MATAGORDA
Reported by CAPT. MARK TALASEK
Email Mark Talasek at MarkTalasek@sbcglobal.com
Online: TalasekGuideService.com
A Good Day
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WHAT CONSTITUTES A GOOD DAY on the water? Full limits? Trophy fish? The definition can have different meanings for everyone. Any day on the water is a blessing. Taking in God’s creation helps recharge our human battery.
As a fishing guide you have to communicate what your customers are looking for. Most people are looking for something to bend their pole. Some of my clients have fished with me for 30 years and have different expectations. A safe trip when nothing breaks is good for most. Some clients come to learn different techniques/bait/presentation/spots, etc. Full limits or a trophy entice others. Just being on the water satisfies most.
I have been fishing Matagorda for 40 plus years. Things have definitely changed. Limits, estuary, population (fish and human). There are not as many fish as there were before. I have had 50 trout limits in less than an hour of fishing under birds. Stuck 60 flounder in less than half an hour with clients. I have caught five pound redfish every cast until you get tired of catching. We still have days like that, but they are few and far in between.
The guides were having a pow wow at the bait camp waiting for clients. We were discussing what we were going to do for the day. Wind was blowing hard and had the water chocolate. Most were going for black drum. Never thought it would come to this. The target species has always been trout. With numbers declining after the freeze a few years ago redfish have become the staple. Black drum has been another way to bend the pole lately. Might not be as good as trout but they taste good and are fun to catch. Don’t get me wrong, we still target trophy trout, but times are changing so you have to adapt. It all makes for a good day on the water.
Summer conditions are starting to be more consistent. When the wind lays, we are boxing trout on midbay reefs. Redfish and black drum are getting better in the shallow water. Live shrimp under a popping cork is the best. Flounder gigging has improved at night. This has been a late start for everything in my opinion.
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