Fishing

Big Fun at the Big Rocks

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Seadrift Big Redfish

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Capt. Nathan Beabout Seadrift Fishing Report

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State Record Tarpon Caught in Port O’Connor

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Seadrift Wade Fishing Report

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Great day on the water

Brag Board

Great opening weekend in Texas!

November 5, 2018 Charles Coker 1 Comment

Had a great 4 days of hunting on our lease south of Seguin..

We are an MLD property and so our rifle season starts Oct 1 for does and bucks start November 1. We arrived Wednesday evening and were all really excited to get out and hunt!

We all went out Thursday morning and saw activity but no shooters.

I decided Thursday to hunt a new area that had some long range potential with the blind out on the middle of a field tucked under a tree. Took out the 6.5 Creedmoor and took a doe at 350 yards with Hornady 143 ELDX.

Running my Southern Precision Rifles 6.5 Creedmoor that I have ran out to 1k many times, I have absolute confidence in this rifle. Golf balls at 500 yards and clay pidgeons at 1k!

Defiant Deviant Action
McMillan A5 stock
Huber Concepts trigger
Nightforce 5-25×56 Actar F1 Mil C reticle
Nightforce Rings
Mueller Rifleworks barrel at 22″
Crux Archangel
Badger DBM
Hornady 143 ELDX

Leica Geovid HD 10×42 Rangefinding binos are awesome as well.

Saturday morning my buddy Jason shot this nice wide 10 point!

Saturday night it was my turn!

I used this rifle.. a semi custom built around a Tikka CTR 308

Barrel chopped to 16 and threaded

McMillan Game Hunter carbon stock
Steiner Tactical 3-15
Talley rngs
Crux Nemesis 30
Mountain Tactical DBM
Hornday 178 ELDX

https://tacticalgunreview.com/mcmillan-game-hunter-stock-tikka-t3/

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Benton Parrott Takes Tops at 2018 IFA Kayak Fishing Tour Championship

October 24, 2018 Texas Leave a comment

Grand Isle, Louisiana (October 24, 2018): Three-time IFA Kayak Tour Champion and Team USA member Benton Parrott has added another win to his already impressive competitive track record, taking tops at the IFA Kayak Fishing Tour Championship held October 19-20 in Grand Isle, Louisiana. This most recent win makes it Benton’s fourth IFA Kayak Fishing Tour Championship win.

The Navarre, Florida-based angler narrowly edged out competitor Aaron Clay’s two-day, four-fish score of 120.125 inches of redfish and speckled trout with 120.375 inches, taking home a Hobie Mirage Pro Angler 14 boat and PowerPole Micro Anchor valued at $4,450 retail combined, and $420 cash in the Anglers’ Advantage program.

While Parrott had planned to pre-fish the day before the event, fierce winds kept him and others off the water. Nonetheless, Friday, October 19th, saw competitors launch to compete in Day One of the 2018 IFA Kayak Fishing Tour Championship, although fishing conditions were described as terrible.

“It was a grind to catch decent trout on Day One given how the wind had stirred up and dirtied the water,” says Parrott.

Still, Parrott persisted. “On Day One I started in the marshes by working points, flats, and reefs. The key was jumping spots, hitting seven different areas and working baits through the three main areas of the water column. I threw topwaters; Rapala Ripstops to work the midrange; and also bounced bottom with soft plastics. But after jumping seven spots, I only had a 16 ¼-inch trout. I decided to drive the half hour down to Grand Isle where I launched out into the Pass and was able to land a 43-inch redfish working depths anywhere from 20 to 60 feet of water. With three hours left in the tournament I pulled out of the Pass and went back to the marsh to try to upgrade my trout, which I did with a 17-incher.”

Continue reading Benton Parrott Takes Tops at 2018 IFA Kayak Fishing Tour Championship →

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OCTOBER HAS BEEN GOOD SO FAR at Bay Flats Lodge Resort & Marina

October 23, 2018 Capt. Chris Martin Leave a comment

A SOLID OCTOBER

By: Capt. Stephen Boriskie

As I halt all outdoor activities while this strong cold front bears down on us today in the middle coast I am reminded of how solid the first half of October has been. When the calendar turned to ten-one, it was almost like a switch was flipped and all of the sudden we had higher, more normal Fall water levels. The air seemed different even though a front had not slipped through. The water seemed cooler and the fish more active. The days are shorter giving way to more overnight rest. Even the crowds had thinned out around here as if deer season had already begun. Add it all up and the result was a fish almost every cast!

