Neumie's redfish rodeo

[Ron Mc]

Lou and I were happy to be invited to join Josh and old friends for 5 days of coast kayak fishing, and to stay in his great family digs at Liveoak Point on Copano Bay.
The threat of Thursday's rain and big blow slowed us down by two days, and turned it into a 3 day trip.

The trip was a feast, if not a kayak fishing bacchanal - all of us certainly know how to eat, drink, and smoke cigars, and do it well, also all know our way around a kitchen.
Josh's cooking is exceptional, and that perfect shrimp creole when we arrived is just one example.

[Ron Mc]

Friday was fishing our old friend Estes Flats and Trout Bayou on a NNE.
The incoming tide should stack fish at the inside of the passes to Aransas Bay, and the wind is a perfect drift down the length of Trout Bayou.
As always, Lou's the first one paddling, but we got him back to the beach for a group photo.

We were off like a herd of turtles for our 3-mile paddle, and the sun was already up - to the right is Sandy Point - when we get there, that's the first mile.

Lou, Josh, William and I each spent a little time wading the hardpack beach at Trout Bayou cut.
Rat reds were stacked at the corner of Traylor Is., right where they ought to be, and I got my first redfish on my UL baitcaster. Even with a first rat it was about as much fun as a fly rod red.

The real day, was drifting Trout Bayou, and everyone found nice fish, especially big trout - Josh brought home a 21"
My day was five 18-19" reds, of course several small rats, though I did get a 22" to fillet.

This beautiful hardpack beach on Talley Is., we call Lunch Beach - that's Lou drifting by

Lou released a beautiful 26" sow trout to keep breeding little trout in Trout Bayou - his lifetime best

the photo from Lou's phone.

Lou and I were back first to Palm Harbor, and filleted our fish there

I got photos of everybody coming in - Josh and Nina

Whit

William

Everyone else took their stringers back to Copano to fillet, and the pelicans lined up for fish carcasses

Friday evening we had a culinary feast at 495 Chesapeake Eats in Rockport, and Lou picked up the tab - I think this made serious karma for his fishing -
- and I know he wants it to get him a return invite.
Their calamari and crab dip were outstanding, their stuffed flounder special was better than any I've tried elsewhere, and Lou made a great call on an aged rye Old Fashioned, which I was smart enough to duplicate.

[Ron Mc]

Saturday, we crossed the ferry at Port Aransas to Mustang Is and Island Moorings Marina to fish East Flats.
We had to be off the water at 2pm, because Nina coaches her daughter's volleyball team, and learned the evening before they made the playoffs.

Unfortunately, Lou and I were staged on the ramp, had to launch before a boat backed down, and our partners had to wait out two more boat launches before they could play.
We paddled out first to East Flats.

What we didn't know, our friends stayed in the boat channel to fish the cuts onto East Flats and East Flats Lake

We had two fairly boring drifts diagonal across East Flats, Lou was happy with a keeper trout and rat red, but I was shut out.
We spent the rest of the day looking for our friends on East Flats Lake, and paddled 8 miles - it was a beautiful day.

But our friends caught 100 trout, mostly dinks, and Josh boated a keeper limit.
I would have given anything to be there with my UL.
Maybe I'll have to buy Josh a VHF - I don't do cell phones on the water.

So my Saturday was about food - Whit's famous ceviche, spec fillet cooked by key lime juice, and mostly chopped by William.


Josh's perfect and rightly famous shimp boil.

A great time around the firepit, and serious libation.

[Ron Mc]

Sunday was also a short day - we had to be off the water at 11 am, time to clean up and pack out.
We picked Estes again for the easy logistics and light NE.
At least we got a good start - this is rounding Talley Is and aiming E to Little Cut

stopped paddling again to shoot this nice sunrise effect - you can make out Little Cut on the left and note the sunrise declination to the south - Little Cut is due E.

A short visit to Little Cut without any action, and then rode the NE between the two duck blinds between Little Cut and Big Cut.
Two drifts, a 19" and 18" redfish for me.
And sorry, I think there's shrimp boil on my polarizer.

The lure is Z-man 3" minnow on Z-man Texas-eye jighead - the color is Mood Ring, reflects blue and transmits pink, a great combination for morning low-angle sunlight.
A Z-man note - make sure you keep Z-man plastic separate from all your other plastic lures - they use a different plasticizer that will react with other plastics and melt the lures together.

After another drift and a half without fish, I made the long paddle back to Lunch Beach for a final drift down Trout Bayou and Talley shore.
That was also mostly fruitless, though when I got to the mouth of the big Talley slough, I found a thousand rat reds that would try to impale your lure until your took it out of the water.

Lou got his best red of the trip.


Great times with great friends, and Josh and Nina are amazing hosts.

One more photo - learned this from Josh, and the only way I'll ever cook redfish again.

[Ron Mc]

Josh's paddling trails from GPS record
http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/foru ... 1#p2323961

http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/foru ... 2#p2323962

http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/foru ... 8&t=254199


the author

[Paul Roberts]

Wonderful adventure, Ron. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Ron Mc]

Thanks Paul. Without you, I'd think I have a tough audience here.
We have the Spencer Bell house in Arroyo City for the Dec. new moon coming up in 2 weeks - right now it's me and Lou with proposal out to a couple more friends.
It's the ulitimate nite-lite dock fishing, where schoolie trout come to you every night.

[Stef Duma]

I am envious, great pictures and write up.

[Ron Mc]

Thanks Stefan, we fish all winter here - it's mostly too hot to fish in the summer, though.
In salt sloughs in our summers, you can find dead bait and gamefish that chased them, both ran out of oxygen.
We retreat to hill country creeks and cypress tunnels in summer.

You would like the history of the property on Liveoak Point.

Josh's ranching family has leased 10 acres here for generations.

It's the highest point on the Texas coast, and guarded the pass to the Copano Bay reefs, which was the first port in Texas.
They ran wagons onto the reefs to offload ships.
It was the first Spanish fort in Texas. The point was a Texian fort in the revolution.
Empresario John Power, who brought 400 families from Ireland in 1820, built the house here for his Texian bride, Dolores Portilla. Half of those families died from cholera picked up at their landing in New Orleans. Half of those on the final leg shipwrecked on San Jose Island and were slowly ferried inland.
Dolores nursed the Welder family back to health from cholera. She had only daughters, who married the Welder sons, and the Welders still own the point.

[Mike N]

Ron-

I just saw this. Looks like a some great fishing and even better eating. Thanks for sharing that adventure. I sent the link to one of my sons who is a kayak fisherman, and his response was, “That’s exactly how it’s done when it’s done right.”

Mike N

[Ron Mc]

Ron-

I just saw this. Looks like a some great fishing and even better eating. Thanks for sharing that adventure. I sent the link to one of my sons who is a kayak fisherman, and his response was, “That’s exactly how it’s done when it’s done right.”

Mike N

Thanks Mike,
Josh's annual fall feast is one we hope never to miss.
Another we never miss is fishing a (Texas) winter new moon on the Arroyo Colorado barge canal in far S. Texas, and I just posted a new thread from the weekend.