Re: SHORT UPDATE 3/23/09 Big Fish
Kudos to Capt. Bruce for pointing folks in the right direction. 8)
I live in San Antonio but I grew up in the Valley. We used to wade fish Port Mansfield from the Arroyo to the cut and have always done pretty good. Though I must say that the trout fishing had been tough the last few years. I promised my son (down from A&M) and fishing buddy from Harlingen to a old school wading trip. We took out our lucky 22ft Bluewave and went south last week on 03/17 and 03/18 just like Capt Bruce had been hinting to one of my favorite wading spots. We saw Mike McBride and Trish driving by and we knew we were in the right spot. I shared with my son old school fishing with a new tools. We went with 8 and 10 lb Berkley clear line with 20 lb. fluoro leaders on small Penn Reels locked on some new cool 7th Spiffy fishing sticks that my friend Kevin Shaw sold me at the San Antonio boat show. We were blessed with cool low winds and sunshine. I must say that I was totally surprised by the bite that day. It took us about 30 minutes to find the right lure. All I can say is that Terry Neil used to use the color to bust the big trouts.
We had a 3 hour session of arm bending trout fishing that I had not seen in 15+ years. We kept 5 fat trout and my son got to meet several monster reds and let them go because we forgot our real wading gear.(Net, wading belt, pliers) The following day the trout did not cooperate but they were there. I saw huge 28 to 32 inch trout slashing some type of bait hanging 10 ft from the shore line. The reds made up for the lazy fat trout with bellys full of mullet. All I can say is maybe the trout limits and limited fishing last year have made for an awesome fishing, like the good old days. We wrapped up our trip with a early dinner at El Jefe's. What a great place with wonderful folks and great food. Next fishing project is to get my other son from UT down there in next few weeks while the trout get even fatter for the April giant bite.
I hope you folks have a great day.
Carlos
