Well, this report is gonna be a little different. Yes its getting real close to Big Girl time down here and I am anxiously awaiting those cool crisp morning wades anticipating that telltale thump that might just mean that new personal best.
The outlook for this bay system is looking real good right now. Our water clarity is still somewhat off but most places you can see down 18" or so pretty easily. You can make out grass patches and sand pockets in shallow water and on sunny days you can even make out the outlines of the rocks.
There has been little pressure this year, I assume due to the water clarity. But I'm here to tell you that it hasn't meant anything to the trout. Most days we are catching 12 to 15 keepers with 6 or 7 topping the 20" mark and 1 or 2 of those over 25". I haven't seen anything over 29" in a month or so but we have had several close calls and "UFO's".
Hot colors this month have been my go-to plastics which is any dark colored Devil Eye. To be more specific, dark strawberry, morning glory, rootbeer/ red glitter and grape. When they hit on top, the smaller topwaters have been working best FLW Black SS Jr., Bone SS Jr., and White/ Pink head SS Jr. are killer baits right now.
Bigger redfish are still hot and heavy mostly in the Laguna and 9 Mile Hole area but we are picking up fair numbers of slot reds in Baffin as well. Paddletail plastics like the 4" red/white Gambler Flappin' Shad and weedless gold spoons are working great.
Now, what's so different about this report you might ask. Well, I have to admit, my time fishing has taken a serious hit the past three weeks as I have developed a severe case of DUCK FEVER.
The first half of the split season is over and I have a little time before the second half starts. This season has started out fantastic with lots of birds showing up early. Best of all, they appear to be pretty dumb.
I am relatively new to the game but have been getting advice from lots of folks. Some good and some bad but its all starting to come together. We are seeing huge numbers of pintails and redheads which is to be expected. But, we also have had our fair share of blue wing teal, scaup, spoonbills, buffleheads and widgeons.
Rocksy has been getting a tremendous amount of @#%$ and is turning into quite the hunting companion. She didn't forget a thing from last season and has made this so much more enjoyable for me.
Had many memorable hunts with good friends including one right before this last cold spell.
Ray and Randy came down open for anything. The fishing had been good just before their arrival but I was itching to get after some ducks since I knew I would be with a couple of guys that can shoot!!
We headed out the next morning to beautiful clear skies and no wind. Perfect for fishing but not that great for a duck hunt. My plan was to see if the birds were flying and if they weren't to head back and grab our fishing gear while it was still early.
Fortunately the birds were very cooperative. Ray and Randy traded great shot after great shot. Randy's new Benelli was treating him right and we had our limits in no time. A nice mixed bag of redheads, spoonbills, pintails and scaup.
I even got a little video of one good shot. Rocksy watched the birds coming from a hundred yards away and was seriously locked in on them. When the shot rang out, she was off and after the bird before it hit the water. Man, I love that dog.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gJcHBR4W9o
We did squeeze in a day of fishing after that but didn't catch much to write home about. A pleasant afternoon catch and release fishing with good friends is still hard to beat.
Then came the front. It was a blustery cold front that kept things cold, wet and windy for several straight days. I remember as a kid when the weather would get like that, someone would say in a facetious way "Its nice weather out there ........... for DUCKS". I never really understood that back then but after taking up the sport, I am now a believer that they knew exactly what they were talking about.
The action this week has been incredible. The two biggest challenges have been keeping warm and dry and identifying birds on the wing (which I have gotten much better at by the way).
Had another memorable hunt with Bruce, Travis and Capt. Michael Hart.
We had a full blind with 4 hunters and three supercharged labs. Here they are from left to right Sunny, Fred and Rocksy.
Once again we had our birds and were back at the house in time for breakfast with the wives. One comical moment was when the first bird went down, all three dogs charged out of the blind (like we were really going to be able to hold them back LOL) and ran right at the winged redhead drake in the water. I bet from his perspective, that was quite a sight seeing all three thrashing the water headed his way.
Next morning proved to be the coldest but it was relatively dry for a change. We relocated to another area and literally had birds landing in the decoys as we were setting them out. The shooting was fast and furious and Rocksy again got quite a workout. I snapped a few more pics on this hunt and even added a couple of decent videos. Language prevents me from posting a couple of others LOL.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmAMZFHQSm0
This clip will give you an idea of just how well the birds were flying. And this was after we already had most of our limit.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYE8fIr9I4E
We made some great shots and made a few that we were a little embarassed about. but one thing was certain, we had an awesome time.
After everyone left around noon, I got an invitation I couldn't refuse from Capt. Hart and his dad John Hart................ a little south Texas quail hunt. Mike and I loaded the dogs and headed south to San Manuel. We picked up John and headed for the brush.
I have hunted quail a lot in West Texas but have only had one or two opportunities to hunt birds in the Mecca of quail hunting. I now know why presidents and VIP's everywhere come to south Texas to hunt these little rockets.
Mr. Hart guided us and used his expertise to put us where we needed to be at the time we needed to be there. The shooting was steady all afternoon and the dogs stayed busy constantly searching for downed birds.
Rocksy had retrieved quail before on hunts in north Texas but had never hunted like this. I was very interested and pleased with her progress as she slowly started learning what it was that was expected of her. Fred lead the way and Rocksy was soon picking up on his actions.
My shooting was erratic as usual. I made a couple of doubles and even one triple. I also threw lotsa lead in the general direction of some birds as they just laughed at me.
I have to personally thank John and Mike for thinking of me for this hunt and I am eternally grateful.
Time for some hardcore fishing as the season for chasing the Big Girls is officially here. But, I will be keeping an eye to the sky and eagerly await the second half of the split season Dec. 8. Y'all come on down and we'll have an adventure together.
