# Rockport 8/28 Lotsa Trout



## pocjetty (Sep 12, 2014)

I want to tie this fishing report to another thread in the General Fishing forum, mostly because I have to correct myself for something I said:
https://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=2607747

I started the morning fishing in a spot that I picked for no other reason than that's where I wanted to fish this morning. As you might guess, it didn't work out for me. There was a perfect steady breeze from the SSE. The water was much higher than it has been for the last week. And as so often happens when we get a surge like this, it was also much cleaner than it has been, and a touch cooler. I was pulling 5 1/2" sand eels, as I have been lately, and after about half an hour I decided to suck it up and move.

I went to a spot where there is a flat with a well-defined drop off. Out a short distance from the drop off is a hump. Rather than fish the flat, or the drop, I went straight to the hump. Once I got to where I could cast to the windward side, I got slapped by a just-undersized trout. Next cast, same thing. And the next. I'll spare the rinse and repeat - it was loaded with fish, and they were just in a frenzy. Probably one cast in four, I never even got to engage the spool - the moment it hit the water there was already a hit. When a fish dropped off, there was almost always another hit - I'm sure from fish that were following the first one. A few times I had a fish drop off and I cranked like cray to get the lure back so I could throw it again, and I got hit while being zipped in.

The fish were tightly grouped in the 14-14 1/2" range. I know that sounds clichÃ©, but a few were as small as 13, and a few probably would have stretched to the 15" mark. (I don't like to measure trout. If I can't tell they're legal without measuring, I generally don't keep them.) Most were clearly in between.

These days, most fishermen catching fish that size will move. I was pretty sure I could make a small move, and at least get some fish that I could take home - which I did, but not until I had proven a point to myself. But back in the "good old days" the vast majority of fishermen would have kept every single one of those fish. It brought back a memory - fish like that weren't "legal" or "undersized", they were called "eatin' size". And with good reason, because they made a perfect size, tasty fillet.

Since we had recently had the discussion about the shape of our bays, I stayed and had some fun. The fish were mostly "pecking" the bait, and I was getting clean mouth hookups that I could release unharmed. And I have to admit it was fun. So... could I have caught a hundred trout today? I don't know. But could two people fishing together have caught a hundred? Absolutely. I caught half that many myself, without any question.

After I had seen what I wanted to see, I moved to a nearby spot and found the keeper fish I thought I would. I kept my five that were bunched around 18" long. It wasn't as fast and furious, and I didn't expect it to be, but I had pretty steady action.

In the other thread I said that those hundred-fish catches are no longer possible, and that was just wrong. I don't sit still and fish for that many under-15 trout like we used to, so I really can't say what is possible. Maybe back then there would have been a few more big fish mixed in on a hundred-fish day. But people definitely caught and kept a lot of those "eatin'-size" fish. And maybe the hundred-fish days happened more often, but I can't get around the fact that they're still possible.

I obviously don't have pictures of all the throwbacks. And I was late for a couple of errands, so when I got home I threw them all on the cleaning table without pictures. Sometimes when I claim to have released a number of fish, I like to show a picture of the lure I was using, to let the teeth marks tell the story. Today I just completely wore out four sand eels - two of them broke off because the leader got shredded by trout teeth, and I didn't want to take the time to re-tie. My fifth (and last) sand eel is pretty well shredded. But I realized that I have something better than a lure to show, to corroborate my story - my thumbs and forefingers. (And I was being careful.) I trust that's good enough to prove my point?


----------



## WillieT (Aug 25, 2010)

Great day of catching. A little Neosporin will help your fingers.


----------



## pocjetty (Sep 12, 2014)

Bleach, Hibiclens, Neosporin. I did all three. Now I just have to watch.


----------



## Spot Remover (Jul 11, 2013)

Glad to see there are still healthy areas around Aransas Bay.

My wife and I fished the skinny water last weekend around lighthouse lakes and found quite a few redfish. About half were undersized but was still a thrill sight casting and watching a few of them eat our gulps. The fish are out there!

Nice trout thumb...


----------



## Hawglife (Mar 9, 2014)

Great story, and battle wounds to boot!
I do see stories talking about the good Ole days, but I'm only here for today, not yesterday. That's how I look at it!
The places I fish are literally loaded with the same size fish, and some nights loaded (slightly less) with much better sized fish.
I know the parts of the bay I'm fishing are healthy.
Are there too many people on the water these days? Maybe, but I'm just here to get me a few!
Thanks for the report! 

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk


----------



## jeffreythegiraffe (Feb 9, 2016)

Nice detailed report as always! Sounds like a fun day on the water.


----------



## pocjetty (Sep 12, 2014)

The place I was wading this morning, the hump out in ribcage-deep water, is something to be on the lookout for. If you're wading out to deeper water in the summer, and you stumble onto one, mark it for future reference. 

Predator fish have to hunt in three dimensions. A fleeing bait fish can go left or right, but also up or down. When trout chase bait up to a hump like that, they know that the bait is going to get forced upward. That stacks the odds in their favor. Some mornings when I fish that spot, I literally walk around the perimeter of the hump until I find a spot where fish are hanging. Sometimes small groups prowl around together, and you might only catch a couple when you find them - but I move around and find others.

I might as well mention that the deeper area between the hump and the nearby flat functions as a funnel in the right conditions, which limits bait movement to the left and right. That also stacks the game in favor of the trout. But usually I catch more fish on the slopes, rather than in the depths of the gut in between. A hump like that isn't some magic spot that always holds fish, but it's a good place to have in your back pocket.

