My intention on this trip was to sail from the mouth of the Colorado to Freeport and back spending one or two nights on the beach. I got on the water at about 7:40 am Friday, a little later than I wanted because I overslept then made the 6 hr drive. Based on reports and rainfall I expected the rivers to be pumping and there to be a nice current flowing to the west but not sure until you reach the end of the jetty to set your plans to go toward Freeport or Port O'Connor. I wanted to make my trip against the current so that I had an easier return trip. Once to the end of the Matty jetty my plans were correct, a healthy current moving to the west. There was a pretty nice north wind which helped a lot and initially I was making a fair clip up the coast. As the sun came up I started looking offshore for any hints of water color change but the rivers were just pumping too much and no sight of any color change. If you hug the beach you tend to have less current or even on occasion a counter current than a mile or so out so I stayed a couple hundred yards outside the surf which was running about 2'.
As I approached Mitchells cut you could see it was really putting out some water and the breakers were out a bit so I went offshore then around but the current really picked up and reduced my forward speed significantly. There were numerous logs in the water with many mostly submerged making them more difficult to see until you were almost on top of them. Once past Mitchells I kept moving but watching the time speed. Now what wind there was is on the bow forcing some tacking. After reaching then end of Sargent beach I could already see the water was getting really Brazos red and a lot more logs and I am still 14 miles from the mouth. Also, with the high tides there is very little to zero beach along that stretch until you get just past the San Bernard, 9 more miles. I made the decision to turn around and find a nice quiet beach near Mitchells to spend the night.
I went to the west side of Mitchells and beached then pulled up the boat out our the way of any traffic and made camp. I took off on a scouting trip to see if there might be a place to do a bit of flounder gigging later. Again high tides and chocolate water ruled that out. I was really tired since I had been up since 1am and the on the water all day so I kicked back made a fire and ate some dinner and watched the sun set and moon rise. I declined on the tent set up and just put my bag out on the sand with the sand crabs. There were a few mosquitoes right after dark but I kept a net over my face. There was no traffic during the night and only saw 2 trucks before sunset headed back to the entrance. I heard one coyote during the night and one sand crab kept crawling across my bag. I would swat him off careful not to crush him, sparing his life all night long.
I got up about 4am to some nice cool air and a heavy dew so the bag was wet. I revived the fire then went to pick up the bag and that crab came over and pinched my toe, his life was now at its end and sent him to meet his maker in the fire. I sat by the fire drinking my coffee watching the bright moon with a very mute surf and very light north wind, a very peaceful time. I got packed up and on the water by about 6:45 with the rising sun behind me and the setting moon ahead. The surf was about 1' and very little wind so I decided not to head toward Freeport but rather head back to MOC and see if there was any hint of green water offshore and fish a bit. It was very slow going and pedaling a lot. About mile 12 I angled offshore toward a rig that is about 2 miles offshore of the beach. I caught and released one jack then lost another at the boat. That really helprd break up the pedaling and gave me a break. There would be no water color change and as far as you could see no hints of one. I landed back at MOC about 1:30, total trip distance just over 61 miles. I was packed up and driving by 2:15.
Another decent trip but a bit to sedate. I have made some changes on the rigging and wanted some wind and waves to test them a bit. Nothing really picture worthy but one of camp at Mitchells and a link to my tracks.
Camp
Looking back to the west
Looking to the east across the cut to Sargent
My track
SYOTW,
Earl