Goose Island SP - August 3, 2019

[Neumie]

My wife and I decided to head to my family's ranch to visit my folks and to go to Schulenburg Festival to meet up with a group of friends. I was looking at the forecast for Saturday morning and it was looking pretty good. Talked to my dad and he wanted to go down and check out the boat since we haven't ran it since last fall.

Saturday morning we left Hallettsville a little before 5 am and rolled into Goose Island SP around 6:30. My dad doesn't really kayak much so he geared up to wade while I would paddle out. Fishing the reefs out in front of GISP was something I've always wanted to do, but never really had a decent wind forecast or had gone elsewhere. My dad and I have had good luck fishing the Aransas Bay reefs during the summer from our boat so I gave GISP a try this weekend.

When we arrived it was choppier than what I was hoping but easily paddle-able. I had studied Google Earth and settled on a reef with some undulation in its layout.



I had a short paddle to where I wanted to fish. The chop was just right that even in my 15' kayak I went through quite a few waves instead of staying on top of them. My Search 15 has decent rocker, but not enough this morning.



I started with a Bone-n-Chrome She Pup on my first drift with nothing to show. There were signs of mullet and occasional sounds of trout smacking at something on the surface. Subsequent drifts I switched to soft plastics and landed a dink trout and big skip jack. I did have what felt like a decent fish pick up the DSL and ran a big before dropping the lure.

That would be it for the morning. Sorry no pics of the couple fish I caught. I've really been struggling this year. Anyways my dad didn't have much luck either and he watched a couple other waders slinging live bait without catching anything either. I saw a few other kayaks out there this morning as well, but have no clue how they did as they were on the other side of the fishing pier.

Pro tip of the day: Whenever you breakdown a reel make sure you double check you adjust the tension of the free spool and brakes. Just a helpful hint so you don't have to pick a hellacious birds nest while on the water.

And if any cares our boat ran fine and we run into Turtle Pen of Copano Bay where we immediately realized we forgot to load our tackle bags and beer on the boat. So were were stuck with whatever lures we had on our rods; which weren't bad: Grasswalker, DSL, & Sand Shad Jr. Caught a rat red and 14" trout before heading back in.

Time: 7:00 am - 9:30 am
Air Temp: 84°F
Wind: SSW @ 5 -10 kn
Barometric Pressure: 1013 mb (slightly falling)
Sky: Mostly Cloudy
Water Clarity: Sandy, Around 2 feet
Water Temp: 88°F
Structure: Oyster

Predicted Tides @ Rockport:
Low @ 2:52 am (-0.09 ft)
High @ 5:40 pm (0.19 ft)

Solunar:
Sunrise/set: 6:52 am/8:17 pm
Moonrise/set: 9:35 am/10:38 pm
Moon Phase: Waxing Crescent (10%)

Lures:
Bone-n-Chrome She Pup
Red/White Grasswalker, weightless
Chicken of the "C" DSL on 1/8 oz jighead
Howell's Strawberry Wine DSL on 1/8 oz jighead

Fish:
Trout: 1 dink
Large skip jack

[TexasJim]

Josh: I have been wanting to fish that area again. I have fished there several times and never caught anything,
I plan to launch my skiff at Lamar Ramp and fish Cowchip Cove and Egg Point soon. I have fished the Bartells, and never got a bite.
Anytime you're coming down to fish the area, let me know. I'm always eager to learn from the Guru! TexasJim

[Neumie]

Josh: I have been wanting to fish that area again. I have fished there several times and never caught anything,
I plan to launch my skiff at Lamar Ramp and fish Cowchip Cove and Egg Point soon. I have fished the Bartells, and never got a bite.
Anytime you're coming down to fish the area, let me know. I'm always eager to learn from the Guru! TexasJim

I'll post up open invites when I make trips down by myself. Although I feel like I'm really struggling this year to find the fish.

Initially this was a trip for my wife and I before a last minute change of plans had us going to Hallettsville and then my dad and I making the trip south for a quick morning of fishing before doing some boat maintenance.

[JW FunGuy]

Don’t feel too bad, I have been having the same struggles, a few undersized but that’s it! A myriad of excuses, high wind, high water, brown water, fresh water(?) and the biggest one, no fish. But in the end I still just enjoy getting out in my kayak.

[Tombo]

My first ever fishing trip was wading the reefs east of the pier.

[NolaTx]

Thanks for sharing. That’s a beautiful part of Texas but agree that the shallow water fishing has been a bit tough this summer.


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[Ron Mc]

Great report as always.
I love the photo of the splash - and you probably caught it without multiple frames.
Right there where the two big bays come together I guess can produce some pretty big waves - even in light to moderate wind.
My buddy Tim used to live on Bois d'Arc St. and the SP was part of his neighborhood.

[shoffer]

Thanks for the report, Neumie. I have fished the St. Charles Bay area three or four times before, and I have never had any luck down by the pier. My best outings have been launching at Big Tree launch.