Corpusfishing.com

[gulftrout]

I had been planning to get to Houston as soon as possible to get a wedding present to my cousin's son and his new wife. Of course it could be shipped or mailed, but how am I going to try old fishing spots and new ones, if I do not hand deliver this present myself. So off I go Tuesday morning, leaving the house a little after 4 am. My first stop is going to be Hallettsville. I have always wanted to try the golf course sitting right beside HWY 77. I know it is a short, 9 hole course with lots of trees and some water making for an interesting layout. I arrive a little before 8am and all the sprinkler's are watering the greens. Hopefully the course is not closed for maintenance. I head to the club house and there is a sign on the door, closed until 11 am. I go ahead and go inside and talk to the pro. He agrees to let me get going before a daily scramble tournament gets started. I thank him and head for the first tee. Before I tee off I call the "Director of Music" at Blinn Jr. College, Mr. Larry Campbell and leave a message, hoping we can meet around lunch, give him some frozen fish and talk about old times. In 1974, his second year of being a band director at Blinn, I received a full scholarship to play trombone. It was a fun year, I pulled a few crazy stunts and majored in "Fishing" wearing out my tires on my "Blue Ford Torino" driving the 14 miles from the campus to the "Lake Sommerville Spillway." After playing golf I notice I have received a call from Mr. Campbell. I call him back and make arrangements to meet him around 12 noon at the band hall. When I get there I asked how his vacation to Colorado went and get him to play my old silver Conn 88H trombone. He finds the instrument and plays a few scales for me. A couple month's ago I had taken my old trombone to him to see if he could sell it for me. He did sell it, the buyer "Blinn College!" It was such a good deal for the college, they bought it and had It cleaned by an expert so someone at the college could use it in the concert band. I am very happy it will now be used instead of sitting in my closet. After our meeting I decide to take a short drive up to the spillway and see what it looks like. Well, I could not believe my eyes. The spillway was open with a small amount of water running into Yegua Creek. I jumped out of my car, grabbed a couple fishing rods and headed down the concrete steps that were not there in 1974.

[gulftrout]

There are around 7 or 8 people fishing on the concrete walkway(it also was not there in 1974). They are catching lots of gasper goo(freshwater drum) channel cat's and small mouth buffalo. I was so excited I could hardly talk. One fisherman that was about to leave, throws his cast net and catches lots of small shad, so I will have plenty of fresh bait. Everyone is very nice and gladly shares fishing tips, bait and tackle to everyone there. I was a great pleasure to meet a few new friends at one of my "Old" fishing spots!

[B-1 83]

Those little buffalo are first rate trotline bait

[gulftrout]

I ended up with one keeper channel cat, one large bluegill and six gasper goo. I had fished in the heat of the day, 12:30 to 2:30 pm. with no clouds and the temperature close to 100 degrees. I looked up that steep walkway and decided I had better head back up toward the car and continue my journey toward Houston. I had to make three stops carrying my cooler, two rods and tackle box. Luckily I still had one cold soda to help me make it back up the hill. I can remember making that climb when I went to Blinn at a fast pace, usually carrying a stringer full of crappie and white bass. Boy, how time changes things. When I finally reach the top, I am out of breath and probably close to a "Heat Stroke!" I manage to get everything in the car and make it to the first air conditioned convenience store I can find and take a long break.

[gulftrout]

After a nice visit with my brother and his wife. I grab a few hours sleep. I get started toward my cousin's house a little after 5 am. I leave the wedding present, a tackle box loaded for freshwater fishing and a Zebco Rod and Reel combination at the front door. Curtis is still on duty at the fire station and everyone else is still asleep. I want to try to beat most of the traffic through Houston headed south on 59, next destination, Surfside Beach!

