Spring Break has come and gone, so now we start setting our sights on Summer. The fronts are still coming by, but between the big blows we have had some nice weather. The water temps are around 75 degrees and the tides are higher than they were a few weeks ago so everything is adding up to some good fishing. As I am writing this, a front has just arrived with northerly gusts to about 35 knots, but that should be gone by tomorrow evening.

Trout fishing in the bays has improved steadily over the last few weeks. San Antonio Bay has been the most consistent area but Espirito Santo and Matagorda Bay have improved. The area around Greens Bayou has been good for waders. I’ve talked to a few folks who said the sharks are already showing up down there. Most of the trout that I’ve caught have been undersized. Soft plastics or live shrimp have been best.

In the photo above, Connie Rodriguez, Jose Karam, Mike Schellenger and Joey Rodriguez of San Antonio had a good day at the jetties.

In photo below, Al Aguilar, Domingo Dominguez, Adrian Aguilar and Stephen Dominguez from the Dallas area caught a bunch of fish at the jetties.

-Capt. Bob Hill, Port O’Connor Charters

With the higher tides, the back lakes have been good for redfish. Topwaters are working for waders. There is a lot more baitfish showing up so it should just get better over the next month. I haven’t seen a lot of trout in the lakes yet but that will improve. Some of the lakes took a pretty big hit from the freeze so we’ll just have to wait and see how they rebound.

The jetties are full of fish. We are catching big boxes of “Puppy” Drum, Sheepshead and Redfish. Many of the Reds are oversized but there are a few slots. We’ve also seen Spanish Makerel, Pompano, Flounder and sharks. We have caught fish on live shrimp, dead shrimp and cut bait.

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

On the back lakes beat, Redfish tightened up schooling mid-week for rediculous action on bruisers to 29.5”. Working mud pockets in a foot of water proved to be a great idea with full limits dominating the boards. Black Drum have been sluggish over the back lake environs and I don’t see them getting real comfortable centering up until we get a little higher water levels on the scene. Regardless, we did manage some solid catches along with our Redfish with some hefty “jail break” add ons in the 18 to 23” range. Our guests are continually impressed with battling the striped bruisers and inch for inch they will challenge any Redfish you might run into.

Last Spring I witnessed more alligators coming into the salty back lake environs than I had ever seen “cumulatively” in my career. Evidently they were migrating from the freshwater ponds on Matagorda Island feeding on Mullet and other baitfish in the area. Alligators are a freshwater reptile so seeing them actively feeding in saltwater lakes and marshes is something I’ve seen occassionally. To date this Spring, I hadn’t seen any signs of them reappearing until Friday. I ran into a 9’ alligator at the far West end of Power Lake. I don’t know if this is the beginning of another unusual presence of them in the back lakes but it makes you wonder?

Trout seem to be everywhere at present with popping cork/shrimp or artificial being the go to for boat fishermen. Drifting shell and mud/shell has been producing decent catches but limits haven’t been hitting the boards lately. Capt. James Eastep is waiting for the fish to center up on sand/grass and thinks April will be the month. With a Spring Tide yet to appear, you can just about bet when it shows up things are going to break loose. Trout action picked up for us late week and emergent grass growth has exploded during the past week and bait concentrations are blossoming throughout. Schools of shad running with the tide over shell led our guests to solid catches of Trout to 22” lately working live shrimp; soft plastics; and, topwater while wading and drift fishing.

Getting that big Full Moon behind us has made all the difference in the fishing and the catching of late. I didn’t ever get the full scoop on that full moon but heard that it was the largest in a couple hundred years or something to that effect. I’ve never paid much attention to “one” negative as it applies to fishing. A Full Moon phase in and of itself hasn’t ever appeared to be an insurmountable “negative”. However, when you add a number of adverse conditions and pile them all up on one particular day or stretch of days you can bet it’s gonna get tough out there. Take a Full Moon with a 30 knot wind, low water, and poor tidal action. You could say that combination of conditions is a 1+1 = Negative 10. Over the years, the best offense during these “dog days” has been to find a small bite and work it into the ground. That requires a much less aggressive approach on the water and setting aside the “run and gun” play book for a bit. The key, however, is locating something to work with, a bite of some kind, somewhere. When it absolutely plays out. Searching for greener pastures in conditions of this nature will often lead you down a dead end road.

As it applied to fishing during the last Full Moon, it was very interesting to see the fish scattered and in absolute shutdown mode early. One particular night during the moon phase, heavy overcast set in overnight and the action the next day was off the charts early. This could have been a coincidence, but it sure made you think that the clouds blocking the moonlight had made for less foraging overnight. As we got the moon behind us, action returned to pre-moon normal with strong action early and very aggressive feeding.

Capt. Kris Kelley Castaway Lodge 1-888-618-4868 www.seadriftbayfishing.com

Memorial Day weekend will be here before you know it and so will the 22nd Annual CCA Texas/STAR scheduled for kick-off Saturday, May 28 at dawn through 5 p.m., Monday, Sept. 5 (Labor Day). Anglers can count on a speck-tacular prize line-up of awesome truck/boat packages, boat packages and, of course, giant scholarships! Check out the new Offshore Division Prize, the fabulous Explorer by Dargel 216 Blue Water Series… a sweet rig for the big seas! Be sure and enter now to take advantage of some great early bird incentives, including a 21’ Shoalwater Cat with Mercury 150 OptiMax and McClain Trailer.

