Good Hunt rockport,tx 11/18/09-11/21/09

[ghenry]

[NotAGuide]

Looks like the birds showed up! Ya'll hunting San Jose in and around the J-bird?

[ghenry]

We were in big brundrett on Thursday, LHL friday night cause the weather was so bad, and the Vinson's slew area were it hooks over towards cedar bayou Saturday morning. We only had thirty minutes before sunset in the LHL friday night but limited on redheads. Thursday in Big Brundrett the skies were barren and the birds didn't start showing till 0930, but the fish were feeding like crazy(eneded up with twelve or so mixed bag that day). I saw a couple of flounder jumping in the spread and reds crashing all over(should've fished the first two hours). As far as the Vinson's hunt went, we were just in the right place at the right time. A two foot tidal rise with the northern stirred the birds up and they were flying around trying to get their bearings. We went to the same place last wednesday and the tides had come down and we only got a three man limit of pintail drakes, but did get a 30" flounder in spalding!

[NotAGuide]

I've never seen nor heard of a 30" flounder. We usually catch a few good trout in the winter towards the back of Spaldings. Its been dead for us trying catch reds. We had a pretty good mixed bag behind Fence Lake for the first two weekends. Good number of Widgen, Redheads, Pintails, and Shovlers. Not much for Teal but still better than last year. My wife's about to domino so I haven't been able to go since the second weekend. I'm looking forward to second half. Good Luck!

Pic of my buddy opening weekend.

[ghenry]

Nice Bag!

I havn't done much exploring around rockport(I'm really comfortable around the fifth lake area near seadrift) since I got the AB but after studying the aerial photos some more, I think locals that border the deeper grass beds are better, like in the Fence lake area and the deeper hole behind long reef.

[Whitebear]

Damn you got some nice quackers there !

Dont tell them Alaska boys ya never heard of a 30" or 30# flounder.
They throw those small ones back. I think a flounder over maybe
12#-20# is called a Halibut. I know a 200#er is not at all unusual up there.

[ghenry]

That's one nice floundibut.

To clarify, we only had a coolers that measured 20". It was quite a bit longer than the coolers. Got 4 18" fillets off him. He wuz a legit manhole cover at any rate.

[NotAGuide]

Please dont take what I said as being skeptic about the flounder. We just never catch many and if we do their in the 15" range. I think you have the right idea hunting around Seadrift or North of Goose. There is some great hunting around RP but also a lot of pressure at times. We've hunting a little behind LongReef but most of the area is covered by St. Charles Hunt Club. Make your own brush blinds and you shouldn't have any problem.

[NotAGuide]

ghenry,

By chance is the guy in the second pic on the far right from Waco?

[ghenry]

Why, yes he is. Wednesday night was a nailbighter as I bent my cable,steering rod backing out over a ladder and my buddies where already three hours towards Rockport and boatless. Three hours later I had a crippled but manuverable AB. Other than some head on collisions into some pile ons Friday night with howling winds and ripping current in the Aransas Channel was a good trip all in all. You know that feller?

[NotAGuide]

I don't know him but have met him a couple of times. I bank with his best friends in Waco. Its a small world.

[ghenry]

That's the guy. His name is Chris. I'm really glad my other buddies brought him along. He was a great help cleaning birds, helping me work on the boat, etc.. The other two jokers were really good at making sure the couch didn't float away. I guess I owed one of them, though. He took me on my first duck hunt and fishing trip a few years ago when there wasn't a dollar to my name(in fact, it was more in the negative range).

[NotAGuide]

That's the guy. His name is Chris. I'm really glad my other buddies brought him along. He was a great help cleaning birds, helping me work on the boat, etc.. The other two jokers were really good at making sure the couch didn't float away. I guess I owed one of them, though. He took me on my first duck hunt and fishing trip a few years ago when there wasn't a dollar to my name(in fact, it was more in the negative range).

"Saddler". The next time I see him I'll say something about his duck cleaning abilities. Its usually at a bank function twice a year.

[shiggs]

Way to go--looks like a good strap of birds. I have seen some good reports around the Eagle Lake prairie region and it seems like it is getting better down yalls way. Still really slow here in the marsh compared to normal. We still have alot of standing fresh water in all the fields, which is not helping things.

[cudacat]

I hope the fronts are blowing all the water out of the bays. We were down in RP that same weekend and the hunting was a little slow for us but managed a few birds. I didnt even try and fish with that Hurricane tide........

[SHABA]

CudaCat nice string of ducks.... I have not hunted yet this season looked at a couple of places will take my son out at the second split! Looking like Estes Flat area!!!! Anyone have the duck withdraws these 2 weeks!!!!!

[NotAGuide]

CudaCat,
Ya'll hunting one of the blinds in SouthLake behind the houseboat?

[cudacat]

CudaCat,
Ya'll hunting one of the blinds in SouthLake behind the houseboat?

No, the tide was so high the only place we could find duck were just east of the barge. We hunted up in the grass near San Jose island. We scouted most of fence lake and only saw three big groups of ducks. The blinds I have had two foot of water in them.

[NotAGuide]

Sounds good. Heard the tides were super high. I usually see the birds combing the dunes when its high. Good luck 2nd season!

[SHABA]

Man you guys must travel quite a distance to hunt!!!! From Fence to San Jose... what a drive!!!! I probably would do it also!!!

[ghenry]

All beginners luck for me that weekend(most of my experiance is from a skiff up on matagorda island around fifth lake). I thought the two foot tidal surge would screw it up for sure but somehow we were in the right place at the right time. One of our guys wasn't shooting after his first three due to a migraine and I couldn't hit a thing. Still ended with 23 birds by 1030.

[SHABA]

Well what ever you guys did.... It panned out god for you!!! I looked around Mat but was a little too far for me... I see what i do on Estes this split!!! Take Care... Happy Hunting!!!

[ghenry]

Hey crowhater, any recommendations on improving the spread? I tried your recs, pintails together, two groups with a few stragglers. Seemed to work well.

I did want to comment that we went back to the same spot five days later. The tide had fallen a foot and a half by then, the large groups of birds had mostly vanished, and the tide was too low to even hunt where we were. I did encourage one of my experiancd buddies to just throw the decoys in 2" of water but he isnisted there would be no movement to the spread, but I've read articles that some times you can just throw them in the mud if it's where the ducks want to be. We lost a lot of daylight searching out a spot where we could float the dekes. Possibly we would've been better off just getting set up before LST reguardless of water level.

[SHABA]

ghenry
When I hunted duck in northern Utah on Weber Lake in the winter we use to push the snow aside and sit decoys on the ice... The ducks thought it was water... It sure was funny to watch them slide on Ice thinking it was water when they were coming in!!!

[ghenry]

thanks!