November 20, 2024 • 38 mins
- Chester Moore talks with an expert on shark safety in regards to wade fishing and to a fishing guide about targeting redfish and speckled trout on the flats.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to More Outdoors on News Talk five sixty KLVI.
This is Chester Moore. Sharks are the most popular topic
when it comes to the oceans. I mean, there are whales,
there are killer whales, there are octopuses, there are storms
in the ocean. But the thing that grabbed people's attention
the most, really when television started to be able to
(00:24):
produce high end quality documentaries was sharks. Even before Jaws,
there were shark documentaries on television, including some Jacques Cousteau
ocean specials that captured the public's imagination. And this summer,
I've done a lot with the shark projects that I've
(00:45):
been kind of working on behind the scenes for a
couple of years, and I want to talk about sharks
and kind of a unique light here, especially in light
of the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf Coast. We
did a program about two years ago go I called
to Forgotten See. It was basically me revealing a lot
of facts and information about the Gulf of Mexico that
(01:08):
people did not realize. And it really blows in my
mind how many people think the Gulf of Mexico A
is not very big and B doesn't have much interesting wildlife.
That's absolutely false, and when it comes down the sharks,
that is definitely not true. And here in southeast Texas,
the home base of kalv I, the home base of
(01:30):
me Chester Moore, we have an interesting shark situation here.
And something that really I think is really unique is
the fact that we have so much fresh water. I mean,
whether you're looking at the Trinity River basin or Sabine Lake,
the smallest major bay on the coast, it has two
major rivers in Natus and the Sabine feeding we have
(01:52):
a lot of freshwater flow compared to most of the coast,
and in both Galveston that's easton Main galveson West Trinity Bay,
as well as s Mean Lake, there are decent populations
of bull sharks.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Now, I know that people who know about sharks.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Will obviously state that bull sharks will go into fresh water,
but I don't even know sometimes if people really actually
put that to practice, like when they go out wade
fishing and stuff, realizing how far north into our systems
that there are bay sharks. There are bull sharks. Excuse me,
I remember, probably twenty years ago talking at some Texas
(02:34):
parks and walthe department officials about their gillnet surveys that
they set and that the northern part of the lake
around Stute's Island was an area they had caught some
juvenile bull sharks in.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
And essentially what.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
These estuaries represent for bull sharks is a nursery area.
So the large female bull sharks will come into the
shallower bays where there are fewer other sharks have their babies,
and those babies will hang around the bay system, the
river systems, all that and even down the jetty systems
(03:08):
and eventually grow up and be more protected.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
It's essentially a nursery.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
And bull sharks are one of the most dangerous sharks
on the planet if you look at numbers of attacks,
and a lot of that has to do with the
fact that bull sharks are big, they can be potentially aggressive,
and they are fairly common around people, whereas great white sharks,
(03:32):
tiger sharks, oceanic white tips and other species that have
maybe as much or more aggression tend to live in
areas that don't have as many people around them. Bull
sharks are perfectly comfortable on the coast, on the beach,
in the bay and the river systems and it's a
very interesting shark. I mean, there have been bull sharks
(03:55):
caught two thousand miles up the Amazon and remote creeks.
There are bullsharks caught hundreds of miles up rivers in Africa.
And Jeremy Wade of River Monsters Fame did a whole
show about catching these river monsters bull sharks. He called them,
you know, and that really got people to thinking about
these bull sharks being way up the river systems. And
(04:17):
I just saw a post on Facebook of someone who
caught in the Tivoli area and I forget what river
that is, either Nuesis or the Guadaloupe. I think it's
a Guadaloupe. They caught a bull shark in the Tivoli area,
which is pretty good ways upstream. So one of the
things I'm doing this program, if you've ever caught a
bull shark north of the Bay, it could be like
(04:40):
in the Sabine area. It could be like at the
DuPont Outfall canal Port of Orange, or like the turning
basin of the Natus River, or it could be up
past the Trinity River bridge on it on the Trinity River.
If you've ever caught a bull shark in those areas
anywhere north of a major bay system. Please email me
(05:00):
at Chester at chestermore dot com. That's Chester at Chestermore
dot com. I'm trying to put together a story to
kind of just ring the truth of this home to
people about bull sharks being further up. It's not that
I think it's like a big threat, like bull sharks
are gonna start attacking people in these areas.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
It's possible.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I mean, the most likely candidate for the Jaws inspiration
was a bull shark. But it's just to make people
think of what swimming out there and get the information
out there and also dispel some myths. There are people
out there saying that bull sharks don't go that far
up in Texas and on the Little Louisiana coast, and
that's the.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Thing that happens in South America and a.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Thing that happens in other countries. But the reality is
it does happen here, and that is the largest coastal
shark that you're gonna find real near the coasts around
the beaches most of the time here on the Sabine area.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Stuff like that. There are also.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Lemon sharks, which get pretty big. Lemon sharks aren't that common,
but there have been some big ones caught, like at
High Island.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
And some of those spots like that.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
I know of a nine foot lemon shark that was
caught probably ten years ago around there. Tiger sharks are
caught occasionally down in South Padre.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
They're caught with fair frequency.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
I mean there are guides catching them a few of
those every summer. I mean some big twelve foot or
some huge tiger sharks. We also have hammerhead sharks that
will be caught. We have in Texas waters. We have
a scalloped hammerhead, which is kind of a curved hammer,
and then we have the larger great hammerhead, and they
(06:45):
get really monstrous in size. As a matter of fact,
Robert Vale used to a lot of fishing guiding out.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Of Sabine Lake.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Told me about pulling some trolling rigs out around what
we used to call the double rig, which was about
six miles past the Sabine jetties, and he said him
and his friend both had king mackerel on at the
same time, and this giant hammerhead shark pops up out
of the water, so to speak, to see the fin
the dorsal's there.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
You know, and this thing is huge.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
He said the hammer was probably two and a half
feet across, and that's really really big, maybe even bigger
than that. And he said every time one of the
mackerel would splash, that one eye would go that direction
and try to chase that that mackerel, and the other
one would splash, the other eye would move, and he said,
was the creepiest crazy thing. But that happened right here
out of Sabine Pass. My friend Marcus Heflin of Christian
(07:35):
surf Fishing Adventures was fishing in the surf out of
Sea Rim State Park a few years ago and had
a six to seven foot long hammerhead swim right pass it.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I don't know if he got to.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Look good enough to tell if it was a scalloped
or a gray. I have a feeling that might have
been a scalloped, because there had been several scalloped cont
at the short rigs of that year. But these are
sharks that you hear about on special about the ocean,
but you rarely hear them being caught or encountered here
(08:06):
on the Gulf coast. And to me, that's unfortunate, because
you want our young people to be able to appreciate
these resources. And in a lot of ways, we've treated
the Gulf of Mexico like a dumping ground, unfortunately, and
we need to have a little bit more respect, a
lot more respect for the Gulf and what the Gulf
provides for us, not only in recreation for fishing, but food.
(08:29):
I mean, it's a very very important water body, and
sharks represent you know, the best of that. And it's
always been my mission to make people think more about wildlife.
I mean, it's incredibly important for me to be able
to make people think about wildlife. And if I can
make them think about the Gulf of Mexico, it's a
(08:51):
while After sharks, then it's a win. And it's so
important to get this message out there. And I'm excited
about this programming because we're going to talk a little
bit more about this topic. But how many of you
knew that we had lemon sharks, that we had scalloped
in great hammerheads, that we have bull sharks all the
way into the northern tier of the basin without any question,
into the rivers. Those things do exist here, and there's
(09:16):
other species that are out there in the near shore golf.
I caught a black nose shark about twenty years ago
out of Sabine Pass. Sometimes they'll pop up and be
fairly common areas, and sometimes they're just not there at all.
That's the only one I ever caught, but I know
a Texas Parks and Wildlife crew who catches some on
their long line surveys occasionally, and we have. You know,
(09:37):
there's species in the golf that are recorded in the
Gulf that people don't even really think about existing, like
a poor beagle. You also have sand tigers or native
to the Gulf, but there hasn't been any specimens in
Texas in a long time. Sandbar sharks are caught one
of those one time lots of neat stuff out there.
