Friends of the Library sponsored an interesting discussion on Thursday, April 9 re keeping our beaches clean. Actually, members of the POC Service Club under the leadership of Beth Coates and June Green engaged in that activity of cleaning the Front Beach every Monday morning after a weekend of fun. This went on for several years in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Following the work of the Service Club, various dedicated community residents continued to walk the beach, picking up trash.

The annual Spring Garage Sale by the POC Service Club is scheduled for Saturday, April 18, 2015 in the Pavilion of the Community Center. Beginning at 8:00 a.m. and continuing until 2:00 p.m., this is the opportunity to find that extra-special item you’ve been searching for. And once again those incredible bakers of the Service Club will be exhibiting their wares with many luscious looking and tasty cakes for sale. Don’t miss this event!

An interesting and possibly thought-provoking question for our female readers: which two women in public life do you admire and respect? And why? Write me at kubeckasue@yahoo.com with your answers; I will be quite interested in the replies.

Hurricane Junction is closing! Lost their lease. Closing Bell is Saturday, April 25. BUT a bigger and better Hurricane is being built at 2441 West Maple Street, and featuring all those wonderful hamburgers that Hoop is famous for. Newly in charge of the kitchen is Dalene Sagebiel Caffey, formerly of the Crazy Fisherman, and her culinary talents have already been sampled by many discerning customers with more to come. Matt Schelvon of South Texas Metal Works is in charge of the construction of the NEW Hurricane, and clearing of the lot has already started. Shuffleboard too will be featured. And a huge deck overlooking the Intercoastal displaying dockage for your boat, so you can stop and get a snack while still on the water. The Indian currently featured at the front door to welcome folks will be standing at the Front of the New Hurricane. After all, can’t leave him behind! Opening is scheduled for early June with an official date to be posted later.

Spring has finally arrived, but it looks as though it’s proceeding straight into Summer as many events start to pop with longer days. We’ve already had one fishing tournament several weeks ago, and the signs are up already for the Cula Roja later this year. But with warmer days and rain showers, we get those pesky mosquitoes, and I’ve been bitten several times. One bit of warmer days and rain puddles I’ve noticed is the usage of those puddles by the seagulls for a bath; they are totally delightful to watch as they dip their heads over and over in the water and let it run down their bodies.

kubeckasue@yahoo.com
361 798-0560

I welcome correspondence from various organizations re their happenings for information to add to this column. Also welcome any remarks, good or otherwise.

POC Women’s Service Club is busy! We have a few new members and lots of projects in the works. The bike racks are ready to install in our newly remodeled front beach area. The pet potty station will soon follow. By the time you read this, our Spring Garage Sale April 18th will be well on the way to completion and proceeds will fund our 2015 Scholarships. The order forms for our POC Locator Map are being delivered to area businesses and need to be returned as soon as possible. For only $50, you can have a personalized advertising spot on the huge POC map posted at Kingfisher Beach. Great advertising impact for very little money! If you have a business that needs to be included and have not been contacted by a club member, please call Kelly Gee at 817-929-2564.

A huge thank you from the club to the Goode clan and all the participants in the Drumboree Fishing Tournament held in March. The proceeds are always donated to a local organization, and this year the POC Service Club received more than $600 from this event. We will use it well, and thank those who made it possible.

Renee Hawes and those painting kiddos are getting together every Tuesday at the Community Center and making some amazing artwork. If you missed them at the front beach on Easter, watch for the next ones coming up soon.

Chamber Crawfish Festival is right around the corner and I hear that some of those famous desserts might be available at the POC Service Club Booth at the Crawfish Festival on May 2nd. Bring your sweet tooth and a little cash.

Service Club is producing a new Cookbook in the coming months. We are collecting recipes now. A few remaining copies of the previous cookbook are still available. Get yours from a club member before they are gone.

Service Club will be awarding local youth scholarships this spring. If you have not already applied, check with your school counselor for more information. You can’t be awarded any scholarship you do not apply for, so apply soon! We invite all interested women to join our club and get in on the fun. We meet the 1st and 3rd Thursday during the school year, and the 1st Thursday at 10:00 a.m. during summer months at the POC Community Center. All interested are invited to visit and see if you would like to join us.

Poet Henrik Ibsen said, “ A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.” Is it your day to drive the boat?

Spring is definitely springing! I hope everyone has been able to take advantage of the beautiful weather this Spring.  Have you noticed all the beautiful Texas Blue Bonnets and Indian Paintbrushes as you’ve been driving around? This is a great annual event and this year it seems to be better than ever. The wet winter really  helped the wildflowers and grasses. The most beautiful sight is when you see a big ol’ Tom Turkey strutting in a field of wild flowers.  There has been plenty of turkey action throughout the county.  Did you bag a bird yet?  We have taken several off of the Ranch.  The quota for the year has been reached and there are plenty of birds for next year.  We have been doing some predator control as well to protect the nesting hens.

