# E. Matty fish kill update 2-15-11



## Run-N-Gun (Jul 5, 2007)

It doesn't look good.... One of my guides just called me and he's driving around the bay right now and said there are big trout dead everywhere... I don't know exactly how bad because it was hard to hear him. He is suppose to be taking pictures and he's calling me back when he gets in. I'll update as soon as I know more details.


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## Harbormaster (May 26, 2000)

Run-N-Gun said:


> It doesn't look good.... One of my guides just called me and he's driving around the bay right now and said there are big trout dead everywhere... I don't know exactly how bad because it was hard to hear him. He is suppose to be taking pictures and he's calling me back when he gets in. I'll update as soon as I know more details.


Well...if it's only one of your guides, hopefully the rest will have better reports! Good luck!


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## shauntexex (Dec 12, 2007)

Ran the whole bay yesterday except some of the south shoreline saw 15 dead trout tops and fished from sunup to sun down water was 52-58 sounds like your guide may be "exaggerating" a little bit


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## SV_DuckBuster (Sep 18, 2007)

There's no fish in E Matty anyway. Someone must be planting the dead trout. Conspiracy!!!


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## Run-N-Gun (Jul 5, 2007)

He's suppose to be taking pictures and emailing them to me. Said there are 100's of dead trout, mostly around or over 25 inches. Said there are tons of birds, most so full they can barely fly....


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## Agwader (Feb 6, 2011)

Run-N-Gun said:


> He's suppose to be taking pictures and emailing them to me. Said there are 100's of dead trout, mostly around or over 25 inches. Said there are tons of birds, most so full they can barely fly....


 I started a thread here a couple days ago on the fish Kill in E. Matty. I was there Sunday and I think some of these fish are just now floating up. We saw about 15 fish and all but 2 were between 24-31". We didn't cover much water either and someone posted that they ran real skinny and saw several big fish that hadn't floated up yet. There were Pelicans and Gulls all over the place and I didn't see a piece of bait or catch a fish, I think the birds were eating all the small Trout and bait fish. I'm afraid any Trout that didn't make it into the ICW didn't make it.


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## Run-N-Gun (Jul 5, 2007)

Our eye in the sky is taking off now, so in a few hours we'll know how bad it really is, or at least get an idea from how many floaters he sees. I agree though, it doesn't look good and with the water level so low it didn't give them many places to go besides the ICW... Either way, there's no way it was as bad as the 80's. It's just mother nature running its course....


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## Slick8 (Jun 28, 2010)

Keep us posted, Pics would be great.


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## Agwader (Feb 6, 2011)

here's a 30.5 I saw floating Sunday


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## Agwader (Feb 6, 2011)

Run-N-Gun said:


> Our eye in the sky is taking off now, so in a few hours we'll know how bad it really is, or at least get an idea from how many floaters he sees. I agree though, it doesn't look good and with the water level so low it didn't give them many places to go besides the ICW... Either way, there's no way it was as bad as the 80's. It's just mother nature running its course....


 Oh yeah, I think it's just a bump in the road. I bet there will be plenty of fish this Spring and Summer, just wont be as many trophies swimming around the next year or two.


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## great white fisherman (Jun 24, 2008)

I am afraid as it warms up more and more dead fish are going to appear. As cold as it got and as long as it lasted there has to be many dead trout.


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## FishingHippie (Jan 1, 2011)

Sucks for all the croaker soakers, this summer there stringers wont have as many trophy fish hahaha!!!! Unfortunatly that's not me!!!!!


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## bayourat (Jan 7, 2005)

FishingHippie said:


> Sucks for all the croaker soakers, this summer there stringers wont have as many trophy fish hahaha!!!! Unfortunatly that's not me!!!!!


So it is better for the trophies to die via the freeze than someone catching them?

Your not exactly einstein......


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## troutredfish (Apr 18, 2005)

FishingHippie said:


> Sucks for all the croaker soakers, this summer there stringers wont have as many trophy fish hahaha!!!! Unfortunatly that's not me!!!!!


Sucks for everyone that fish East bay


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## troutredfish (Apr 18, 2005)

Agwader said:


> here's a 30.5 I saw floating Sunday


Man I sure hate to see that:frown:


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## FishingHippie (Jan 1, 2011)

I would rather see any fish die from mother nature or natural causes rather than some chump bait soaker...Like you bayourat


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## Yacht-O-Vee-Sea (Sep 29, 2010)

FishingHippie said:


> I would rather see any fish die from mother nature or natural causes rather than some chump bait soaker...Like you bayourat


That just proves your mentality level of how dumb you are.


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## FishingHippie (Jan 1, 2011)

bayourat said:


> So it is better for the trophies to die via the freeze than someone catching them?
> 
> Your not exactly einstein......


I would rather see any fish die from natural causes or mother nature rather tha some baitsoaking chump......like you bayourat come on down to gored you're welcome I'll show you how to fish anyday leave you're popping cork at home...... You from the woodlands?? If so you prolly know me..


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## D.L. (Sep 13, 2007)

Fishinhippie.....You're a farkin idiot!


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## FishingHippie (Jan 1, 2011)

I know I'm retrarded really mentally challenged, it's so fun to stir stuff up and watch all you know it alls fight over nothing!!!! Hahah


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## FishingHippie (Jan 1, 2011)

Nice yellow bait bucket there yacht-o I'd be embarrassed to take a pic after I caught them all on croaker chump


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## Bayscout22 (Aug 9, 2007)

Hippie,

What instrument you play? I figure you must be in the band seeing how you will be going to camp and all.

Late. Nice knowing you.


