Matagorda catching trip 9/16/2017

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Mulligan
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Location: Houston, TX

Matagorda catching trip 9/16/2017

Post by Mulligan »

Hit the rig to take a break from all the flood clean up.

Used my steel haywire leaders I made vs the mono leaders from last time and no breakoffs! (Well broke off one, but not even sure how that happened as it broke off at the mono leader above the steel leader. Could've been a structure).

Launched around 7:30 and water was pretty rough going out....my buddy, looking like a newb, had problems getting out as he flipped his PA once. But he tried and tried and made it out!

Water was pretty dirty up to about half way to the rig. Water temp was around 82 deg. Trolling with Yozuri crystal minnows, deep divers, ribbon, cigar minnows.

Around the rig, sand trouts were thick! Caught about dozen right at the rig, all about 15"-20" size. Kept about 4-5 to give it to a friend. Stomach started to feel a little sick so I detached from the rig and started trolling again.

Smacks were caught trolling with the Yozuri, ribbon and cigar minnow. Had the double hookup as usual once, but hook got caught on the yak's strap so I lost the first one just as I unhook it. Pulled up the second one though. No Kings anywhere around the rig.

It was a good day, but called it early around 1 or 2ish after my muscles started to cramp up. I was dehydrated day before from demoing a house from the flood so this day didn't help.

All in all, a good trip!
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kickingback
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Re: Matagorda catching trip 9/16/2017

Post by kickingback »

Very nicely done! Looks like it was a nice day to fish BTB. Thanks for sharing a good report of the surf!
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Blue Devil 7
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Re: Matagorda catching trip 9/16/2017

Post by Blue Devil 7 »

Thanks for the report. We are considering heading down to Matty in the next couple of weeks if we can make time. How was the beach driving after the storm. Is there a lot of debris?
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Mulligan
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Re: Matagorda catching trip 9/16/2017

Post by Mulligan »

Actually there were more debris we had to dodge than usual. They were all driftwood though, not trash debris. But others have already paved a path around it or through it in some cases. I didn't have problem at all driving the 5-6 miles to get to the launch spot. I can see how it can be difficult if it was dark. But as long as you don't haul ass through it, you'll be fine.
trolling dirty
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Re: Matagorda catching trip 9/16/2017

Post by trolling dirty »

This rig was my go-to BTB when I lived in Houston. The Surfside rig is closer to drive to from Houston but it ends up being a longer trip cause of the water commute. The other noteworthy mention is that the Surfside rig gets a lot of boat traffic since its the first stop for boaters who leave the Surfside docks. I've never seen any boats at the Matty rig: Boats that leave Matagorda would rather go further out to deeper rigs instead of commuting 5-6 miles to a 2 mile rig. The Matty rig does have the 5 mile beach drive so its important to monitor beach driving conditions.

I can testify that there's plenty of kingfish at the Matty rig. I'd tend to get them trolling ribbonfish a further distance from the rig (like 200-300 yards even). In my opinion its the spanish mackeral that are so dense that they strike your rig and dont give the kings a chance to hit it. You have to get your leaders down like Mulligan or you will end up losing a lot of lures to the Smacks. Bouncing knife jigs right at the rig will get you all sorts of nice trout and redfish. I've never caught cobia there but I believe they do exist there. I would rig up with steel cable and that would hold well but I'd typically have to replace them in between trips since they'd get damaged after a full day of fishing at Matty
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Mulligan
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Re: Matagorda catching trip 9/16/2017

Post by Mulligan »

Trolling Dirty,

I agree the Kings are there. One of our friend from the group caught a King there. But you are right about the smacks...they are so thick that they hit it before the kings can get to it. I didn't spend too much time away from the rig trolling. The hot spot appears to be between the rig and that freestanding pole behind it. Next time, i'll go further out and troll for them Kings!

At other close by rigs, I used the diamond jig at the structure to catch all sorts of species, sand trout, smacks, and redfish! When the fish are there, they will hit on just about anything!
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Fishtolive
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Re: Matagorda catching trip 9/16/2017

Post by Fishtolive »

Very Nice.
Congratulation on a productive BTB trip.
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