It's the little things

Shandee was quick to remind me Friday night that Griff had been begging me to take him out fishing and we were at the bay. I knew she was right. This is one of the many reasons I love her--she keeps me honest and accountable! So, even though I was a little weary from the previous night's "town floundering," I got Griff up and we headed out into St. Charles for a quick fish Saturday morning. Warren had been kind enough to lend me his new cast net so I could catch some bait, hoping to get Griff into some nice redfish. I started to throw the net and was successful in catching a few mullet. I called Griff over and he was really interested in holding and checking out our "big catch." It was then that God reminded me that it wasn't about catching the "big red" but just being out in his creation with my firstborn, experiencing new firsts together. So I abandoned the fishing plans and we just hung out catching mullet in the cast net, picking up oyster shells and sloshing around in the marsh mud. Griff was enjoying every minute of it, absorbing all the sights, sounds and smells of the bay. After a bit, Griff was ready to head back and we started back in the truck. Griff said "Dad, can we stop so I can pick one of those sunflowers?" I realized this is what it is all about. A snapshot in time that I will remember for a long time. Watching a 5 year old in sync with the outdoors is an amazing thing, what a blessing!

Not to be outdone, Sam piped up when we got back and reminded me that he wanted a turn as well. We decided to hit sunset lake in the kayak after we got to my parent's in Portland. I worked with Sam on his casting, paddled around and just took it all in. After all, this is the same place that my fascination with the Texas coast began many years ago, catching undersized reds in sunset lake. Getting to see Sam and my dad fish side by side brought back memories I will never forget--

Would you like fries with your Flounder?

As I alluded to in my earlier post, Warren U. and I decided to try our hand at sticking a few flatfish Friday night in the Rockport area. Starting off in St. Charles, we quickly realized that floating grass was going to greatly hamper our ability to see our intended targets. So we made a quick decision to head for another spot across the causway on Copano bay. We ended up picking up 1 flounder in Copano, but running out of room to wade, we decided to come up with another game plan. By this time it was about 12:30 AM and 2 days of work/fishing was starting to catch up with me. Needless to say, I was voting for the comfortable bed waiting for me back at the Crane House. Warren pushed to try one more spot, being somewhat evasive when I tried to get him to tell me what he had planned. We continued into Rockport with Warren mumbling something about a spot near McDonald's. Of course I took that and ran with it, generally giving Warren a hard time about taking us to get a fish sandwich with a side of fries. I finally conceeded we would try this "in town" spot for a bit before we headed in for the night. Well, after getting out of the truck under the glow the neon signs, we started our wade onto a nice sand/grass flat. About 100 yards into the wade, Warren yells out "this is the biggest flounder I have ever gigged!". I rushed over and he pulls up something resembling a muddied doormat. After a bunch of hollering and high fives, we measured the flounder at just under 23". I quickly forgot about my yearning for slumber and we waded on, hoping for more biguns. I ended giging 4 flounder, one within a stone's throw of the strip mall. Warren also picked up another bigun and we headed in for the night around 2:30, leaving about the time everyone else was leaving the local watering holes. Never again will I give Warren a hard time about taking me to gig some "town flounder".

St. Charles Deja Vu

Got to spend a couple days this week at the Crane House on St. Charles Bay, with a nice mix of business and pleasure. Matt D. came out Thursday and worked up some map data for a prescribed fire plan and we decided we wouldn't be doing the property justice if we didn't check on the aquatic resources as well. Aaron P was also able to join us, a nice break from dealing with prairie chickens on a nearly daily basis. So, off we headed into the bay that evening around 5:30. I took Matt to the same place Kurt J. and I had done well at back in June (see Shandee's blog). We started getting into the redfish right off the bat, about 30 yards off of a marsh drain that empties into a large grass flat. And just like the previous score, white seemed to be the go to color on plastics. Needless to say, Matt, Aaron and I really enjoyed the evening and I ended up with these 3 nice slots. Matt, another eager but maybe not seasoned coastal angler lost a nice red via the hand drop method and caught several other undersized fish. We went back to the house and cleaned the redfish, deciding the best use for the fresh fish would be in the preparation of a batch of ceviche by Matt's lovely wife Cathy so we could attempt a second iteration of this Friday evening. Dad came in and kept me company at the Crane House Thurday night and we planned on getting into the fish again Friday morning. A beautiful but mosquito filled morning proved to again be DejaVu from our June trip, with the previous evening's redfish either not there or not interested in our offerings. We gave up after getting into the schoolie trout for a while. Friday evening Matt and Cathy again joined us and Shandee brought the boys over for the duration of our Crane House stay. No fish stories to speak of from our Friday evening trip, other than Cathy's solid schooling of Matt and I as she caught the only fish of the evening. We enjoyed some great fellowship and the bounty from the previous day's catch thanks to Cathy's superb ceviche. Warren U. showed up and we decided to try some of our Rockport floundering haunts that night and Griff, Sam and I had an enjoyable Saturday morning on the water--but you will have to read my next blog.

Marsh Monsters

Well, it was a good birthday! I had my redfish limit by 9 AM this morning, with a real monster thrown in for good measure. I had been working in Brazoria County on Wednesday, so decided to call Tim and see if he wanted to do a quick overnight trip to Mad Island Marsh. He obliged after hearing that Mad Island Lake was "full of redfish" although reported to be somewhat picky. Yesterday evening it was as reported, with lots of fish but few takers of our artificial offerings. So we decided to have a few beers on the deck, enjoy a beautiful sunset and call it a night, dreaming of the big ones in the morning. And we were not dissapointed. We started paddling our kayaks around 6:30 this morning, headed west in the marsh. As we got near the west end of the main lake, I looked over and saw some birds working furiously about 1/4 mile ahead. I quickly waved Tim to head that way and sure enough when we got there the reds were feeding under the birds. Tim and I made our first casts of the morning, both hooking up with quality fish. Mine turned out to be 24" and Tim's broke off at the last minute due to some line management issues. I picked up one more red around 20" on a topwater and then the bite began to die. I suggested we ease towards the next marsh lake in an area were we have found fish before. On the way I picked up a 23" red blind casting near an oyster reef. We slipped into the next lake and sure enough found fish working. Having my limit, I tried to focus on getting Tim on a good fish. He made a nice cast to a tailing fish and bam, fish on. I could tell he was a good fish and told Tim to "let him have some room". We got the fish up closer to the boat and I told Tim it looked oversize to me. Tim decided to use the tag on this one after landing succesfully. Fish continued to tail and chase bait all around us and I couldn't stand it any longer, making a cast to a tail not more than 30' from my kayak. My Gulp shrimp hit the water and bam, fish on. I could tell right away that I had another oversize. Little did I realize how big this fish really was until a couple more minutes into the epic battle. This poor fish was so big and in such shallow water that he was having a hard time fighting back because his body was partly out of the water most of the time and little room to go deep. I pull him in the kayak, barely able to pick this brute up. By this time it is about 10 AM and I tell Tim I am going to ease back to the lodge and let him fish some more. We end up taking pictures and cleaning our redfish, heading back to Victoria around 1. What a great day! The marsh is always full of surprises--