2021 Salty H20 Fishing Thread!

[JES]

I asked one of my older fishing friends what he recalled from the two 89 freezes. He said 89 and 90 were tough, 91 on it was lights out. He was a big fish fisherman, so he’s talking big fish along with numbers. I was gone in the Navy at this time so I don’t have any personal experience during this time frame.

Yes, we are seeing a lot of big fish showing up dead, but they didn’t all die. There is still a large number of fish alive. The fishery will rebound quickly I think.

[Aggiechick]

My husband and I went out to pole and scout; he is a guide in POC. I saw alot of dead mullet.

Typically the people who he poles for only keep one or two fish if any, but the people who wade are a different story. They only come out once or twice a year and want to fill the freezer. He has them throw the bigger trout back, always, but at the end of the day if the client wants to keep the fish they probably will.

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[Jon-Paul]

I couldn't help but to laugh since all the talks on fish kill and seeing what some of the "guides" on social media is saying.

[DUKFVR]

I couldn't help but to laugh since all the talks on fish kill and seeing what some of the "guides" on social media is saying.

[ATTACH]1041707[/ATTACH]

LMAO!! So true!

[Quackerbox]

Awwww scram

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[Leemo]

I'm curious from another angle, trout food. How's the cold effect shrimp and all the tiny bait fishes the trout fry and adolescent fish grow up on? If there's plenty of food and less competition for it I'd imagine the youngens would thrive quite well.

The dead fish “bio mass” will create utopia for bait fish, shrimp, baby crabs etc..... Shrimp are in the Gulf this time of year so they were not affected by the freeze, crab went dormant and minnows etc.. survived
It takes approximately 10 pounds of protein(in the wild) to gain one pound weight on a fish; farm raised is around 2:5/1 there will be plenty of food for any juvenile game fish this spring, whatever was in our Bay basically died, the million dollar question??? How many fish were in the bay when the freeze came, last time I checked a fish had a tale! Spring is around the corner, warmer temps will tell what’s left, I personally think you guys won’t miss a beat, look forward to seeing pics of stringer fulls, don’t listen to all the BS, get out and fish

[Capt Glenn]

I took a short ride yesterday afternoon and a good bunch of fish are floating up in EMB. I saw a pretty good number of all sizes yesterday. Time will tell how big of a hit it was but there were definitely a large number of trout floating yesterday from 14"-30". Also a ton of smallish sheepsheads, turtles, etc. I did not see any dead redfish and only a few drum. I would still say the numbers look high but not as high as they could have been. If you have never seen it before and if you don't have a feel for just how many trout that bay holds you'd think it is horrible but to me looking at it I'd say it is close to what I expected. Maybe a little worse but not out of line of what I expected to see. I spoke to another guide who had spent the day out looking at big trout and the one thing that really stands out is the huge number of trophy sized fish East Matagorda Bay had in it. You'd think we'd catch an 8+ every day there were so many. Even with all the croaker soaking, tournaments, increased fishing pressure, loss of seagrass, etc it still was producing an incredible number of big trout. Mind boggling number really. It's really sad to see them gone but in some ways encouraging to see the new limits and all the catch and release of mid-sized and upper end fish that has become more of a norm works so well. We are on the right track for sure and the future looks bright.

I ran down the diversion channel because there was a report of a kill there. I saw maybe 4 dead fish in total including 2 dead smallish trout. I idled down a stretch of bank that I catch fish on often and didn't see anything on the fishfinder/sidescan but I really didn't expect to see much in there.

I didn't see anything dead in the upper river. I idled across a couple of holes that are 25-30' deep and the shallower water around them with the depth finder and sidescan. I marked fish everywhere I looked but no telling what they are. Could be mullet for all I know. The fishing reports from the river the last couple of days have been extremely poor. I didn't try to fish or anything, I just looked and moved on.

Surface temps everywhere I looked were in the 58-62 range. For the most part I saw 59-60 and we got decent tides again yesterday and some SE wind.

[kevin nicholls]

Thanks Glen

[Mexico]

I took a short ride yesterday afternoon and a good bunch of fish are floating up in EMB. I saw a pretty good number of all sizes yesterday. Time will tell how big of a hit it was but there were definitely a large number of trout floating yesterday from 14"-30". Also a ton of smallish sheepsheads, turtles, etc. I did not see any dead redfish and only a few drum. I would still say the numbers look high but not as high as they could have been. If you have never seen it before and if you don't have a feel for just how many trout that bay holds you'd think it is horrible but to me looking at it I'd say it is close to what I expected. Maybe a little worse but not out of line of what I expected to see. I spoke to another guide who had spent the day out looking at big trout and the one thing that really stands out is the huge number of trophy sized fish East Matagorda Bay had in it. You'd think we'd catch an 8+ every day there were so many. Even with all the croaker soaking, tournaments, increased fishing pressure, loss of seagrass, etc it still was producing an incredible number of big trout. Mind boggling number really. It's really sad to see them gone but in some ways encouraging to see the new limits and all the catch and release of mid-sized and upper end fish that has become more of a norm works so well. We are on the right track for sure and the future looks bright.

I ran down the diversion channel because there was a report of a kill there. I saw maybe 4 dead fish in total including 2 dead smallish trout. I idled down a stretch of bank that I catch fish on often and didn't see anything on the fishfinder/sidescan but I really didn't expect to see much in there.

I didn't see anything dead in the upper river. I idled across a couple of holes that are 25-30' deep and the shallower water around them with the depth finder and sidescan. I marked fish everywhere I looked but no telling what they are. Could be mullet for all I know. The fishing reports from the river the last couple of days have been extremely poor. I didn't try to fish or anything, I just looked and moved on.

Surface temps everywhere I looked were in the 58-62 range. For the most part I saw 59-60 and we got decent tides again yesterday and some SE wind.

Solid report captain. I completely agree that our current set limits are already at conservation rates and will continue to set us up to succeed, even in times like this.

Appreciate you taking your time to look around, and give us a current no bias report.

[Jet Black]

Thx Glenn

[Mayhem]

One would think the river would be on fire right now.


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[justletmein]

The dead fish “bio mass” will create utopia for bait fish, shrimp, baby crabs etc..... Shrimp are in the Gulf this time of year so they were not affected by the freeze, crab went dormant and minnows etc.. survived
It takes approximately 10 pounds of protein(in the wild) to gain one pound weight on a fish; farm raised is around 2:5/1 there will be plenty of food for any juvenile game fish this spring, whatever was in our Bay basically died, the million dollar question??? How many fish were in the bay when the freeze came, last time I checked a fish had a tale! Spring is around the corner, warmer temps will tell what’s left, I personally think you guys won’t miss a beat, look forward to seeing pics of stringer fulls, don’t listen to all the BS, get out and fish

Thanks for the education, makes sense and sounds like nature has a way of giving itself a boost.

[panhandlehunter]

One would think the river would be on fire right now.


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It isn’t. Which is kind of surprising.

[DUKFVR]

Thanks Glenn! Did you get your new sled?

[Capt Glenn]

One would think the river would be on fire right now.


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One would think. The couple of reports I got post freeze was one 0 and the other caught 1 sheepshead.