Redfish are the talk right now with numbers of undersized fish in the 18″ to 19″ range abundant. My experience has been the smaller under 10″ rat reds are not as common as these larger ones ending up on the hook. Limits of slot redfish are almost the norm with a few oversize thrown in to keep it real. I have polled our guides with text messages throughout the day and they are catching similar fish too. It doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s live or dead shrimp but they are both working better than cutters.

The speckled trout catch isn’t up to snuff in my trips right now like in the past few years for this time of year. Most of my guys are in the boat throwing bait and I chalk it up to the higher than preferred winds we have been seeing due to these fronts that are now blasting through Texas. I cannot seem to get out on the reefs where they have been holding because of the angry bay both before and after the fronts. The wade fishing trips however have produced impressive numbers and size of trout using either croaker or lures, true to wading year round.

Black drum and Sheepshead with a rare showing of Flounder are the other species we have been boxing regularly in this first half of October. This is to say we are not limiting out on these guys but seeing good numbers. This should continue in the rest of the month and on into the end of the year.

It’s no wonder why this is our favorite time of the year and why the lodge is booked almost every guide for every day. This is the perfect time to round up the family or customers and get to the coast. When you are catching a fish on almost every cast it makes you realize what a wonderful abundant resource we have in our coastal waters. There are many to thank for such a bounty aside from mother nature and the time of the year. Conservation efforts are working and you can see that in the numbers of fish we have and also in the health of our bay and our estuaries. Donate where you can to these groups and participate with your time and effort to ensure the future generations not only will have the right to fish and the waters to do so, but they will likely enjoy days like we are having right now wearing out your arms and putting some fine fish on the dinner table.

Fishing

NOW THAT THE WEATHER’S GETTING COLDER

October 15, 2018 Capt. Chris Martin Leave a comment

The first couple weeks of October have produced a steady flow of fish for our guides, particularly large numbers of redfish and black drum. This is probably due to the higher tides we’ve experienced so far this month, and the fact that we didn’t seen any substantial change in the weather along our coastal bend area during the first part of the month. Until now, we’ve gotten a bit of rain and a brief north wind that cooled the daytime and nighttime temperatures a bit, but up until the third week in the month, trout catches have been shadowed by some really impressive catch-and-release activities on redfish. However, that’s all going to turn around for us now that the first major frontal passage has arrived.

The weather is changing right now, and so is the fishing pattern as we progress into the fall season. The weather one day might be cloudy and cold, and the next day sunny and warm. It’s for this reason that anglers should look for a bottom made-up primarily of mud, not sand. The atmospheric changes are telling the fish that it is now the time for them to begin transitioning to the insulating qualities offered by that of the wintertime mud. As bay waters continue to cool, a mud bottom acts as an insulator of sorts – the mud absorbs the heat of the daylight sun and holds the heat for a much longer period of time over that of sand. Big trout will instinctively probe the bay bottom in search these warmer spots, and will look for food in surrounding areas. This transition to mud takes place every year at this time, and wading anglers who don’t mind getting into water with knee-deep mud can often expect rewards that outweigh the difficult walking.

An effective wading pattern to exercise during this period of seasonal change is the zigzag routine. At this time of the year you may find the fish warming themselves in bright sunlight in skinny water, or they might be clinging to the depths of deeper water for security and warmth. That’s why walking back-and-forth between shallow and deep water is a good idea. Start your wade session in deeper water so you don’t startle any fish that may already be in shallow water – face the shoreline and walk toward it. Fan your casts from three o’clock to nine o’clock as you walk in a diagonal line directly toward the shore. Once you’re in shallow water, turn your back to the shoreline and walk in a diagonal line away from the shore while heading back out to deeper water. This is a proven method of attack during this changing time in the year, and it allows you to cover a lot of territory, as well. Good luck out there, and be safe!

Fishing

Redfish Meltdown at Bay Flats Lodge Resort & Marina

October 8, 2018 Capt. Chris Martin Leave a comment

REDFISH MELTDOWN

Redfish Meltdown

Splash! Drag! The fight was on! Well, after deliberating with several guides and getting a different answer from each one, I decided to go find my own fish. After two uneventful sets, we witnessed large swirls tight to the shoreline. The redfish action was non-stop for almost 2-hours while experiencing immediate hook sets just as soon as the shrimp hit the water. My fishing partners today were our granddaughter, Briley, and our daughter, Stacy. Deb and I really never had a chance to fish, as we were too busy helping. Stacy came out on top with her landing 15 reds, while Briley landed 11. We kept enough for tonight’s dinner and released the rest. I hope you enjoy the video as much as we enjoyed the fishing!

