Wow!! Time flies when you're having fun. Didn't realize it had been so long since my last report. Took a week off to have LASIK surgery on my eyes and celebrated by going sight-casting for redfish. Saw 11 reds, got good shots at 5 of them and hooked up on 3 landing them all. I guess I can consider the surgery a success!!
The fishing has been good. Not phenomenal by Baffin standards but good. Lots of smaller trout are being caught and loads of good solid slot redfish. While this may be acceptable in most fishing locales in Texas, everyone that comes to Baffin has something a little more specific in mind. So far this month, Baffin has not disappointed.
Hot baits have been weedless gold spoons and smaller topwaters like bone Super Spook Jr.'s and the small Skitterwalks for reds. Trout are still hitting dark plastics with the dark Strawberry Devil Eyes, rootbeer/red glitter Saltwater Assassins, and various colored Berkley Gup Jerk Shad taking top honors.
Fished with a large family group this past week and had an absolute blast. I had just finished with a 3 day multi boat trip and gotta admit, I was one tired puppy when they showed up. John, Robert, Kenneth, Jacob and John made sure that there was never a dull moment.
We visited for a while after everyone finally showed up. We discussed the finer points of following directions before heading off for supper at the Baffin Bay Cafe.
Game plans were formulated and I hit the sack early still feeling the effects of the previous three days.
Fresh brewed coffee and sausage and egg tacos got the day started off right. We walked outside to find that the dead calm mornings we have been enjoying for a week were replaced with a 15mph wind out of the west. Well, that really sucked. West winds don't do anything good for me on Baffin.
Everyone was more than willing to give it a shot and I headed out looking for fishable water. Water color was good most places we tried but the weird wind direction had dislodged large mats of floating grass which made lure chunking difficult to say the least.
After reeling in several bales of grass, I made the call to try another spot that I hoped would be a little more protected and grass free. It was better but still a lot of grass. However, Kenneth overcame that with a silver spoon and landed a personal best trout. WTG Kenneth!!
A bunch of dink trout followed and even though the bait was everywhere and conditions looked good, the overabundance of floating grass finally did us in and we headed to our next spot.
Jacob quickly became the star of the day. He had never been fishing before and got a crash course in several things. First off was how to cast a Curado baitcaster which he picked up very quickly (only had to get the knife out for one backlash LOL).
Then, he had to learn to fish with artificials. Again, he was a quick study as evidenced by his first ever fish, a 21" keeper redfish!
And a little video clip of the action
www.youtube.com/watch?v=chYgu2QryCo
Jacob then proved that his technique (another long story) was no fluke as he hung an even bigger red just minutes later.
John rounded out the catching with the biggest redfish of the day at the end of our last wade.
We ground it out under tough conditions for a decent box of reds and trout with several firsts and personal bests. We headed back in, tired but happy. A soothing dip in the pool and excercising my relentless pups for an hour or so helped us unwind.
A little BBQ chicken and some adult beverages topped it all off as we prepared for the next day with a promising forecast ................... yeah right LOL.
Biscuits and gravy, bacon and fresh coffee was a real eye opener and when we walked outside to dead calm sticky conditions, everyone was wide awake with excitement.
We headed out to our first spot only to find that the grass was still a problem. I quickly headed to my second destination and Lady Luck was on our side as we were greeted by beautiful clear (grass-free) waters. Large rafts of mullet were everywhere and it just looked fantastic.
We spread out and began to ply the waters with topwaters, plastics, spoons and even Robert's hand tied deceiver on his flyrod.
Well, it didn't take too long before I heard the call "Fish On" coming from Robert's direction. As I glanced over, I saw a large splash and lots of surfce action from the fish he had hooked up with. I pulled out my video camera and waded as quickly as I could to try to capture some of the moment.
Robert expertly played out the big fish and I witnessed the landing of his personal best (on the fly) Baffin Big Girl. I envy you my friend and plan to do the same very soon.
Here are two video clips of the catch (the second one is the release).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaunnB5ioks
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q-iLIjhRI0
Then things got interesting. I had waded back to the boat when I heard some chatter over the radio about a fast moving storm headed our way. I looked to the north and it didn't look bad at all. I switched channels to the weather band and they were confirming that high winds, lightning, hail, the whole nine yards was indeed barreling down on us.
I went to pick up my guys and tried to nicely encourage them to to get their shaggy butts in the boat unless they wanted to be left behind LOL. To hear them tell it, I was a veritable Capt. Bligh!!
We ran WOT back to the ramp just in time to greet the 50+mph winds. Perfect timing.
We rested inside while Mother Nature tested our new roof. We decided to kill a little time with a "friendly" poker game. Dang!! these guys are cutthroat for being related LOL. Kenneth pulled it out with a higher kicker on the final All In.
The winds died down and it looked good to me so I herded up the crew and off we went. The catching was a little slow but we did manage another good box of fish and had a great time doing it.
