Three Productive Places and Their Defining Attributes

Many productive coastal fishing spots share several key attributes. Most lie close to a point of land, often one which separates two distinctly different bodies of water. The best include portions with shallow water containing cover element(s) on the bottom lying within shouting range of significantly deeper water. Further, the geophysical layouts of these spots provide protection from strong winds blowing from at least one direction, usually either the north or the southeast.

During my decades fishing from Corpus Christi Bay to the Land Cut, I've identified a list of spots which meet the description above, and which have produced remarkable catches for me and my friends and clients many times, in various types of weather. I'll name three of them here, two of which lie in Baffin Bay, the other in the northernmost portion of the Upper Laguna Madre, where it borders on Corpus Christi Bay. I refer here to the flat in front of the tidal lake at East Kleberg Point, the west end of Cathead, and the sand bars at the northern entrance of The Boat Hole.

I've said it many times, and I'll type it here. If someone held a gun to my head and told me I had to pick one location to fish, and then I'd have thirty minutes to catch a trout or redfish, I'd bet my life on the south end of the main sand bar lying to the south of the channel connecting the Boat Hole with the waters of Corpus Bay. Over time, regardless of the season and the conditions in play, I've found catching a fish at this location about as easy as any place I've ever visited. An analysis of this spot's features provides clues about why this is true.

A long, narrow spit of land borders the northern edge of the Boat Hole, essentially serving as the western part of the line separating the Upper Laguna Madre from Corpus Bay. So, the sand bars adjacent to the channel running north to south out of the Boat Hole sit near a point of land which separates two major inland bodies of saltwater. The point provides a significant buffer against the potentially negative effects strong north and northwest winds can exert on the efforts of anglers.

Also, the deep water comprising central portions of the Boat Hole and the depths of the channel itself lie close to the sand bars, which are covered by water less than waist-deep on most tides. Thick grass beds adorn the tops of these naturally occurring bars, which have all the attributes inherent to many consistently productive fishing spots.

I've caught plenty of fish in the place, particularly around the main bar lying south of the marked channel, in wildly variable types of weather conditions. Certainly, moving water enhances the Boat Hole's potential for productivity, since it's so close to a prominent tide source, namely the Packery Channel. In late-summer, when persistent calm, hot conditions often make the fishing in the hypersaline lagoons south of the JFK difficult, the sand bars at the entrance of the Boat Hole offer tremendous potential, especially during prime parts of the tide cycle.

Anglers hoping to maximize their catching in this location should follow several sound operating principles. First, they should visit the place when the tide moves. The direction of movement matters little, but turns in the tide cycle prove most productive. The first hour of either an incoming or outgoing tide generally offers the best conditions for catching.

When fishing moving water, lure-chunkers should always set up their efforts so they can cast and retrieve their lures with, or at least cross-ways with the current. And, when fishing the shallow water around the grass-bearded bars, anglers should make most of their casts land atop the bars, or near their edges. Accomplishing this sometimes means wading in the depths alongside the bars, sometimes wading on their crowns, depending on the tide level.

Though late-summer certainly ranks at the top of best times of year to visit the place, my best catch there occurred during the month of December. On the record day, north winds whistled near 20 knots, blowing water out of Corpus Bay and into the Boat Hole. Clear, cool currents washed over the sand bars for hours. Early on, I discovered the fish wanted their meals on top and began catching trout at a fast clip, on a Spook Junior. My two customers did too, but they regularly switched up to larger plugs, hoping for a bigger trout. Each time, they basically stopped catching anything at all.

The catching proved easy, but only if we applied two important fundamentals when presenting our small floating plugs to the fish. They wanted the lures moving with the current, stopping and starting frequently. Casting the lures cross-ways to the wind so they'd hit the water already moving down-current, then using speed bursts and pauses with a fairly fast cadence worked well all day. In the end, we caught about 100 trout, at least 70 of which measured between 21 and 23 inches. We also used the little Spooks to land 9 reds, all measuring between 29 and 33 inches and weighing up to 11 pounds. I caught the lion's share of the fish, including all but one of the reds, because I rightly perceived the truth related to the Spook Juniors and how best to work them that day.

Similar winds in December sometimes create ripe scenarios at the west end of Cathead. Many savvy Texas trout hunters recognize the regal potential of this spot during cold snaps. Normally, in such a situation, slow-sinking twitchbaits or soft plastics work better than topwaters. Sometimes, working the shallow grass beds and potholes atop the grassy bar produces the biggest trout. More often, the best bite occurs along the transition from the shallows into the depths, either on the mushy flat lying on the north side of the spine of the bar, or on the rock-studded south side, which fronts the main basin of Baffin.

Like the bars in the Boat Hole, the rocky one at Cathead has shallow feeding stations lying close to deep water, and the north shoreline of Baffin protects them from the effects of north winds. The Point of Rocks, separating the waters of Baffin from the ULM, lies a short boat ride away. Though it's famous for producing whopper trout in cold weather, Cathead can produce great catches in many conditions, including during the summer heat wave, with relatively strong southeasterly winds blowing across Baffin and breaking on the rocks and grassy humps. When tides fall to really low levels, wading into the depths south of the bar and casting back toward its spine with topwaters often works well.

Over the years, I've caught many monster trout at Cathead. One day, I and a customer caught three which weighed a total of 27 pounds, all on Fat Boys, in water hovering around 50°F. On another, a young customer upgraded his personal best trout on four consecutive fish, over the span of maybe an hour, using a gold/chartreuse Catch 5 on a cool December day in water stained by brown tide. His fish measured 28 1/2, 29, 29 1/2 and 30 inches. This kind of catching helped make the spot referenced here famous in the community of people who love to chase big trout.

Similar catches recorded on the flat between the Tide Gauge Bar and the mouth of the tidal lake lying just east of East Kleberg Point have done the same thing. Like these other two spots, the flat lies close to a prominent main-bay point and includes shallow feeding stations lying close to deeper water. It has plenty of cover on the bottom in the shallow parts, and the shoreline provides a buffer against strong winds, in this case, northwest winds. The Tide Gauge Bar also prevents big waves from crashing onto the shoreline and mucking up the water, even when strong southeast winds blow at the bank in spring, which they regularly do.

I've caught an impressive number of big trout at this location, as have many others fortunate enough to have visited the place. In fact, this precise spot accounted for the greatest run of trophy trout catching I've had to date. During the time-frame, which started in early-December of 2009 and lasted until about the middle of April 2010, I and two of my buddies and our friends and clients caught over 50 trout measuring between 8 and 10.25 pounds, backing those up with at least 150 more weighing between 7 and 8 pounds. On most days, the best bite occurred on Fat Boys and other slow-sinking twitchbaits, though a few of the big fish bit topwaters and soft plastics too.

Over the years, I've had the best luck just east of East Kleberg in the spring, with winds blowing onshore, but I've done well there in relatively cold weather a large number of times too, usually while water temperatures remain at 54° or a little higher. Often, good catching at this site happens when huge rafts of mullet cover the flat. Many people, myself included, view this area as a kind of highway for the fish to use when moving between the front and back of Baffin. Numbers of big trout love to lurk in the river of mullet which sometimes appears in this rightly famous place.

All three of these locations helped me refine my perception of the attributes which combine to create supremely ripe opportunity in a place. They've repeatedly rewarded me and my customers with picture-worthy fish. Accordingly, these spots have earned permanent residence in the dusty, dimly lit chambers housing my most cherished memories.