Matagorda, Texas
Several months ago, my father-in-law decided we needed to take a fishing trip down to the coast. This sounded great to me; catching fish in the bay is about my favorite kind of fishing. So with a couple phone calls, we had a house rented and a fishing trip booked with a friend of mine through his guide service in Matagorda.
Gus (father-in-law), Michael (brother-in-law), Adam (cousin-in-law ??) and I all got down to the house Friday afternoon and unpacked the trucks for the exciting weekend to come. We met our landlord, who is an older (crazy) gentleman who has befriended the local wild hog population across the river from the house. He hurt his back diving the rigs offshore that morning, so we helped him haul his water and corn over to them.
For supper, we headed to Fireman's Hall where they were having a crawfish boil to kick off the Texas Trio Tournament taking place Saturday. After eating, we drove down to look at the surf and pulled in to 3 Mile Cut to explore a little bit. There was quite an interesting car sitting in the cut.
After looking over the scene of the crime, we headed back to the house for a little night fishing off the dock. The action was a tad slow, but I did manage to catch a few of these little fellas.
On Saturday morning, we had a big taco breakfast (the Gus Special) and headed to the water. The surf looked a little dirty, so we pulled into 3 Mile Cut and unloaded for a wade. The fish big enough to put on a stringer decided they did not like shrimp that morning, so we drove back to the house for a nap.
Saturday evening, we went back to the water with a new game plan. Michael and I got on a few fish. Only 2 trout were big enough for the stringer, but it was fun to catch the rat reds and Michael specials (hardheads). We watched the sun go down over East Bay and went back to prepare for our trip in the morning.
Sunday morning we woke up bright and early and headed down to the dock. Our guide, Nick, picked us up and we started the 30 minute boat ride to West Matagorda Bay. Nick had fished a tournament Saturday and had found quite a few fish in the spots he was taking us. Well.... the fish decided to leave. We fished pretty hard all day long with not a lot to show for it. But I guess that's why they call it fishing and not catching. We did get enough fish for all of us to take a bag of filets home, though.
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| Gus with a 26" red. |
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| The day's haul |
It was a great weekend had by all. We have a couple family beach trips planned this summer, so hopefully I can get on a few more fish. Until next time...
Happy Hunting,
