I'll post my thanks here again - Josh and Nina are over-the-top hosts, and fun company.
The week was about time spent with the brothers you choose, those you want be with when doing what you'd always rather be doing, like this.
Wednesday, Josh, Whit and Andy drove two hours up the coast to fish sloughs at Point Comfort - they brought home redfish.
Josh will follow with his daily reports on our other day trips, and I'll follow him, but I had this one written, and moved it here.
Water levels were huge this year, challenging weather - though oppressive heat and humidity, this was our best weather day.
Lou and I opted to stay close at our favorite Estes Flats, especially since it was the biggest tide swing of the trip.
We were probably too late on the tide swing, but we always dream about finding stacked snook outside Little Cut again at first light.
We moved back onto the flat, Lou moved up to fish the 2nd duck blind south, and I stayed close to fish the shoal between the 1st duck blind and the inside of Little Cut.
For me, every fish that mattered this week was caught on Z-man Minnow-Z and 1/8-oz Texas Eye jighead - more on that later.
Right off, my favorite color Mood Ring paid off dinks and rats.
From the wakes, subtle slashes, and jumping bait, aided by the calm conditions, I estimated there were 200 redfish on my shoal.
I went through colors on the climbing sun, Sexy Penny, Mood Ring, Redbone, and couldn't buy a strike. Finally went to The Deal, opaque grey on bottom and blue on top, and caught my next redfish.
Funny story, I saw a big wake too far from my casting arm, and tried to cast anyway. My 4-year-never-backlashed Zillion changed my mind, and snapped my 4-y-o braid in the spool wrap, sending my lure out of sight. Grabbed my Silver Wolf finesse combo and cast out the topwater prop tail shrimp (Supra 65, aka "Mr. Peanut"). The double trebles hauled up my broken line and my Z-man Deal. Looking at the two lures, decided this means something, swapped the Z-man onto the finesse combo, and proceeded to catch 7 more fish on 12 casts - they wanted subtle blend colors with mullet sheen.
I didn't photo the last and largest two reds separately - I was too busy fishing.
By 10 am, I had my redfish limit, tried to put Lou on my shoal, but it cooled down. Lou brought home a thick keeper trout from the 2nd duck blind (filleted out male). I think the reds were moving back toward Little Cut, and a guide boat had that end of the shoal staked out.
We called the day early. (Lou and I were sweated-through on Tuesday setting up our travel trailer digs, and again fishing on Wednesday.)
Our stringers, which included the only redfish limit of the trip.
My total for short morning on Estes, 6 trout, no keepers, 6 reds with a slot-fish limit.
Wed night, Josh fried a feast, shrimp, oysters, and redfish, spicy hush puppies, with cucumber salad and coleslaw.
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I promised the details on Z-man Minnow-Z colors.
Top to bottom, reflected light on the left, transmitted light on the right.
Sexy Penny,
Mood Ring,
The Deal
Sexy Penny, chartreuse and copper, and The Deal, grey bottom and blue top, are both opaque.
Mood ring reflects blue and transmits pink, my favorite clear water overcast color, also caught my lifetime speckled trout in May.
The Texas Eye jighead adds several things to Minnow Z on the flats, making them weedless in shallow grass, more natural action, and also making the lure feel more like natural bait in the fish's mouth. I smear Procure on the jighead and steel, masking the taste of both the metal and us.
