Six Day August Mansfield Trip

[picaroon]

Well I am on my way. I make 3-4 of these trips a year and after all these years I have got the drill down pat. It took me about 30 minutes to gather my fishing equipment (tackle) and throw it into the Yukon. There was a time when it took several days. I am a wade/fly fisherman primarily on these trips. Two items I take that some of you may not carry is a stripping tray and a handheld VHF radio. The stripping tray because I am wading in water that has a lot of grass in it and the VHF radio because I am quite old and may have to have someone come and get me.

Some years ago I posted a experience I have down there where I SEE but do not catch some very large trout. I get to see the trout if there is no wind and the water is very clear. I am going to try to ambush them this time if possible.

I have a bag that is waterproof and is quite large and it takes me about an hour to gather all my clothing for the trip. Not the way it used to be. I need to stop somewhere and buy a cheap paddle otherwise I am on my way.

Wish I knew how to post photos. Hold on for 6-7 days and I will post the results of the trip.

[Big Kahuna]

Can't wait to hear the tales. Have fun and hope you catch that elusive fish.

[txbrett]

I'm headed to Port Mansfield in mid October. No kayak involved though. That's some beautiful water down there! Have a safe trip!

[troutslinger]

Good luck and cant wait for the report. Go bust some monster trout.

[TroutSupport.com]

Dang... thirty minute prep time.. that's awesome. Ever since I went to the PB... it's gone way up. LOL. Of course that's because I'm trailering mostly.

Have fun down there...yes there are some BIG trout shallow all year. I had one cast at a 28 when I was with SmackDaddy, cross wind at about 40 yards...needless to say that's a tight target with a 15 mph crosswind. I missed. Last one I caught was last summer... it was a 30". Hope you get a shot at one.

[M T Stringer]

Best of luck, and as always, I look forward to reading about your experience, whether you land the fish or not.

[osochuck]

Are you going down PINS? If so driving is great and trout in surf, green water past the 30.

[EZ-E]

Good luck Paul...looking forward to your report! I hope you get a big girl to dance with!

[redneckyakclub01]

Caught my first tailing trout down in the land cut the other day. It was wallowing in about 4" of water right at sundown and absolutely blew up on my jig when it came near. It was only 19" but was a pretty cool thing to see.

[picaroon]

I got back to the Woodlands late last night and I am ready to write my report on our 6 day trip to Mansfield. I believe that all fishing trips are a collections of happenings and of course the whole is a big adventure. I will start from the time I left the Woodlands Monday morning. I was a day late in getting started because one of the guys had a very good problem come up and he had to deal with it and asked us to wait a day. My friend and fishing buddy lives there full time and it is a very good place for me to spend the night especially when it is his wife doing the cooking.

I was in Blessing, Texas around 11:30 am having lunch at a old hotel/rooming house that thru the years offered a very big steam table lunch where the food was fantastic and the customers sat together around several communal tables.I had not been there in years and the food was not near as great as I had remembered it in the past. I did enjoy a good conversation with the owner of a tackle shop in Port O'Conner who sat with me at my table. Actually I would have planned my trip to the Kings Inn in Rivera but it closes on Sunday and Monday. My next stop was the King Ranch Store in Kingsville where I bought a Western Shirt for a friend. I really enjoy touring their store and their furniture store next door. I recommend it to any body. I arrived at Mansfield at 6:00 pm

As per our drill of many years we got up early,showered, dressed and left for Raymonedville where we had a gourmet breakfast at McDonalds's. By 8:00 am we were at Wallmart for food and other supplies. By 11:00 am we were back in Mansfield where my friend said let me show you something. He turned left off the main road and led me towards the North fence with the King Ranch. We pulled off the road and there were over 75 deer sleeping under the trees. At least 30 were large bucks some approaching Boon & Crockett status. This is am awesome site and if ever in Port Mansfield try to take the time to drive around and see the deer.

We arrived at my friend's house loaded two boats and we were off to his cabin at Land Cut. There were 4 of us and we had five days to diminish the fish population of the Lower Laguna Madre. We arrived, unloaded our boats and prepared the house for the week. We also visited and I have got to tell you it was terribly hot. Around 6:30 pm I got up and walked about a 1/4 mile down the beach and waded into the water that separates Padre Island from the first spoil island to the south which we call bob cat island because of the resident bob cat and his/her family.

The wind was blowing about 15mph out of the SE and water was flowing out of the bay right into the ICW. I found a flow and caught four red fish. Two were rat reds and two around 22" ea. All I can say is that any time you can find a flow or a drain it should produce some reds.

Wife wants me to take her to HEB and I suppose I need to finish this later.

[picaroon]

Back at the cabin we had a great fajita dinner with all the trimmings and a few drinks. At 6:30 am I was knee deep in water on the West shoreline at marker 17 on the ICW. We usually have a number of options and this would ordinarily be one of our last. With abnormal low tides this was about our best shot and as it evolved we did quite well on this shoreline. I was looking at tails but I needed a plan. The wind out of the south was about 5 mph and as always with reds they tend to work a shoreline into the wind. For what ever reason the reds seemed to have lockjaw and my casting was not very good. By 8:30 I had nothing on the stringer. Finally I found a area where the sand bar ran all the way up to the shore and there was not a lot of grass and mud. I then saw 6-7 large reds almost out of the water coming towards me. In the next three hours I picked up 7 reds.

For me I had a first. How many of you have ever seen "Tailing Trout". I cast into the tails and caught one on my trusty spoon fly. It was about 18" long and a beautiful fish. Before long I caught a second trout. The area was full of black drum and are easily mistaken for tailing reds and there were a lot of large mullet. The area was full of bait. Remember "No bait No fish".

