Recap On The Fishing Trip

I got some new gear for this run that I had been wanting to get for a long time, and I couldn't wait to get down there and use it. I got a CastAway straight back rod (7', 8-17 lb. test, medium action) and a Shimano Sedona 4000FB reel with a full spool of 30lb. test SpiderWire. The new reel is a 5-bearing as opposed to my old Shimano Slade 4000FB which is a 2-bearing, and the difference was amazing. I could cast a lot further and the reeling action was also noticeably smoother and more balanced. We were hearing that the redfish were hitting artificials, so I also picked up a couple of packs of 3" Gulp shrimp. Note for the future: 3" shrimp is too small - for coastal saltwater fishing, especially redfish, 4" is probably the way to go. You'll get more weight on the hook for casting if you're freelining, and that seems to be what the reds were hitting (more on that later).

We usually spend the weekend at a friend's condo but that wasn't available this time so we decided to camp out at Goose Island State Park in Rockport. We got a great campsite right on the water and Goose Island is a really nice place - there's a cement structure that has power and water at every camp site, and a table within to eat meals and place gear and such. It's also super-cheap, so we saved a lot of money going there instead of renting the condo for the weekend. It would have been perfect had it not been for the legions of mosquitoes that plagued us as soon as the sun went down. There was a good rain just a few days before we got there and while it was good for fishing (because it drives the fish inland), it was terrible for hopes of a mosquito-free weekend. Couple that with no breeze the first night and that meant that we went through three full bottles of 100% deet the first night. Unpleasant.

The first day, Mike and I got down there first and decided to do some wade fishing right off our campsite once we got the site setup. The only fish of import that was caught was a black drum by Mike. Other than that, it was nothing but skipjack and hardheads. There were also a lot of jellyfish out there, and that was where I got to experience the magic of a jellyfish sting. It is unpleasant, just so you know. The sucky thing is that you can't really see them sometimes and they just happen to float into you while you're standing there fishing, and then they sting you. How rude.

As for the fishing, as a whole we did way better than anyone else. You can see pics of our first day's catch here. The first full day's take was 1 small bonnethead shark (like a hammerhead), 9 redfish, and 6 trout. Most people were bringing in 2-3 fish total while we had a cooler full pretty much both days. Mike and Phil were the big winners, with both of them limiting out on redfish the first day and Mike duplicating same on the second. Nate caught one and we were able to keep a couple extra due to the limits since neither Nate nor I limited out on our own. Phil also tore up the trout, coming close to limiting on both days. There were also a lot of stingrays out there, so we had to be a little careful as we trucked out to the island from the boat.

Personally, I caught nothing but trash fish. A ton of hardheads (catfish), a few skipjack, and one undersize trout that I had to chuck back. I had a couple of frustrating times following Mike through a hole where he had limited only to not get a single bite on my lures. It was amazing - I would cast right where he had been casting and got nothing just a few minutes after he had been tearing it up on cast after cast. I'm pretty much convinced that it had to be my lack of technique that was the culprit (as I'm not really good at fishing artificial bait yet) but it did certainly give me something to work on for the next trip and something to practice up on and learn about. Also, Mike was freelining the 4" Gulp artificial shrimp, while I had to put a popping cork on my line to give it extra weight so I could cast out to the same location. The 3" Gulp shrimp that I was using didn't have enough weight to make it out to the same locations as Mike was hitting (and it didn't help that we were casting into the wind for a portion of the day), and it's possible that the bobber prevented the right actions from occurring when I tried to make my shrimp dance to entice the fish.

I also learned some lessons in other areas, too - mainly that if you're going to be wade fishing for any length of time in salt water, it is imperative that you take a shower every day and get the salt off of you. If you don't, it will lead to some pretty debilitating pain later. That's about all I'm going to say about that and if you want more information, please feel free to email me and I'll go into more detail on the private tip. The other thing is that mud has the power to crush your toes if you're wading in it. We would anchor the boat on a sandbar with water that was about a foot deep and then hike 1/2 - 3/4 of a mile into Mud Island through sometimes knee-deep mud (sometimes thigh deep if you hit a sinkhole) to get to where the reds were hiding. When your foot goes down, your toes can bend back and then the mud can really compress your wading boot, forcing the air out and squeezing your toes pretty hard. If you go down especially deep, or stand in a place where your foot is in that position, that can lead to some nasty pressure on your tootsies. As of now, the nail on my left big toe is a pretty nice shade of blackened purple. I don't think the nail is going to fall off or anything, but it feels pretty much like your thumb feels when you whack it real good with a hammer.

But, after all that, the guys I was fishing with were gracious enough to divide up the catch amongst everyone and so I was able to bring home four good-sized redfish fillets and a bag of trout fillets and I'm looking forward to cooking them up either for myself or for my home team - just depends on if I have enough to feed everybody.