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## FishingHippie (Jan 1, 2011)

Bayscout22 said:


> Hippie,
> 
> What instrument you play? I figure you must be in the band seeing how you will be going to camp and all.
> 
> Late. Nice knowing you.


Skin flute


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## WillieT (Aug 25, 2010)

FishingHippie said:


> Skin flute


NO DOUBT! MO


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## rubberducky (Mar 19, 2010)

This sucks. I'm from sargent but now live in livingston. I didn't even know this was going on. What is this going to do for the cuts and what about the lakes back to the west how are they looking.


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## rubberducky (Mar 19, 2010)

I'm sorry back to the east


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## Guest (Feb 15, 2011)

FishingHippie said:


> I know I'm retrarded really mentally challenged, it's so fun to stir stuff up and watch all you know it alls fight over nothing!!!! Hahah


Just ignore this guy, he's obviously a troll.


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## ratherbfishin (Feb 10, 2007)

*Fitting Quote from a wise man*

Father Francis Canavan S.J. (Senior Jesuit) one of my favorite writters was speaking at a conference I attended. He was scheduled to deliver a rebuttal to this idiot that spoke... The guy ranted on and on like some of the people on 2cool...or any other website for that matter.

Father Canavan took the podium and began to speak...he never mentioned any of the rediculous statements by the speaker that proceeded him.

I asked him the next day at a brunch why he let the guy off so easy. He reflected for a moment and replied, "If you ignore the words of an idiot they go away... Then he chuckled and added, "That is, the words go away, the idiot rarely goes anywhere..."

He passed a few years ago... I sure miss him. Some books he wrote that are worth reading:
The Pluralist Game
Pins in the Liberal Balloon (I guess you can tell he was a conservative political theorist)

This isn't aimed at anyone, just wanted to share since the conversation made me think of an old dear man I often refered to as an intellectual mentor.


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## SargentfishR (Apr 23, 2007)

What the H*** happened to this thread ? Come on Man !


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## LightsOut (Sep 14, 2010)

refering to the back lakes....I heard when the harbor was shut down the game wardens were running aroung in air boats in the back lakes and they were finding alot of dead fish...warden couldn't specify which lake or lakes but did say there was some really big trout mixed in...


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## FishingHippie (Jan 1, 2011)

GuyFromHuntsville said:


> Just ignore this guy, he's obviously a troll.


Bet ya run-n-gun will out fish all you potlickers, let's let the egos fly!!!


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## gordaflatsstalker (Jul 3, 2008)

FishingHippie said:


> Bet ya run-n-gun will out fish all you potlickers, let's let the egos fly!!!


LOL Run-N-Gun is a croaker soaker too.


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## Feathershredder (Nov 29, 2009)

^^^^^


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## Mont (Nov 17, 1998)

the troll has left the building, carry on


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## superspook (Jul 26, 2004)

so whats the real skinnny on fish kill in E. Matty?


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## Reel_Blessed II (Jun 24, 2004)

Mont said:


> the troll has left the building, carry on


:fireworks:birthday2:birthday2


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## LightsOut (Sep 14, 2010)

superspook said:


> so whats the real skinnny on fish kill in E. Matty?


not sounding very good...


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## ANYBDYHERE (Mar 16, 2007)

FishingHippie said:


> I would rather see any fish die from natural causes or mother nature rather tha some baitsoaking chump......like you bayourat come on down to gored you're welcome I'll show you how to fish anyday leave you're popping cork at home...... You from the woodlands?? If so you prolly know me..


I would be thinking no one " wants " to know you...Pffft!


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## ANYBDYHERE (Mar 16, 2007)

Aww Darn!!! He went to camp before he read my post.hwell:


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## TooShallow (May 21, 2004)

I'm just guessing Uncle Dan is flying the bay and will let us know more.


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## Run-N-Gun (Jul 5, 2007)

The bird has landed and here's the update: He said if you draw a line from the first cut to the East of Boggy straight across to the Catchall area, the majority of the damage is to the East of that line. He was around for the 80's freezes and said it doesn't even compare! Said he saw hundreds (not thousands) of dead fish and from the air it's hard to tell what species belly side up. Said the largest concentration was in the, wait, that's a little too much info&#8230;. He saw a handful of dead fish from that line back West, but not many. Now you do need to take into consideration when reading this, that the freeze happened give or take week ago; the pelicans have been having a feast; fish started showing up dead days ago. I personally think that we did lose a good number of fish and every ones numbers will be affected somewhat this spring and into the summer and next fall. It might take a year or two to recoup, but then again I'm not an expert, just my opinion. If I hear anymore news I will pass along and I will see if I can get pictures from my cousin that was out on the water looking today. For the new generation, this is the first real freeze experience for us. So when he saw a couple hundred dead fish floating, to us that seems horrible. But after talking to some older uncles that were around for the bad ones (80's), this one shouldn't have put too big of a dent into the population. Now this theory is merely going off the facts that he saw from the sky with his own eyes and not any here say. Hope this report answers a few questions and gives everybody an idea of what it looks like out there


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## Blk Jck 224 (Oct 16, 2009)

Today two friends of mine ran out into East Matty. They conservatively estimated 500-600 dead speckled trout scattered all over the bay from one end to the other. They stopped & weighed about 50 of the largest from 7-9.5 lbs. This is straight from the horses mouth, all bullchit aside. I think I'm gonna be sick.


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## Yacht-O-Vee-Sea (Sep 29, 2010)

FishingHippie said:


> Nice yellow bait bucket there yacht-o I'd be embarrassed to take a pic after I caught them all on croaker chump


Thanks.. I bought it at academy if you wanna go by yourself one. Oh by the way im not embarrased to say i caught them off of live bait either. I caught them off mullet and not croaker so maybe you should know what the **** your talkin about first before you open your mouth. Dumb ***


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## Yacht-O-Vee-Sea (Sep 29, 2010)

Didnt see he left the building till now. Thank god hes gone.


