"June, The Start of Summertime Patterns"

    By:  Capt. Brent Hopkins

June, here in the Coastal Bend, can be feast or famine depending on many
different factors. School has now come to close for the kids, and families
are bringing themselves to the coast to do a little fishing while on vacation.

With many more boats on the water and the temperatures rising, those of us
that are really serious about catching some quality fish have to get an early
start to beat the crowds and heat. Also, the wind starts to subside considerably
making the heat even worse on both us and our quarry.

If you plan to wade fish the shorelines and catch trout, you most certainly
need to be close to your first fishing destination before day break. With
our water temps rising and the spawn now in full swing, the bigger female trout will
be up very shallow in the hard sand & grass early in the mornings. Once it gets
good and light out, approximately around 8 a.m., most of the big females will
have moved out from the very shallow water because of the excessive boat traffic
running over them. Large trout do not like "crowded & disturbed" water. Once they
are chased out of the shallows, they will move off to the 5-7 foot depth range
and wait for more favorable times, usually very early morning hours, to move
back up to the shallows to feed and spawn. The best baits to try and fool one of
these "mamas" is a slow suspending bait, or your favorite topwater worked in and
around the sand pockets you see scattered throughout the grass. The smaller, more
irregular sand pockets should be focused upon the most. Lots of nervous and "bunched
up" bait is always a plus. During the month of June there is never a shortage of
baitfish along any of our shorelines, and without a trained eye it can be tough to
read the signs. For those of you that like to fish live bait, a live croaker is
very, very deadly on a big sow trout that you would like to hang on the wall. If
you are looking for trout to eat, return the big girls back to the water WITHOUT
netting them, so that they can live to fight another day and reproduce.

For those of you that don't wade fish and you do your fishing from the
boat, you don't necessarily have to get such an early start. But keep in mind,
the early bird usually gets the worm. During June there are lots of trout on
our oyster shell out in the middle of our bays. The best bait for catching some
keeper trout while fishing from the boat is to use live croaker. Find a good piece
of shell in 4-6 foot of water and get after it. ANY KIND of bait fish you have
around these kinds of reefs is a good indicator there might be some predators
around. Once you have fished a spot for about 20 minutes without a bite, it is time
to move on. There's probably no keeper fish around. But on the other hand, if
you catch a fish or two right off the bat and don't catch any more for the next
10 minutes, give it another 20 minutes before moving on. The fish might have
possibly moved off a ways and will return after things have settled down.

As for red fish, look no further than your favorite little piece of shell
up close to the shoreline in about 2 feet of water on a falling tide. The many
little feeder creeks running into our backwater lakes are also very good spots to
try on a falling tide. Red fish love these kinds of areas. The sand pockets and
breaks out in the flats will also be good places to try, but these areas are high
boat traffic areas. Best baits for red fish during this time of year is either a
3" or 4" paddle tail bait such as Norton Bull Minnows or some kind of cut
bait such as menhaden, perch, or mullet. Forget about the use of shrimp because
there will be too many little bait robbers to deal with during this time.

I hope all of you have a good and safe summer this year. Remember to be
safe out there on the water and treat others with the same courtesy that you would
want to receive yourself. If you should see me around town anytime, stop by and say
hi. I would be glad to visit with you and trade a few stories with a fellow
fishing enthusiast.