Getting credit for catching a record fish in Texas is easier than you may think, especially if you’re a youngster. Better still from a conservation standpoint, you can hang a nice Texas Parks and Wildlife certificate on your wall instead of a mounted trophy.
“With school out and plenty of time for fishing, the department would like parents to know the chances of their kid becoming a record holder are really good,” says Joedy Gray, who runs TPWD’s Angler Recognition Program. “The odds are in a young angler’s favor because there are a lot of bodies of water in Texas for which no one has applied for a record yet.”
Junior anglers under the age of 17 are encouraged to set records in fishing holes around the state this summer. In areas where there is no existing record, fish must be at least the legal size. To record the fish, remember to find a certified scale location and have a measuring tape handy. For a list of locations with certified scales, visit the TPWD site at: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fishboat/fish/programs/fishrecords/scales.phtm.

The Angler Recognition Program maintains state records for public and private waters including all lakes, rivers and bays. In addition to size records, the program recognizes other fishing achievements including first fish (for any angler, any age), big fish (for landing a trophy fish of any qualifying species), elite angler (for catching five trophy-class freshwater or saltwater fish) and outstanding angler (for a catch that does not fit other award categories but still deserves recognition.)

If a junior angler’s first fish turns out to be a state and water body record for weight and length and also qualifies for a Big Fish award then that youth is looking at six separate awards for their one fish.

If you are unsure of your fishing hole’s records, look them up on your phone with the program’s mobile record search at: http://tinyurl.com/texfish . For more information, visit the program’s site at: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fishrecords/.

June 15, 2011

Summertime is often the time of the year when folks try to recapture lost time by getting away from the chores of the workplace whenever possible in order to enjoy all that the great outdoors has to offer. The school year has ended, and any plans for a family vacation have already been made well in advance. And in that temperatures are already at all-time record levels across the state, those who choose the Texas coast as this summer’s getaway destination shall be dealing with some downright bothersome and punishing heat, especially those who may choose to spend several hours each day out on the water fishing. Not only will the days be long and hot, but our coastal waterways also become somewhat crowded during the summer months. If you’ve never learned to adapt to this type of extreme climate over the years, then you’ll consequently need to know how to take proper care of yourself in these conditions.

First, you’ll need to dress accordingly. Wear long-sleeved shirts and long paints whenever possible when out on the water. You’ll also want protection for your head, ears, and neck, so wear a wide-brimmed cap or cover exposed skin areas with a bandana or similar article of clothing.

Second, never venture out into the Texas summer sun without first applying an adequate amount of sunscreen to any (all) exposed areas of your body. You’ll thank yourself over and over again for doing so. And the last thing to remember is that you should always hydrate with plain water, or your favorite sports drink, whenever possible throughout the entire course of the day. Keep all these things in mind and you might find yourself on the winning side of what could just very well become one of the most productive summers for fishing in many years. Our area bay water temperatures have already risen to the mid-eighties. With that said, and as the warming of the waters will only continue, so shall the summer’s top water bite. I might suggest that you start out each day by wading with your favorite surface walker rigged to your line, and here are some reasons why.

The hotter months of the year are when anglers will generally tend to find larger concentrations of baitfish slowly working their way up and down sandy, grassy shorelines and guts. These big schools of bait attract game fish in more numbers, especially the redfish. These summertime months are often the period in the year that we begin witnessing the development of large schools of redfish. Sometimes there’ll be many separate groups or schools that are in real close proximity of each other in one area. And as the water temperatures begin to climb, so will the redfish. They’ll climb to the surface of the water in a hurry, showing themselves more and more each day as they feed on the summertime baitfish that mingle at the water’s surface. Redfish are creatures of somewhat strong habit and routine, so if you are successful in locating one of their main gathering areas this summer, then you could very well find them in, or near to, that same locale at this same time of the year next summer. And if our recent top water results are a sign of things to come in the months ahead, then I’ll make sure to tie my first knot of the morning around the head of my favorite top water bait before I even get out of the boat.

