A Perfectly Good Boat

Here on the Upper Texas Coast we probably do more drift fishing over a twelve month period than most of our friends to the south. It hasn’t always been that way, however. With the exception of a few areas, the Galveston Bay Complex has evolved into more of a “stay in the fiberglass for better results” type of bay these days primarily because of shoreline habitat loss and erosion. 

This being said, there are certain times of the year when our chances for success are drastically improved if we ease over the side or down the ladder. One of those times of the year is now. I can’t even count the number of trips that I’ve run throughout the years when I said to myself, “Man! If only I would’ve had clients who could’ve waded today. We would’ve done so much better!” The numbers of clients I have tried to talk into wading through the years are many. I’d say less than 40 percent were amenable to the idea. It’s crazy to me how so many folks make such a big deal out of wading. They act like I’m asking them to go skydiving or something. Not just skydiving but without a parachute, I might add. I can’t recall how many times I’ve heard, “Why would I want to get out of a perfectly good boat?” My answers vary depending upon the time of year but let’s just go over a few of the reasons why we can definitely give ourselves an advantage by putting on our wading boots.

Let’s say it’s March and the water temperatures are running in the mid- to upper-60s. The wind is blowing 16 knots out of the east, the tides are high, and these pre-spawn trout are hugging the shorelines. Small forage species are finding their way out of the marsh drains while predator fish are gorging on them along shoreline ambush points. If I position my Whaler along the shoreline to drift through the area, we can probably pick off one or two specks - if we’re lucky. The problem is that when we drift through the area in two feet of water those one or two will be the only ones we’ll be able to catch because the hull slap and disturbance from my boat will cause the rest to be long gone after the first drift. Sound travels lightning fast through water, and when a fish’s lateral line picks up those vibrations, they can end up several hundred yards down the shoreline before you know it. That, or they’ll end up pulling out into deeper water in no-man’s land where we won’t be able to find them.

Now, if I anchor my boat 80 to 100 yards from the shallow area that’s holding fish, we can ease our way in while wading as quietly as possible, and then get into position to make cast after cast into the pods of fish and catch a lot more than one or two! Kinda reminds me of a joke a heard one time about a young bull and an old wise bull standing at the top of a hill with cows at the bottom. The young bull says, “Let’s run down there and….” Feel free to Google the rest. More often than not wading into the area quietly produces far greater rewards than the one shot – one kill approach. Sometimes our “perfectly good boat” is merely a taxi that gets us to our destination and then we use our feet and our senses to do the real work. Being stealthy, patient and smart has its benefits.

As mentioned, wind can have a negative impact if we stay in the boat, but if we understand how wind changes the dynamics of our fishing areas, we can use it to our advantage. Wind stirs up baitfish and creates off-colored streaks which present more ambush points for trout. Furthermore, hard easterly winds that are common this time of year push more water into the bay resulting in higher tides, which also shove fish up closer to the banks. A few years ago a group of clients and I took full advantage of the wind to catch dozens of hefty specks while fishing an area most would avoid. Why would someone avoid the area we chose to wade? Well, because we had about a 15-knot wind blowing directly into it. The water had a muddy appearance from a distance but only because the rest of the bay was so clear. We could actually see 6 or 7 inches down which was perfect for tricking big trout. We stood with the wind at our backs chunking Texas Custom Lure Double Ds and Borboleta Leles, so close to the salt grass-lined banks that our lures didn’t miss much from landing on dry land. The tide was extremely high. The wind had all of these tiny shad forced up into the grass and the big trout were right there with them having a field day. We had quite the field day ourselves!

Speaking of tiny shad, this is what our trout will be mostly feeding upon this time of year (especially during late March and early April). These recently hatched morsels will be suspended, so it’s critical to use baits that stay in the strike zone. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, suspending twitchbaits such as Double Ds and Leles can be deadly, but soft plastics rigged on 1/16-ounce jig heads through the split can be bigtime winners as well. You can even rig them on weighted shank hooks such as the H&H Flutter Hook jig heads. A 5-inch Plum or Laguna Shrimp Saltwater Assassin rigged on a 1/16 or 1/8 ounce Flutter jig head will sink very slowly and it will remain horizontal in the water column, presenting a more natural appearance to those finicky, early springtime trout.

On the calm days especially with high barometric pressure, clear water and low tides, this is when we can sometimes benefit more from drifting as opposed to wading. Just the other day we were faced with such a scenario. Because of the wind direction and other aforementioned factors, we had to position the boat in about 9 feet of water while casting towards a mud and shell lined bank that would’ve been too sloppy to wade.

Of course there are always exceptions. I can remember my buddy, Randy Shipley, and I fishing a tournament in late February or early March when the sky was cobalt blue, the tide was low and it was as cold as a cave. We caught more than 50 nice trout on Corkys and Bass Assassins while wading the spoil reefs along the north shoreline of East Matagorda and casting into the deep cuts between the spoil reefs and even into the Intracoastal. In this particular case the wind wasn’t set up properly to effectively drift this area.

There will be some days, maybe more than we care to admit, that regardless of what we try to do these trout just don’t want to have anything to do with our offerings. I’ve seen this movie so many times this time of year. There are beautiful well-defined slicks popping up all around us, but the fish won’t even think about cooperating. It’s so frustrating because we know they’re there. When I’m faced with these circumstances, I hate to say it but I pretty much just accept the fact that it is what it is and I’m going to accept whatever they’ll give me. This is when I go into somewhat of a hypersensitive and micro focused mode. I’ve come to the realization that it’s not a numbers deal when this happens and one or two bites per hour becomes acceptable. I try to find focal points or targets when wading instead of just jumping out and taking off down a shoreline. One flipping mullet warrants a cast or maybe a small tern that just dove. I’ve cast to a swirl, a mud boil and even a floating water hyacinth in the back of East Galveston Bay one time and have been rewarded with photo-worthy trout.

Our success is hinged upon simply taking the time to access the situation and then using a common sense approach based upon what we’ve learned about how all of the combined elements affect the fish…and then determine if it would be more productive for us to jump out of a perfectly good boat, or not. Good luck my friends!