When we come back on more out those arena, talk
(09:57):
more about sharks in the Gulf of Mexico.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Welcome back to the program.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I'm super excited to have Captain Kyle Johnson of Coastal
Waters Outfitters. He's based out of Mississippi and he fishes
an area that I got to fish three times when
he says he was in high school back in the
early two thousand, the Chandelier Islands. It is a really
cool set of barrier islands off the coast of Louisiana
in Mississippi. I mean I first heard of this shark
(10:25):
bands thing as a deterrent for sharks, and I was
blown away that there was something that seemed viable and real.
And my literal first thought was, Dude, I should have
had these when I fished the Chandelier Islands.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
So welcome to the.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Program, hey man, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
So before we go any further, just get us a
little bit familiar with those islands out there and just
how thick the sharks are.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Yeah. So, the Chanalir Island is a chain of island
basically in the middle of nowhere. You know you've been there.
It's in the middle of Gulf in Mexico. It's about
thirty five miles off the coast of Biloxi and Gulf Court.
That's where I run out of I have a slipping
Gulf Court and Biloxi. But it is a trout and
redfish wade fisherman's dream. I mean, it's just this chain
(11:13):
of island that has absolutely everything that you want. It
has oyster shells, drop off gullies, grass bed, there's a
surf side. I mean, it's got every type of terrain
and the fishing is just there is no other place
like it in my eyes.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's an incredible like an oasis out there.
And like I said, the first time I went down there,
I was like twenty one years old, and so I'm
out here fishing and they put me on this one
little island. They're literally going to be across the other
two guys an island that was like one hundred yards away.
They just said this is a good little pocket fishing here.
And I'm wadefishing and I see a dorsal fin pop
(11:55):
up and I went, eh, sark And I went, oh,
bullshit because the water was clearenough to see what it was.
And it circled me twice before I got my carcass
up on the island. Was casting my top water from
the bank at that point, and I was like, oh that's.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
And I love sharks. I was intrigued.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
But you know, nothing happened, but there was just a
ton of shark activity out there, and you know it's
because of how you know, wonderful of an estuary, how
wonderful an area of a bait fish and all this
kind of stuff's going on out there. So you know,
when you go out there and you're wadefishing and you
have like a stringer with you, I mean, do you
ever get your stringer attacked? But say before shark man,
(12:34):
do you get your stringer attacked by sharks?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Yeah, so I don't. I stopped using my stringer years ago. Man,
when they when they came out with the fish bags,
I got away from the stringer just because you're just
asking for with a stringer. So I haven't tested it
personally with a stringer, and I don't really plan to
you because I have a system that worked, and I
(12:57):
just you know, if it if it ain't, don't fix it,
you know. So I used a hookset wade bag. I
used the ever Last one for a little while. I
just didn't get enough life out of it being a
full time guide, and got the hook set one and
tasted the Zeppelin to my hook set, and dude, it's
(13:20):
a night and day different. We got some drone footage
coming out from Sharp Bands where because I actually contacted him,
they've never even thought to use this for wade fishing.
The way it came about with me was I was
running a trip last summer. A good friend of mine
and a guy down there in Texas, ernest is Narrows.
He comes fishing with me a couple of times a year,
(13:43):
and he had a group down and usually when he
comes with me, he'll kind of go off and do
his own thing, and I'll kind of, you know, take
his He brings a lot of his clients to come
fish with me, but I'll take his clients and we'll
go off and do I'll show him everything. And dude,
we were way away from the boat, I mean really far,
and they were Normally they don't keep a lot of fish,
(14:04):
but they were keeping a few for dinner, you know, so, uh,
they had some stringers and you know you saw it,
did you know? Everybody liked to exaggerate, but a true
you know, five six foot bull shark that's one hundred
plus pounds fish.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Dude, that it was about five to six Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
That is not a small fish. And when those are
hitting your stringer, you kind of get a little nervous.
So at the time, I already had the hookset bag
and I obviously wouldn't get messed with. But they were like, hey,
can we put all our fish in your bag? And
I was like, yeah, make me the yim. I was like, yeah, sure,
So they put all the fish in my bag, and dude,
(14:44):
I had three really big bull sharks circling me. So
I told them, I said, look, we got enough fish.
I said, I'm gonna go ahead and walk these back
and I'm gonna drive the boat down here. And they're
like all right. So I'm trying to walk a straight
line back to the boat, and honestly, I started getting nervous.
Usually I don't. I catch a lot of sharks on
other charters and things. I'm very familiar with them. I
(15:07):
know a lot about them. But they were, they were
stalking me, and I started to get nervous. So I
walked back up on the bank and had to walk
way out of my way to get back to the boat.
And when I got back from that trip, I said,
I got to figure something out, you know. You know,
I got to because the bag's working. They're not going
to hit the bag, but it's like they were waiting
(15:28):
for an opportunity to hit it. So uh, it just
kind of made me nervous. And a good friend of mine,
he's a marketing rep and I know him through Grundin's
and my buddy Dennis and Dennis told me. I was
telling him about that story and he said, man, they
got this new product now we're stelling called shark bands,
(15:50):
and he told me about it, and I was like,
I'm in So I just ordered one. I was like,
if this thing works a quarter of what he says,
I'll be happy. And I asked him if anybody had
use it are wading, and he said, man, I use
it a little bit, but the sharks weren't bad. And
so I put it on my bag and what I
saw would happen is, dude, I'll be fishing and just
(16:10):
not paying attention and then all of a sudden, there
just be this huge swirl behind me, and it kept
happening and I couldn't figure out what it was until
one day out there, the water's just crystal clear, and
it was it was August of last year, and the
sharks are just insane out there, August in September, and
(16:31):
I hear this huge swirl and I turn around and
I finally saw it. It was a shark just high
tailing it out of there. And I was like, well
that that's pretty interesting, you know. So the first time
I was like, I started thinking back, I was like
with all those other times were those you know, sharks
that were high tailing, and sometimes you get jacks and
redfish that'll do that, you know, especially out there. And
(16:54):
so after it happened about four or five times, I
called Dennis and I was like, I was like, get
me in touch with the Sharp Band guys. I need
to I need to tell them about this. It's impossible
to get video of it. You'd have to have a
camera recording twenty four to seven and you'd have to
have one, you know, recording behind you and stuff. And
I said, man, y'all, y'all need to come out here
and get some you know, some footage of this. And
(17:16):
they did. We got a Derne guy out there. Of course,
you know when it comes to shoot day the windscreen
and you know cloudy. So we got a little bit
of footage. But they're coming back here soon to get
some more. But it's incredible, dude. I was blown away.
How well I do not have to worry about sharks anymore.
And that's a pretty that's a pretty good feeling.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Well, you know, it's you know, here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
If people don't understand where these islands are, this isn't
like you hop in if even if you have like
a small bite right and you're bleeding, you you're not
a very easy run to a hospital.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
I mean, oh no, dude, you're you're your Your best
scenario would be getting air lifted out of there, and
even even at that, you know it's gonna take them
an hour and a half two hours to get there. Well,
I would, you know, if I thought about this just
in case something does happen. There's there's some mother ships
out there, and there's some jack up barges and things
like that, but if the weather's right, I'm probably just
(18:11):
gonna you know, I'm gonna haul ass in because you
know that that was the whole point I started doing
it with the boat that I have, is you know,
i'd get out there and you know, thirty forty minutes
on the right day, and I could get somebody back
to land faster than they could get a helicopter out there.
To be honest with you, because if you know, the
closest one is gonna come from Mobile or you know,
(18:31):
somewhere like that, or or maybe maybe Gulf Court, maybe
maybe New Orleans, but it's gonna be a ways away.
There's no real big cities. New Orleans is the biggest city,
closest fandl here. You know, Gulf Court and Bilofier are
small compared to other cities.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah, well, you know, it's it's fascinating the idea of like,
you know, this active shark deterrent that uses magnetic technology
to do this. It doesn't hurt the shark, doesn't seem
to bother other fish, but can you know, literally keep
you safe out there. And uh, what blew me away
is it doesn't have a battery, you know.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Like, yeah, well, yeah, so what that.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Works doesn't have a battery you got to replace. I
love this.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah, it's awesome, man, It's super sturdy. I've been using it.
You know, I'm a full time guide and I'm do
a lot of wade fishing trips and dude, I'm hard
on my stuff, man, and I've been dragging that thing
across oyster beds, shells, you know everything. It's pretty much
indestructible in my eyes, it really is. I don't think
(19:36):
the only way that you're going to break it is
if you'll lose it, you know, that's really the only
way you're gonna You can't need another one. But it
does it works awesome. I can tell you right now.
