Alliteration aside during the fall for the past 4 years I�ve invited a small group of friends south to Rockport for some shots at Redfish. This year the plastic navy returned the same motley crew from last year�s trip; Spiny Norman, Orange Assassin, Jeaux, sToddh, and myself. We were set to assault the salt from Wednesday Oct 22nd through Sunday Oct 26th.

I actually took the whole week off for this trip to the coast since I hadn�t been down since the first part of June (a long time for me) and wanted to stay salty for as long as I could. Prior to the trip down I was monitoring what the week cold front that had blown through Mon/Tue utilizing the websites form this post. The trending patterns were looking prime for a quick run to Nueces Bay to chase reds early Saturday morning. After that? Well, after that the weather patterns called for ENE to NE winds for the rest of the week due to high pressure sitting northwest of Rockport; no bueno.

Friday morning I awoke early to load up my kayak trailer and gear for the long week. However, there were still a couple of provisions I needed to purchase that day; Herman Marshall Texas Bourbon Whiskey and an assortment of cigars. Then I had to suffer until 5 pm staring at my loaded up truck and trailer from my office window.


Tick�.Tock��..Tick�����.Tock���������..


Barreling down I35 and US77 I made a quick pit stop in Hallettsville to say hello to my mother and pick up my propane stand and boiling pot for the planned shrimp boil later that week. As is customary I arrived in Rockport around midnight and capped the long drive with a couple cold Lone Star Lights while reviewing aerial images of where I was planning on fishing later that morning. I set my alarm for 4:30.

I arrived at the launch site around 6:30 with showers off to my east, but luckily non-threatening. I shove off the shoreline around 7am and made my 1 mile paddle to my destination. The trending weather and tidal patterns held as I saw I had near perfect conditions and light winds. I was immediately greeted with reds working along the salt grass covered shorelines. Despite making hundreds and hundreds of casts at reds like the ones I saw that morning I still suffer from red fever. I blew my first three shots at reds going back hookset, bad cast, and bad hookset. I should have had my limit by 7:30am, that�s how good things were shaping up that morning. So, needless to say I had my limit of reds just before 8 as I was able to, eventually, hook up the next three reds I saw.


(WARNING: Video contains graphic images of unfair family genetics)




I swear my bald spot doesn�t look so, um, prominent in person. Nonetheless, visual evidence of my impending hairline couldn�t take away how great a trip Saturday morning had ended up on the Nueces. So with my quick limit of reds out of the way I pulled off the water and rolled on over to Shamrock for a hand at some trout. I re-launched about 10am and as I made my way to the intended flat I exchanged the prototypical chit chat and the fishing with a fellow kayak angler; small tout was word. And small trout was all I could find. I was back off the water and headed back to the cabin where my sister, sister-in-law, niece, and father had arrived with my mother arriving shortly thereafter.

Laissez les bon temps roulez





Sunday morning my sister, father, and I launched our boat at Cove Harbor Marina and headed to California Hole amidst the East winds where I promptly miss the channel and stick our boat 8 inches of water. Way to go Captain Josh. Other than that there�s not a lot to report from that day other than dink trout, some lizard fish, and motor issues. Oh, my dad did manage to snag a monster of a piggy perch.


Sunday evening the owners of the property showed and my dad and I were offered to tag along with him for the next mornings. With the NE winds blowing already 10 mph (eventually increasing to 15)and a line of thunderstorms threatening the barrier islands they nixed the trip across Aransas Bay, so I quickly hopped into my truck and rolled on back to Nueces Bay. In my haste to get back there I forgot to check tide levels. When I got there I was given the bad news, the tides had gone up over 6 inches in two days. That�s a tremendous amount of water for where I was fishing and I should have known I would be wasting my time, but I launched anyways. Ultimately the reds were way, way, way back on the flats on portions I had never seen under water before. Needless to say they were spooky and I got skunked and wound up paddling 10 miles, 3 times what I did two days prior.

That afternoon my dad and I had to make an unscheduled trip back to the ranch to pen up calves. Although we would return to Rockport on Tuesday we wouldn�t be back on the water until Wednesday morning.

OK, here�s where the 4th Annual Rockport Redfish Round-Up Report begins.

