The reds continue to be in the mitigation pond. I bought a new bright gold spoon at Tackle Town yesterday and tried it out last evening just before dark. I caught some small reds, but no keepers. I went out this morning at about 7. I saw Ronnie Tomlinson(506) fishing from the crossbridge while I fished from the road and hollered at him to come over to my side because I could see some red action.  First I caught one on my spoon, but not to be outdone he then caught one on his skitter walk top water lure. He had several blowups, but only one hookup. One looks bigger in the picture, but they both measured 25 inches. His had more girth as it was female. I had one more good hookup that took out the drag and then got off. Ronnie said that when he came in last night Alvin told him he had just caught a 26 incher.

Bradley Phair and I had a chance to get out into the bay again today. They purchased their condo one month after we did, but chose to sell it in 2005. We joked that we always seem to have one memorable accident every trip we have taken. Today it was my turn.  I had taken a 16oz bottle off my counter that appeared to be Walmart water. After two hours of fishing I was ready for some water. I took the bottle out of cooler and took a big drink. Whoa, that was not water.  Someone had purchased distilled white vinegar and left it on my countertop. That was awful.
Bradley has me by 10 years in age, but you would never know it. After five hours on the water I was beat and talked him into going to the house. He had started off using bass assasins and had no luck at all. I was using my usual DOA with not much luck either. I caught two under sized trout at the pipe, but nothing else. We then went to Paul's Mott and after a while I caught nice keeper trout on two consecutive casts. At this point Bradley put on a DOA. I caught one more before they shut down entirely. We did have a great time.
On Saturday Bradley went out with guide, Tim Redden. The four of them caught sixteen drum, but no trout or reds.
On Sunday, Ralph(101) went with his favorite guide, Justin. They loaded up on trout, reds and drum before they ran out of piggy perch.
KB Homes had a big fishing tournament out of Paws and Taws on Saturday. I saw two of the ice chests and they did very well, around Allyn's Bight, or so they said.
Allan(security) is doing very well catching reds just accross from where he parks his truck. Last evening he had a 22 inch red and another that was just too big to get into his net and get up on the road.

Last Sunday evening Jane(711) pulled in this 23 inch red from the mitigation site using dead shrimp.  Last night a member of the Schomburg settlement caught his limit of reds from the mitigation site using live shrimp. On Tuesday I saw a drum moving around in the mitigation site that was at least 4 feet long and as big around as a basketball. It looked like the Loch Ness Monster.

I was able to finally catch a keeper trout from the pier on Wednesday evening using a cocohoe minnow. My friend, Ken renting 307, came back from Long Reef without having a bite on Sunday. I told him that DOA was the way to go. He went to Walmart and bought some and the next day he came back with four keeper trout and one red.

Former owners Brad and Andy Phair will be down for a week starting on the 20th. Jim(210) made them a great deal on the weekly rate.

Alvin has continued to feed this fox at his security post. Pop fed it for about two years. It will come very close to people. This male will grab the food tidbits and carry some back into the shadows where the female stays. You can see her, but she usually stays on the other side of the HEB fence.

The big crab is back at Rockport harbor. There is much more detail on the new version. Small children may be scared, maybe even those not so small.

I just wanted to show how things look around here on an off season Sunday afternoon. Does my car look a little lonesome?  Remember you can click on the image to enlarge it to see more detail.

The hummingbird festival isn't until next weekend, but this early arriver found my feeder with the homebrew sugar water and is defending his territory vigorously.
The website for the festival is at http://www.rockporthummingbird.com/index.php/2012-celebration-info.html

Also this weekend I saw a large antlered deer dead beside the road across from Tackle Town. It's pretty hard to hit a dear in a 30 mph residential area, but this buck may have had something on his mind besides watching for the traffic and may have broadsided an 18 wheeler.

Maghsoud and Martha's daughter, Sarah,  shows off their new boat. They drove down from Dripping Springs just to try it out. It's a 19.6 foot Key West with all the bells and whistles. The engine is a four stroke 150 hp. Yamaha. I told Maghsoud I wouldn't even say how much he paid because he got such a great price, but I will say it was less than $19k.

Work is underway to repaint the stripes and numbers in the parking areas.
Fishing last weekend was really slow. Boats brought in some fish, but the pier was not good at all. I caught a total of one small trout. The last few nights I've  had the pier to myself and have not caught anything.
This afternoon I was walking along the road when I saw some redfish near the road in the mitigation site. I walked toward the boat ramp and back across the crossbridge. I could see a bunch of reds with dorsal fins and tails working hard in about five inches of water. The tide is lower than I've seen in weeks. I came in and got some gear and put on a pin perch. I made a cast into the pod of reds and immediately got a hookup. I tried to be patient, as Steve(702), taught me to be, but I was anxious to set the hook. I finally did and pulled it in. Bad news, only 17 inches. I tried some more, but the fish had spooked.
Ralph and Cheryl(101) went on a flounder trip last evening. They left at 9:30 and had their limit within an hour. The guide took them into Sailboat Pass near Aransas Pass.