Estes Flats Sep 3-4

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Ron Mc
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Estes Flats Sep 3-4

Post by Ron Mc »

When Ida tinkering sent me to the AP tide predictor, found several days of big harmonics and my favorite timing to fish the cuts at Estes.
The biggest tide swing was Friday, with a 5 am high tide, which gives a good tide current for stacking bait in the passes at first light.
I began checking with friends to see who could play - no trouble getting Lou and Tony to volunteer.
We went down Thursday evening (ate at Moon Dog's), and launched at dark-thirty Fri morning.

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After our 3-mi paddle, first-light at Little Cut was everything promised - the bait were running into each other, the tide flow was so strong it created eddies.
Redfish were rolling on the surface like tarpon. Tony was catching ladyfish on his fly rod, and right off, Lou caught three 14-inch snook.

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Friday was an amazing day in many ways, and a strange day for me - I just couldn't bring a fish to hand.
Whatever the reds were rolling on, I couldn't match the hatch.
YoZuri wake bait made the exact pattern of the bait in the cut, no takers.
The smallest thing I brought was 3" Z-man on 1/8-oz Texas eye jighead.
Every cast, the little snook attacked it, and my couple of hook-ups shook me off.

As always on our favorite drill, when the pass quieted about 9 am, we moved back onto Estes to drift fish.
Wind was SSW, the cloud cover and threat of rain made an extremely pleasant morning.
For most of the morning, rained all around us and never on us.
I hooked a solid red that hauled me too close to an anchored boat and a good bitching out - and the fish came unhooked right at the boat - my story for all of Friday.

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Lou described a 24" flounder he brought to the boat, and it finally came unhooked.
About 11 am it looked like the rain was finally going to catch us, Tony and I retreated to Sandy Point for food and beer.
Sure enough, we got sheets of heavy rain with a 30-kt gale, and watched Lou disappear up Trout Bayou.
Strangest thing, our pleasant morning disappeared with that squall.
As soon as the cloud passed, the flat turned to dead calm and brutal sun.

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We made one last foray to the duck blinds, where I brought two more redfish to the boat, but no farther, and this little fella was my only fish to handle on Friday.

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Friday was Lou's day, with a slot red and a keeper trout.

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Dinner Friday night was Mexican seafood at Los Comales.

Saturday, Labor Day weekend, not a great day to cross the ferry, so we ran our Estes drill the second day.
There was plenty of bait but no gamefish in Little Cut.
With light SE wind, paddled onto Aransas Bay and instantly found trout. It started off bad,
I had a big trout almost to the boat and one of her head shakes tore the hook - this drift has always been big trout water for me.
Hoping not to have a repeat of Friday, and this was my first fish to hand.

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Lou was done with Little Cut, paddled into my drift right after I lost the big girl, said he was heading to Estes, and we followed.
Surprisingly, there were fewer boats on Estes Saturday than we found there on Friday.
The SSW wind was perfect for drifting between the two duck blinds between Big Cut and Little Cut.
On every drift, we hit a pod of aggressive redfish - most were 17-18", and I managed one 20 for half-shell fillets.

One
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Two
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Three
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Two of those reds took off as soon as the lure hit the water. The third one made me retrieve 10' first.
No clouds for us on Saturday, we headed in at 11:30. Tony caught an undersized flounder.
Last one off the flat, Tony caught a 17" red on his last cast.

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BTW, the mangroves on Talley Is. were sprouting green shoots - they're going to come back from the freeze damage.