Wednesday morning my dad and I decided to run down to Deadman�s Hole near Packery Channel to do a little wade fishing. My thought was fishing near the pass would offset the goofy winds we had been experiencing. Needless to say it was the same story as Shamrock and California Hole, dinks all around. We ended up wading for about 4 hours. Although it we didn�t find any keepers it was nice to get one more morning to fish with my dad before he made his way back to Hallettsville and I awaited the motley crew to arrive, well the rest of them at least, because sToddh had launched his kayak that morning at Cavasso Creek of St. Charles Bay. Stoddh headed up the creek to a couple of smaller back lakes and managed to string up a trout and red. Like I had done the Saturday prior sToddh decided to change locations and made a relaunch at South Bay in Aransas Pass around noon. I believe he only managed a few dink trout at that location. I also received a text from Spiny Norman depicting his and Orange Assassin�s ritual of stopping for bar-b-que at Black�s in Luling Texas. I�ll admit it, I was a little jealous.




While sToddh was still out fishing and after my dad had left I made a quick trip in to town for that night�s dinner. Even though we typically eat well during the annual trip I wanted to make sure we began on a high note, so ribeyes (cooked med-rare, of course), grilled shrimp, grilled salad, and polenta got us off on the right foot. Stoddh even donated a trout fillet to us for some ceviche.




We finished the evening enjoying the sunset over cigars, bourbon, and beer; as is tradition.

Thursday morning rolled around all too soon and we found ourselves catching the ferry across the Corpus Christi Shrimp Channel for everyone�s first trip to East Flats. Ok, it wasn�t my first per say since I had fished it a few times from a boat, but it was my first time from a kayak. We launched from Island Moorings Marina around 7:30 and made the short paddle through the canals to the first flat.


On the way to the flat we saw bait getting busted by something, and Spiny, Jeaux, and sToddh stopped to check it out. It turned out to be some small trout. As they were doing their thing Orange Assassin and I began drifting the flats chunking topwaters. We chad chosen to fish there thinking we�d get some protection from the northeast winds but it wasn�t as much as we had thought, but we had good water clarity and the wind did allow a nice drift across the flats. As the winds pushed us closer to the windblown shoreline and after a couple of missed strikes from reds, I hook up with a nice keeper. Shortly thereafter Orange Assassin was dueling with a keeper as well.



By that point the rest of the group had made their way onto the flat as well. I made several more drifts, each time narrowing my pattern as I keyed in on the redfish. I get a few more blow ups before I decide to standup and pole the shoreline to sight cast for reds. After a few snubbed shots I hookup with a solid red, but I made a rookie mistake that cost me the fish. I knew there was shell along the shoreline and instead of staking out in deeper water I just drift closer to shore. Then the red made a dive under my kayak right over the shell and she was gone. 8lbs copolymer and shell just don�t mix kids. SMH A little later I find myself drifting parallel to a shoreline attempting to sight cast at some reds. I hook up again, land the red, and committed rookie mistake #2. I was a bit careless with a not-so-wore-out red and she flopped out of the kayak. Damn, that should have been my limit. I meet back up with the group and I think by that point Spiny and sToddh had each strung up a red and Orange Assassin had added a trout to his stringer. Orange and I head to adjacent flat where he hooks up with another slot red tossing a DOA shrimp. But then he too had a lapse of concentration and as he was measuring the red it too flops out of his kayak. The group grinds a little longer before ultimately pulling off the water around 4 with 4 redfish and a trout. Spiny and sToddh began cleaning the day�s catch along with a little help.



On the way back to the cabin we stop and buy some live crabs for the shrimp boil that evening. After a couple of quick showers Jeaux and I head to HEB (I love HEB, seriously we need them up here) to gather the rest of the supplies for dinner; Slap Yo Mama, shrimp, potatoes, corn, sausage, and mushrooms. This time it was Orange Assassin donated a trout fillet to us for another batch of ceviche. As you would expect the boil came out phenomenal. If you don�t know how to eat a whole crab ol� Jeaux could show you a thing or two.



Jeaux�s birthday was that Saturday, but we celebrated it a little early and instead of cupcake and a candle we handed him a potato with a crab claw meat �candle�. We felt it was fitting for our resident cajun.


We finished the evening enjoying cigars, bourbon, and beer; as is tradition.


OK, falling asleep and sawing wood in the adirondack chair isn�t a tradition, Spiny.

Friday morning we stopped just short of the ferry crossing and hit up lighthouse Lakes. With the slightly higher tides I had my eye on a couple of back lakes I had never fished before. We started the morning off heading straight to the back of the first big lake into the NE wind and began tossing topwaters. I landed an oh-so-close red, but I had to let her go. A few reds were caught by a couple of guys, but no keepers.