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## rubberducky (Mar 19, 2010)

This sucks. And for the guys catching big fish on croaker and mullet teach me how. I have tried and never had any luck. I'm about putting fish in the pan and that's it. The fishing isn't going to as good this year and it sounds like the ones we will catch will be little over 15in. That and the big females are the ones floating. Going to be a slow year.
James


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## Finfisher (Jul 20, 2008)

Mont said:


> the troll has left the building, carry on


Thanks Mont !!!
Don't need those kind around here


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## Run-N-Gun (Jul 5, 2007)

we won't know how bad it is until people get back out there and start fishing, plus fish will return from the deeper water(ICW). just follow reports from the local guides either on here or matagordabay.com and you'll get a pretty good idea what the fishing is like. we don't need to jump to any drastic conclusions just yet, but i'm keeping my fingers crossed.


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## swank26 (Mar 1, 2010)

*dead fish*

Just got back from E Matty, and there were quite a few dead fish. During one drift a had 5-6 large trout floating around my boat. I dont know how bad it is, this is my first fish kill, but it sucks to see so many big fish floating. I didnt travel much in the bay, but I saw 20-30 floating throughout the day. I also saw a few sheeps head dead. The birds are everywhere taking advantage of it. I dont know how it works, but how come none of them were small?


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## Agwader (Feb 6, 2011)

swank26 said:


> Just got back from E Matty, and there were quite a few dead fish. During one drift a had 5-6 large trout floating around my boat. I dont know how bad it is, this is my first fish kill, but it sucks to see so many big fish floating. I didnt travel much in the bay, but I saw 20-30 floating throughout the day. I also saw a few sheeps head dead. The birds are everywhere taking advantage of it. I dont know how it works, but how come none of them were small?


I think the birds were eating the small ones. I saw a couple the other day.


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## WADER13 (Jul 20, 2008)

*Thought I'd share.....*

Taken Saturday fishing with Bayscout22.....Made us sick. And we were West.


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## swank26 (Mar 1, 2010)

didnt think of that Agwader, good reason


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## hilldo (Jun 25, 2006)

Bummer... hope we get a good rebound.

Just got confirmation from a trusted source.

Heard the same thing about Pelicans gorging.


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## Bayscout22 (Aug 9, 2007)

This was the big one that Wader13 and I ran across. We were in West Matagorda. That's all I will say. 

All the trout we found floating - a total of about five - were over 25". I would say the one in the picture was 29" and heavy.

My personal opinion is that we dodged a bullet from the overall population perspective. We took a pretty significant hit with our big trout. My theory is that small trout are used to running down their meals. Big trout are used to laying back and waiting. Maybe the bigger fish just never ran out of the shallow water and into warmer, deeper water in the ICW.

In the grand scheme of things... We lose this many trout every weekend during the summer. It's just those big girls...


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## shauntexex (Dec 12, 2007)

Blk Jck 224 said:


> Today two friends of mine ran out into East Matty. They conservatively estimated 500-600 dead speckled trout scattered all over the bay from one end to the other. They stopped & weighed about 50 of the largest from 7-9.5 lbs. This is straight from the horses mouth, all bullchit aside. I think I'm gonna be sick.


Blk jck I would have to respectfully disagree with the horses mouth considering I fished east matagorda yesterday and ran basically the entire bay. Fished from sunup to sundown and hopefully your buddies are wrong or they were hardheads/sheepshead from a distance which I saw plenty of. Like I said I saw very few trout floating 10-20 although the ones I saw were "trophy" fish sad either way to see fish you've dreamed of catching floating belly up


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## The Driver. (May 20, 2004)

swank26 said:


> Just got back from E Matty, and there were quite a few dead fish. During one drift a had 5-6 large trout floating around my boat. I dont know how bad it is, this is my first fish kill, but it sucks to see so many big fish floating. I didnt travel much in the bay, but I saw 20-30 floating throughout the day. I also saw a few sheeps head dead. The birds are everywhere taking advantage of it. I dont know how it works, but how come none of them were small?


Because they survived!

The several hundred fish or a thousand that were killed were the old and feeble big girls. Mother nature weeded out the weak and the strong/young survived. On any good week you will see that amount of fish cleaned at the fish cleaning table at the harbor. That does not include the fish that are taken straight home, to the camp, or Rawlings or River Bend. These big girls do not live forever folks. They are susceptible to mother nature and extreme cold weather. Capt. Scott Reeh and I went west scouting out the back lacks and diversion canal and spotted one dead drum. We spoke to one of the full time guides that fished East Matty before the winds picked up and boxed 3 trout up to 17" and one flounder and had another flounder at the boat that they lost.

Myself and several guides were out Sunday working from Gulf Cut westward and spotted less than 25 trout and they were all big girls. We covered a good portion of the west and central portions and we did not see the numbers in deep or shallow water. The east end which is shallower was harder hit and people are reporting the same fish over and over. The water has been extremely cold and the tides are extremely low. When the temps and tides come back we will have a better idea of what happend. I saw way to much bait on Sunday which tells me that the fishery as a whole survived. 
Several of the guides have trips the next few days and I will give give a report on what they caught!


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## The Driver. (May 20, 2004)

Bayscout22 said:


> This was the big one that Wader13 and I ran across. We were in West Matagorda. That's all I will say.
> 
> All the trout we found floating - a total of about five - were over 25". I would say the one in the picture was 29" and heavy.
> 
> ...


