# Aransas Bay Mayhem



## ctsa (Sep 21, 2015)

Well the wind gods did me a big favor this weekend...they kept most of the darelick wknd warriors off the water which was overly pleasant.

Saturday morning was 25-30mph winds out of SSW for most of the day and protected water was harder to come by. Took a friend out of Cove Harbor and cut across Estes Flats and California Hole trying to stay out of the main bay. Crazy part was 1.5ft of water had dumped out of the bay and it was -.25 which looked like a winter tide dump which made getting around a bit more tricky and staying out of the white caps in the main bay. Saw some boats really beach themselves and just hope no one was injured.

Saturday morning ended up being one of those days you get rewarded for persistence and boy did we! HOLY HELL! On a protected shoreline with a deep water cut we found some good water and jumped in chest deep into schools of menhaden going ballistic. It was aggressive feeding at its finest. Between the 2 of us we caught 150 trout throughout the day (had 13 cast in a row at one point) from 4ft to 2ft off scattered grass pockets. While the sheer number between 2 people was staggering, the size was more so. We caught and released 4 trophy trout with 2 of them topping out around 6lbs. Over 40% of our trout was 17"+ with 2 dozen over 20". 

Sunday - the tides stayed out, wind was still pushing hard and the water was churned up everywhere. With conditions having not let up I anticipated the bait would still be holding on that shoreline and went straight there. Exact repeat of Saturday except I only fished 3hrs in the morning but probably around 75 trout between us. Didn't find any that jumped into the 25" range Sunday but brought back in my fish tote a total of 26 keepers averaging 19". Got a quick photo op of all of them in the bag (while not a great photo I didn't want to kill them), kept my 5 and let the rest swim for someone else.

Things and places that didn't work - wind and tide dump really limited the water that was accessible, even on a 25ft Haynie. Back side of Mud had 20 boats sitting on the St Joes side in the channel throwing shrimp. Point of Mud was blown out and California Hole and Estes Flats had an army of wknd warriors anchored throwing shrimp BC it was the only water not white capping. Ran to Port A for lunch with the wife Saturday and from there went south to check out East Flats, North Pelican Island and Dagger. Wasn't brace enough to run across CC Bay to Shamrock. Wind was so brutal across Corpus Bay all the areas with drops were impossible and the flats behind them didn't have enough water to hold fish. Ransom didn't have any bait on it either. 

Things I did right - Holding to the theory of not wasting time fishing dead water I never got out of the boat except at the one shoreline. Every fish caught this wknd was on 2 half mile wades where there was incoming bait flows stacked up on a protected shoreline. The bigger trout were in 18" of water at a pinch point and the rest held mostly in 3-4ft. All trout were on top waters and Down South Lures. Chicken on a chain and texas roach were he hot ticket. Spent time pre planning my trip based on weather, tide levels and barometric pressure. Fun to see it all come together. Thanks to Trout Support and Tobin specifically that have continued to make days like this consistent! 

Few pics attached. I'm a terrible photographer btw


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## Rack Ranch (May 25, 2004)

Great job man, the trout bite has been on fire the last couple weeks. The croaker soakers will be invading your spot in the very near future, I saw the flags flying at Clems already.


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## loco4fishn (May 17, 2010)

*Tftr*

Great job. I appreciate the detailed report. Hope this keeps up.


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## txfishkiller (Jan 20, 2013)

KDubBlast said:


> Dude, no JR game wardens. Because of people like you they took off the comment option in the first place.


DUDE, the only reason he kept the 26 in his tote was to take a pict and show the world what a cool fisherman he was, very irresponsible and i'll be a junior game warden all day long if it protects the species. people are greedy and self righteous. 
back in the day before CCA I've seen the floor of a 22' bay boat thigh deep in reds just because they could. that's the whole reason the regs were changed, because many folks don't exercise self control. I applaud the guy for having a great day and finding the fish. just be a man and do the right thing.


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## txfishkiller (Jan 20, 2013)

Fish4Life said:


> Not sure why you are the only one that is mentioning this but 26 Trout in a tote is not good. Sure they may have swam away but they were most definitely stresses and maybe lacking some slime which protects them. What this equals to is easy pickings for dolphins and some fish that may die just to be held for a picture.
> 
> And to the ones who say no junior game wardens, yes this needs to be brought to his attention so he doesn't get in trouble with the real game warden. Carrying over your limit whether dead or alive is illegal. I bet if someone had 26 Trout that were all over 25 inches there would be some serious crying going on.


well said.....


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## HoustonKid (Dec 29, 2005)

Sounds like and epic day. I will leave the hot topic for others to discuss.


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## richard1075 (Feb 16, 2015)

CTSA, thanks for the great report! I will always welcome news of trout activity around Rockport/AP.


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## Reel Aggies (Nov 30, 2007)

Keep the reports from this area coming. Always like hearing what's going on down here.


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## willydavenport (Jun 4, 2004)

Awesome report. Wish I was there! Thanks.


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