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Post 16 Feb 2019, 23:05 • #1 
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Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Weatherman told us different right up until this morning.
Stevo and I drove down from SA at 330 this morning, stopped for great 5am breakfast at Agave Jalisco in 3 Rivers, and met TexasJim at Palm Harbor - he lives right across the highway.
I told Jim when we quit that he put up a good paddle for an old man.
He's done this before, and has a fast, well-rigged boat.
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Actually it was Jim and his neighbor Mike, but Mike turned around at Sandy Point, southern tip of Talley Island
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It was calm when we launched and the expected E wind gradually came up to 9-10 k. About 60 degrees and a light mist on and off, and the water has been warming up to over 60.
AP low tide was 7am, knowing this, the plan was, after a stretch at Sandy Point, to paddle due E to the inside of Little Cut.
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The tide was really low, but it let us wade the middle bar at the inside of the cut and cast to the cut bank - we found a ripping tide current coming through the cut from Aransas Bay, and fish right where they ought to be.
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Harassed and released a half-dozen tourist trout
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this one would measure 15 inches, but the skinniest 15 inches I've ever seen
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When the trout got too smart for us, and part of our plan, tried to paddle to the Trout Bayou cut, but there wasn't enough water to get us there (we heard a powerboat digging back there about beer-thirty all the way through noon). At the duck blinds, we retreated on the east wind toward Talley Is.
Setting up a couple of drifts, we saw redfish and their mudballs on both sides of Talley Is., but they just wouldn't get up to eat.
Lite lunch and a good Corpus microbrew at Sandy Point
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We talked about the mile paddle back to Little Cut, with the incoming tide lasting through late afternoon, but with no chance for the sun, decided to call it.
And we didn't suffer.
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It was a great paddle, a few fish, and we made it through Oakville early enough for a meat sandwich
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Ask for the burned ends and you shall receive
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Last edited by bulldog1935 on 17 Feb 2019, 09:00, edited 3 times in total.

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Post 17 Feb 2019, 01:17 • #2 
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Joined: 11/09/10
Posts: 1355
Location: US-CA
Looks like a great time.
Appreciate the pics of Van's!


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Post 17 Feb 2019, 07:26 • #3 
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Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Van's brisket is good enough to make Texas Monthly, their beef ribs are stellar, sausage great - they also whip up a great breakfast, but don't open until 7am.
Nice thing about a good tacqueria in a refinery town - they open at 5am. The stop in Three Rivers was worth the side drive and half-mile backtrack - chilaquiles and eggs migas, good papas.


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Post 17 Feb 2019, 10:38 • #4 
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Joined: 11/09/10
Posts: 1355
Location: US-CA
If you check Google Maps, there are 3 highlights for Oakville, TX.
The Baptiste Church, the cemetery, and Van's BBQ! (combination of the 3 raised a grin)


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Post 17 Feb 2019, 11:41 • #5 
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Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
there's also the jailhouse and the hanging tree
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Back before Van's modernized, it was really cool, in an old house, decorated with cowboy ephemera and local historic photos.
They've also moved in a bunch of old pier and beam houses around the old jailhouse to make a tourist stop - it's a fun place to stop, so much, Steve's older daughter has staying at a B&B there on her bucket list.


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Post 17 Feb 2019, 12:51 • #6 
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Joined: 02/12/16
Posts: 4093
Location: USA-CO
Great outing! Glad to see someone else likes various canned fish products. Sardines and kippers, all day long...


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Post 17 Feb 2019, 13:04 • #7 
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Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Beach Cliff fish steaks (pickled herring) in Louisiana Hot Sauce - they really hit the spot on crackers, especially chased by a good IPA.
(No offense, they're not as sweet as sardines and a lot firmer.)
Many times we've staked the boat in the Bottleneck between Fence and Allyn's lakes, poured the oil from the can, threw out cut-bait, and caught a redfish with lunch. I figure they want to end up in Paul Prudhomme's kitchen.
Steve brings the beer, I bring the Smart Water and Gatorade. The Corpus-brewed Ephyra IPA is really interesting and thirst-quenching, malty, with a blend of flowery hops and exotic citrus.


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Post 17 Feb 2019, 13:34 • #8 
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Joined: 02/12/16
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Location: USA-CO
No offense taken; I like 'em all. Haven't tried w/ IPA, will have to do.


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Post 17 Feb 2019, 15:29 • #9 
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Joined: 11/09/10
Posts: 1355
Location: US-CA
Yet to meet an IPA I find palatable.


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Post 17 Feb 2019, 15:36 • #10 
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Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Steve and I have settled on West Coast IPA as the best - and he home-brews Pliny the Elder using ingredients from Russian River Brewery (a Very Close second).

btw, did have 2 fly rods with me, including the CGR, but using it was where I was hoping to end up in the afternoon with sunshine, so fly rods stayed in the bow hold.
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Last edited by bulldog1935 on 17 Feb 2019, 21:22, edited 1 time in total.

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Post 17 Feb 2019, 17:16 • #11 
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Joined: 02/12/16
Posts: 4093
Location: USA-CO
I used to like Hop Devil, but haven't had any, or any IPA, in a while.


