2019 Fishing - Bent rods and tight lines

[justhookit 4174]

On 7/11/2019 at 11:50 AM, hrmaddie said:

Yeah it's crazy the quality of fish that he catches, I just wish he would give me some of the meat.  He loves it though.  I think one time he went 4-6 miles in a friggin kayak, too far for me.  He seems to be safe about it, emergency phone, beacon, etc.  

Wait, you want to eat kingfish?

[justhookit 4174]

On 7/11/2019 at 7:52 PM, fattyflattie said:

I was about 10 miles off the day after those storms last week, in a good sized pad V, and it sucked balls coming in at ~18-20 mph.   We were watching for them which is why we stayed close, but by the time lines went up and everything stowed it was rough. The wind gets out front of those storms many times.  

Hrmaddie, I noticed he had quite a bit of safety gear.  And he was using the foot paddle kayak, which has to help.  But had that shark took a nip off him or big hook in hand or whatever 100000000 ways to get hurt out there, he’s in a bind. I’m fishing an offshore tournament next weekend. I’ll give you literally as much kingfish meat as you can handle.  

I went through one of those storms about 12 years ago. Here’s a cut and paste from a fishing board I post on. At the time I didn’t mention it because I didn’t want to embarrass the coast guard, but I think I can mention it now. The frogman they dropped out of the helicopter got seasick within about 5 minutes of hitting our deck. Nasty storm.

6/5 offshore Port A storm/rescue - Tina Three Our boat was the one that made the Corpus TV news. Here's our story. We fish on a 33foot Bertram out of PortA a couple of times a week weather permitting . . . . a few posters have started threads below about what happened on Tuesday offshore and all I can add is that no matter what anyone tells you, it was probably worse that you'll ever believe. We left the dock at 6:30 heading for Southern as we'd had a hot school-size wahoo bite for the last week hitting weed lines 30-45 miles out. Once we got to the buoy we found a 24ish center console tied up to the buoy and after a few trolls around without landing anything other than small bonita, we picked up and headed further offshore. 5 miles or so past Southern we found a decent rip and dropped back some big trolling baits as we continued out offshore . . . a few minutes later we picked up the storm heading our way. My first thought was I hope the center console punched thru the squall line ok, and that was about all I had time to think as the damned thing was moving so fast it go on top of us 15 minutes later. 2 foot seas changed to 6 foot in minutes and we had water spouts ahead and to both sides. On board we had two licensed 6pack captains and myself - combined we've seen a lot of storms in the gulf and were't expecting anything different. We were wrong. A few minutes in and seas were up to about 10 foot with 70+ mph winds. We put both captains on the bridge while I stayed on deck to watch things below. After about 20 minutes of pounding into the storm it lightened up briefly, but then it got worse and we were taking waves up over the bridge and I had to duck down below the overhang so as not to get washed overboard. We had water all over the deck but it seemed to be pumping out fine until I realized the water was actually not coming over the bow but thru the cabin. Not good. I turned around and basically saw something that looked like someone had stuck 2 fire hoses into our v-berth and turned them onto full spray. I yelled at our second captain to come down and ended up having to grab his leg as of course he couldn't hear a freaking thing I was saying. Once he got down we both went up to see why we were taking on so much water and saw that there were docking lights installed in the bow of our hull . . . they had been punched out by the waves and we were basically going to go down bow first. We both grabbed pillows and life jackets to stuff into the holes but we were pounding so hard that we'd get knnocked off, take a face full of water, and then have to crawl back up to the holes. Since we really weren't able to help things I went thru the cabin and back up to the bridge to let the captain know we needed to call in a mayday to the coast guard. The work boat Southern Dancer picked us up and relayed our distress call to the CG and then immediately headed our way. They were an hour out and the CG chopper was flying a search and rescue pattern from a reported flare not too far from us so we informed them of our situation, gave our position and tried to save the boat. Meanwhile, the CG jet Falcon flew to us and circled to keep an eye on us. We had one guy up in the berth doing his best to keep whatever pressure he could using pillows and such in the holes but it was just too rough to keep from being knocked away. The bilge pumps couldn't keep up with that much water so we started porpoising into the waves. I grabbed all of our EPIRB/rescue/flotation devices and headed on deck one more time. At this point I"d guess we were in 80mph straight line winds with water spouts everywhere and 12-16 foot seas. And oh yeah to top it off we were getting electric shocked by the water because we couldn't get to the switch box to turn off the electronics/lights/generator because the water was moving so fast thru the cabin. Then it let up. Some. We were able to make a 180 and start to back into the storm and that's what saved everything. We pulled an intake hose off and stuck it into the engine compartment to suck that water out. THe seas kept coming down and we were able to keep backing in a circle until the CG helo got to us. They dropped a swimmer to us, dropped a pump, and stayed with us until we got the bow out of the water. About that point the Southern Dancer boat that relayed our initial call got there so the CG helo pulled off of us and went back for refueling. Awhile later we got both engines fired so we were able to run nose high at @ 13 knots in to PortA accompanied by Southern Dancer for the first 10 miles, and then the CG cutter Amberjack followed us all the way in to home. Once home we went thru the standard boarding and one of the CG guys mentioned that we might have tried throwing one of our tarps over the bow and let the wave pressure fix it to see if that would have plugged the two holes. In another situation that might have worked, but in those seas any of us that even tried to walk out onto the bow would have been thrown overboard instantly. By the time it calmed enough to even attempt such a thought, we were already backing down.  Anyway, MANY, MANY thanks to our awesome coast guard and the Southern Dancer.

