Ft. Anahuac Park - 11/12/09

I had talked to Alex last week, he hadn't been out on the kayak since we returned from Port Aransas back in August, so we decided to take off today and head out to Fort Anahuac Park. He planned to bring along his co-worker Chris, and Don, with whom we've all fished before. Last night I got a call from Jason asking where I was headed this morning, I told him, so in all there were five of us that put in at 6:30 this morning.

Immediately after putting in, we saw scads of birds to the south. One group was pretty close so we decided to head for them.

I got to the birds and in 5 casts, I had 5 bites but they were all short strikes. Finally I got a small trout to the boat:

Soon after, the birds dispersed and so did the fish. So, Jason and I decided to head to the very back part of the pocket where we had found reds last weekend. Alex decided he'd come our way too, so Jason covered the East shoreline, and Alex and I took the middle.

Didn't catch anything on the way over, but we saw the little canal where Jason and I had fished last time was covered up with birds. That looked encouraging. Alex and I got there first. After a few casts, Alex tossed his popping cork up near a grassline and it was game on:

Doesn't he look happy? First fish from a kayak since August...he ought to be.

Here's Alex with his fish - a nice 23 inch red:

About that time, I had a good hookup and also had a nice red on the line. Got him to the boat to find that he was also a nice 23 inch red:

Alex was putting his fish in the fish bag so I was able to get a better picture of him with his fish. Here's Alex the fish ninja:

About this time, Jason, Chris, and Don all showed up. The bite shut down. We kind of moved off this shoreline and started cruising back South along the Western shoreline. Along the way, I got a couple of bites, but couldn't get anything to set. Alex was casting his popping cork randomly and it paid off for him. Another nice 23 inch red:

Ahead, I saw some more birds. I raced over there to find they were just liar birds. Well, sort of. There were plenty of baitfish and I did see a few redfish. No trout though and the reds just weren't in a biting kind of mood today.

I heard Jason yell out that he had a red. I didn't get a picture of it, but it was a nice 22 incher. He offered it to Alex, but Alex wanted to catch his first limit honestly and not take someone else's fish.

I ran out into the river channel and down toward the island for a little exploration, but that didn't work out well. There was no action at all there. I headed back to where Jason had just caught his red.

At this point, it seemed that all activity stopped. The tide was becoming slack. No baitfish activity, no bird activity, nothing.

Jason and I decided to head back to the far end of the pocket to see what we could find. There were still some birds over there.

Along the way, I looked over and saw Jason's rod bowed over and he was hooked up with something. While I wasn't paying any attention to my own line, it almost got jerked out of my hand. I got this little rat red about 15 inches:

Jason caught a submerged branch.

We got to the very back of the pocket and decided to head into the canal a little ways. The current was still ripping out of it and we were being very aware because this is an area heavily populated by alligators, but we didn't see any today. Here's Jason sneaking around a bend:

We fished in this area for a few minutes. I picked up another rat red about 16 inches, Jason got a channel cat! I knew the water was fresh but didn't expect that. So I decided to try the Sea Devil for a few minutes to see if I could get any bass. No luck on the bass.

We came out of the channel and I had just cast when Jason yells out that he has a fish and Alex calls me on the phone. Jason's fish turned out to be a rat red, but while talking to Alex on the phone, I had my gulp SM (watermelon) in the water. Alex called to say that he was heading out. By this time, I had ran over my line. I went to reel it in and there was something on it! It was really running hard, splashing, taking drag, etc. Problem was that since I ran over my line, it was now tangled in my rudder. I tried to raise my rudder, but that made it worse. After it was all over, the fish got away. It looked like it would have been another keeper red, but I can't be sure.

Jason and I decided to cruise the East shoreline and head back. Along the way, I picked up another rat red, Jason picked up a hardhead - almost a catfish slam. He then got another rat red:

We were almost back to the launch when Jason hooked into a flounder. He was holding it up for the picture when it jumped out of his hands. Here's the result:

One of the funniest pictures I've taken.

After we got off the water, we ate at a local restaurant. Looked like it might have decent food, but the burgers were almost gross. Forgot the name of the place, but I won't go there again.

Today was the total opposite of last week. It was a beautiful day to be kayaking, not such a good day for fishing. The fishing was just tough today. Winds were mild, maybe 8-10 mph, seas were flat. We had a weird tide today, low tide at around 11:10 and high tide at around 12:20. Not much tidal movement after that slack water. Temps were a little cold in the morning - in the mid-50's, warming to the mid-70's by about 1pm. Water temps are now at 72 degrees, but this is at Eagle Point. Where we were, there was a pretty large temperature gradient. Near the outflow of the river, the water was pretty cold. Much colder than 72, I'd guess in the low 60's. Near the launch, it was probably higher than 72. Not willing to hazard a guess though. I caught the trout on a saltwater assassin (pumpkinseed/chartreuse), slot red on gulp shrimp (bone jack) under a popping cork, everything else on a gulp SM (watermelon).

Rick