This past Saturday and Sunday I had the pleasure of guiding David, Mike and Derek from the Houston. They came down for a guy's weekend to relax, fish, have fun and just get away from it all.
Another cool front blew through at the end of the week bringing cooler temps and clear skies. Saturday morning at 7:30 was a little eye tearing and face burning running out the Arroyo. It was around 55 degrees but felt a lot cooler on the water especially with the brisk north wind blowing.
I headed to the same grassy flats that had been holding reds earlier in the week, but after about an hour, they only had one red in the box. The fish had moved out, so we moved on. I went to clear deep water. There were lots of mud boils but the fish were skittish and scared from all the boat traffic, they just wouldn't hit.
By now we were half way through the full day charter and still only one red in the box, but now the sun was over head. It was easier for me to spot fish while we were running and I spotted a bunch. I shut down in a shallow pot hole area, only about 15 inches deep.
The fish were there but because of the cooler temps, they were a little lethargic, not moving, just laying on the bottom. By dragging gold spoons slowly along the bottom, the guys got the bite going. They landed five more reds in a couple of long drifts. We the moved on to try for trout along the channel, but only one taker.
The guys had had fun but were tired by now. It had been a long hard day of fishing and they were ready to head to the house to kick back and relax.
Sunday morning was even cooler, around 50 degrees. Daylight savings time had ended, so we were heading out the Arroyo at 6:30 a.m. Because the water temp was warmer than the air and there was no wind, smokey steam was rising off the glistening slick water. It was a beautiful morning.
I headed to the sand to look for schools of reds. I could only find pods of 6-10 fish. The water was slicked off and there were lots of v-wakes everywhere, but we wanted schools.
I finally spotted a group of about 25 fish and one of the guys got a hook up and landed a nice red for the box. It was time to move on so I headed to deep trout water, but the skips were thick and the trout very thin.
Today's trip was just a half day and the guys had to be back to the house in plenty of time to get things cleaned up before heading out. They had a 4 o'clock flight back to Houston.
I once again went to that same shallow pot hole area that had been holding reds on Saturday. With just a light breeze out of the south east, we were able to drift slowly.
The reds were there and we were able to sight fish, but they just didn't want to hit. Finally a hit and another nice red in the box.
We were running out of time but I wanted them to fish one more favorite shallow pot hole area that Richard and I call the runway. Within 30 minutes they had 3 more reds in the box. With that, they were happy and ready to go to the house.
These guys were fun to fish and I was really glad they caught. Their get away weekend was a success. The lure de jour for the weekend, weedless gold spoons.