Nice pic of Boy Scout!


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## shauntexex (Dec 12, 2007)

Definitely agree on the bait it was THICK yesterday although the trout weren't mullet jumping swirling everywhere good sign for sure


The Driver. said:


> Because they survived!
> 
> The several hundred fish or a thousand that were killed were the old and feeble big girls. Mother nature weeded out the weak and the strong/young survived. On any good week you will see that amount of fish cleaned at the fish cleaning table at the harbor. That does not include the fish that are taken straight home, to the camp, or Rawlings or River Bend. These big girls do not live forever folks. They are susceptible to mother nature and extreme cold weather. Capt. Scott Reeh and I went west scouting out the back lacks and diversion canal and spotted one dead drum. We spoke to one of the full time guides that fished East Matty before the winds picked up and boxed 3 trout up to 17" and one flounder and had another flounder at the boat that they lost.
> 
> ...


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## MrG (Apr 10, 2005)

swank26 said:


> .... I dont know how it works, but how come none of them were small?


There were literally thousands of white pelicans on Lake Whitney last spring during the golden algae kill. We didn't see anything floating that, I would estimate, was less than 3-4 pounds. No white bass at all but stripers up to, estimate again, 25 lbs were everywhere. Pelicans can clean up lots of fish.

Good news is there were still plenty of fish to be caught later in the year including some trophies.

I'd bet E. Matty will be just fine.


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## Captain Dave (Jul 19, 2006)

Dudes, Plenty of big feech are still there.. It is sad that some peeps find a few big one and snap a shot, but this is mother nature, get out there and feech. 

Where is the pics of a massive big trout fish kill on the coast already.. there isn't one w/o pics. Plenty of Matty Guides out surveying . Speculation lead to ejaculation !


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## fishnfool (Jul 23, 2004)

Sure there are plenty fish that made it but the big trout population took a real hit. There are not that many trophy size trout caught and killed in Matagorda in a week. I think it really sucks. Those that just want to go catch fish likely aren't headed to East Matty anyway.

Sinc everyone is trying to put a positive spin, mine is that maybe this will get some of the pressure off the big girls in East Matty as it has gotten crazy and will slack off now that it will liekly be much harder to find them.


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## Capt. Bobby Hill (Mar 30, 2010)

*the past and future*

well it hurts to hear that any big breeder trout bites the dust but it happens. A few summers ago, me and my dad walked up on a 30+" trout belly up on the south shoreline that looked like it had been gut hooked and released... that was a sad sight to see. none the less everything will be fine, there are prolly hundreds of thousands of trout in east matty including a few thousand trophy "breeder" trout. so sure seeing a few hundred dead trout in not good, but there are still thousands and thousands of hungrey trout and reds out there waiting to be caught. the population did take a hit but it will be fine. like capt dave said... go out and keep feeching, lol


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## Blk Jck 224 (Oct 16, 2009)

shauntexex said:


> Blk jck I would have to respectfully disagree with the horses mouth considering I fished east matagorda yesterday and ran basically the entire bay. Fished from sunup to sundown and hopefully your buddies are wrong or they were hardheads/sheepshead from a distance which I saw plenty of. Like I said I saw very few trout floating 10-20 although the ones I saw were "trophy" fish sad either way to see fish you've dreamed of catching floating belly up


A day seems to have made a difference. These guys didn't even try to fish with all the carnage. They just rode around in disbelief picking up fish after fish seeing if there was a 10# in the mix. These guys picked up approximately 50 fish with the Bogas from 7# to 9.5#. I'm thinking this particular guide & one of my main fishing buddies know the difference between trout on the grip, & whatever kind of other trash fish you are referring to. I'm thinking that the decomposition has started making the gas to push these fish to the surface after being stuck on the bottom. Just for the record...I don't really give a rats arse what you believe.


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## dirt dog (Feb 3, 2010)

Guys the freeze killed some fish for sure,but I can guarantee you it was nothing compared to the 83 freeze. EMB had ice on it almost 4 inches thick, you could almost walk on it. The tugboats coming through ICW were rolling fish up like cord wood,I went to EMB after the cold 2 weeks ago and did not see anything like I did in 83. We thought we were in terrible shape, then had a red tide in early 84, I was shocked at the amount of large fish that were killed with the red tide. Guess what I am trying to say is that we lost some big fish but I think you would be supprised at what survived.


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## Won Mo Kasst (Mar 27, 2008)

I'm willing to bet that none of us, even TP&W can even begin to grasp the amount of trophy trout that are in our bays. Yes, some fish died... Will you able to see a difference? Doubt it.


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## Capt. Hollis Forrester (Jun 17, 2006)

dirt dog said:


> Guys the freeze killed some fish for sure,but I can guarantee you it was nothing compared to the 83 freeze. EMB had ice on it almost 4 inches thick, you could almost walk on it. The tugboats coming through ICW were rolling fish up like cord wood,I went to EMB after the cold 2 weeks ago and did not see anything like I did in 83. We thought we were in terrible shape, then had a red tide in early 84, I was shocked at the amount of large fish that were killed with the red tide. Guess what I am trying to say is that we lost some big fish but I think you would be supprised at what survived.


I agree with you, many survived than died. I was in East Matty in 83, and 89. 83 was a mofo, I'll not ever forget that sight of all the dead fish. I remember sheets of ice in the bay, but not 4" thick as I recall. I was only 9, but was leaning over the boat as dad was idleing, and running my hands over that ice as he was breaking it with the bow of the boat .As he was cruising I could see through the ice, water was Chrystal clear, and I could see all the dead fish underneath. Crazy stuff man, don't want to see it again!