Remember to practice conservation and just keep 5. Later, Aubrey
The outlook for this bay system is looking real good right now. Our water clarity is still somewhat off but most places you can see down 18" or so pretty easily. You can make out grass patches and sand pockets in shallow water and on sunny days you can even make out the outlines of the rocks.
There has been little pressure this year, I assume due to the water clarity. But I'm here to tell you that it hasn't meant anything to the trout. Most days we are catching 12 to 15 keepers with 6 or 7 topping the 20" mark and 1 or 2 of those over 25". I haven't seen anything over 29" in a month or so but we have had several close calls and "UFO's".
Hot colors this month have been my go-to plastics which is any dark colored Devil Eye. To be more specific, dark strawberry, morning glory, rootbeer/ red glitter and grape. When they hit on top, the smaller topwaters have been working best FLW Black SS Jr., Bone SS Jr., and White/ Pink head SS Jr. are killer baits right now.
Bigger redfish are still hot and heavy mostly in the Laguna and 9 Mile Hole area but we are picking up fair numbers of slot reds in Baffin as well. Paddletail plastics like the 4" red/white Gambler Flappin' Shad and weedless gold spoons are working great.
Now, what's so different about this report you might ask. Well, I have to admit, my time fishing has taken a serious hit the past three weeks as I have developed a severe case of DUCK FEVER.
The first half of the split season is over and I have a little time before the second half starts. This season has started out fantastic with lots of birds showing up early. Best of all, they appear to be pretty dumb.
I am relatively new to the game but have been getting advice from lots of folks. Some good and some bad but its all starting to come together. We are seeing huge numbers of pintails and redheads which is to be expected. But, we also have had our fair share of blue wing teal, scaup, spoonbills, buffleheads and widgeons.
Rocksy has been getting a tremendous amount of @#%$ and is turning into quite the hunting companion. She didn't forget a thing from last season and has made this so much more enjoyable for me.
Had many memorable hunts with good friends including one right before this last cold spell.
Ray and Randy came down open for anything. The fishing had been good just before their arrival but I was itching to get after some ducks since I knew I would be with a couple of guys that can shoot!!
We headed out the next morning to beautiful clear skies and no wind. Perfect for fishing but not that great for a duck hunt. My plan was to see if the birds were flying and if they weren't to head back and grab our fishing gear while it was still early.
Fortunately the birds were very cooperative. Ray and Randy traded great shot after great shot. Randy's new Benelli was treating him right and we had our limits in no time. A nice mixed bag of redheads, spoonbills, pintails and scaup.
I even got a little video of one good shot. Rocksy watched the birds coming from a hundred yards away and was seriously locked in on them. When the shot rang out, she was off and after the bird before it hit the water. Man, I love that dog.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gJcHBR4W9o
We did squeeze in a day of fishing after that but didn't catch much to write home about. A pleasant afternoon catch and release fishing with good friends is still hard to beat.
Then came the front. It was a blustery cold front that kept things cold, wet and windy for several straight days. I remember as a kid when the weather would get like that, someone would say in a facetious way "Its nice weather out there ........... for DUCKS". I never really understood that back then but after taking up the sport, I am now a believer that they knew exactly what they were talking about.
The action this week has been incredible. The two biggest challenges have been keeping warm and dry and identifying birds on the wing (which I have gotten much better at by the way).
Had another memorable hunt with Bruce, Travis and Capt. Michael Hart.
We had a full blind with 4 hunters and three supercharged labs. Here they are from left to right Sunny, Fred and Rocksy.
Once again we had our birds and were back at the house in time for breakfast with the wives. One comical moment was when the first bird went down, all three dogs charged out of the blind (like we were really going to be able to hold them back LOL) and ran right at the winged redhead drake in the water. I bet from his perspective, that was quite a sight seeing all three thrashing the water headed his way.
Next morning proved to be the coldest but it was relatively dry for a change. We relocated to another area and literally had birds landing in the decoys as we were setting them out. The shooting was fast and furious and Rocksy again got quite a workout. I snapped a few more pics on this hunt and even added a couple of decent videos. Language prevents me from posting a couple of others LOL.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmAMZFHQSm0
This clip will give you an idea of just how well the birds were flying. And this was after we already had most of our limit.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYE8fIr9I4E
We made some great shots and made a few that we were a little embarassed about. but one thing was certain, we had an awesome time.
After everyone left around noon, I got an invitation I couldn't refuse from Capt. Hart and his dad John Hart................ a little south Texas quail hunt. Mike and I loaded the dogs and headed south to San Manuel. We picked up John and headed for the brush.
I have hunted quail a lot in West Texas but have only had one or two opportunities to hunt birds in the Mecca of quail hunting. I now know why presidents and VIP's everywhere come to south Texas to hunt these little rockets.
Mr. Hart guided us and used his expertise to put us where we needed to be at the time we needed to be there. The shooting was steady all afternoon and the dogs stayed busy constantly searching for downed birds.
Rocksy had retrieved quail before on hunts in north Texas but had never hunted like this. I was very interested and pleased with her progress as she slowly started learning what it was that was expected of her. Fred lead the way and Rocksy was soon picking up on his actions.
My shooting was erratic as usual. I made a couple of doubles and even one triple. I also threw lotsa lead in the general direction of some birds as they just laughed at me.
I have to personally thank John and Mike for thinking of me for this hunt and I am eternally grateful.
Time for some hardcore fishing as the season for chasing the Big Girls is officially here. But, I will be keeping an eye to the sky and eagerly await the second half of the split season Dec. 8. Y'all come on down and we'll have an adventure together.
Remember to practice conservation and just keep 5. Later, Aubrey
