Dagger Flats - October 5th, 2023

[Neumie]

Thursday morning we knew we would have a short day on the water with the cold front rolling on down. We decided on launching from Sunray Rd and fishing Dagger/Ransom area due to the high tides. Ron's friend Tony had joined us the night before and would be fishing with us today and the next. We launched about 7:00 am.



My dad was sending me updates on the front as it passed through Hallettsville. It seemed to be moving quicker than we had anticipated.



So naturally as the front approached, we paddled south of the launch.





Fishing was a little slow with mostly undersized trout and reds to start the morning.



I was checking radar and monitoring the storm. I figured it would hit our area around 10:30 am. Around 9:30-9:45 I made my rounds and let everyone know we needed to head in. We couldn't see the approaching wall cloud as there had been a rain shower parked over Ingleside blocking the front. When that dissipated we were face to face with not good news.





Tony, Lou, and I heading the charge back in before the front.



We started to trickle in and I think Andy was the last one to beach their kayak. Not less than 5 minutes later the front blasted through. We cut it extremely close. We then had to load up as quickly as possible because we only had a small window before the rain hit us.



We got to the cabin and everyone took a hot shower. We grabbed a huge lunch at Puerta Vallarta and then walked over to Tackle Town to spend money on this rainy day. Naps were had that afternoon, before grabbing a light dinner and beers at Benchwarmers. It was a relaxed evening without cigars.

Meteorological Observations
Time: 7:00 am - 10:30 am
Air Temp: 85°F - 74°F
Wind: 5-10 kn SE (gusting to 12 kn), Post Front 25-30 kn N (gusting 35+ kn)
Barometric Pressure: 1010 mb (rising)
Sky: Overcast
Water Clarity: 3-4 ft
Water Temp: 85°F
Structure: Grass and Sand Potholes

Solunar
Sunrise/set: 7:23 am/7:10 pm
Moonrise/set: --:--/1:50 pm
Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous (65%)

Predicted Tides @ Port Aransas (MLLW)
High @ 1:05 am (1.69 ft)
Low @ 2:21 pm (0.43 ft)

Lures
Spectrum Spook Jr
Dirty Tequila Down South Burner Shad

Fish
Reds: 2 Keepers, a few undersized
Trout: Several dinks

Approximate GPS Track

[Ron Mc]

Thursday looked really bad on paper. The front was coming, but we had a favored SE wind until it got here.
We picked Dagger Flats down the coast from Estes, which excited me, because I haven't fished here before.
On the water for sunrise.



I followed Josh straight upwind around both sides of an island.
Nothing to sight-fish, and we began drifting the deeper flat, but found only dink trout.



After 2 drifts, we both headed back upwind to the other side of the island, and were joined by everyone else in our group.
Josh got out to wade and brought in a solid slot red.
My next drift got my best fish, and Whit caught everything except the fish he wanted.



My 22" slot red was 1/4" shorter than Josh's. Caught on Z-man Sexy Penny.



Josh had done a great job of following the front while he was on the water. His dad texted him when it hit Halletsville, and when it reached Goliad, told everyone at 9am, "we have a half-hour to fish and then we have to run." I got another 18-inch red on my last drift, and Andy got one right beside me.
Running home toward the storm. We had our boats loaded at 10:35 when the wind and rain hit.
It would rain 5 inches in the next 24 hours.





When we got off the water early, we went for giant Tex-Mex plates at Vallarta (Rockport standard), and a follow-up run to TackleTown.
So full from lunch, we ate only appetizers at Hu-Dat/ Bencharmers bar that night. Nina arrived from the airport to join us.