From Freezer to Early Spring — February 20, 2011

What a roller coaster!!!! Our water temps have gone from 44 degrees to mid 60’s in one week. Sure hope this title does not jinx us. Hopefully the worst of winter is now behind us. I can’t ever remember a swing of that magnitude in all the years I have been guiding here. I can add the fish have gone from lock jawed to out right pandemonium.
The last three weeks our fishing has improved steadily to the point now we all are getting some what COCKY. Limits for those wanting to keep have been the norm both reds and trout and very easy to do!!!!
I must say I am disappointed in we have yet to see the really big girls show up. We have caught numbers of upper 20” fish but not the 30”s we should be seeing now. The mid and upper 20” trout we are catching are butterball fat. 27” fish will weigh 7 to 8 pounds, with 25 to 26” fish weighing 6 to 7 pounds. When it starts all I can say is: BIG MOMMAS”

Last week my good buddies Burt and Tim were down and after their trip, they expressed WHAT A TRIP. Standing in one spot and catching 25 plus mid slot reds. They caught and released 25 to 30 plus reds each of the two days they fished. They also managed a number of good trout with the largest 25” plus. All this with the wind blowing 20 to 30 plus MPH. Can you say wind burned!

With a large percentage of our grass gone due to the fresh water flood this past fall; our bay is going to stay muddier than usual. With that being said, windy days we fishing water that looks like the upper coast with a 30 MPH wind. The stained water does not seem to affect our ability to catch trout as well as reds in water so stained you can’t see a purple plastic more than 1” below the surface.

Our go to bait have been darker colors for plastics and noisy top waters fished extremely SLOW. With the water 60 degrees they still are hitting VERY SOFT. Go figure!

With stained water being the norm for the near future look for the fish to be holding on the structure tighter than normal. Remember when I say structure here I mean a scuttle drop as slight as 6”. Summer could pose a real problem for those used to fishing the out side edge of the grass beds.  With a lot of the grass gone that pattern could be pretty tuff to follow. We all look for the fish to relate more to scuttle changes in depth.

I will try and keep everyone up to date about how the lack of grass is affecting the fish and their holding patterns.

Come see us at the Houston Fishing Show 2 March thru 6 March and let’s talk BSSSSSS!! Look forward to seeing you.

Remember: keep what you can eat and release the release the rest. There is NO LAW ABOUT HOW MANY YOU CAN CATCH, JUST WHAT YOU CAN KEEP! Let the big mommas go to past on their genes for future generations to come.