Surfside Sunday in the Surf 7/6
Surfside Sunday in the Surf 7/6
The family and myself stayed at a beach house on the pay beach north of stahlman Saturday and Sunday. I snuck out at dawn Sunday while the rest slumbered. There was no sneaking past the clouds of Mosquitos. I sprinted for the beach only to be caught up in knee deep rotting sargassum. The line separating the beach from the gulf was indistinct. The sargassum just got wetter and less rotten as I waded seaward. I still hadn't lost my mosquito horde. I waded to chest deep water and beat them off with my hat. It worked and in a little bit I was mosquito free.
Once the Mosquitos were tamed, I could concentrate on fishing the surf on a morning with very light onshore wind, minimal surf, and clear green water. Perfect conditions if it wasn't for the island sized clumps of bronze colored mats. I chose my chrome skitterwalk and went searching for weed less areas. That was a pipe dream, but there were spots and seams with less sargassum. I was wading the second bar and picked up a fish throwing back into the first gut, but then the tide or current closed that gap.
One hundred yards to my right, a raft of seaweed 75 yards wide was moving in. Gulls hovered over the clump and panicked palm-sized menhaden were caught up in it. Some trick of fluid dynamics left a nearly weed free area up against the clump. It was definitely a sweet spot because I picked up 5 more trout before the patch broke up. I kept fishing and struggling with fouled lures. I got a bluefish on a corky and a smack, a lady fish, and a 4 pound jack on the walk before heading up for breakfast. Morning trout ran 18-20" and I released them all.
My 11 year old son and I went back out Sunday evening. It was perfect. The tide had fallen and left a nice gut between the second and third bar. He and I tag teamed three trout. I made the cast and worked the top. He reeled them in. He reeled in one about 17". I said it was a keeper, but he said let it go. He wanted something bigger. I put him on my back and waded the neck deep gut to the third bar. Something was disturbing the bait out there. I made the cast and bingo, fish on. I said it's a good one. I handed him the rod and let him battle the drag puller. He kept the rod high and did a great job easing in the fish. Turned out to be a solid 24" sow. He wanted to keep it so we waded back across the gut, boy on back and me with a death grip on the fish. We caught one more for a nine fish day.
Once the Mosquitos were tamed, I could concentrate on fishing the surf on a morning with very light onshore wind, minimal surf, and clear green water. Perfect conditions if it wasn't for the island sized clumps of bronze colored mats. I chose my chrome skitterwalk and went searching for weed less areas. That was a pipe dream, but there were spots and seams with less sargassum. I was wading the second bar and picked up a fish throwing back into the first gut, but then the tide or current closed that gap.
One hundred yards to my right, a raft of seaweed 75 yards wide was moving in. Gulls hovered over the clump and panicked palm-sized menhaden were caught up in it. Some trick of fluid dynamics left a nearly weed free area up against the clump. It was definitely a sweet spot because I picked up 5 more trout before the patch broke up. I kept fishing and struggling with fouled lures. I got a bluefish on a corky and a smack, a lady fish, and a 4 pound jack on the walk before heading up for breakfast. Morning trout ran 18-20" and I released them all.
My 11 year old son and I went back out Sunday evening. It was perfect. The tide had fallen and left a nice gut between the second and third bar. He and I tag teamed three trout. I made the cast and worked the top. He reeled them in. He reeled in one about 17". I said it was a keeper, but he said let it go. He wanted something bigger. I put him on my back and waded the neck deep gut to the third bar. Something was disturbing the bait out there. I made the cast and bingo, fish on. I said it's a good one. I handed him the rod and let him battle the drag puller. He kept the rod high and did a great job easing in the fish. Turned out to be a solid 24" sow. He wanted to keep it so we waded back across the gut, boy on back and me with a death grip on the fish. We caught one more for a nine fish day.
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Re: Surfside Sunday in the Surf 7/6
Great reading! I am one of the park hosts at quintana and can verify the seaweed and the skeeters. I have the rest of the week off and planning on either hitting the surf early tomorrow somewhere along Bluewater road or heading on down to slp area with my yak. Your blow by blow gave me a good idea of what to expect in the surf. Wind is supposed to be pretty tame all week.
Re: Surfside Sunday in the Surf 7/6
Great report David and that picture is priceless! His face says it all!
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Re: Surfside Sunday in the Surf 7/6
Nice day for sure Fishing with family is the best.
Re: Surfside Sunday in the Surf 7/6
I fried the bluefish along with the two trout we kept. The trout we did our usual mustard coating then cornmeal. My daughter only likes bluefish, no other fish, and only fried in seasoned bread crumbs after being dipped in an egg wash. So I did it that way and it was just like she likes it. I had a little taste and I liked it. Bluefish is a little soft when filleted, but it firmed up after a couple of minutes in the deer fryer. I have always thrown them back here in Texas, but I might change that.
Re: Surfside Sunday in the Surf 7/6
Good trout, and good eye for seeng the little changes that put you on the fish!!!
Re: Surfside Sunday in the Surf 7/6
Yes, I'm always looking for signs and opportunities. People curse the Sargasso weed and at times it will be impossible to fish, but it is structure that attracts bait and therefore predators. One thing I like about the surf is that each day it is a different animal from the previous day. The water will be different, the waves, the bait, the predators, it keeps the hunt and challenge fresh. One thing that I had never seen was six or seven inch menhaden force themselves into the weed so much so that they couldn't escape. I was able to wade over and scoop up living shad. Huge schools of the pogies darted along the edge of the seaweed mat. I retreated away from them because something much bigger bumped into me a couple of times. I didn't want to become collateral damage.Erock wrote:Good trout, and good eye for seeng the little changes that put you on the fish!!!
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Re: Surfside Sunday in the Surf 7/6
Great report! Tell your son, good call on throwing the 17" er back in hopes of a bigger one. Glad he got what he wanted.
Re: Surfside Sunday in the Surf 7/6
Either the little man isn't that big or that hawg is huge! Nice!!
Re: Surfside Sunday in the Surf 7/6
The boy comes in at a few inches under 5' but I told him to hold the fish out away from his body to make it look bigger. Still, it was a quality 24" fish. Everything I've caught this year in the surf have been good fish, hardly any throw backs and most solid fish around 20"nhantech wrote:Either the little man isn't that big or that hawg is huge! Nice!!