Coastal anglers battle breezes, tides

Written by Craig Nyhus

Wednesday, 16 April 2008

Jared Ramey of San Antonio caught this 26-inch speckled trout in West Matagorda Bay. Photo by David J. Sams. Getting to some of the fish is the challenge Timing can mean everything to the coastal angler, especially in spring. While many anglers have struggled with high winds and extremely low tides — the speckled trout and redfish are still biting when the conditions are right, and even sometimes when they are wrong. Jared Ramey and two of his fishing buddies hit West Matagorda Bay in 30-plus mph winds. “We almost didn’t go,” Ramey said. “But I’m glad we did.” Ramey was fishing away from the bank in deeper water, while his buddies were both catching redfish in shallower water. “They stopped to take some pictures,” he said. “They told me to come to the inside.” The move paid off, as Ramey landed at 26-inch trout tight against the shoreline. “The winds were tough, but the water was up because of the big south wind that brought water into the bay,” he said. “The water was clear and green — there was lots of bait. We just walked the shoreline and followed the baitfish.” The group released 18-20 redfish, and Ramey caught the trout on a bone super spook. Near Seadrift, Kris Kelley of Castaway Lodge has been taking on the low tides with an airboat. “The tides have come up a bit this week,” he said. “But the redfish are so shallow. The water has been feeding out into pools about 10-inches deep at the ends of the marshes, and we’ve been doing real well there.” The real shallow reds have been tough to catch. “You can’t move around or they spook,” he said. “It’s even tough for the fly-fishermen because they can’t move.” Kelley credits the airboat for getting to the shallow spots. “It gets where a boat can’t,” he said. “You could get a kayak back there but it’s not much fun paddling a kayak 100 yards that is dragging bottom the whole way.” Ramey and three other friends headed to Baffin Bay a few days after fishing Matagorda, and caught good numbers of trout on Catch 5s and Corkies over chest-deep mud and grass, and over waist-deep rocks. “We got there the night before and it was still howling,” he said. “But the wind laid down and we had a good day. No trophies though.”

 

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