Whew!! Excuse my while I wipe the sweat from my keyboard. Its Hot!! Real Hot!! Summer made its final appearance just as Fall officially arrived. And right on cue, the redfish have started gathering and the whitewings are flying.
Things have been interesting down here the past 4 or 5 weeks. I have been a little lax on my reporting for various reasons but I know when that first cold front arrives, everything will be back on schedule, including my reports.
Lots of tournaments down here in August and September and with some of the best fishing happening in my back yard, I have been a little hesitant to shout that out to the world.
For me and my business, historically, this is my slow time of the year. Folks have used up their summer vacation, the kids are headed back to school. Some folks are getting geared up for hunting season. Whatever the excuse, its just a slow time for me.The fishing has been good so some folks have been really missing out.
A few skinny August trout and some really fat Sept. trout have made appearances.
David (Dale) Shafer wuith 30"+ trout
Bruce with a 29"+ 8 1/2 pound Fat Girl
Numerous tournament size redfish punctuated with a few exciting pulls from oversize reds and a couple of UFO's (unidentified fishy objects) have been the norm as well.
And as usual, something we are becoming famous for down here........... Food Porn!!
The fishing has been good with occasional days that border on great. Some days the numbers are down but we make up for it in some serious Baffin Big Girls and hefty broad shouldered redfish.
Linda with solid tournament size redfish (27")
Hot baits have been weedless gold spoons, red/white 4" Gambler Flappin' Shad, various topwaters for redfish and the usual Brown Lures Devil Eyes in dark strawberry, grape, amber, and morning glory, small topwaters such as the bone colored Super Spook Jr., and even a few on dark colored Corky Devils for our trout.
I've been rigging my plastics on 1/16 and 1/8 oz. Hogie Screwlock jigheads and fishing slow, almost painfully slow around the shallow rocks in Baffin. The reds are shallow. By shallow, I mean if your knees are wet, you are way too deep. Even with the off colored water we have, we are still sight casting to some of these brutes.
South zone dove season opened with a bang, make that a whole barrage of bangs in our neck of the woods. We had a large contingent from Applied Finishes come down for a good old South Texas Cast & Blast on the opener. The fishing was a little on the slow side but we were able to take out our frustrations on plenty of the little grey missiles.
Danny picked up his personal best redfish on a plum saltwater assassin just minutes into our first wade of the day. Yes he is wet from head to toe and there is a great story behind that but I'll leave the man a little shred of dignity LOL. Very nice catch Danny.
We managed a few solid trout for the box until around 9:00am when somebody turned off the feed switch. After that it was just the ocasional dink trout until we decided to head in for lunch and get ready for an afternoon dove hunt.
My thanks to the Cherry family of Premont for making sure we all ate well at their restaurant in Kingsville (Cherry Tree Tea Room), and that we were in a great place to intercept lots of white wings and a few mourning doves as well.
The shooting was fast and furious almost from the moment we got in the field. Capt. Mike Hart ( www.brushcountrycharters.com ) and his two labs, Fred and Sunny along with me and my lab, Rocksy, were kept busy making sure downed birds were retrieved and everyone was comfortable and hydrated. ------ Did I mention it was HOT!
After slinging plenty of lead shot over the field, we cleaned birds and discussed everyone's shooting skills or lack thereof.
The motley crew
Bub and Fred
My hunting buddy
I think Mike is trying to teach Sunny how to breast out a dove.
We were tired and hungry by the time we got back to my place. I made world record time getting supper ready. 25 minutes after we walked in the door, we had supper for 12 including 1 1/4" thick ribeye steaks, baked potatoes, and salad. A few cold brews and a dip in the pool finished off a great day.
Next morning, everyone was moving a little slower. Those walks across the plowed field were taking their toll on knees and backs. I heard a few groans as guys headed for the coffee pot that morning.
We headed out to an absolutely gorgeous wind-free morning. Surely the fish would cooperate with us today.
We hit our first stop and it was 45 minutes into the first wade before we had any action. Mike hooked up on something that felt pretty good to him. The bend on his new Waterloo was looking good too. I broke out the video and.............
www.youtube.com/watch?v=f38_kIDiLqc
WTG Mike!! That is only the second sheephead I've seen caught on artificial. Gotta be some kinda fisherman to do that LOL.
We managed 3 decent trout and another ceviche sized redfish for the box before the bite died again. We headed in a little early to get ready for another bang up day in the field. The hunting was even better the second day as we again had our limit with daylight to spare.
I shot this pic which doesn't do the sunset justice as I glanced in my rear view mirror with the rest of the group close behind.
Its still hot down here but Fall fishing is almost upon us. The dove population seems to be above average in our area and we have actually had a few early flights of pintails in the bay. I am excited about the rest of this year and our winter/spring fishing and hunting. Its gonna be a great year to be on the waters in Baffin.
