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7th Annual Rockport Redfish Round-up
#11874195
10/10/16 11:37 PM
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 3,257
Neumie
OP
TFF Team Angler
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OP
TFF Team Angler
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 3,257 |
ThursdaySpiny Norman and I decided to do some exploring on Thursday. Neither of us had fished the Laguna Salada, so we set our alarms for 4:30 am for the long drive from Rockport. The wind forecast had called for light winds from the SE all day, so naturally we arrived at the Site 55 launch to a light NW wind. It would remain that direction until it swung east and picked up a little. Lots of mullet and bait fish activity in the morning, seemingly all the way across to the Kennedy Ranch, so we decided to work our way east tossing topwaters. We didn't get a single bite, which was a bummer. We conversed and decided to hit up the back lake on the Kennedy shoreline we viewed on Google Earth. I paddled the north shore with Spiny working the south. I found a slot red along the grass and dropped a Buggs jig on its head. She was on the jig before I could even flip the bail on my spinning reel. We crossed paths on the opposite end and I ended up picking up my second red. Same scenario; working the grass, Buggs jig, hit its head, crushed it before I could close my bail. Spiny left the back lake and went past the launch site up the Laguna De Los Olmos. He reported seeing quite a few reds and managed to snag a 29 3/4" red on a cocahoe minnow. He said the red was struggling (deep hooked) so he made the call to tag and string her up. After grabbing my second red I popped out and paddled east in search of trout. I tried a couple softplastics and manged a handful of dinks. We pulled off the water around 1 and headed for King's Inn. I mean, it's good fried seafood, and the tarter sauce is interesting, but I'm not sure what's so amazing about it. Oh, and remember to remove your hat when you sit down, gents. So, all in all a good day for exploring new waters. There was a little coulda-shoulda-woulda about heading to the back lake or up the creek first thing in the morning as we both agreed we would have had our limits of reds, but 3 keepers isn't too bad. There seems to be a slight learning curve for this area, so we'll have to make a return trip. Time: 7:30 am - 1:00 pm Air Temp: 83 F Wind: NW @ 1 kn - E @ 10 kn Barometric Pressure: 1012 mb (peaked @ 11 am) Water Clarity: less than 2 feet Water Temp: 83 F Structure: Mixture of soft bottoms and sand Predicted Tides @ Baffin Bay: hahahahahaha, tides? Baffin? Solunar: Sunrise/set: 7:26 am/7:11 pm Moonrise/set: 12:09 pm/11:12 pm Moon Phase: Waxing Cresent (24%) Lures: Silver Mullet Super Spook Jr. Green Ghost Buggs Double Bunny Jig Midnight Mullet Dockside Matrix Shad on 1/8oz jighead Pumpkinseed/Chartreuse Norton Sand Shad Jr. on 1/8oz jighead Pumpkin Pepper/Chartreuse H&H 3" Cocahoe Minnow on 1/8oz flutter hook Fish: Reds: 2 slotters & 1 over-sized (tagged) Trout: couple of dinks
"Water is life's matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water." -Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." - Heraclitus
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Re: 7th Annual Rockport Redfish Round-up
[Re: Neumie]
#11874196
10/10/16 11:37 PM
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 3,257
Neumie
OP
TFF Team Angler
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OP
TFF Team Angler
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 3,257 |
