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gulftrout · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 1629

I hung around the house this morning waiting for the wind to start blowing. I finally felt a slight breeze around 10 am so I got in my truck and headed toward the bay. When I arrived there I just knew I was going to have the catch of my life. Just the afternoon before I had had the best day fishing in Nueces since sometime back in the early 80's. I was hoping I could catch my first 30" speck out of Nueces Bay. In years past I have caught 30+ inch trout wading the Port Aransas surf and also in Baffin Bay. I cannot forget this one particular day in the "Badlands" area of Baffin. The wind was blowing lightly out of the east and was prefect for a long drift across the rocks in the area. Midway through my drift I had a huge hit and solidly set the hook on a large "Yellow Mouth" that I had pictured in my dreams many times. For a long 15 seconds this fish tailwalked across the green waters of Baffin. Much to my dismay that trout threw my lure back in my face. To this day I cannot get the picture of that huge speck tailwalking for that short 15 seconds out of my mind. I had little experience fishing this bay but my good friend, Paul Eccleston had set me up in an 18' "Baymaster" so I could take parties when he was already booked or fill in as an extra boat when other up and coming guides needed an extra boat. A couple of the guides I was ably to fish with have since become Laguna and Baffin Legends and rightfully so. I had the great pleasure to run the camera boat for both Cliff Webb and Bill Sheka Jr. in the late 80's while they were filming some of their early fishing shows in the Baffin area. I could 'NEVER" thank Captain Paul enough for his help and guidance those two years. Thanks so much, Captain Paul! Smile

gulftrout · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 1629

What a beautiful day it turned out to be. The fish catching never materialized, but I caught enough for a fresh trout basket and really, what more can you ask for! Wink

gulftrout · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 1629

I wanted to fish into the nighttime so I checked my running lights just to make sure they were still working. The 'All Around" white was working, but my bow lights did not come on. Oh well, something else to work on. Since the lights were not working properly I fired the motor up and headed to the dock before it started getting dark.

gulftrout · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 1629

Those of us that live in the area are very fortunate to have the opportunity to take advantage of the great fishing and boating we have. Now to some of my fishing trip that day.

shallowsport · Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 3:35 am Post subject:

No response to four trout at 28" or better! Nobody in that group does any fishing. Prod of the way you attempted to open the channels of communication. Goverment officials can be very difficult to communicate with.

eksda · Flour Bluffian in training Joined: 04 Dec 2009 Posts: 288

sometimes just reading the posts makes me homesick for the shore. i can almost feel wind against as you left the ramp gulftrout. now did you catch anything after all that speeding.

gulftrout · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 1629

I pull up to my first spot fully expecting to catch a 5 lb. speck my first cast. Well, 20 cast later I have had 3 backlashes and no bumps. I quickly realize this is a new day and things were going to be different than yesterday. I head a little further back in the bay and give my second spot a try. After a 10 minute drift I get a solid bump, but no hook-up. Oh well, maybe they are not hungry yet and that big girl only wanted to knock that Sparkle Beetle out of her way. After another 5 minutes and not another hit, I have to make a decision at this time. Do I want to head over to the south side reefs or work the rest of the way to White Point and make that turn back into "Odem Bay." I decide to head "ALL" the way back and go straight to the "Promised Land." This is a football size area that has shell piles sticking out of the water surrounded by deep cuts that must be man made due to their depth. Back in the late 80's early 90's Nueces was pretty much untouched. I could fish day after day and never see or hear another boat except an occasional drum fisherman. I call this time period, The Post Commercial, Pre Guide Era. It was not uncommon to sit and catch redfish cast after cast in the fall and winter. This was right in the middle of my "Hay Day" of offshore guiding. The offshore season for me would start up some time in April and end by late October. That left me five months to do nothing but haunt the trout and reds that had made their home in the back end of Nueces Bay. I always took off season jobs in other lines of work because I had "NO" desire to destroy what I considered the last kept secret in Texas Coastal fishing. I never wanted to take fishing parties to where I had more fun catching monster trout and reds than being hooked up with a 50 lb. ling. I was not the only one that fished the area, but both myself, and everyone else that fished back there kept their mouths shut.

gulftrout · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 1629

OK, back to fishing. I decide to make a quick stop in an area that sometimes hold a few reds and occasionally a trout or two. This particular area has what I can only describe as oyster clumps or groups. They are scattered over mud and stick up off the bottom sometimes almost a foot. I hate to fish this area because it is really difficult not to have your line cut by these sharp shells when you hook a red. Trout are not really a problem because they seem to always come up shaking their head in the winter time since they usually swallow the lure. Well is all I can say is I am in what I can only describe as a "Rats Nest" I catch six reds in a row and every last one of them is just slightly under 19 inches. The next 50 yards is pretty much the same and sure enough, I lose three fish and lures to these shells. I decide not to go back around since I have only caught one 16" speck to go along with all the not so small, but to small to keep reds.

gulftrout · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 1629

Jason Slocum · Flour Bluffian in training Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 328

CopanoCruisin · Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 2:56 pm Post subject:

I have just one thing to say, "they get paid by the hour"......

gulftrout · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 1629

Well, to end this report I'll just say in passing, I ended up with seven keepers. All were caught on soft plastics while being cast out and then reeled in.

gulftrout · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 20 Aug 2007 Posts: 1629

Anyone new to fishing this area should, "Exercise Caution." It is learnable but I have left two motors in this bay from hitting things while running Nueces the past 35 years. I was sitting at the dock one Saturday morning waiting to launch and heard a loud boom. There was a brand new boat with a huge Suzuki motor on it that had been running full throttle toward the causeway. It was only 3 to 4 hundred yards northwest of the ramp. It had hit something so hard the lower unit had been completely knocked off. A commercial fisherman towed the boat in and I could not believe the damage I was witnessing. It had hit something I had also hit idleing away from the ramp back in 1978. There is apparently a piece of old pipe or concrete(probably concrete) just a few hundred yards from the ramp. My advice to anyone launching from this ramp. You should take two paths and only these two paths while leaving this ramp. You can run parallel with the causeway, not getting any further to the west or head directly parallel 25 to 50 yards from the bulkhead going to the west. Any other heading out of this ramp and you are asking for trouble.

20mako77classic · Joined: 25 Jan 2013 Posts: 5

Mr. gulftrout,
I sincerely hope that you had another wonderful day of fishing on Nueces Bay today, in your little boat. That being said, the disparaging comments regarding your alleged boat ramp experience involving two State of Texas research vessels concerns me.
I was there, working, doing my job. I am a State Investigator. I have many responsibilities. One of my required duties includes monitoring the water quality of the bays and estuaries here in the Coastal Bend, and beyond. Nonetheless, that

20mako77classic · Joined: 25 Jan 2013 Posts: 5

Mr. gulftrout,
I sincerely hope that you had another wonderful day of fishing on Nueces Bay today, in your little boat. That being said, the disparaging comments regarding your alleged boat ramp experience involving two State of Texas research vessels concerns me.
I was there, working, doing my job. I am a State Investigator. I have many responsibilities. One of my required duties includes monitoring the water quality of the bays and estuaries here in the Coastal Bend, and beyond. Nonetheless, that