Drum Bay 01/14/23

[karstopo]

Took advantage of sunny weather and comfortable temperatures today to fish. Launched around 10 am mid bay Drum Bay. It was a big risk, I know, because Drum Bay has next to zero deep water and with the winter cold water, yeah, a 2’ deep bay isn’t exactly prime water.

Was it worth it? Depends on expectations. I was sort of pissed off I couldn’t find more fish. I brought four fish to hand, 15” Trout X 2, a 14 7/8” flounder, an 18” red. Missed a goodly amount of trout on green moon saltwater assassins. Only the Borski slider was actually productive bringing fish to hand.

Met our newest game warden. Carter Rangel, JD, Doctor or Jurisprudence. Yep, he had a law degree, I found this out on online, he didn’t flaunt that fact. But,overall he was chill, if not thorough.. I offered my license, he looked at it, I offered my catch, we measured the now nearly frozen trout. One Just barely made it to 15”.

I had a good time. I worked hard. I got some needed exertion. I’m not satisfied. There are future trips planned to plot my revenge against the fish. I did get dinner. Mixed bag.

[Dandydon]

Great in-shallow report and I salute your Borski Slider, a killer lure and cocktail popular at Princeton University in the '70s when I ran Colonial Club.

Thanks for reminding us that some desperate game wardens (lawyers, of course, angry they're not earning as much as Shoffer or Watson, lol) will stop kayaks and demand full credentials. I fish often in yaks & powerboats and haven't been stopped by a game warden in 27 years. Never even seen one stop and question a yakker. That would piss me off. I'm a Kung Fu lawyer who keeps all legal fish, so the armed officers make me nervous. Hell, I make Shoffer nervous.

And now I know to avoid Drum Bay.

Sent from my SM-G973U1 using Tapatalk

[karstopo]

The game warden arrived at the mid bay launch as I was paddling back to my truck. Interestingly, he took a look at the bed of my truck and the three other truck beds there at the launch before I arrived at the shoreline. I wonder what he was looking for?

A friend of mine that had a boat he launched at Capt. Marks on Bastrop got checked seven straight trips by the game warden, I’m now curious about the name of his frequent checker.

Warden Rangel first checked to see if I had a life jacket as I wasn’t wearing mine. I have one of those inflatable types and I guess it wasn’t obvious. All the checking happened on the shore of the launch.

I wasn’t angry about the checking and offered my license, I have a lifetime one, and that was interesting as it was like he had not seen one before. He asked me if I have to get it printed out every year at academy. But, Warden Rangel has been a warden since 2015 so he’s must of seen a lifetime license by now.

I would characterize our visit as friendly. The warden didn’t have an attitude or anything negative going on. I showed him my fly tackle, he seemed interested. We talked about oystering on Christmas bay and my hope that the State would open Christmas bay up to recreational oystering. He seemed agreeable to that. The whole time I was loading up my kayak and gear we talked. He offered to help me load up the kayak ( I declined). We shook hands at the end.

My idea was I’d would paddle over to the deeper water of Rattlesnake point and pull out five keeper trout lickety split and then go around looking for sheepshead and redfish hugging the reefs in that general area. I did catch the two trout pretty quickly once I paddled over to the deeper water. Maybe I should have gotten there earlier, I didn’t launch until after 10 am. I did have at least four or five trout on the green moon assassin and they felt like keepers, but every one came off. I had what felt like a nice flounder on the Borski slider, but that too came off at the kayak. That 14” and 15/16ths flounder I did catch was a fat one. I tried every which way to make it 15” on the measuring board, but I couldn’t make it happen.

There were a bunch of people out fishing. A couple of spots I wanted to try were consistently occupied by other fishermen. The east wind was a bit more than I had hoped for and that dampened the idea of fishing a few other areas. The tidal movement was odd and I knew it might be that way based on previous experience out there around Rattlesnake Point, but with the wind direction and intensity it made probing the deeper water especially challenging.

I came in at 3:30 pm or so. I kind of wanted to keep fishing longer as I felt like things were about to turn around. I found some bait activity and had just caught the 18” redfish, but decided I didn’t want to get home and unload in the night.

Anyway, the water looked good and was clear green in most areas with 2’ visiblilty. I talked with another kayak just after I launched and he had found a few trout, a mix of throw backs and barely keepers. The kayaker that came in right after me had one barely keeper trout on the stringer. I heard Warden Rangel say “ looks like you got some fish.” to the kayaker and then I looked around as he held up his stringer.

Never saw a single sheepshead.

[shoffer]

I had a nice Game Warden hit me up at the 61st street Ramp into Offats after a trip on my boat. About 5 years on duty, he told me. He asked if I had any fish, but I had kept no fish; if memory serves, I don't think I caught any that day - it was slow. He took my word for it and started to go back to his vehicle, but I begged him to inspect my boat for violations. After flashing a quizzical look, he obliged. I had never been inspected by a GW before, but I wanted to see if, in his view, my preps measured up. He said that he had never run across someone excited for an inspection, but I was up to the task. "Bring it on, Big Daddy!," I told him. "Don't hold back." [That's what she said].

Valid Fishing license and driver's license - check.
Check coolers and compartments for illegal fish - no fish caught, so check
Valid TPWD boat registration, card on hand and stickers in the right spots - check.
Regulation PFDS and floatable throw cushion in easily accessible places - check
Fire extinguisher - only needed one, but I had two and both were on green - check
Noisemaker - Only needed one, but I had two - whistle on PFD and air horn in console - check
Regulation 360 light and navigation lights operable - check

I even asked him to hit me with the breathalyzer so he could be certain I was not BUI, but he declined as he flashed a wide grin caused by my seemingly odd behavior.

I told him that his inspection was the highlight of my week, thanked him for his service, and cheerfully wished him well. He smiled and turned to walk back to his vehicle while shaking his head at what was, to borrow a term from our former Fed. Chairman Alan Greenspan, my "irrational exuberance." But, now I know I can pass any inspection, which is the peace of mind I was seeking, and it cost me nothing.

[karstopo]

My attitude is and has been regarding any interactions with law enforcement is to be cheerful and compliant.

Should I ever get a LEO that behaves in some aggressive, grossly unprofessional or negligent way, then I would try to get through the encounter without incurring additional harm and then seek legal counsel once the encounter is over.

I had State Trooper decades ago that possibly, likely was trying to provoke an angry reaction. He had me move and reposition inches apart several times. Stand there, no there, no there, literally six inches apart each time. Not a field sobriety test, more a test of dominance or something. My offense was coming down a big hill in east Texas and speeding a little, not even intentionally. I suppose he wanted me to mouth off or something so then he could have knocked me around a little or a lot. I saw he was a bad apple having a bad day right off so I just went with it. He probably said some other stuff to get at me, but I had largely tuned it out by then.

[Rob R]

I was stopped by two GW's patrolling in a boat last year when I was at Sam Rayburn. I was wearing my waist worn inflatable. That's probably why they stopped me because the PFD wasn't easily noticeable. They had plenty of questions about the kayak and then I asked them what areas of the lake were active with bass which they did have a great deal of knowledge.

[saltykat]

Always enjoy your reports David. Just finding a day to get out hasn't been easy this month