East Matagorda/LCRA Trip Report

The Crew

Buzz, Calvin, Greg, his wife Renee and dog, Tucker, Paul, Brad, Bruce, Michael and my wife, Meredith and Dog, Nico

Friday

I pull up at Stanley’s Grocery around 8:45am where I run into Bruce who was waiting for Brad who was not far behind.  We purchase our beach permits and check in with the park and set up camp.  Brad and Bruce head down the beach to Hog Island and I went to 3 mile lake.

Brad missed a nice trout that came unbuttoned about ten feet from the boat and Bruce had nothing.  A few hours later Brad calls me for a report on three mile lake.  I had caught a few rat reds.  They joined me in 3 mile lake where Brad catches another rat red on a topwater.  We paddled through 3 mile lake and into the bay and back with no action.  We headed back to camp with no fish.  Bruce comments he would have even taken a hardhead.  Back at camp we meet Paul who was on his first Pack trip and looking forward to fishing with us Saturday.  Buzz, Bruce, Brad and I decided to head into town for dinner, came back and went to bed.

Saturday

Bruce, Brad, Paul and I head to three mile lake.  Bruce and Brad head out into the bay and east down the south shoreline to the next marsh.  Paul and I stay in three mile lake.  While drifting across a flat I get a huge explosion on my spook jr but no hookup.  I stop drifting and cast again.  Bam another explosion, no hookup I pause another blowup with no hookup.  This would be the story for about an hour.  It was as if my lures had no hooks on them.   I tried jigging  weedless which resulted in catching that hardhead Bruce would have settled for yesterday.  That’s it, back to the topwater.  I noticed Paul had been in the adjacent flat for quite a while so I paddled up to check on him.  There were reds everywhere on the flat he was on. Lets just say it took me a while to get to him.  Once again lots of blowups but no hookups.  I finally get to Paul to find out he had learned a few valuable lessons.  He had sight casted to and caught his first big red from a kayak.  It measured 24 inches.  While reaching back for his stringer the fish saw the opportunity and flopped out of his kayak.  (Have your stringer ready and easy to get to.)  After loosing that fish he catches another big red only to have his snap swivel straightened out.  Not only did he loose the fish but he lost his new favorite lure.  (He will now be using a stronger snap swivel)  I left Paul to continue his fishing and set out to find some more tails.  It did’nt take long and here was another group of tails to cast to.  Once again multiple blowups but no hookups.  At this point I figure this must be some sort of curse on the trip leader.  (Don’t worry Ron, I’ll still lead future trips)  Paul and I headed back to camp to meet up with my wife Meredith and my dog Nico to have some lunch.  Bruce and Brad show up with limits of reds so Paul, Meredith and I head back out to give it one more shot before the sun went down.  We were skunked again so we headed back to camp to start the fish fry.  Greg provided boiled and peeled shrimp as an appetizer while we fried fish, tater tots and fries.  We had a wonderful group meal with lots of great conversation.  After dinner Paul joined Greg and his wife Renee (Hope I for a card game while the rest of us retired to our tents for the evening.

Sunday

Bruce, Brad and Paul head out to the same marsh while Greg, Renee, Meredith and myself take the dogs to the beach to play.  Bruce and Brad both came back with limits of redfish and Brad also had a bonus trout.

Conclusion

We had beautiful weather and the fish were cooperative with everyone except the trip leader.  This is a great park, we all enjoyed being able to take a hot shower at the end of the day, and clean restrooms.  We had a rookie who caught his first redfish from his kayak and is now hooked.  Definitely looking forward to next year!