Back from East Matty

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imaoldmanyoungsalt
Posts: 477
Joined: Mon Dec 25, 2017 11:21 am

Back from East Matty

Post by imaoldmanyoungsalt »

Well my son and I are back from our trip and this is not the report I was hoping to have but its better than no report at all. After all I'm just glad I got to go. Going fishing is always enjoyable and spending time with my son is even better. My older brother was even able to join us too so I have nothing to complain about. Now on to the report. 1st day we arrived late in the afternoon instead of early morning because work/rain/nasty, cold weather caused a delay in getting everything prepped for departure. We ended up going to St Mary's around 5pm. It was WINDY and out of the N/NE. There were mullet everywhere so we paddled up to the 1st cut to the right that leads to the bay which had a some current flowing and began throwing a bone diamond/chartreuse paddle tail on a spinner blade. I had a goid hit on the 3rd cast but it came off almost immediately. I thought "alright this might be easier than I had hoped". You would think after 54years on this earth I would have learned by now not to get so cocky! Well that was the first and last bite for the day. We paddled in just before dark and headed back to the hotel. Day 2 we went back to St Mary's and went to the same cut and headed all the way to the mouth of the bay fishing along the way. Did I mention yet that it was WINDY? No way we were leaving the mouth of that cut and into the open bay! At the mouth I did manage to hook up twice right away but lost both then finally caught one. It was a 16 in. trout. We decided to get out n wade that area real well but never caught another fish. We spent the rest of the day exploring the St Mary's area from our yaks and fishing several areas but never managed another fish. There were mullet scattered everywhere and didnt really seem concentrated to anything specific. I really had a hard time finding any kind of pattern to anything at all. Tide never seemed to change much. The bay seemed full the entire time we were there with little movement. I had mounted my transducer in the hull of my kayak so my temps were off. It was showing between 70-73 and I know that was way off just from feeling the water with my hand I would guess closer to mid to upper 60's. At the end of the 2nd day we loaded up the yaks and drove over to 3 mile cut to look it over for the next day. We arrived there about 30 min til sunset and a couple of guys were coming in and had done very well using live shrimp. They both had several nice trout n some good slot reds. So we decided live shrimp for day 3. Well day 3 started with a trip to the bait shop where we were dissapointed to see the "table shrimp" flag but NO "live shimp" flag flying. So we stopped at the beach access rd ditch n broke out our castnets and put some finger mullet in the bait tank and proceeded to 3 mile. We paddled to the area the guys told us about the day before and hoped the fish would be as interested in mullet as they were shrimp. NOPE. We managed 1 rat red and 2 stingrays. We paddled the area well but still really never managed to find any patterns to anything. Mullet were still everywhere but not concentrated to any specific structure or depth. Did I mention yet that it was WINDY? Btw, speaking of windy. Man those TSL's are the ticket when casting in a wind. They flat out sail! I only had one hit while fishing them on this trip and he hit it just as I was pulling the bait and spit it out before I could react. I think the lack of success this trip was more a result of user inability at this point tho. I think they will be a real assest in the box when I figure out what I'm doing and have a little better fishing conditions. Im actually looking forward to trying them out for bass fishing too. I see a few applications where they should do well. On the last day we decided we would fish the jetties from the bank and give the paddling arms a much needed rest before our long drive home. We at least hoped to get something to take home to eat. We caught about 12 whiting and few hardheads and gaftops. We took the whiting home n threw back the catfish. All in all it was a good trip and we really enjoyed it. It's not all about catching fish (or at least that's what people say when they can't catch fish, lol). Hopefully I'll get to try again in June. Sorry about lack of photos. Im not much for taking pics when fishing, or at all for that matter. Here's a few my bro took.

ImageImageImageImage

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imaoldmanyoungsalt
Posts: 477
Joined: Mon Dec 25, 2017 11:21 am

Re: RE: Back from East Matty

Post by imaoldmanyoungsalt »

