Corpusfishing.com

[Neumie]

We were a bit bummed about the trip at this point, well, at least I was. So far the morning wind forecasts had been lighter than expected, so at least we had that going for us. I am not sure how we came to decide on fishing Welder, whiskey may do that, but that is where we went. It had been about 10 years since I was last down there. We arrived at the launch around 6:15 and got our gear ready to go. Ron and Lou, and their friend Steve had made it down to fish with us for the rest of the weekend, but Lou decided to take this day off to take care of some things. The group launched around 7:00 am.



The paddle to the very first part of Welder is about 2.25 miles, but we had light winds and the paddle went by quicker than I remember it taking.





We reached the flat just after 8 am, and I quickly explained the layout to everyone. Many continued further south, but Andy and I went around the point to fish. It was a sight of beauty. On the right hand bank were reds with their backs exposed, on the left were reds crushing small shrimp and killifish. I was so excited to see the activity I forgot to take pictures. But, that excitement quickly faded as the reds with their backs out of the water were extremely difficult to catch as they were just as skittish as the reds we found the day before on East Flats.

I did eventually hook up with a red I found thrashing bait. I could hear reds making all kinds of noise in some back lakes, so that is where I decided to paddle up to. I wound my way back and found more reds with their backs exposed, but at least a few of these were hungry.





I had my second limit of the trip and paddled back out to find the group. Luckily, a few of them stumbled onto another lake with exposed back reds, but they too were skittish. We were in the right spot, but man, literally saw over a hundred reds with their backs out of the water, but as a group we scratched out 6 keeper reds and 2 flounder. By then the winds had picked up, so we pointed the kayaks north back to Charlie Bait Camp.





At the ramp Andy said his goodbyes as he had to return back to Dallas. Thanks for making the drive south and joining us for the first time, friend, we all enjoyed your company. That evening, a neighbor and fellow kayaker, Chase, joined us after fishing Brown & Root Flats. Dinner after this long day, and to cap off the trip, was the traditional shrimp boil.







Of course, we capped it off with a fire, beverages, and a cigar.





Meteorological Observations
Time: 7:00 am - 1:15 pm
Air Temp: 72F - 79F
Wind: 4-15 kn SSE-SSW (gusting to 18 kn)
Barometric Pressure: 1013 mb (rising)
Sky: Mostly Sunny
Water Clarity: <12 In
Water Temp: 71F
Structure: Mud, Oyster

Solunar
Sunrise/set: 7:31 am/6:50 pm
Moonrise/set: 4:40 am/5:30 pm
Moon Phase: Waning Crescent (6.1%)

Predicted Tides @ Aransas NWR (MLLW)
Low @ 2:45 am (0.07 ft)
High @ 5:13 pm (0.25 ft)

Lures
Silver Mullet Spook Jr
Green Ghost Buggs Double Bunny Jig
Kitchen Sink MirrOlure Lil John
Strawberry/White Chickenboy Pyscho Chicken
1/4oz weedless Gold Spoon

Fish
Reds: 6 Keepers, a handful of undersized
Flounder: 2 Keepers