Triple tails

“All you have to do is find structure…canal markers, the poles and buoys that mark the inter-coastal canal…that’s what we fish,” says Guide Tommy Countz (www.matagordafishing.com) who fishes the Matagorda Bay complex. “You have them in Galveston Bay, have them in Sabine…the inter-coastal crosses all those areas. I  talked to a guy several years ago and he asked if he could catch them in Rockport, and I told him how. He called back a couple months later and said he caught three.”

Countz says it has been a little slow this summer but has a buddy who caught a 24 and 21 lb fish. Last year was a banner year with a 32.7 lb triple tail that was 12 inches short of the state record. There were 13 fish in two days and six of them were over 20 lbs.

What tackle do you use to catch a triple tail?

“I use 12 lb. diameter braid, 50 lb test. The bigger Chronarch reels hold a little more line, and I use a medium-heavy action rod. They are formidable opponent; if you catch a 20 pound fish, it’s a war. We are fishing live shrimp about 5-6 ft under a popping cork.”

Triple tail like structure. “You don’t just take off and drift an area and hope there is a triple tail there. Find structure. Canal markers, the poles and buoys that mark the inter-coastal canal, that’s what we fish. You have them in Galveston Bay, have them in Sabine. The inter-coastal crosses all those areas.

Fish well and rig structure. “You want to be within a foot of the structure,” advises Countz. “They are kind of lazy; they feed up and down around the structure. We are mainly fishing in 12-14 feet of water, at 5-6 feet down.”

Countz uses crappie fishermen tackle to set fishing depths – bobber stoppers. “You have this rubber deal up above the cork; you run your line through the stick in the cork, tie it off to a weight. I use 80 lb monofilament for my leader. You can cast it easier as the bobber stopper goes through our guides on your rod. You can set the stopper to whatever depth that you want. It keeps us from having to cast a six foot leader.”