It does not affect any other fish whatsoever when I'm waiting,
whether it's winter time or not. It's just it's attached
to my back. I have no reason to take it off.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
So when we come back on Laura Doors, we'll talk
more about the sham into Lear Islands. Welcome back to
more Outdoors on News Talk five sixty k l v. I.
Now we're going to talk with South Padre Island guide
Captain Luise Flondez about the art of shallow water fishing
for reds and specs.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Welcome to the.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Program, Captain the Luise Flondez of on the Drift Charters.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
How you doing, sir, I'm doing well.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
Thanks for having me appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
You know you doing it was, you know interesting last
year I was down there and the weather went chaotic,
and like a few days ago, you'll have basically the
same weather pattern pop up.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
You know, you can expect tons of wind April May
June it gets really windy, especially in the asking you
over here, and you can expect something like fifteen or
twenty five, sometimes thirty miles an hour. It gets windy
down here, but.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
You guys are still catching some red fish, aren't you.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
Oh yeah, yeah, you know these reds they love it.
I feel like they get fired up. You get this
wind going and they get they get fired up for
for free ed and you know they're out and about
looking for bait. So it definitely turns on the bike.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Yeah, so let's talk about that right now here we're toward.
We're at the beginning of June and that summer fishing
people coming down to South Padre to have a good time,
and what is your kind of go to let. We're
going to start with this, usually on a morning fishing trip.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Yeah. So you know down here on South Padrea we've
got big, big, wide open grass flats, sand flance and
you know they're just so wide open where you can
just drift for miles. Usually I like to drift fish.
I like to cover ground and you know, sneak into
the fish with my boat and work work a flat.
So you know, the saying that wind is really good
(21:44):
for us. We really rely on the wind a lot,
and the windear the better. I always say, you know,
you're able to cover ground a lot faster. So I
like to fish a grass flat with a good mixture
of grass and sand holes and active date work in
the area. Redfish like to hang out in that shallow
water we all know. So this time of the year,
(22:05):
I've noticed that it's as it gets warmer, you know,
these fish are starting to move over a little bit
more to the deeper water. Early in the morning. You know,
it's cooler in the morning, so you can find them
still in that one foot of water two foot of
water where they're hanging out. They're happy, nice and cool
for them. But then as the sun starts popping up,
the water starts getting a little warmer, and they start
(22:26):
moving over a little bit and going into about that
three four foot depth. So that's kind of what I
look for. I go out and look for in an
area that's that's got that depth and and all the
active bait working.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
You know, for someone who's never been down to beautiful
South Padre and maybe they fished in Galveston or maybe
over in Louisiana or somewhere, uh, the habitat is a
whole lot closer than what you to what you might
see even in the northern part of the Florida Keys,
and it is the so of the Texas coast.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Oh yeah, it's it's beautiful. You know, so many can
will get so, you know, surprised at the way the
flats are down here. You know, we're going out to
the spot and we'll finally stop and they look down.
First thing they do is look down and they can
see straight to the bottom, you know, and they're like
two and a half little water, and they start freaking out.
They get excited. They see our healthy grass. They see
(23:19):
the clarity is one hundred percent clear. And this isn't
in the whole bay, but most of most of the
base days like that. You know, we've got so much grass.
It keeps it keeps it all down, doesn't let it
get stirred up too much. And it's just beautiful. It
really is a blessing to have these beautiful flats down here.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Now, are you doing most of your fishing, I assume
in lower Laguna Madre side. Are you doing any fishing
at South Bay at all?
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (23:43):
I do.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
I do go to South Bay. It's it's of course,
it's a couple of minutes down down South. I'll head
out there, you know, and and and go have some
fun over there sometimes. But mostly I've been going up
north and working the north section of the lagoon at
the time of the year here, but I will I
will find myself going into South Bay. I love that place.
(24:04):
It could be a magical place. You've got deep channels
that run through there and shallow flats, oyster bars, and
it's it can be a really neat place to fish.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Yeah, a lot of interesting habitats. So let's say maybe
you have some clients come out that are newbies to
red fish and they never fish for red fish before.
What might you set them up with. You're gonna set
them up with a popincork and some gulf or what
is your kind of your favorite go to for maybe
newer anglers.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
Sure, so I get that a lot. You know, like
you said, the island is a big tourist destination. So
I get a bunch of families and people that aren't
really experienced. So, uh, you can't go wrong with with
with the bait, you know, if there's the first town
fishing and you know, I've only got five hours to
get them on fish or and I feel like, you know,
we need to maximize their their fight, So I like
(24:51):
to go out with some fresh bait. Dead bait is
a good way to go. It's a good option to go,
whether it be dead mullet, valley who or maybe even
some live shrimp. That's always good. Cut up dead bait
seems to get them fired up. You know, they can
pick up on the scent really quick. So fish in
the bottom. You know, these red fish will work the
(25:12):
water column. But I feel the easiest way to get
them would be with dead bait on the bottom. So
we'd go out and either drift fish or excuse me,
and drift or anchor up fishing the bottom with dead mullet,
dead balley who is pretty successful for clients that you know,
they have never picked the barad for before, so it's
(25:34):
easier for him.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Now talk about that a little bit more advanced thing.
Maybe you ever have any buy say, hey, man, I
have to catch your red on the top water.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Oh yeah, oh man, that's cool that you just said that.
I just I went out this morning with my dad
and he had a big blow up on top water.
That's one of my favorite things to see is watching
a red fish come up on top and blow it up.
It's so so much fun. And get that. I get
that a lot. I get guys to say, no, I
know I can catching with mullet, you know, I want
to catch them on artificial and I've got there's so
(26:04):
many varieties that you can use for them. Of course,
my preference is the d o A dark baits, druk
shats and stuff. Yeah, and then we'll throw top water plugs.
Top water plugs is great because you know, it gets
it makes a ton of noise, and we're usually fishing
two to three feet of water, so it's right above
their heads. And we know redfish like to eat on
the bottom and you know, pick up crabs and shrimp,
(26:25):
shrimp and grass and the grass. But they'll hear that plug,
you know, making noise right over them. And it's so
cool to watch come up and blow it up.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
You know.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
The first time I really saw I caught red fish
on top waters before this, before I actually saw it
in clear water. Uh by my mind just thinking about
watching that fish with the mouth designed to hit the
bottom kind of roll up on the side and hit
that plug.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Yeah, it's it's insane. I mean you'll see them. You'll
see them like two or three feet kind of looks
almost like a submarine, you know, surfacing and it's just
making this big old wake behind the plugug and you're
just anticipating that strike. You know it's coming. And they
really have to pretty much get like most of their
body out of the water to hit this plug. Like
you said, their face and their head is kind of
(27:10):
angled downwards a little bit as opposed to a trout,
but they do have to come up like half of
their body to strike that plug. And it's just a
big old blow up and looks kind of like a
toilet full flush.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
You know.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
They just plam it, blow it up, and then it's
just drag screaming fun after that.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Yeah, they hit hard. So on the side this time
of year, do you see any oversized red fish?
Speaker 4 (27:34):
Oh, there have been. We've been. We've been catching some
steady oversized red fish. Average about twenty nine thirty inches
thirty one thirty two. That's kind of the average bull
red that we get in our bay. But you'll get
the occasionally you'll get thirty five plus or something. But
they've been they've been showing up. We've been catching some
really nice ones. I've noticed the difference in the colors,
(27:57):
you know, you can see sometimes you'll catch as reds
where they're kind of like more of a copper bronze color. Yeah,
and then all of a sudden you catch one and
it's like bright orange. You know, it's almost like gold
and orange. And you know, you haven't seen one that color.
And I feel like they're coming in from from offshore. Yeah,
you know, they're coming in from the ocean, and it's
(28:19):
those are the most beautiful, beautiful ones to see. But
we've been seeing tons of those pumpkin reds we call them,
you know.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
And redfish are such a hearty fish.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
I mean, they're not the fastest fish in the world,
but they are a bulldog and just don't want to stop.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
Oh yeah. It's like it's like cooking a little miniature train. Man.
They're They're fun. That's why so many people love to
catch them. It's one of the most sought after sport
fish in Texas, especially down here in the lower of
the you know, everybody wants to catch redfish. And I've
noticed so much more pressure. Actually the last year or two,
I've noticed more and more people are just you know,
(28:56):
getting all these reds, trying to get on them and
trying to catch red fish. Sure has risen for redfish.
