Blockade Runners

Blockade Runners is the name of a Fishing Camp on Titlum-Tatlum Bayou which is owned by a good friend of mine named Sandy.  He is a great guy and also a History Teacher at one of our local schools which makes him a doubly great guy!!!  You see as a History Teacher and also a War of Northern Aggression (Civil War) buff, he knew that San Luis Pass and especially Titlum-Tatlum Bayou was used by the Confederate Blockade Runners to hide from the Union War Ships blocking all of the southern ports.  I could write this whole blog post about this subject, but alas this is a fishing blog so on to the fishing.

 I remember back years ago when Sandy first acquired the camp and gave it the Blockade Runners monicker and my first trip out.  Let me tell you in those days it was a pretty rundown old camp, but Sandy put a lot of time into her and it started to take shape.  That was before Hurricane Ike came and almost wiped it completely away.  Even with all the damage Ike caused Sandy wasn't going to give up and with lots of help, including myself, Blockade Runners lives and it is a beautiful camp today. The other special thing about going out to Blockade Runners is Sandy's cooking.  He is not only a History Teacher, this guy knows his way around kitchen, so we ate awesome all weekend.

Another guy that frequents Blockade Runners is pretty well known on the Texas Country Music scene and that would be "Batman" himself, Tres Womack.  It is a real treat when Tres is there as you will be treated to some picking and singing which makes for an awesome weekend.  On this weekend Tres brought a couple of guys out that had helped with one of his fundraisers so they could catch some fish and I offered to help try and put them on some fish.

I made down to the ramp at San Luis Pass around 5:00 PM on Friday evening and soon had the boat in the water and loaded with my gear.  I wish I could have stayed all weekend, but I needed to leave Saturday evening so I could do some Grandpa things on Sunday.  My bass boat isn't the best type of boat for fishing this area, but it works good if you know the area, plus the trolling motor really comes in handy sneaking up on the fish.   It was a quick ride from the ramp to the camp so I was actually fishing by 5:30 and it didn't take long to put some fish in the boat.  I had hoped to put a couple flounder in the cooler to bring home for my wife, but the Redfish had other plans.  I got on some 18-19.5 inch Reds immediately and though they were just under keeper size they are a ton of fun on my light flounder setup.

In fact the actions was so fast and with the day growing short just as fast I only took pictures of the first two Reds. I caught and release 3 more without taking pictures so I could try and catch more before the rest of the guys arrived and the sun set.  Speaking of sunsets you haven't seen a sunset until you see one from your boat on Titlum-Tatlum Bayou on a wonderful October evening.

Once we were all at the camp with the boats unloaded and gear stored it was time to get ready for the evening fishing from the dock.  If you have never fished for Speckled Trout under light you have to one day as it can be some of the fastest fishing action you may ever see.  Well that is if the winds, tides and water color is all right.  Sandy got the generator fired up and the lights going just as the last rays of sun let the darkness fall over Blockade Runners.

This weekend the water was just a little off colored and it really made finding a catching fish tough.  We were still able to put 11 nice keeper trout in the box over the course of evening.  That is not counting the many undersize trout and redfish we caught.

We all took a break from fishing when Sandy announced the Ribs and Fajitas were ready to eat.  As I had said earlier Sandy is an awesome cook and man he didn't disappoint us at all.  Nothing like sitting on the front porch of Blockade Runners with a cool breeze blowing eating awesome food with a good ice cold beer.  If I was to envision what heaven was like then it would be moments just like this!! From this point on it seems that I forgot to take any more pictures.  After eating we continued to fish the light off and on until after midnight with a keep caught here and there but not the action we had hoped to have.   So we all decided to get some sleep and see if the morning would bring us more luck.

I woke up just as the sun's light gave birth to a new day.  It is special waking up out at the camp knowing you are only second away from getting your line wet.  I wasn't sure how late everyone else wanted to sleep so I sneaked down to my boat and used the trolling motor to easy away from the dock.  I wasn't going to far because there is a spot not far from the camp where I have caught some real Saddle Blanket flounder over the years.   I eased the boat there and started fishing with very little luck.  I picked up a couple throwback trout and nothing more.  The tide wasn't moving much and the water was still off colored and I knew then we were going to have a tough time getting Tres' guest to catch some fish.

