June 5 – 20, 2004 — Wind, wind and CALM!
After the last fifteen days on the water it’s obvious our trout have started their move to summer patterns. We have had every type of weather pattern during this period. The fishing has also mirrored the weather with calm mornings; top water action has been excellent with numbers of good fish. With tides running about normal the trout are still holding 75 to 100 yards inside the grass lines. These school’s are tightly bunched and will allow numbers to be caught from each group. When the water and tides fall out in July look for the trout to restage on the outside edge of grass lines both north and south of the Port. Small top waters have been the best baits the last few calm mornings with bone and chrome being the colors of choice. For those interested in numbers a steady wade will be rewarded with limits of 15 to 19 inch fish, a few larger trout have been caught recently. One client caught and photographed a 27″ plus, 7-pound trout then released her. We are seeing more and more clients who are keeping the smaller fish and releasing all over 22″. With the pressure on this bay system more people need to keep only what they want to eat and enjoy the day on the water.
Our Bay City, Palacios, Wharton and Galveston regulars were here this last week and as usual gave the locals a lesson on fishing. After keeping a number of fillets the first day they played catch and release their second day only keeping fish too stressed to live. It is a real pleasure to be their BOAT DRIVER when they come down, as the guys don’t need a guide just a ride across the ICW.
Reds continue to dominate our catches with numerous oversize being released. For reds look high on the sand and grass lines early and after the boat traffic picks up look for them in the same places only out in about 3 feet.
Soft plastics on 1/8 to 1/16 jig heads have been numbers bait. The past month I have been using a number of different Norton Baits and feel catch rates have gone up. The bone sparkle in the Bull Minnow and the glow chartreuse has been my two most constant colors of choice. I will be writing a complete review of these baits in the near future as I feel the Bull Minnow and Sand Eel Jrs. are helping to enhance our catch ratios.
With lighter winds we have had a number of offshore trips with Good Limits of snapper and small grouper. The kings have just appeared and look for our Top Water bite to really heat up on these speed perch. With a settling wind pattern watch for our offshore trips to showcase our fishery
