Estes Flats - February 20, 2021

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Neumie
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Location: SA, Hallettsville, or Rockport

Estes Flats - February 20, 2021

Post by Neumie »

Ron already started this party so check out his post before continuing with mine: http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/foru ... 8&t=253245

I met Ron and Don at the Cabin in Rockport around 9 pm Friday evening. I had to gather my kayak and gear so around 10 we started planning the weekend's trip over a glass on Glenlivet and beers.

We weren't in too much of a hurry the next morning given the weather the previous week. I had set my expectations rather low and was anxious to see how our fish faired knowing water temps had gotten into the 30's. We arrived at the Palm Harbor launch, paid our $5 parking fee and pulled up to the water's edge. The water was way out and we actually had to drag our kayaks across the spoils along the ICW. I had a hitchhiker for the ride.

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As we made our way to the south point of Talley Island I found our first floating trout; 18".

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Then another. The largest dead trout I measured was 25".

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With the tides being low the now exposed "beach" along Talley Island was littered with dead trout of all sizes. We paddled north towards Trout Bayou, but we couldn't make it in our kayaks, so we turned around and waded towards Little Cut dragging our kayaks.

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This is where we parked the kayaks and waded along the shoreline fishing the deeper water. Don was the first to land a fish. Then Ron.

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Don figured out to bounce lures off the bottom. He limited out on reds. Ron strung up two, and I was busy picking backlashes in between catching undersized trout and reds. We packed it in and again had to wade dragging kayaks before we could get to deep enough water.

Rockport was still shutting water off by 5:00 pm so that meant no hot showers for us nor open restaurants. Ran to HEB to figure out dinner only to find barren shelves. I was able to MacGyver a menu so we had shrimp and cheesy grits for dinner. We had to use paper plates because we had no running water for dishes.

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Meteorological Observations
Time: 9:00 am - 3:00 pm
Air Temp: 41°F - 62°F
Wind: 3-5 kn NNE - E (gusting 10)
Barometric Pressure: 1030 mb (falling)
Sky: Sunny
Water Clarity: 3-4 ft
Water Temp: 44°F
Structure: Sand

Solunar
Sunrise/set: 7:01 am/6:22 pm
Moonrise/set: 12:22 pm/1:37 am
Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous (57%)

Predicted Tides @ Rockport (MLLW)
Low @ 7:52 am (-0.40 ft)
High @ 9:00 pm (-0.07 ft)

Lures
Baffin Magic Sand Shad on 1/16 oz jighead
Plum Sand Shad Jr. on 1/16 oz jighead
Pink Hologram Grasswalker on weighted swimbait hook
Pink Vudu Shrimp

Fish
Trout: 6 dinks
Reds: 5 Slotters, a few Rats

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Ron Mc
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Re: Estes Flats - February 20, 2021

Post by Ron Mc »

http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/foru ... 8&t=253245

Josh, your map and photos make that trudge back to Little Cut look easier than I remember it.

Josh is a great cook, and very creative with the store shelves and meat bins all but emptied.
The shrimp and grits was excellent, and he put some great cheeses in the grits.

Also a point to pick - I caught 14 rats (all but two 18") plus two slot fish, and Donny caught at least 20 - we were walking on redfish facing that incoming tide.
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