Granted, the top water bite has not been the source of a lot of conversations until just the past few weeks. Previously, anglers who had been willing to endure a full day of throwing “top” plugs had yielded lesser numbers for their troubles, and many probably found it to be very difficult to maintain their course, especially given the fact that they watched others recognize greater success while offering soft-plastics and live bait. And while it’s true that the fish activity will continue to increase as the months get hotter, there’s still one thing in particular that has us excited about the possibility of this summer being most memorable, and that’s the fact that we’ve yet to receive a lot of measurable rainfall. The fact that we have experienced small amounts of rainfall this year is helping drive higher salinity levels in our bay systems, and big trout just love high salinity numbers, so don’t be at all surprised if this summer offers up to you one of the best-ever catches of your life. The only thing you need to do at this point is remember to start out at the top as you make your way into the water each morning. Good luck, and…keep grinding!

The waters of San Antonio Bay are surprising us more with the passing of each day as they continue to turn on strong this summer. Those of us here at Bay Flats Lodge join the millions of other Gulf Coast residents in hopes and prayers that we may have a minor hurricane season this year. Don’t forget what we discussed earlier – summer is now here in full force, so dress properly, hydrate regularly, and apply (and re-apply) sunscreen religiously. Remember to practice CPR, “Catch, Photo, and Release”, whenever possible on trophy Trout and Reds…Guide Chris Martin, Port O’Connor/Seadrift region…www.BayFlatsLodge.com…1-888-677-4868

Britt Schexnaider from Cypress, fishing at Bay Flats Lodge as guest of Bob and Linda Erdmans, June 11, using live bait in San Antonio Bay.

For some reason big tournament weekends always seem to mesh with brutally elevated winds and the past weekend was no exception. Friday, Seadrift monitors picked up winds gusting to 30 MPH between 8 am and 1 pm. This has been the story for days now. In the drought cycle of 2009, the winds ramped up on or around 6/11 and blew near 30 all day and 25 all night until August 22nd. 2009 was my first introduction to a cycle of this nature and it was extremely challenging both mentally and physically. Like an old song, I’ve seen rain, flooding, Tropical this, and Hurricane That, but never an endless cycle of near 30 MPH winds all day and all night. During that siege, we managed to keep our guests on fish with respectable numbers, some days better than others. I remember when the cycle broke near the end of August, we laid into the fish deep into the Fall and I was glad to see a break in the cycle.

Guided Division “Rodeo Uncorked”

We’ve had some lulls in the wind and it looks like we may potentially have another coming toward the middle end of this week. That is, if you put any stock in an extended marine forecast. Despite the challenges, we put our money on Red and hit it numerous times here lately. Our Capt. James and Capt. Doug were both entered in the 2nd Annual Port O’Connor Redfish Rodeo “Uncorked” Tournament benefitting the Port O’Connor Volunteer Fire/EMS. My team last year took 1st Place but elected to not fish it this year. With plenty of pressure, James and Doug stepped up to the plate for a “nail biter” all the way to the end. At the end of Day 1, Capt. Doug was sitting in first place in the Guided Division with 16.33 Lbs. Capt. Clint Anderson was sitting in 2nd with 15.95 and Capt. James was in 3rd with 13.74lbs. 4th place was more than 4lbs behind James.

With carbon copy wind and weather Doug struggled with size as did Capt. James. When it came down to the weigh in on Day 2, there was less than a pound separating 1st from 3rd and Clint managed to edge Doug out for top honors with 30.03 lbs. Capt. Doug took 2nd Place with 29.57lbs and Capt. James held on to 3rd with 29.08lbs. Capt. Doug managed to also take 2nd Place Redfish Stringer and 2nd Place “Heaviest Stringer”. Congratulations to everyone for making the tournament a tight race to the finish. This makes our second top three finish this month with Capt. James Eastep taking the win in the Guides Cup earlier this month.