I feel more and more people are trying to catch them.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Well, I think it's funny sometimes because you know, they're like,
you know, you get to guys that are really spoiled
to catch reds all the time, and they kind of
get jaded to red fish, like, oh, I just want
to catch a trout. I love trout too, but man, god,
there's something about hanging into that big, beautiful redfish. It's unforgettable.
Of Course, when I was a little kid, there weren't
that many. I mean it was right where I was
a little beaty kid. It was I had to tail
(29:26):
into the redfish wars. And you know, the first time
I caught illegal redfish, it was a big deal. And
it's just been so cool to see that develop. And
of course, you guys have that amazing fishery, that flat
fishery down there. But of course redfish aren't the only resident.
You guys got trout. Of course, you know, Lower Laguna
Madre took a hit with the freeze on speckled trout,
(29:47):
but there are still plenty of speckled trout in parts
of that area.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Oh yeah, Yeah, the population for trut's been really good.
I feel like, I know, I'm glad that there are
these new regulations to take care of them and to
help them.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
When we come back on More Outdoors, we'll talk more
about shallow water fishing for reds and specks. Welcome back
to More Outdoors on News Talk five sixty KLV. This
is Chester Moore talking with Captain Luis Flondez about fishing
the flats. Well, I think it's funny sometimes because you know,
they're like, you know, you get to guys that are
(30:20):
really spoiled to catch reds all the time, and they
kind of get jaded to red fish, like, oh, I
just want to catch a trout. I love trout too,
but man, God, there's something about hanging into that big,
beautiful redfish. It's unforgettable. Of Course, when I was a
little kid, there weren't that many. I mean it was
right where I was a little beaty kid. It was
I had the tail end of the redfish wars, and uh,
you know, the first time I caught illegal redfish, it
(30:42):
was a big deal. And it's just been so cool
to see that develop. And of course, you guys had
that amazing fishery, that flat fishery down there, But of
course redfish aren't the only resident. You guys got a
trout of course, you know, lowera Laguna Madre took a
hit with the freeze on speckled trout, but there are
still plenty of trout in parts of that area.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
Oh yeah, Yeah, the population for trout's been really good.
I feel like, you know, I'm glad that there are
these new regulations to take care of them and to
help them, you know, kind of come back and be
one hundred percent again. But I've been catching them, and
you know, even while we're trying to catch reds, they're
starting to show up everywhere. Such a healthy, strong population
of trout showing up. I feel like they're making a
(31:22):
great comeback, and I know that this this uh, this
change in regulation is really going to help them out
the next year's now for the future for sure.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
A lot of that red fish. Actually, we're just talking
about what sort of site fishing. Do you ever do
site fishing for trout? Oh?
Speaker 4 (31:38):
Yeah, I do. I do do site fishing for trout.
It's one of my favorite things to do. I've got
a little sight casting platform on my fallow sport and
I love to go out and you know, pick my
days when it's just like ten miles an hour, eight
miles an hour winter where it's just enough ripple to
where I can cruise up on a flat and stand
up there and throw a fish. And recently I was
(32:00):
out on this flat targeting reds and trout, and I
was I was pitching at reds and trout every four
or five minutes, you know, just by myself, throwing d
o a jerk shots at them and watching them meeting.
This one really cool moment I had. I had just
lined some nice reds. I get back on top and
I start seeing these two huge gator trout like coming
(32:21):
straight at me, just on a straight line, and I'm
powered drifts and so I'm facing forward at them, two
huge trout and I'm just like, oh my god, Like
I got to get a lure in front of these guys. Yeah,
you know, So I pitch my lure riding between both
of them, and they're at least twenty eight thirty inches.
I mean, they're they're they're big, they're big trout. So
I'm fired up. I watched this one trout turn to
the left, sees my lure, sucks it down, hits it,
(32:44):
and it's just boom fish on. You know, right away,
it's just one of the most beautiful things to see
watching a big trout go for your lure and and
the fight, the head shakes and it's amazing. Look, that's
my favorite thing to dude, catching big trout on on Loure,
especially sidecasting them.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yeah, that's cool stuff, man, So a big trout down
on that clear water. In my experience, the clear of
the water, the more line shot trout tend to get
using floral carbon leaders and stuff like that.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
Yep, the twenty five pounds floor carbon is my go to. Yeah,
you know, I love Cegars, usually been my go to
brand for that. It's the twenty five pound I feel
just right, you know, you can still get it out
there far and and it's still pretty tough, and they
don't seem to mind. You know, they hit, they hit,
no problem. Yeah, it's been great. It's been great for that,
(33:33):
especially in the clear water.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
People think, like, you know, who don't really get hardcore
into fishing, think, you know, maybe they had a good
day out one time.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
It's always easy.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
But uh, yeah, I've always been fascinated. Of course, you
wouldn't be a guide if you weren't sort of fascinated
in cracking the code of making all those conditions work
for you.
Speaker 4 (33:51):
Right right, Yeah, Yeah, it's it's different, definitely, having to
adjust to every every day is different. You get it
on different curve balls. You go out there and it's
not the same as yesterday. You know, you've got different
wind direction, you've got different temperature, especially in Texas, and
that plays a big role in the fish. And then
you've got the tide movements are changing, so it's like
(34:13):
you've got one different map, your your base kind of
mapped out differently every day. The fish are doing the
same thing because they're also working the tides. The reds
and the trout, they're working the same tides we are,
they're working the same wind we are. So you kind
of have to think like the fish in the sense
you go out and go fishing in a way, you know,
go out and look look for signs and adjust to
(34:35):
the wind or just to the tides, the temperature. It's
always and that's that's the challenge. That's what makes it
fun because these reds aren't always in the same spot.
They're they're really challenging to find and catch. Sometimes you know,
you can find them in one spot and then you know,
go back there the next day and they're nowhere to
be found. You know, they're chasing bait. And that's what
(34:56):
makes it so so fun for everyone.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Now done in south pods being a really shallow zone
on the base side, How big of a tide swing
you're typically looking at today.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
We're looking at maybe one to two foot tige changes
on average. Nothing really too extreme, you know, it's just
and it's not really like really drastic, really fast or anything.
Most of the time it's pretty just a steady outgoing
or incoming tide and it's uh, I guess the only
time we really get really intense tide changes when we
(35:28):
get like those flood tides. Yeah, we've got tons of
rain coming in and pouring in from from from rivers
and stuff like that. That's when we get a little
bit more drastic tide changes. But for the most part,
it's it's a pretty pretty low change.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Now, Let's say you have someone who wants to come
maybe has been some vacation down down the South padre.
But on that vacation, when to come fish with Captain
Louis Flondez and catch a big stinking redfish.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
Looking down on the calendar and let's say they you know,
they could book you. What would be an ideal time?
Is there an ideal moon phase or in thing? You go,
you know what, these days may be a little bit better.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
Sure, So I feel like, you know, someone wants to
go out, go out and target red fish. For the
most part, I stay on them really good year round.
You know, people think it's just seasonal, but for me,
I haven't really been able to say, hey, you know what,
this time of the year, it's just better red fishing
because I feel like I catch them all the time
(36:26):
in every season. You know. That's yeah, that's that's a
great thing to go through. So once you kind of
like stay on them, I've been hunting on my that's
my thing. I love red fishing. So I kind of
really you know, pride myself and and just kind of
knowing where they are this time of the year and
what they're doing, what they want to eat. But I
like to tell people, you know, come out and the
(36:48):
fall is a really fun time of fish. Of course,
it's a lot it's a lot more comfortable. You get
a little bit better, cooler weather. The summer is great. Also,
you go out early and you get the early morning
buy is usually feeding just a lot better early in
the morning. Yeah, before it gets really hot. That's really
what I would just tell people, just you know, go
(37:09):
out and try to come out when it's it's not
as not as at I guess you could say, when
you go out early, come back in by noon and
and that's usually been working out really well.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
But you know what's so cool about the South Padre
Fishery of course, and you got redfish, possible site casting,
the trout you guys got, and you guys have snooky
the surf side of a guy just caught a thousand
pounds tiger shark.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
Oh I saw that.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
It was mind boggling, man. And so there's lots of
cool stuff. And if someone wants that unique trip to
a part of Texas, it's just a little bit different.
South Padre area is a great place to go. Thanks
for listening to More Outdoors tonight. Don't You can connect
with me at Higher Calling dot net, Higher Calling Wildlife
on Facebook, at the chester More on Instagram that's the
(38:01):
Chester Moore and email me at chester at Chestermore dot com.
