Churchill Bayou 7-29

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Yak-n TX
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Churchill Bayou 7-29

Post by Yak-n TX »

I hadn't fished Churchill in quite some time and remembered the fishing was very good this time of year last year.

The water clarity was about 6" throughout the bay. Much clearer near the grass around the launch. Winds out of the SW @ 5-13 mph.

I launched at 0600 and began fishing topwater around some nervous baits and blow ups near the mouth of Churchill. No luck. Began working soft plastics around marsh drains and the drop offs of the bayou. Still no luck so decided to push back into the marsh with the incoming tide. There was a large amount of bait back in the marsh and some moderate bird activity. Bait looked to be mostly mullet, smaller baitfish, and very small shrimp. Then I spotted 3-4 Redfish chasing bait against the bank and began sight fishing them. I got some good casts in but they didn't seem to want my down south paddle tail. So I downsized to a chartreuse gulp with still no luck.

I've been in this situation a few times before when the fish just won't eat anything. I wish I had my fly rod! What do y'all do in this situation?

Anyhow I ended the day by catching 1 oyster cracker on a gulp and that was it. Last year at this time I was catching healthy slams out of this area in similar conditions. Any intel on why this area might not be so good this year? I know they opened it up to the oyster boats so maybe that could be it?

It was still a great day to be out paddling.






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Last edited by Yak-n TX on Mon Jul 31, 2017 8:45 am, edited 2 times in total.
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karstopo
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Re: Churchill Bayou 7-29

Post by karstopo »

I haven't been out there in a long time. There are probably good evidence and experience based reasons fish won't bite what's tossed at them or are hard to find in a particular spot. But since no one is relying on me or paying me to find fish and I'm not going to starve if I don't find any keepers, I just relax and enjoy the paddle and exploration.

My last few summers have been feast or famine fishing. Summer means for me less exploration into distant waters. I don't want to get too cooked and not be able to make it back to a launch. Then you have the hordes of boat and other traffic. I'm not into combat fishing or jockeying for position. I'm not sure that the constant boat traffic doesn't suppress a bite. Actually, I have seen boats run fish out of shallow areas. Then if you are lucky to have some fishing room and get on them its amazing. I have spots I feel are reliable over the years, but sometimes it's too darn hot or there are storms in the area so I pass on getting there.

Fish will ignore a fly. Sometimes they may not be able to locate it, sometimes they are just keyed on something and you will have to foul hook the fish to have any hope of catching it.

I think its pretty cool fish don't follow a human authored script or stay on a pattern indefinitely. One year a place is on fire, next year, nada. There are surely folks that have figured out better than anyone what the fish are up to at any given time, but it's still the fish making the decisions on where the fish want to be for the reasons of the fish's choosing. We follow their movements and inclinations and not the other way around.
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Re: Churchill Bayou 7-29

Post by Springfling »

I fish those marshes and surrounding area a fair bit. Last week I got a Slam and was throwing back extra slot reds. Fish last week were scattered all around. I've also experienced your frustration when sight casting. I think you have part of the answer in your original post. I've thrown my paddle tail out in front of reds cruising along. Neither various retrieves , twitching as they approached nor bouncing off their heads seemed to interest them. Then with further observation, I saw the small shrimp you mentioned. So, I put a DOA shrimp on jig head and BAM! Several fish. At other times, maybe I would be tossing a shrimp and need to change to a paddletail. They may have just preferred something different than what you offered.

The other thing, I also had to start tossing the jig up into the cane grass. Try to find a small hole to lay it into. And when the bomb goes off, wrestle the fish out (or not!).

I really enjoy this aspect of fishing up in the marshes. Find them, figure out what they are favoring and then get it to them in their environment. Sometimes they win. Sometimes you win. In the end, I feel like I win, fish or not.
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Re: Churchill Bayou 7-29

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I'm not sure that some shallow places like the greater Christmas Bay Area can get a little too hypoxic in the summer. Very warm water temperatures, maybe weak tides, shallow water combined with relatively light winds could equal low dissolved oxygen in the water. My last outing into a shallow marsh system, I saw a lot of gar and little redfish. Gar can deal with low O2 by gulping air. The same marsh system 2-3 weeks ago was full of redfish.

