# Birds working over reds in Mesquite Bay



## barronj (Sep 30, 2013)

I got in to Rockport yesterday evening, planning to fish a particular area for the tide/wind, but I didn't get to fish it like i thought I would. I was looking at shell beds in Google Earth, but the water was so far out the shell that I thought I might fish over was completely exposed. It was surrounded by grass and sand mixed with occasional mud, and the grass is where the reds were.

There were birds working over schools of reds in shallow water, aside from the birds, when the reds weren't busting the surface, it was their tails giving them away. I was able to wade (shin-knee deep) within casting distance and pick them off a few times before they would disburse.

Wound up catching 3 lower slot, a few more undersized, and a trout that had lost its way. I was hoping to catch more trout but I also had to come back home and work, so I wrapped it up early.

There was a father and 2 boys wading in slightly deeper water, and they were wearing the trout out, also on artificials, not small trout either, from what I could see. The boys couldn't have been more than middle school, it was cool to see them having a good time.

Water was mostly muddy where we were catching. I pulled them in on a gold spoon, pink and chrome skitterwalk, and trout support grasswalker in whodini.

Off the water by 11:30 back in Austin by 4:30, and I'm about to turn the oven on!

When running back down the channel from Mequite through Carlos and to Aransas so I could make it back to Goose Island, I saw a navigational piling that had been sheered off and with the low tide, it was just peaking above the water. I wished I'd hit the MOB on my GPS to share but I wasn't thinking, only remiss that I didn't have any PVC or any other way to alert future boaters. When the water comes back, that's going to make for a bad day. It would have been the west side channel marker between Bludworth and Dunham, somewhere in there. I would hug the PVC markers that are more prevalent in that route, in that area. There are 3 marking the edge of a reef I suspect.


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## Trailer Rig (Jul 25, 2011)

Good reminder Barron, I normally keep a jug & some rope in the boat for those hazards, I need to replenish my boat as well.


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## barronj (Sep 30, 2013)

That’s a good idea.
Just caught a grammatical error in my post- disperse, not disburse.


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## SATroutSlayer (Mar 9, 2017)

What time were you on the birds? We rolled up about 8-8:30 in mesquite on birds over reds...got out of the boat and my buddy got hit by a ray before we had a chance to get em. It was pretty close to Cedar entrance.


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## barronj (Sep 30, 2013)

Sorry to hear about your buddy getting it! Were you the two guys with a kid? I was a long, long way from my boat, a grey Shoalwater cat.
My GISP receipt says 5:37 and I lit out of there without delay (first time to use the light bar), probably out of the boat by 6:15


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## chad (Sep 7, 2006)

Pretty sure that was me with the two boys deeper than you. We kept seeing the slicks coming out from behind us where you were. We did catch two solid trout a 23" and a 25", but were mostly messing with black drum and yes on plastic. They were fun. We each probably missed 15 each, but landed 3 upper slot black drum. It's hard to get and keep those drum on the plastic. They would crush it and then spit it out. It was a great time for sure.


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## barronj (Sep 30, 2013)

You were to my left, great job putting those boys on fish. Did you go further west and closer to shore when you left the area we were in? I noticed another boat similar to yours along Ballou shoreline, looked like one of the kids was off a good distance from the boat, didn't see the other 2 of you.


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## Cozumel Annie (Jan 13, 2018)

Lone trout will often follow pods of reds in skinny water and pickup what the reds don't eat. It's a classic way to catch BIG trout in the LLM. I would let everyone cast at the pods and I would cast behind the pods and 25% of the time catch a trout. I caught a 32" trout with this tactic, but it was only 7 1/2 lbs and looked horrible.


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## troutsupport (May 22, 2006)

Great job guys!


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## blackjack runner (Feb 24, 2015)

Nice report. Good info Barron. Heading down mid week and was looking at hitting Mesquite. 

Can you give little more detail on wher the sheared post was. Pop me a pm if you would. Thanks


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## chad (Sep 7, 2006)

I saw that broke piling on our way back to Rockport as I zipped passed it within about 15 yards. Gave me a sick feeling in my stomach. I'll try to mark it if I can get back up there in the next few days.

It is about half way between Poverty reef/Spalding reef and the start of Cape Charles Dugout..... slightly closer to the Aransas Bay side. It is an old channel marker on the West side across from some markers/pilings that are still there.


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## barronj (Sep 30, 2013)

I came back down with my girls, planning to take them fishing tomorrow if the rain isn’t an issue. 
I stopped at Home Depot before leaving Austin and picked up 8’ of plastic chain. Zip tied a few white jugs with silicones caps on the jugs. I’ll make a loop in the chain and drop it over the piling and add a weight on the chain to keep it from floating up.


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## chad (Sep 7, 2006)

Took a picture of them for you yesterday.


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## barronj (Sep 30, 2013)

Awesome.

I found the piling on my second time through the channel today, couldn't see it the first time. I swear I saw a piling before, this time, it was a 2x8 sticking out of the water. I got a rope around it to pull it and another 2x8 came up with it, they were both bolted to either side of a 6-7' piling. Probably came off one of the many piers damaged along Fulton Beach Rd. I lashed a rope around them, looped it around a cleat, drug them west almost to the shoreline and left them with a jug attached to them via plastic chain looped through a hole in the middle of the board. I should have cleated them on a rear cleat, but I used a middle one, and they put a severe amount of rash and gouges on my exterior gel coat. No good dead goes unpunished, right? It's one more lesson, and this week's boat tax, I guess.


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## barronj (Sep 30, 2013)

Pics


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