10-13-18 - Cold Pass Wade

Post Reply
User avatar
Chubs
Posts: 680
Joined: Wed Oct 25, 2017 10:54 am

10-13-18 - Cold Pass Wade

Post by Chubs »

Sorry this report is kinda late. Better late than never!

Time fished: October 13, 2018 - 7:30am - 11:30am
Goals: Try wading at a spot I've seen other people wading last year in the same timeframe at Colds Pass. Catch Bull Reds that I also saw last year with my friends. Try out the kayak as a Floating Party Barge (alcohol might have been involved with this trip)!
General Path: Pulled up at the Cold Pass kayak launch between San Luis Pass and John Wayne's Cut. Water was very high so started the wade right from the road in essence. Waded the south end based on satellite imagery taken in the winter (bad idea). Made it as far as the 1st major drain in the little pond (near oysters) and couldn't go any further because the mud sank to your knees or worse. Ended up having to leave before I could figure out a path to where I wanted to go.
Add description
Add description
Previous recent weather: Not much rain for the week. Previous "cool" front about 3 days prior.
Wind : east south east, high 10 - 15 mph
Tide/ current: flat to start then good outgoing rest of trip
Sky: pretty clear. Patchy clouds were also out to block the sun every now and then.
Water temps: not sure but it felt cold to start with, but I was wading without waders and it wasn't too bad.
Fish caught: out of the 3 fishermen in our group, we caught 2 keeper reds at 20", 1 throw back red, and a number of croaker, 4 of which I kept for dinner.
Bait used: This was mainly a bull red trip so had bought live shrimp, dead shrimp, and frozen mullet. Unfortunately the bait camp we stopped at was out of frozen crab!!! I also started the day with a topwater shepup I think, black body with yellow head, no strikes. Used jighead and plastic paddle tail green - lost on oyster, and black with yellow tail - 1 nibble but no takers. Friends used shrimp on a double drop shot rig - they were using the dead shrimp mostly. I used live shrimp under a popping cork. The friend using the double drop rig caught all the fish - I caught the throwback red and 1 large croaker.
At one point I also put some frozen squid on a Khale hook, dipped it in the water for a second and up came a pin fish! The unlucky pin fish became bait himself.
I had the pinfish on a fish finder rig with good sized circle hook tossed out as far as I could manage towards the channel. Not much action but after maybe 30 min to 1 hour of soaking him, my pole (was in a holder poorly anchored into the mud we were standing on), my pole yanked real hard into the water, rod went completely horizontal and drag started peeling. I got over to it as fast as I could in the mud, but unfortunately whatever had taken the bait had gotten free by the time I got there. Had to have been a bull red. Man!!! That was a heartbreak :(
Stomach Contents/ bait present: Saw 2" long shrimp in water near the banks. Saw some mini finfish too. One of the croakers I kept had some baby crabs in their stomach.

Frustrations: Once again, my bait caster failed me. I love using them but you need ot have backups because at least at my level, they can ruin a trip if you only take one. I had my kayak strapped to me during the wade. It was so horribly windy that the kayak wouldn't stay out of the way, it would just always go to the north west side of me. Unfortunately for the way I was wading, this was behind my right hand - my casting hand. Eventually I bowed back to make a cast, whip the rod forward, and after a few moments of no splash I look at my hands and see this:
Add description
Add description
Ya that was fun…
Other frustrations, the wind was very high, could not cast south east. This wasn't too bad but just to note.
Biggest frustration was the mud. We never made it to my planned area to fish for the bull reds because we couldn't get there! I had noticed another guy was wading a lot further than me, so I called over to him and he told me if you stick to the shoreline the ground is a lot more solid. Lesson learned…


