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Sunday, March 25, 2001
A day of non-fiction fishing in Nueces Bay
When nature alters the course we plot, having an alternate plan becomes critical

THIS has happened to most of us, at least once.
   We arrive at the boat ramp in a blinding fog and realize as we step out of our vehicle that it's a lot cooler than we had planned for. Canceling doesn't cross our minds.
   We deal with nature's surprises as best we can. Or suffer through.
   While shivering around the boat ramp speculating on when the haze might lift enough to allow for safe boating, someone decides to head for the nearest Wal-Mart to purchase warmer clothing. Others go along to help pass the time.
   That's roughly the scenario I watched unfold one morning last week at Nueces Bay Bait. I met three college spring breakers on the dock, two from Texas A&M University-College Station and one from Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos.
   The temperature had unexpectedly dipped into the 40s the previous night, and there was one jacket among the three of them.
   Even before the impromptu purchase of two new parkas, guide Tom Hall had scrapped his plan to fish the oil wells of Corpus Christi Bay. He was among the anglers who earlier that week had caught trout over the shell scattered around the wells. The shell was dumped years ago to stem erosion around the legs of some wells.
   On a calm day, when the boat ride is smooth and easy on Corpus Christi Bay, the wells are a high-percentage bet for trout. But that's another story for another day.
   The way this day was shaping up, we'd be lucky to fish the causeway. By 8 a.m., the wind had kicked up to 20 mph, clearing out the fog, mucking up the water and exposing overcast skies.
   Hall launched the boat at nearly 8:30 a.m.
   Reef madness
   We headed straight across the bay to the Portland side, stopping several hundred yards short of the shoreline. These waters are teeming with oyster reefs, as is most of Nueces Bay, which makes it more difficult to navigate, particularly during low tide.
   Most boaters steer clear of darkened water or linear shapes that appear muddy. Most of these represent reefs.
   Fish like them. The lower unit of your outboard does not.
   Many reefs in Nueces Bay make ideal wading areas. However, some are much too soft to support most men. Experience tells me to test the bottom with a push pole or paddle before stepping out of the boat.
   That's another way of telling you that I've sunk in mud up to my thighs before. It's a scary feeling I wouldn't want to repeat.
   You could walk on some of the reefs themselves, being careful not to step off the shell into soft mud. This is mostly a high-tide option at the longer reefs that are surrounded by soft mud. Sometimes there's enough water over the crest to hold fish and enough length to allow you to park the boat at one end and fish the other without spooking the fish.
   Most anglers just stay in the boat and drift the reefs. Depending on tide movement, the fish are usually on one side or the other.
   Going from spot to spot
   Generally, trout and redfish will follow the mullet, which often congregate in great numbers near these reefs in warmer months. For now, the presence of a few mullet should warrant your attention.
   We found widely scattered mullet at our first stop, which produced only a few small trout.
   Because of the clouds, I was throwing a Top Dog while everyone else was using live shrimp under an Alameda Rattling Float. We skipped around from spot to spot, making fairly long drifts over the scattered reefs between the causeway and the first set of power lines.
   Once the trio of spring breakers - Tyre Post, 21, Dustin Ellis, 23, and Alex Post, 22 - got the hang of fishing while power drifting in windy conditions, they began catching fish. A few trout even made it to the box.
   I can be stubborn. Only I prefer to think of this as persistence. Hall said something about the dead batteries in my Top Dog. I ignored him, but couldn't disregard the fact that I hadn't had a bump in two hours.
   I quietly switched to a Bass Assassin and continued to throw them until I'd tried every color in my tackle box. One missed strike meant that I wasn't switching to shrimp anytime soon.
   Meanwhile, the spring breakers had learned to talk, laugh and fish at the same time, thanks to hours of casting experience and Hall's patient and expert instruction.
   "I can rig you up a popping cork and a treble hook anytime, Dave," Hall taunted. "I've got plenty of 'em. It'll just take a second. Just let me know when."
   I wanted to catch one fish, of any size or species, before switching. I wanted this almost enough to proclaim my plan to the others, but not quite.
   Glad I didn't. It's a lot easier to abandon a silent plan.
   Giving in
   After watching one of the students catch a 23-inch trout and later catch a 26-inch redfish, I'd had enough.
   "Where do you keep those Alameda Rattlers, Tom?" I asked.
   "Let me get that for you Dave," Hall said with relish.
   By then, Hall was using double drift socks to slow down the boat to a fishable speed. Even then, it was difficult to reel fast enough to keep our lines tight.
   Fishing was slow.
   So Hall kept things interesting by moving often. In the back bay, way beyond the second set of power lines, we located several clear-water pockets where we caught redfish and drum. Nueces is almost always good for a few redfish and drum. But most anglers come for the big trout.
   We even tried fishing under what appeared to be feeding gulls. I'm not sure what the birds were feeding on, but it probably wasn't shrimp. We came up empty.
   Eventually the sun came out, we shed our jackets and I caught a fish or two.
   There was nothing spectacular about this day, though the young men were able to take a few fillets back to school with them. I considered not writing about the trip.
   If I hadn't written about it, I'd be presenting a skewed view of fishing in the Coastal Bend. I don't produce a fishing show. This is non-fiction fishing.
   But listening to Post, Post and Ellis, they considered it a great way to spend a day of their spring break.
   So it was a good day.


Outdoors writer David Sikes' columns appear Thursdays and Sundays. He can be reached at 886-3616 or by e-mail at sikesd@caller.com

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