Pictures are Good!

As I was rummaging through my computer I found a few more pictures I had taken this Spring.

The Almost Perfect Storm

As I was digging through old files, I came across an article I had written a number of years back for a  Texas fishing publication. It was entitled "The Almost Perfect Storm", and tells the story of how quickly weather can change and how dangerous it can become.
Here's that article...

“The Almost Perfect Storm”

My son and I were fishing the back lakes of Matagorda Island, about 15 miles out of Port O’Connor, Texas, on an early spring day. We had made the run before daylight in hopes of catching a flooding tide at daybreak. I ran my shallow- water flats boat up into the mouth of one of the larger lakes and we proceeded to wade into the back reaches of the lake. Around 8:00 we decided to try another spot and started back to our boat. The tide had flooded the shallow lake with another foot of water and soon we were into good reds and several large trout causing us to ignore the approaching weather. I was aware that a front was forecast to come in later in the day, but had plans to be in port well before its scheduled arrival time. Very quickly the northern horizon turned from a light gray to an ominous black. The front was rolling toward us at amazing speed.. We hurried for the boat, but before we could lift the anchor and start the engine, we were pounded by 30-40 mph winds. The calm flats were immediately turned into rolling surf. I managed to get the motor cranked and we headed back down the shoreline. I was actually running where 30 minutes before there had been dry ground. The winds increased, waves became three foot rollers, and where there had been six inches of water, there now was three feet. The rain was pounding us like BB shot and visibility was less than 25 yards.

At one point, it seemed as if the winds and rain had ceased. I saw what looked like a sea of green all around us and was trying hard to figure out what had happened. I suddenly realized that I was actually running into the marsh with the storm at our backs. Quickly making an adjustment, we were again being pounded hard. I knew there was a breakwater ahead of us extending out into deeper water and that I had to get around it before going any further down the shoreline. I did not imagine that the breakwater would be completely covered. Only a loud scream from my son warned me that we were almost on top of the breakwater. I quickly turned with the waves and called for all the power my outboard could produce. We missed the breakwater by just a few feet only to realize that another boat had been following us. We barely missed a second collision!

At this point I decided it was just plain stupidity to try to make it to port and turned my boat toward the shoreline. We ran several hundred yards past what was the normal shoreline and tried to anchor. The currents produced by the storm were fierce as the storm surge poured onto the island. We managed to finally anchor and headed toward a group of beach homes, hoping to get out of the cold rain. We were greeted by several good Samaritans, who gave us some dry clothes and hot coffee. The storm continued to rage for several more hours, during which we had to drag our boat back toward the open water several times as the flooding tides started receding. By late afternoon, we were able to make the run back to port. Several boats were lost during this sudden spring storm, but thankfully, no lives were lost.

I was indeed not prepared for such a sudden onslaught of a storm. Since that date in my history I have moved life jackets to a more accessible location, added rain suits, and a couple of those "space blankets"to my boating equipment.

Fishing The AMI Kids Tournament

 Team, Uno Mas, funded by Drillformance, made up of myself, my son, Michael Middleton and his wife, Jeanette competed in the annual AMI Kids Fishing Tournament on Saturday, April 23. We prefished on Friday and were worried about Saturday. We were on the water by 6:30 and had decided to wade an area that has produced an almost uncountable number of good trout. Winds were forcast at 15-20, with gusts up to 26. I think the minute we hit our bar, the winds were at 20 and it never let up. We managed to pull a one man limit of small 15 plus inchers from two different spots. We were in by noon.
I had decided on another game plan for Saturday.

We hit the water at 6:00 and headed for the old causeway flats. This has always produced some exceptional reds and trout. We were met with lighter winds and clear water. We all started with topwaters, but after about thirty minutes of nothing, decided to change our offerings. I had instructed Janette to toss a gold spoon. She anchored herself in one spot and quickly hooked up. It was an undersized red. I connected on plastic and also landed a 19" red. Janette hollered and I turned to see her rod bent and stripping line. The good red run lasted for about a minute and the spoon came out.
Two more times as I waded away I heard her holler and two more times saw her rod bending. She managed another lost red and an undersized one.
We decided to go and try for a flounder, as we had entered the calcutta in only the flounder division. Michael is a good flounder fisherman. We spent about 30 minutes in an area that has produced in the past.No luck.
We moved on to Mexiquito flats and made several drifts without a single hit.
Game plan change again. It was now pushing 10 and we did not have a single fish in the box.
I headed north toward the drumboat. We stopped on the East sand holes and managed a few undersized trout. Moved to the gaswell flats, where there were 15 plus boats drifting. We joined them and in the next hour did manage four 16 inchers. From there we headed to the drumboat flats and drifted for another hour hoping to find a lost redfish. They were indeed lost!
At around 2:30, I was really frustrated and decided to go back to the area we had fished on Friday. I had a hunch that just maybe the water was in better shape than we had left it the day before. As we made the five mile run across very ugly water, I began to see a hint of blue on the horizon. As we got closer, we were welcomed by beautiful green waters being pulled in by a strong tide. Quickly into the water, it did not take long to connect. Normally I like to wade in chest deep water, as I feel the bigger school trout are in deeper water. Today I was in shoulder deep water and connecting on almost every cast. Michael had moved down the bar and was also connecting. Janette tried hard to wade out to where I was, but being a little shorter ran into difficulty. But she did manage to hook and land a couple.
The weight in was at 4pm, but we had no fish that would compete, so we just kept on fishing.
At about 4:15 we reeled it in. Between the three of us we had a stringer of fifteen solid trout that ranged from 19" to 23". All were taken on plastics.
We didn't win any prizes, but we supported a great cause in AMI and managed to secure another one of those memories for our data bank.
Thanks Michael, Janette, and Drillformance.

