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.
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!
Finally got an opportunity to get out to the Land Cut this year. With a boat repaired and weather cooperating we made the most of a beautiful day for fishing. With a full moon out the night before we knew it would be a slow and later in day bite. South winds scattered the bate more then we thought it would as well.
The whiting were abundantly available to keep and put in the box. Of all the trips I've made to the Land Cut I don't recall catching so many of these. But we were glad to put something in the box to eat later.
Elder Seegmiller is sporting one of these Whiting caught at the Land Cut. Their meet is white and mild tasting. Whiting are not considered a game fish because they are so abundantly available and they don't grow very big. But they are still great for the grill!
Whiting are also known as southern king fish or gulf king fish. Whiting are easy to clean... fillet like you would a trout.
While out on the water the winds became more eastern and changed things up for us and almost immediately as we started catching speckled trout and black drum. Aaron DeVictoria caught a nice 17 inch speckled trout and a 25 inch black drum.
Corpus Christi fishing enthusiast sends us some nice pictures of some great catches. Check-out some of these nice catches of redfish, black drum and speckled trout caught here locally in the upper laguna madre bay.
I received the following message from SEA via Scott Murray: "Recently there have been a few undocumented reports of poor or "emaciated" black drum showing up again in the Upper Laguna and Baffin. As many of you know, there are several studies planned and on going in Baffin."
The Black Drum is one of my favorite fish to catch and haven't personally seen the "skinny black drums". It"s worth noting and passing along photo's to your favorite game warden if you happen to catch skinny one.
There is a great report published this last April 1st, 2013 by the TPWD about the "Emaciated Black Drum". Their report basically says it is limited to the Baffin Bay area. It was thought that last summer (2012) Brown Tide was causing this emaciation, but their recent report said that the Brown Tide cause was more negligible and overridden with other factors. The good news is that the population is growing.
They compared black drum from Baffin bay and fish caught around the JFK bridge and found on average that the Black drum in Baffin Bay were under weight by 15%. There salinity trends seem to be inconclusive and further study needed to learn about the food supply.
Check out John Trevino's Bull Black Drum he caught at Copano Bay Piers! Weighing in at 58 lbs and 44 inches long this beauty took John almost an hour to land. Fishing overnight John used a cast net to catch crab hanging around the shoreline and then used them for bait. John cast his line out about 2:00am and this beast took the bait about 4:00am. Congratulations John and thanks for sharing!
In spite of the brown tide we managed to make a few nice black drum catches at the Texas Land Cut. Had a great time with the Trayner's who have been serving missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons).
Zack who just returned home to McAllen from Chile where he served a two year mission caught this nice 24 inch black drum. He will be headed to BYU soon to continue his studies.
Stephen Trayner and his wife Sandy have been presiding over the LDS mission in Southern Texas. Almost at the end of their three years of serving they will be headed back to Utah where Stephen will continue his law practice. Pictured above is a 27 inch black drum Stephen landed on the boat after a nice struggle eventually tiring out this beast. This black drum ultimately found its freedom as we docked up at home. In attempting to place this fish in our barrel to clean, it made one last attempt at wiggling and it burst out of my hands and landed in the canal making a clean getaway!
We certainly wish the Trayner's well in their future endeavors we will miss them for the great people they are and great example they have been these last 3 years.
This is what theweather reportsaid for Wednesday the
29th of May, "Wednesday, A 30 percent chance of showers and
thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 86. Breezy, with a south
southeast wind 17 to 25 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph."
Very borderline for whether we go
fishing or not. We chose to take a chance and go about 7:30am. Arriving 8:45am
the Land Cut it was very breezybut
certainly tolerable. By 11:00am the winds got breezier and we decided to wrap up
the days fishing and get back knowing we'd have 3 foot swells to navigate
through.
Tye Barrett from Alberta Canada managed to catch a nice 22 inch black drum in our brief few hours of fishing. Tye working at Shell Oil part of a work force preparing a new platform will be headed back home soon.
The boat ride home was treacherous most of the way back. Rocky Slough, Baffin Bay areas were especially rough to cross. When we got home I looked up the weather report and this is what it said: "A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms.
Partly sunny, with a high near 87. Breezy, with a southeast wind around 28 mph,
with gusts as high as 34 mph." It was certainly a high adventure trip to say the least.
Enjoyed a nice day of fishing at the Texas Land Cut with Glen Evans from Springville, Utah and Roger Royce from Austin, Texas. We got started early Wednesday morning with some live shrimp from Clems Marina.