After about an hour of fishing the flounder hole I decided to fire up the big motor and head for the far west end of Titlum-Tatlum.   There is a spot there when the tide is running that has been good to me.  Once there I got the boat anchored up and proceed to catch one throw back trout after another for about 15 minutes.  Then it went died for a while with not even a bump.  The tide was running out a little bit but not very much and really not enough to turn on the bite.  I did pick up a throwback trout here and there over the next 30 minutes and so I stayed.  Just as I hear a boat coming down the bayou my bobber went under and I set the hook.  Up came a trout in the 4-5 pound class that very quickly threw my hook and was gone.  

The boat coming was Tres and his two guest and I had them pull up behind me and fish.  We tried them for about 30 more minutes then headed back to camp as Sandy would have breakfast ready.  Down the bayou we headed at warp speed (well warp speed to bayou travel) to get to breakfast.  Once we were back at the camp the smell of breakfast turned on our feeding frenzy even if the fish weren't biting.  We all had our fill and were soon thinking of what to do and where to go to catch some fish.

After our breakfast had settled some Tres and I took my boat out with the trolling motor to see if we could throw net up some finger mullet.  I ran the trolling motor while Tres threw the net until he was tired.  He then took over controlling the boat while I threw the net.  When I was tired we had a few dozen or so finger mullet and headed back to the dock to get gear read and decide on a game plan.  While we were discussing our plans for the afternoon/evening fishing; Tres set out a rod with one of the finger mullet from the dock.   The tide had just started to move a little and we hoped so would the fish.  We decided to split up and with Tres and one of his guests heading one direction and me with the other guest head the other direction.  Just as we were about to get in the boats the rod Tres set out bowed up big time and the fight was on.  It took Tres a few minutes but soon I netted a really nice 23 inch Red.  So the fishing was looking up even before we left the dock.

I wanted to put my boat in the same spot I had been that morning and hoped the evening out going tide would be stronger and with it more fish.   The tide did come in stronger and with were some fish.  Maybe not the great fishing we had hoped but we did catch some keeper trout, a few nice flounder and another 25 inch red.  The guest with me hooked up with a really good fish that broke his line which was a bummer.   The bite died down and there wasn't much light left in this day.  I told the guys we would head back to the spot I'd caught the Reds the evening before.  I used my trolling motor to get us into some deeper water so I could fire up the big motor for the run to the spot.  As the trolling motor carried us to the deeper water I lowered and started up the big motor.  I was going to go pull up the trolling motor but my guest said he'd get it.  He was a good guy and was trying to help but I should have check the trolling motor before heading down the bayou.  We were planed out and running about 40Mph when we hit just enough wind waves to bounce the trolling motor.  In what seemed like slow motion I watched the trolling motor bounce up and start for the water.  I pulled back on the throttle as fast as I could, but it was too late.

If you ever wondered about Minn Kota's unbreakable shaft advertizements; I can now tell you the shafts will break!  Of course I wouldn't recommend trying to put your trolling motor in the water while you are on plane. The guest felt bad about what happened but I really can't blame him one bit.  He was only trying to help and as the captain it was my responsibility to make sure we were ready to get underway.  Needless to say this incident brought the weekend fishing to a quick halt, and not on a good note.  However, things happen and if I can get some worked out for next weekends bass tournament, no harm no foul.

You may have noticed I haven't said much on what tactics and baits that worked this weekend.  The reason for this is there wasn't anything that really stood out as working.  Other than those Reds when I first got there Friday evening which were all taken on the Rattling Cork and Gulp rig I fish a lot for flounder.  We used that rig with some luck into the evening and the next day, but we also caught fishing on live bait, and many different types of artificial baits in different styles and colors.  It was one of those times where you could catch one or two on just about anything you threw.  Now late Saturday afternoon it seem like they liked a Cocahoe Minnow in Strawberry with a white tail the most, worked really slow along the bottom.  Strawberry with a white tail has always been one of my all time favorite colors and a go to color when the fishing is tough.

Until next time, Tight Lines and Take a Kid Fishing!!!