I'm hoping the past few trips are the beginning of a trend down here in our little happy home. Our numbers and size are both up and the patterns that we expect this time of the year are finally beginning to materialize.
Hot baits this week have been various colored Skitterwalks and Bone Super Spook Jrs on top and the usual Rootbeer/red glitter assassins, dark Strawberry Devile Eyes and red/white Gambler Flappin' Shad. Of course, the redfish still cannot leave our gold weedless spoons alone either.
Just finished up a two day trip with some good friends/clients from the Austin area. These guys have contributed to some of my most memorable trips in the past and added to their notoriety with this one.
Ryan, Tommy and Walker showed up Thursday afternoon loaded for bear. They had food in multiple ice chests, heavy bags of tackle and everything you could possibly want or need on a two day fishing trip.
They settled in and we visited for a short while before turning in for the night. It was a pleasant surprise for me the next morning when they provided breakfast. All I had to do was make a pot of coffee and get the boat ready to go.
We hit the water early and headed to my first choice of spots. There were only a couple of trucks in the parking lot so I felt we would have no problem picking our spot. Unfortunately, it looked like one of the other boaters had the exact same spot in mind.
We were forced into Plan B right off the bat. I told them I hoped this wasn't an omen of things to come.
We hit the second spot and saw some bait activity and a couple of slicks so we piled out and spread across a dropoff in sand/grass. I managed five or six trout in quick succession except they were all small except for one 17"er. The rest of the guys weren't having much better luck so we made the call to move as the winds slowly built up.
This spot proved to be the new favorite spot in Baffin Bay for Walker. When we arrived, I mentioned to the guys that topwaters or paddle tail plastics were a good bet here as there was plenty of grass on the shallow flat and anything that had an opportunity to sink to the bottom would surely become an instant hay bale.
I noticed when Walker decided to go old school and tied on a purple/ white Queen Cocahoe Minnow. Thinking to myself, "Why not?" I figured it was just as good as any paddletail lure and it seemed to be one that he had confidence in.
We spread out across the flat and began catching fish almost immeadiately. Walker headed out on a power wade and was soon several hundred yards away. After a couple of hours, the bite slowed down and I headed back to the boat to gather up the crew for our next challenge.
I had Ryan and Tommy on the boat and headed to pick up Walker. I asked them if they had seen him catch anything. I had noticed him a couple of times doing what I call the Landing Dance. It usually entails that one arm held high in the air as the angler crouches over and spins around in a circle once or twice.
As we neared his location, we couldn't help but notice that ear splitting grin he had on his face. We knew it was good news when he mouthed the word "HOG" as we pulled besdie him.
That proved to be an understatement as he hoisted up his new personal best trout which is at this moment headed to the taxidermist. She wasn't quite 30" but just about as close as you can get. The Queen Cocahoe comes through.
Walker continued his day to remember by picking up a 24" trout and the biggest redfish of the day as well, a solid 25"er. Its a good thing he is such a humble fellow or we would have had to listen to smack talk all day........... well, maybe he wasn't THAT humble LOL.
We headed in and enjoyed a delicious steak dinner after entertaing my Lab Rocksy until we couldn't throw her bumper anymore. That dog just doesn't have an off switch. The food was great and between the full stomach, the bottle of wine and the numerous empty beer cans, sleep came quickly for everyone.
Next morning was a replay of the previous morning and we were out even earlier. This time we headed to Walker's favorite spot first. It paid off for us in grand fashion. Especially for Tommy. By the time I gathered everyone up, Tommy had quite a stringer topped by three solid 20"+ trout. Things were looking good.
The rest of the day was a little slower but still plenty of action mostly on various plastics. Tommy was hot with Rootbeer/red glitter assassins and he ground it out longer than anyone on this day. We finally coaxed him off the water and dragged our tired bodies back to the house for another dip in the pool and more aggravation from the dog.
Grilled fajitas were on the menu and were the prelude to the hot poker game. I still can't believe my full boat got stomped by 4 of a kind LOL. The game was over fairly early as it truly turned out to be Tommy's day. Enjoy the winnings my friend.
The only complaint I had was one of these guys who will remain un-named (Tommy), actually had the gall to put ketchup on a beautifully grilled ribeye steak. I think thats against some kind of "Man Law" isn't it?
Once again, it was a blast to fish with these fine young men. Hope to see them down here again and try to push that bar a little higher.
