Ol’ High School Buddy Baron Jones with a nice Surf Trout!
-Capt. Jeff Larson

Wow, It’s Super hot out there, Just like the fishing.
The end of July and 1st of August was on fire. We had a little cool front move in. Nice wind out of the North was just what the captain ordered to get back out in the surf and hammer down on trout and redfish. The whole Texas Coast Surf was awesome for about 3 or 4 days straight. The over achievers went out full bore and limited out on Specs and Redfish before 8:00 a.m. and then headed out to catch their limit of red snapper. A lot of fishermen didn’t stop there they trolled on the way in and caught limits of kingfish. Now, for the more technical fishermen there were plenty of tarpon in The surf as well. As I rolled back into the jetties from fishing the surf I jump several schools of tarpon. Now I’m not a Tarpon guide by any means. One day I gave it a Shot, On my way back in from the Surf after a quick limit of trout. After drifting for a few minutes in an area where I had seen tarpon roll the day before it didn’t take long to get that 1st hook up. I must admit I thought it was just a good kingfish. I didn’t think much about it but when I seen that tarpon fly out of the water with the leader and bait in his mouth. I was hooked. After a couple thousand dollars later I am now better prepared to try and land one next time.

There are more experienced tarpon guides in our area so if you are looking to book a tarpon trip before the migration is over. Give us a call, we will set you up.

The tide seems to be coming back along with the flounder. This year flounder has been a little off. The season seems to be picking backup and as other cool fronts pull through our area more and more flounder will be getting caught and/or gigged.
As mentioned before, we had several days of catching trout during the cool front in the surf. One morning we went to roughly the same spot. It was a nice 4 or 5 day pattern. Everyday the bite was about an hour or an hour and a 1/2 long. So it was imperative that we got there right as the Sun was coming up. Like a light switch, it was on as quick as it was off. The other pattern that I notice was the trout size changed each day. One day we had more females than males and as the Days progressed we caught smaller fish, Croaking males barely 16” each. It’s not common but one day there were undersize trout that We had to throw back 2 or 3 before we had a keepetr That’s just not typical of Fishing for trout in the surf.

The Black Drum bite was really good last month. We had days that we had triple hook up after hook up on nice eating sized drum. It’s been a week since I targeted Drum but they haven’t gone far. With the higher tide they just push deeper into the marsh.

Hey, Teal and Gator season is about to crank up. The Season is limited so get your dates together and let us Book It. Call the Saltwater Lodge and speak with Billy at: 713 907 4796 . He will hook you up. Pun intended! Let’s Catch it! Kill it! And Eat it!

Captain Jeff Larson 281 217 0399

Trying to predict the fishing forecast is as much of a gamble as that of predicting the weather, and if anyone tells you differently then they simply may not be telling you the truth. However, there are fish to be caught this month for any saltwater angler who is willing to brave one of the hottest times of the year. Let’s take a glimpse at what we might expect to catch as we head into August along the middle portion of the Texas coast.

August is historically an exceptional month for fishing over oyster shell whenever weather conditions allow anglers to do so effectively. Unless stained by heavy winds, the water over mid-bay oyster reefs is generally clean and clear during the late summertime months, and this month should be no exception for such reefs in East and West Matagorda Bays, Espiritu Santo Bay, San Antonio Bay, and even down in Mesquite Bay. You should try to fish the reefs early in the day when the sun is rising, starting out by offering top water baits early and then transitioning to slow-sinkers or plastic tails as the water begins to be warmed by the heat of the sun.

One of the best ways to locate the fish will be to pinpoint active bait fish, as bait activity usually means there are gamefish nearby. Water quality will also be an important thing for you to take into consideration while searching for the fish, remembering all the while that cleaner water is almost always better than dirty or off-colored water, especially when looking for that strong trout bite.

Although speckled trout may be your primary target this month, good catches of redfish, black drum, and even flounder can also be recognized. If you can’t get out to the shell, look for trout over sand and grass flats all along the length of Matagorda Island. Without changing your strategies, offer top water baits early in the day, followed by plastics later in the morning – fish shallow early and move to the edges of the sandy, grass flats as the sun warms things up. Anglers should also look for sandy holes surrounded by heavy grass in the flats, as trout love to sit in these holes and wait for their next meal to be delivered to them by the moving tide.

Have a great August this year, and keep grindin’!

I was honored to be the first to win the Wayne Timmermann Top Angler award at the Houston Big Game Lonestar Shootout in Port O’Connor. Mechanical Man took home the win with 3 blues and one white marlin released. I had a successful 3-3 on the blues and Craig Hale had success releasing the white. Our Capt. Ray Dunn took top captain and Matthew Grimes took top mate for the tournament. Thank you John Hickman for keeping lines off lines even though you really wanted to throw steel!

This award means so much more having grown up with Wayne Timmermann and being a part of his family’s events from his wedding to Nicole, to Wayne being the first to call and congratulate me when I completed my Billfish Royal Slam in 2013.

Thank you Randy Bright and the board of HBG for putting on another first class tournament and for getting this award in place! Thank you Ben and Gay Heilker for keeping us on the water year after year.

Thanks to everyone that has sent well wishes, but honestly I’m the lucky one fishing with one of the best teams in the Gulf of Mexico.

Tight lines! -Andy Lack

Capt. Mark Robinson & wife Alison

Team Slickline set a tournament record with a 693 pound tiger shark caught during the annual Sharp Tooth Fishing Tournament in Port O’Connor.
Capt. Mark Robinson founded the tournament five years ago. 31 boats participated in this year’s tournament, raising funds to support their bone marrow drive for cancer patients.  The fish were donated to Fisherman’s Chapel.