June 13, 2005 — SUMMER, WHERE ARE YOU?
We have the heat, we have the fish in the normal places, but man oh man bring on the summer patterns. Typically, June affords us the calm early morning with wind picking up late afternoon to lay down late evening. No so this year. The week has seen everyday, EVERYDAY, blowing at least 25 to 30 mph. Three days maintaining steady 35 with 40 mph gusts. Although Old Man wind is huffing and puffing like so many big bad wolves, the Mother Lagoon is offering up some of her best fishing of the year so far. However, like the tempting vixen she is, she gives us a taste one day and then plays shy the next making us scream for more!
Trout action, unfortunately, has been very weather dependent and with the malcontent and unpredictable mother nature serving up her worst it has been a challenge to maintain a strong location on fish. Although we do produce a bite everyday, trophy fish and better sized keeps remain elusive and only show themselves about every third, or fourth day. Trout top water bite has been difficult due to the chop that appears to be everywhere and coming from all directions. With the full moon cycle coming, look for a great week of fishing to start firing up soon with mid morning majors and early and late afternoon minors.
Redfish continue to provide the best action possible. Pods are all over the place and are appearing to be less spooky. Can we attribute this to the new boat traffic. I strongly believe this off-season, everyone with a job decided it was time to buy a new boat. Why won't TPWD or the Texas Highway Department require everyone to get a boater's operation license before they can get on the water? Just a thought!
Tarpon and snook have returned in great numbers this year. Actually have seen, and landed a few very beautiful snook. Although Texas does have a 1 a day bag limit, please if you or a buddy does catch one please practice catch and release as soon as possible. Snook are a magnificent and aggressive fish that we need to ensure propagates successfully into all of our Texas estuaries.
To assuage any fears about the brown tide, there remains some very nasty water near the land cut, but as predicted, our strong south winds blew everything out of the Lagoon and back north. Clear water can be found everywhere and visibility even in the harbor is almost back to normal with 2 to 3 feet of clarity. And yes, we have a greater number of sharks in the bay this year than what appears to be normal. All have been very human wary and with us running 5 to 8 boats daily, we have not lost a stringer. However, if the toothy critters are a concern bring a 20' stringer, or better yet, just catch and release!
