No Fish for the Twins -- or Me
Well, yesterday had lots of sunshine and the temps were finally in the low 60s at some time though the wind kept blowing pretty hard from the north or northwest throughout the day. When compared to the previous few days, it was hard to resist going to the seawall and the long jetty to use up those last remaining shrimp in my bait bucket. I walked with the wind as I headed to the very end of the jetty and had thoughts in my mind of getting my limit of 5 Sheepshead for me and the twins -- buoyed with recent words from another fisherman who said he had caught more than a dozen of those fiesty fish and kept his limit (a few days back).
When I arrived at the end of the jetty (where the Aransas Pass begins), there already were 3 fishermen on the leeward (south) side of the jetty occupying the spots I most would have liked so, I took the next closest spot and threw my deep line into the ocean toward the fishing pier to the south (I already had some fish bites on it from getting it ready at the Jeep before I began the long walk).
Then, I decided to walk to the end of the jetty and check with the anglers there to see what, if any luck they were having. The two guys on the end were only catching hard head catfish and the guy between them and me had the best spot for Sheepshead (a nice hole just short of the point) and said he had only caught one so far and it was too small. I put a shrimp on my small rig and fished just past the large manmade boulders but, never got a single bit -- while the guy next to me caught over a dozen of the Sheepshead and kept a few that were above the 15-inch limit.
A little later one of the guys from the point (Marvin) came over and talked a bit and asked if he could buy a heavy sinker so, I offered to give him one but, he insisted on giving me 50 cents (actually less than half the cost). Soon thereafter, he and his friend left the point and moved to the right of me to fish for awhile so, I moved to the point to take their spots. One problem with the point on the jetty is that there are lots of slippery rocks there so getting close to the water to fish for the Sheepshead is treacherous -- even getting a fish landed is more testy too as there are few openings over the last few rows of slippery, manmade boulders.
The only advantage on the point yesterday was this single, large manmade boulder that sits atop all the other boulders around and it acted as a nice shield to the wind (if you stooped down on its east side). After not getting any bites on my putrid shrimp and losing two hooks and sinkers on my small rig, I gave up the effort to catch any Sheepshead and focused on casting the large rig toward the two visibly different shades of water at the end of the channel -- the best thing that yielded was one 18 inch hard head catfish. Around four o'clock, a guy showed up at the end with his camera in hand and we talked for awhile before some fish hit hard and took me into the rocks -- resulting in my losing yet another bottom rig, sinker and hook. A good time to quit, I decided and started the long walk back to the Jeep parked on the beach.
The long walk back was directly into the wind and it seemed even longer without a single fish in my bucket to show for the four hours of fishing -- not likely to take that long walk again until the weather is a lot better and the winds are coming out of the south or southeast (will also check with my binoculars from the Jeep to see if that good hole is already taken). I will be content, in the meantime to fish the spots where I have had some better luck and get some of those "free" gulf shrimp from the beach first too.
About 2/3 thirds of the way back to the Jeep, I bumped into a guy I had met in Flagler Beach last winter -- the one who had told me about Port Aransas. Manuel Borges and his brother and sister-in-law were fishing the rocks on the leeward side of the jetty and they already had caught two keepers of the Sheepshead and while we talked, one of them caught another one -- too bad I didn't have more shrimp (or some fresh ones with me). Shortly thereafter, his wife, (Marie, I think that's her name) came walking/climbing out on the jetty to join them -- camera in hand to take pictures of their catch. I hope to join them sometime on the jetty during the next couple of months -- maybe they will bring me some good luck and some of those Sheepshead. If not, then I'll get a bottle of wine to share with them.
Well, it's a much colder start to the day but, temps are again supposed to be in the low 60s again with a low tide around noon so, I may drive onto the beach and get out the pumping device and see how well I can "suck" at getting shrimp -- I really "sucked" at getting fish yesterday (just hope I don't get sick on top of it all).
When I arrived at the end of the jetty (where the Aransas Pass begins), there already were 3 fishermen on the leeward (south) side of the jetty occupying the spots I most would have liked so, I took the next closest spot and threw my deep line into the ocean toward the fishing pier to the south (I already had some fish bites on it from getting it ready at the Jeep before I began the long walk).
Then, I decided to walk to the end of the jetty and check with the anglers there to see what, if any luck they were having. The two guys on the end were only catching hard head catfish and the guy between them and me had the best spot for Sheepshead (a nice hole just short of the point) and said he had only caught one so far and it was too small. I put a shrimp on my small rig and fished just past the large manmade boulders but, never got a single bit -- while the guy next to me caught over a dozen of the Sheepshead and kept a few that were above the 15-inch limit.
A little later one of the guys from the point (Marvin) came over and talked a bit and asked if he could buy a heavy sinker so, I offered to give him one but, he insisted on giving me 50 cents (actually less than half the cost). Soon thereafter, he and his friend left the point and moved to the right of me to fish for awhile so, I moved to the point to take their spots. One problem with the point on the jetty is that there are lots of slippery rocks there so getting close to the water to fish for the Sheepshead is treacherous -- even getting a fish landed is more testy too as there are few openings over the last few rows of slippery, manmade boulders.
The only advantage on the point yesterday was this single, large manmade boulder that sits atop all the other boulders around and it acted as a nice shield to the wind (if you stooped down on its east side). After not getting any bites on my putrid shrimp and losing two hooks and sinkers on my small rig, I gave up the effort to catch any Sheepshead and focused on casting the large rig toward the two visibly different shades of water at the end of the channel -- the best thing that yielded was one 18 inch hard head catfish. Around four o'clock, a guy showed up at the end with his camera in hand and we talked for awhile before some fish hit hard and took me into the rocks -- resulting in my losing yet another bottom rig, sinker and hook. A good time to quit, I decided and started the long walk back to the Jeep parked on the beach.
The long walk back was directly into the wind and it seemed even longer without a single fish in my bucket to show for the four hours of fishing -- not likely to take that long walk again until the weather is a lot better and the winds are coming out of the south or southeast (will also check with my binoculars from the Jeep to see if that good hole is already taken). I will be content, in the meantime to fish the spots where I have had some better luck and get some of those "free" gulf shrimp from the beach first too.
About 2/3 thirds of the way back to the Jeep, I bumped into a guy I had met in Flagler Beach last winter -- the one who had told me about Port Aransas. Manuel Borges and his brother and sister-in-law were fishing the rocks on the leeward side of the jetty and they already had caught two keepers of the Sheepshead and while we talked, one of them caught another one -- too bad I didn't have more shrimp (or some fresh ones with me). Shortly thereafter, his wife, (Marie, I think that's her name) came walking/climbing out on the jetty to join them -- camera in hand to take pictures of their catch. I hope to join them sometime on the jetty during the next couple of months -- maybe they will bring me some good luck and some of those Sheepshead. If not, then I'll get a bottle of wine to share with them.
Well, it's a much colder start to the day but, temps are again supposed to be in the low 60s again with a low tide around noon so, I may drive onto the beach and get out the pumping device and see how well I can "suck" at getting shrimp -- I really "sucked" at getting fish yesterday (just hope I don't get sick on top of it all).
posted by Ray at
7:23 AM
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