Wow, what a day! Mid June with a peppy EastNorthEast wind blowing across West Maddy. Thunder Storms dancing around Port O Connor early this morning. 4 AM early, fishing with Dodd and Ron, these Guides are early risers, lol. The weather finally fizzled about 6 AM. This was a POC text book surf fishing with live Croaker out trip out of the Boat Morning.

Captain Dodd Coffee, Captain Ron Arlitt and myself ran a group of Dodd’s long time friends and customers for their family reunion. When Dodd talks everyone should listen so we went to the Jetties where he had smoked the Reds the day before. Captain Arlitt saw the parking lot on the Jettys so he went to scout the surf. Glad he did cause the Reds didn’t really show up like the day before. Once Ron calls you better pull anchor and go. Dodd and I ran to meet Ron down the beach. No sooner than we anchored down, <THUMP!> Fish On!

Customer Limits of solid Trout and a few reds and the half day trip was winding down.

It looks like one more good surf day tomorrow. We will find out because my article doesn’t have to be in until Friday. …
Well I was almost late getting it in but like we predicted the surf was good to us. Captain Dodd and Ron’s boat were in the better location. I was a bit down from them. We were a little slower getting our limit. We all had bigger fish the 2nd day. We had a 10 man limit and there were several 4# plus trout in the mix. Like any stretch it comes to an end.

I switched gears today and went Airboat Redfishing. We are sitting on 0 but the major feed according to my solunar table isn’t for another 2 hours.

The waders are getting plenty of trout action with artificials. Tops and Tails. Shrimp imitations are working good under a popping cork for trout and reds.

Flounder continues to be awesome this year. Captain Pat, Dustin and Shawn are still reporting full limits which is 5 per person. If it’s good early you can always go back out after midnight for the next day. You need to keep the whole fish separated in different coolers and you can Not have em in the boat while on the water.

July 4th is always a great time down here on the mid coast. Local fireworks and fishing. The water will be crowded. It always is so be ready and be courteous. There isn’t getting around sharing the water with a bunch of people, it’s part of how it now a days. Easier said than done but we must try to keep the peace.

Also, be mindful of Law Enforcement, they will be out on the water and on the streets. You will need designated drivers, cars and boats. Its cheaper to hire a Captain to take you to Sunday Beach than pay a lawyer a pile of money to defend you.

Be Smart and Be Safe.

Billy Rhyne can get you set up with Lodging and Guides. His Number is: 713 907 4796

Keep your lines new and tight!

Captain Jeff Larson
281 217 0399

If there’s one thing we can be certain about in the month of June, it is the fact that we probably will be seeing varying tides on an almost daily basis, with four tides occurring on a lot of those days. We will also continue to have windy days, and we will almost surely see the direction of those winds vary quite unexpectedly, at times. And barring the exception of any unanticipated tropical weather system, anglers should probably expect pretty much the same conditions on a daily basis throughout this month and into the next.

Rising water temperatures should also be expected in June. When you combine rising temps with other variations taking place on a regular basis, June anglers should anticipate a certain level of difficulty whenever trying to determine any type of daily pattern to the fish activity. The fish, too, have to deal with all of this constant change, so keep that in mind on your next June outing. Make it a point to get to your first wading destination just as early as you can each morning – try your best to be there just prior to sunrise, if possible. Many summertime coastal anglers prefer doing this for a couple different reasons. The first is that you beat the heat, meaning you’ll be able to enjoying fishing before it gets to be too hot each day. Another reason for doing this allows you to pick your wading territory before the next guy gets there. Doing so can sometimes mean the difference between success and failure and the end of the day.

With all of this said, it may become extremely difficult to find June’s fish in the exact same spot as yesterday. Because the dominant winds are generally of a southerly nature right now, start looking for fish this month in places like the shorelines outside of Pringle Lake, easy-access back lakes like Panther Lake, and any and all of the southern-most shorelines of Espiritu Santo and San Antonio Bay that line the grassy banks of Matagorda Island. In your approach to your morning wading spots this month, attempt to locate shorelines and lake areas that contain plenty of trout-green water and an ample amount of visible bait activity. If you prefer top water action, start with a surface walker and proceed from there with plastic tails in deeper water if there happens to be no “takers” on the top. Good luck to you in June, and keep grindin’!

Fishing with Capt. Stephen Boriske

The past couple weeks have been more about finding a safe and protected area to fish out of the 30 mph blows than anything else.  Interestingly the fish haven’t seemed to be that thrown off by it and we have been boxing some fair numbers of larger trout and solid redfish while focusing on both clean and stained water color.  Now that the end of May is here the wind has calmed down at least for a short time and the catching is going to go wide open.  The main reason for this is we will be able to fish more of our spots on a much larger section of water out in the open.

There are those of us who are still using live shrimp with the corks and catching trout, drum and redfish, even flounder and sheepshead but as for me I have gone full on “Croakerin’!”  Once upon a time I frowned on the use of Croakers for bait because I thought it too deadly and easy to catch trout and redfish and was worried about depleting the resource but that was total ignorance on my part because there is nothing easy about working these babies right and it’s definitely not a given you will catch a good fish with them.  It’s what I say each day to kick things off…”there is my way of fishing Croaker which I will demonstrate and help you with and there is the wrong way, and we are going to do it my way because if not instead of catching trout you will catch crabs and trash fish all day and will wonder why it didn’t work.”  That statement raises a lot of eyebrows and heads and gets the ball rolling in the predawn hours but really it’s with the intent of helping my anglers catch the fish they want, maybe the fish of a lifetime, and helping them become better at it.  Once they “get it” though look out!

That said there are times when no matter what you do the fish just are not going to eat.  What helps me with accepting this reality is to check the solunar charts which you can access easily online and see when the prime times will be for the month.  Going out prepared to catch some good fish is what everyone wants to do but you have to apply some sense and use information and advances in technology gathered for years as to what is really to be expected that day on the water.  Of course every day fishing is better than working but it makes more sense to the angler to apply logic and science on one of those ‘bad’ days.

I always say go fishing when you can and keep an open mind, don’t put so much pressure on yourself ‘we have to catch that biggest redfish’…’our buddies put in x amount for the longest trout’…sure that stuff is fun just don’t take it and yourself too seriously.  You can’t make them eat and there is a lot of luck in this beloved sport so remember the main reason you are out there with us is to have fun, relax and enjoy the great outdoors.

Capt. Stephen Boriskie
Bay Flats Lodge, Seadrift, Texas, 888-677-4868