East Matagorda first time

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TxAquatics
Posts: 60
Joined: Sat May 12, 2018 9:21 pm

East Matagorda first time

Post by TxAquatics »

I finally got the kayak out for the saltwater 2018. I decided to give east matty a go for first time. I put in at Rawlings Bait camp, plan was to paddle the slough, fish the south shoreline into spring bayou, and return fish the north shore of the slough. Conditions were great, partly cloudy, 7mph wind, bait everywhere. I quickly saw "v" wakes, thinking reds, but no takers. I'm still a novice, so I think they were horse mullet. I casted and casted doa paddle tails, doa shrimp, top water, plus troll a live shrimp on the popping cork to up my odds. Managed to hook a puppy drum on live. I followed my plan and went to spring bayou and no luck, water was so low. I should have gone deeper in to find deep water, but the sun was getting hotter and I tired. Paddled back, and lone kayaker reported 1 red in the cooler, they also said was a slow morning. Went to north part of the slough and casted a few times, then called it quits. I'm surprised the live shrimp wasn't getting hit. Packed up, drove to the Colorado river, banked fished a few live shrimp on a long popping cork, an 18 inch flounder managed to save the day:). Any advice on my adventure? I think I paddled too much, fished less, need to optimize my fishing time. The paddle from the slough to spring bayou was about a mile.....
That's it for me.... no pics since the flounder was caught bank fishing.
Tombo
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Re: East Matagorda first time

Post by Tombo »

Launch early and throw a popping cork at the entrance to the bay from, the earlier the better.
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Ultrastealth
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Re: East Matagorda first time

Post by Ultrastealth »

Like Tombo said, get there early. I don't know whether you did or not, but the number one error that I see newbies doing is launching at 8 AM or later on a hot summer day. You can do that when the weather is cool, but, more often than not, you miss the main bite in the summer by doing that. I have to shake my head when I'm getting back to the launch with a good stringer that was all caught before 8, and there's a couple yakers just getting ready to launch. It's hot, it gets pretty miserable, and the fish don't like it either.
TxAquatics
Posts: 60
Joined: Sat May 12, 2018 9:21 pm

Re: East Matagorda first time

Post by TxAquatics »

Yup, I launched at 745am. I knew the effects of a late start, dang. Thanks for the tips.
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