Newly Weds Fishing The Texas Landcut

What a great opportunity I had to take Travis and Heather Weatherston (Recently married) and father of the groom David (who was a big help) out fishing to the Landcut. This was my first trip out to the Landcut in 2 years, so I was hopeful for a good day. 

We started out the day catching a lot of "hard heads" which was somewhat surprising for the landcut. We were using live shrimp with fish bites for bait. This was Heather's first time ever fishing so it was incumbent of Travis, David and I to show her how fun fishing is!

Catching a stingray is really a lot of fun for beginners. They give you a good fight and it's a unique novelty fish that everyone seems to know intuitively the danger in handling properly so as to not get barbed. I use to keep these and throw them in the freezer for shark bait on a later day. We took the barb off for a souvenir and let it go.

Nice looking skip jack! Another fish we usually consider as a nuisance fish because they don't fall under the sought after game fish. These skip jack's do give a nice fight and they jump in the air like crazy. Perhaps they're as aggressive as the much larger Tarpon's.

Finally we found the right spot and got into some game fish. Heather pulled in this nice 21 inch redfish using just fish bites. Overall, Heather caught redfish, black drum, stingray, skip jack, hard head, and dog fish. She basically caught most all the fish today. Her rod & reel were very busy!

Doesn't that look like a match made in heaven! The newly weds that is... not the fish! I believe they certainly have all the makings of a real power couple! Y'all come back now, ya here!

Catch some of Travis' previous fishing trips: Pull benders.

Dave Alexander

Redfish at the ICW

Had a chance to take our grandkids fishing here in Corpus Christi. With 4 kids on the boat we planned on having time for just a few hours and give them a taste of what fishing is all about in South Texas. Picked up some live shrimp at clems and poles rigged for the bottom we were on our way. 

First stop was the ICW and fish the drop-offs. It didn't take long for the fish to strike! Both Breyton and Evie caught a couple nice redfish with their first cast! Evie caught a 19 1/2 inch redfish, while Breyton pulled in a 17 incher. Both are undersized and returned to the water. But these fish were almost as much as they could handle.

Emmitt caught a mangrove snapper. Seemed unusual to catch this little guy at our location. I see these over at the Packery Channel usually.

Jordan tied Evie with his 19 1/2 inch redfish for biggest of the day. 

Emmitt pulls in this 19 incher just before we finished up for the day. 

It was a nice couple hours on the boat and everyone caught fish! Next stop was lunch at Snoopy's and Ice Cream at Scoopy's. 

Labor Day Weekend Land Cut Fishing

What do ya do to kick-off the Labor Day weekend? Take your favorite banker's family out fishin. It's always fun to go out fishing with the Weatherston's. Bryan and his wife Claire visiting from St. Louis and Travis getting ready to start school at BYU-I it was fun to have a small part in their gathering. It was kind of a tame day for fishing catching several slot specks and a red. 

Travis in the "Talk to the Hand" pose while we get ready to head back home with catches of the day. 

We use live shrimp with "fish bites". The specs were hitting on anything. 

Have a great day of fishin!

Dave Alexander

Laguna Madre Fishing with Grandkids

A few hours on the water with the grandkids makes for a great day. Evie catches her first and biggest fish of the day! This sheepshead gave her a great battle to land in the boat as she holds it up with awe! Evie was using live shrimp and shrimp bites for bait to land this beast! Girls always seem to catch the biggest fish.

 Breyton pulls in a whiting and other unruly fish. He caught a crab and a dog fish.

Breyton will make a great captain as he navigates through the channels with the family on board.

Peter took care of the bait... well, he mostly played with the bait. I guess he was keeping them motivated for their big event when they got on the hook.

 Billings bait supplied use with live shrimp and croaker. 

 The reward of the day was lunch at snoopy's and ice cream cones at scoopy's!

Y'all have a great day of fishin!

Dave Alexander

dave@justgofishin.com

Land Cut Fishing with Gerry Kizerian

Had a great time fishing the Texas Land Cut last Saturday (July 11, 2015). Gerry Kizerian and his son in law David Francis join us on a hot July Saturday. I decided to go with live shrimp with fish bites for bait and proved to be a winning combination.

Jerry, just like a marathon runner, started off at a slow pace and near the end of day caught the most and biggest fish. David had some nice catches below.

I sure enjoyed hanging out with these guys with a fishin pole in our hands. And boy do we have some fishin stories for the ones that got away!