From that point we all kind of separated. Jeaux ended up near the Lydia Ann Lighthouse, Spiny and Orange were close too but not quite there, sToddh made his way to the next large lake adjacent to the lighthouse, and I went straight to the back lakes I wanted to fish. My gut told there would be reds up there and it was correct, except they were spooky and finicky. That [censored] pisses me off. Well-placed cast after well-placed cast and nothing to show for except a mud trail. This isn�t the first time this had happened but I was without my fly rod and a specific shrimp pattern I bought for this exact reason. Oh well. I get a text from sToddh just as I made my way out of those small lakes and he�s managed to string one red up. As the wind laid we regrouped on one of the lakes for lunch and compared notes, or lack thereof. I had spoken to some boaters as well and I think sToddh may have �boxed� the only slot red day. We had all seen reds but we couldn�t buy a bite that day. Unfortunately, this is where we had to say goodbye to sToddh as he had wedding to attend to the next day. Ok, we didn�t miss him too much because he was a little cocky having strung up the only keeper of the day (�Hey, y�all guys want to see what a redfish looks like?�, jerk :; )


One dejected Spiny Norman.


We were off the water around 3 and licked our wounds back to the cabin. We cracked open some cold ones and busted out the cigars early that night. Jeaux stepped up to the stove that evening to cook us a cajun meal. Boudin was the star which was joined with leftover polenta, fried eggs, omelets made with leftover boil, and drop biscuits. Breakfast? Dinner? Doesn�t matter, it was hearty cajun cooking and it hit the spot.


We finished the evening with everyone falling asleep in the living room except for me while watching the World Series, which is not tradition.

Since we figured out quite a bit about the structure of East Flats from Thursday trip we saddled back up Saturday and trucked our way on over. This time we were met with NW winds (which eventually swung to the east) and a falling tide. I separated myself from the group with a blistering 5.5 mph pace as I headed to a different flat than I had started on the previous trip.



With the NW wind and falling tide it made my drifts into the shoreline funky. In my mind how I should have been drifting didn�t match what my GPS was telling me. It was a weird feeling and for some reason made a bit uncomfortable. Needless to say that discomfort slowly went away as I made three separate drifts into that shoreline and caught one keeper red on each drift; limit by 8:30. By that point Spiny was way on the north end of Coyote Island, Orange Assassin was coming off the flat we had started on the prior trip, and Jeaux was off on an adjacent shoreline. News spread of my quick limit and all had joined near the location. I instructed Orange and Spiny on where I had caught the reds and Jeaux and I went to look for deeper water and trout.


Jeaux and I found lots of trout. Lots of dink trout. Oh, and piggy perch. Lots of big piggy perch. I must have burned through 1/3 of my soft plastics because the bastards kept biting the tails off.


Spiny had strung up a red fishing along the edge of the drop off to deeper water around 10. As I was drifting along I had a boat put in about 30yds behind me and began to drift. Then about 30 minutes later a yahoo with a group in an offshore boat blew through easily within casting distance (and between me and a different boat drift fishing) while they were out joy riding; I gave them the ol� WTF shoulder shrug. Jeaux managed to string up a keeper trout a little before noon (still dink central for me) and then the winds began to lay and shift to the east. Orange Assassin joined us over in the deeper water while Spiny went back to the shoreline to add some more reds to his stringer.

The winds swung to the east I began to get better bites and around2:30 I landed a nice 18-19� trout on a strawberry DOA. However, rookie mistake 3# reared its ugly head. I strung the trout up, but only about 8� down the line and let him lay in the cockpit while I organized my gear. Whelp, he flopped out taking my stringer and all. I�m not sure this had ever happened to me before. I frantically began chasing down my stringer hoping the fish would stay on. I grab the stringer and gently began to pull it in. One red. Two reds, all three reds; whew. Where�s the trout? I have my net in my other hand as I get towards the spike of the stringer and just as I began to scoop my net under the trout he slides off the spike and was gone for forever. I had been fishing for trout almost 6 HOURS. I had lost my first fish ever that was ON. THE. STRINGER.

I get back to the grind and shortly thereafter I land a 16� trout. It�s not the same. I mean it�s a keeper and all, but it ain�t no 18-19� trout (sigh). Jeaux, Orange, and I grind for a little longer and I manage to string another trout (not 18-19�  ) and Jeaux hooks up with something �a little bigger� than dink trout. Turns out it was a 23.5� red, which I think was his first keeper red of the trip.


