# "Cold Coastal Contingencies"



## Capt. Chris Martin (May 22, 2004)

*Guide Lines, by Capt. Chris Martin
January 9, 2015*

Even though our portion of this winterâ€™s arctic blasts appear to be minor in comparison to the rest of the nation, things have still managed to get quite cold around here on occasion. The amount of cold that weâ€™ve seen along the coastline of Texas has proven to be very advantageous for this seasonâ€™s duck hunters, but a lot of coastal anglers may not have experienced the same level of cold weather success that the hunters have had. Why? One reason is simple, and that is that a lot of anglers probably opt for staying at home by the fireplace when the air and the water turn really cold this month and next. But, naturally, thatâ€™s not the only reason. A lot of coastal anglers are not able to fish much except on weekends, and that in itself can often turn out to be quite a gamble more times than not. You can plan a â€œperfectâ€ trip until you get tired of planning, but the odds are against you in having everything turn out in your favor when you actually get out on the water, especially during the winter months. You can, however, plan for contingencies in the event you are out on your winter weekend fishing trip and are faced with certain situations.

If you happen to be fishing just prior to the arrival of the next big frontal passage, there is more than a good chance that you may have to deal with a somewhat aggressive wind blowing out of the south. This is when youâ€™ll need to be extremely careful when crossing large, open bays in order to position yourself within the confines of a protected shoreline. Those of us here along the mid-coast region of Texas would commonly recognize just such places as being locations like Matagorda Island and San Jose Island, where mile upon seemingly endless mile of barrier island shoreline separates the local inland bay systems from the vastness of the Gulf of Mexico. Over the years, these shorelines have given up innumerable prize trout and redfish catches, all the while offering coastal anglers the comfort and the protection they need when the south wind is pumping. But what do you do when the wind stops blowing out of the south, and the north wind starts tearing the flags off of the flag poles?

You probably wonâ€™t find anyone (in their right mind, that is) who will recommend you attempt to ride out the onset of a â€œtrue-blue northerâ€ as it rips across one of our big bays. Doing so can be very dangerous, if not downright deadly. If you wake up on the Saturday morning of your weekend trip and notice a strong cold front blowing through, itâ€™s probably better not to get out on the water. Wait and see how things look early on Sunday morning. The north wind may calm down enough by then to allow you to be able to take advantage of some places containing deeper water and that can often offer some protection from a cold north wind. Such locations in our neck of the woods would include places like the stretch of the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) between San Antonio Bay and West Matagorda Bay, the Victoria Barge Canal which starts near the town of Seadrift, the Colorado River that empties near the town of Matagorda, and occasionally the Army Hole which is situated out on Matagorda Island across Espiritu Santo Bay from the town of Port Oâ€™Connor. Anglers will notice that the bay floor contour in these places will generally have a somewhat steep drop-off in spots. Tossing a favorite bottom-hugging plastic bait directly up against the bank and then dragging it ever so slowly across that drop-off has proven to be quite effective on the fish more times than anyone can begin to imagine.

Of course, if youâ€™re down for the weekend and everything happens to go â€œas plannedâ€, meaning that youâ€™ve managed to be on the water between fronts when thereâ€™s not much wind to speak of, the sun is shining brightly, and the moon and the stars are all properly aligned, then your options (all of a sudden) tend to multiply exponentially, even if you havenâ€™t been fishing in several months. The shell pads out in San Antonio Bay could experience some of the hottest trout action at any moment, and some of the slightly deeper drains and ditches connecting the back lakes out on Matagorda Island could begin to come alive with the very next falling tide. And thatâ€™s just for starters, because when you have bays the size of San Antonio Bay, Espiritu Santo Bay, and West Matagorda Bay the possibilities become seemingly endless.

All of us here at Bay Flats Lodge wish you and yours a Happy New Year. We also want to remind everyone of the upcoming 2015 FEBRUARY FISHING SPECIAL, when you and your guest(s) can fish at a tremendously discounted rate while enjoying a luxury stay at Bay Flats Lodge on San Antonio Bay. Remember to practice CPR, â€œCatch, Photo, and Releaseâ€, whenever possible on trophy Trout and Redsâ€¦Guide Chris Martin, Port Oâ€™Connor/Seadrift region.

www.BayFlatsLodge.com
1-888-677-4868


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## Capt. Chris Martin (May 22, 2004)

*Has it been awhile?*

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## Capt. Chris Martin (May 22, 2004)

*"Success Tips for Second-Half Ducks" By Captain Chris Martin*

There are, basically, only three rules to duck hunting. The first one is location. That means that you need to be where the ducks want to be. One way to discover where the ducks want to be is by scouting different places ahead of time. I tend to be really big on scouting because the amount of information you can gain by doing it can sometimes be extensive, and having knowledge of where the ducks are, or want to be, will most often give you a certain advantage over the next guy.

