March's meeting was held at REI - Houston on Westheimer. Club president Adrian Ramos opending the meeting welcoming four guests. Adrian announced that the meeting will end 30 minutes earlier due to REI warehouse business. The REI folks left membership cards on each chair. Adrian and other club members noted the benefits of belonging to REI community, such as dividends and first crack at store sponsored scratch 'n dent sales.
Adrian related that Southwest Paddlesports in The Woodlands has offered new PACK members who dont have kayaks yet a chance to borrow a fishing kayak for day trips. They would have to go pick it up and would be totally set up with all kayak fishing gear except the rods and tackle.
Fishing reports: Ron Romeis covered ups and downs of the recent fresh water trip to Fayette County Lake the weekend of Feb. 26. Four members went. Bass were caught on this man-made artificially warmed lake. Buzz Black managed to boat a 6.5 lb bass on borrowed tackle and kayak. Chili was served and stirred with the only tool available. An aluminum fish measuring stick. Will Henderson discussed the trip he lead to Salt Lake in the Brazoria Wildlife Management Area on March 6th. With a steady East wind, the only place to fish was across the lake, punching through the chop to get there. A few reds were caught. See photos and trip reports in the appropriate sections of the PACK website.
Alex Torres is leading the March Weekend outing to Powderhorn Lake the 26th through the 28th. He hope the revelers have quieted down compared to last year. Adrian noted that the Austin Canoe and Kayak store is having their demo days on the same weekend. Trash Bash is also on March 27th. It's an opportunity to show up in the community to remove unsightly debris from our bays, creeks, and bayous.
The upcoming Smith Point trip April 10th will be lead by Barry Sandler. Trip description to follow. Chris Arceneaux is leading the April 17th outing to Keith Lake, just south of Port Arthur, TX. Eli Rivera is leading the April Weekend trip to Shoalwater out of Charlie's Bait camp near Seadrift. It's a favorite amongst PACK members. See the PACK Events Page for Trip Descriptions.
April 9-10th is the Salesman's Sample Days at FTU (Fishing Tackle Unlimited). April 23-24 are Demo days at FTU. A brief discussion was held to review the location of the September PACK Tournament. It sounded like Galveston Bay Complex is the place to be this year instead of Palacious. Stay tuned, the board will meet to decide and report back to the club.
Steve Coffee was the guest speaker. As usual, he brought his own special presentation style. Steve covered rods for croaker fishing, free-lining shrimp, topwaters and soft plastics. He said a current hot spot has been 20 yards off of Confederate Reef in West Bay for big sow trout in 1 foot of water. He said look for cormarants and pelicans chasing bait. It those birds are there, so are the trout. He suggested that fishermen need to keep a journal of where they fished and how they fished as well what they caught to become more successful on follow-up trips. He demonstrated that if you are fishing with croakers on a bait-casting reel, you should feel the croaker trying to escape from the trout, the unmistakable THUMP! when the trout strikes the croaker. Let the trout run off with the croaker for 10-15 seconds and then set the hook HARD!. Of course he did say that he loads his croaker reel with braid. Steve did discuss his preferred "jigging" method of fishing with croaker. Jig the bait 2-3 times. Reel in a foot. His bait cast reels are Shimano Curodos with 3 brakes installed. Steve says he fishes with live shrimp until the water temperature hits 80 degrees. Then he switches to croaker.
He listed his favorite hard lures: Black/Gold/ Orange, Plain White, Pink/Silver, Mullet Imitation Skitterwalks. Super Spook Jr's. He felt like Top Dog She-Dogs were too loud in the rattle department, but he had some in his tackle box.
Steve introduced his wife. They were recently married. Steve related story after story about where to fish, how to present bait, what to look for and a few tips on surf fishing, including a recent encounter with a 5' bull shark off of Sand Island. He said April and May are when the big trout come into the surf between the first and second sand bar. He pointed out that East and Jamaica Beach were the beaches to fish. Look for a West or NW wind to lay down the surf at those locations. Steve passed around his rod/reels and tackle trays for club members to examine. He also showed off 3 huge specks and a nice redfish that was perfect size for "Redfish on the Half Shell". I think the young lady that came with her dad walked away with the red to take home to mom.
Next meeting: April 20th.