No Fish -- No Fishing Days
Now that the chill has returned to the Corpus Christi area (after hitting record highs a couple days ago), I had to dig out the space heaters around 2:00 a.m. to keep the temps above 60 in the RV. Yesterday, I didn't fish at all as the winds had shifted and were blasting out of the northwest as the cold front dipped down this way and freezing temps were hitting northern Texas. The waters in the shipping channel were churned into white caps among big rolling waves from both ends of the channel -- sandy and muddy looking again too.
The day before, the winds were whipping out of the south and some gusts were around 50 mph but, I had sucked some shrimp from the beach around low-tide and thought of giving it a try at the south jetty in Port Aransas. I arrived around noon time to find few cars parked there and only a few anglers along the jetty as the sand blew all around my Jeep. I rerigged both lines while still inside my Jeep to avoid getting the sand blown into my eyes, ears and mouth -- that changed as soon as I got out and started the walk out onto the jetty (think I still have some of the gritty, fine sand around my ears and in my hair).
After a short walk (much less than the usual walk), I passed the waves lapping at the beach on my right and had my eye on the usual spot short of the green channel buoy (to my left) but, the fierce winds had me stopping at a closer outcropping of the granite boulders that seemed to offer some possibly better protection from the wind -- so that I might not get blown into the waters of the channel or lose my golf cap. Two casts and I caught two 18 inch hardhead catfish then, on the third cast, I lost my rig to another "Rockfish" -- time to rethink and decide if I really wanted to be the only fisherman standing on the jetty (all others had left by then or maybe got blown into the water).
I didn't use any of the shrimp and decided not to waste any attempts with my small rod for fear of losing the new rig to the rocks being pummelled by the waves nearby. I headed back to the Jeep and put my gear back inside and drove down the beach to think things over -- thinking of possibly stopping at a nearby lodge on the beach for a tall draft beer. On the way to the lodge, I decided to go back into town and explore the park next to the ferry launch -- where the winds from the south and southeast might not be so intense and maybe catch a Mangrove Snapper or two with the shrimp (near the little fishing pier there).
I found a nice spot just east of the foot of the little fishing pier behind a line of bushes that offered shelter from the wind and started "feeding" my shrimp to some little "bait stealers" of some kind without hooking a single fish. Shortly thereafter, a couple came walking back off the pier and before they got to the end, the woman's hat blew into the water and I could see it blowing under the pier so, with my "freshly cleaned hook", I went up onto the pier and attempted to hook the hat before it floated into the shipping channel -- my luck at hooking something continued and the woman's hat got away too. Another fisherman on the pier joined in the attempts to hook the hat but, he failed too.
While I was on the pier, I asked the guy if he had caught anything and he said no but, had mentioned a line of anglers on the point to the left had caught 5 or 6 big Black Drum -- 20 to 40 pounds. With that fresh bit of information in mind, I returned to my spot and then to the Jeep to get my big rod and put new tackle on it and some "Fish Bites" -- threw that out into the shipping channel and planted the rod in a crack in the boulders and continued to feed my shrimp to the fish. A couple more anglers arrived on the pier and fished the bend in the pier -- saw the younger guy of the two catch one after another Stingray (4 or 5 of them). No thank you!
After dumping the rest of my shrimp into the water in the cracks of the boulders, I played with the deep line and managed to catch two baby Whiting is all and released them. Time to head back to the RV and take Tiger for a walk or an outing -- dig some fish out of the freezer too (Red Snapper!).
The day before, the winds were whipping out of the south and some gusts were around 50 mph but, I had sucked some shrimp from the beach around low-tide and thought of giving it a try at the south jetty in Port Aransas. I arrived around noon time to find few cars parked there and only a few anglers along the jetty as the sand blew all around my Jeep. I rerigged both lines while still inside my Jeep to avoid getting the sand blown into my eyes, ears and mouth -- that changed as soon as I got out and started the walk out onto the jetty (think I still have some of the gritty, fine sand around my ears and in my hair).
After a short walk (much less than the usual walk), I passed the waves lapping at the beach on my right and had my eye on the usual spot short of the green channel buoy (to my left) but, the fierce winds had me stopping at a closer outcropping of the granite boulders that seemed to offer some possibly better protection from the wind -- so that I might not get blown into the waters of the channel or lose my golf cap. Two casts and I caught two 18 inch hardhead catfish then, on the third cast, I lost my rig to another "Rockfish" -- time to rethink and decide if I really wanted to be the only fisherman standing on the jetty (all others had left by then or maybe got blown into the water).
I didn't use any of the shrimp and decided not to waste any attempts with my small rod for fear of losing the new rig to the rocks being pummelled by the waves nearby. I headed back to the Jeep and put my gear back inside and drove down the beach to think things over -- thinking of possibly stopping at a nearby lodge on the beach for a tall draft beer. On the way to the lodge, I decided to go back into town and explore the park next to the ferry launch -- where the winds from the south and southeast might not be so intense and maybe catch a Mangrove Snapper or two with the shrimp (near the little fishing pier there).
I found a nice spot just east of the foot of the little fishing pier behind a line of bushes that offered shelter from the wind and started "feeding" my shrimp to some little "bait stealers" of some kind without hooking a single fish. Shortly thereafter, a couple came walking back off the pier and before they got to the end, the woman's hat blew into the water and I could see it blowing under the pier so, with my "freshly cleaned hook", I went up onto the pier and attempted to hook the hat before it floated into the shipping channel -- my luck at hooking something continued and the woman's hat got away too. Another fisherman on the pier joined in the attempts to hook the hat but, he failed too.
While I was on the pier, I asked the guy if he had caught anything and he said no but, had mentioned a line of anglers on the point to the left had caught 5 or 6 big Black Drum -- 20 to 40 pounds. With that fresh bit of information in mind, I returned to my spot and then to the Jeep to get my big rod and put new tackle on it and some "Fish Bites" -- threw that out into the shipping channel and planted the rod in a crack in the boulders and continued to feed my shrimp to the fish. A couple more anglers arrived on the pier and fished the bend in the pier -- saw the younger guy of the two catch one after another Stingray (4 or 5 of them). No thank you!
After dumping the rest of my shrimp into the water in the cracks of the boulders, I played with the deep line and managed to catch two baby Whiting is all and released them. Time to head back to the RV and take Tiger for a walk or an outing -- dig some fish out of the freezer too (Red Snapper!).
posted by Ray at
1:54 AM
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