It was the day before the opening of the second half of this yearâ€™s season when I sat my chocolate Lab in the front of the airboat and we made our way out to one of my absolute favorite hunting locations that I have come to be able to depend on for many years now. It is a secluded flats area that is separated from the rest of civilization by acres upon acres of saltwater marshland. The path leading to this spot is a seemingly endless and winding, narrow ditch (of sorts) that eventually opens into an extremely shallow, muddy lake situated way back in the middle of nowhere. I remember when I happened upon this place several years ago that my initial thought was that Iâ€™d never be able to find it again, but I did, and we have been hunting there off-and-on for a long time now.

I purposely had not hunted this particular venue during the first half of the season because I wanted it to remain untouched until we needed it for help â€" being able to have a place to hunt where the birds hadnâ€™t already been shot at earlier in the season. I didnâ€™t want to ride directly into the wide-open lake, so I shutdown the big airboat engine a quarter-mile, or more, before entering the mouth of the lake. The boat came to a slow halt against the marsh grass lining the bayou, and a sufficient north wind was blowing in my left ear as I sat atop the captainâ€™s tower in the boat. I could definitely hear a lot of ducks, but I couldnâ€™t see where they were staging out on the lake. As I sat there in the boat listening, I was looking through my binoculars to see if I could catch sight of the ducks sitting out on the water when all of a sudden a group of 150-200 ducks dropped in on them. As a waterfowl hunter, there might be some things that you get tired of seeing in this world, but watching a tightly bundled group of ducks drop out of the sky probably isnâ€™t one of them. I had achieved what I set out to do with regards to figuring out where the ducks wanted to be, so I quietly retreated out of the bayou knowing that the birds would more than likely still be interested in this spot tomorrow morning.

Duck huntingâ€™s second rule states that you must be hidden. This means that you must do whatever you can in order to conceal your presence from ducks that may be approaching your setup. Spend some time looking at your blind from the outside, and fill any voids in camouflage with fresh cover. Remember that it is just as important to be concealed from the back as it is from behind, so make sure your cover is adequate on all sides. Cover from above needs to be addressed, as well, and can often be achieved simply by allowing foliage on the sides of the blind to drape over the top of the blind. If this doesnâ€™t work for you, then you may need to build some type of overhead foliage support that will help hide your location from passing ducks. Whenever possible, covering exposed skin should also be taken into consideration, and can often easily be accomplished with the use of a pair of camouflage gloves and facemask (or bandana).

And the third rule of duck hunting is to try to make your decoy spread look absolutely as natural as humanly possible. To fully comply with this rule may mean you might be forced to reconfigure your layout, or even possibly relocate, throughout the course of the day, but thatâ€™s not something you will always have control over. On any given day out in the blind, we have had to move the decoys as many as a half-dozen times and have had to move the Mojoâ€™s to several different spots, or have even had to do away with them altogether. Remembering that the primary purpose of the spinning-wing decoy, the Mojo, is to attract ducks from a long distance, keep in mind that there will be days when they can be used as an advantage when all else fails, and on other days not. On occasion, youâ€™ll need to accept the fact that you will be required to constantly change your setup based upon what the ducks might be responding to. Your chances at success are increased exponentially whenever you recognize the need for a change and then are able to adequately adapt to what the ducks are telling you.

Texas coastal waterfowl hunters hunt because they want to, not because they have to. Duck and goose hunters alike do what they do because that is what they truly love to do. Their perseverance and persistence is often a result of a family tradition buried deep within their heritage, a tradition that always prevails over whatever the weather might be doing outside. For waterfowl hunters, the love for hunting ducks and geese is in their blood and it becomes a way of life for them. They live and breathe the sport of waterfowl hunting, and they canâ€™t wait for that next opportunity to challenge themselves, the elements, and most importantly, the birds. Chances are good that they learned at a very young age all of that which they know about the sport today. And chances are probably even greater that they all look forward to passing their duck hunting tradition on to the next generation. Take a kid hunting!

Happy New Year, and good luck at having another great ending to what I hope has been a good season for all of you!


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