Corpusfishing.com

[Prof. Salt]

Yesterday I took the morning off and paddled through a part of the Nueces marsh. I limited myself to the area we call "the squares" because I had seen some reports of good fishing there and knew it had enough water to fish. North of that area was basically filled in with dredge, so I didn't bother shoving through long miles of mud to see it again. Winds came up before daylight, but stayed light enough that controlling the kayak was still pretty easy. Water levels were dropping and already pretty low when I ventured out, so I didn't stay too long and risk getting caught beyond one of the shallowest spots that could prevent my timely return.

The shorelines were shallow but did have a few singles feeding up shallow. They were spooky and didn't tolerate an approach that was too quick, or a bait landing too close to them. Because of this I blew it on a couple of fish, but I adjusted and got serious. The next fish was visible crawling in and out near some grass, and I closed the distance slowly. The bait landed about five feet from the fish and I waited for it to move closer before I moved the lure. I was barely moving the lure, just slowly dragging it through the mud an inch at a time. This worked, and at first the fish turned toward it and stopped. After a few seconds I slowly crept it forward a couple more inches, and the fish closed the distance about six inches. Everyone stopped for a second and I watched the fish, more tense now and really concentrating on my bait. One more slow inch forward and the fish pounced. The tactile "thump" felt good and I set the hook, which sadly sent the bait over my head and behind the kayak. The fish bolted ahead in the confusion and ran head-first into the side of the kayak before running off into deeper water. The fish was lower slot, so I didn't mind too much. I noticed 20 yards farther up was another fish. It looked about the same size, but I closed in to play a second round. This time the cast was directly ahead of the fish, so I slowly kept the bait coming back toward the fish. It ate successfully and we were hooked up. This was a healthy but faded looking fish that measured 21" so I put it back to grow. I paddled all the shorelines in the squares without hooking another red. Then I went into the channel leading to the bay. Water was running from the flats into the channel, and I heard a couple of trout slurps as they chased bait in that moving water. So I put a couple of paddle tails behind the kayak and paddled the areas where water was mixing. Of the three trout I caught, one was 14, one was 16 and one was right at 20 and really chunky. I kept the two legal fish and headed back to the river. I decided to head upriver away from the truck for a bit to see if one more trout would volunteer to ride home, but didn't get any takers. What I did get was a pair of gulls that quickly dropped down beside the shore and then left again. I looked at the water closer. Through the chop I could see shrimp jumping and a couple of redfish tails. This is unusual in the river, but I was happy to capitalize on the opportunity. I got close and tossed one of the paddle tails ahead of the fish. The line went tight immediately, and I brought in a 21" pumpkin. The others continued along the shore, so I netted the fish and left him in the net as I reached for the other rod. Another cast landed beside the fish and again was immediately eaten. This fish was 22 and I got both into the net. I quickly unhooked one of the fish and paddled a bit closer to the still moving school. I got the bait several feet ahead of the reds and brought it closer. This time it got smashed with lots of foam and noise, and it busted up the school. That would be okay if the fish stayed hooked, because I suddenly had a limit of reds. After that I trolled the paddle tails back to the truck without any more trout strikes. Not a bad morning considering the challenges!