imaoldmanyoungsalt wrote:Well my son and I are back from our trip and this is not the report I was hoping to have but its better than no report at all. After all I'm just glad I got to go. Going fishing is always enjoyable and spending time with my son is even better. My older brother was even able to join us too so I have nothing to complain about. Now on to the report. 1st day we arrived late in the afternoon instead of early morning because work/rain/nasty, cold weather caused a delay in getting everything prepped for departure. We ended up going to St Mary's around 5pm. It was WINDY and out of the N/NE. There were mullet everywhere so we paddled up to the 1st cut to the right that leads to the bay which had a some current flowing and began throwing a bone diamond/chartreuse paddle tail on a spinner blade. I had a goid hit on the 3rd cast but it came off almost immediately. I thought "alright this might be easier than I had hoped". You would think after 54years on this earth I would have learned by now not to get so cocky! Well that was the first and last bite for the day. We paddled in just before dark and headed back to the hotel. Day 2 we went back to St Mary's and went to the same cut and headed all the way to the mouth of the bay fishing along the way. Did I mention yet that it was WINDY? No way we were leaving the mouth of that cut and into the open bay! At the mouth I did manage to hook up twice right away but lost both then finally caught one. It was a 16 in. trout. We decided to get out n wade that area real well but never caught another fish. We spent the rest of the day exploring the St Mary's area from our yaks and fishing several areas but never managed another fish. There were mullet scattered everywhere and didnt really seem concentrated to anything specific. I really had a hard time finding any kind of pattern to anything at all. Tide never seemed to change much. The bay seemed full the entire time we were there with little movement. I had mounted my transducer in the hull of my kayak so my temps were off. It was showing between 70-73 and I know that was way off just from feeling the water with my hand I would guess closer to mid to upper 60's. At the end of the 2nd day we loaded up the yaks and drove over to 3 mile cut to look it over for the next day. We arrived there about 30 min til sunset and a couple of guys were coming in and had done very well using live shrimp. They both had several nice trout n some good slot reds. So we decided live shrimp for day 3. Well day 3 started with a trip to the bait shop where we were dissapointed to see the "table shrimp" flag but NO "live shimp" flag flying. So we stopped at the beach access rd ditch n broke out our castnets and put some finger mullet in the bait tank and proceeded to 3 mile. We paddled to the area the guys told us about the day before and hoped the fish would be as interested in mullet as they were shrimp. NOPE. We managed 1 rat red and 2 stingrays. We paddled the area well but still really never managed to find any patterns to anything. Mullet were still everywhere but not concentrated to any specific structure or depth. Did I mention yet that it was WINDY? Btw, speaking of windy. Man those TSL's are the ticket when casting in a wind. They flat out sail! I only had one hit while fishing them on this trip and he hit it just as I was pulling the bait and spit it out before I could react. I think the lack of success this trip was more a result of user inability at this point tho. I think they will be a real assest in the box when I figure out what I'm doing and have a little better fishing conditions. Im actually looking forward to trying them out for bass fishing too. I see a few applications where they should do well. On the last day we decided we would fish the jetties from the bank and give the paddling arms a much needed rest before our long drive home. We at least hoped to get something to take home to eat. We caught about 12 whiting and few hardheads and gaftops. We took the whiting home n threw back the catfish. All in all it was a good trip and we really enjoyed it. It's not all about catching fish (or at least that's what people say when they can't catch fish, lol). Hopefully I'll get to try again in June. Sorry about lack of photos. Im not much for taking pics when fishing, or at all for that matter. Here's a few my bro took.

ImageImageImageImage

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Oh and I forgot to ad a BIG THANK YOU to everyone on this site who offered tips and advice prior to this trip. I really appreciate all the knowledge thats available here just for the asking. You guys are great and again, THANKS TO ALL!

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Cityfisher
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Re: Back from East Matty

Post by Cityfisher »

That sounds like a really enjoyable trip with your son and brother whether you caught a lot of fish or not. At least ya'll did catch some! I have yet to make the trek down to East Matty. Every time I think I want to go I change my mind and end up at Surfside. lol Thanks for the report.
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kickingback
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Re: Back from East Matty

Post by kickingback »

Busy outing for sure! Sorry you didn't get on the big girls anywhere. They can be finicky this time of year. Thanks for sharing a great report!
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Dandydon
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Re: Back from East Matty

Post by Dandydon »

Great fishing report, Old Man, despite the lack of fish landed.
That drive down to Matagorda is so long that I won't go unless the conditions are terrific. My 50 years of saltwater fishing has taught me not to go when those north winds are howling & the bay chops are white.
Good luck on your future trips.


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Yaklash
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Re: Back from East Matty

Post by Yaklash »

So, about East Mattagorda and tides. That bay is the least affected by tide of almost all bays north of the land cut other than Baffin in my experience. The east (north) end is slightly more tidal because of the proximity to Caney Creek and that pass, but the St Mary's end is almost completely devoid of tidal movement. It doesn't mean the fishing can't be good. That is a great bay. It just means that in that area, tide doesn't play as big a part in the fish finding equation.

Glad you had fun & better luck next time.
imaoldmanyoungsalt
Posts: 477
Joined: Mon Dec 25, 2017 11:21 am

Re: RE: Re: Back from East Matty

Post by imaoldmanyoungsalt »

Yaklash wrote:So, about East Mattagorda and tides. That bay is the least affected by tide of almost all bays north of the land cut other than Baffin in my experience. The east (north) end is slightly more tidal because of the proximity to Caney Creek and that pass, but the St Mary's end is almost completely devoid of tidal movement. It doesn't mean the fishing can't be good. That is a great bay. It just means that in that area, tide doesn't play as big a part in the fish finding equation.

Glad you had fun & better luck next time.
Yak that makes a lot of sense after thinking about it. I know when I first started going to Matagorda to surf fish years ago we would always drive the 21 miles of beach to Mitchell cut and sometimes the current leaving the bay (or coming in) thru the cut would be so strong it would be unfishable but I'm sure even then the movement all the way on the west end would have been minimal since theres no inflow or outflow at that end. I think if the weather had been a little better we would have had more success. Unfortunately I have to go when vacation days roll around so I take what I'm dealt and make the best of it. Sometimes I can put a pattern together and do well and sometimes I can't. But thats fishing and that's the challenge that makes it so enjoyable. If I'm fishing, I'm happy whether I'm catching or not. :)

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