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Post 19 Feb 2019, 11:45 • #12 
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Joined: 12/28/18
Posts: 19
Location: Da U.P.
I've been missing that area like crazy. Four feet of snow in my U.P. yard and 6 below at dawn. I wish they could can the funky smell of salt water S. Texas. I was stationed at Corpus Christi N.A.S. in 62 thru 64 and the next year at Del Mar College there. It got in my blood. At 77 I think I have one more trip down left. Maybe more. One memorable trip in the late 90s down to the "Graveyard" from Bird Island was a close call. Our guide said he'd never seen the tide so low. Around noon there was a black pompador looking cloud stretching from horizon to horizon across the north west sky. The tide should have been coming in by then but it wasn't. I pointed to the cloud and asked the guide if maybe that cloud might have something to do with it. He said we'd better head back now. We had a long way to go! When we hit Baffin Bay it started hailing and the waves got up to six feet. We were in a Hells Bay flats skiff and it seemed appropriately named for the occasion as we were bouncing around and the hail was stinging us like hornets as we were moving really fast. Nobody said a word but we were talking to God under our breaths. We finally got back to Bird Island launch and found out we had come through 70 MPH winds. Memorable.


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Post 20 Feb 2019, 07:39 • #13 
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Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
My lost buddy Tim can run a bay skiff in nothing and knows 200 sq-mi of bay better than his hand.
We've been in many blows, including winter, and he always got us home by the smoothest possible route - often running in 3" to keep it cozy (I know that would be a long way around Baffin, but works great at Rockport as an alternate to long-way crossing deep Aransas Bay). In fact, where we fished this trip, I learned from riding in his Majek in the late 80s.

Gear is always important. My Kokatat dry pants were wonderful this trip. Was wearing my ultralight Marmot upper shell, and have Haglofs rain pants for wearing shorts underneath and facing weather.
My buddy Tobin is writing a sunglasses article and asked me about my choice. Used this kind of drenched powerboat riding to describe how amazingly the coating on Costas doesn't film under any degree of salt spray.

The sinking anaerobia smell you remember really only exists in quicksand, and on the grass flats, is only where prop damage has dug into the bottom. Most of the places we paddle are to wade hardpack and grass - marsh fishing over oyster and quicksand bottom, people stay in their boats.

Certainly one of the reasons to live in Texas is for 12 mo/yr outdoor adventures.
Standing out on the bay side of Little Cut looking back toward the flat - I'm wading foot-deep hardpack, right on the deep channel slope - you can actually see the channel profile in the surface ripples - scooted up a stingray in 3" of water on my shuffle out here
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The photo of Stevo hooked up is about halfway between those two points - and a little farther toward the inside of the cut.

Allyn's Lake on San Jose Is., far across Aransas Bay
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Lighthouse Lakes (between Estes flats and Aransas Causeway)
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Last edited by bulldog1935 on 22 Feb 2019, 15:57, edited 1 time in total.

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Post 22 Feb 2019, 11:29 • #14 
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Joined: 02/25/08
Posts: 184
Location: US-NM
bulldog1935,
Your travel guide was fantastic! You covered all the important stuff, like IPAs, BBQ, local interest, etc. My son, who lives in Dallas, and I have been talking about a trip like this. Now that we have IPA and BBQ info, we don't have an excuse not to do it!


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Post 22 Feb 2019, 11:38 • #15 
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Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Thanks ! - don't forget migas and chilaquiles in Three Rivers...the farther south you get from SW Military Dr, the better the tacquerias become (great tacqueria in Beeville, too).

If work doesn't prevent it, I'm going to paddle with Mark - ablecane - in XX weeks - make that 8 weeks.

if it helps you, here's the high-res jpg of Estes chart
https://images.fiberglassflyrodders.com/u/1/ir/9s162ig.jpg
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Last edited by bulldog1935 on 22 Feb 2019, 12:14, edited 1 time in total.

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Post 22 Feb 2019, 11:39 • #16 
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Joined: 11/09/10
Posts: 1355
Location: US-CA
bulldog1935 wrote:
Thanks ! - don't forget migas and chilaquiles in Three Rivers...the farther south you get from SW Military Dr, the better the tacquerias become (great tacqueria in Beeville, too).

If work doesn't prevent it, I'm going to paddle with Mark - ablecane - in 3 weeks.

if it helps you, here's the high-res jpg of Estes chart
https://images.fiberglassflyrodders.com/u/1/ir/9s162ig.jpg


That's April 12-25, Ron, not March.


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Post 22 Feb 2019, 11:50 • #17 
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Joined: 02/25/08
Posts: 184
Location: US-NM
Fantastic! How could I have forgotten migas and chilaquiles? Seriously, the Estes chart is much appreciated!


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Post 22 Feb 2019, 15:38 • #18 
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Joined: 10/09/09
Posts: 2796
Location: US-NM
Thanks for the great pictures and I like fish steaks with the hot peppers......Aurelio


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Post 23 Feb 2019, 06:59 • #19 
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Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
of course you're welcome - thanks for your kind comment, friend.
A kayak day at the coast mixes many of the elements of a bike tour, a sail, and a fishing adventure.
Plastic yachts earn a special place in your heart.
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