[pevodog 14]

The Trinity river is finally dropped after 9 months of being out of the banks. Plan on going and fishing the wells this Saturday in Trinity Bay.

[tequila 317]

Heading up to Pagosa Springs for a week with the family.  I think I'm going to have a few days that I can sneak away and wet a line.  Any recs for a guide?  I know next to nothing about freshwater fly fishing, but would like to try it out.  I have a 5wt rod/reel I can most likely use, but don't have any other gear. 

 

Thanks in advance.

[Jhawk 1075]

Alright gents... looking to outfit a fishing boat and need a fishfinder recommendation.  Lake fishing at Beaver Lake in AR.  It's a deep lake (250'+).  Probably want to keep it under $500 but not sure if that gets me to the need.  I'd like to plot courses and mark where we find fish.  Need a good display, something that is useful but not so many functions that you don't use half of them.  Going on a 17' custom made bass boat.

[The Royal We 3065]

I put a Hummingbird Helix 9 on my bass boat last year and have been very happy with it.  I don't use all of its capabilities, but it's fairly easy to operate and the level of detail you can see is nutty.  It's pretty entertaining to ride around at night with the side imaging on and see all of the fallen timber/structure that I never knew was there.  I fish on a pretty shallow lake and I will say that when the grass beds start to get thick in the summertime that its usefulness is diminished significantly.

[Sbbruin 21704]

Headed to Catalina tomorrow on my buddy's Cabo 48 for the weekend.  Yellowtail action has been good if not inconsistent out there.  Buncha guys I've known since junior HS.  Lots of immaturity will be coupled with our fishing.

 

Ended up getting the Diawa Lexa 300.  Looks like it'll be perfect.

[TwiceHorn 31240]

On 7/2/2019 at 9:24 PM, Lat22 said:

Couple of first time catches in the canal today.

Fun story.  A few years back the gar got so plentiful on Lake Lavon that some entity put a small bounty on them.  So some coonass type started fishing them with "trotlines," baited treble hooks tied to bleach jugs and staked to the bottom.

He'd then go out on a jon boat and chase down the jugs that moved.  It was almost exactly like a small-time version of Jaws.  Bobbing jug, boat approaches, jug takes off and goes under a little, finally catch up to it, lasso it, pull "in" a 4-6' alligator gar.

[Zwylde 810]

Major surprise on Saturday when this guy surfaced.  Was targeting flounder by bumping a GULP shrimp off the bottom.  Shocked to say the least.  I know they are fairly common in Matagorda and further south but this one came from West Bay Galveston.  Fillets just like snapper or grouper.  Delicious!  

