong…that got our attention! I tuned
in the radar a bit to see if I saw that boats on Dutra, Falcon or
maybe working a weedline, however I could not determine the location
even though I knew the captains I decided to search for myself as it
was only 15 minutes into the fishing day. |
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“Weed patch!
It looks like we might be able to troll it”, I said. Now there
are a number of weeds at the 35-50 NM range mostly scattered
with big patches and that is where the fish are, but most people get
too frustrated trolling them because they stay weeded up. I
have a solution to that which has caught many fish, Mold Craft Standard Wide Ranges
on a
single hook rig. I also troll the flat lines, whether Skirts,
Ballyhoo or plugs, closer to the prop wash because the boat helps
disperse the weeds. |
Chance fishing Stand-Up |
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Today was Chance’s day to fish,
after already many trips this summer he finally got to have a day to
himself. Fish on! As soon as the lures went past the weedline the
flat lines were screaming! The new jointed plugs Chance picked out
at Outdoor World in Fort Lauderdale a few weeks before were both in
the mouth of Wahoo. Then as Billy and Chance were busy reeling…a
Ballyhoo takes off…as I gaff a Hoo with one hand, I hand the other
rod to Chance…he’s straining by now and I ask him how he’s
doing…then a smile comes to his face! He’s an old hand at running
the deck and catching fish, but when we aren’t looking he grits his
teeth at the pull of the 40# Wahoo! 3 Three fish in the boat, what
a good start to the day! As I’m putting the fish in the box I asked
Chance if he wanted to take a break on the rod “No, I’m not tired”
he said, he went on to get 7 of the 9 Wahoo we caught in 2 ½ hours
of baits in the water…beating each fish better and faster as his
confidence grew! |
Nice Hoo! |
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The McCune's |
Now we aren’t greedy and know
when we’ve had a good day and decided to drink a few cervezas and toss
some top water lures to Mahi and whatever at the weed patch before
we head in…fish were smacking the topwaters…then double speck rigs,
we had a blast. I usually end my offshore trips with this kind of
action when we are near rigs or weeds, it is always a hit and the
unexpected always happens…Chance is working a topwater and Wahoo is
chasing it on the surface fin up…the braided line goes screaming and
then it goes slack. Well guess that Wahoo is going to enjoy that
knuckle-Head sandwich, must have swallowed the whole thing! At that
point with a few laughs at the excitement we turn the autopilot
toward port A for a smooth ride home! |
Now Bay Fishing!
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Mike and a few nice Fish caught back to
back!
Click
here for Video |
Bay
– One day after our family offshore trip I had a long
time client come down for a day on the Bay. Earlier in the week I
had got my first batch of Piggies for bait and the Trout loved
them. The only problem is that we caught more smaller Trout than we
had been catching on the croaker. We met at paradise Key, the new restaurant
at the Key Allegro Marina for some…guess…Wahoo…They cook your catch
so I brought a bag of it fresh from the trip the day before. During dinner we
talked about the morning fishing plans, Mike (my customer) wanted to
share his fishing experiences with his wife and 21 month old child
and I thought that was great. So, it would be a 9AM starting time
at Cove Harbor Marina…then off to anchor up for some Redfish action
at a some pot holes that had been producing, after a couple of fish
we would return to the dock and drop off Mom and baby…then get
serious about it and fish through the evening!
The first anchor didn’t produce,
this was on a Saturday and sometimes fishing can be A LOT tougher
than on the weekdays. Our next anchor still using double Piggies on
each hook (two lines weighted and two lines without weights)
produced a couple of nice Trout...so without getting her the Red,
that had been talked about, the natives were getting restless…if you
know what I mean. So off we went to the dock, then lunch became the
subject. Hard to pass up a burger at Off The Hook Restaurant, so we
didn’t! |
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Finally we were headed in
search of good fish water and his wife in search of good shopping in
Rockport! We had a bigger problem than she did though, the wind was
blowing 17 knots and our first 3 stops yielded nothing…not a bite!
With that in mind, I was inclined to change our tactics and put
those Piggies under a popping cork! Last year I had a great run on
fish in the Hogg Hole area over grass, nobody else fishing it, that was
great! This summer I have tried that area about every other trip
knowing it would start producing again at some point…well today was
our day. The first few casts got us an oversized red and several
others in the upper slot. Fish On!...I was sitting on the cooler in
the back of the boat when I heard the line slice through the
water…the wind was blowing 17 knots and I still heard the line
slicing through the water parallel to the boat…the huge fish shook
his huge head on the surface…then went down…I could hear the line
peeling off the reel from the front of the boat…then nothing.
We lost that huge fish, guess he didn’t know we would have released
him anyway. I quickly rolled back the events in my mind and
knew exactly what had cost us that fish…Mike had never dropped the
rod tip and he was
applying too much drag which pulled the hook. I didn’t even have to
tell him as he has been fishing with me a lot, “I’ve been bass
fishing a lot lately”, was all he said and I knew what he meant.
After a couple more Reds and some nice Trout we called his wife to
come meet us at the dock. This is a great example of getting the
family involved, sharing time together and everyone getting to do a
little of what they like! |
Mike and a Nice Trout!
Mike with a Red! |
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