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Fish Talk: March 2011
Pictured here is Will Toronjo with his first-ever speckled trout. Way to go, Will!
There's just no ifs, ands, buts, or any two ways about it March is a great month for big trout in both East and West Matagorda Bay. Typically, being farther north, the kickoff to prime time for big trout here in the Matagorda Bays runs at least a solid month or so behind Baffin Bay and Port Mansfield. February fishing success was decent here locally with a fair amount of big trout being caught between fronts. Redfish stole the show, though, as strong numbers hit the fish cleaning tables with considerable regularity. Most of these fish were caught on Corkys and Bass Assassins with your bigger trout found while wading shorelines in front of marsh drains from mid-afternoon until dark. Many trout and reds were also found while drifting over scattered shell and mud in the middle of the bay in streaky, off-colored patches of water; mostly on Bass Assassins.
February-like temperatures, both air and water, will likely prevail at least until mid-March when longer days and more sunshine will begin to chase Old Man Winter back up north. Of course this whole weather and fishing prediction thing I'm offering could get blown to smithereens by a couple of strong, late-season northers. We've all seen that happen a time or two. Don't get discouraged though, even if that happens, my fishing logs say March can be a great month.
I did not fish as many days in February as I have in prior years, spent a lot of time in the woods chasing whitetails on MLD lands. March though will find me fine-tuned and cruising the flats gracefully in my new 25' Dargel HDX. This 25 footer is a full 8-ft 6-in wide and will float in nine inches of water while getting up in a foot and taking rough water like no boat I have ever been on before. It has plenty of storage and room to spare for drift fishing and is powered by a 250 SS Suzuki. My clients will appreciate the comfort this boat has to offer.
Matagorda area anglers will soon find another attraction here locally with the establishment of a new full-service fishing and waterfowl hunting lodge. Bink Grimes and Mark Talasek joined together with a vision that produced Matagorda Sunrise Lodge. You can learn more by visiting their website: www.matagordasunriselodge.com. Anticipated opening date for this new lodge is sometime in March. The amenities, to mention a few, include full service kitchen with chef, sleeping accommodations for up to thirty folks, dockside pick-up and drop-off, and all fish cleaned and packaged for travel. This lodge will offer duck hunts, off-shore fishing, bay fishing, and even trips dedicated to bird-watching.
On another note, Bass Assassin just hit the market with a brand new five inch swimbait they have dubbed the Die Dapper and it is available in all the great Bass Assassin colors. There is no doubt in my mind that this will be an excellent big trout bait for wade fishermen. I'll be rigging it on jigheads as well as weedless-weightless on worm hooks. The Die Dapper is a larger-than-standard paddletail soft plastic that has a lot of darting action along with lots of tail flapping to create the vibration big trout can't resist. My first impression was that it looks like a darting mullet in the water. Drifting over shell, I'll use a standard 1/8 ounce jigheads. I know this bait works because we have caught fish on it already.
We're also looking forward to the new Matagorda jetties to be completed soon. This will offer an additional location to fish for trout and reds along with other species of fish. Who knows, we might be catching kingfish in the summertime at the end of this new jetty the way they do down at Port O'Connor. You know that all the new rock structure in the water will attract a lot of baitfish, which in turn will bring gamefish to the area.
There seems to be a lot going on in Matagorda this year. One thing I don't want to forget is my yearly reminder to get your boat, motor, battery, and trailer bearings checked out before you head out the door to the bay. Taking your boat to an authorized dealer to be checked out properly after winter storage can save you lots of headaches.
God Bless... Capt. Bill
February-like temperatures, both air and water, will likely prevail at least until mid-March when longer days and more sunshine will begin to chase Old Man Winter back up north. Of course this whole weather and fishing prediction thing I'm offering could get blown to smithereens by a couple of strong, late-season northers. We've all seen that happen a time or two. Don't get discouraged though, even if that happens, my fishing logs say March can be a great month.
I did not fish as many days in February as I have in prior years, spent a lot of time in the woods chasing whitetails on MLD lands. March though will find me fine-tuned and cruising the flats gracefully in my new 25' Dargel HDX. This 25 footer is a full 8-ft 6-in wide and will float in nine inches of water while getting up in a foot and taking rough water like no boat I have ever been on before. It has plenty of storage and room to spare for drift fishing and is powered by a 250 SS Suzuki. My clients will appreciate the comfort this boat has to offer.
Matagorda area anglers will soon find another attraction here locally with the establishment of a new full-service fishing and waterfowl hunting lodge. Bink Grimes and Mark Talasek joined together with a vision that produced Matagorda Sunrise Lodge. You can learn more by visiting their website: www.matagordasunriselodge.com. Anticipated opening date for this new lodge is sometime in March. The amenities, to mention a few, include full service kitchen with chef, sleeping accommodations for up to thirty folks, dockside pick-up and drop-off, and all fish cleaned and packaged for travel. This lodge will offer duck hunts, off-shore fishing, bay fishing, and even trips dedicated to bird-watching.
On another note, Bass Assassin just hit the market with a brand new five inch swimbait they have dubbed the Die Dapper and it is available in all the great Bass Assassin colors. There is no doubt in my mind that this will be an excellent big trout bait for wade fishermen. I'll be rigging it on jigheads as well as weedless-weightless on worm hooks. The Die Dapper is a larger-than-standard paddletail soft plastic that has a lot of darting action along with lots of tail flapping to create the vibration big trout can't resist. My first impression was that it looks like a darting mullet in the water. Drifting over shell, I'll use a standard 1/8 ounce jigheads. I know this bait works because we have caught fish on it already.
We're also looking forward to the new Matagorda jetties to be completed soon. This will offer an additional location to fish for trout and reds along with other species of fish. Who knows, we might be catching kingfish in the summertime at the end of this new jetty the way they do down at Port O'Connor. You know that all the new rock structure in the water will attract a lot of baitfish, which in turn will bring gamefish to the area.
There seems to be a lot going on in Matagorda this year. One thing I don't want to forget is my yearly reminder to get your boat, motor, battery, and trailer bearings checked out before you head out the door to the bay. Taking your boat to an authorized dealer to be checked out properly after winter storage can save you lots of headaches.
God Bless... Capt. Bill