 

 

[Slacks 6791]

Major surprise on Saturday when this guy surfaced.  Was targeting flounder by bumping a GULP shrimp off the bottom.  Shocked to say the least.  I know they are fairly common in Matagorda and further south but this one came from West Bay Galveston.  Fillets just like snapper or grouper.  Delicious!  
 

 

I caught a 34" Saturday in Matagorda off Fish Bites... I have a pic, but Tapa...

[Brew 3045]

4 hours ago, Snacks said:

8 hours ago, Zwylde said:

Major surprise on Saturday when this guy surfaced.  Was targeting flounder by bumping a GULP shrimp off the bottom.  Shocked to say the least.  I know they are fairly common in Matagorda and further south but this one came from West Bay Galveston.  Fillets just like snapper or grouper.  Delicious!  
 

 

Read more  

I caught a 34" Saturday in Matagorda off Fish Bites... I have a pic, but Tapa...

You can attach pictures directly to your post now. Just click the “click to choose files” button and attach it from your phone.

[fattyflattie 4636]

@justhookit I don’t want to longcat your post but will say I can respect all of that. The main battle wagon I ride on these days is a 35’ Bert, and I read your post on the way down to fish a small tournament off her this weekend. Of course she has (non-working) docking lights!   The captain (who’s had her for 20 years) said he believes they are bulkheaded off but I bet he checks on them again shortly.  But she chewed up and spit out the seas this weekend as usual. VERY slowly, but comfortably. 

We didn’t do anything in the tournament this year but did get a glimpse of a sail about 33 miles out. Drug around for an hour but only a king knocked one down.  Oh well a great day with friends and I have 7 meals of snapper and the wife is happier than shit about that. 

[Ted Dantzler 144]

Went trout fishing on the N Platte in WY a couple of weeks ago.

[Ted Dantzler 144]

Also hit up the valentine national refuge in the Sand Hills of NE. Found a nice honey hole in a 5 ft wide outlet stream and pulled some good sized bass out along with a pike.

[crash_davis 23081]

you caught those fish in that little ass stream?

[Ted Dantzler 144]

1 hour ago, crash_davis said:

you caught those fish in that little ass stream?

Yup, was an outlet from a larger lake. Caught around 10 bass and that 1 pike in less than 2 hrs. 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/42%C2%B032'45.7%22N+100%C2%B036'31.9%22W/@42.546016,-100.608859,649m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d42.546016!4d-100.608859

[Braff Zacklin 13406]

Few things more satisfying as a fisherman than pulling mid- to large-sized specimens out of small water.

Well done, sir.

Edited July 29, 2019 by Braff Zacklin

[troph 24560]

My youngest is hooked I think. We were offshore fishing in PV and it was a crappy day caught three small black fin tuna that’s it. But it turns out my 9 year old liked it a lot and the main reason was he “didn’t need any help bringing the fish in” so while my 14 year old moaned about how bad it was my little man saved the day going on and on about it and even exclaiming how great the ceviche tasted.

[Steel Shank 9409]

This time of year, where's the best place in/around Austin to take a youngster fishing? Just looking to do a little catch and release for fun.

[Mac8111 2103]

Friday, pops and I waded POC. Trout limit by 9am. Couple fat 20 inches in there. The bite was on. Josie’s grilled them up for lunch that day.

Saturday, we took the two boys with us, same spot, one fucking keeper. I had all the girls go out with a guide and they crushed it. 17 trout, 4 big reds, and 1 flounder. My daughter had two nice reds and my mom’s was 27”. We met them over at Sunday beach so they could get sand dollars. I walked about 20 feet in the water barefoot to see their fish and something poked me between the toes. Toes started throbbing. My best guess is a got nicked by a hard head. Hurt for about two hours. Hopefully my foot doesn’t fall off.


Pops closed on a house finally in POC, so I definitely will be able sneak in some more weekday fishing.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[fattyflattie 4636]

2 hours ago, Mac8111 said:

Pops closed on a house finally in POC, so I definitely will be able sneak in some more weekday fishing. 