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## El Capitan de No Fish (Sep 20, 2007)

Interesting article - http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=e4153c0155687bcc

Some excerpts...

"the December 1983 fish kill was the worst we have experienced in Galveston. Before 1983, the longest period of subfreezing temperatures occurred in December 1924. The 1983 spell lasted 77 hours, while in 1924 it was 74 hours.

Saltwater winter fish kills occur about every 15 years, with December 1989 being when our last major fish killing freeze occurred.

In 1983, about 30 million fish were killed."

"During the 1983 freeze, ice was 102 mm thick 800 feet from shore in Trinity Bay.

One of the biggest contributors to the mortality rate in 1983 was the suddenness of the freeze. Temperatures dropped 30 degrees overnight and trapped trout and other fish in shallow water with no way to escape.

Texas Parks and Wildlife records show it was not until 1987 that sports catches of trout reached the prefreeze levels of 1983."


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## big3slayer (Jun 29, 2008)

its just mother nature takin its toll on things she'll bring everything back to normal...


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## copano_son (Dec 17, 2007)

Has no one seen TWPD doing surveys on the amount of dead fish? Seems like they would be all over the bays trying to determine the damage.


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## agonzales1981 (Jun 12, 2008)

I also hate to see this but this is mother nature guys. Lets keep this in perspective though, there are *millions* more spec. trout to be had, this is a pebble in the road.


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## Run-N-Gun (Jul 5, 2007)

I know the game wardens in our area started going out last week to survey the damage. I don't know who they report it to or any details, but I know they went out right after the weather broke.


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## Agwader (Feb 6, 2011)

agonzales1981 said:


> I also hate to see this but this is mother nature guys. Lets keep this in perspective though, there are *millions* more spec. trout to be had, this is a pebble in the road.


I don't doubt that at all but after tooling around out there Sunday I'd say the Trophy sized Trout (24'+) took a major hit. I'd bet that at least half of that sized fish perished in the E. Matty Bay system, but I guess we'll never know. Of course half of those fish would have probably never found their way to a hook anyway.


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## hilldo (Jun 25, 2006)

It sucks some fish died but let's not over hype this into a 5 fish limit lobby.


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## capt mikie (Feb 22, 2005)

I talked with a TP&W biologist this morning about numbers of dead fish in the Matagorda Bay area. I was told "My general feelings is that numbers will be similar to the '97 freeze event".

just thought I would pass that along.


Mike


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## Haute Pursuit (Jun 26, 2006)

All the East Matty 25"+ trout that could swim went to Port O'Connor. I would try there. :cheers:


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## The Driver. (May 20, 2004)

Fish turned on today in East Matty!


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## HAYBL (Nov 14, 2006)

The Driver. said:


> Fish turned on today in East Matty!


See you Friday!


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## dos torta (Dec 3, 2009)

At least some of the guides will close up shop and stop rapping our natural "public" resources.


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## Miles2Fish (Dec 2, 2008)

dos torta said:


> At least some of the guides will close up shop and stop rapping our natural "public" resources.


Seriously?!?!!?!?!?!? This is how you are going to wrap up an 8 page thread from guides and fisherman alike who are obviously very concerned about the resource we ALL manage! Do us all a favor and go climb in a hole and don't make any more posts please!

Guides aren't "raping" any resources, they are merely catching the legal amount of fish per day that our legislators designate per species.......if you can't catch them maybe you should take up knitting!


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## tpool (Aug 21, 2005)

Nice post "2 tarts" - I didn't know those E Matty guides were 'rapping' to the trout now!

Well-a hip-hop,
hippy to tha hippy de hip hip trout
with some sauerkraut,
Peace, I'm out!


T-BONE


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## dos torta (Dec 3, 2009)

yall are right the "fish pimps" are so concerned with protecting our resources that they are cleaning 50 fish at the tables every day. 

ps torta means cake !!!!


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## shauntexex (Dec 12, 2007)

tpool said:


> Nice post "2 tarts" - I didn't know those E Matty guides were 'rapping' to the trout now!
> 
> Well-a hip-hop,
> hippy to tha hippy de hip hip trout
> ...


Hahaha LOVE it :cheers:


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## reeltimer (Feb 5, 2010)

dos torta said:


> yall are right the "fish pimps" are so concerned with protecting our resources that they are cleaning 50 fish at the tables every day.
> 
> ps torta means cake !!!!


13 post and most of it about hating guides!Who's got cake on there face now!


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## ATE_UP_FISHERMAN (Jun 25, 2004)

2-15-10 Counted 35 trout from 25" to 28+" that's including the ones we found sunk in about 2' of water while wading. The pelicans are feasting on anything smaller than 25" as soon as they surface that's why you won't see them any smaller. Sad deal.


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## The Driver. (May 20, 2004)

ATE_UP_FISHERMAN said:


> 2-15-10 Counted 35 trout from 25" to 28+" that's including the ones we found sunk in about 2' of water while wading. The pelicans are feasting on anything smaller than 25" as soon as they surface that's why you won't see them any smaller. Sad deal.


There were plenty of small ones caught and released yesterday!


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## Rhettfish (Nov 5, 2007)

I hardly think ya'll drifting the middle catching little trout means everything is fine. This is by far the worst fish kill since 89'. There are thousands of big dead trout in the bay and on the shorelines. I have fished twice in the last few days and waded some of my best big fish winter spots and have yet to catch a trout. I sure wish we had the limit lowered to five....we are really going to need it now, after what I've seen, I won't kill a trout in east bay for quite some time after this!!


The Driver. said:


> There were plenty of small ones caught and released yesterday!


