Put In: Matagorda Beach ~ 6 miles East of Colorado River
Take Out: Same location
Distance for Day: 26.3 miles, ~7 miles offshore
Along on Trip: Solo
Fun Trip: It was a great day on the water. I got off the beach a bit after sunrise and headed straight out to the rigs at 7 miles, electing not to stop at the inshore rig as the water color was pale green. The wind was perfect and made 6-8 mph getting out there. The water went from pale green at 2 miles to deep green at about mile 4 to perfect blue at mile 6. There were a couple of PB hanging around two of the rigs so I sailed off to an isolated one and trolled around it with nothing. Rounded another rig and nothing and did not see any of the PB with bent poles either. I was going to head on out to the artificial reef but a little rain storm was hanging and developing out that way and was producing an occasional gust but no lightning. I decided to hang back and troll and wait out the dark clouds.
I trolled back inshore about a half mile to small weed line and occasional birds. Bang, game on first king in the boat, back to it and bang 4.5’ blacktip. That fellow got my lure down so he got to keep it. Trolled back to the rig then back to the weedline and picked up king 2 and 3. The lure was not out more than 15s and bam again. They were thick, I boated 6 kept my limit then checked my fish bag for ice. The 20# of ice I put in the evening before was already running thin with the addition of the kings. The cloud was gone but did not want to let those fish spoil so I headed in and went by the inshore rig to say hello. Caught two small Spanish macs on the way. I was on the beach by 1pm, cleaned fish, drank a couple of cold ones, took a siesta.
I typically use Rapala X-rap Magnum or Yo-Zuri and some others but today I was using a Rapala and Halco 110. I let the Rapala out furthest and kept the Halco in close. All fish were caught on the Halco 110. Not a single hit on the Rapala which has been a great producer for me in the past. Seems like a great lure and they were hitting it even when stopped putting fish in the bag.