Y'all have a great day of fishin!

Dave Alexander

dave@justgofishin.com

Pole Benders at the Texas Land Cut

What a great spring break fishing trip to the Texas Land Cut. It has been a while since making this trip but the timing couldn't have been better. However, due to the morning fog and low visibility we had to fly by instruments using our GPS and cruising speed of 38 mph. We weren't sure what to expect for the day since we only had dead shrimp and "fish bites" for bait. 

We ended up with some nice Pole Benders at the land cut catching black drum and redfish on a nice overcast day with a slight breeze. Had a great time fishing with Travis Weatherston and Aaron DeVictoria. The competition started when Travis pulled in the first pole bender at 24 inches. Then I was able to wrestle in a 28 incher while Aaron captured a 26 incher.

Travis Weatherston released this 33" black drum

Later in the day, on my "last cast" fishing pole, I grabbed another pole bender at 27 inches and felt secure in the largest catches for the day. I graciously put my fishing pole away and gave the boys 30 minutes to top me or we'd have to leave. About 10 minutes before the "times up"... Bam! Travis grabs this 33 inch black drum, the largest pole bender of the day.

Aaron DeVictoria released 34" black drum

As soon as Travis lands his drum,.. Bam! Aaron's pole bends and lands a 34 inch black drum tying a 2009 "boat" record with a 34 inch black drum. So each of us on our "Last Cast" caught a 27 inch, 33 inch, and 34 inch black drum. Thanks Manual! Shameless plug for my friend who's built my "Last Cast" rods.

Catching a couple nice 26 inch redfish while we're out there was a little icing on the cake. 

So whats a "pole bender"? Today they're black drum. Their fight is distinctly different then other fish. When you catch one they're slow methodical creatures that bend your pole by using their weight or girth and tall sail like body to put the breaks on from being pulled in towards the boat. Your pole will be bending the whole time you're attempting to land the fish. They're just a lot of fun to catch... and eat as well!

Really had a great time fishing with these guys! We caught several pole benders today and was an all around great day of fishin!

Dave Alexander

dave@justgofishin.com

Spencer and Teddy, Texas Land Cut

Spencer and Dave Alexander

Had a great time with my nephew Spencer Alexander & his friend Teddy Hildebrandt from Grand Junction Colorado. Fun day of fishing with these two clowns catching speckled trout and sheepshead at the Texas Land Cut.

Spencer Alexander

Teddy Hildebrandt

I get the trash fish award catching this ugly dog fish.

Oh yea... one more stingray for the shark fishing event for our Elders Quorum.

Teddy and Spencer selfie

Y'all have a great day of fishin,

Dave Alexander

dave@justgofishin.com

Pelican's and Dolphin at the Texas Land Cut

Had a great time going out to the Land Cut with a couple friends, Jeffery Fife and Alejandro, from Houston. However, this would be a little unusual trip as we ended up feeding the pelicans and dolphins. Things were just starting to heat up after catching a few skip jack. We tossed one of these fish to a pelican that was too lazy to go after his own meal. As it turned out this pelican couldn't even catch a free meal right.

Soon after catching some speckled trout and sheepshead we had a large pod of dolphin crowd in our fishin spot. One of these dolphin seemed to poke his head up close to the back of our boat where we anchored and thank us for tipping them off on all those good fish.

Incredible, I have never seen so many dolphin all at once that swam around our boat as long as they did. Alejandro was starting to act like a Sea World dolphin trainer... hey boy, come here boy. 

Jeffery Fife catching a nice sheepshead off of live shrimp from Clems marina

These sheepshead are actually very good to eat, though they are a pain to fillet. They're very bony but worth the effort. Checkout this guys teeth? These things can at first be a little creepy because they sport front teeth like a human, though they do need some braces. 

We were able to get a few speckled trout in the bucket. Jeffery showing off one of the nice ones. 

This time of year we don't see a lot of redfish but Alejandro showing this undersized red that found his hook. Hey, they have to be 20 inches to keep. Oh well. 

Normally I wouldn't be all that excited about catching a stingray... But hey, this is Shark bait for a Men's young single adult outing this August. This stingray is on ice until our shark event ;o) If we catch a shark this year I'll be thinking of Jeffery's donation to the cause. 

Y'all have a great day of fishin,
Dave Alexander
dave@justgofishin.com