I've been wanting to catch a snook for a long time, Tuesday was my 79th birthday, and I thought it might happen. No! I fished San Martin Lake, the Brownsville Ship Channel, where many anglers catch them, but no. Today, I launched my skiff at Isla Blanca Park on S. Padre Island. motored to South Bay, right next to Elon Musk's rocket launch facility, had no idea where I was or wanted to fish. I had fished there several times, so I headed toward a channel I knew. Well, I fumbled around and ended up in 2-foot water, near four other boats. I was putting around, trying not to run aground. My depth finder stops at about two feet,and suddenly, it read 4 feet. so. I hit neutral, let the boat drift back over the deeper water, and plugged my stake pole in when it shallowed up to two feet. Out in the middle of a huge flat, I found a "ditch". I started chunking live shrimp, and for about two hours, every cast had a bite or a hookup. I probably caught 25 Reds. the largest 19 inches. I got a doormat flounder to then boat, but he was net-shy.and spit the hook! I hooked up a needlefish, a skipjack, several small Specks, and, finally got what I thought was another short Red, but it was a 15-inch snook! Glory be! That was the next-to-last thing on my Bucket List. At my age, the list is short. I was lucky to get a limit of three Specks. First time in a very long while.I ran out of shrimp, tried some plastics, but no luck. Tomorrow, I'm fishing Arroyo City with a friend, then going North, back to Rockport.
nice birthday trip. Y'all catch'em up! IslandJim

Nice report. Congratulations on the snook.

Plus #1.

Well done Jim!

79 and still fishing - I envy you sir. Congrats on your well deserved catch.

Awesome.

Sounds like an amazing day!!

ZenMaster: When I'm not in my flats skiff, I also fish my Viking Profish 400 kayak, paddle, no pedals. I'll keep fishing 'til I can't. A front went thru overnight, and the flyfishing at Arroyo wasn't productive. But, it was a nice day on the flats in a really spiffy Chittum 18 tunnel skiff, with a skipper that was very helpful, despite my lame flycasting abilities. (Senior) adult education is painful! It's OK to grow old, if you don;t grow up! Catch'em! IslandJim

I salute you, sir!

In my defense, unforeseen events put me down for a few years but I have recently improved. Medical science has advanced exponential recently, and I am the grateful beneficiary of that, so I have the fishing itch real bad.

He was standing up on the poling platform casting. I've had guys in their sixties who were afraid to get up there. It's just too bad we were battling heavy north winds and chocolate milk water. The only fish we saw were big black drum, and they weren't interested in flies (but we still tried, LOL).

That's just awesome...
My dad hit 90, he still wants to go, but I had to sell the beloved jet scooter to get something more stable, so if we get another year or two, that's just perfect.

Great story and accomplishment Mr. Jim-I love me some SNOOKUMS

Very nice.

I SURE HOPE I AM FISHING AT 90!!!!!

Time to make a new list!

ew: I still have two things on my list: Catch a Redfish on my flyrod. I'm working on that. And, Buy a winning Lottery ticket. I don't need the hundreds of millions. One would last me till I check out, and probably leave a bit for my spouse and a very few others. Life doesn't owe me anything. TexasJim

Well dang Jim,
We can do the first for sure. I can put you on them, but I haven't used a fly rod in forever, so that parts up to you.

I can put him on a flyrod red. The first time he went with me, last winter, he didn't use a fly rod. We saw a lot of reds in North Cullen but they weren't eating craft fur, or the plastic he was throwing. The last time we had a stout north wind and high chocolate milk water to contend with. We hit the sands, North Cullen, Parker's Creek, and perused several spots in between. The only clear water we found was devoid of fish, and the few fish we saw in the brown water were all big uglies -- laughing at us. We might have caught some with conventional gear and a split crab, but we were chucking craft fur with fly rods, and big uglies don't eat flies very often. I caught a 33 1/4" big ugly on my two weight back in July, fishing a little #6 Clouser for specks at East Cut. It was hooked up on the roof of it's mouth; it ate the fly. A friend of mine caught a 45" big ugly on a Clouser with his 7 weight a few years ago; he won the black drum division of the Laguna Madre Fly Fishing Association's annual members' tournament with it. I've caught a lot of puppy drum on shrimp patterns and crab patterns, but the overslots are rare on flies.

Those biguns do show up in some baffling places. When one thumps your jig you do think you’ve hooked a serious red. Then it just starts moving like a Mack truck and the mystery ends.