TexasKayakFisherman.com

Headed down later this week for 4-5 days of salt. Probably Matagorda area first then further down after that. Report later next week.

SYOTW,

Earl

I'm leaving tomorrow but a little further east. Hoping to close on a little tract in Gilchrist and set up my fish camp.

Hope you have as much or more fun than I do Earl.

Just got back from P.O.C. Had a good trip and tore the red snapper up. Redfish, spanish mac, cuda, bonnethead & black tip sharks, a grouper and other snapper. Didn't see one kingfish... Kind of odd I thought, but never know what you are gonna get in the salt. A bit of freshwater coming in from the rivers it seems. Good luck and be safe!

Man one of these days I want to try the salt.

Shaun Russell wrote:Man one of these days I want to try the salt.

Fish camp coming soon;^)

Can't get that salt out off my bones. Just gotta love it.

So I was headed to Matagorda to do some BTB and bay fishing but figured with the high influx of freshwater and HIGH tides that I would head down a bit further. I ended up at Goose Island for a few days of salty R&R. The trout bite was really off and the water color stained. Even the trout I did catch were lethargic. The reds however were thick and so were the flounder, limited on both but only 7 trout. The tides were really high with not much movement.

I went up into St. Charles bay one night and did some gigging and came across a big hog. Stared at each other for a minute and he moved on. Then I took my live mullet and paddled out onto an oyster reef that had 8-18 inches of water over it. As I came across you could see the redfish carpet in the moonlight. I anchored the yak quietly and then baited and cast and boom 2s in the water and the fight was on. Got him in and repeat. Landed 3 reds as fast as I could bait, cast and reel them in. I stood very quietly in one place without moving at all and had one swim between my legs.

Really bummed me on the trout action. Should have headed out to St. Joe island see if I could find them. Did not see the guides coming in with trout either.

SYOTW,

Earl

Thanks for the report Earl. I'll be heading down Thursday after work to Rockport.

Hey Earl hope all is well... sounds like good report to me! I prefere to eat flounder and like to catch the reds! The trout are tweeners for me. They all are fun though!

Did you hear the story about the fisherman that a gator got? Sad deal, a few people talking about it when I was down there. I've never seen them in the bays down there, but have in some of the back canals and drainage ditches.

Are you talking about the report over in Espirito Bay? I heard they suspected a gator but never found the man. Can you send me a link to the story? I fish that area from time to time and out to Pringle. I have been wading and gigging in the area and seen the gators. I have also seen some very large sharks patrolling that bay.

Earl

Earl, here is a write up. I would suspect he had a heart attack or something and then the gator move in, but never know. I guess a big gator would take advantage of a situation if it thought it could... My limited experience with them is they prefer to keep their distance, but I bet its the ones you don't see that could be an issue. Sad deal, but it appears the fisherman was doing something he enjoyed.

After this article I believe they confirmed it was Mr. Ames and identified marks on the remains from a gator


==========>

SEADRIFT - Today a sort of eerie silence settled over the waters of San Antonio Bay in the small town of Seadrift. A five-day search for a missing fisherman has only turned up some of his personal belongings but not him.62-year-old Joseph Ames lives in Bay City with his wife, Margie. Retired, he often visits his home in Seadrift for some fishing in San Antonio Bay."He fishes just about every day," said fisherman at the boat landing, Neal Crumely, "He went out with a friend lots of times but he did a lot of fishing by himself."Crumely says Ames would call his his wife every night around 9:00."Tell her how he was feeling that day, how he was fishing, what fish he caught," Crumely listed.She waited for his call but one night, the phone didn't ring. Joseph Ames wife hadn't heard from him since Tuesday night and when Friday afternoon rolled around, she became worried and decided to call authorities."When he didn't check in with her for a couple of days, she sent her step son down to check on him and that's when everything got started that he was missing," Crumely said.The Corpus Christi Coast Guard found Ames' boat anchored just off shore. His cell phone was inside but he wasn't. His wife said they have recovered parts of her husband's body and shreds of his clothes but not him. Fishermen in the area are starting to think the worst."They don't know exactly what happened but they see some fairly large alligators in that area but to say that an alligator got him for sure, can't say that," Crumely said.Margie Ames said the Coast Guard called off their search while the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife continued its efforts on Tuesday. While hope of recovering his body is fading, the fear of not knowing what happened to this avid fisherman will stick in the minds of his loved ones forever.