As we anchored up along the shoreline of our fishing spot we started casting our bait along the shoreline with
hopes of some nice catches. We started to get several small things in our way that kept adding up. We lost three or four fish to broken hooks, lost half dozen leaders to snags on the bottom, lost several fish as we were about to land them on the boat, and caught several undesirables like hard-heads. Roger and I managed to land a few keeper speckled trout but the keeper fish seemed to elude Glen. With further investigation we discovered that Glen had smuggled on board the boat a banana! :o/ Now I don't consider myself a superstitious person, but when it comes to fishing, don't take the chance. Glen had never heard this superstition but he quickly tossed the banana overboard with hopes of breaking the curse.We moved to another location along the Land Cut and quickly began to improve our fishing. Things were getting back to how they should be catching some nice fish for the day.
We certainly had a lot of fun fishin with some friends and catchin some fish. I might have to pick up a banana scanner that will detect and alert me when a banana is entering the boat.
Roy and Jerry visiting family from Idaho joined us for a high adventure fishing trip to the Texas Land Cut on Wednesday May 15th. High adventure because of the high winds and waves we had to cut through to get there. We had to wait for a thunderstorm to blow through before we could begin our fishing journey. Delayed by 2 hours we picked up some live shrimp at Clems marina enjoyed a rough boat ride to the land cut.
First cast of the day David pulled in this nice 27 inch black drum. Great start and a good sign for things to come
It didn't take long before Joshua landed this nice 23 inch black drum. Our trip was looking good.
Roy and Jerry landed several nice speckled trout. Pictured are some of their best catches. Everyone caught speckled trout for the day and made for a nice fish fry that evening with the family.
The boat trip back was a little harry with gusts up to 25-30 mph. All in the cost of catching fish. Enjoy the video created on this land cut trip.
Great trip to the Texas Land Cut last Wednesday (3/13/2013). Good friend of mind and "rod smith" took a nice boat ride to the land cut during spring break. This time of year usually doesn't disappoint and it didn't on this day either. Winds were coming from the Northeast which is good for this area (Best when they're Southeast). We managed to pull in some nice catches for the day using live shrimp from Clems Marina.
Manual Lara polled in this nice 23 inch Black Drum. The Black Drum were in deeper water at the land cut. About 20 feet off the shoreline. Water temp was 65 degrees.
Our redfish catch of the day was 23 1/2 inches. What was a little surprising was the lack of speckled trout this time of year. We caught a few undersized speckled trout but the slots were not around.
Check-out these nice catches sent over on a recent fishing trip "Ceaser and Lucy" made to the Land Cut. The Black Drum are runnin right now and can be a lot of fun for anglers. These beauties were displayed at Clems Marina.
Ceaser and Lucy caught this nice 40 inch redfish on a custom fishing pole made by Manual Lara. People know Ceaser and Lucy as the owners of Mosca Boat Manufacturing.
Now thats a Black Drum!
Congratulations on a great day of fishin to Ceaser and Lucy!
A guest of ours the last few weeks George Masters invited his co-workers Domingo and Sal over to fish our back dock area. They geared up and dropped some dead shrimp in the canal. POP, Sal catches a rat red pictured. Normally this rat red wouldn't be a big story. But, it is the first redfish caught in our canal. Usually you catch perch, hard-heads and an occasional black drum this deep in the canal's. Recently, the end of our canal is being aerated and seems to be improving our estuary in these canals. Very nice! Ribbon fish have been spotted recently as well another species we haven't seen before.
We were certainly glad to open our home to our guests to do a little fishin, even though Patti and I were hard at it working in our front yard landscape placing new plants and mulch.
First trip of 2013 to the Land Cut was a very calm sunny day. This time of year is usually more difficult then others at the Texas Land Cut. Live shrimp is hard to come by for bait and today was no exception. However, we decided to pick up some Sea Lice at clems for our trip since our main target was black drum.
So what in the world are sea lice? It turns out that the correct name for these beauties is "Mantis Shrimp". These guys are a cross between a Caterpillar and a praying mantis of the sea world. Bait shops in our area call these crustacean sea lice.
Catches of the day produced a few black drum and a speckled trout. It was a great day to be outside on the water and a nice way to begin 2013.
Once in a while you get a chance to go out with an ol' fishin buddy. Josh Swain and I haven't gone fishing together for a long time and it was great to get together and bend a few poles! The day sure didn't disappoint either... using live shrimp from Clem's marina Josh started off by catching this little Jack Crevalle which is a fish you don't often see at the Land Cut.
Black Drum are still very plentiful at the land cut as Josh shows off this nice catch for the dinner table.
The speckled trout were striking our hooks as well as we made some nice catches. These trout can really give you a fight and makes it a lot of fun.
We couldn't of asked for a better day to get on the water with a great fishin buddy. You might remember Josh in our blog post of May 2008. Wow, that was 5 years ago and we're still bloggin away. Josh was fishing with me when I caught my biggest black drum in March of 2009.
Not a bad line-up of fish for the day. We were just a redfish shy of a Texas Slam. We caught a rat red, but we only count the keepers.