About 4 o�clock we start to make our way back into the east headwind to meet up with Spiny Norman on our way to the launch. We paddled up to Spiny doing his best impression of me standing and trying to sight cast to reds. And I snapped a nice one of his red for the day. We finished this day with 5 redfish and 3 trout.



We pulled off the water around 5pm and headed back to the cabin for some quick showers before heading to Moondogs for dinner. It�s still the consensus go-to spot for our annual trip. The food has always been solid, BIG cold beers, and a great view of Aransas Bay. We got back from dinner and Spiny once again showed off his thorough filleting skills.


We finished the evening enjoying cigars, bourbon, and beer; as is tradition.
Orange sporting some serious ash.

On the day we leave town we usually play close to the cabin for quick morning fishing trip. This time we utilized the new Swan Lake Launch on the end of Copano Retreat Rd. Since it was our last day we spent the morning taking sunrise photos.



Spiny didn�t partake in the morning photo extravaganza as he was too focused on the grass line for redfish. This quickly played out for him.



I skip ahead of the group where I located the only tailing group of redfish I saw the entire trip and landed a 22.5� slotter. Perfect. Shoot, I think Spiny had a second red on the stringer prior to that as well, he was on a mission. I then made my way to the opposite shoreline and saw a red crush bait on the shoreline. I paused for a while to see if she showed herself again, but she didn�t. So I tossed in a blind cast and then a second and hook up with her. A little smaller, but still a keeper and one short of my limit. The group grinds it out some more, before we�re forced to head in so that we could clean fish, take showers, pack up, buy shrimp, and head north. The morning saw Spiny and I each one red short of our limits.


I followed Spiny and Orange Assassin to Flowers Shrimp Market, by far the best place to purchase shrimp in Rockport; very fresh selection at a reasonable price. Also, make sure to purchase the shrimp eggrolls, they are delicious.


And with this very long post our trip has ended. It wasn�t a knock�em out, drag�em out slaughter on the fish, but the company (and to be honest, the food) was exceptional. Thanks again guys for making the trip south I enjoyed it. Until next year, here�s one last parting view of Copano Bay.

Great story and pictures!

Could only get though half of this but will finish later. So far, great stuff. The video of Josh-vs-redfish is greatness, so much so that we forgive the unfair family genetics.

Awesome Post. Thanks for sharing.

Nice post neumie

It was a great time as always! Funny, I wonder if that bird is the same one from last year. Took this photo back then.

Epic trip man! I don't know what I enjoyed more - the food and alcohol or the fish!

Very cool AAR. Thanks for sharing.

Awesome post. Love seeing people fishing in the salt. I'm planning on getting down to the coast soon.

Looks like a great time and great food!

Awesome read!!!! I need to get on the salt!!!

Wish I knew you guys were there, I would have stopped in to say hi and have a beer with you.

Awesome coverage of your trip!!! I am going to start doing this on my trips out. lots of pics and a good recap. you gave me just enough confidence to load up the kayaks for the 3.5 hr trip to rockport. What lure(s) was Spiny using at swan lake? Glad yall had a good trip! and thanks again!

Thanks for the compliments guys.


I believe he was using the Original H&H Cocahoe in Pumpkinseed/chartreuse to catch his two reds. My two reds were landed on 3" DOA CAL Shad Tail in Copper Crush. But to be honest, we were sightcastng to reds working shoreline so probably any color would have worked.

Great report!!!

Neumie,

I hope you're well. I love my job in East Texas, but this report makes me long for my previous home in Victoria - from which I could be on the water in Port Lavaca or Port O'Connor so quickly...

What an awesome trip you had! Friends, food, fish... well done!

Hey JR I might hit you up for info before next summer. I'll be spending a week in Victoria for a wedding and was thinking of going to Port Lavaca or O'Conner instead of heading to the places we fish in Rockport.

Sure thing, Todd! I love fishing the area. I sometimes miss the diversity of fisheries there. POC was definitely the better fishery for salt (it's got a deep channel really close to land), but Port Lavaca was closer, and I generally did fine there. Of course, for freshwater, Coleto is a blast - though not as good in the summer as it is in the winter (power plant). I used love drum fishing in Saxet Lake right in Victoria from my kayak too. It's a quarry lake, so it's really deep in places. Victoria is a great "home base" for fishing in the area - Edna and Lake Texana is not far either.