[gulftrout]

As I was nearing Surfside Beach I stopped for breakfast at the local convenience store. As I was having a couple wonderful worker's fix two breakfast taco's, I mentioned that I had never seen such a big convenience store. They asked where are you from, these are all across Texas. I asked, "Where do you think I'm from." One of them replied, "ARKANSAS!" I replied, "You need to be on the Carson Show, being a Soothsayer and all. She then asked, "What part of Arkansas are you from?" I replies, "The SOUTHERN Part!" We had a good laugh and I left well stocked on "Eat's" for the next part of my journey.

[gulftrout]

I headed toward San Luis Pass, wanting to try the surf. The water was rough and muddy. I only stayed a few minutes catching one small hardhead. I then headed to the "Surfside Jetty." There was an angler walking off as I arrived. He had two nice specks he had caught on lures. He told me he had got a later start than he wanted. He also mentioned that he had caught 8 keepers the day before. I asked him if he knew anywhere I could possibly catch a few, "Golden Croaker?" I have not caught any decent sized ones in years and they are my wife's favorite fish to eat, when fried. He mentioned that he used to work on shrimp boats and he always remembered catching some big ones in Matagorda Bay. I thanked him for the information. I figured I would give that area a try on the way home if I could not find any in the Surfside, Freeport area. After a couple hours of trying various spots, my only eater was a small "Gray Snapper" I had caught casting toward the channel range marker, near the Surfside Coast Guard Station. This floating rig was moving on it's own power at a decent clip. I guess there are engines inside each pontoon.

[gulftrout]

I finally gave up on finding any "Golden" croaker around Freeport so I headed southwest toward Sargent, Texas. [img][/img] If you go there during the week, be sure to bring or catch you own bait. Everything was closed yesterday.

[gulftrout]

I did not see anyone catching anything during my brief stay and I did not have any bait. I decided my last shot at having fresh croaker for supper tonight would have to come from Matagorda. I had been to Matagorda fishing a couple times, only catching sand trout in the river channel and sheephead or drum near the surf pier and jetty's. Upon arrival I stopped at the grocery store for BBQ and cold drinks. Then I found a bait stand still open and bought a pound of fresh dead shrimp. I drove toward the beach only to find that you need a park pass to get in the area. Nothing new here, pay to play, I guess, but this was new to this site. I was not in the mood to pay $5.00 just to go look, so I headed back toward town hoping for a shady spot to fish since the sun was getting low in the sky and hotter that heck. I drove around the harbor and watch a couple fishing. They were not having any luck so I said, "One Last Spot" before I call it quits. I headed under the new bridge finding a shady spot and cast out a fresh dead shrimp. With-in 5 seconds I had my first bite and fish on. I looked on in amazement at the yellow-gold color on my first fish. In the next hour I caught the first pile of "Golden Croaker" I have caught in years. I also caught a couple nice gafftop catfish and one lone whiting. I guess we will be having fresh croaker and shrimp tonight for supper!

[gulftrout]

My wife said that the bridge looks nothing like a "Concrete Rainbow." I said it does if "YOUR FROM ARKANSAS!" THE END!

[Lovethemyorkies]

Thanks for the journey...

[ratherbefishing]

Nice story GT. Thanks for the post.

And, I now know where all those steps are...
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[El Pescador]

Thanks for an awesome report. Last time I saw the bridge it was only concrete and rebar on both ends working towards the middle. This fall I will return to Matagorda beach. You go through the entrance and only about 100 yards north to my favorite spot. In the fall, the fish are everywhere. The sharks too! I remember the time I was looking "cool" with my stringer tied to my belt loop only to received a strong jolt and saw a 3 foot hammerhead shark having a field day feasting on my whiting and sand trout. Lesson learned!!! Spent the rest of the day wading, catching a fish, walk back to the beach, go out again, back to the beach, and etc. No more stringer for me!

[Im Headed South]

Very nice as always GT.
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Michael

"If Im Not Here Im Headed South"

[AnmRanch]

Your photos bring back memories. I used to fish around Surfside all the time (did pretty good there).
Then I used to bowfish the buffalo below the Lake Summerville. I would load up on those things, then give them people fishing for them. They prefered them to catfish.