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## The Driver. (May 20, 2004)

Rhettfish said:


> I hardly think ya'll drifting the middle catching little trout means everything is fine. This is by far the worst fish kill since 89'. There are thousands of big dead trout in the bay and on the shorelines. I have fished twice in the last few days and waded some of my best big fish winter spots and have yet to catch a trout. I sure wish we had the limit lowered to five....we are really going to need it now, after what I've seen, I won't kill a trout in east bay for quite some time after this!!


Now its thousands of bid dead trout?

Fishing tip of the day for ya! 
When it has been extremely cold and tides are over 2' low they are not on the sholelines!

Several boats had trout up to 20" which I guess are small in your book!


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## Gilbert (May 25, 2004)

the sky is falling


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## Rhettfish (Nov 5, 2007)

Yeah 20" is small in my book. I don't consider a trout a good one until its 5lbs. All the dead ones are well over 20". Fishing tip of the day for you: In February, on the week before the full moon, when the water temp is in the 60s(which it is now), whether the tide is low or high, Large trout(5lbs or bigger) come up shallow to feed on mullet. They don't lay on the bottom in the middle of the bay. I don't think this is the "end of the world" by no means, but we do have a problem.


The Driver. said:


> Now its thousands of bid dead trout?
> 
> Fishing tip of the day for ya!
> When it has been extremely cold and tides are over 2' low they are not on the sholelines!
> ...


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## Gilbert (May 25, 2004)

Rhettfish said:


> Yeah 20" is small in my book. I don't consider a trout a good one until its 5lbs. All the dead ones are well over 20". Fishing tip of the day for you: In February, on the week before the full moon, when the water temp is in the 60s(which it is now), whether the tide is low or high, Large trout(5lbs or bigger) come up shallow to feed on mullet. They don't lay on the bottom in the middle of the bay. I don't think this is the "end of the world" by no means, but we do have a problem.


did you see any mullet up shallow?


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## Rhettfish (Nov 5, 2007)

Yeah, they were up there just like normal.


Gilbert said:


> did you see any mullet up shallow?


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## The Driver. (May 20, 2004)

Rhettfish said:


> Yeah 20" is small in my book. I don't consider a trout a good one until its 5lbs. All the dead ones are well over 20". Fishing tip of the day for you: In February, on the week before the full moon, when the water temp is in the 60s(which it is now), whether the tide is low or high, Large trout(5lbs or bigger) come up shallow to feed on mullet. They don't lay on the bottom in the middle of the bay. I don't think this is the "end of the world" by no means, but we do have a problem.


Sunday's water temp was 48 morning to 52 deg afternoon. After waiting several days to let it warm up it was 57 yesterday morning to 61 yesterday afternoon when we got off the water. Might have got up to 62 late afternoon.
Thats the first 60 deg water that anyone has seen seen in a month!

Still want to know where the thousands of dead trout are? Even the Game Warden and credible fisherman and guides who have been out scouting have not come up with that number?


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## Rockfish (May 21, 2004)

*Fish kill*

I'm sure if hundreds were seen by guides, fishermen and others. The true kill was 10x or more the amount seen. Sad to hear. The trophy bay is in a cycle and a few will be caught here and there, but it will take time and conservation to get the bay back to where it was.


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## Rhettfish (Nov 5, 2007)

Not talking about water temp in the middle, talking about water temp in 2ft of water. Sunday I know it was 48-49deg in the middle, but in the afternoon I saw it get up to 58(plenty warm to catch big ones) up on the banks. Yesterday the water was up to 64+ up shallow. Either way, the water doesn't have to be that warm to catch big ones. Most of the best days I have ever had on big fish the water never got over 56deg and we caught them on topwaters in knee deep water. As far as the numbers of dead ones, do you think when someone runs around the bay and counts 40-50 that they saw within 30-40yds of the path that they ran, that thats all that died? I don't know an exact number, and there probably won't be anyone that knows for sure, but I can gaurantee you if someone goes out and sees 100 dead trout there are at the very least 10x that much if not way more than that. I'm not saying every trout over 20" is dead, but I know we lost a good chunk of them and we should probably more conscious of how many we kill for a little while.


The Driver. said:


> Sunday's water temp was 48 morning to 52 deg afternoon. After waiting several days to let it warm up it was 57 yesterday morning to 61 yesterday afternoon when we got off the water. Might have got up to 62 late afternoon.
> Thats the first 60 deg water that anyone has seen seen in a month!
> 
> Still want to know where the thousands of dead trout are? Even the Game Warden and credible fisherman and guides who have been out scouting have not come up with that number?


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## BSweeny (Jul 18, 2006)

Rhett hit the nail on the head.. Agree 100% with you


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## Haute Pursuit (Jun 26, 2006)

East Matty should be a petting zoo now according to some of you experts...


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## shallowist (May 28, 2009)

Lot of bad news in this post, and I'm sure that the damage is much worse than anyone here wanted to experience. Here's a few things to think about... Hate this first one, but the damage is worse than what has been seen and reported. There is no way that all of the fish that have died and floated will ever be accounted for. Bird and other predators have been feasting for days. 

Even though we have possibly lost in the thousands. That bay and every other one on the coast that is healthy has millions. There will most certainly be a reduction in the number of GOOD trout as Rhett put it, 5 plus. But I would bet my life on the fact that there will still be 7-9 pound trout caught by those who know how in Matty this year. Heck, I'm kinda nervous that Rhett catches one this Saturday.... 

We don't catch trout out of small schools, they number in the hundreds and thousands. 

We never even come close to seeing all the fish in an area or catching them. If you catch ten, there were probably 100 there that saw your offering. These numbers may decrease some as you get shallow, but don't think we really understand what the populations look like. 