Lessons Learned: As just stated, stick to the edges of a marsh if it is wadeable, the mud will be a lot less. I've got a better idea now though what mud looks like in Google earth. Those holes in the ground I had asked about before - that is an excellent indication the ground will be too muddy to wade - if a fish can burrow those holes then chances are the ground is soft.
Try to map out a better route that takes into account the mud that could be present. We had just went without really knowing what to expect.
Other observations: I'm going to make a goal of doing more wading when I kayak in the future. It's actually pretty fun and it's nice ot have 2 feet on the ground sometimes instead fo dealing with keeping your kayak steady.
Kayaks are nice party barges too…
User avatar
kickingback
TKF 5000 Club
TKF 5000 Club
Posts: 5178
Joined: Thu Feb 18, 2016 3:24 pm
Location: Houston, Texas

Re: 10-13-18 - Cold Pass Wade

Post by kickingback »

Great detailed report. :clap:
I love that area but not for a wade. You are correct to stay close to the vegetation which holds the ground better as Cold Pass has strong currents which "wash the mud" back and forth making it a mix of non settled mud making it impossible to wade. That part is best with a kayak.
Shame you didn't get any flounder. I would think they are near that pass with this cold wind blowing in.
Thanks for sharing!
User avatar
Chubs
Posts: 680
Joined: Wed Oct 25, 2017 10:54 am

Re: 10-13-18 - Cold Pass Wade

Post by Chubs »

I was surprised the mud was so bad there because I'd seen people at my "goal" spot last year, and I'd have thought the strong current there would have actually washed the mud out. But evidently that's not how it works. Lots of good info on this site :) also Tobins shallow reds DVD had some info on this type of layout but I didn't think it would have applied so close too the pass ;)

I just wonder how folks got there before. The wader that told me about the shorelines said sometimes they use boogie boards to get across the mud. Who'd have guessed lol.

Ya I was expecting flounder too but this was last weekend so maybe they hadn't moved yet. I bet this week that spot is good. Wish I could go back but think I'm tied up this weekend.
User avatar
kickingback
TKF 5000 Club
TKF 5000 Club
Posts: 5178
Joined: Thu Feb 18, 2016 3:24 pm
Location: Houston, Texas

Re: 10-13-18 - Cold Pass Wade

Post by kickingback »

Yeah that sandbar there near the channel is more solid. The mud comes from the feeding, fish crap, vegetation and muck that comes from the marsh and that deeper channel washes the mud off the sandbar there but does a washing machine in that area where the water pools and the tides keep going in and out.
The "goal" you have marked you may be able to wade along the entire grass/shell that is exposed in map to be better off maybe as the water flow washes over that grass area well enough to wash the mud out so the sand is your base.
User avatar
karstopo
TKF 5000 Club
TKF 5000 Club
Posts: 5612
Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:30 am
Location: 77566

Re: 10-13-18 - Cold Pass Wade

Post by karstopo »

It’s interesting, that area was a cut to the gulf in the google earth imagery from the 1940s. I don’t know if the aerial photo taken back then was shortly after a hurricane, but the marks are there. It’s like Cold Pass dumped into the gulf directly at that spot instead or in addition to dumping into San Luis Pass, but it might have been the result of a hurricane and a short lived phenomenon. The part that’s between the blue water highway and the gulf had sealed up by the next image some years later.

Some of that little bay off cold pass has a firm bottom even in the parts not right next to Cold Pass. You might try going way to the right instead of to the left. There is some bit of shell to the right as I remember it. In the middle of the little bay, there’s a bar that’s firm. The structure isn’t uniform at all in that little bay. Mud here, shell there, sand over there. The water depths vary. There’s a bar that from the boundary between the bay and cold pass. Water moves mostly in and out at the spot that was your goal. When the water is lower, that bar gets mostly exposed. The deepest spot in the little bay is over on that shoreline that was your goal spot.

I’ve had a trip or two where I fished the little bay and never even made it to cold pass, the trout and reds would be in that bay in enough quanity and quality to keep me occupied. It’s definitely worth fishing or at least checking out. The bar at the mouth has always kept the boats out so there’s that.

