7/23 Good Trout and even some flounder earlier this week around Traylor Island on Croaker. Capt. Dean Thomas says he's been getting redfish in the flats and LHL areas. He managed this nice PB and J this morning. :)
7/15 Capt. Brent Hopkins - Fishing Report 7-15-10
I thought that the water would have started falling out from the hurricane a few days after it had made landfall, but it didn't. The water stayed high and then we got another big surge of water in the bays about a week ago (which was a big surprise to me). The trout bite had been good to excellent for me several days after the storm, and during our big surge of incoming water, but now the water level has fallen out quite a bit and the trout bite has become a little bit tuff due to high winds the last few days and the lack of incoming tides. Today as I write this report the winds have laid. The reds are more concentrated now and still easy to catch if they would stay put. The reds tend to be on the move sort of speak, and not holding in the same area/spot day after day. Wade fishing for trout has been the "top producer" while throwing live croaker and/or plastic artificials along our shorelines. Redfish are in the flats and along portions of shorelines up in the north country. While drifting the flats I've also been able to put together some pretty good boxes of fish. The reefs out in the middle of the bays are also holding good numbers of keeper trout, a few reds and some black drum up in bays such as Carlos, Mesquite, and San Antonio. Hopefully we will get some water back in the bays before long and our trout bite will once again pick back up. If it doesn't, look for the redfish to be my main priority while our water levels stay low with minimal incoming tides.
Until next time,
remember when the cards are down and the bet is called, you have your Ace In The Hole.
Check us out @ www.aceintheholeguideservice.com
Sincerely,
Capt. Brent Hopkins
HM 361-729-6911
MB 361-534-4007
7/13 LHouse Lakes via CCKAYKER who fished 7/11 - Spent a couple hrs in the lakes this morning still higher than normal tides. Lots of bait, mixed under size reds with keeper trout. Nice being able to navigate through areas that have always been too low to get in but easy to get turned around being that most landmarks are not the same with the high tides. Be safe.
Charlie Golla gave me this info - "Tides have been way too high for any consistency. Fish have been spread out all over the place and it's been about as hard to catch a fish as I've seen in a long time. Weekend warriors have the whole place screwed to the point that fish don't bite on the weekends anymore. Flat burners and air boats have run off all the redfish we normally find in the flats.
Honestly thou, the fish are there they just need to get back into a pattern when the tide falls back out. Trout are holding out in three to four foot of water in the bigger bay systems. Last Saturday we fished all evening and caught a lot of trout but none made the slot. Up in the flats we only caught one redfish that measured 23-inches. Sunday Morning we started off behind San Jose Island and only picked up two keeper trout in the 17-inch range. We saw lots of redfish but only picked up two keepers. At one point we here drifting over some sand pockets when Justin looked down and asked, "Dad, what kind of fish leaves that kind of mark in the sand" After a quick look down, I saw what he was looking at. It was Cow tracks which indicates how high the tide has been."6/24 Dogman11 fished 6/23 and posted this report - Had the good fortune of getting to fish yesterday morning till noon. Fished Mud, Dagger, & Trailer Islands. caught a lot of dinks and kept four for a soon to be dinner. Not a lot of keepers, but a great day to be on the water. Trout were very aggressive on topwaters. Should be a great weekend to be fishing. Too bad I won't be there to enjoy the catching.
6/17 Ap 6/8 - 6/12 from David Ivanhoe - Sorry for the late report…just got back from Aransas Pass after couple nights in Austin. Fished last week 8th(Tues) thru 12th(Sat). It was my 13 yr old daughter’s first trip to the coast with big brother and Dad. She was excited and did great….as expected…she tore us up !
Wind would be the story for the week. Tues evening we fished a major drain around Dagger. Between two small islands in about 6 inches of water, got a shock when I landed my best trout as 27 inches. Had no idea she was that big. She came around the back of the boat and the setting sun just lit up her long body with all those spots !! I will never forget being so surprised.
Wednesday was Caleigh’s day as she hooked up with her first Red. It was a battle…she got tired and tried to give me the rod…..I wouldn’t take it……I told her she would catch this fish or not catch it….we don’t want to say ‘we’ caught it. She did it!! 27 inches.