This year’s contestants have a chance at winning over 100 prizes including trucks, boats, motors, trailers and college scholarships in the following categories:

Texas Ford Dealers Redfish Division; Trout Division; Offshore Division; Inshore Division; StarKid Flounder Division; FS Houston/FS Southwest StarKid Gafftop Division; Houston Community Newspapers StarKid Sheepshead Division; Time Warner Cable media StarTeens Inshore Division

In order to win one of a $1,000,000 in prizes being offered in Texas’ largest, richest, summer-long saltwater fishing event, an angler must be a CURRENT member of CCA, in addition to being registered as a 2011 TEXAS STAR entrant. The STAR tournament entry fee is still an awesome bargain at only $20 for ages 18 and up ($20 bucks of insurance to claim your share of $1,000,000 in prizes)! Membership fee is $25 annually, plus $20 STAR Tournament for a total of $45. In order to win at STAR, an angler must be registered and be a member of CCA. Remember, everyone entered in the STAR Tournament, who will be 6 years old in 2011 and older, is eligible to win the prizes being offered (even the Tagged Redfish Division)!!!

For more information, including a list of weigh-in stations, instant-entry registration locations in your area and weekly leader board updates, go to http://www.startournament.org

The meeting of the Service Club was held Thursday, April 7th at the Community Center at 10:00 a.m. and was followed by the members starting to prepare for the Garage Sale.

The main item on the Agenda was the Annual Spring Garage Sale which is scheduled for Saturday, April 9, 2011 at 8:00 a.m. and will be held in the Pavilion of the Community Center. The Garage Sale is held semi-annually and is the source of income for our many projects in this community during the year.

Ms. Biddie Hileman, Chairman of the Sale, announced that she has a garage full of boxes that are being delivered to the Pavilion for the Sale. Additionally, she has made arrangements for workers to empty the County building of the items stored there.

Ms. Sally Ragusin, Chairman of the Bake Sale accompanying the Garage Sale, has her telephone committee calling all members to learn of their choice of baked items to bring. And with the baking talents and abilities of the members, she expects to have a variety of many different baked goods for purchase. Additionally, there will be copies of the Service Club’s 3 volume cookbook along with several pounds of walnuts.

Arrangements have been made for the speaker from Medevac to appear on Tuesday, April 12th at 1:00 p.m. following the weekly Seniors’ Luncheon and Bingo. All residents are invited to attend this meeting at the Community Center to learn what is involved with the Medevac program of airlifting potential patients to the hospital and the annual costs per family. Carol Fox, our Vice President, has confirmed the scheduling of the speaker, and she urges all Port O’Connor residents to attend.

The next meeting of the Service Club will be Thursday, April 21st at 10:00 a.m. and will be held in the back room of the Community Center. If any female member of this Community desires to be involved with working towards the betterment of our area, please consider joining the Service Club. We welcome all interested women at any time at our meetings; contact Shirley Gordon, Membership Chairman, 983-4365 or Janet Johnson, President, 983-4733 for further information. After all, you just may meet your neighbor here!

A book from a favorite author, Lisa Gardner, has just arrived at the Library; I marvel every time I read another one of her books; Ms. Gardner does not just write a novel of romantic suspense, but a novel with both highly developed plots and characters. Love You More is the latest of her books and returns the Boston Police Department investigative team of D.D. Warren and Bobby Dodge. They are called to the home of a State Trooper, Tessa Leoni, who appears to have shot her husband.

Ms. Gardner is a master at interweaving both a highly explosive plot with extremely strong characters, and she seems to have really outdone her previous books this time. The reader continues to keep turning the pages long after bedtime to see how the plot finally ends. And, why. I look forward to her next book to see how, if she can, top this one.

Luckily, one of our favorite people came into the Library earlier and asked me if I had read an interesting author, P.J. Tracy. At that time, I hadn’t, but immediately grabbed two of her books, Monkeewrench and Live Bait. Starting the first, Monkeewrench, I became highly intrigued and refused to start the laundry. The title is the name of a computer games firm, composed of some very unusual people who have developed a very serious game plotting unusual murders. And intertwined with this group in Minneapolis, is a very strange murder in Calumet, Wisconsin. The plot is excellent and the tie in of both actions in two different areas with the corresponding police force is fascinating.

But what is even more fascinating is to learn that the author is really two people: P.J. Patricia and Traci Lambrecht, a mother and daughter team who reside in Minneapolis and Los Angeles. How they form both the excellent plot and believable characters is a story within itself.

And the latest of fun books is Stuart Woods’ Lucid Intervals. This book brings back his bon vivant attorney Stone Barrington and his police detective pal, Dino Bachetti, and several totally crazy characters. The book also returns the exclusive restaurant Elaine’s in New York City which has an outstanding menu. Woods’ books are always fun to read, nothing very heavy, a good bit of diversion to stop the heavy thinking prior to sleep.

“When an old person dies, a Library burns down”
Karin Gillespie