Cold pass is almost guaranteed to be busy. The last time I was out in Cold Pass, i staked out and got on some flounder. Along comes a boat of some drunk yahoos that I guess could not stand a bent rod and motored right into the zone I was casting and finally got anchored, still about a half a fly rod cast away from me. That’s kind of stuff I try to avoid and cold pass is place it’s hard to escape the inebriated crowds.
User avatar
kickingback
TKF 5000 Club
TKF 5000 Club
Posts: 5178
Joined: Thu Feb 18, 2016 3:24 pm
Location: Houston, Texas

Re: 10-13-18 - Cold Pass Wade

Post by kickingback »

I studied GE history images a lot before my first trip there and that's what I saw Kars. Good info on GE!
If a PB comes in and does that to me and I see they are drinking, I make a phone call to the local game wardens to let them know the PB driver may be drinking as I saw a beer in his hand while going fast close to me in a kayak. They come out RIGHT AWAY! :lol:
User avatar
karstopo
TKF 5000 Club
TKF 5000 Club
Posts: 5612
Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:30 am
Location: 77566

Re: 10-13-18 - Cold Pass Wade

Post by karstopo »

The GE photo from 1944 and one from 2011 with lower water levels. It's easy to see the structure in the 2011 image. ImageImage
Gage5602
Posts: 46
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2018 1:01 pm

Re: 10-13-18 - Cold Pass Wade

Post by Gage5602 »

i had a similar incident in Moses lake a few weeks ago fish out of a pb i had hit all the reefs shellpads and well heads that i knew of with no luck then i decided to go into Moses to one of the reefs first cast nice flounder second cast small red 10 to 12 reds for about 30 mins until another pb pulled right up on us ran over our corks and the reef powerpoled down on our lines then pulled his power pole up and got up on plan right on top off our lines. never ever ever have i seen a idiot like this one in my whole life. :oops:
User avatar
shoffer
TKF 1000 Club
TKF 1000 Club
Posts: 1468
Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 10:41 am
Location: Bellaire, Texas

Re: 10-13-18 - Cold Pass Wade

Post by shoffer »

Chubs wrote:I was surprised the mud was so bad there because I'd seen people at my "goal" spot last year, and I'd have thought the strong current there would have actually washed the mud out.

I just wonder how folks got there before. The wader that told me about the shorelines said sometimes they use boogie boards to get across the mud.
Chubs - they got there by parking in the neighborhood and wading in from there - they did not wade in where you were. I have fished that shoreline many times, and that is always where I see them come from. I don't know if their car was there when they got back, though. See photo below.
Wade.JPG
User avatar
Ron Mc
TKF 5000 Club
TKF 5000 Club
Posts: 5675
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2006 6:12 pm
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Contact:

Re: 10-13-18 - Cold Pass Wade

Post by Ron Mc »

we were wading Copano one cold day in waders, just to throw the cast net for bait.
I got into quicksand, went into my crotch and over the top of my waders.
I love wadefishing hardpack, but never volunteer wading quicksand - no offense, that's kinda what kayaks are for.
Most of the marsh shorelines on the mainland side are quicksand.
The best wading is usually the lakes on the barrier islands, though all along Lydia Ann Channel and Outside Beach at Estes is about as good as wading gets - fishing, too if the tides are treating you right.
User avatar
Chubs
Posts: 680
Joined: Wed Oct 25, 2017 10:54 am

Re: 10-13-18 - Cold Pass Wade

Post by Chubs »

shoffer wrote:Chubs - they got there by parking in the neighborhood and wading in from there - they did not wade in where you were. I have fished that shoreline many times, and that is always where I see them come from. I don't know if their car was there when they got back, though. See photo below.
Ahh, That makes sense. I had thought about that route, but it looked a lot more dangerous with the cut clearly visible just a foot from the bank. Also like you seem to be implying, I think that is a "Tow Zone." I believe I saw signs to that effect when I scouted the area for night fishing last year.
Post Reply