Capt. Doug Russell’s 2nd Place Group Redfish Rodeo “Uncorked” Tournament

“Norm Invitational”
We hosted the Norm Invitational again this year celebrating school Teach Mr. Norm Stuempke from Austin. This has been an annual event now for 5 years running and it always seems to coincide with lack luster fishing. This changed big time this year and Redfish took center stage along with some decent Trout action. Students of Norm flock to the lodge every year coming in from distant places at times to celebrate a great teacher and someone that had a tremendous impact on their lives. Everyone managed to limit on Redfish and Norm always manages to catch the first “good one” to kick everything off. Our hats off to you Norm!
Other guests and trips also managed to go deep into the Redfish and we want to thank everyone for trusting us to get it done in challenging conditions. Hope you have a great week! Capt. Kris Kelley Castaway Lodge 1-888-618-4868 www.seadriftbayfishing.com

John Luna of San Antonio, John Brymer and son John Brymer of Pleasanton and Matt Brymer of San Antonio with a 25” red and a 25” trout from the ICW on a very windy day. Capt. Bob Hill

We had a little bit of a reprieve from the wind a few weeks ago but for the last 8 or 10 days it has been back to the 20 – 25 mph category. It doesn’t even die down much overnight. When the wind was down we were finding good numbers of trout, reds, black drum and even an occasional flounder or two. The forecast is for the wind to give us a break about the time this issue should be out. We’ll see.

The San Antonio Bay and Espiritu Santo Bay reefs have been unfishable under the strong south and southwest gales. The water is off color everywhere except tight to the south shorelines. Even the ICW has been off color but we have caught some trout, reds and “puppy” drum in the canal on live shrimp.

The Back Lakes haven’t been giving up much. The wind has a tendency to blow the water out of the lakes when it blows this strong from the south so its been hard to get in to most of the lakes. When you do get in, the water color is not that bad but the grass makes fishing a little tough.

The jetties have been close to unfishable, and certainly uncomfortable, most of the time. Most boats are struggling to catch much. The water color has gone downhill under the pressure of strong wind and high seas.

Lets hope that the forecasters are right and we see a let up by the weekend. There are a couple of tournaments this weekend. One is an offshore tourney so those guys really need a break to have a good tournament.

Max and Joann Estrada Jr. of Flatonia, James Freytag, Kacey Hodges of LaGrange and Steven and Rosie Velasquez of Moulton caught some drum and pompano at the jetties. -Capt. Bob Hill

Lone Star Shootout at Caracol

The Houston Big Game Fishing Club’s 7th annual invitational billfish tournament, The Lone Star Shootout, is being held in Port O’Connor,Texas this weekend. The tournament returns to Caracol Waterfront Development in Port O’Connor, Texas with a field of 50 or more sport fishing boats gathering to compete for over $600,000 in prize money. Two days of fishing began at 12:01 am Friday morning, June 24th and will end at 3:00 pm on Saturday, June 25th. The tournament boats will be fishing the deep blue water in the Gulf of Mexico from 50 to 150 miles offshore of Port O’Connor.

The Lone Star Shootout is a modified billfish release tournament emphasizing the catch and release of blue marlin, white marlin and sailfish with video verification of the catches. The winner is determined by the total of billfish release points plus any points earned for weighed blue marlin. Weighed blue marlin must meet a minimum length requirement of 102 inches, measured from the fork of the tail to the tip of the lower jaw. The minimum length is in excess of the federal requirement and assures that any fish weighed in will be well over 300 pounds. Cash prizes and trophies are also awarded to the boats with the most billfish release points and the largest weighed yellowfin tuna, wahoo, dorado and swordfish.

The weigh in will be held at Caracol with the busiest time expected to be Saturday, June 25th between 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm. The public is invited to watch the boats arrive to weigh in and can expect to see some big fish. The size of all the fish brought to the scales is expected to be impressive considering the minimum weight for tuna, wahoo and dorado is 25 pounds and considering the quality of the fleet and crews competing for the big prize money.

Proceeds from the Lone Star Shootout benefit the charitable programs of the Houston Big Game Fishing Club. Detailed information about the Lone Star Shootout is available at: www.thelonestarshootout.com