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Kayak trip from Ft Anahuac #11861910 10/03/16 03:43 PM
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 273
J
JackCaster Offline OP
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Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 273
This past Friday, I met my buddies in Flower Mound, drove down to Spring and rented kayaks from Austin Kayak. Great folks and I would highly recommend them. Knowledgeable proprietors with great equipment...kinda...more on that later. We rented 3 kayaks and headed to Baytown for our first of two evenings in the poor mans Taj, aka Super 8. Not being the trusting type and noticing the rough looking crowd, we made sure we procured a room on the bottom floor and stuffed our equipment in with us. Two 14's and a 12' make a room with double beds get real cozy! We had a an early 5am wake up, loaded the boats and gear and headed to Ft Anahuac Park for our launch into the upper reaches of Trinity Bay. Being neophytes into the kayak world, we read all types of reports and recommendations on gear, tackle and best practices. Some was good, some was not, some was missing pieces so here is my synapses: First, take the recommendation on boats from someone knowledgeable in your activity. Fishing over a 5 mile area is different than fishing on a pond and your kayak size will help or hurt you. Our longer units worked well as we paddled the bay, worked in wind, tidal current and various depths. They had adequate space for needed gear and an ice chest for fish. Next, be aware that landing a fish from a kayak comes with a few challenges. A short, wide mouth net that floats is a critical piece of gear! Controlling a big red-fish is much easier when you can net him and pull him on-board or control him at your feet to hold him still while unhooking. Helps with specs and gar also! In addition to the net, get a pair of floating Rapala Fish Grippers (or something like them). They will save your fingers a beating landing red-fish. Continuing, I would recommend using an ice chest vs stringer. It is easier to string the fish and drag them behind but safer and easier on you to box them. With sharks, turtles and stick ups to harass your catch, putting them in an ice chest just makes everything safer and more effecient. We designated one person to carry fish and one of our mid size ice chests fit perfectly on the back of his 14' kayak. Tackle: I used my Lews baitcaster spooled with 10lb mono and a lighter flex rod (IM6, 7', ML flex). I needed a little more backbone for the reds and I missed hookups with several nice fish for lack of hooksetting power. That weight line/rod combo worked well casting the Bass Assassin tails on 3/8 jig heads. Lighter rods worked well for the Specs and their softer, toothy mouths but it would have been nice to have a little heavier medium wt faster tip for sight casting the reds. Baits: We could have fished all trip with one lure. The 3/8 and 1/2 oz gold Kastmaster with a yellow feather tail (and it did have to have the feather tail) was, by far, the go to bait on the trip and I casted a tackle box full of lures. The guy who caught the most (by twice as much) was casting this lure specifically. Reds and Specs both ate it up. We lost half a dozen or so of these from snags, bad swivels and bad fish handling but by far this was the go to choice. One of the guys even hooked a monster gator gar in the Trinity channel on a 3/8oz one...4', 50#+!! I would think a Johnson Silver Minnow or Sprite in gold would also be effective in the correct size. Make sure you add them to your arsenal because they worked the best! Wading, I had on my feather weight Allen breathable waders and loved them. We never got in over 3' of water wading and the other guys were in shorts and sandals (not advisable) and while no one took a bad step or was cut on a shell or other debris (including stingrays), I liked the security of the waders. Overall, a great trip with two and half limits of reds, lots of under specs and sand trout and one monster alligator gar...and that is just on day one. Oh yea, the kayak that leaked story... The guy who drew carrying the ice chest was in a 14' kayak. By the end of the day, he was sitting very low in the water and struggling to keep up. When we got back to the launch, he was beat and complaining of how hard it was to paddle the boat. As we went to load the boat, we noticed how heavy it was and discovered he was carrying half a boat full of water! Out with the plug and it took at least 10 minutes at full stream to empty the darn thing. He had to of been carrying and extra 500# of water!! Make sure to ask your boat dealer to rent you a boat that does not leak!! Day two, we had a guide for bay fishing. We used Cpt Dean Muckleroy who fishes the Trinity Bay and what a great guy. We started in the area known as the Anahuac pocket and moved around to the wells, Northern shore of the bay chasing birds and hitting a few shell beds. While we had weather issues on Sunday a.m. with a little norther running through, we did manage to catch many under trout and a few keeper reds. We ended the half day trip with 8 good trout and a couple of reds. Not as good as the kayak day but overall a great weekend on Trinity Bay. Per the guide, as the weather cools and the bait starts coming downstream from the river and estuary, the trout and reds will start collecting in this area in bigger numbers. I would highly recommend this area for a weekend trip. Especially this time of year with no hot temps or humidity! Tight lines,

Brian

Re: Kayak trip from Ft Anahuac [Re: JackCaster] #11863505 10/04/16 11:13 AM
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 75,521
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Nice post! Thanks for sharing. cheers


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