Her smile was so big . She sent the pic and text to about 50 friends, right there from Dagger. Dad managed a 22 inch Red. She added a 25 inch Red on Saturday.
I ended the week with 4 Reds (20,22,23,24) and the trout. A great week of fishing even with the wind and dirty water. Cut shad caught all the fish, including the trout, all inside Dagger.
The strikes were not aggressive at all. We had to let them have it and take the ‘bow’ out of the line…..probably caught 15-20 hardheads a day…so light taps were common….but sometimes they were the Reds. Only one RBE (rod bending event) all week!My younger brother with his two sons joined us Thurs as they added 3 Reds, 22,23,25
for the week. What a treat to share the coast with them and I even fished one day with my oldest nephew.Big brother, Troy, got skunked….so littl’ sis has been ‘dishing it out’ all week. She got everyone…. spoke of that 27 inch Red in almost every sentence…She didn’t want us 5 guys to forget who had the biggest Red. I was proud of her to say the least.
So ends another new moon June coastal trip. Bet she goes again…..every year!
Best to all !Dave
pics
http://img688.imageshack.us/g/1212163.jpg/
6/7 Aransas Bay Report from Charlie Golla whose wife Cathy keeps catching big trout - Sunday evening Cathy picked up another good trout in Aransas Bay. Not as big as Fridays Baffin trout but a good one for Aransas Bay at 25-inches.
Charlie
5/20 Capt Brent Hopkins Report - 5/15
The wind has really been blowing the last couple of weeks here, so the trout fishing has been pretty spotty overall. Croakers are now large enough to use in my opinion, but just having them on the hook does not guarantee that you'll be able to catch them due to rough bays and dirty water. Wading has been best because you can hug the shorelines and stay in more fishable/cleaner waters.
Since very few trout have been showing up at the cleaning tables, I've been concentrating more on redfish and the bite has been phenomenal on my boat!!! Limits of slot sized reds have been very easy every day for my clients, along with some over-sized reds a few days out of the week. 9 to 15 slot sized reds in the cooler looks a might more impressive than a dozen trout or so. Especially when the average red kept is 25"!!!
Until the winds subside, I'm going to stay with the reds for now.
Check us out @ www.aceintheholeguideservice.com
Grant's Day out 5/16 from Hogheaven aka Brew-Skies Shallow Water Adventures
e also brought in a 26.5 inch trout that we ate for lunch... Great time. Dropped of wife and pop to go after some topwater reds. Shrimp, and spooks was the call of the day. Awesome not to have 30 MPH winds.
5/14 Dean Slowride Thomas says - The water is up in the Lighthouse Lakes and the fishing is great if the winds don't blow you off the water. Redfish are skinny eating shrimp and baby crabs. Use doa shrimp in gold metal flake or bone spook Jrs.
4/14 A 4/10 Report from Hogheaven aka Brew-Skies Shallow Water Adventures - Nice Morning, Wind kicked up a bit round 10 am, but all in all we saw fish. Some were real hard to convince to git bit, several follows, lot of time the fish would just ignore what was thrown to em. Stomachs were still full of crabs. Trying real early to get one to hit a fly was a real chore, fish just did not want to cooperate. All in all it was a great morning.
Topwater spooks were the bait that all were caught on.
4/5 Weekend Report from Hogheaven aka Brew-Skies Shallow Water Adventures - Well, after being somewhat on a Fishing Hiatus during Feb, and March, we Headed out fairly early this morning. Knowing the Water temps have been pushing 70degrees most of the week, I figured it be a great time.
Pictures have always been a better strong point of mine, then the writing part. SO... Here goes..
Strong Incoming tide, Shallow Grass Flats. All fish caught on Bone colored Spooks.