That’s awesome.  I’ve been toying with getting a (small) place down there.  Can’t swing the fancy new shit on the ICW but thinking about picking up an in town lot in the next year.  The “where to send your kids to college” thread on the other boards have officially killed my dreams of Key Allegro.  

[fattyflattie 4636]

3 hours ago, Mac8111 said:

Double post. 

Edited July 30, 2019 by fattyflattie

[Pescado_Rojo 19330]

52 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

That’s awesome.  I’ve been toying with getting a (small) place down there.  Can’t swing the fancy new shit on the ICW but thinking about picking up an in town lot in the next year.  The “where to send your kids to college” thread on the other boards have officially killed my dreams of Key Allegro.  

I've thought about that, too...but launching a boat at a public ramp in POC is maybe the biggest shit show on the entire Texas coast. I've looked at Swan Point Landing in Seadrift and an interior lot in the Sanctuary, too. Swan Point would be awesome if it was more sheltered. I wouldn't be excited about launching at their ramp then having to beat ass in a skiff across open water San Antonio and ESB to get to the back side of the island. I don't know what's up with the sanctuary...For what those interior lots are selling for, you'd think they would be sold out but that's not the case. Location is great, amenities are great...I don't get it. Deed restrictions make construction too expensive? HOA fees ridiculous?  Those outer ring lots are so cheap I've thought about buying one just so I could use their ramp and facilities. 

[fattyflattie 4636]

Pescado, I’ve thought the same thing wrt Sanctuary.  I also saw the entire remaining unsold portions were for sale.  My fear would be someone grabs it on the cheap and finishes in out in less than stellar fashion. I also saw on that listing that there are 5-6 commercial lots at the entrance. I’m not trying to have the next speedy stop at the front of my pristine vacation hood.  Also, don’t know how often you get in there, but the gate codes aren’t exactly a secret with the locals.   Their HOA is around 2100/yr iirc. But some of the lots sub 10k, does make you think if you can get your $$$ out of it.  The ramp is nice.  My concern is how long are the facilities going to stay nice?  I was cleaning fish there last week and you can already see the wear setting (it’s coastal after all) 

I typically don’t have issues at the public ramps down there, but I’m an early riser (when fishing anyhow). Coming back in is busy sometimes but that’s just what it is I suppose. 

[Pescado_Rojo 19330]

I'm still kicking myself for not buying that trailer in Shoalwater Flats 5 years ago for $45K. The last thing I saw for sale in there last year was a pre-built 2 bedroom cabin (like the ones you see for sale on the side of the road) on stilts that sold for $125K in about a week. 

[Lerka Lerka 1084]

We launched out of Froggies a couple of weekends ago.  Typically we launch out of Charlies.  But the wind was right to fish the surf so we launched out of POC.  I had to park and jog about 5 minutes to get back to the boat launch. Wind switched late afternoon so we launched out of Charlies the next day and fished Shoalwater.  Great couple of days fishing.  Some big trout in the surf and some Spanish Mackerel.  Man, those mackerel are ferocious.  Broke off about 5 times in less than 2 hours.  First time I ever caught a shark on topwater.   We got on the reds good and a few trout mixed in the following day.  Had to leave them biting to head back home.   Hard to beat fresh redfish on the half shell...

The BIL of one of my friends bought a lot in the Sanctuary years back.  Last I heard, he was trying to unload it.  There were some issues, but I can't recall.  I'll inquire and report back for those interested. 

[justhookit 4174]

I haven’t heard anything and haven’t asked, but there almost has to be something up at Sanctuary. We’ve kept a boat there  a few times during POCO and Lonestar Shootout and it’s great. So much better than dinging your props (or worse) in the shithole of a marina at Caracol. Every freaking year there are multiple boats with issues.

[Mac8111 2103]

That new RV park in POC wants $850 per month.  lol.

Edited July 30, 2019 by Mac8111

[Hook1997 5270]

One of the things with the Sanctuary I think not taking off is the building requirements in size and style.  After you buy the lot you better be ready to spend a good chunk of money on building a vacation house.

