The Notorious Blog

I hope you enjoy your birthday!!!!!!! FISH ON

I had the pleasure of having 3 generations on my boat this past week. Skip (grandpa), jason (dad) and Michael (son) booked me for a trip a month or so ago. The day arrived and they were ready to go.

We left the house at 0600 with a beautiful morning ahead of us. It was calm and muggy morning that showed favor of being a great day on the water, albeit a HOT day lol.

We got to the first spot, layed the anchor quitely down and got everyone set up to get on the fish early. I was expecting a fast and furious trout bite, but that didnt happen as fast as i would have liked.  We proceded to catch about 30 trout in a 3 1/2 hour span wich is not bad, just not fast and furious. The best trout was about 4#s. All fish were caught on live shrimp carolina rigged with 1/4 oz weights.

Halfway through the morning, the tide slowed and Michael was having issues with the fish lol. He was bringing up constant shrimp heads. For some reason, he would feel the bite, set the hook and Nothing was there. I had looked over at him and he was watching his line for the smallest tick.. He said to me, See there is one again and set the hook. This time, the fish was most definately there lol. The fished started to pull a little drag, then a little more and more and more till finally i knew it was time to pull the anchor and give chase. Glad I did, as this was a nice big jack that had him grinning from ear to ear. Pics below

Once the jack was released, we decided to go ahead and move since this spot had slowed down over the last hour. We made a run to try and catch a few mullet to use as the jetties and once we were done making bait, we proceded to head towards the north galveston jetty.

We arrived at the north jetty to see what I had expected, not much tide and crystal clear water. Visibility was 10ft or so and there was what seemed like a lack of bait. We anchored in one of my redfish holes and started throwing live mullet and shrimp out and immediatey the spanish macks were on top of us. They are always fun, but cause alot of lost leaders, hooks and weights.. Not to mention time consuming to re rig constantly.

After about 20 minutes, and about 5 breakoffs I decide to move us over to the south in search of reds. We get over and the water is even clearer and the tide is all but slack. We get the trolling motor out and work the tip of the south jetty for about 3 hours of absolute FUN fishing.. Smacks, Sharks, Jacks and a few small reds are all around us. We play with these fish and enjoy ourselfs for what seems like 8 hours. Its a fish every second, then a breakoff, then another fish, then a break off etc etc. A great time and everyone is smiles which makes my day. Sometimes, the fish actually make me look good !!!!!!!!!!

I could see that everyone was starting to get worn out by the sun, so we call it a day and head in at 2pm. It was  a great day on the water, with a great family.

Pictures dont do this day justice, it was an awesome day on the water and a memories will last a lifetime.

Capt Thomas

 I had customers cancel for Aug 9th, and I knew Kaylin didnt want to fish since she had yaked 4 days in a row, So I asked my neighbor if he was interested in doing some poling and fly fishing etc.

Lamar only fly fishes, so this was going to be interesting since the only fly fishing I have done is in fresh water and a few times in my green light.

Im interested in fly fishing, I just find it hard to put down my Killer flats minnows while sight casting. However, It  turned out good. I did some fly fishing and some sight casting with hackberry huslters.

We got to our first spot and reds were EVERYwhere. However, these fish had NO interest in eating at all. Even a school of 50 fish, turned down the fly, the hustler and a KFM. Not really sure what was up with them, SPOOKY SPOOKY fish.

As we poled further down the shore, we found multiple groups of fish that were DEFINATELY interested in lunch lol. We had a ball catching some here and there for Lamar on fly and I picked up a few on the hustler (east beast).

We moved on right before 11 to another spot that I know and it was my turn to fly fish, while Lamar poled me around.

It took all of about 10 minutes before we saw a nice group of fish tailing in front of us. It was tough for me to get the fly to the fish, but once I did it was game ON…My first Official redfish on fly!!!!!!!!! and 25” er to boot.

On that note, we called it a day since it was getting HOT!!!!!!!!

A great trip with my neighbor!!!!

Capt Thomas

 Today I had the pleasure of having a couple from louisiana down for some much needed R&R. They had come to galveston, instead of destin due to the oil from the deepwater horizon spill.

They arrived at the house at 630 am and we headed out. As we were running, we saw fast movers, so they asked about them and I explained that these go fast boats were the guys fishing the XRT redfish tournament in freeport. I knew everyone that passed me, so we waved and told them to GO GET EM!!!!!!

We arrived at our spot and I got laura all set up with a live shrimp and showed her exactly what I wanted her to do. As I was getting andrew set up to fish, Laura was letting us know quite vocally that she had a fish on lol.