God bless you and have a great outdoors weekend.
Welcome to More Outdoors on News Talk five sixty KLVI.
This is Chester Moore. Sharks are the most popular topic
when it comes to the oceans. I mean, there are whales,
there are killer whales, there are octopuses, there are storms
in the ocean. But the thing that grabbed people's attention
the most, really when television started to be able to
(00:24):
produce high end quality documentaries was sharks. Even before Jaws,
there were shark documentaries on television, including some Jacques Cousteau
ocean specials that captured the public's imagination. And this summer,
I've done a lot with the shark projects that I've
(00:45):
been kind of working on behind the scenes for a
couple of years, and I want to talk about sharks
and kind of a unique light here, especially in light
of the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf Coast. We
did a program about two years ago go I called
to Forgotten See. It was basically me revealing a lot
of facts and information about the Gulf of Mexico that
(01:08):
people did not realize. And it really blows in my
mind how many people think the Gulf of Mexico A
is not very big and B doesn't have much interesting wildlife.
That's absolutely false, and when it comes down the sharks,
that is definitely not true. And here in southeast Texas,
the home base of kalv I, the home base of
(01:30):
me Chester Moore, we have an interesting shark situation here.
And something that really I think is really unique is
the fact that we have so much fresh water. I mean,
whether you're looking at the Trinity River basin or Sabine Lake,
the smallest major bay on the coast, it has two
major rivers in Natus and the Sabine feeding we have
(01:52):
a lot of freshwater flow compared to most of the coast,
and in both Galveston that's easton Main galveson West Trinity Bay,
as well as s Mean Lake, there are decent populations
of bull sharks.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Now, I know that people who know about sharks.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Will obviously state that bull sharks will go into fresh water,
but I don't even know sometimes if people really actually
put that to practice, like when they go out wade
fishing and stuff, realizing how far north into our systems
that there are bay sharks. There are bull sharks. Excuse me,
I remember, probably twenty years ago talking at some Texas
(02:34):
parks and walthe department officials about their gillnet surveys that
they set and that the northern part of the lake
around Stute's Island was an area they had caught some
juvenile bull sharks in.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
And essentially what.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
These estuaries represent for bull sharks is a nursery area.
So the large female bull sharks will come into the
shallower bays where there are fewer other sharks have their babies,
and those babies will hang around the bay system, the
river systems, all that and even down the jetty systems
(03:08):
and eventually grow up and be more protected.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
It's essentially a nursery.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
And bull sharks are one of the most dangerous sharks
on the planet if you look at numbers of attacks,
and a lot of that has to do with the
fact that bull sharks are big, they can be potentially aggressive,
and they are fairly common around people, whereas great white sharks,
(03:32):
tiger sharks, oceanic white tips and other species that have
maybe as much or more aggression tend to live in
areas that don't have as many people around them. Bull
sharks are perfectly comfortable on the coast, on the beach,
in the bay and the river systems and it's a
very interesting shark. I mean, there have been bull sharks
(03:55):
caught two thousand miles up the Amazon and remote creeks.
There are bullsharks caught hundreds of miles up rivers in Africa.
And Jeremy Wade of River Monsters Fame did a whole
show about catching these river monsters bull sharks. He called them,
you know, and that really got people to thinking about
these bull sharks being way up the river systems. And
(04:17):
I just saw a post on Facebook of someone who
caught in the Tivoli area and I forget what river
that is, either Nuesis or the Guadaloupe. I think it's
a Guadaloupe. They caught a bull shark in the Tivoli area,
which is pretty good ways upstream. So one of the
things I'm doing this program, if you've ever caught a
bull shark north of the Bay, it could be like
(04:40):
in the Sabine area. It could be like at the
DuPont Outfall canal Port of Orange, or like the turning
basin of the Natus River, or it could be up
past the Trinity River bridge on it on the Trinity River.
If you've ever caught a bull shark in those areas
anywhere north of a major bay system. Please email me
(05:00):
at Chester at chestermore dot com. That's Chester at Chestermore
dot com. I'm trying to put together a story to
kind of just ring the truth of this home to
people about bull sharks being further up. It's not that
I think it's like a big threat, like bull sharks
are gonna start attacking people in these areas.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
It's possible.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I mean, the most likely candidate for the Jaws inspiration
was a bull shark. But it's just to make people
think of what swimming out there and get the information
out there and also dispel some myths. There are people
out there saying that bull sharks don't go that far
up in Texas and on the Little Louisiana coast, and
that's the.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Thing that happens in South America and a.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Thing that happens in other countries. But the reality is
it does happen here, and that is the largest coastal
shark that you're gonna find real near the coasts around
the beaches most of the time here on the Sabine area.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Stuff like that. There are also.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Lemon sharks, which get pretty big. Lemon sharks aren't that common,
but there have been some big ones caught, like at
High Island.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
And some of those spots like that.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
I know of a nine foot lemon shark that was
caught probably ten years ago around there. Tiger sharks are
caught occasionally down in South Padre.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
They're caught with fair frequency.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
I mean there are guides catching them a few of
those every summer. I mean some big twelve foot or
some huge tiger sharks. We also have hammerhead sharks that
will be caught. We have in Texas waters. We have
a scalloped hammerhead, which is kind of a curved hammer,
and then we have the larger great hammerhead, and they
(06:45):
get really monstrous in size. As a matter of fact,
Robert Vale used to a lot of fishing guiding out.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Of Sabine Lake.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Told me about pulling some trolling rigs out around what
we used to call the double rig, which was about
six miles past the Sabine jetties, and he said him
and his friend both had king mackerel on at the
same time, and this giant hammerhead shark pops up out
of the water, so to speak, to see the fin
the dorsal's there.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
You know, and this thing is huge.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
He said the hammer was probably two and a half
feet across, and that's really really big, maybe even bigger
than that. And he said every time one of the
mackerel would splash, that one eye would go that direction
and try to chase that that mackerel, and the other
one would splash, the other eye would move, and he said,
was the creepiest crazy thing. But that happened right here
out of Sabine Pass. My friend Marcus Heflin of Christian
(07:35):
surf Fishing Adventures was fishing in the surf out of
Sea Rim State Park a few years ago and had
a six to seven foot long hammerhead swim right pass it.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I don't know if he got to.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Look good enough to tell if it was a scalloped
or a gray. I have a feeling that might have
been a scalloped, because there had been several scalloped cont
at the short rigs of that year. But these are
sharks that you hear about on special about the ocean,
but you rarely hear them being caught or encountered here
(08:06):
on the Gulf coast. And to me, that's unfortunate, because
you want our young people to be able to appreciate
these resources. And in a lot of ways, we've treated
the Gulf of Mexico like a dumping ground, unfortunately, and
we need to have a little bit more respect, a
lot more respect for the Gulf and what the Gulf
provides for us, not only in recreation for fishing, but food.
(08:29):
I mean, it's a very very important water body, and
sharks represent you know, the best of that. And it's
always been my mission to make people think more about wildlife.
I mean, it's incredibly important for me to be able
to make people think about wildlife. And if I can
make them think about the Gulf of Mexico, it's a
(08:51):
while After sharks, then it's a win. And it's so
important to get this message out there. And I'm excited
about this programming because we're going to talk a little
bit more about this topic. But how many of you
knew that we had lemon sharks, that we had scalloped
in great hammerheads, that we have bull sharks all the
way into the northern tier of the basin without any question,
into the rivers. Those things do exist here, and there's
(09:16):
other species that are out there in the near shore golf.
I caught a black nose shark about twenty years ago
out of Sabine Pass. Sometimes they'll pop up and be
fairly common areas, and sometimes they're just not there at all.
That's the only one I ever caught, but I know
a Texas Parks and Wildlife crew who catches some on
their long line surveys occasionally, and we have. You know,
(09:37):
there's species in the golf that are recorded in the
Gulf that people don't even really think about existing, like
a poor beagle. You also have sand tigers or native
to the Gulf, but there hasn't been any specimens in
Texas in a long time. Sandbar sharks are caught one
of those one time lots of neat stuff out there.
When we come back on more out those arena, talk
(09:57):
more about sharks in the Gulf of Mexico.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Welcome back to the program.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I'm super excited to have Captain Kyle Johnson of Coastal
Waters Outfitters. He's based out of Mississippi and he fishes
an area that I got to fish three times when
he says he was in high school back in the
early two thousand, the Chandelier Islands. It is a really
cool set of barrier islands off the coast of Louisiana
in Mississippi. I mean I first heard of this shark
(10:25):
bands thing as a deterrent for sharks, and I was
blown away that there was something that seemed viable and real.