Edited July 30, 2019 by Hook1997

[Pescado_Rojo 19330]

The only thing I've been able to find in my admittedly limited googling is that back in 09-10 the management company filed for BK and nothing was getting taken care of at the property, but nothing bad recently. 

I mean, I could go write a check tomorrow for one of the $5,000 outer ring lots. If HOA and taxes are $150/Mo, that's not too bad for a private ramp and cleaning station, then having the ability to drag the cooler over to a nice pool and cool off and have a few brews before using the showers and heading back to Seadrift or POC for dinner. Do that for a few years until I could build something or flip the lot for a little profit. Now if the dead restrictions say I've got to build a 2,000 sq ft house @ $300 sq ft level of finish out, that would change the calculus. 

[Hook1997 5270]

Yup I know like 6 years ago the building requirements were atleast 2,000 sq ft with a small choice of builders to choose from to use. 

[justhookit 4174]

It’s pretty much impossible regardless of who the builder is to build anything other than basic, basic quality in Port A now for less than 200/ft and I imagine it would be similar or more at Sanctuary. Quotes for my house came in 200-270 in January and I’d bet if I got new ones now it’d be even higher.

As y’all know Port A is starting to price a lot of people out of their vacation/retirement home plans. My guess is Port O’Connor is next.

[fattyflattie 4636]

I have a buddy that bought a decent inner lot house on foreclosure for 400k. 

Pescado, that math works pretty good. Like I said, I just don’t know what it’s going to be 10 yrs from now.  I don’t like all the docking they had planned, but my biggie is the commercial out front. Y’all know POC, that could be the next mobile park right in front of the hood. Fuck that. 

[fattyflattie 4636]

1 hour ago, justhookit said:

We’ve kept a boat there  a few times during POCO and Lonestar Shootout and it’s great. So much better than dinging your props (or worse) in the shithole of a marina at Caracol.

I still don’t know how the  C’est la Vie, No Comprimise, and even Mech Man class back in there to weigh.  

[Hook1997 5270]

15 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

I have a buddy that bought a decent inner lot house on foreclosure for 400k. 

Pescado, that math works pretty good. Like I said, I just don’t know what it’s going to be 10 yrs from now.  I don’t like all the docking they had planned, but my biggie is the commercial out front. Y’all know POC, that could be the next mobile park right in front of the hood. Fuck that. 

That’s a pretty good deal then, there’s nothing under 500k mostly above 570k and up listed under the property values on lots with houses.  The builders they use quote above 250ft for the requirements.  

[fattyflattie 4636]

There’s a nice foreclosed one right now. Or as of a week or so ago.  ~500-ish iirc.  3400 ft^2 

[justhookit 4174]

36 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

I still don’t know how the  C’est la Vie, No Comprimise, and even Mech Man class back in there to weigh.  

Ha I know. And with so many boats now in the 70-90 ft range, Mechanical Man is simply a mid-size boat now when it comes to the tournament trail.

[fattyflattie 4636]

Mechanical man was the first fast boat I remember (I’m certain there were many more, just in my mind).  She blew by us once (35’ Bertram with triple nickels) and it was like a Ferrari and a pinto.   I could hear the turbos from several hundred feet away, over the roar of the 555’s at 80%.  Such a beautiful boat. 

[Pescado_Rojo 19330]

34 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

There’s a nice foreclosed one right now. Or as of a week or so ago.  ~500-ish iirc.  3400 ft^2 

That's another thing...there seem to be a fair number of foreclosures in there for the small number of houses built. I guess that's the nature of second homes. 

I've got a buddy that built a bad ass house in La Buena Vida around 2012 or so. He dropped over a Mil back in 2012 dollars on the place. Waterfront, infinity pool, etc etc. He thought he was building this weekend oasis for his family that his kids would love, but they never wanted to go. His oldest is in college now and he may have been there 3 times. Place took a beating during Harvey, but stayed standing. He had hell getting decent help on the stuff that needed fixing, though. Now he goes there by himself once a month and just sits around and gets drunk in a big empty house. He's tried to sell it a couple times with no takers, so he's talked about just letting the bank have it. 