By 11:00 am we were back at the cabin. A shower, shave, lunch and I dove into the sack. I awoke at around 5:00 pm and by 6:00 pm I was back to my spot down the beach and there were no reds there. One day the place was full of reds and the next nothing. Oh well it was rib eyes, fresh green beans, salad a few drinks and by 10:00 pm I was in the sack.

The next day was pretty much like the previous day. I caught 4 reds and two trout. I was in the sack around 1:00pm.
That evening I went to the place near Bob Cat island where I went the first day and no reds. The next day we were back on the ICW shoreline. The water was slick, greasy calm. I expected big things. I caught two reds that day and two trout. I was walking down the beach. Mud, sand and very little grass. There is a lot of old seaweed washed up on the shore. I dam near stepped on a 36" Rattle Snake. I was playing with snakes when I was a kid and they do not bother me a lot. I do respect them. I poked the snake several times and it struck back about 1/2 its body length. I stepped on it and picked it up. I then bit its head off and brought it back to camp. Don't worry they did not believe me either. There I am holding a snakes body in one hand and its head in another. They did not believe me at least the part about biting its head off. Would you believe that I pulled it off.

That night around 8:30 pm a guy in a boat with three kids stops at our pier and he is scared to death and wants us to help him find his brother. Seems the guy ran aground on Dubb's Island and it is nearly dark. I know where Dubb's Island is and said lets go follow us. It was about 7 mils away and we went straight there in the dark. The folks had lights on their boat, we pulled them of the sand bar they were on and I said follow me. The first boat with the distraught father did not have lights on his boat. We had a Garmin 740 S on our boat and just back tracked to our pier. These folks were thankful, offered tom pay us and even feed us dinner. No thanks! did kind of make us feel good.

I will finish this tomorrow.....................

[Z~MAN]

Hey picaroon so far so good! Great read!
Can't wait till tomorrow!


Z-man

[troutslinger]

Hey picaroon so far so good! Great read!
Can't wait till tomorrow!


Z-man

X2!!!!

[picaroon]

Friday night I went back to my spot down the beach and again no luck. One of the guys in our group is an avid flounder fisherman who uses a fly rod with a large, heavy, white, chartreus Clouser. He got into some rather large flounder just dragging his Clouser on the bottom around pier pilings. The trip would have been worthwhile just for the flounder. I do know how to fix them stuffed/baked in an oven. My wife is very nice to me when I fix them.

We were at it again early Saturday morning. I fished hard and caught a couple reds. I was back to the spot where the sand came all the way up to the shore on the ICW. . I am the kind of guy who likes to wade and I like to take it slow so that I can stop, look and observe. If you see a red tailing but before you can get ready he disappears just slow down. The chances are that he is there somewhere and you will have another shot at him. In this case the reds where swimming south along the bar about 10' from the shoreline towards me. You could see their wake and with reds in the 20 plus inch class no other fish makes their kind of wake. Sometimes they will come almost completely out of the water chasing bait. That's when you see their backs. Sometimes they will just set there like a log. So what you are looking for is tails, wakes and backs. Every once in a while there will be an Egret nearby trying to catch the bait also.

Any way I saw a wake heading right for me about 5' from the hard sand of the shore. I saw his back but did not focus as he was coming straight towards me. I placed my spoon fly perfectly in front od him and he took it. He was a lit up firecracker. I am talking about a epic 90 mph run straight for the East bank of the ICW and on to Cuba. He then spooled me and then made a 90 degree left turn in the center of the ICW. At this moment the spoon fly pulled out of the fish. Fastest swimming red I have ever seen. Except there was two small scales impaled on my hook and they belonged to a trout. I will never, never forget this fish.....................WOW! Ever wonder why you always remember big trout but not reds.......?????

I have fished out of this cabin for about 10 years. It has been so good that I sold out of my 35 year cabin at Baffin.
The guy I go with is a 40 plus year fishing buddy. My wife knows his wife etc. so I do not catch too much static for going with him 3-4 times a year. The guys he invites along are very, very experienced fisherman and all class guys and by and large members of his fly fishing club. This time there was a Preacher and a CPA. Both live in the Brownsville area and both are avid Snook fishermen. One guy claimed to have caught 134 Shook last year all on a fly rod. WOW! I did get an invitation.........................................

[Copperspoonfly]

Picaroon,

That was a great report. Thanks for taking the time to post it.
Is this a cabin that is for rent? The guys in my flyfishing club would like to do a similar trip sometime.

[picaroon]

This cabin is not for rent..............Most of the land based cabins are not but some of the floaters are. If you are truly interested shop around they are out there. These guys have 8 members and it cost $12,000 each to build the thing plus annual fees which can be around $1,000 each, but it is worth it. My cabin at Baffin cost me around $3,000 to get in and around $400 a year in fees. I sold out for $5,000................

You know how we all look back over our shoulder and whish we had done something a little differently. I have a friend that back in the 60's bought 100A near Huntsville with a common fence with the National Forest. He did not go fishing but he did go to Huntsville every weekend with his family. He did not fish but he hunted some feeders in the National Forest. He and his wife built a nice lake lake and a cabin at first. Later a sizable home. They had the place looking like Herman Park. They just sold the place for $2,000,000........................

I went to Baffin bay an awful lot and spent a awful lot of money. Wished I went to Huntsville instead............
































































tHIS CABIN IS NOT FOR RENT

[stuman]

Great write up Picaroon! Wanting to take a trip down to Mansfield soon!

[troutslinger]

Great report. Those aware good times there. Brings back great memories of our place in Matgorda.