1/29 - Troutslayer says the Redfish are hot in Rockport - Here is his Rockport to Port Mansfield Report - Finally got some hard core fishing in. Tuesday we stayed around PA and Rockport and wacked the reds in guts. It is like shooting fish in a barrel when you get the low tides and Nwest wind emptying out the flats. Three of us caught 60 plus with about 20 keeper size on gulps of any shape or color. Not so good Wednesday. Put in at 37 and ran all the way to Mansfield in search of the elusive big trout. Nada and we looked at all points in between. Bait was scarce and when we did find it all we caught were dinks. Them boys in the Baffin bash will have a battle unless something changes...not to mention it may be a bit cold this weekend.
1/14 From Chris Golla - Had a good evening of catching Redfish and Drum on dead shrimp in Aransas bay.
Fishing the drop offs on a rising tide was the ticket this evening. Yesterday was equally as good but I didn’t have my camera.
Chris
11/1 Capt Brent Hopkins Report - The rain and cooler temps here in Rockport have been great, along with the redfish bite. Limits of reds have been the norm on my boat the last couple of weeks except for an occasional day or two. Best catching days though have come when we have had a steady north wind. THose reds love a north wind this time of year. The reds have been averaging 22" to 26" making a box full of fish look even better! Best bait for me has been topwaters and cut mullet. The drum I have been on all summer seem to have up and vanished on me though for the last week or so. Maybe once we lose a little bit of water they will show back up. We'll see. Trout fishing is still very slow around here in Rockport.
My charters up to POC while fishing for the larger bull reds have been good. My clients have been averaging about 10 or so a day which makes for some great picture taking and sore stomachs. The largest one we caught last week measured out at a whopping 48"!!! If you're wanting to do this trip this year, you better get on the ball now. These fish will be gone by mid November.
10/12 Capt Brent Hopkins Report October Report - Fishing Report 10-8-09
We have finally received some much needed rain here in Rockport over the last couple of weeks or so. No doubt we needed it in the worst way. The cool front a couple of weeks ago was a welcome change from the blazing heat we had been induring. It made temps so much more pleasant than those 100 degree days while out on the water. Our next front, which is pushing through as I type this, is bringing more rain and cooler temps again. Trout fishing has still been on the slow side. Redfish and drum on the other hand has been nothing short of very good to great for me with the exception of last week when we had some very high tides and a full moon making our fishing a little tough for those few days or so. Limits of reds and or drum have been the norm with the exception of a few of my trips. Mullet have been the bait of choice for the reds while fishing the potholes, shell beds, and shorelines. Topwaters and live piggies fished under corks while drifting the flats have been producing a few trout and near limits of reds so I've heard from my buddies that fish there normally. Once our water cools a little more our fish should get the hint and start moving into fall fishing patterns.
Also those of you that have trips booked with me and are wondering about the bull reds I fish for during October, they are there I think but not "really thick" right now. I went a couple of times last week and caught enough to actually call the trip a success but it was not up to "my standards". I think part of my problem of not slaying them last week is due to the lack of current and the full moon. Rest assured though, they are there and it will get better once we lose this full moon and our tide times change just a little.
10/5 Port A jetty report from 9/30 from Island Mike - I decided to change it up a little today and made my first trip to the Port A jetties - Nicole tagged along to keep me company. Headed out about 5:30pm. The plan was to head out to the end in search of bull reds on spoon'r lures. The conditions were nice, the water was clear and the waves weren't too bad. So we hike it all the way down to the end and I find a nice rock to throw from. First cast........lost my $6 2oz outcast. So I tie on the 1 oz and throw it for a bit before goin over to check the channel side. A couple of casts over there and I managed to lose my only remaining spoon'r. So I'm sittin there for a while kinda bummed since all I had left was a soft plastic and some mirrolures. I decide to go back toward shore and fish the rocks and the guts. On the way back I see a guy with a fly rod and I could tell he was workin something. As I get closer he says" Hey...there's tarpon rollin here....they're small, but there might be some good ones." So I tell him I don't wanna potlick, but he insists. If I had been standing there I can honestly say that I MIGHT not have done the same. So anyway.....I throw out and the my paddle tail is hit immediately. The tarpon jumps a few times and then shakes me loose. I throw right back out and hook another......but this one is MUCH better than the first. The fight is INSANE. Jumped about 5-6 times on me and made a few strong runs as well. As I was fighting mine, the guy with the fly rod hooks up and lands another nice one. I didn't get pics of his since we were workin hard to get em released. Mine was a bit bigger than his, but not by much. Here's the pics (not quite the best..but they do the job). My first trip to the Port A jetties and my first Tarpon. What a day!