Grabbed a Steer Burger on our way out of town.
Great times, great friends. We had a really awesome two days.
arley
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Re: Estes Flats Sep 3-4

Post by arley »

But where is Estes flats?
you can tune a piano,but you can't tuna fish.
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Ron Mc
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Re: Estes Flats Sep 3-4

Post by Ron Mc »

Interactive Map

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between the barrier islands, the Texas coast has 15,000 sq-mi less than 2' deep - Estes is one little slice.
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Last edited by Ron Mc on Fri Sep 10, 2021 6:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
Paul Roberts
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Re: Estes Flats Sep 3-4

Post by Paul Roberts »

Always good to get some days out, even the tough ones.
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Ron Mc
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Re: Estes Flats Sep 3-4

Post by Ron Mc »

hi Paul, this was a textbook dues-paid run.
We had a blast. Everything happened as good as it looked on paper. In hindsight, wish I'd grabbed a box with the smaller wakebaits.
The sub-tropical heat is still extreme, so the cloud cover was just about the best part of the trip. We had narrow tide and drift windows, which we planned, read, and took advantage.

I ran out of things to prove decades ago.
I'm in it for the gestalt - the sum of what makes traveling, kayaking and fishing with friends such a great combination.

The paddling is great - 7 or 8 mi in a fishing morning is good for you - then throw in everything around and beneath you - the life on the flats, and a wondrous concentration of life in a tide pass.
How your rigging and gear functions is enjoyable.
Times with friends, soft-shell crab poorboy at Moon Dog's - if you catch fish - it's all gravy - you've had a blast just getting there.

Even a filthy fishing shack.
This trip, brought a DVD player, and in the evenings we watched The Long Riders and Predestination, neither of which Lou had seen. The Harveyville fishing shack we rent needs the distraction, but somehow it's part of the fun, and Lisa there makes every effort for us. We paid $25/night/ea. for a rack and kitchen, and Lisa lets us pack out late and shower before we go.

We run this drill about 2 or 3 times/yr, always based on tide chart, and rarest from May to Sept because of the heat.

We have a big group meeting up first weekend in November, at a friend's nice family digs on Copano Bay - the annual Redfish Rodeo.
A dozen kayakers will sweep through for 5 days of fishing different flats up to about a 40-mi drive from the digs.
The evenings are feasting, crab boil, more great times with friends. This was last year, and a couple of us have fished together for 20 years.
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I'm 3rd from the right. On the left, Whit's been fishing with me and my dad 20 years.
Young Josh fishes way ahead of his generation - he always jokes how all his fishing friends are in their 60s and 70s - we're the only ones who can keep up with him.
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Last edited by Ron Mc on Mon Sep 13, 2021 7:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
Paul Roberts
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Re: Estes Flats Sep 3-4

Post by Paul Roberts »

Wonderful! The kind of healthy living people were built for! :) Great bunch of friends you’ve got there.
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Shellbelly
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Re: Estes Flats Sep 3-4

Post by Shellbelly »

What a trip!! I'm trembling to get my gills wet. We just moved back toward the coast and some old fishing haunts around Matagorda are calling me out. Nice to hear salty stories and see the photos. thanks for sharing!
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john elder
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Re: Estes Flats Sep 3-4

Post by john elder »

👍👍👍
ORCA member since 1999
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Specializing in saltwater reels...and fly reels...and oh, yeah, kentucky style reels.....and those tiny little RP reels.....oh, heck...i collect fishing reels!...and fly rods....and lures
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Ron Mc
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Re: Estes Flats Sep 3-4

Post by Ron Mc »

Shellbelly wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 5:27 pm What a trip!! I'm trembling to get my gills wet. We just moved back toward the coast and some old fishing haunts around Matagorda are calling me out. Nice to hear salty stories and see the photos. thanks for sharing!
launch at Charlie's and fish Shoalwater Bay.
You might want to visit TKF forum. My buddy Josh and his sister Nina have just rescued the domain and 20-year archive from oblivion. Up-to-date fishing reports, rigging archives, kayak classifieds, and lifetime fishing friends connected.

Here's the kind of things you can find there - Josh's interactive map with every kayak launch on the TX coast

Josh's spreadsheet on Kayaks, PFDs, & Paddles - Google Sheets
Note he has filters for price, recommended use, pedal drive, etc.
Josh worked through college rigging kayaks at Jerry B's in Corpus
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