Boz’s Blog
Saltwater Fishing News You Can Use by Larry Bozka - Where to Go and What to Throw:Tides, Tackle, Techniques, Terminal Rigging and Knots, Lures and Natural Baits, Tournaments, Fundraisers, Angler Profiles, Weather, Fishing Forecasts and much more.

Being a Creedence Clearwater Revival freak from way back yonder, one of my favorite songs has always been “Who’ll Stop the Rain?”
As of my most recent attempt to get in some quality fishing, photography and video work done on the water, I believe at this point the biggest question at hand is “Who’ll Stop the Wind?”
If you can do that, be sure and let me know ASAP. I daresay there is a multimillion-dollar contract awaiting you at The Weather Channel.
Last year it was indeed the rain. This year, with an almost hostile tenacity, it has been double-digit winds that have thoroughly invaded the reputed “Dog Days of Summer.”
We had a great time at the El Pescador Boat Owners Tournament in Port O’Connor this past weekend. Sponsored by The Sanctuary at Costa Grande, a fantastic new development that … believe it or not … has actually created new shallow-water habitat, the family-oriented event was great fun for all.
Flats-wise, the 15-mph and higher winds did not dampen the ability of the winning teams. The “Biggest Stringer” competition yielded an amazing 42.11-pound combined redfish and trout total weight to the Elliott fishing team, husband Ron and wife Shirley, who works for Gulf Coast Connections/Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine. The pair fished live croakers to amass the hefty catch.
Dave Kveton, owner of Victoria, Texas-based El Pescador Boats and El Pescador Lodge in POC, had planned well in advance of the event to shepherd my good friend and fellow photographer Mark Hall of CoastalPhotos.net out to Pass Cavallo, where we intended to use XL “Magnum”-size live Black Salty baitfish to land a tarpon or two.
The wind, unfortunately, had other plans.
Pass Cavallo was no less rough the day we left than it was the day we arrived. We still had 10 pounds of the largest-sized Saltys swimming about in an aerated 148-quart ice chest, however, so Hall and I elected to bring them back home for another endeavor … one that, even if the wind is problematic, is still more than doable.
I’m talking about “Running With the Bulls” … catching and releasing big surf-run redfish from the beachfront.
My birthday is Saturday, and we always try to celebrate it by taking our first heavyweight surf red in advance of the date. So, with great optimism and

Read: Time to “Run With The Bulls” … Wind or No Wind »

Tropical Storm Edouard, thankfully, rolled through the Upper Texas Coast’s McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge with a much-milder-than-anticipated signature. Here in Seabrook, we had sustained winds of around 35 to 40 mph for a couple of hours Tuesday morning, partnered with heavy rain.
It’s a real testimony to the hard work of the folks with Center Point Energy that, to my amazement, we did not lose power. I have seen lesser weather disturbances take down tree limbs and shut off the juice post-haste, so it was a wonderful relief to realize around lunchtime that what we were in for was essentially a peaceful, albeit wet and windy day at the home office.
I’m currently packing the camera and video gear in anticipation of a run south to Port O’Connor with my good friend Mark Hall of CoastalPhotos.net.
Come Saturday, I will serve as master of ceremonies for the El Pescador Boat Owners tournament. El Pescador Boats owner Dave Kveton not only makes a fantastic fishing boat, without a doubt one of the best-built, most versatile hulls in the industry; he’s also one hell of a fisherman. (For details on the custom-made El Pescador, check the web at www.elpescadorboats.com … when Kveton says the rigs can handle everything from “Six Inches to Sixty Fathoms,” he’s telling it like it is.) He also has a great facility in El Pescador Lodge, should you plan on visiting Port O’Connor any time soon and are looking for a great place to stay.
With Dave’s considerable angling skills at hand along with a top-notch fishing boat, being a couple of guys who never pass up a good opportunity to get out on the water, Hall and I will join Dave after the event for a day of drifting Pass Cavallo in search of some of the area’s sizable tarpon.
Texas tarpon fishing is always unpredictable at best. However, with Edouard’s recent appearance, I know from experience that the surf should be ripe with big bull redfish gearing up for the spawn.
However, if the sabalo do not cooperate, we’ll be plenty thankful to hang around and enjoy some get-down catch-and-release action with oversized red drum. As always, we’ll use circle hooks (for both tarpon and bull redfish). I’ve always been a big fan of Daiichi’s red-plated “Bleeding Hooks,” and as such have already stashed a few packages of 7/0 Circle Chunk Light hooks specifically for this trip. I’ve used the Circle Chunk Light in a variety of sizes for a variety of species, and have never been disappointed. The thinner-than-normal but extremely strong hook shaft does an excellent job of facilitating the classic “cam action” that makes hooks like this essentially set themselves.
Around lunchtime tomorrow (Friday), two 5-pound boxes of XL “Magnum” Black Salty baitfish will be delivered via Federal Express to Marty’s Landing in Port O’Connor. From there, Hall and I will situate the big 6-1/2- to 7-1/2-inch live baits in aerated freshwater holding tanks, where they will remain until we and Kveton board one of his 24-foot center-console rigs and do our best to “Head ‘em off at the pass.”
Should our efforts be rewarded, you’ll be able to see the results within a week or so of the trip, both as video posted to YouTube (where, under the search term “Black Salty” you can already see several of the Bozka Outdoor Media/CoastalAnglers.com videos produced by yours truly and son James, who works as both a field shooter and