THE GUIDE REPORT

THURSDAY – Oct 4th

Capt. ‘Lil John Wyatt – This was Day #2 with the McCoy’s group, and they had a really good day on the water. They managed full limits of speckled trout, as well as seven very nice slot-size redfish. It turned out being a good day at the office for this crew!

Capt. Heath Borchert – This morning we had a half-day trip with customers all the way from West Virginia to Dilley, Texas. There seemed to be a lull between catches for them, but it turned out that none of the catches were wasted time, as all were great fish. I guess it’s not always about the quantity, as it is the quality. Good job today guys, and I hope to see y’all again soon! Continue reading Redfish Meltdown at Bay Flats Lodge Resort & Marina →

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Weekend fishing POC and Seadrift

September 25, 2018 Mike Coker 1 Comment

We checked in to the Reel Time Lodge in Seadrift mid-afternoon Friday prepared to chase redfish until dark. We put the boat in the water and, nothing. Motor would start up fine but not keep running. Perhaps we were ahead of ourselves and jinxed our luck by already planning to have Bubba’s cook our catch. Well, crap. Abort mission. We ended up replacing the fuel line, primer bulb, and spark plugs. Who hasn’t been there before?

Saturday morning we decided to put in at Charlie’s Bait Camp and fish the Dewberry / Shoalwater area. A thunderstorm smashed us hard before we could even get underway so we waited it out for about thirty minutes. Fair warning – the boat launch fee has gone up to $8 and that lady will collect.

Tide was high so we had no trouble making a hard left in the cut and heading up through the lagoon. Continue reading Weekend fishing POC and Seadrift →

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Fall fishing with Capt. Nathan Beabout

September 24, 2018 Capt. Nathan Beabout Leave a comment

If you don’t have a trip booked with us to wade in September or October, pick up your phone today!

Did a little fun fishing today with good friend Chris Cady, he found some very solid fish on topwaters, and I had them thumping DSL soft plastics. Our wades were concentrated over sand/grass from knee deep to crotch deep. Soft plastic colors were chicken of the c and victorious secret super models. The topwaters were bone/silver and Texas chicken.

Everything is falling into place to be a great fall fishery. We have all our tide back, the salinity level is down and water temps are cool from lastcweeks rain. This creates good feeds from both trout and reds, and makes patterns a bit more normal. Not to mention potentially our first cool front of the year next week.

I couldn’t be more excited about the things to come, absolutely the best time of year to be on the water. Don’t miss your chance.

Capt. Nathan Beabout

Cell:(210)452-9680

nmsportsmansadventures.com

Capt. Nathan Beabout

Cell: (210) 452-9680

N&M Sportsman’s Adventures

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AB Kennels

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Fall Trout Making a Showing at Bay Flats Lodge Resort & Marina

September 24, 2018 Capt. Chris Martin Leave a comment

THE GUIDE REPORT

THURSDAY – Sept 20th

Capt. Stephen Boriskie – Another good day of fishing with the boys, and while the fish eluded us we didn’t wait long before chasing after them. We started out doing what had worked on Wednesday, but around here “yesterday” is about as reliable as tomorrow! So, of course it didn’t work! Going back to what worked a couple weeks ago, I found some fresh mullet that were willing to come along. We gave ’em a good try and ended up with two beautiful Redfish before time caught up to us. Lending a hand to a customer shuttle, we helped bring a couple anglers in off a boat in distress. The cool thing about that was there were three of our guide boats helping one downed boat – all of us keeping the guests safe, and on time back to the dock. It’s just another example of the teamwork we are dedicated to around these parts. So, all these clients smoked the Redfish yesterday, and persevered today with a smaller box, but it turned out being a much better story of the typical team building adventures at Bay Flats Lodge.

FRIDAY – Sept 21st

Capt. Todd Jones – Tough sleddin’ the last few days. Brandan and David were up for the challenge, and scratched out their limit of reds up to 25-inches. It was David’s first saltwater trip, so he’s off to a good start. I think the highlight of their trip might have been watching the little gator play with a cork! It was a lot of fun watching them catch fish!