FridayWe had a hankering for reds, limits of reds. After checking on the forecasted winds (NE all day) and weather (scattered rain cells) we looked at aerial imagery for a spot which could offer some protection. We settled on launching at Island Moorings Marina and fishing around one of the islands for reds. We launched just after 7 am and made our way up the channel to Pelone Island. I began working Pelone Island while Spiny went even shallower to the north. We both had a lot of action with undersized reds and piggies attacking our topwaters. I temporarily put the topwater down and grab a MirrOdine, but landed only piggies. After awhile I strung up my first red and then my second. Then a clap of thunder. I had been paying attention to what was going on and it was confirmed by a check of radar. We had about 3 separate sprinkles, but nothing serious. We meet back up at Spiny had strung a red up himself. We decided to drift some more open water where we were able to finish our limits and pick up a couple keeper trout for our efforts. The wind began to pick up some out of the NE, but we changed our focus to catching some trout and paddled west towards the deeper waters. We made one drift without luck before we decided to paddle back in (into a stiff headwind now) to take care of a few things at the cabin. It was a great morning, and there's nothing better than having a redfish topwater bite until after noon. Time: 7:15 am - 2:00 pm Air Temp: 83 F Wind: E @ 2 kn - NE @ 15 kn Barometric Pressure: 1012 mb (rising) Water Clarity: 2 feet Water Temp: 84 F Structure: Grass Flats Predicted Tides @ Port Aransas Low @ 1:20 pm (0.56 ft) High @ 11:45 pm (1.34 ft) Solunar: Sunrise/set: 7:24 am/7:07 pm Moonrise/set: 12:57 pm/11:56 pm Moon Phase: Waxing Cresent (33%) Lures: Silver Mullet Super Spook Jr. Black Back/White Belly/Silver Luminescence MirrOlure MirrOdine Shrimp Creole Dockside Matrix Shad on 1/8oz jighead Plum/Chartreuse Norton Sand Shad Jr. on 1/8oz jighead Pumpkin Pepper/Chartreuse H&H 3" Cocahoe Minnow on 1/8oz flutter hook Fish: Reds: 6 slotters & a handful of rats Trout: 3 keepers & a handful of dinks Piggies: damn piggies
"Water is life's matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water." -Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." - Heraclitus
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Re: 7th Annual Rockport Redfish Round-up
[Re: Neumie]
#11874198
10/10/16 11:39 PM
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 3,257
Neumie
OP
TFF Team Angler
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OP
TFF Team Angler
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 3,257 |
SaturdayWe had a hankering for trout, limits of trout. However, around midnight a cold front blew through threatening to throw a monkey wrench into our plans. We were joined by another partner in crime for our search of trout. Again, we decided on fishing East Flats because we thought we could find some protection from the winds, especially since we had a 3 mile paddle to our destination. We arrived at the launch site to starched flags. After the paddle to the point, we began to set up for drifts. Although we were able to have some protection on our paddle out, we had to suffer the winds full force whenever we had to reset for a drift. We were on trout, but the keepers were hard to come by. For every keeper trout we landed we probably caught 10 dink specks or sands, so we frequently were setting up for drifts. If you look up grind in a dictionary and you'll see a picture of the three of us. I somehow managed to land a smack without it slicing through my line; bonus! Whit and I eventually strung up our limit, but despite his best effort Jeaux fell just one speck short. Given we were fishing frontal conditions we couldn't complain too much falling just one speck short for a 3 man limit. So close. Time: 8:00 am - 4:45 pm Air Temp: 70-80 F Wind: NNE @ 10 kn - NNE @ 18 kn Barometric Pressure: 1018 mb (peaked @ 11:00 am) Water Clarity: 2 feet Water Temp: 83 F Structure: Grass & Sand Flats Predicted Tides @ Port Aransas Low @ 2:15 pm (0.59 ft) Solunar: Sunrise/set: 7:25 am/7:06 pm Moonrise/set: 1:46 pm/ N/A Moon Phase: Waxing Cresent (43%) Lures: Plum/Chartreuse Norton Sand Shad Jr. on 1/8oz jighead Tequila Rocks Norton Sand Shad Jr. on 1/8oz jighead Pumpkin Pepper/Chartreuse H&H 3" Cocahoe Minnow on 1/16oz jighead Pumpkin Pepper/Chartreuse H&H 3" Cocahoe Minnow on 1/8oz flutter hook Fish: Reds: A handful of rats Trout: 14 keepers & tons of dinks Sand Trout: 1 "keeper" & tons of "dinks" Spanish Mackerel: 1 keeper
Last edited by Neumie; 10/10/16 11:44 PM.