[fattyflattie 4636]

I can get away once a month to drink some beer and sit...

[Braff Zacklin 13406]

1 hour ago, justhookit said:

Mechanical Man is simply a mid-size boat now when it comes to the tournament trail.

Mechanical Man can't even stay in the wake of the Molecular Man.

 

[Pescado_Rojo 19330]

Who all wants to kick in and buy the Surly Clubhouse? I'm in for Tree Fiddy. 

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/43-Cabernet-Ct-Port-O-Connor-TX-77982/243249914_zpid/

 

[Brew 3045]

For those looking for a place, one of the best decisions I’ve made was getting a place at the beach. The second best decision was getting a smaller house (1400 square ft or so) on a lot that requires very little maintenance that is not direct beach front. The house is 3 bedrooms so both kids have a room. The rooms are big enough for queen size beds and limited furniture. That means they can bring a max of one friend each and no one can invite themselves down for a week because there is no extra space.

Wife and kids stayed all summer and I went down every couple of weeks to fish and hang out. It’s nice not having to tote fishing equipment back and forth. Now I just need to find a boat that will fit in the garage under the house and I’ll be good to go.

[fattyflattie 4636]

56 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Who all wants to kick in and buy the Surly Clubhouse? I'm in for Tree Fiddy. 

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/43-Cabernet-Ct-Port-O-Connor-TX-77982/243249914_zpid/

 

I knew what it was before I clicked. I was staring at it from the cleaning tables wondering how much it would be (didn’t know it was for sale) 2 weekends ago.   

[Pescado_Rojo 19330]

10 hours ago, fattyflattie said:

I knew what it was before I clicked. I was staring at it from the cleaning tables wondering how much it would be (didn’t know it was for sale) 2 weekends ago.   

yea, it's a little too fancy for what I want in a bay house. We'd have to redecorate in neon beer signs, girly posters, and big maps of the bay but I guess it would do. 

Like one of my cajun buddies once told me "ya neva wanna make ya camp too nice...din ya ole lady wanna go all da time" 

Edited July 31, 2019 by Pescado_Rojo

[justhookit 4174]

15 hours ago, fattyflattie said:

Mechanical man was the first fast boat I remember (I’m certain there were many more, just in my mind).  She blew by us once (35’ Bertram with triple nickels) and it was like a Ferrari and a pinto.   I could hear the turbos from several hundred feet away, over the roar of the 555’s at 80%.  Such a beautiful boat. 

Know what you mean. We are happy to cruise at 26 knots on my boat and probably 75% of the fleet just blows by us. The last few years I’ve spent a lot of time fishing a Davis hull finished out by another custom builder that was better at about 29 knot cruise and last season is Texas we fished a 63’ F&S. That boat was amaaaazing. There’s nothing like cruising in from 300 miles offshore at 34 knots and then punching it when you get close to the jetties to pass everyone at 39 knots.

[Chewbacca 7729]

Mechanical man was the first fast boat I remember (I’m certain there were many more, just in my mind).  She blew by us once (35’ Bertram with triple nickels) and it was like a Ferrari and a pinto.   I could hear the turbos from several hundred feet away, over the roar of the 555’s at 80%.  Such a beautiful boat. 

It's for sale. Only $3.5mm.

[justhookit 4174]

Well after we buy the Surly Clubhouse above there should be plenty of money left in the wreath fund for a boat. I vote for the new Spencer named Smooth Move, but it’s red so someone will have to pitch in for a paint job.

Edited July 31, 2019 by justhookit

[Chewbacca 7729]

Question for you offshore guys.  Do people really fish these 80+ foot sportfishers that cost $10mm?  Or are they more used as yachts that occasionally (or never) fish?  A few years ago we were down in Costa Rica and there was an 80 foot Viking for sale in the Quepos marina.  I think they were asking $8mm?  And it was absolutely massive.

[justhookit 4174]

They definitely fish them. The ones that tend to sit at the dock and/or just be used as yachts tend to be the smaller 50-70 foot boats. Also, any boat you see in Costa Rica fishes, and usually a lot. If you are there you are serious about the fishing part.