SATURDAY – Sept 22nd

Capt. Billy Freudensprung – A wise man once said, “If it ain’t blowing, we ain’t going”. Well, we went today and it was blowing! Blowing those fish against the shoreline kept Jeremy and Paul busy. They managed their redfish limits and chased a few extra nice-sized drum to top things off! Today turned out positive for these two!

Capt. ‘Lil John Wyatt – Great day today with these guys! They had limits of reds and drum, to include several oversize reds that were released back into the bay to fight another day. The redfish action has been consistent lately, but the trout are making a slow appearance once again. Some of the guides have gotten into some good ones the last couple days – just another fun item to look forward to as things begin to cool off more around here! Stay tuned to the latest action!

Capt. Kevin Matula – It wasn’t easy just getting out in the strong winds this morning, but we got out there! These guys stuck with it to the absolute end in an effort to bend some rods. They did alright considering today’s conditions!

Capt. Steve Boldt – I wasn’t too sure about what sort of outcome we were going to have when we first started out this morning, because we didn’t hit upon the redfish bite like we have been doing quite regularly the past couple weeks. At least the trout cooperated, and they even allowed one of my guys a Texas slam – trout, red, and flounder!

Fishing

Bull Red on light tackle in Port O’Connor!

September 24, 2018 Charles Coker Leave a comment

My brother Mike and I spent Saturday fishing Seadrift, despite finding bait activity we just never found the fish.. We decided on Sunday to change gears and head to Port O’Connor.

We woke up at 5AM in our favorite little hotel, the Real Time lodge. I stepped outside and the wind was calm, checked Doppler Radar on my phone and it looked like offshore showers, sweet!. We headed to Port O’Connor and put in at the Fishing Center, grabbed some live shrimp and dead finger mullet and made our way to Sunday Pass right at first light with lots of bait in the water and thought for sure, “yeah, we are about to get into the fish!” Well, we had activity but only put on trout in the box. We decided to head over to Pass Cavello and ran out into the gulf for a few minutes before turning our little 16ft jon boat back in. Even with just small rollers we understand how the gulf works and it doesn’t give a (blank) about you! Having grown up on the coast in the boat business and doing some dumb stuff with boats we know the limits of our boat.

Back in we went and we fished the pass for a while with shrimp (hard head catchers), various top waters and soft baits without much success. We tried fishing the bottom with cut bait but no luck.

Since it was so calm and it’s that time of the year for bull reds we decided to make a run up to the jetties to check it out. There wasn’t much boat activity at all and we fished the edge of the jetties for a bit, even trying cut bait on the bottom with bait casters and got hung up several times. We changed strategy and went to spinning rods and lures. About a 1/3 of the way out Mike spotted feeding near the rocks cast a gold/black Rapalla Broke-Back lure and WHAM! got a hit, I saw a flash of “something big” and could tell it was a beast..

I spent 30 minutes gently trying to wear it out for fear of it snapping the 20lb line. Any time I put some pressure on it would just start stripping line off the real. I was working it and trying not to rush the fish.. working the drag and sometimes applying just a little finger pressure to the side of the spool.

I was praying for the line and knots to hold. We finally saw it roll near the surface and it was a big old bull red! I continued fighting it without just trying to muscle it in to the boat as I know from experience big fish can see the boat and make a hard head snap and break off. When we finally got to land it Mike was like “this net isn’t big enough” Just the head went in and we both we wrestled it up into the boat. It inhaled the lure, I held up by the gills while Mike worked trying to remove the lure so we could put it back into the water fast.

Really happy with my main trout/redfish rig, there were a few times when it ran under the boat and the rod was doubled over!

Waterloo Salinity 7’6″ rod
20lb Windtamer braid
Berkely 20lb flourocarbon leader
Shimano Stradic 3000

Bull Red Port O'Connor — Bull Red Port O’Connor

Fishing

Cooler Waters Producing Red Hot Action at Bay Flats Lodge Resort & Marina

September 11, 2018 Capt. Chris Martin Leave a comment

THURSDAY – Sept 6th

Capt. Jason Wagenfehr – Thursday we had to duck and dodge a few storms, but we got lucky and landed on some fish. My thanks go out to Capt. Todd Jones for the use of his boat while he was on vacation – it seems to attract fish rather nicely!