And my literal first thought was, Dude, I should have
had these when I fished the Chandelier Islands.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
So welcome to the.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Program, hey man, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
So before we go any further, just get us a
little bit familiar with those islands out there and just
how thick the sharks are.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Yeah. So, the Chanalir Island is a chain of island
basically in the middle of nowhere. You know you've been there.
It's in the middle of Gulf in Mexico. It's about
thirty five miles off the coast of Biloxi and Gulf Court.
That's where I run out of I have a slipping
Gulf Court and Biloxi. But it is a trout and
redfish wade fisherman's dream. I mean, it's just this chain
(11:13):
of island that has absolutely everything that you want. It
has oyster shells, drop off gullies, grass bed, there's a
surf side. I mean, it's got every type of terrain
and the fishing is just there is no other place
like it in my eyes.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's an incredible like an oasis out there.
And like I said, the first time I went down there,
I was like twenty one years old, and so I'm
out here fishing and they put me on this one
little island. They're literally going to be across the other
two guys an island that was like one hundred yards away.
They just said this is a good little pocket fishing here.
And I'm wadefishing and I see a dorsal fin pop
(11:55):
up and I went, eh, sark And I went, oh,
bullshit because the water was clearenough to see what it was.
And it circled me twice before I got my carcass
up on the island. Was casting my top water from
the bank at that point, and I was like, oh that's.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
And I love sharks. I was intrigued.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
But you know, nothing happened, but there was just a
ton of shark activity out there, and you know it's
because of how you know, wonderful of an estuary, how
wonderful an area of a bait fish and all this
kind of stuff's going on out there. So you know,
when you go out there and you're wadefishing and you
have like a stringer with you, I mean, do you
ever get your stringer attacked? But say before shark man,
(12:34):
do you get your stringer attacked by sharks?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Yeah, so I don't. I stopped using my stringer years ago. Man,
when they when they came out with the fish bags,
I got away from the stringer just because you're just
asking for with a stringer. So I haven't tested it
personally with a stringer, and I don't really plan to
you because I have a system that worked, and I
(12:57):
just you know, if it if it ain't, don't fix it,
you know. So I used a hookset wade bag. I
used the ever Last one for a little while. I
just didn't get enough life out of it being a
full time guide, and got the hook set one and
tasted the Zeppelin to my hook set, and dude, it's
(13:20):
a night and day different. We got some drone footage
coming out from Sharp Bands where because I actually contacted him,
they've never even thought to use this for wade fishing.
The way it came about with me was I was
running a trip last summer. A good friend of mine
and a guy down there in Texas, ernest is Narrows.
He comes fishing with me a couple of times a year,
(13:43):
and he had a group down and usually when he
comes with me, he'll kind of go off and do
his own thing, and I'll kind of, you know, take
his He brings a lot of his clients to come
fish with me, but I'll take his clients and we'll
go off and do I'll show him everything. And dude,
we were way away from the boat, I mean really far,
and they were Normally they don't keep a lot of fish,
(14:04):
but they were keeping a few for dinner, you know, so, uh,
they had some stringers and you know you saw it,
did you know? Everybody liked to exaggerate, but a true
you know, five six foot bull shark that's one hundred
plus pounds fish.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Dude, that it was about five to six Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
That is not a small fish. And when those are
hitting your stringer, you kind of get a little nervous.
So at the time, I already had the hookset bag
and I obviously wouldn't get messed with. But they were like, hey,
can we put all our fish in your bag? And
I was like, yeah, make me the yim. I was like, yeah, sure,
So they put all the fish in my bag, and dude,
(14:44):
I had three really big bull sharks circling me. So
I told them, I said, look, we got enough fish.
I said, I'm gonna go ahead and walk these back
and I'm gonna drive the boat down here. And they're
like all right. So I'm trying to walk a straight
line back to the boat, and honestly, I started getting nervous.
Usually I don't. I catch a lot of sharks on
other charters and things. I'm very familiar with them. I
(15:07):
know a lot about them. But they were, they were
stalking me, and I started to get nervous. So I
walked back up on the bank and had to walk
way out of my way to get back to the boat.
And when I got back from that trip, I said,
I got to figure something out, you know. You know,
I got to because the bag's working. They're not going
to hit the bag, but it's like they were waiting
(15:28):
for an opportunity to hit it. So uh, it just
kind of made me nervous. And a good friend of mine,
he's a marketing rep and I know him through Grundin's
and my buddy Dennis and Dennis told me. I was
telling him about that story and he said, man, they
got this new product now we're stelling called shark bands,
(15:50):
and he told me about it, and I was like,
I'm in So I just ordered one. I was like,
if this thing works a quarter of what he says,
I'll be happy. And I asked him if anybody had
use it are wading, and he said, man, I use
it a little bit, but the sharks weren't bad. And
so I put it on my bag and what I
saw would happen is, dude, I'll be fishing and just
(16:10):
not paying attention and then all of a sudden, there
just be this huge swirl behind me, and it kept
happening and I couldn't figure out what it was until
one day out there, the water's just crystal clear, and
it was it was August of last year, and the
sharks are just insane out there, August in September, and
(16:31):
I hear this huge swirl and I turn around and
I finally saw it. It was a shark just high
tailing it out of there. And I was like, well
that that's pretty interesting, you know. So the first time
I was like, I started thinking back, I was like
with all those other times were those you know, sharks
that were high tailing, and sometimes you get jacks and
redfish that'll do that, you know, especially out there. And
(16:54):
so after it happened about four or five times, I
called Dennis and I was like, I was like, get
me in touch with the Sharp Band guys. I need
to I need to tell them about this. It's impossible
to get video of it. You'd have to have a
camera recording twenty four to seven and you'd have to
have one, you know, recording behind you and stuff. And
I said, man, y'all, y'all need to come out here
and get some you know, some footage of this. And
(17:16):
they did. We got a Derne guy out there. Of course,
you know when it comes to shoot day the windscreen
and you know cloudy. So we got a little bit
of footage. But they're coming back here soon to get
some more. But it's incredible, dude. I was blown away.
How well I do not have to worry about sharks anymore.
And that's a pretty that's a pretty good feeling.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Well, you know, it's you know, here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
If people don't understand where these islands are, this isn't
like you hop in if even if you have like
a small bite right and you're bleeding, you you're not
a very easy run to a hospital.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
I mean, oh no, dude, you're you're your Your best
scenario would be getting air lifted out of there, and
even even at that, you know it's gonna take them
an hour and a half two hours to get there. Well,
I would, you know, if I thought about this just
in case something does happen. There's there's some mother ships
out there, and there's some jack up barges and things
like that, but if the weather's right, I'm probably just
(18:11):
gonna you know, I'm gonna haul ass in because you
know that that was the whole point I started doing
it with the boat that I have, is you know,
i'd get out there and you know, thirty forty minutes
on the right day, and I could get somebody back
to land faster than they could get a helicopter out there.
To be honest with you, because if you know, the
closest one is gonna come from Mobile or you know,
(18:31):
somewhere like that, or or maybe maybe Gulf Court, maybe
maybe New Orleans, but it's gonna be a ways away.
There's no real big cities. New Orleans is the biggest city,
closest fandl here. You know, Gulf Court and Bilofier are
small compared to other cities.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah, well, you know, it's it's fascinating the idea of like,
you know, this active shark deterrent that uses magnetic technology
to do this. It doesn't hurt the shark, doesn't seem
to bother other fish, but can you know, literally keep
you safe out there. And uh, what blew me away
is it doesn't have a battery, you know.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Like, yeah, well, yeah, so what that.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Works doesn't have a battery you got to replace. I
love this.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah, it's awesome, man, It's super sturdy. I've been using it.
You know, I'm a full time guide and I'm do
a lot of wade fishing trips and dude, I'm hard
on my stuff, man, and I've been dragging that thing
across oyster beds, shells, you know everything. It's pretty much
indestructible in my eyes, it really is. I don't think
(19:36):
the only way that you're going to break it is
if you'll lose it, you know, that's really the only
way you're gonna You can't need another one. But it
does it works awesome. I can tell you right now.