There are a lot of variants. Some are long term fixtures, and some only last as season or two. Last week, the water level was a good bit lower, and it was pretty much bare. But the higher level this morning made it a place where bait hangs, just off of the nearby flat. It would have been have been a good opportunity to pull a MiroLure or Catch 2000, but I've been travelling light this summer - I'm only taking what I can fit in my front shirt pocket.

I hate to make reports without pictures, and my thumbs don't count. Below are the fillets off the ones I kept. Also, look at how shredded up that sand eel got. Even the lead jig head has teeth marks. And that was the last of the five I used today. The others got really torn up.


----------



## ddakota (Jun 28, 2009)

Nice report, glad you had fun. 

In keeping with the storyline....I recently had a similar morning in East Bay. 99% of the boats I saw were drifting the deep reefs and catching a few fish. I joined in briefly and then slowly trolling motored away from the crowd towards the shoreline. Mostly to get away from the crowd, but also to check something out. 

It was a calm morning and The shad were schooling on top in the 3-5â€™ depth range. I tied on a salt/pepper little sand eel and started catching trout under the schools of shad. I did this for 2 hours, by myself, within 300 - 400 yds of 20+ boats pecking at scattered fish. Nobody paid any attention to me since I obviously didnâ€™t know what I was doing over in that shallower water. 

Like your experience, the fish were cut from the same mold 13â€-14 1/2â€. Managed 5 keepers for a few meals. But mostly, just enjoyed catching feisty little fish. Wind picked up mid-morning, shad went down and bite disappeared. I didnâ€™t count, but I know I caught 50 fish or more. 

Iâ€™m 65, been fishing the salt since my Dad started taking me to Surfside as a baby. Iâ€™ve experienced â€œthe good ol daysâ€ for some time now. Seen it boom and bust cyclically over the years. 

Bay sure seemed healthy that day!


----------



## Puddle_Jumper (Jun 30, 2014)

Awesome..... Sure hope to actually meet you one day... Thanks again for the report !


----------



## pocjetty (Sep 12, 2014)

I can't start a thread. Today was only a scouting trip anyway. This is as good a place to park it as any:

Today was all about scouting. I know a lot of you only come down on weekends, so I thought I would share what I saw. We all know the weather has been pretty ugly lately. The water on the Rockport side of the bay is stained a nasty brown, but still has a fairly salty taste, considering.

I put in around noon, because that's when I could go. There was a line of clouds offshore from Port Aransas that I watched drop four waterspouts. Two may have been the same spout that raised and then dropped again, but at least three were different cones. One stayed very broad almost down to the water, and was awesome to watch.

I started up near Paul's Mott. The water on the far side of the bay was as stained as it was on the Rockport side. I moved south through the afternoon, but stayed in the boat. Normally I spend most of my time wading, but as I said today was more about scouting conditions. The water stayed pretty stained as I move south, until I got to around Blind Pass. From there, the water got better as I moved south, until around the middle of Mud Island it looked pretty much like "normal" bay water. I circled down to the start of the Lydia Ann Channel, and then around the south end of Mud Island. 

Along the way I found small trout in 3+ feet of water. Some may have been legal, but none bigger than about 15 and a quarter inches. I found some small redfish in the flats, but none bigger than about 18". I caught a LOT of sand trout. I honestly don't remember the last time I caught a sand trout before today. I found a pretty good group of redfish near the mouth of Allyn's Bight, but none even threatened the slot. I'm sure there were more fish, but I never saw anything that made me want to stay and grind. 

If I were going out tomorrow morning, I would probably look south. If I just had to fish in Aransas Bay or north, I would look for deep(ish) structure that would let me bounce a jig deep, to get below the fresh water. If you're looking for ice cream conditions, wait a week or two.


----------



## blackjack runner (Feb 24, 2015)

Thanks for the scouting report POC. Heading down this weekend. Was supposed to be there last weekend, but rescheduled due to the rain forecast. 

Not sure how much fishing I will be doing, depends on who shows up.
I guess I will be unable to escape from the brackish water in Aransas and surrounding bays? If that is the case, I will go deep as you suggested. Would love to go find some flounder for a dinner or two.


----------



## pocjetty (Sep 12, 2014)

blackjack runner said:


> Thanks for the scouting report POC. Heading down this weekend. Was supposed to be there last weekend, but rescheduled due to the rain forecast.
> 
> Not sure how much fishing I will be doing, depends on who shows up.
> I guess I will be unable to escape from the brackish water in Aransas and surrounding bays? If that is the case, I will go deep as you suggested. Would love to go find some flounder for a dinner or two.


From about Mud Island south looked pretty good. And this front may help mix things up a bit. I'll try to have a look Friday morning and post what I see.


----------



## SolarScreenGuy (Aug 15, 2005)

pocjetty said:


> I want to tie this fishing report to another thread in the General Fishing forum, mostly because I have to correct myself for something I said:
> https://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=2607747
> 
> I started the morning fishing in a spot that I picked for no other reason than that's where I wanted to fish this morning. As you might guess, it didn't work out for me. There was a perfect steady breeze from the SSE. The water was much higher than it has been for the last week. And as so often happens when we get a surge like this, it was also much cleaner than it has been, and a touch cooler. I was pulling 5 1/2" sand eels, as I have been lately, and after about half an hour I decided to suck it up and move.
> ...


Great report and photos. I've had the same shredded fingers before, but when the bite is on strong, you hardly notice it. Sure would like to see some regulations changed. Like be allowed to keep 5 of those "eating size" plus the 5 over 15".
Makes for more good table fare and in the long run, I think it would help the fishery. Sort of like if we don't kill enough Deer in Texas, the herd can become stunted for lack of feed. Tight lines!

Solar Screens, Ext. Roll Down Shades, Plantation Shades
2Cool Discounts
Call Mike at 713-446-3249


----------