FRIDAY – Sept 7th

Capt. Stephen Boriskie

– We beat the rest of today’s deluge by limiting out on Speckled Trout early and then calling it a day just in time to once again get the customers under cover from today’s multiple rain storms. Unfortunately, things are probably going to be like this for a while. The next few days will be all about patience and timing until this tropical moisture dries up!

Capt. Billy Freudensprung – I had a good day with these guys! We looked for the trout and the reds, and we found a couple here and there, but the guys wanted to experience some steady action. They wanted a bigger pull, so we chased a big school of black drum for some rapid C-P-R action. It was a lot of fun for everyone!

Capt. Garrett Wygrys – Today was an all around amazing day! My crew set their minds to doing their very best, and that’s exactly what they did. They managed their three-man limit of Speckled Trout, as well as Redfish (to include one tagged Red). They topped things off by landing a few Black Drum – it was just icing on the cake!

SATURDAY – Sept 8th

Capt. Billy Freudensprung – I had another Black Drum kind of day with today’s party, with a Redfish and some cats thrown in the mix. The trout bite just never materialized for us this morning, but the Black Drum were plentiful, which has been the case for the past few weeks now. We saw a nice Red and some cats, which filled the trout gap accordingly, but it would sure be nice to get back into the big trout circle once again. Once this weather blows through, and when things cool off a bit toward the end of the month, we will see some good Speckled Trout and exceptional Redfish action on a much more regular basis each day.

Capt. ‘Lil John Wyatt – Great day on Saturday with the bachelor party that was part of the Vincent G. group. We actually experienced a rather nice Speckled Trout bite today, landing some of the finest trout I’ve seen all week long. The Redfish also graced us with their presence, and a couple of guys caught some nice ones. The guys had an absolute blast, with lots of fish boxed that led to everyone having a great time!

Capt. Todd Jones – Back in the saddle after a two-week hiatus, and a much needed vacation. Knocked the rust off on a half-day morning trip with a group of contractors from the Houston area. The trout bite was a little slow for us, but the guys boxed eight solid fish for their efforts. A quick lunch and we were back out again for the afternoon trip. A change of strategy and location kept the guys busy with non-stop action, ending the day with their limits of reds to 27″ and some solid drum to 22″. Half-day on Sunday morning coming up with this group – hope their luck holds out!

COOLER WATERS PRODUCING RED HOT ACTION

If you’ve been waiting for a break in the summertime heat before coming down to the coast to fish, then you should start packing for a September trip. We’re already seeing temps in the lower 80’s, and we should expect even a little cooler weather later in the month. It’s at this time in the year when the temperatures will begin to slowly drop allowing for milder conditions all along our coastal regions. The waters shall begin their greening process, and some of the season’s initial flights of ducks should start arriving from the upper states. The beginning of autumn will soon be upon us, and you’ll need to be ready.

With higher tides already taking place, Coastal Bend anglers should start looking to the various back lakes on Matagorda Island and to the shell reefs of San Antonio Bay to start producing some of the year’s finest trout action. As for the reds, you might start searching for them in Guadalupe Bay, looking for sand pockets and pushes (wakes) rather than tails. Recent rains have already cooled the water a bit and the reds have reacted quit positively. Maintain your standard summertime routine of starting early in the morning and starting out in some really shallow water.

For the pluggers amongst us, some of the year’s best top water action will soon begin, so start each day tossing small surface walkers like the Skitter Walk Junior or the Super Spook Junior. If they’re not hitting on top, try throwing some plastic tails rigged on either 1/8 or 1/16-ounce jig-heads. Absent of any unexpected tropical weather, area bay waters should remain in good shape, so try some of the more brilliant tail colors until you find one they like. Have fun out there, and be safe!

Fishing

DSL Chicken of the C strikes again!

September 11, 2018 Capt. Nathan Beabout Leave a comment

Good to be back on the water after some much needed rain! With the wind starting low we were able to walk a reef on our fisrt wade, with good numbers of 17-20″ trout.

Once the wind picked up we headed to the sand pockets of the shorelines. There we walked into several trout in the 20+ inch range.

Baits today started off with DSL chicken of the c on the reefs, and blue moon and majic grass on the shorelines.

Plenty of open dates available for this late summer/fall action. Give us a call and let’s go fishin’!

Capt. Nathan Beabout
Cell:(210)452-9680
nmsportsmansadventures.com