It was a memorable trip and I look forward to fishing with these guys again real soon. Remember to practice conservation and just keep 5. Later, Aubrey
The fishing has been good. Not phenomenal by Baffin standards but good. Lots of smaller trout are being caught and loads of good solid slot redfish. While this may be acceptable in most fishing locales in Texas, everyone that comes to Baffin has something a little more specific in mind. So far this month, Baffin has not disappointed.
Hot baits have been weedless gold spoons and smaller topwaters like bone Super Spook Jr.'s and the small Skitterwalks for reds. Trout are still hitting dark plastics with the dark Strawberry Devil Eyes, rootbeer/red glitter Saltwater Assassins, and various colored Berkley Gup Jerk Shad taking top honors.
Fished with a large family group this past week and had an absolute blast. I had just finished with a 3 day multi boat trip and gotta admit, I was one tired puppy when they showed up. John, Robert, Kenneth, Jacob and John made sure that there was never a dull moment.
We visited for a while after everyone finally showed up. We discussed the finer points of following directions before heading off for supper at the Baffin Bay Cafe.
Game plans were formulated and I hit the sack early still feeling the effects of the previous three days.
Fresh brewed coffee and sausage and egg tacos got the day started off right. We walked outside to find that the dead calm mornings we have been enjoying for a week were replaced with a 15mph wind out of the west. Well, that really sucked. West winds don't do anything good for me on Baffin.
Everyone was more than willing to give it a shot and I headed out looking for fishable water. Water color was good most places we tried but the weird wind direction had dislodged large mats of floating grass which made lure chunking difficult to say the least.
After reeling in several bales of grass, I made the call to try another spot that I hoped would be a little more protected and grass free. It was better but still a lot of grass. However, Kenneth overcame that with a silver spoon and landed a personal best trout. WTG Kenneth!!
A bunch of dink trout followed and even though the bait was everywhere and conditions looked good, the overabundance of floating grass finally did us in and we headed to our next spot.
Jacob quickly became the star of the day. He had never been fishing before and got a crash course in several things. First off was how to cast a Curado baitcaster which he picked up very quickly (only had to get the knife out for one backlash LOL).
Then, he had to learn to fish with artificials. Again, he was a quick study as evidenced by his first ever fish, a 21" keeper redfish!
And a little video clip of the action
www.youtube.com/watch?v=chYgu2QryCo
Jacob then proved that his technique (another long story) was no fluke as he hung an even bigger red just minutes later.
John rounded out the catching with the biggest redfish of the day at the end of our last wade.
We ground it out under tough conditions for a decent box of reds and trout with several firsts and personal bests. We headed back in, tired but happy. A soothing dip in the pool and excercising my relentless pups for an hour or so helped us unwind.
A little BBQ chicken and some adult beverages topped it all off as we prepared for the next day with a promising forecast ................... yeah right LOL.
Biscuits and gravy, bacon and fresh coffee was a real eye opener and when we walked outside to dead calm sticky conditions, everyone was wide awake with excitement.
We headed out to our first spot only to find that the grass was still a problem. I quickly headed to my second destination and Lady Luck was on our side as we were greeted by beautiful clear (grass-free) waters. Large rafts of mullet were everywhere and it just looked fantastic.
We spread out and began to ply the waters with topwaters, plastics, spoons and even Robert's hand tied deceiver on his flyrod.
Well, it didn't take too long before I heard the call "Fish On" coming from Robert's direction. As I glanced over, I saw a large splash and lots of surfce action from the fish he had hooked up with. I pulled out my video camera and waded as quickly as I could to try to capture some of the moment.
Robert expertly played out the big fish and I witnessed the landing of his personal best (on the fly) Baffin Big Girl. I envy you my friend and plan to do the same very soon.
Here are two video clips of the catch (the second one is the release).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaunnB5ioks
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q-iLIjhRI0
Then things got interesting. I had waded back to the boat when I heard some chatter over the radio about a fast moving storm headed our way. I looked to the north and it didn't look bad at all. I switched channels to the weather band and they were confirming that high winds, lightning, hail, the whole nine yards was indeed barreling down on us.
I went to pick up my guys and tried to nicely encourage them to to get their shaggy butts in the boat unless they wanted to be left behind LOL. To hear them tell it, I was a veritable Capt. Bligh!!
We ran WOT back to the ramp just in time to greet the 50+mph winds. Perfect timing.
We rested inside while Mother Nature tested our new roof. We decided to kill a little time with a "friendly" poker game. Dang!! these guys are cutthroat for being related LOL. Kenneth pulled it out with a higher kicker on the final All In.
The winds died down and it looked good to me so I herded up the crew and off we went. The catching was a little slow but we did manage another good box of fish and had a great time doing it.
It was a memorable trip and I look forward to fishing with these guys again real soon. Remember to practice conservation and just keep 5. Later, Aubrey