8/30 Capt Charlie Newton reports - Our tides have really been different this past week, one day up and high and the next day down. That makes it really hard to consectively find redfish. I have fished all over the flats, from Blind Pass all the way across to South Bay. When you can get into South Bay it has really been producing on the falling tide, but be careful fishing the falling tide because it goes out before you know it and I have seen several boats high and dry under them this week. My favorite bait of choice is still live or cut mullet and I have limited out several days this week, but I have also come in with few reds also. All I can say is that's why they call it fishing and not catching. "Good catching to you" Capt. Charlie Newton www.redfishcharters.com (361) 729-8220 if you are ready to schedule you next fishing trip.
8/13 from Hogheaven aka Brew-Skies Shallow Water Adventures-Does Just the sight of bananas jinx a trip? LOL. Far from it. A good time was had, and some fish were caught. Albiet only one keeper at the end of the day which was released, but numourous Chances, Tailers, boils, and quite a few that just didnt make the measure. First time Kayakers, I think they may be hooked, and a little sore in the arms this evening.
Flats warmed up a little, but mainly due to the little tide movement. Not as much water coming in or going out.
Topwaters were what we used...
6/8 Capt Brent Hopkins Report from 6/1 -
Finally, here about 2 weeks ago, the wind decided to quit blowing so durn hard making our trout bite really turn on because of the green water and higher tides. Limits have been almost easy for me while wade fishing the outside beaches with sand & grass. Boat fishing for trout has been good too, but I can't seem to "get away" from wading right now. By far the best bait going is live croaker. The trout have been hammering them to say the least! I have had some really nice mornings too throwing topwaters for trout where I find a lot of nervous bait while bunched up together real tight like.
Since the wind quit blowing and we finally got our bull tide in here, I have not been red fishing at all for the last week or so. Prior to the winds dying, my clients were having some exceptional days catching limits of reds in the back lakes though. I'm sure the reds are still there, but trout fishing has been a welcome change of pace for me and I'm sticking to the trout for now.
Until next time,
Remember when the cards are down and the bet is called, you have your Ace in the Hole.
Check us out @ www.aceintheholeguideservice.com
Sincerely,
Capt. Brent Hopkins
HM 361-729-6911
MB 361-534-40075/26 Memorial Day Weekend Report from Hogheaven aka Brew-Skies Shallow Water Adventures - Great times out on the water. If a person can Figure out how to deal witht he crowds on the water then that person caught fish. Me, we usually left the dock at around 5am and were fishing by 515-530. This gave us the time we needed to fish some very popular spots before any one was on top of us. Trout was the main target, and up close in the shallows with topwaters was how we did it. the rest of the day was spent redfishing, cruising, and taking the kids out for some good times.
Largest trout of the weekend was pushing right at 29in, and was caught in less than a foot of water in Aransas bay. Sand and grass was key, along with plenty of bait in the water.
Couple of select pictures...
5/7 From Rick Sanders - Fished 5-7-09 around Aransas Pass using menhaden and cut mullet. We caught our limit of reds and 2 nice trout. The largest trout was 28 inches and was released. Only 1 rat red was caught. Wind was tolerable in the morning but got pretty strong in the afternoon.
We saw lots of smacks on the surfside of the south jetty the next day.
4/20 Fishing with David Sikes and Capt. Shorty Smith - I went fishing Monday and caught some fish! David Sikes called me at 9 Sunday night looking for someone to go on an airboat trip with Capt. Shorty Smith in the back lakes out of Goose Island. I threw caution to the wind not hearing from my boss at all last Friday after finishing my sound project. We caught plenty of reds and I had a blast my first time in an airboat. Look for the complete story in this Sunday's sport section of the award winning Corpus Christi Caller Times.
I didn't catch the most fish but I did catch the biggest . Be sure to give Capt Smith a call you won't be disappointed.Tyler
