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Around Matagorda Bay Weekly
Newsletter |
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| Note from the Webmaster |
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Hi, Guys! We have a fishing tournament for the ladies this weekend, so once again our bays will be active. A special "Good Luck" goes out to Jennifer Klaiber and her bunch! The bays may be a little choppy early in the weekend but not bad. The wind will move from northeast on Friday to east on Saturday and finally moving around to southeast late in the weekend. A few quick showers shouldn't keep you from bringing in that gator trout, though. East Matagorda Bay should prove good for trout if you drift under the birds or over scattered reefs out in the middle of the bay using live shrimp under a popping cork. Top Dogs and Super Spooks might scare up a nice fish for you, too. Good spots to try might be down on the south side of East Matagorda Bay when the wind is out of the southeast - give the Oyster Farm Reef or 3 Mile Reef a shot. The south shoreline of West Matagorda Bay should hold good where you can fish over shell/grass. The Green's Bayou area produces consistently for wadefishermen. Our color picks for this week are limetreuse, chartreuse woodpecker, tequila gold, pepper/chartreuse, red shad, roach, or a plum/white Bass Assassin, Hogie, or Sand Eel. But you know what the fish love! Live shrimp and croaker! Come on down and give it a try! Good Luck! See ya next week,
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| This Week's Fishing Reports | ||||||||
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Thursday - 06/20/02 Fishing was slower today than it has been the last few days. The wind blew out of the southwest and muddied up the bays somewhat. In East Matagorda Bay a few fishermen came in with nice catches of trout and a few reds - they were drifting along the south shoreline. In West Matagorda Bay a few trout were caught down around Green's Bayou by wadefishermen using artificials such as Norton Sand Eels. We had a nice fishing report from Capt. Brian Barnes of First Tide Guide Service. On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week he fished in Espiritu Santo Bay. His party on Tuesday ended up with 14 trout ranging from 16 to 22 inches and 4 nice reds around 25 inches - using live croaker for bait. On Wednesday he caught quite a few small trout and one nice sized one - 26 inches long and 5.4 lb. - he was using the 5-inch Hogie eel Diablo - lighter colors were working the best. No report from the beach or the jetties today - it was too rough. Wednesday - 06/19/02 East Matagorda Bay was the ticket again today. Nice stringers of trout were brought in by wadefishermen and fishermen who drifted over scattered shell reefs. The bait of choice was artificial - Bass Assassins such as the chartreuse woodpecker color and topwaters like TopDogs. There were some trout caught in West Matagorda Bay along the south shoreline and a few tripletails. Tuesday - 06/18/02 East Matagorda Bay seemed to be the ticket today - there were lots of beautiful stringers of trout brought out by wadefishermen and people who drifted over scattered shell using artificials such as Bass Assassins and Norton Sand Eels. West Matagorda Bay wadefishermen brought in some trout on artificials and some tripletails on live shrimp. Also, there were trout being caught in the surf and at the jetties using live shrimp and finger mullet. Capt. Brian Barnes of First Tide Guide Service reports having a good day wadefishing today on the east end of East Matagorda Bay between the reefs throwing Hogies and Norton sand eels in rootbeer and chartreuse colors. Monday - 06/17/02 Slim pickings today on the fishing front - there were trout caught in the surf - there were birds working the guts along the shoreline. There were a few trout and reds brought in from the bays, but not really much to talk about. Sunday - 06/16/02 We had a storm here early this morning with winds gusting to 70 mph - it pretty well spoiled the day for fishing. There were a few fish caught here and there, but for the most part it was a poor day of fishing. Saturday - 06/15/02 A pretty nice day of fishing - the south shorelines of both bays produced trout and reds on live shrimp under a popping cork and artificials such as Bass Assassins or Norton Sand Eels. Topwaters brought in a few reds, too. Drifting under the birds in East Matagorda Bay was good - producing nice school trout. Friday - 06/14/02 In East Matagorda Bay wadefishing along the south shoreline or drifting over scattered shell produced nice stringers of trout. Most of the fish were caught in the morning . The surf was good for trout, using live shrimp under a popping cork. Offshore brought nice catches of kingfish and wahoo. |
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| This Week's Tip | ||||||||
Although this doesn't really
fall under the category of Tips, it's an interesting bit
of information. Fishermen don't see what goes on with
the fish when they're in the water -- just after they've
been caught. So, here's a glimpse at the life of our saltwater
catfish, the gafftopsail catfish.
 It has an unusual method of reproduction, similar to that of the Hardhead Catfish. The male takes full responsibility for caring for the marble-like eggs after he has fertilized them. How does he do this, in waters thick with predators? By carrying them in his mouth -- as many as 55 eggs, each one up to an inch in diameter, for a period estimated at six to eight weeks! As if that weren't enough, he then may carry the young around as well, until they double in size from their hatching length of two inches. The male doesn't get to feed himself
the entire time he is transporting his offspring,
although all those fry right inside his mouth must
be quite a temptation. But as soon as the kids are
off on their own, he can resume his normal life of
gobbling up smaller fishes and other creatures. |
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