It does not affect any other fish whatsoever when I'm waiting,
whether it's winter time or not. It's just it's attached
to my back. I have no reason to take it off.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
So when we come back on Laura Doors, we'll talk
more about the sham into Lear Islands. Welcome back to
more Outdoors on News Talk five sixty k l v. I.
Now we're going to talk with South Padre Island guide
Captain Luise Flondez about the art of shallow water fishing
for reds and specs.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Welcome to the.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Program, Captain the Luise Flondez of on the Drift Charters.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
How you doing, sir, I'm doing well.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
Thanks for having me appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
You know you doing it was, you know interesting last
year I was down there and the weather went chaotic,
and like a few days ago, you'll have basically the
same weather pattern pop up.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
You know, you can expect tons of wind April May
June it gets really windy, especially in the asking you
over here, and you can expect something like fifteen or
twenty five, sometimes thirty miles an hour. It gets windy
down here, but.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
You guys are still catching some red fish, aren't you.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
Oh yeah, yeah, you know these reds they love it.
I feel like they get fired up. You get this
wind going and they get they get fired up for
for free ed and you know they're out and about
looking for bait. So it definitely turns on the bike.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Yeah, so let's talk about that right now here we're toward.
We're at the beginning of June and that summer fishing
people coming down to South Padre to have a good time,
and what is your kind of go to let. We're
going to start with this, usually on a morning fishing trip.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Yeah. So you know down here on South Padrea we've
got big, big, wide open grass flats, sand flance and
you know they're just so wide open where you can
just drift for miles. Usually I like to drift fish.
I like to cover ground and you know, sneak into
the fish with my boat and work work a flat.
So you know, the saying that wind is really good
(21:44):
for us. We really rely on the wind a lot,
and the windear the better. I always say, you know,
you're able to cover ground a lot faster. So I
like to fish a grass flat with a good mixture
of grass and sand holes and active date work in
the area. Redfish like to hang out in that shallow
water we all know. So this time of the year,
(22:05):
I've noticed that it's as it gets warmer, you know,
these fish are starting to move over a little bit
more to the deeper water. Early in the morning. You know,
it's cooler in the morning, so you can find them
still in that one foot of water two foot of
water where they're hanging out. They're happy, nice and cool
for them. But then as the sun starts popping up,
the water starts getting a little warmer, and they start
(22:26):
moving over a little bit and going into about that
three four foot depth. So that's kind of what I
look for. I go out and look for in an
area that's that's got that depth and and all the
active bait working.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
You know, for someone who's never been down to beautiful
South Padre and maybe they fished in Galveston or maybe
over in Louisiana or somewhere, uh, the habitat is a
whole lot closer than what you to what you might
see even in the northern part of the Florida Keys,
and it is the so of the Texas coast.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Oh yeah, it's it's beautiful. You know, so many can
will get so, you know, surprised at the way the
flats are down here. You know, we're going out to
the spot and we'll finally stop and they look down.
First thing they do is look down and they can
see straight to the bottom, you know, and they're like
two and a half little water, and they start freaking out.
They get excited. They see our healthy grass. They see
(23:19):
the clarity is one hundred percent clear. And this isn't
in the whole bay, but most of most of the
base days like that. You know, we've got so much grass.
It keeps it keeps it all down, doesn't let it
get stirred up too much. And it's just beautiful. It
really is a blessing to have these beautiful flats down here.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Now, are you doing most of your fishing, I assume
in lower Laguna Madre side. Are you doing any fishing
at South Bay at all?
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (23:43):
I do.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
I do go to South Bay. It's it's of course,
it's a couple of minutes down down South. I'll head
out there, you know, and and and go have some
fun over there sometimes. But mostly I've been going up
north and working the north section of the lagoon at
the time of the year here, but I will I
will find myself going into South Bay. I love that place.
(24:04):
It could be a magical place. You've got deep channels
that run through there and shallow flats, oyster bars, and
it's it can be a really neat place to fish.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Yeah, a lot of interesting habitats. So let's say maybe
you have some clients come out that are newbies to
red fish and they never fish for red fish before.
What might you set them up with. You're gonna set
them up with a popincork and some gulf or what
is your kind of your favorite go to for maybe
newer anglers.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
Sure, so I get that a lot. You know, like
you said, the island is a big tourist destination. So
I get a bunch of families and people that aren't
really experienced. So, uh, you can't go wrong with with
with the bait, you know, if there's the first town
fishing and you know, I've only got five hours to
get them on fish or and I feel like, you know,
we need to maximize their their fight, So I like
(24:51):
to go out with some fresh bait. Dead bait is
a good way to go. It's a good option to go,
whether it be dead mullet, valley who or maybe even
some live shrimp. That's always good. Cut up dead bait
seems to get them fired up. You know, they can
pick up on the scent really quick. So fish in
the bottom. You know, these red fish will work the
(25:12):
water column. But I feel the easiest way to get
them would be with dead bait on the bottom. So
we'd go out and either drift fish or excuse me,
and drift or anchor up fishing the bottom with dead mullet,
dead balley who is pretty successful for clients that you know,
they have never picked the barad for before, so it's
(25:34):
easier for him.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Now talk about that a little bit more advanced thing.
Maybe you ever have any buy say, hey, man, I
have to catch your red on the top water.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Oh yeah, oh man, that's cool that you just said that.
I just I went out this morning with my dad
and he had a big blow up on top water.
That's one of my favorite things to see is watching
a red fish come up on top and blow it up.
It's so so much fun. And get that. I get
that a lot. I get guys to say, no, I
know I can catching with mullet, you know, I want
to catch them on artificial and I've got there's so
(26:04):
many varieties that you can use for them. Of course,
my preference is the d o A dark baits, druk
shats and stuff. Yeah, and then we'll throw top water plugs.
Top water plugs is great because you know, it gets
it makes a ton of noise, and we're usually fishing
two to three feet of water, so it's right above
their heads. And we know redfish like to eat on
the bottom and you know, pick up crabs and shrimp,
(26:25):
shrimp and grass and the grass. But they'll hear that plug,
you know, making noise right over them. And it's so
cool to watch come up and blow it up.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
You know.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
The first time I really saw I caught red fish
on top waters before this, before I actually saw it
in clear water. Uh by my mind just thinking about
watching that fish with the mouth designed to hit the
bottom kind of roll up on the side and hit
that plug.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Yeah, it's it's insane. I mean you'll see them. You'll
see them like two or three feet kind of looks
almost like a submarine, you know, surfacing and it's just
making this big old wake behind the plugug and you're
just anticipating that strike. You know it's coming. And they
really have to pretty much get like most of their
body out of the water to hit this plug. Like
you said, their face and their head is kind of
(27:10):
angled downwards a little bit as opposed to a trout,
but they do have to come up like half of
their body to strike that plug. And it's just a
big old blow up and looks kind of like a
toilet full flush.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
You know.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
They just plam it, blow it up, and then it's
just drag screaming fun after that.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Yeah, they hit hard. So on the side this time
of year, do you see any oversized red fish?
Speaker 4 (27:34):
Oh, there have been. We've been. We've been catching some
steady oversized red fish. Average about twenty nine thirty inches
thirty one thirty two. That's kind of the average bull
red that we get in our bay. But you'll get
the occasionally you'll get thirty five plus or something. But
they've been they've been showing up. We've been catching some
really nice ones. I've noticed the difference in the colors,
(27:57):
you know, you can see sometimes you'll catch as reds
where they're kind of like more of a copper bronze color. Yeah,
and then all of a sudden you catch one and
it's like bright orange. You know, it's almost like gold
and orange. And you know, you haven't seen one that color.
And I feel like they're coming in from from offshore. Yeah,
you know, they're coming in from the ocean, and it's
(28:19):
those are the most beautiful, beautiful ones to see. But
we've been seeing tons of those pumpkin reds we call them,
you know.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
And redfish are such a hearty fish.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
I mean, they're not the fastest fish in the world,
but they are a bulldog and just don't want to stop.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
Oh yeah. It's like it's like cooking a little miniature train. Man.
They're They're fun. That's why so many people love to
catch them. It's one of the most sought after sport
fish in Texas, especially down here in the lower of
the you know, everybody wants to catch redfish. And I've
noticed so much more pressure. Actually the last year or two,
I've noticed more and more people are just you know,
(28:56):
getting all these reds, trying to get on them and
trying to catch red fish. Sure has risen for redfish.
