Melissa, better known as Mom; Momma’s happy, everybody’s happy.
Capt. Jeff Larson

Finally, a break from the rain and here come the mosquitoes. We all know they are big as teal, down here.  Plus, You need a shotgun to exterminate them. When they raise their wings and start attacking, I always threaten to install a mosquito mister, then I realize I would be misting everybody’s yard but my on, due to the strong winds blowing the mist into my neighbors yard. BTW, I do have good luck with Cutter’s yard sprayer to keep them in check, its the one that hooks up directly to the water hose. We can’t gripe too much about the standing rain water that breeds mosquitoes because there are more benefits when we get this much rain.

The rain is really helping the trout population.  The run off gives the upper bays a good flush. We suspect it also concentrates the schools of trout. We have been seeing plenty at the cleaning tables.  The good news is we are having a better trout catching year in this area compared to last year’s numbers.  I’m sure there is a fisherman who catches trout every time he goes out and wants to argue this point. But for most of the guides, who have been here for over a decade, remember last year was off on catching trout, comparatively speaking.  The reds are still plentiful and have been a good fish to target and catch. Black drum are still making it into the cooler if you fish for the striped bottom feeders. Top waters are definitely NOT the bait of choice for ‘em.  Peeled shrimp is by far the best bait to bend your rod on black drum.

The water has been steadily warming, bringing the spawning trout up shallow to spawn. The topwater bite is definitely on for the fishermen who enjoy the challenge of catching their 5 in inches of water.  We have been using super spooks, junior spooks, broken backs, badonk-a-donk HP & LP.  These tops are great choices to use for wading and drifting. Topwater baits come in many different colors. “Red and White is always right,” is a saying you might have heard and is a good rule of thumb when you are choosing to buy or select a top to use for trout and reds. Of course everyone has there personal preference. One color I recommend is anyone of the above listed baits with an orange bottom.  Do you remember Producers Ghost, Halloween, is a great color that yielded tons of fish and blow ups.

The wind has been blowing up the tide all over our bay systems making it easy to get in the back bays to stay out of the wind. It really hasn’t stopped the bite but has wrecked some reefs in San Antonio Bay, West Matagorda Bay, and up in Lavaca Bay.  It’s hard to fish in the open bay’s when the wind is pumping 20 plus.  The fish are still there but it gets uncomfortable.  It’s best to get out early in the mornings before it starts to build.

Here’s one for you. How many readers, fishermen and fisherbabes, keep sting rays.  They are great shark bait and are used to catch big sharks in the surf.  I was out scouting the other day getting ready for up and coming charters, when I decided to keep one I caught.  It was a small one so I figured keeping it might save a wader from getting tagged in the calf muscle this summer.  We have all heard their wings are used for scallops and who doesn’t like scallops? Not knowing the best way to fillet a stingray I looked it up in an encyclopedia.  There it was right below where it shows you how to catch them.  Enough,  I Google’d  it, YouTube’d it, watched it a few times on my wrist watch phone and proceeded to hack away.  A sharp knife makes it nice when slicing the wings off.  The fillet, rather small, was impressively white and firm so I sautéed them for lunch and they were just as good a tasting as any other fish in the bay. The plan is now to stream line cutting the tail and barb off safely and keeping a few from time to time. They taste good,  you have to clean fish anyway, so why not keep a few for dinner. We see a ton while gigging and we would get em out of the wade fishermen’s way. I will keep you posted.

Texas Turkey Season, South Zone, is now closed and was very eventful.  Plenty of fluffed up birds danced around and on top of the Jake decoy only to find, LIGHTS OUT!  We made plenty of Turkey Jerky with this year’s birds  using a dehydrator.  It’s real easy, set it and forget it.

Give Scott a call at the Saltwater Lodge and he will hook you up, literally.

361 – 785 – DUCK ( 3825 ).

May your bobber get towed way under and the rod jerked out of your hand.

Captain Jeff Larson
281-217-0399

Spring Season – a Blast!
Capt. Jeff Larson