The point? I would venture to guess that for every big trout that died up on some of the shallow flats on the east end, or in the middle for that matter, there were 10 the same size that escaped. 

Fishing this year won't be quite like last year, but there will still be big fish. 

I have a pet flat in WGB that has held some huge trout in water barely a foot deep this year, after the first freeze in Jan, all but one of them had moved deeper. Also, many of those flats that hold giants in the winter are pretty close to ICW. 

I hope that I'm not wrong, but I bet fishing will be better than what the last two weeks would indicate. 

By the way, awesome that all of those on this post have contributed and are concerned about the fishery. Thanks to those who have been able to get down there and scout and report.


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## paymerick (May 19, 2010)

I was not aware that trout grew over 18"...


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## Haute Pursuit (Jun 26, 2006)

That bay gives up more than a thousand trout a day during the spring/summer on any given weekend. This was not even close to the freeze in the early 80's.


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## Gilbert (May 25, 2004)

Everyone, Stay out of East Matagorda Bay till I give the OK. Too many dead fish in there. Pass the word. I am CLOSING EAST MATAGORDA BAY till further notice.


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## The Driver. (May 20, 2004)

Rhettfish said:


> Not talking about water temp in the middle, talking about water temp in 2ft of water. Sunday I know it was 48-49deg in the middle, but in the afternoon I saw it get up to 58(plenty warm to catch big ones) up on the banks. Yesterday the water was up to 64+ up shallow. Either way, the water doesn't have to be that warm to catch big ones. Most of the best days I have ever had on big fish the water never got over 56deg and we caught them on topwaters in knee deep water. As far as the numbers of dead ones, do you think when someone runs around the bay and counts 40-50 that they saw within 30-40yds of the path that they ran, that thats all that died? I don't know an exact number, and there probably won't be anyone that knows for sure, but I can gaurantee you if someone goes out and sees 100 dead trout there are at the very least 10x that much if not way more than that. I'm not saying every trout over 20" is dead, but I know we lost a good chunk of them and we should probably more conscious of how many we kill for a little while.


Rhett you can sit there and say it got up to 58 on Sunday but i did not!

We had two weeks of below and freezing temps till Sunday morning and the air temp got up into the upper fifties Sunday afternoon for the first time.

Those big girls pulled out deep and and it will take more that 1 day in the 60 deg mark before they show back up!

Still waiting on were the thousands of dead trout are?


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## The Driver. (May 20, 2004)

BSweeny said:


> Rhett hit the nail on the head.. Agree 100% with you


Brett thats laughable coming from you!


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## BSweeny (Jul 18, 2006)

What exactly is that supposed to mean


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## fishnfool (Jul 23, 2004)

Rhett and I finally agree on something on 2cool!

Seriously though, I am afraid we lost a large part of the big trout population. I could care less about catching a limit of trout under 20". I don't think there is anything wrong with it if that is what you like to do and think you probably don't have anything to be concerned about.

Those of us that like to go and try and get a big fish or 2 on a good day of fishing have a real reason to be nervous right now.

I hope we are wrong!

I won't be keeping any trout for a while either.


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## fishnfool (Jul 23, 2004)

Also - I know from first hand reports of trustworthy people that the fishing Sunday down south and in the Galv area was good to great with some big fish caught shallow. If that wasn't the case in East Matty, we could have a problem.

We will know soon enough, it is prime time right now.


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## fishnfool (Jul 23, 2004)

I was told yesterday by someone at CCA that TPWD estimates we lost 60-80k sport fish on the TX Coast from this freeze event. East Matagorda seems to be one of the worst hit so Rhett's numbers don't seem that far off assuming all this is true.


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## Rhettfish (Nov 5, 2007)

Water temp sunday behind the tripod on the west end reached 55.3 by the time I left around 2pm. At 6pm when I left the east shoreline it had made it to 58.5 deg. These temps came from 2-3ft of water off a lowrance hds-7. I would guess this to be correct as this same unit showed 48-52 in the middle as you said. Whether you realize it or not shallow water warms quicker than deep water, but then again from your previous posts I don't think you know alot about targeting big trout, which may be why you can't believe what I said. As far as where the "thousands" of fish are, they are on the shorelines, floating in the
middle, and laying in the bottom of the bay dead.


The Driver. said:


> Rhett you can sit there and say it got up to 58 on Sunday but i did not!
> 
> We had two weeks of below and freezing temps till Sunday morning and the air temp got up into the upper fifties Sunday afternoon for the first time.
> 
> ...


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## The Driver. (May 20, 2004)

fishnfool said:


> Rhett and I finally agree on something on 2cool!
> 
> Seriously though, I am afraid we lost a large part of the big trout population. I could care less about catching a limit of trout under 20". I don't think there is anything wrong with it if that is what you like to do and think you probably don't have anything to be concerned about.
> 
> ...


I hope you you dont keep those big girls either! Most fisherman do not but if they do it is their business

I like to go after big girls every now and then like you guy's do also.
The problem is that there has been a lot of people use poor choice in words when they guess, hear gossip or exaggerate on what happend or even have not been on the water! 
Sunday the water was so extremely low that you could not have waded the big girl spots! The average depth in East Matty Sunday was 3.5' and you could see structure that you never get to see. 
Also any real fishermen will tell you that when you pull in a 20" trout they comment that its a good or solid trout. When you catch one over 25" its a big girl and we release them. Ive put my time in on the water and I know that Rhett and Brett can catch fish! But the fishery survived in East Matty and thats what matters the most! 
There are still big girls out there and you will see the good fisherman catch them! Those big girls will be back in their spots but it not going to happen in a day or two! Maybe a week or three or even next fall!
I can remember fishing Galveston years ago and caught fish there also but do not try to compare it to East Matagorda!
I have also been on the water Sat, Sun, Tues, Wed and am keeping in touch with Salts and guides on what the are seeing.


