East Flats - Oct 31, 2019

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Neumie
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East Flats - Oct 31, 2019

Post by Neumie »

A little more than 2 years after Harvey my family's cabin on Copano Bay was ready for us to move back in. This meant the annual Rockport Redfish Roundup could continue as scheduled for the 8th year. I left San Antonio Thursday morning around 4:30 am with very cold temperatures.

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I met my folks at the cabin to help rearrange furniture and to grab breakfast tacos at Taqueria Puerto Vallarta; the best in Rockport. After a little more time at the cabin I left for Port Aransas to launch my kayak.

I arrived at Island Moorings Marina with the chain across the boat ramp and new "Private Property/No Trespassing" signs. I went to the office and asked the lady there if it was still OK for kayakers to launch. She said kayakers are still permitted to launch for free, but reconfirmed to not block the boat ramp with either vehicles or kayaks and to park in the far parking lot.

I launched around 11 am and paddled to the first flats by the houses. Even though the winds had laid down some it was still in the 20-25 mph range. Even with the effects of the cold front I managed to find clean water on the flats.

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I saw reds up shallow and did some sightcasting but with the wind and choppy waters I struggled with my casting. I started to drift with a topwater and caught a couple of undersized reds and trout. I switched to the Grasswalker and landed a slot red and some more undersized reds. Not bad given the conditions. I made about 4 or 5 drifts in all. I pulled off the water around 2:00.

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The batteries in my GPS were dead, and I was too lazy to walk back to my truck to get fresh batteries, so no GPS tracks for today. But I did bring my action camera so here's a short video paddling into the wind and landing the slot red:



I rolled back to Rockport and met Whit and William at the cabin. That evening we enjoyed bourbon, cigars, and medium rare rib-eye steaks. We planned on heading back to East flats the next morning.

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Meteorological Observations
Time: 11:00 am - 2:00 pm
Air Temp: 46 - 53°F
Wind: NW 10-20 mph (Gusting 25+)
Barometric Pressure: 1032 mb (slightly falling)
Sky: Mostly Sunny
Water Clarity: 2 feet
Water Temp: 58°F
Structure: Sand, grass, and oyster

Solunar
Sunrise/set: 7:40 am/6:47 pm
Moonrise/set: 10:15 am/8:59 pm
Moon Phase: Waxing Crescent (17%)

Predicted Tides @ Port Aransas(MLLW)
Low @ 12:15 pm (-0.20 ft)
High @ 10:04 pm (1.16 ft)

Lures
Silver Mullet Spook Jr.
Birthday Suit Grasswalker
Strawberry/White Sand Shad Jr.

Fish
Red: 1 Keeper, a few undersized
Trout: A couple undersized
Last edited by Neumie on Sun Nov 10, 2019 8:32 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Ron Mc
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Re: East Flats - Oct 31, 2019

Post by Ron Mc »

great day for such tough conditions, and a fitting end to the day
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shoffer
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Re: East Flats - Oct 31, 2019

Post by shoffer »

I think Neumie's reports are just about perfect. Interesting photos, some video content, a brief description of the day, and the conditions in which he fished. Everyone should take stock in how Neumie does his posts.
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Neumie
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Re: East Flats - Oct 31, 2019

Post by Neumie »

shoffer wrote:I think Neumie's reports are just about perfect. Interesting photos, some video content, a brief description of the day, and the conditions in which he fished. Everyone should take stock in how Neumie does his posts.
Thank you for the kind words. A little work to put together, especially a 4 day back log, but I enjoy it. I hope it helps other anglers out for their future trips.
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Ron Mc
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Re: East Flats - Oct 31, 2019

Post by Ron Mc »

Josh, even from our two day trips the maps you made are helpful to retrace our steps and plan the next - I managed to store your maps in my hard drive and photoserver, and still refer to them.
Well worth the extra effort for everybody, and many thanks for your effort.
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