I feel more and more people are trying to catch them.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Well, I think it's funny sometimes because you know, they're like,
you know, you get to guys that are really spoiled
to catch reds all the time, and they kind of
get jaded to red fish, like, oh, I just want
to catch a trout. I love trout too, but man, god,
there's something about hanging into that big, beautiful redfish. It's unforgettable.
Of Course, when I was a little kid, there weren't
that many. I mean it was right where I was
a little beaty kid. It was I had to tail
(29:26):
into the redfish wars. And you know, the first time
I caught illegal redfish, it was a big deal. And
it's just been so cool to see that develop. And
of course, you guys have that amazing fishery, that flat
fishery down there. But of course redfish aren't the only resident.
You guys got trout. Of course, you know, Lower Laguna
Madre took a hit with the freeze on speckled trout,
(29:47):
but there are still plenty of speckled trout in parts
of that area.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Oh yeah, Yeah, the population for trut's been really good.
I feel like, I know, I'm glad that there are
these new regulations to take care of them and to
help them.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
When we come back on More Outdoors, we'll talk more
about shallow water fishing for reds and specks. Welcome back
to More Outdoors on News Talk five sixty KLV. This
is Chester Moore talking with Captain Luis Flondez about fishing
the flats. Well, I think it's funny sometimes because you know,
they're like, you know, you get to guys that are
(30:20):
really spoiled to catch reds all the time, and they
kind of get jaded to red fish, like, oh, I
just want to catch a trout. I love trout too,
but man, God, there's something about hanging into that big,
beautiful redfish. It's unforgettable. Of Course, when I was a
little kid, there weren't that many. I mean it was
right where I was a little beaty kid. It was
I had the tail end of the redfish wars, and uh,
you know, the first time I caught illegal redfish, it
(30:42):
was a big deal. And it's just been so cool
to see that develop. And of course, you guys had
that amazing fishery, that flat fishery down there, But of
course redfish aren't the only resident. You guys got a
trout of course, you know, lowera Laguna Madre took a
hit with the freeze on speckled trout, but there are
still plenty of trout in parts of that area.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
Oh yeah, Yeah, the population for trout's been really good.
I feel like, you know, I'm glad that there are
these new regulations to take care of them and to
help them, you know, kind of come back and be
one hundred percent again. But I've been catching them, and
you know, even while we're trying to catch reds, they're
starting to show up everywhere. Such a healthy, strong population
of trout showing up. I feel like they're making a
(31:22):
great comeback, and I know that this this uh, this
change in regulation is really going to help them out
the next year's now for the future for sure.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
A lot of that red fish. Actually, we're just talking
about what sort of site fishing. Do you ever do
site fishing for trout? Oh?
Speaker 4 (31:38):
Yeah, I do. I do do site fishing for trout.
It's one of my favorite things to do. I've got
a little sight casting platform on my fallow sport and
I love to go out and you know, pick my
days when it's just like ten miles an hour, eight
miles an hour winter where it's just enough ripple to
where I can cruise up on a flat and stand
up there and throw a fish. And recently I was
(32:00):
out on this flat targeting reds and trout, and I
was I was pitching at reds and trout every four
or five minutes, you know, just by myself, throwing d
o a jerk shots at them and watching them meeting.
This one really cool moment I had. I had just
lined some nice reds. I get back on top and
I start seeing these two huge gator trout like coming
(32:21):
straight at me, just on a straight line, and I'm
powered drifts and so I'm facing forward at them, two
huge trout and I'm just like, oh my god, Like
I got to get a lure in front of these guys. Yeah,
you know, So I pitch my lure riding between both
of them, and they're at least twenty eight thirty inches.
I mean, they're they're they're big, they're big trout. So
I'm fired up. I watched this one trout turn to
the left, sees my lure, sucks it down, hits it,
(32:44):
and it's just boom fish on. You know, right away,
it's just one of the most beautiful things to see
watching a big trout go for your lure and and
the fight, the head shakes and it's amazing. Look, that's
my favorite thing to dude, catching big trout on on Loure,
especially sidecasting them.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yeah, that's cool stuff, man, So a big trout down
on that clear water. In my experience, the clear of
the water, the more line shot trout tend to get
using floral carbon leaders and stuff like that.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
Yep, the twenty five pounds floor carbon is my go to. Yeah,
you know, I love Cegars, usually been my go to
brand for that. It's the twenty five pound I feel
just right, you know, you can still get it out
there far and and it's still pretty tough, and they
don't seem to mind. You know, they hit, they hit,
no problem. Yeah, it's been great. It's been great for that,
(33:33):
especially in the clear water.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
People think, like, you know, who don't really get hardcore
into fishing, think, you know, maybe they had a good
day out one time.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
It's always easy.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
But uh, yeah, I've always been fascinated. Of course, you
wouldn't be a guide if you weren't sort of fascinated
in cracking the code of making all those conditions work
for you.
Speaker 4 (33:51):
Right right, Yeah, Yeah, it's it's different, definitely, having to
adjust to every every day is different. You get it
on different curve balls. You go out there and it's
not the same as yesterday. You know, you've got different
wind direction, you've got different temperature, especially in Texas, and
that plays a big role in the fish. And then
you've got the tide movements are changing, so it's like
(34:13):
you've got one different map, your your base kind of
mapped out differently every day. The fish are doing the
same thing because they're also working the tides. The reds
and the trout, they're working the same tides we are,
they're working the same wind we are. So you kind
of have to think like the fish in the sense
you go out and go fishing in a way, you know,
go out and look look for signs and adjust to
(34:35):
the wind or just to the tides, the temperature. It's
always and that's that's the challenge. That's what makes it
fun because these reds aren't always in the same spot.
They're they're really challenging to find and catch. Sometimes you know,
you can find them in one spot and then you know,
go back there the next day and they're nowhere to
be found. You know, they're chasing bait. And that's what
(34:56):
makes it so so fun for everyone.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Now done in south pods being a really shallow zone
on the base side, How big of a tide swing
you're typically looking at today.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
We're looking at maybe one to two foot tige changes
on average. Nothing really too extreme, you know, it's just
and it's not really like really drastic, really fast or anything.
Most of the time it's pretty just a steady outgoing
or incoming tide and it's uh, I guess the only
time we really get really intense tide changes when we
(35:28):
get like those flood tides. Yeah, we've got tons of
rain coming in and pouring in from from from rivers
and stuff like that. That's when we get a little
bit more drastic tide changes. But for the most part,
it's it's a pretty pretty low change.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Now, Let's say you have someone who wants to come
maybe has been some vacation down down the South padre.
But on that vacation, when to come fish with Captain
Louis Flondez and catch a big stinking redfish.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
Looking down on the calendar and let's say they you know,
they could book you. What would be an ideal time?
Is there an ideal moon phase or in thing? You go,
you know what, these days may be a little bit better.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
Sure, So I feel like, you know, someone wants to
go out, go out and target red fish. For the
most part, I stay on them really good year round.
You know, people think it's just seasonal, but for me,
I haven't really been able to say, hey, you know what,
this time of the year, it's just better red fishing
because I feel like I catch them all the time
(36:26):
in every season. You know. That's yeah, that's that's a
great thing to go through. So once you kind of
like stay on them, I've been hunting on my that's
my thing. I love red fishing. So I kind of
really you know, pride myself and and just kind of
knowing where they are this time of the year and
what they're doing, what they want to eat. But I
like to tell people, you know, come out and the
(36:48):
fall is a really fun time of fish. Of course,
it's a lot it's a lot more comfortable. You get
a little bit better, cooler weather. The summer is great. Also,
you go out early and you get the early morning
buy is usually feeding just a lot better early in
the morning. Yeah, before it gets really hot. That's really
what I would just tell people, just you know, go
(37:09):
out and try to come out when it's it's not
as not as at I guess you could say, when
you go out early, come back in by noon and
and that's usually been working out really well.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
But you know what's so cool about the South Padre
Fishery of course, and you got redfish, possible site casting,
the trout you guys got, and you guys have snooky
the surf side of a guy just caught a thousand
pounds tiger shark.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
Oh I saw that.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
It was mind boggling, man. And so there's lots of
cool stuff. And if someone wants that unique trip to
a part of Texas, it's just a little bit different.
South Padre area is a great place to go. Thanks
for listening to More Outdoors tonight. Don't You can connect
with me at Higher Calling dot net, Higher Calling Wildlife
on Facebook, at the chester More on Instagram that's the
(38:01):
Chester Moore and email me at chester at Chestermore dot com.
God bless you and have a great outdoors weekend.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.