No Place Like Home (Late Report)

[ceeque]

I've been working out of town for a while and I've been dying to get back on the water. Here's a summary of a couple trips while I was home.

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Date: July 22
Area: Lower Galveston Bay
Bait: Live Croakers
Wind: South @ 15 knots
Water Clarity: <1 ft
Tide: Slack / Weak Incoming
Water Temp: >85 deg

My son was itching to catch some trout just as much as me so my brother and I booked a half-day trip with Steve Coffee.

We launched from Tx City Dike and targeted flats adjacent to deep water, keying in on slicks and bait.

Steve did a great job of putting us on the fish. We ended the day with 13 trout to 25" but it was a very finicky bite. We missed at least three times as many fish as we caught.

All in all, it was a good trip by any measure, especially given the conditions. The main thing is that my son had a good time. He's holding the big fish of the day that my brother caught.




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Date: July 229
Area: San Luis Pass
Bait: Topwaters, Live Croakers
Wind: East @ 15-20+ knots
Water Clarity: <1 ft
Tide: Slack
Water Temp: >85 deg

I was determined to catch a trout on topwater so I figured that the SLP area was a sure thing. We got to the ramp at 5:30am, as planned. However, that's when the unexpected happened.

It was still dark as we were approaching Bird Island. That's when we saw a couple of guys in a jon boat signalling for help. Just as we pulled up to them the boat when under and capsized. Fortunately, we were able to safely get the guys in the boat but they lost a ton of equipment.

I'm a Christian and I don't believe in coincidence so I see God's hand in everything that happens. He put us there at the right moment in time to help them out. What an awesome God we serve!

Anyway, back to the fishing. After dropping the guys off at their truck, we got to our spot at about 7am. I started with my bone superspook jr and my brother kicked things off with live croakers.

The bite was pretty steady early on, but faded quickly as the wind gusted over 20 mph. No matter, I got what I was after... blow ups and hook ups.

Ended the day with 9 keeper trout to 22"... 3 on top with several that pulled off. The best bite of the day came from a gafftop that annihilated my chrome super spook jr...

[Jhua]

Thanks for the report. That looks like one happy kid!

[Robalo]

Nice going ceeque! I guess their boat sunk and is gone?

[WestEndAngler]

Great report & way to help out another boat. Sinking at that!

[Curmudgeon]

Great report & good story! Way to go.

[Moe]

"I don't believe in coincidence"

Total Agreement on that! Everything happens for a reason! I may not like it, agree with it, understand it or want to accept it sometimes, but it happens for a reason!

Great way to spend time with family, catching fish! Some of the most exciting blowups on top I've had have been gafftops! I hate all the slime, but it's still pretty exciting when it happens!

Moe

[rscott02]

Way to go getting little man fishing and excited about it. Good looking out on the stranded fishermen. I'm sure you will be rewarded on the water and in life. God is good.

[ceeque]

Nice going ceeque! I guess their boat sunk and is gone?

We managed to beach the boat on Bird Island after multiple failed attempts of towing it to the ramp. One of the guys was going to get his dad's Kenner to tow it to shore. The boat kept taking on water after flipped it right-side up. I believe the guys lost a generator, a tackle box, and a rod or two. We recovered a couple of rods.

Odd thing was that they didn't know where they were... funny how the darkness disorients you. They started off near Sea Isle and drifted way off course,

[ubermensch1324]

Goob job that's a big ol trout your brother caught! And the kid looks happy - looks like yall had fun! Remember if your goal is to have a good time, regardless of the fishing being good or bad, you've won. I think yall got that down pretty well!

[Root Canal]

Good report and great job helping the guys in trouble. Coffee is a nice man. Met him at the boat show a couple of years ago.

[-JQ-]

Talk about being in the right place at the right time. At the precise moment that we pull along side them, their boat went under then capsized and in the water they went. We were just thankful we were able to help.

JQ