Topwater fishing for trophy trout and reds is in full force.  Like they say, “Come get you some!”  Saltwater Lodge Guides are filling stringers and coolers. They are not just on top waters but all types of fishing is off the charts.  It seems that all the bays, backwaters, shorelines, jetties, and offshore are producing plenty of fish for all fishermen.  It is setting up to be a great year for all species of fish.  Flounder are being caught by many anglers using soft plastics. Reports from Gigging Guides are good, some nights they are everywhere and some nights you have to cover a lot of territory to get your limit of flat fish. The average size is running from the minimum 15 inches to some 20 inches plus flounder hitting the box.

The river has also been holding plenty of catfish. The bigger blue cats are coming easier when the water is flowing fast. Basically, when the Dam Gate is open, is when the river flows at a faster rate. There are plenty of nice eating size blues being caught even when  the gate closes and slows the flow. Catfish are still being caught even when the flow slows but it takes just a little longer to catch a mess of ‘em. Cat fishing is a great way to fish for fish frys.  The sports fisherman limit is liberal enough so a few guys can fill a cooler pretty quick once you find the right eddy.

The first two weeks of April has been pretty calm for the most part.  The Jetty Guides have been reporting catching plenty of fish on live or  dead bait, plus they are catching fish on artificial baits as well.  This weekend forecast is windy and rain. This forecast should not change the pattern. It will just change tactics and where you can go to catch ‘em.

I had a great wade fishing trip with Delaney Restoration. Ed is a seasoned wade fisherman and he brought his family down to expound on his kids wade fishing techniques. Julia, Ed’s daughter, and I let the boys bail out of the boat and take off down the shoreline while we concentrated on casting and shuffling our feet. Julia was quick to use the wind to help her cast but then we worked on throwing into the wind. She was making great casts.  Then I taught her to look for targets to throw at, always keeping in mind how the wind affects the cast. She hammered a nice 3 pounder within minutes out of the boat. It really came together generating a Texas Size Smile.  Dad was proud, Thomas, her brother, and Friend Matthew were bound and determined to catch a bigger one.  Let the competition begin. So Julia and I egged it on a little bit. We caught the 1st one, lol.  Really it’s about the memories with family and friends.  It is the most gratifying when the smiles break out.  I really felt like a Fishing Coach and we just won the big game.  I appreciate the monster catches and viewing them on Facebook. As a guide coaching new fishermen and fisherwomen from their 1st fish to their personal best is the most rewarding part of guiding.  The memories of the day are the icing on top, of the WATER.

The Saltwater Lodge is a perfect location for all levels of fishermen to enjoy great Texas Size Amenities and create great Texas Size Memories and Stories.  We pay attention to details and we make sure everyone has a Big Time. Give Scott a call and let us handle your next Middle Coast Excursion. The Saltwater Lodge hotline is: 361 – 785 – DUCK (3825).

Come get you some, Middle Coast Memories, I’m going fishing!

Captain Jeff Larson,
The Fishing Coach
281-217-0399

Capt. Jeff Larson

Ed and Julia making Father/Daughter memories in the Outdoors. – Capt. Jeff Larson

Big trout like this one are rare, but can be found just about anywhere along the Texas coast. The key to catching a wall hanger is to be in the right place, at the right time with the right lure. Robert Sloan photo

Guide Charlie Paradoski had positioned his boat along the edge of a shell reef so we could quietly make a drift with the wind while working Assassins under Bomber Paradise Popper rattle floats on West Matagorda Bay. The water depth was about 6 feet and the occasional mullet could be seen on the surface.

“This should work,” he said. “We’ve got the key ingredients – mud, mullet and shell. We’ve caught some good trout in here over the past couple of weeks.”

We were with Mike Vincent, who had never fished on the coast. He’s a bass fisherman that’s normally at home on Falcon Lake in South Texas. On his first cast he just about had the rod yanked out of his hands. He set the hook and a trout weighing somewhere between 7 and 10 pounds wallowed on the surface and was off the hook that fast. Paradoski and I were bug-eyed.
“Was that a good one?” asked Vincent.

“That’s one of the biggest trout I’ve seen in a good while,” said Paradoski. “Unbelievable!”

That’s pretty much the story while fishing for big trout. You never know what the next bite is going to deliver.

The heaviest trout in the Texas record books was caught by Bud Rowland on the Lower Laguna Madre. While fly fishing on May 23, 2002, Rowland caught and released a speckled trout that measured 37 ¼ inches and weighed 15 pounds, 6 ounces. It not only gave us a new state record but is also a new IGFA line class world record. Rowland caught that trout on a fast sinking crab imitation fly. He actually saw the huge trout in about 2 feet of water, made the cast and she ate the fly.

