Flounder in the River? What? 6/27/05 Labonte Park

Date Fished: 06/27/05 Water Temperature: n/a Water Clarity: clear

Went fishing with Nih over at the Nueces River Park chasing the ever illusive Big Mouth Sleeper. The water was flowing a lot more than the last time I went so the water was pretty choppy but there was still lots of action in the water. Managed a few small catfish on dead bait and a popping cork. Nih used a rootbeer colored worm on the bottem and ended up with about a 12 inch flounder. This was a first for me, I have never in my life heard of a flounder being caught at Nueces River but I guess there are lots of salt water species in the brackish water. He was throwing the lure directly into the rapids and letting the current carry it down. I tried the same method and got one strike but didn't catch anything with the lure. Nice afternoon fishing but no sign of the Big Mouth Sleeper like the monster Sam caught here a few days ago... I am going to invest in some inline spinners and try my luck again there soon.

There were tons of big blue crab spotted at the dam as well. Saw a couple of guys down the way pulling them in left and right. I might have to go back and try loading up on some this weekend.

Late Night Trout at Humble Channel-2

Date Fished: 06/24/05 Water Temperature: 0 Water Clarity: 0

Had a weird day of fishing. My brother and I set out on a small run to humble channel after noticing birds around the bridge.
Using a high tides lure, we managed to catch almost 20 fish. Most were small 15 inches, but it sure was fun. But our fun was short lived because of braided line. Oh how I love and hate it.

Padre Island-Bob Hall Pier Open Again

Date Fished: 06/19/05 Water Temperature: 0 Water Clarity: 0

I couldn't wait to fish at one of the best places I grew up fishing. It's been closed for a several months now due to re-modeling, but Bob Hall Pier is finally open again. Unfortunately I am not the only one who felt that way. I have never seen so many people fishing under one light. It was totally ridiculous. The sad part was that is where the fish where. I saw about 50 good sized trout being caught in a matter of an hour. I would have stayed longer, but it really ruins the whole experience with that many people fighting for spots. The smart fisherman that day where the waders fishing the lights at the bottom of the Pier. Most people where using live shrimp on a popping cork, I caught mine using a rootbeer sand eel.

Late Night Laguna Fishing

Date Fished: 06/17/05 Water Temperature: 0 Water Clarity: 0

Fishing late at night till early morning is no easy task. After few late night beers Stephen, Gil and I found a new sweet spot to fish close to the JFK causeway. The fishing was long and slow, but when we had bites they were quality bites. Using live shrimp with or without a small Carolina rig we all managed to catch something. Gil landed a monster 27" red and we both also caught a couple of nice sized flounder. Stephen however had only this night to fish and unfortunately after driving 6 hours only awarded him his first dog fish.

Trout at Humble

Date Fished: 06/01/05 and 06/02/05 Water Temperature: warm Water Clarity: clear

You guys up in Dallas missed out on some prime fishing here in Corpus the past couple of days. Headed out with Levar to Humble Channel June 1st. The water was clear and we were wading out on the North side of the bridge. The shrimp were thick in the water as well as the trout. There were so many trout that you could literally net them right in front of you if you were quick enough. We took home 15 good sized keepers and threw back probably 10-12 keepers right at 15 inches. It was a great night for fishing. All trout were 16 to 19 inches. All fish were caught on lures as well. I caught the majority of mine on a rootbeer Cocahoe Minnow with chartrese tail and salt and pepper sand eel with a chartrese tail. I tried a couple of DOA shrimp and caught only small trout with them. The sand eels worked really well.

The night before was so good we decided to do it again yesterday. We headed out about 8:30 and got our spot back but word of mouth spreads quickly in Corpus and with 15 minutes people started comming out of the woodwork. By 9:00 there was almost no room to fish at all and boats had even moved in. Needless to say there were quite a few tangled lines but everyone was pretty nice and everyone managed to get a piece of the action. We took home another 15 but the size of the trout were much smaller than they had been the night before (15 to 16 inches). All my fish were caught again on salt and pepper sand eel plastics with chartrese tails. All in all it was still a fine fishing trip but I am gonna give Humble a rest until early next week because I have a strange feeling that it is going to be packed as hell out there this weekend.