I don't know that's what is going on. Just a hunch really. I'm not sure I've ever seen any data on what amount of dissolved Oyxgen each type of fish prefers and/or tolerates. I've sort of decided seeing a lot of gar is not a good portent. Gar aren't exactly known for their need for quality water. Hypoxic events do lead to fish kills this time of year. I think the bigger fish leave the area when the O2 gets to low. There are surely dissolved O2 meters to be had.
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Re: Churchill Bayou 7-29

Post by karstopo »

http://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/fis ... t/mapping/

Near the bottom of the page in the link is something about speckled trout spawning in areas with high levels of dissolved Oxygen.
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Re: Churchill Bayou 7-29

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http://www.gsmfc.org/publications/GSMFC ... %20087.pdf

A link to big article on speckled trout and what they need and prefer for dissolved Oxygen, water temperatures, salinity, etc. across the gulf states.

Article states they will move out of areas if the O2 drops too low. But too high of dissolved O2 is a problem for them as well according to the link. Too high of water temperatures drive them out of a zone too.

I think this all adds up to why certain areas get hot then cold then hot again for catching fish. Weather, wind, runoff, tides, forage, all mix and then the predator fish just stay in place or move to wherever suits them best on any given day or tide. Things are good, maybe the fish are content to stay in a zone. Something gets too out of whack, temperatures, salinity, dissolved O2, forage, the fish move. Some areas probably, surely hold the right conditions better than others. They are more consistently within the preferences of what a particular species likes. But any area can get knocked out of kilter by some combination of adverse weather or water factors. But I guess everyone that goes after these fish on a regular basis has their own systems, methods, resources, hunches to steer them in the right direction. My friend's dad usually would say " if the cows are grazing, then it's was going to be a good day" He caught a ton of fish.

One thing is certain is that each species of predator fish has its own unique physiology and requirements for survival and to thrive. There is overlap between certain fish, but redfish aren't exactly like speckled trout so they could be found together but the could also be found apart for reasons I believe reflect their own unique natures. I know these are facts that everyone gets. It's just sort of interesting to me to try to understand better what each fish is into and all about. I think it's always interesting why fish do what they do, why they make the choices they make.

I sometimes feel like when I first get out in the water that there is a feel and a smell of a day with lots of fish and a feel and smell of a day where the fish are few and far between. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this sensation, but I usually seem to know right off the bat what kind of day I'm in for on fish finding. It really doesn't matter one way or another, I'm still going to paddle around and look for fish. Anyway, it's just fun to get out on the water come what may.
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Re: Churchill Bayou 7-29

Post by Yak-n TX »

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I'm always impressed on what I can learn off these boards. Fishing to me is always a good time and part of that is learning new things every time I go. I appreciate the articles and I'll have to read them later today.

Being a transplant to Texas I'm still learning the seasonal fishing patterns. I've definitely gotten better at but have a lot to learn.

Thanks again!


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Re: Churchill Bayou 7-29

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Learning is the most fun part of fishing. Still is, the learning, things like what works where. Learning how to fish an area, learning what structure holds fish when.

There is a ten acre area I've fished now probably several hundred times. I still learn something new about it almost every time I get there. One thing I've learned about fishing this area over and over again is that good fish can get really concentrated in very small zones. I've applied that knowledge to other areas I fish and have come to realize I was paddling over and by fish without any knowledge the fish were there.

None of that means I'm going to catch a bunch of fish everytime I go out. All it means is that wherever I find myself fishing I really try to study the water, the water movement, the sign. Sometimes, I just run out of time before I find them, haha. Sometimes, it's about casting just in the right spot and letting the tail or fly fall for x amount of time.

There is this bulkhead where I paddled by many times and never did great other than the odd random flounder or two. I started looking at the structure really throughly and studying how the water moved around it. There was a deflection in the current in one little zone of the bulkhead. I decided to toss my weighted fly right up against the structure and let it fall. That got me a fish just about every cast. Nothing great, 16-18" type of redfish, but still it was exciting to figure out something by reading the structure and water.

That's kind of how I fish now. I don't necessarily think about I have to fish some special marsh or bay, I just pick some spot and see if I can puzzle out where the fish are. It doesn't always work and some places seem to be better than others seasonally. Kayaks limit your range so I may never find them or I might miss the sign or have the wrong presentation, but for me it's an enjoyable way to fish. I don't fish wishing I was someplace else or thinking I chose the wrong spot if things don't work out right away, I keep at working on the puzzle and probing the variety of structures. Often times, it eventually pays off in catching fish and always pays off in being interesting.
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