Sue Dickenson of Lockhart caught her first ever redfish at the jetties after quite a struggle. -Capt. Bob Hill

The fronts are passing with greater wind velocity and they seem to be more frequent. That’s normal for October/November, I guess. The fishing, however, isn’t normal. My regular early fall venues are often not producing. We are encountering areas of Red Tide and seeing dead fish all around the bay system. Flounder giggers are reporting dead stingrays all over the south shoreline of ESB and they are stacked up along the Pringle shorelines. Earlier today I encountered Red Tide at the jetties; it wasn’t real bad but we had to leave the area due to hacking, coughing and eye discomfort. I think the recent north winds and cooler temperatures have reduced the impact of the Red Tide overall.

Trout fishing in San Antonio Bay has been tough during periods of high north wind and low tides but it has been good after the effects of the fronts have subsided. Many of the reefs are also holding reds and sheepshead. I have been struggling with back bay reds lately due to all the factors I have previously described. High winds, low tides, Red Tide and off color water just to name a few.

The jetties have been real good one day and tough the next, mainly due to wind and tide variations, I guess. Reds are good most days and drum are showing up pretty well. I’ve even caught some really big flounder over the last week or so.

A quick side note: Saturday I had a party at the jetties. At about 11:00 a.m., we were in a pretty steady drum bite. All of a sudden the boat (which was anchored, of course) lurched forward. The engine wasn’t running but we were moving toward the center of the channel at a pretty good clip. We tried to untie and pick-up the anchor to no avail; the rope was too tight. Suddenly the boat turned toward the open Gulf and I realized we were not caught in a current, we were being towed out by something. I left the helm and went to the anchor line in an effort to cut it. When I grabbed the line, it was limp. My party retrieved the anchor while I returned to the helm. When the anchor came up it was attached to a HUGE Manta Ray, easily 12 feet across. The ray was “hogtied” by the anchor line and was right under the boat. I realized that the ray and I had the same objective; that was to get him disconnected from my boat! I cut the line and we both left free and unharmed. We all looked at each other and decided to go to the dock.

Capt. Bob Hill Port O’Connor Charters
(361) 983-4325 www.fishportoconnor.com