Lighthouse Lakes on a high tide

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Luckee
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Lighthouse Lakes on a high tide

Post by Luckee »

Back last year I asked the forum for thoughts on low tide fishing in the Lighthouse Lakes, and the replies were very helpful and informative. Kayakers on this board know the water and know how to fish it!

I'd like to try the opposite question now: how about exceptionally high tides? Is it even right to think that a good high tide is the best bet for getting reds to come up into those shallow lake areas?

I know there are lots of other factors, including temperature, storm surges, and our good old friend the wind. But assuming some decent weather in late March/early April, I'm thinking a few days in the Aransas Pass area could be a great thing! :)
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Neumie
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Re: Lighthouse Lakes on a high tide

Post by Neumie »

When the tides are the highest in the spring and fall, I don't particularly like LHL. With the extra water more of the flats are available for the fish and they push way back in the mangroves and scatter.
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Re: Lighthouse Lakes on a high tide

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I'm really no great source for Light house lake fishing. I've fished during low tide, high tide, slack tide, during the perfect storm of 53, and.....,never had a bad day. I was taught how to fish LH lake by Slowride, and his lessons have never failed me. Well, he and I did have one day when I saw and caught only one red on my fly rod. Made for a light stringer, but a great photo.

Fishing in a high tide has it's challenges as does fishing in a low tide. The fish are chasing creatures in 'new' territory during high and you have to hunt the bushes for them. Work the shorelines, keeping an ear out for their feeding splashes. Also, take a minute or two to scan the deeper lakes with binoculars for small schools on the move. The reds are somewhere. You just have to cover some territory and hunt for them.
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Luckee
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Re: Lighthouse Lakes on a high tide

Post by Luckee »

"Never had a bad day" just makes me think you haven't lived long enough yet. :) Even the emperor of Rome has a bad day once in a while, especially when we're talking about something as variable as fishing.

But yup, your observations corroborate what I saw on my only real high-ish tide day out there: I saw more fish that day near the shorelines than any other day, including some real brutes with their backs out of the water rooting in bushy, unreachable areas.
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Re: Lighthouse Lakes on a high tide

Post by Kayak Kid »

Luckee,

Believe me, I've lived long enough. And, I have had some bad days. But, any day I am on the water around Lite House Lakes, a fly rod within close proximity, there's no way it's gonna be a bad day.
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Luckee
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Re: Lighthouse Lakes on a high tide

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Roger that :) . It's a hoot catching even small reds and seatrout on the fly.

I don't think I saw a single other long rod out there during my 3 days I have paddled there, except for some guys in one those really tall console motorboats who were looking around but not casting.

RE bad days, though, I think of the California delta here (about as pressured as LHL but nowhere near as pretty), where you can fish stripers and largemouths pretty much year round. Every once in a while there's just a day where no one wants to eat. People theorize endlessly -- is it the falling barometer? The moonlight conditions the night prior? But only the fish really know.
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Re: Lighthouse Lakes on a high tide

Post by Kayak Kid »

Yeah, I've talked to many a fisherman who bemoan the days they don't get a bump. I guess I'm somewhat luckier than most. I believe myself to be a Thoreauvian style fisherman.

"Most men go fishing all their lives without knowing that it's not the fish they are after"
H.D. Thoreau
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Re: Lighthouse Lakes on a high tide

Post by Neumie »

Kayak Kid wrote:Yeah, I've talked to many a fisherman who bemoan the days they don't get a bump. I guess I'm somewhat luckier than most. I believe myself to be a Thoreauvian style fisherman.

"Most men go fishing all their lives without knowing that it's not the fish they are after"
H.D. Thoreau
I'm the same way. It sucks, but I always enjoy my time on the water. Especially going forward since Harvey took out our cabin on Copano. When it's rebuilt, I'll never care about catching and just enjoy my time down at the coast. I get why, because a lot of kayakers have limited days to fish at the coast and want to maximize their trips.

I think the guys who complain about the rain irk me the most. After the many year long drought we just saw across Texas (still somewhat on going in parts) I'll never complain to fish or cancel a trip due to rain.

"Water is life's matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water." -Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
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