What's More Important; Length or Width? February 29, 2008

Valid question!!! The last few days since my 17 Feb. report the LONG or FAT Big Girls have put on a show for our quests’! Last Friday was the best day to date this year with 6 over 7 pounds, 2 over 8 pounds and a number over 5. Summary of last Friday is as follows:

Larry G. 28” ½” = 7.75 #
Billy M. 30” = 8.55#
Mitch R. 31 ¼” = 7.5# Skinny/Skinny
Ted S. 30 ¼” = 7.75# Skinny
Tony H. 28” = 6.5#
Tony H. 29 ½” = 7.25#
Tony H. 30 “ = 7.55# Skinny

We have photos posted on our photo section for your enjoyment. We now have a guest with a nickname that’s going to be hard to top! (KING KONG) Tony H. from Houston caught 3 big trout, all three his personal best. Looks like he is going to spend a grand on replicas. Nice thing all the fish caught were released except one which had the bait down the hatch and would not have survived. The fish is in our freezer awaiting a trip to Aransas Wildlife Studio.

Most of these fish and many others caught were all caught on Catch 2000’s , corkys, Top Water and soft plastic. Before you say what a crock, 3 were caught on corkys ( Bone Chartreuse) 1 on Black-Chartreuse headed He-dog, 2 Red Headed white Catch 2000, 2 on Red Chartreuse soft plastic. Go explain that: no one pattern worked best!!!!! All fish were caught along 6 to 12” ledges with shattered grass and sand. Not Soft Bottoms, again explain that!

All these different patterns and baits seem to mirror what Capt. Ted and I have been discussing. Something that really puzzles us is where are the double digit fish we caught last year?? Many of the fish caught this year have measured as long as the 5 over 10# and 3 over 11# we caught last year. The fish this year just do not have the weight they had last year. My conclusion is the water after Dec. never got down and stayed in the lower 60’s and 50’s like last year so the fish may have just not gorged themselves in anticipation of a slower metabolism due to lower temperatures. Our water is now in the lower 70’s Mid- March temps, fish seem to be transitioning from soft dark bottoms to sand grass mix. Look for an early spawn unless we get blasted with a late cold Spring. With that being said I can assure you I will be discussing this with T.P.W.D. biologists. I will report those discussions in a later report.

Me and the OLD FA_TS are making our annual trip down south so I will be out of country until 10 March, Capt. Brandon, John and Steve will be handling guiding chores the next two weeks. Capt. Pete and Darrin will be manning our Booth at the Holder Show next week. You Houston and surrounding area folks go by and give them a hard time. I do miss not attending the Holder Show as that is the only time I get to see some of my counter parts along the coast, but someone needs to go and keep Capt. Ted and the rest of the OLD FA_TS out of trouble.