Neumie's Redfish Rodeo

[bulldog1935]

My buddy Josh holds an annual 5-day kayak flats fishing, um, bacchanal.  He's fished as many as a dozen kayaks with overflow spread across Rockport fishing shacks.  This year, rain and a bad blow on the second scheduled day slowed us all down, so we traveled later and only fished 3 days.  Josh put all 6 of us up at his family digs on Copano Bay - it's on historic property that has been a Spanish Fort, Texian fort, and where Empresario John Power built the house for his Texian bride.

When we arrived Thursday evening, Josh cooked up a perfect shrimp creole.
Friday was fishing our old friend Estes Flats and Trout Bayou on a NNE.
The incoming tide should stack fish at the inside of the passes to Aransas Bay, and the wind is a perfect drift down the length of Trout Bayou.

We were off like a herd of turtles for our 3-mile paddle, and the sun was already up.

Lou, Josh, William and I each spent a little time wading the hardpack beach at Trout Bayou cut.
Rat reds were stacked at the corner of Traylor Is., right where they ought to be, and I got my first redfish on my salty BFS.

The real day, though was drifting Trout Bayou, and everyone found nice fish, especially big trout - Josh brought home a 21"
My day was mostly 18-19" reds, of course several small rats, though I did get a 22" to fillet.

Lou released a beautiful 26" sow trout to keep breeding little trout in Trout Bayou - his lifetime best. 

Lou and I were back to Palm Harbor first, and went to work filleting.  The rest followed us in -

- and took their stringers back to Copano to fillet - the pelicans lined up for fish carcasses

Friday evening we had a culinary feast at 495 Chesapeake Eats in Rockport, and Lou picked up the tab - strategic thinking - he mostly wants to be invited back.  Their calamari and crab dip were outstanding, their stuffed flounder special was better than any I've tried elsewhere, and Lou made a great call on an aged rye Old Fashioned, which I was smart enough to duplicate.

This is all I can manage in one post, will be back with the last two days...

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, bulldog1935 said:

um, bacchanal

So lots of booze involved...sounds fun.

[bulldog1935]

@MN Fisher and smoking cigars - what else you gonna do with a gazebo and firepit, bro? 

 

Saturday, we crossed the ferry at Port Aransas to Mustang Is and Island Moorings Marina to fish East Flats.
We had to be off the water at 2pm, because Nina coaches her daughter's volleyball team, and learned the evening before they made the playoffs. Lou and I got separated from the group - we were staged on the ramp, had to launch before a boat backed down, and our partners had to wait out two more boat launches before they could play. We paddled out first to East Flats.

What we didn't know, our friends stayed in the boat channel to fish the cuts into East Flats and East Flats Lake. 

We had two fairly boring drifts diagonal across East Flats, Lou was happy with a keeper trout and rat red, but I was shut out.
We spent the rest of the day looking for our friends on East Flats Lake, and paddled 8 miles - it was a beautiful day.
But our friends caught 100 trout, mostly dinks, and Josh boated a keeper limit.
I would have given anything to be there with my UL.
Maybe I'll have to buy Josh a VHF - I don't do cell phones on the water.

So my Saturday was about food - Whit's famous ceviche, spec fillet cooked by key lime juice, and mostly chopped by William.

Josh's perfect and rightly famous shimp boil.

A great time around the firepit, and serious libation.

______________________________________________________________________

Sunday was also a short day - we had to be off the water at 11 am, time to clean up and pack out.  We picked Estes again for the easy logistics and light NE.
At least we got a good start.

A short visit to Little Cut without any action, and then rode the NE between the two duck blinds between Little Cut and Big Cut.
Two drifts, a 19" and 18" redfish for me.
And sorry, I think there's shrimp boil on my polarizer.

After another drift and a half without fish, I made the long paddle back to Lunch Beach for a final drift down Trout Bayou and Talley shore.
That was also mostly fruitless, though when I got to the mouth of the big Talley slough, I found a thousand rat reds that would try to impale your lure until your took it out of the water.

Lou got his best red of the trip.

Great times with great friends, and Josh and his sister Nina are amazing hosts and great fishers. 

[Fishingmickey]

That looks like a really awesome time Bulldog, This is the perfect time of year to hit the coast too.

Fishingmickey

[bulldog1935]

Josh - Neumie - posted his daily reports on TKF

Each of his reports includes photos and the narrative from his boat, meterology, solunar, NOAA tide prediction, lures used, fish caught, and a Google Earth plot of the paddling trail using his recorded GPS. 

 

 

 

here's that shrimp creole

 

and me with a rat red

 

oh, and dinner last night at my house - these fillets were never frozen, just floated in ice water