Remember to practice conservation and just keep 5. Later, Aubrey
Hot baits this week have been various colored Skitterwalks and Bone Super Spook Jrs on top and the usual Rootbeer/red glitter assassins, dark Strawberry Devile Eyes and red/white Gambler Flappin' Shad. Of course, the redfish still cannot leave our gold weedless spoons alone either.
Just finished up a two day trip with some good friends/clients from the Austin area. These guys have contributed to some of my most memorable trips in the past and added to their notoriety with this one.
Ryan, Tommy and Walker showed up Thursday afternoon loaded for bear. They had food in multiple ice chests, heavy bags of tackle and everything you could possibly want or need on a two day fishing trip.
They settled in and we visited for a short while before turning in for the night. It was a pleasant surprise for me the next morning when they provided breakfast. All I had to do was make a pot of coffee and get the boat ready to go.
We hit the water early and headed to my first choice of spots. There were only a couple of trucks in the parking lot so I felt we would have no problem picking our spot. Unfortunately, it looked like one of the other boaters had the exact same spot in mind.
We were forced into Plan B right off the bat. I told them I hoped this wasn't an omen of things to come.
We hit the second spot and saw some bait activity and a couple of slicks so we piled out and spread across a dropoff in sand/grass. I managed five or six trout in quick succession except they were all small except for one 17"er. The rest of the guys weren't having much better luck so we made the call to move as the winds slowly built up.
This spot proved to be the new favorite spot in Baffin Bay for Walker. When we arrived, I mentioned to the guys that topwaters or paddle tail plastics were a good bet here as there was plenty of grass on the shallow flat and anything that had an opportunity to sink to the bottom would surely become an instant hay bale.
I noticed when Walker decided to go old school and tied on a purple/ white Queen Cocahoe Minnow. Thinking to myself, "Why not?" I figured it was just as good as any paddletail lure and it seemed to be one that he had confidence in.
We spread out across the flat and began catching fish almost immeadiately. Walker headed out on a power wade and was soon several hundred yards away. After a couple of hours, the bite slowed down and I headed back to the boat to gather up the crew for our next challenge.
I had Ryan and Tommy on the boat and headed to pick up Walker. I asked them if they had seen him catch anything. I had noticed him a couple of times doing what I call the Landing Dance. It usually entails that one arm held high in the air as the angler crouches over and spins around in a circle once or twice.
As we neared his location, we couldn't help but notice that ear splitting grin he had on his face. We knew it was good news when he mouthed the word "HOG" as we pulled besdie him.
That proved to be an understatement as he hoisted up his new personal best trout which is at this moment headed to the taxidermist. She wasn't quite 30" but just about as close as you can get. The Queen Cocahoe comes through.
Walker continued his day to remember by picking up a 24" trout and the biggest redfish of the day as well, a solid 25"er. Its a good thing he is such a humble fellow or we would have had to listen to smack talk all day........... well, maybe he wasn't THAT humble LOL.
We headed in and enjoyed a delicious steak dinner after entertaing my Lab Rocksy until we couldn't throw her bumper anymore. That dog just doesn't have an off switch. The food was great and between the full stomach, the bottle of wine and the numerous empty beer cans, sleep came quickly for everyone.
Next morning was a replay of the previous morning and we were out even earlier. This time we headed to Walker's favorite spot first. It paid off for us in grand fashion. Especially for Tommy. By the time I gathered everyone up, Tommy had quite a stringer topped by three solid 20"+ trout. Things were looking good.
The rest of the day was a little slower but still plenty of action mostly on various plastics. Tommy was hot with Rootbeer/red glitter assassins and he ground it out longer than anyone on this day. We finally coaxed him off the water and dragged our tired bodies back to the house for another dip in the pool and more aggravation from the dog.
Grilled fajitas were on the menu and were the prelude to the hot poker game. I still can't believe my full boat got stomped by 4 of a kind LOL. The game was over fairly early as it truly turned out to be Tommy's day. Enjoy the winnings my friend.
The only complaint I had was one of these guys who will remain un-named (Tommy), actually had the gall to put ketchup on a beautifully grilled ribeye steak. I think thats against some kind of "Man Law" isn't it?
Once again, it was a blast to fish with these fine young men. Hope to see them down here again and try to push that bar a little higher.
Remember to practice conservation and just keep 5. Later, Aubrey
