1912Dec

COASTAL FORECAST: Matagorda – December 2019

It’s a Drag

BEFORE HENRY ATKINS goes fishing, he enlists the help of his wife to set the drag on his reel. His wife holds a Bota Grip scale (any scale will work). Henry hooks it and backs away to adjust the drag to 1/3 the strength of his line.

When fishing offshore with 60-pound test line the drag is set at 20 pounds. When fishing in the bay with 20-pound test line, the drag is set at six to seven pounds.

Henry is very particular about making sure his fishing equipment works properly, and it pays off. He does not lose fish because the drag is set too tight or too loose. Most fishers set their drag by puling line off the reel and adjusting the drag until it “feels” right.

Mike Price with a pretty winter redfish. If you rub the belly of a freshly caught fish the dorsal fin will display.
(Photo: Janet Price)

It is better to have the drag set a little too loose than too tight. Reels are designed to have the drag re-set when you are not working a fish, and you usually lose the fish when trying to adjust the drag with a fish on.

In early December, just after a cold norther came through, I was kayak fishing in a 12-foot-deep lake. Fish were not biting in the lake, so I paddled to an adjacent bayou that was two to four feet deep. It was late afternoon on a cold day and the water had warmed a few degrees in the shallow bayou. I was hoping that the three-degree water temperature increase would stimulate some action.

Just after entering the bayou I had a hard hit. The fish ran with power into the bayou, then past the front of my kayak and then back to the lake. The drag was a little on the loose side, but I did not touch it, preferring instead to work the fish in a little at a time.

Finally, I got the 25-inch redfish to the side of the kayak. I put the net deep into the water so the fish would not see it and swam the redfish into the net.

I put the stringer point through the fish’s lower and upper lips and thought, “I need to remove the hook.” But the hook had fallen into the net.

A lightly set drag, along with a consistently tight line while working the fish, works better than better than setting the drag too tight—you do not lose the fish.

When the water and weather are hovering near 50°F, you might want to try live bait. Last December Eddie Vacek and I drift fished using soft plastics on the north side of East Matagorda Bay for 2½ hours with no result. At the same time on the same day, on the southwest side of East Matagorda Bay, some friends of Eddie’s used live croakers and limited out, catching trout up to 28-inches.

Another approach to winter fishing is to fish the creeks and rivers. Tim Garcia and two friends went to one of the creeks feeding into the bays three times in two weeks after air temperatures had dropped to the low 40s for a couple of nights. This lowered water temperatures to less than 57°F. Each time they limited on trout. They caught 57 the first trip, 45 on the second trip, and 35 on the third trip and kept 15.

On each trip, the keepers were from 16 to 20 inches. They used soft plastics on 1/8 ounce jigs and trolled. Saltwater had moved up into the creek because it had been 10 days since we had rain.

There are times when live shrimp out-fish soft plastics. On a 55°F December day with a 14-mph east wind, Jeff Wiley and I were anchored at the mouth of a bayou in West Matagorda Bay. We were throwing spoons and soft plastics. Next to us were two fishermen fishing with live shrimp under popping corks. They hooked up with 15- to 16-inch trout on every cast. We did not get a hit.

An effective compromise to shrimp versus soft plastics is a Berkley Gulp lure. This soft plastic lure is permeated with fish-attracting scent. On December first Tom Asch was kayak fishing on the southeast side of West Matagorda Bay. The tide was outgoing, and the water was low.

Tom watched a redfish showing it’s dorsal and tail fins as it splashed along the shoreline attacking prey. He placed his Gulp shrimp just in front of the redfish and the fight was on. Tom put the 21-inch red on his stringer and went on to catch two more that were a little bigger.

If you are going fishing in the early morning in December, look out for decoys. When you see decoys near the shoreline, stay clear of them or you will disrupt duck hunters.

Afternoon fishing when the weather and water are cold is usually better than morning fishing, because the water warms as much as 5°F through the day and most duck hunters go out in the morning. Duck hunting season in December in the South Zone is December 7 to January 26.

Photo 3528: Mike Price with a pretty winter redfish. If you rub the belly of a freshly caught fish the dorsal fin will display.

 

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THE BANK BITE

Palacios has a long pier with lights going into the bay on South Bay Boulevard. Fishing from this pier at night can be very productive using either soft plastics or shrimp. It is also a good spot for daytime fishing.

 

Email Mike Price at ContactUs@fishgame.com

 

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Heather Bryan

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Heather Bryan

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