Why at low tide?
Why at low tide?
Fished South Bay the first week of June this Year and caught nothing during the day. Got stalled at the Aransas Pass channel at the mouth of a cut at dusk, because of boat and barge traffic. Started making casts in the cut to pass the time and immediatedly started catching reds, trout and flounder. Never left till 2AM when the action finally stopped. Started sleeping during the day and fishing during low tide at night rest of week. Had a harrowing experience at 10:45 on the third night of fishing. I had set up anchor in the usual spot to the side of the cut about 30 yards from the channel entrance in 6 inches of water. Heard a wave crash in to the flats on my side of the cut from the channel's deep water. What looked like a torpedo came across the skinny water, It was headed right for my bow of my kayak. Mullet became airborne and started hitting my chest and stomach. The cockpit filled with fish just as the "Torpedo" hit under the bow of the yak and flipped bow to stern. Found myself upside down holding my breath with the kayak on top of me. When I righted the kayak, found my rods on the edge of the cut unbroken. The torpedo was running the cut up an down and mullet parts were everywhere. Threw rods in boat and sailed butt first in to yak, only to realize the anchor had come loose and I had drifted into the six feet of water in the cut. My feet and legs were hanging over side and by the time SHARK registered, it was too late. Water started rushing up my thighs and a wide body parted my legs. A huge black object appeared at my eye level, opened its mouth of razor sharp teeth and I waited for the decapitation to come next. Instead of my head being chewed off, "FLIPPER" sounds came out of it. Took an eternity for my heart to register PORPOISE and not man eater. He jacked with me playfully pushing boat around and ended the whole affair with thrusting himself on top of kayak with powerful thrusts of his tail without swamping me. In the process he pushed kayak back into the skinny water. After he left the fishing picked up about 45 minutes later. I caught fish till about 4AM afraid to cross channel and have "Flipper" flip me over, if he decided to follow me home. It all took about 15 minutes with the porpoise but felt like an eternity!. When morning came, I finally crossed the channel. If anyone reads this, have you experienced anything like this and tell me why the fishing was soo good only at low tide?
Last edited by Panama on Fri Jun 20, 2003 9:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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GoinCoastal
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Never has any experiences upclose and personal with a porpoise.
Why was the low tide sooooooooooo good? .... It concentrated the fish in one spot where they could feed on the baitfish being swept off the flats. You were fishing a drain off the flats and the predators were taking advantage of lots of food that is easy to catch. You just discovered one of the most productive saltwater angling strategies.
Ain't it FUN!!!!!!!!!
joe
Why was the low tide sooooooooooo good? .... It concentrated the fish in one spot where they could feed on the baitfish being swept off the flats. You were fishing a drain off the flats and the predators were taking advantage of lots of food that is easy to catch. You just discovered one of the most productive saltwater angling strategies.
Ain't it FUN!!!!!!!!!
joe
Great story Panama. I've seen the porpoise' running bait up onto a flat like that before. Pretty awesome to watch from a distance. Had a couple of them roll a foot on either side of a 10' jon boat one day as I was fishing for Ling under a bridge in South Carolina. I just about #$%@ my pants; can only imagine what was going through your mind. 
Great story!!
Great story!!
I fish SPI 2 or 3 weeks a year for the last 12 years and the porpoise stories are too numerous to tell here. They are everywhere down there. I've had them chase trout I was fighting lots of times---believe me , you've never had a trout fight and run and dance on the water like one with a 10 or 12 ft predator on his tail. Even had one chase a Red my partner had hooked in water less than a foot deep--what a sight!! Lots of folks there keep skip-jack and such and feed them from the boat by hand. They will come up right beside the boat , stick their head way up and see if you have any treats. They really are amazing creatures. I've never had one scare the crap of me the way you did though--your lucky it was'nt a shark.
Great story Panama!
I had once a family of "flippers" following me for about 5 min. It was scary at first, but I got used to. Fish don't like them.