APRIL WINDS and HIGH TIDES!

March has always been known for it's winds, but usually by the time April rolls around, the winds tend to get a little lower. Not the case this April. Winds, rain, and more fronts have greeted the LLM fishermen.
The great thing about the LLM is that on Monday the winds might blow at 20-25, the bay turns to coffee with milk colors and then on Tuesday, if the winds dropped during the night, the bay has cleared up. That's been the case this week. On Saturday, my friend Damon and I hit the East side early. The winds had really blown on Sunday and the West side was really ugly. I had picked the East flats knowing that we would find clear water there. I have several areas that are pucked with miles of sand holes and usually hold some decent trout. Not the case on Saturday. Two short trout on topwaters. We headed North to the drumboat flats looking for reds. We managed one lost  and blind red. I was throwing a spook and Damon was tossing a gold spoon. I drew the first major blowup, but no connection. Damon tossed his spoon in the direction of my spook and hooked up. It turned out to be his biggest red ever...271/2"..great fish!
That was it for the day. Winds picked up to around 25 with gusts to 36....not fun.

We sleep in on Monday and spent the day with the wives. We saw a great movie,
"The Case for Christ". I highly recommend it.
Tuesday brought more wind, but we braved it and decided to stay close. We drifted long bar, and managed a few blowups. We headed to one of our favorite wade bars near marker 58. Water was off colored, but fishable. I was snake bit. I had eight hookups and did not land a single fish. Damon on the other hand was able to keep us in the game with three good trout...two 19's and a solid 17".









On Wednesday morning, the wind had dropped to around 15 and we decided to hit the 58 bar again. This time I had a boat load of people, four hard nose fishermen and a Utah newbie.
My brother in law, David Wood, who has been mentioned in my blogs many times, works for John Deere. He had invited a friend down, Andy, to fish with him, Andy also works for John Deere and is responsible for the entire Western half of the U.S. David's motor started acting up on Monday and  I invited the two of them to join us. I already had my buds, Damon and Dale, tagging along.
We left the fingers in PI around 6:30 and were greeted by calm seas. 58 also had a welcome site as we found clear green water. The fish were there also. We headed back to PI around 10:30, with a full five man limit of good trout.

 I fished all morning with the big 6" Yum bait on a wide gap 1/8 oz jig head. This bait is very soft and after a number of hits becomes unusable. Trout also tend to take the whole bait. Many times you will miss a hook set because they have it balled up in their mouth. I've fought good size trout caught on this bait, only to have them spit it out as I'm ready to net them.
I like to work it slow, with a stop every now and then. Trout tend to hit it while it is moving.

 David never changed from his Zara Spook and the other guys varied from topwaters, plastics, and Gulp.

On Thursday, we were three. Winds had diminished and the bay was semi flat. We hit 58 again. David was the first to score, again using the spook . It did not take me long to find some good fish, but I had decided to use a Gulp jerk bait in penny color...worked, my first fish was a 21". Damon was little slower but managed a limit on Gulp croaker.
David on the other hand had a fantastic morning on his spook. Five great fish from 20 -24".
Way to go DiV!
When we started fishing, the water was a little off colored, with a fair chop. B

ut by our stopping point at 9:30, the waters were clear green and the winds had died to around 10. Great morning again on the LLM.

Next week is the annual A.M.I. tournament out of Parrot Eyes on the Island. Both David and I will be hosting teams. Weight in is 3pm on Saturday, April 22.

David's 241/2 this morning!

Some More "Fishing for Hope" Tournament Results

Thought you would enjoy this video done by Michael for the tournament.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5NmfWXeQ-8&t=14s

2017 Already! And My Man Is In The Big House!

2016 ended with a bang. Lots of good fish and lots of good friends on the water made for a fun time.
December and January were a little slow fishing wise, but hunting was again great. I was able to spend time bowhunting with my granddaughters and son, Michael. Michael by the way, if I haven't mentioned it before, is the founder of an international bowhunting website, www.texasbowhunter.com. Michael developed this site in 1999 and it is one of the major hunting sites on the web. All of his family are excellent arrow slingers.
I ended the 2016 season with a 130 class buck. Kinda like catching a 27" trout, big, but not that 30" we all look for. So far after 50+ years of fishing and hunting, my largest trout measured 29 3/4" and my largest buck scored 165 1/2".
Been working on the boat and actually am going to put it back in the water today. Might just have to open the 2017 season in the am.
I'll be heading up to Sabine Lake in mid-Feburary and hooking up with one of the guides there. I spent a good part of 30 years fishing from Sabine to POC. Great memories and great fish!
Looking forward to more writing and picture taking.
See ya on the water.

 Does are always welcome!

My 2016 Buck.....