Read: First, Saturday’s El Pescador Boat Owners Tournament in Port O’Connor, after which we “Head ‘Em Off at the Pass” »

I was just about to the point of hair-pulling, frantically searching for a missing case of digital camera memory flash cards, when my phone rang. It was angler Robert Goode of Alvin, and he told me that upon moving into his room at Laguna Reef Motel and Condominiums … the same room I had occupied the previous day during the final portion of the Rockport-Fulton Spring Fling media event … he found my card case sequestered out of sight beneath the fringe of the bed.
 Goode checked with Laguna Reef general manager Penny Neff, who put him in touch with me and then graciously forwarded the case and flash cards to my home address.
 The cards could inexpensively enough be replaced. Digital cards of that sort, after all, have come way down in price in the past few years. But Goode told me the same thing I was thinking.
 “It’s like the MasterCard commercial,” he said. “Flash Card Case: $20.00. Flash Cards: $100.00. Several hundred photos taken after getting up in the wee hours of the morning to fish the bay during an incredibly trying period of howling and incessant wind: Priceless.”
 I thanked Goode, and asked him to touch base after his trip so I could find out how he fared on the fishing front.
He did indeed call, and the story he related is one for the books.
 Goode and his girlfriend, Amy Griggs, were working as exhibitors via their booth at a nautical flea market being held on the waterfront at the Rockport Yacht Club when the story began to unfold.
 “We were sitting there, visiting, when I looked down and saw a fresh brown shrimp lying on the ground and snapping its tail just a few feet away from our booth,” Goode recalls. “The only plausible explanation I could think of was a seagull. There were a bunch of them flying around the area, and I can only guess that one of the birds dropped the shrimp.”
 Usually, when a seagull drops a “present” from the skies it is not a hard-kicking, ready-to-go natural bait, but instead a trip to the car wash or laundromat waiting to happen.
 Not this time. Until this episode, I had never heard of live bait procured via an Act of God. Call

Read: Bait From Heaven »

Twelve days. Two hundred and eighty-eight hours. Any way you measure it, that’s a hell of a long time to wait for the weather to get cooperative enough to allow for a single offshore fishing trip.
But wait we did. Capt. Frank Houser, a veteran Rockport, Texas-area fishing pro, had retrofitted his boat, a classic 1978 20-foot Wellcraft with a 175-horse Mercury outboard, and assured me that if I brought the baits he’d make the run out of the Port Aransas jetties.
So I did. And, after a great deal of anticipation, we cleared the jetty mouth early in the morning and ventured a relatively short distance offshore to enjoy some outright outstanding action for hard-hitting king mackerel. Wave heights were 3 to 4 feet, but compared to what things had been throughout the previous week it was as good as calm in our book.
It’s not entirely unusual at this time of year for Port Aransas-area anglers to take kingfish from the rocks of the jetties. Accordingly, it wasn’t surprising that we found significant numbers of feeding fish inside of 10 miles offshore. A total of eight big ships, tankers and freighters from all over the planet, were anchored up in the area. Their massive metal hulls cast long, dark shadows, every one cloaking a hungry school of the speedy, razor-toothed predators.
In between ship stops, Houser, his old friend Bob Thomas and Yours Truly slow-trolled 1-1/2-ounce gold Rat-L-Trap plugs with amazingly consistent results. The big and shiny tight-wobbling lures were virtually irresistible to kings in the 10- to 14-pound range, and in my humble estimation are as good a king mackerel trolling lure as you’ll find anywhere. Had we wished to duke it out with smaller kingfish the entire morning we could have easily done so. Our long-awaited mission, however, was to drift XL-size live Black Salty baitfish next to the looming steel hulls and selectively extract larger fish.
The results? Mission accomplished.
It was only one of a half-dozen or so recent fishing trips I will profile in the weeks to come (My extended absence from this site as of late is due to said field research.) But of the lot, the outing with Houser and Thomas was as unique and enjoyable as any.
Big live bait, big fish, or so the theory goes. Once again, it was supported by rod-bending results.
I’ve been an enthusiastic “mosquito fleet” fisherman since my early college years, when I just about broke my bank account with the partnership purchase of a 19-1/2-foot Grady White and a big Chevy Blazer to pull it. Difference was, we did our fishing out of Galveston and Freeport, Upper Texas Coast ports from which it is virtually mandatory to run at least 25 miles offshore in order to reach productive water.
One of the many great things about fishing out of Port Aransas is the proximity of quality fishing within close range of the shoreline. Aboard a small center-console in the midst of a thunderstorm-prone summer afternoon, the close-to-shore factor is a major consideration. Furthermore, with gas pushing $4.25 a gallon, the short run seems all the better nowadays.
This was the second time I had ridden in this particular rodeo. Two years ago, fishing with Houser and fellow Rockport-based pro and friend Capt. Chris Fortin, we executed the same basic drill. That trip, another Black Salty field-testing expedition, yielded just as many but slightly smaller kingfish, but it more than made up for it with a 35-pound ling and a 34-inch Spanish mackerel that weighed in exactly one pound shy of the Texas state record.
This go-around, the bigger kingfish stole the show.
A 20-pound king mackerel is not about to take first-place honors in the average Texas offshore fishing tournament. Nonetheless, battled on light to medium tackle, the fighting characteristics and blistering initial runs of the silver-sided gamefish will win your heart. I had been looking forward to trying out a brand-new Woodee tarpon rod, and the long-handled graphite stick did not let me down.
Think “trout rod on steroids.”

Read: Black Salty Kingfish: A Long Wait for a Short Haul »