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## The Driver. (May 20, 2004)

Rhettfish said:


> Water temp sunday behind the tripod on the west end reached 55.3 by the time I left around 2pm. At 6pm when I left the east shoreline it had made it to 58.5 deg. These temps came from 2-3ft of water off a lowrance hds-7. I would guess this to be correct as this same unit showed 48-52 in the middle as you said. Whether you realize it or not shallow water warms quicker than deep water, but then again from your previous posts I don't think you know alot about targeting big trout, which may be why you can't believe what I said. As far as where the "thousands" of fish are, they are on the shorelines, floating in the
> middle, and laying in the bottom of the bay dead.


Rhett again you use poor choice of words!

I have caught more than my share of big girls and I do not have go online to brag about it or prove it!
Another thing is that people who know me and fish with me will tell you that I am a straight shooter when it comes to discussing matters of fishing the Matagorda Bay system, let alone other systems that I have wet a line in.

Did all that targeting years ago Rhett!


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## HAYBL (Nov 14, 2006)

My guess is the 1,000's of dead fish are all the same fish.
It's like a car wreck that everyone wants to see. One report of several hundred fish came from the East side and every ambulance chaser willing to run in the cold ran to the same spot and figured the fish they were seeing couldn't possibly be the same fish someone else reported so the body count just multiplied.

The best thing we can do and especIally the guides is get out there, find the fish and show everyone that we still have a fishery. I would think the guides would be the first to do this in order to maintain their business.


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## Capt. Hollis Forrester (Jun 17, 2006)

East Matty ain't a pond guys, she'll recover no doubt. Proof was in the pudding that she was hurt, to what extent, no one knows "yet". IF East Matty recovered from 1983, this was just a tick on her butt. I remember the doom and gloom from my father after 83, and how we'd not ever be able to fish that bay again, and blah blah, guess what, we were back to catching fish just like we always did the next year, and I'm talking mass Devestation guys, 83 was horrific. We'll be fine, but one thing that we dont need is another freeze like this next year.


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## railbird (Jan 2, 2009)

I hope all is well up there I really enjoy fishing that water. Good luck guys and listen to rhett, josh and brett. Those boys spend a ton of time on the water and they are all really good boys. If they are worried there is good reason for you to do the same.


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## JOKER (May 16, 2007)

I agree 100% with you Rhett. It's going to be pretty slow for quite sometime. Hope like heck I'm wrong, but we'll just have to see. Hope everythings good in your neck of the woods Rhett. Haven't talked to you in a while.

RH


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## saltwater_therapy (Oct 14, 2005)

I won't be keeping any trout out of east matagorda for a while. The bay is in bad shape but will recover. I believe a large percentage of the big trout that stayed in the bay during the two freeze events died. Those older trout aren't as strong as a younger fish. The good news is it is warming up nicely and the south wind has been pumping and forcasted to do so for at least a week. Hopefully the tide will come up some with this wind and the full moon, and bring with it all the fish that saught refuge in the gulf, river, diversion canal, and the ICW. We will have a few slow years as far as
BIG TROUT (5 POUNDS OR BETTER) go but it will rebound as long as we fishemen use strict conservation to ensure this. 
I hardly ever feel the need to go anywhere other than my home waters to find trophy class fish but I will be making a few more trips down south this late winter and spring to get my big girl fix. 
I cant believe some people here are in denial that there was a significant fish kill the Matagorda/POC area there are pictures posted I've seen it, local fishing guides, TPWD, reputable fishermen, and hardcore trophy trout enthusiasts have seen it. I have an email with at least 20 minutes of video of dead fish in East Matagorda and it is enough to make anyone sick so many big trout a few huge black drum, some fish floating some laying on the bottom some up on the shoreline. I cant post it because it is private on flipshare.com
Lets just hope the next few winters are a little milder. To borrow a phrase from Capt. Billy Sandifer If we don't leave any there won't be any.

MJ


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## Run-N-Gun (Jul 5, 2007)

E. Matty will be fine. No one knows exactly what the kill count was and we never will. Fact: this year's freezers don't hold anything on the ones of 83' or 89'. Would it be in our best interest to be a little more conservative over the next few seasons/years, I would agree with that. We're going to continue to advice clients to release anything over 24' and we might even lower it a little. The results are going to vary for everyone in the coming months/years depending how and where you fish. I'm sure there will be post from now thru the summer about someone going to E matty that usually hammers them or does well and is disappointed and will blame the freeze. But I'm willing to bet that for every one fisherman that is disappointed there will be a success story from another.... Last year it was because someone stole their spot or cut them off and this year it'll be blamed on the freeze. Every day is a new day and you gotta grind'em to find'em. Good luck to everyone in the coming months of fishing and can't wait for it to start warming up and for it to get crazy in West Matty with the glass minnows.


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## Rhettfish (Nov 5, 2007)

Where did I brag about it????????? I'm just stating facts........like I always do, something that goes overlooked by alot of internet fisherman on this website..


The Driver. said:


> Rhett again you use poor choice of words!
> 
> I have caught more than my share of big girls and I do not have go online to brag about it or prove it!
> Another thing is that people who know me and fish with me will tell you that I am a straight shooter when it comes to discussing matters of fishing the Matagorda Bay system, let alone other systems that I have wet a line in.
> ...


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## Blk Jck 224 (Oct 16, 2009)

Here's a few pics of dead big girls from Tuesday ...


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