She had the first fish, then the second, then the third etc etc. I believe she had 9 in the box before her husband had his first keeper.

This couple has spent alot of time in the past fishing offshore out of Destin, but this was the first time they have bay fished. They did great and had an enjoyable time.

We left them biting to head out looking for reds, and unfortunately the reds did not cooperate this morning. We ended the day at noon and headed to the house.

Total Catch: 20 Specks, 3 Sandies and a smack

A great day with a nice couple!!!!!!!!!!

Today I had the pleasure of taking Heath Hippel of buggs fishing lures out on the beavertail to stalk some redfish.

We left the house before daylight and made it into the spot I had decided on the day before and even before we could see the redfish, we could hear them. LOTS of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!.. as the light slowly started to show the exact location of the reds, we were halfway to a huge school by sound. We finally made it to them and managed to catch a fish out of them before the spooked and were never seen again.

On down the shoreline we went, finding tons of single fish along with pods ranging from 5 to 20 fish all cruising or busting down the shoreline. We were picking up fish here and there and had some good eats for heath already so the last few hours were stricktly catching and release.

After poling about 2.5 miles it was HOT and still and i needed to feel the A/C so we called it a day in that spot and ran over to another spot to see what we could find. We found more reds, and a nice sheepie on a bugg.. A first from what heath said.

A little while later, it appeared that everything was shut down. So at 12pm and 97 degree’s we called it a day.

It was a fun day on that water, that is for sure.

June 26th 2010 lake Chuck

Today I fished as an alternate for Team Texas Tackle Factory at the TRS Lake Chuck Tourney.. Talk about a BLAST…

At the Capts Meeting, Trey pulled number 36 so that put us in the second flight of boats.

At around 6 am, our number was called and we were off. We were fishing out of a Beautiful 23 Shoalwater Cat tower boat that belonged to a friend of Treys. We were in this boat because Trey’s boat had motor issues on thursday, and I blew the powerhead on my boat during a trip the day before.

We left and were making our way down to the southern portion of lake calcasieu heading for a lake that Trey had caught some fish the day before in prefishing. We got there and the water looked great , there was bait everywhere and a few fish foraging up close to the grass.

We worked a shoreline and saw a few big redfish, but couldnt get them to bite even by landing on there heads. Trey eventually put on a popping cork and gulp and caught a nice smaller 4.5# red.. Into the livewell he goes, breaking the ice by 7 am.

We kept trying to catch more fish, but they just werent happening in this area this morning so we jumped on plane and move a few miles away.  At this new spot, we were working some rip rap with midcoast corks and gulps trying to drum up some reds. We were steadily catching reds, but they were all 19” long .

While we were fishing, I was checking on the red we had an noticed he wasnt doing so good so we made the decision to let him go, instead of having him die with no chance. He wasnt going to win us anything, so it was not a hard decision.

We let him go and decided to make a move to the west. We were running and talking about where we should go and we passed a beautiful looking pond that you could only see from the tower. This pond was behind some cattails and looked promising.

We got into the pond and all of the sudden were were in a ton of what looked like broken tree trunks, so we immediately shut down as to not lose a lower unit. It turns out, these stump/trunks were actually cat tails that were broke off at the water line. They were quite soft, so we were not that worried.

We put the trolling motor in the water and were looking around when all of the sudden we see tons of redfish running away from the boat. In all directions we look, we spot reds pushing so our day was looking up. We kept working towards a little cat tail island in the middle of the pond and I get a close up look at a redfish pushing away from us. One cast two foot in front of that fished proved to be the ticket.. He ate readily and the fight was on. We got him to the side of the boat and Trey put the net under him and we were gasping at this fish. He was definately a toad!!!!!!!!  out comes the check it stick and wouldnt ya know it, he was 27.25” and around 8#s… Too big for louisiana tournament unfortunately.

We released him and I hopped back onto the tower. Immediately we saw a few more fish that were just out of reach, so we kept pushing in towards this island in the middle of the pond. Just as soon as we got back into motion, I saw a fish swimming towards us and I made a great cast 1 ft in front of his face and he ate quickly.. .Again the fight was on and the fish was at the boat moments later. This fish would Measure, I knew it!!!!   A perfect 26” fish that was about 7.5 on the boga

We high fived eachother and were back on the hunt. Moments later another fish came to the boat that was a smaller fish, but was number 2 in the livewell. This fish was about 4#s.