Trophy trout angler Jim Wallace caught the second heaviest trout on record. She weighed 13 pounds, 11 ounces and was caught on Feb. 6, 1996. On that day Wallace was fishing with Ed Stedman and Ronnie Sellers. They were on some huge trout that included Wallace’s state record, Stedman’s 12-1/4-pounder and Seller’s 11-pounder. Those are all career fish that oddly enough were hooked within minutes of each other as these fishermen waded Baffin Bay south of Corpus Christi on the lower Texas coast. They were fishing with the hottest big trout baits on the Texas Gulf Coast – “Corky’s.” That’s a slow sinking mullet imitation lure that has caught big numbers of trophy-class trout. Wallace says he used a Corky with a chartreuse/sparkle body to catch his 13-11 trout.

Trophy trout time in Texas is January through April. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department data trout are at their heaviest in April during the spawn. That’s when they can put on 1 to 2 pounds. And that’s when the bulk of Lone Star sows are caught. March and especially April are the prime months for searching out trophies. That’s not to say heavy specks can’t be caught during May; they can.

There’s no question about when a trout becomes wall class. A 7-pounder is close, but not quite. An honest 8-pounder is a trophy. Nine’s and 10’s will take your breath away. And state record class trout are outright Boone & Crockett’s of the speck world.

Regardless of where you’re fishing for large speckled trout it’s simply a matter of tying on a proven lure and grinding it out. The heaviest trout are almost always caught by anglers that can put in hours at a time on the water and catch very few fish. It’s called grinding and it’s all about caching a trophy.

Wading is the preferred way to stalk big trout that can often be extremely spooky. But it’s possible to catch big specks while easing along with the trolling motor. My heaviest trout, a 10-1/4 pounder, was caught from a boat.

What are the best lures for trophy-class trout? Put it this way, during late winter and spring trout will be feeding almost exclusively on mullet. That’s because shrimp and shad are scarce. So, it stands to reason that you’ll do best by fishing mullet imitation lures. Probably the best you’ll ever tie on is a Corky. One of the latest newcomers, that you might want to check out, is a slow-sinking Bomber Mullet.

The most exciting lure to use for trophy trout is a topwater. There is nothing quite like having a trout blow up on a topwater plug. That’s the good thing about trout – they aren’t shy about crashing a topwater lure. One of the best is a Super Spook Jr. in bone, red/white or chrome/blue. Another proven topwater plug is a Top Dog. That’s what I caught my 10-1/4 on.

When targeting trophy trout the main thing is to have confidence in where you’re fishing and the lure you are chunking.

Check this out: The length of a trout is a good way to determine its weight. According to TPWD numbers, a 24 inch speck will weigh about 5 pounds, a 28-incher 7-1/2 pounds and a 30-incher is roughly 9 to 9-1/2 pounds. So, if you catch a trout measuring 29 or more inches long you’ve got a trophy.

Never a dull moment with game wardens: Two Calhoun County game wardens spotted a skiff oystering in closed waters. As the wardens moved in, one of the occupants threw the oyster dredge overboard, along with himself. When the warden was able to get the man back in the boat, both subjects were arrested.

For the latest on fishing out of Port O’Connor check out videos, stories and lots of photos at www.luckystrikeguide.com. You can set up a guided trip with Capt. Robert Sloan by calling 409 782 6796, or email sloan288@aol.com.

Deborah Hess – 40 1/2” redfish

Larry Marshall and some friends from Austin Texas come to Port O’Connor every Easter as a tradition and have been coming for many years Pictured above and below are just some of the fish that they caught over the weekend.


Above: Kourtney Coveney celebrating her 18th birhtday, caught this drum Easter weekend fishing with her Papa Cal Junek. Below: Cal and Irene Junek’s garndson, Jaxson Chambers, caught this drum at the jetties Easter weekend.

Jeremy Flessner caught and released this 40” long black drum on March 19. It weighed over 50 lbs. (The scale only went that high.) His mother, Debora Hess, caught and released a 40 1/2” redfish that weighed 23 lbs., 10 oz. The redfish was caught at the big jetties and the black drum in Saluria Bayou. Jeremy and his family are from Houston and have a house in Port O’Connor. His mother, Debora and step-father Mike Hess, who took this photo, are from Cuero.

Capt. Ron Arlitt of Scales and Tales Guide Service and Capt. Dodd Coffey of Willie D’s Guide Service teamed up to show these guys from Houston a great time here in POC. These guys filled the board with some really nice fish. Most had never been to POC before and can’t wait to come back after such a great day on the water.