Estes Flats today - the sun never broke through

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Ron Mc
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Estes Flats today - the sun never broke through

Post by Ron Mc »

Weatherman told us different right up until this morning.
Stevo and I drove down from SA at 330 this morning, stopped for great 5am breakfast at Agave Jalisco in 3 Rivers, and met TexasJim at Palm Harbor - he lives right across the highway.
I told Jim when we quit that he put up a good paddle for an old man.
He's done this before, and has a fast, well-rigged boat.
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Actually it was Jim and his neighbor Mike, but Mike turned around at Sandy Point, southern tip of Talley Island
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It was calm when we launched and the expected E wind gradually came up to 9-10 k. About 60 degrees and a light mist on and off, and the water has been warming up to over 60.
AP low tide was 7am, knowing this, the plan was, after a stretch at Sandy Point, to paddle due E to the inside of Little Cut.
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The tide was really low, but it let us wade the middle bar at the inside of the cut and cast to the cut bank - we found a ripping tide current coming through the cut from Aransas Bay, and fish right where they ought to be.
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Harassed and released a half-dozen tourist trout
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this one would measure 15 inches, but the skinniest 15 inches I've ever seen
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When the trout got too smart for us, and part of our plan, tried to paddle to the Trout Bayou cut, but there wasn't enough water to get us there (we heard a powerboat digging back there about beer-thirty all the way through noon). At the duck blinds, we retreated on the east wind back toward Talley Is.
Setting up a couple of drifts, we saw redfish and their mudballs on both sides of Talley Is., but they just wouldn't get up to eat.
Lite lunch and a good Corpus microbrew at Sandy Point
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We talked about the mile paddle back to Little Cut, with the incoming tide lasting through late afternoon, but with no chance for the sun, decided to call it.
And we didn't suffer.
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It was a great paddle, a few fish, and we made it through Oakville early enough for a meat sandwich
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Ask for the burned ends and you shall receive
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Last edited by Ron Mc on Sun Feb 17, 2019 6:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
Tombo
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Re: Estes Flats today - the sun never broke through

Post by Tombo »

Great report, I can visualize everything,
If you don't mind, someday I would like to tag along. I like your style.
Tom
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Ron Mc
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Re: Estes Flats today - the sun never broke through

Post by Ron Mc »

Tombo wrote:Great report, I can visualize everything,
If you don't mind, someday I would like to tag along. I like your style.
Tom
think about 4 weeks away bro - will get back to you...
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Re: Estes Flats today - the sun never broke through

Post by Tombo »

Looking forward to that day.
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Ron Mc
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Re: Estes Flats today - the sun never broke through

Post by Ron Mc »

I took 2 rods with 3-pc fly rods stashed in the bow hold, and a 3rd rod holder stowed in the milk crate.
7' 13Fishing ML is perfect for casting grasswalkers on the flat. But the 8-1/2' Lami fast-Medium with soft tip made all the difference casting from our wading bar all the way across the channel to the cut bank. I caught 3 of those trout on consecutive casts before they wised up to my cocahoe, and had a change-up lure ready to go, but it wasn't worth spending the morning on the little fish.
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JW FunGuy
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Re: Estes Flats today - the sun never broke through

Post by JW FunGuy »

It might not have been the best day but it sure looks like you made the best of it! :)
Thanks for the report.
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Ron Mc
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Re: Estes Flats today - the sun never broke through

Post by Ron Mc »

would do it again in a heartbeat

of course we get the sun today
my system for rinsing and draining the boat
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Re: Estes Flats today - the sun never broke through

Post by Zackthefisherman »

Thanks for the report, Ron. My brother and I did the same trip Saturday but we fished brown and root. Our results were pretty similar just a few small trout. We found a few large schools of Redfish on the flats but they had lockjaw. My fly rod would have been handy in this situation. For the most part, the water was too low on the flats. I need to get back out to Estes I've only been there once.
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Re: Estes Flats today - the sun never broke through

Post by Ron Mc »

Cool - Steve and I discussed B&R, but picked Little Cut because of the tide. I also love paddling and drift-fishing Estes, and the east wind made it an easy choice. I prefer B&R on the prevailing SE because of the easy trip home.
SE with Estes, though, you aim for Big Cut, and there's a couple of big holes, including one just inside the cut.
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Re: Estes Flats today - the sun never broke through

Post by NativeSon »

Sounds like great fun Ron!
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Re: Estes Flats today - the sun never broke through

Post by Chubs »

Ron Mc wrote:Cool - Steve and I discussed B&R, but picked Little Cut because of the tide. I also love paddling and drift-fishing Estes, and the east wind made it an easy choice. I prefer B&R on the prevailing SE because of the easy trip home.
SE with Estes, though, you aim for Big Cut, and there's a couple of big holes, including one just inside the cut.
Image
Where did you get that nice detailed map?
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Ron Mc
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Re: Estes Flats today - the sun never broke through

Post by Ron Mc »

hi friend, it came from Pinterest on a google search "estes flats chart" the date that's printed on it, and I haven't been able to find it again since - I've jpg'd, pdf'd, printed it and sealed it in a clear folder and sealed that in a map case, so I have it....
here's a pretty good high-resolution jpg if you want to open it, right-click on the image and copy to your computer:
https://i.imgur.com/9s162ig.jpg
NOAA doesn't have a full-size chart that covers it as well, though an advantage of an NOAA chart is having correct ICW marker numbers for reference - can read those on my Steiner Navigator binocs and plot my position (though most often use the binoculars for figuring out what my buddies or other boats are up to).
I think Cove Harbor Marina used to publish the original link, but they've since deleted it and link to google earth instead.
Regards
Image(cropped out to camera resolution - 1 pixel on photo = one element in the sensor chip - Olympus TG-5)
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