Remember to practice conservation and just keep 5. Later, Aubrey
Things have been interesting down here the past 4 or 5 weeks. I have been a little lax on my reporting for various reasons but I know when that first cold front arrives, everything will be back on schedule, including my reports.
Lots of tournaments down here in August and September and with some of the best fishing happening in my back yard, I have been a little hesitant to shout that out to the world.
For me and my business, historically, this is my slow time of the year. Folks have used up their summer vacation, the kids are headed back to school. Some folks are getting geared up for hunting season. Whatever the excuse, its just a slow time for me.The fishing has been good so some folks have been really missing out.
A few skinny August trout and some really fat Sept. trout have made appearances.
David (Dale) Shafer wuith 30"+ trout
Bruce with a 29"+ 8 1/2 pound Fat Girl
Numerous tournament size redfish punctuated with a few exciting pulls from oversize reds and a couple of UFO's (unidentified fishy objects) have been the norm as well.
And as usual, something we are becoming famous for down here........... Food Porn!!
The fishing has been good with occasional days that border on great. Some days the numbers are down but we make up for it in some serious Baffin Big Girls and hefty broad shouldered redfish.
Linda with solid tournament size redfish (27")
Hot baits have been weedless gold spoons, red/white 4" Gambler Flappin' Shad, various topwaters for redfish and the usual Brown Lures Devil Eyes in dark strawberry, grape, amber, and morning glory, small topwaters such as the bone colored Super Spook Jr., and even a few on dark colored Corky Devils for our trout.
I've been rigging my plastics on 1/16 and 1/8 oz. Hogie Screwlock jigheads and fishing slow, almost painfully slow around the shallow rocks in Baffin. The reds are shallow. By shallow, I mean if your knees are wet, you are way too deep. Even with the off colored water we have, we are still sight casting to some of these brutes.
South zone dove season opened with a bang, make that a whole barrage of bangs in our neck of the woods. We had a large contingent from Applied Finishes come down for a good old South Texas Cast & Blast on the opener. The fishing was a little on the slow side but we were able to take out our frustrations on plenty of the little grey missiles.
Danny picked up his personal best redfish on a plum saltwater assassin just minutes into our first wade of the day. Yes he is wet from head to toe and there is a great story behind that but I'll leave the man a little shred of dignity LOL. Very nice catch Danny.
We managed a few solid trout for the box until around 9:00am when somebody turned off the feed switch. After that it was just the ocasional dink trout until we decided to head in for lunch and get ready for an afternoon dove hunt.
My thanks to the Cherry family of Premont for making sure we all ate well at their restaurant in Kingsville (Cherry Tree Tea Room), and that we were in a great place to intercept lots of white wings and a few mourning doves as well.
The shooting was fast and furious almost from the moment we got in the field. Capt. Mike Hart ( www.brushcountrycharters.com ) and his two labs, Fred and Sunny along with me and my lab, Rocksy, were kept busy making sure downed birds were retrieved and everyone was comfortable and hydrated. ------ Did I mention it was HOT!
After slinging plenty of lead shot over the field, we cleaned birds and discussed everyone's shooting skills or lack thereof.
The motley crew
Bub and Fred
My hunting buddy
I think Mike is trying to teach Sunny how to breast out a dove.
We were tired and hungry by the time we got back to my place. I made world record time getting supper ready. 25 minutes after we walked in the door, we had supper for 12 including 1 1/4" thick ribeye steaks, baked potatoes, and salad. A few cold brews and a dip in the pool finished off a great day.
Next morning, everyone was moving a little slower. Those walks across the plowed field were taking their toll on knees and backs. I heard a few groans as guys headed for the coffee pot that morning.
We headed out to an absolutely gorgeous wind-free morning. Surely the fish would cooperate with us today.
We hit our first stop and it was 45 minutes into the first wade before we had any action. Mike hooked up on something that felt pretty good to him. The bend on his new Waterloo was looking good too. I broke out the video and.............
www.youtube.com/watch?v=f38_kIDiLqc
WTG Mike!! That is only the second sheephead I've seen caught on artificial. Gotta be some kinda fisherman to do that LOL.
We managed 3 decent trout and another ceviche sized redfish for the box before the bite died again. We headed in a little early to get ready for another bang up day in the field. The hunting was even better the second day as we again had our limit with daylight to spare.
I shot this pic which doesn't do the sunset justice as I glanced in my rear view mirror with the rest of the group close behind.
Its still hot down here but Fall fishing is almost upon us. The dove population seems to be above average in our area and we have actually had a few early flights of pintails in the bay. I am excited about the rest of this year and our winter/spring fishing and hunting. Its gonna be a great year to be on the waters in Baffin.
Remember to practice conservation and just keep 5. Later, Aubrey
