It’s topwater time for speckled trout. Brent Edwards with Capt. Robert Sloan caught limits of trout near Pass Cavallo with silver/blue Super Spooks.
Saturday, June 6, was when it all came together for catching trout, reds, tripletails, kings and lots of red snapper out of Port O’Connor. The boat ramps were full by daylight, live shrimp were being sold in record numbers, croakers were stacked in bait tanks and offshore boats were cranked up and heading out. That’s pretty much the way it’s going to be through September here on the middle Texas coast.
Even though the snapper season in federal waters is closed, state waters are open year round. There a number of rigs and wrecks that you can fish in state waters out to 9 miles. Those wrecks and rigs will be holding ling, kings, tripletails and red snapper.
We’ve been catching tripletails up to 10 pounds with ¼ ounce Bomber Nylure Pompano jigs in chrome/pink and chrome/white/red. The trick has been to tip the jigs with a piece of peeled shrimp. Most of the tripletails we’re catching are along weed lines, the rigs and just about anything you can find floating anywhere from 1 to 5 miles off the jetties.
King mackerel are very good on pre-rigged Bomber Bug Eye Duster rigs. What I’m doing is trolling two off my stern just fast enough to keep them on the surface. Best colors are silver, blue/silver and chartreuse. If the water is a little choppy you might want to tie on deep Running Bomber Certified Depth lures. These are deep diving lures that are 6 and 8 inches long. I like the smaller 6-inchers in silver flash/chartreuse, silver flash/blue back and the new silver mullet.
The surf has produced good numbers of trout for the past couple of weeks. But it’s been hit and miss with a whole lot of looking and running. One of the go to fish that anglers are beginning to target more are black drum in the 1 to 3 pound class. They are very tasty and can be caught on dead shrimp over shell. The thing about these fish is that once you find one, there are usually many more with them. Waders hitting the island shorelines are stringing fair numbers of trout.
One thing is certain on the weekends – the early bird gets the worm (a.k.a. more trout). The topwater bite, at first light, is excellent on bone colored Badonk-A-Donks and silver/blue Spooks. You might also try a jointed Long-A in silver/blue, gold/black or silver flash/red head.
Hunger buster shrimp tacos
Start off with a pound of shrimp, pico de gallo and white cheese. Saute tomatoes, jalapenos, onions and garlic. Pan saute shrimp. In another skillet heat olive oil, drop in two tortillas, load with cheese, then shrimp and veggies. Fold over in pan, cook both sides, place to the side, cool and eat. Very tasty!
For more information on fishing Port O’Connor call me, Capt. Robert Sloan, at 409 782 6796, email at sloan288@aol.com or check out my web site at www.luckystrikeguide.com.