For the next two hours, we were seeing fish and cathing fish. I was not casting at fish i could easily tell were oversized, as we didnt want to disturb the area unless it was for a solid tournament fish. About an hour later, we cast at a fish that was definately an upgrade. Sure enough, this fish was about 6.5#s on the boga. Into the livewell he goes.

We spend the next hour or so casting at fish that all of the sudden decided they didnt want to eat, so we started making our way out of the pond and off to the weigh in. We arrived about 30 minutes before our time and weighed in rather quickly.

We ended up 19th, which isnt too bad considering our competition, but we knew we could have been in the top 10 if we had done a few things better. All in all it was a great tourney, with a great guy fishing as my partner.. Thanks for the Memory Trey.. I look forward to doing it again

Today I had a great group of guys on the boat. This trip was put together by a long time friend of ours named Bryan. Bryan brought two of his clients . Shane and Lloyd. Both Shane and Lloyd are accomplished fisherman that travel the globe fishing so I was happy to have them on my boat.

This day started off as any other day would have. I was up at 0440 and ready to go by 0500. My party arrived on time and we were loading the boat up getting ready for what i was hoping would be a stellar day on the water.

We get to our first spot and the tide is ripping in and im thinking we may need to make a change and wait on the tide to slow down. Sure enough, as soon as I think that Shane gets SLAMMED and the fight is on.. Shane fights this fish for about 10 minutes and finally gets him up and it is a pig of a redfish. The fish measures 30” and is promptly tagged. This was Shanes first redfish and he was looking forward to Blackening this fish for dinner.

We tried for a few more minutes to see if anything else was going to happen, but i soon decided we needed to retreat to a slower tide area. I knew of a spot close that has been holding good numbers of trout, so off we went.

After a short 5 minute ride, we arrived at a small sand flat off a deep ship channel and instantly the fish were biting. We were fishing with Midcoast popping corks with shrimp under them and whacking them pretty good. Only one problem, the fish were barely bigger than the shrimp lol. We would occasionally get a solid fish hit and lost etc.

We kept catching small fish for the fun of it and then decided we had played with them enough and it was time to move. I jumped up on plane and was running along and then it HAPPENED.. That thing all boat captains dread… My beautiful suzuki motor was withering to a hault…. I knew this was not good, as I could feel her shaking as she ground down to a haul. After trying to restart her, I knew her time had come…

The guys also knew this and it was not even 9 am, so we discussed the options, I made a few phone calls to some other guides that were on the water and sketched out a plan. First off, we were on fish so we threw the trolling motor in the water and proceded to try and scratch out a few fish. We finally called the calvary (towboat us) after we had caught enough small fish and a few keepers for dinner.

The guys all were understanding and still had a good time. We had lots of good laughs, some at my account lol as I was depressed as the day wore on.. But it was still a fair day in my book.

Thanks guys, for a great trip. I hope to have you on the boat again once she is repaired.

Capt Thomas

Today I had the pleasure of having 3 great guests on the boat. Rick, Rickie and Jimmy arrived at the house at 5 am ready to go. The plan for the day was to go out and get Rickie his first fish. Rickie is 19 and has been fishing a few times, but has never actually caught anything.. That would change today!!!!!!!!!

We headed out on a nice calm morning with some live shrimp in the livewell and great spirits. It was going to be a HOT day, so I knew we needed to catch our fish early to avoid the heat.

We got to the first spot got anchored and set up on some structure that has been holding decent numbers of trout. First rod in the water and first shrimp lost lol. It was a quick bite that rick wasnt expecting. I got everyone in the water and we were getting a few bites here and there and I let the guys know that as soon as the water slowed down some the bites would be fast and furious.

Now remember, Rickie hasnt ever caught a fish right? Well, in the next hour Rickie decided he wanted to smoke the fish. He was catching 5 fish to every 1 that his dad had. By 805 am, Rickie had his limit of trout and was Instructing his dad and Jimmy on the proper tecnique to cathing loads of trout lol.. These are the moments that I live for.

Once the tide died, so did the bite so we moved on for bigger and better fish and to get some much need air conditioning on the water.

We headed out towards the jetties to try our luck and as luck would have it, we wondered into all kinds of fish. We proceded to do some drifts at the tip of the north jetty which was good for Smacks, Sharks, Bull reds, Lady fish , Sheepshead and drum… A full assortment of the fun fighting fish that we have here on the texas coast.

It got really hot, so we proceded to drive around looking for something kewl and saw tons of cownose rays, lots of various fish schooling and even a few tarpon jumping.. It was a wonderful HOT day on the water.

Below are the pics from this adventure.

Great job guys

Capt Thomas