"Water is life's matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water." -Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." - Heraclitus
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Re: 7th Annual Rockport Redfish Round-up
[Re: Neumie]
#11874199
10/10/16 11:41 PM
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 3,257
Neumie
OP
TFF Team Angler
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OP
TFF Team Angler
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 3,257 |
SundayAfter our beat down from the wind the day before and wanting a quick trip before packing up and leaving Rockport we again had to find a location which offered some protection Ne winds, but also decent fishing. I took the guys to a small flat by Ingleside on the Bay which I haven't fished in about 7 years, but it has always kicked me a couple of good fish. Now, when I say it's a small flat, it's pretty small. Like 2's company, 3's a crowd small flat. So perfect for a quick morning trip. We launched and made the quick paddle to the flat. I had brought all my lures, but I knew I wasn't going to toss anything other than a topwater all morning. It started off slow for use, but the topwater bite began to pick up when the sun cleared the trees. I was mostly catching rat reds and dink trout on topwaters. Whit picked up a keeper trout tossing a cocahoe on the outside of the reef. I picked up a keeper trout and then realized I had left my stringer at the cabin. I decided to toss the trout down in the footwell until I finished my drift and could deal with the trout then. The trout had other intentions and flopped out. I just said to myself "Whelp, that sucks" and kept on plugging. I was rewarded another trout and a slot red, all on topwaters. Being our last day and having dealt with a lot of wind it was nice to finish up on a easier paddle, having another solid topwater bite, and getting to string up a couple more fish before heading back to the 9-5 on Monday. Time: 7:15 am - 10:00 am Air Temp: 76 F Wind: NNE @ 10 kn Barometric Pressure: 1020 mb (steady) Water Clarity: <2 feet Water Temp: 83 F Structure: Grass & Sand Flats Predicted Tides @ Port Aransas High @ 3:04 am (1.35 ft) Low @ 3:22 pm (0.62 ft) Solunar: Sunrise/set: 7:25 am/7:04 pm Moonrise/set: 2:33 pm/12:46 am Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbons (53%) Lures: Silver Mullet Super Spook Jr. Pearl Rapala Skitterwalk Pumpkin Pepper/Chartreuse H&H 3" Cocahoe Minnow on 1/8oz flutter hook Fish: Reds: 1 keeper & a few rats Trout: 2 keepers & a couple of dinks
"Water is life's matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water." -Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." - Heraclitus
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Re: 7th Annual Rockport Redfish Round-up
[Re: Neumie]
#11874495
10/11/16 02:24 AM
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Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 843
IslandJim
Pro Angler
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Pro Angler
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 843 |
Josh: Good reports. I've always wanted to do the Site 55 in Laguna Salada. Is that you with all the whiskers?
Island Jim
I'm an Eighth Day Adventist. On the Eighth Day, God went fishing!
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Re: 7th Annual Rockport Redfish Round-up
[Re: Neumie]
#11874638
10/11/16 04:47 AM
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Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 9,937
Fish ZoMbiE
TFF Celebrity
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TFF Celebrity
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 9,937 |
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Re: 7th Annual Rockport Redfish Round-up
[Re: Neumie]
#11874843
10/11/16 12:53 PM
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 49,558
TreeBass
Lt. Dan
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Lt. Dan
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 49,558 |
nice report
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Re: 7th Annual Rockport Redfish Round-up
[Re: Neumie]
#11877400
10/12/16 07:06 PM
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 6,087
Robbie Milam
TFF Celebrity
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TFF Celebrity
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 6,087 |
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Re: 7th Annual Rockport Redfish Round-up
[Re: Neumie]
#11890171
10/20/16 04:42 AM
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 75,520
banker-always fishing
Pumpkin Head
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Pumpkin Head
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 75,520 |
Solid Post and some solid fish. Thanks for sharing.
IGFA World Record Rio Grande Cichlid. Lake Dunlap. John 3:16 Sinner's Prayer. God forgive me a sinner. I accept Jesus Christ as my Savior !
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Re: 7th Annual Rockport Redfish Round-up
[Re: Neumie]
#11890421
10/20/16 02:12 PM
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Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 563
1960texan
Pro Angler
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Pro Angler
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 563 |
Awesome, detailed reports! I wonder how many of us will be catching more fish down there because of this post? My guess is quite a few.
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