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Catch My Drift
Author’s first visit to Floyd’s – good food!
Ahh good ol' March. March is a good month for me. With it comes the first signs of spring in the form of warmer days, better tides, spring turkey season, the Houston Fishing Show, and my birthday! Pretty hard to beat that combination.
Of course there is a downside; I cannot count the number of days I've had to re-plan a fishing trip and even had to cancel a few. Fortunately, I always manage to get in a few good ones and on a recent trip the weather was perfect, making for a great day on the water and easy paddling.
Until the water comes back into the marshes, which is almost always later in the month, I am forced into the deeper waters of the open bays and larger lakes. This isn't exactly my forte but it's still time on the water which is better than time spent just about anywhere else.
Fishing open water can be quite productive. I do like to wade shallower flats but in deeper water I prefer to drift. To accomplish this you should paddle into the wind, skirting the area you wish to drift through. Once you have decided to begin your drift, consider sitting sidesaddle on the kayak. What this means is position the kayak perpendicular to the wind and hang both legs over the downwind side. Your feet being in the water will aide in slowing your drift, when you can touch bottom easily.
As a side note, look for mud streaks or stained water to drift through. Now that your drift has begun, just fan your casts methodically as you move along. Try different lures and retrieves until you find what works. Bumping soft plastics along is my go-to approach. This particular trip I was throwing a new wedge-tail minnow I got from Betts Tackle. Don't give up on an area too quickly either. And if you catch some in one drift, certainly drift it again.
Something else you might consider is sleeping in. It doesn't seem all that natural for me to sleep in on a fishing day but when the temps are cooler the bite sometimes doesn't get going until midday or in the afternoon when the fish warm up. As a matter of fact Cliff and I didn't launch our kayaks until 10am this particular trip. We were able to fish well into the afternoon without being exhausted.
After we wrapped up a nice day on the water and being that we were in the Galveston area, we drove over to the new Floyd's Restaurant in the HarborWalk Community at Hitchcock and grabbed a bite to eat. I had never been there and was very impressed. Nice atmosphere and great food.
As always, I appreciate the emails I get from readers. Thank you for your questions and comments. This month I got a good question from Mr. J. Gaut, and he writes:
"I just moved to Houston and bought a 14' Hobie Angler. I have done a lot of guided fly fishing trips out of the Seadrift area but don't want to go that far in the yak. Want to stay closer to Galveston area. What area would you recommend for reds on spinning or fly. Who might you recommend for a guide? Thx. J."
J., My initial thought is Christmas and Drum Bay. There are really good kayak launch points on these bays and they have plenty of shoreline and open water to work. Pick up the Hook-N-Line kayak fishing map for this area and it will show you the ropes. As far as a guide, contact Rick Spillman at rickskayakadventures.com; he is a master of the entire coast. Good luck on the water.
I will try to make it to the Houston Fishing Show several days this year, the show is in the George R. Brown Convention Center, March 5-9. If you see me browsing the aisles please stop me and say hello.
Until next month, keep 'em upright!
Of course there is a downside; I cannot count the number of days I've had to re-plan a fishing trip and even had to cancel a few. Fortunately, I always manage to get in a few good ones and on a recent trip the weather was perfect, making for a great day on the water and easy paddling.
Until the water comes back into the marshes, which is almost always later in the month, I am forced into the deeper waters of the open bays and larger lakes. This isn't exactly my forte but it's still time on the water which is better than time spent just about anywhere else.
Fishing open water can be quite productive. I do like to wade shallower flats but in deeper water I prefer to drift. To accomplish this you should paddle into the wind, skirting the area you wish to drift through. Once you have decided to begin your drift, consider sitting sidesaddle on the kayak. What this means is position the kayak perpendicular to the wind and hang both legs over the downwind side. Your feet being in the water will aide in slowing your drift, when you can touch bottom easily.
As a side note, look for mud streaks or stained water to drift through. Now that your drift has begun, just fan your casts methodically as you move along. Try different lures and retrieves until you find what works. Bumping soft plastics along is my go-to approach. This particular trip I was throwing a new wedge-tail minnow I got from Betts Tackle. Don't give up on an area too quickly either. And if you catch some in one drift, certainly drift it again.
Something else you might consider is sleeping in. It doesn't seem all that natural for me to sleep in on a fishing day but when the temps are cooler the bite sometimes doesn't get going until midday or in the afternoon when the fish warm up. As a matter of fact Cliff and I didn't launch our kayaks until 10am this particular trip. We were able to fish well into the afternoon without being exhausted.
After we wrapped up a nice day on the water and being that we were in the Galveston area, we drove over to the new Floyd's Restaurant in the HarborWalk Community at Hitchcock and grabbed a bite to eat. I had never been there and was very impressed. Nice atmosphere and great food.
As always, I appreciate the emails I get from readers. Thank you for your questions and comments. This month I got a good question from Mr. J. Gaut, and he writes:
"I just moved to Houston and bought a 14' Hobie Angler. I have done a lot of guided fly fishing trips out of the Seadrift area but don't want to go that far in the yak. Want to stay closer to Galveston area. What area would you recommend for reds on spinning or fly. Who might you recommend for a guide? Thx. J."
J., My initial thought is Christmas and Drum Bay. There are really good kayak launch points on these bays and they have plenty of shoreline and open water to work. Pick up the Hook-N-Line kayak fishing map for this area and it will show you the ropes. As far as a guide, contact Rick Spillman at rickskayakadventures.com; he is a master of the entire coast. Good luck on the water.
I will try to make it to the Houston Fishing Show several days this year, the show is in the George R. Brown Convention Center, March 5-9. If you see me browsing the aisles please stop me and say hello.
Until next month, keep 'em upright!