Last weekend I took a group of 12 guys and gals down to Matagorda for a little fishing retreat. We rented a nice little house on Caney Creek with a private lighted pier. It was great! The pier fishing was OK, not spectacular. All the sand trout you could want, and quite a few undersized specks and a couple 16" specks too. I saw a couple flounder boils, but couldn't entice them to bite.
On saturday morning (8/20) we went out with two different guides.
1) Capt. Gene (Living Waters Guide Service) picked up two fishermen at our dock and they chased reds and trout around the bay most of the day. They ended up with with 7 specks, 6 nice reds, 1 HUGE gafftop, and a couple whiting/sand trout. They caught about 35 specks, but only 7 landed 7 keepers. They also caught over 20 reds, all the same size, but obviously only retained 6. One guy on that boat was relatively new to fishing, and he let a couple specks and one nice red come unbuttoned.
Larry, Kevin, and their fish
Kevin with a keeper red and trout
2) Myself and two others drove over to Matagorda Marina and met Charlie Paradoski there... that guy can fish! We headed to the beach, but it was too rough to get out and wade. From sunup till about 9:30 we went from spot to spot on the beach, picking up a couple nice specks here and there. We FINALLY found a money hole and quickly limited out on 19"+ specks. Even found a couple nice sized reds running the sand bar. My favorite catch of the day was a pompano... we ended up with 2! I have never eaten on before, but man oh man it was AWESOME!!!! I want to go catch some more. All said and done, we caught exactly 30 specks (we didn't catch one single undersized speck all day!), 5 really nice reds (had 3-4 break offs on that school of reds), and 2 pomps. Back at the dock by noon. It was a great day!
Our catch, Craig, Myself, and John
Craig and his red
John and his red
My, my red and trout
One of the pompanos... my mouth is watering just looking at it
On saturday morning (8/20) we went out with two different guides.
1) Capt. Gene (Living Waters Guide Service) picked up two fishermen at our dock and they chased reds and trout around the bay most of the day. They ended up with with 7 specks, 6 nice reds, 1 HUGE gafftop, and a couple whiting/sand trout. They caught about 35 specks, but only 7 landed 7 keepers. They also caught over 20 reds, all the same size, but obviously only retained 6. One guy on that boat was relatively new to fishing, and he let a couple specks and one nice red come unbuttoned.
Larry, Kevin, and their fish
Kevin with a keeper red and trout
2) Myself and two others drove over to Matagorda Marina and met Charlie Paradoski there... that guy can fish! We headed to the beach, but it was too rough to get out and wade. From sunup till about 9:30 we went from spot to spot on the beach, picking up a couple nice specks here and there. We FINALLY found a money hole and quickly limited out on 19"+ specks. Even found a couple nice sized reds running the sand bar. My favorite catch of the day was a pompano... we ended up with 2! I have never eaten on before, but man oh man it was AWESOME!!!! I want to go catch some more. All said and done, we caught exactly 30 specks (we didn't catch one single undersized speck all day!), 5 really nice reds (had 3-4 break offs on that school of reds), and 2 pomps. Back at the dock by noon. It was a great day!
Our catch, Craig, Myself, and John
Craig and his red
John and his red
My, my red and trout
One of the pompanos... my mouth is watering just looking at it
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