The Saltwater Magazine for Gulf Coast Fishing!
FISHING FORECASTS
| FISHING CALENDARS | ARTICLES | SUBSCRIBE
FALL 2010 Preview
ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?
RENEW SECURELY
ONLINE! - OR CALL:800-552-GULF (4853)
Subscription
RENEWAL
Subscription starts with
FALL 2010 (OCT-DEC)
One Year Only
$15.00
If you would prefer to order by phone, please call 800-552-4853
U.S. Subscriptions Only
Our solution was to approach them in kayaks. Paddling over 30 miles south from Corpus Christi was way out of the question even for highly experienced kayak fishing compadres like Amancio and Todd. Todd knew we would need a sizable boat to ferry three kayaks that far. His solution was Captain Tom Callahan. Tom has a very wide Carolina Skiff that is 24 feet long with a very roomy front deck. Todd's idea was to fashion a wooden kayak rack to fit Tom's skiff and lash it and the kayaks down in some manner. Days later we all rendezvoused before dawn at the Bird Island Basin boat ramp at the Padre Island National Seashore... From Ashphalt to the
Sand by
Nate Skinner
The transition from late summer to early fall on the Texas Gulf Coast sparks a feeding frenzy among the water's top predators and game fish. Schools of baitfish and shrimp will start a slow migration process, moving from the bays and estuaries, back to the saltier waters of the Gulf as the seasons begin to change. With this migration, you can bet that some toothy, hard hitting, spotted predators are not far behind looking for an easy meal. For anglers, this means one thing-the surf is on fire, and full of speckled trout. When the surf goes flat during the months of August to October, it's
time to get some sand on those tires and walk out into the Gulf of Mexico.
The upper Texas Coast, from McFaddin Beach to the San Luis Pass, offers
nearly 100 miles of sun drenched beaches that are lapped by the salty, game
fish-filled waters of the Gulf, much of which are free to public and vehicle
access....
Durel had recently gotten some inspiring news about the action on the lake, so we picked a decent mid-December day, made the run, and found the marina in Theriot socked in with fog! No real problem there, though, since a fairly well defined bayou west of the launch-site leads to the lake, and Durel had made the trip several times beforehand. So we picked our way down the bayou without incident, swung around a fleet of stacked drilling rigs at the point where the bayou met the lake, and on my suggestion kept them in sight until we located the lake's eastern shoreline...
Captain-Coach Floyd Ciruti is a fishing guide who listens to his clients. Ciruti said, "I ask them what they would like to know and then I coach. I'd like the whole experience to be fun for them. I want them to feel like they learned something about reading the water, watching bait, and how to decide whether or not to fish an area. And I try to get them to understand and see nature." Ciruti has a unique background especially suited to his profession. A native of Baytown, Texas he grew up playing sports and fishing in Trinity and Galveston Bays. After high school, Ciruti went to college at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville where he played baseball. In 1972 he was named to the All-America first team in the Lone star conference National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes as a center fielder. After graduating from Sam Houston, Ciruti played semipro baseball for four summers. He found his true calling however, when he accepted a position with Wharton High School as coach and teacher. The Wharton High School baseball team won 550 games in the 30 years that
Ciruti coached. They only had two losing seasons, and were almost always
in the playoffs. Fishing was Ciruti's way to escape during his coaching
career, to get away from everything and sort things out in his head. He
said, "I didn't have a boat when I moved to Wharton, and I just started
driving to places to fish. Then I got a boat and started fishing East and
West Matagorda Bays, and have been fishing them ever since." When asked
what it took to be such a successful coach he said, "Good coaching
is finding ways to get average kids to perform up to and beyond their capability.
The ones with talent are going to perform well anyway." Helping fishermen
perform up to their capabilities involves a lot of factors, but after retiring
from coaching in 2007, Ciruti got his captains license and decided to take
on that challenge...
|
Over the years I heard a lot of
glowing reports about the autumn and winter speck fishing in Lake Decade,
located a little southwest of Houma. But as such, it was a comparatively
long way from my erstwhile home in the Delta - where I was literally surrounded
by some excellent autumn and winter speck fishing! So I had to get displaced
by K. before I made my first trip there, which was complements of my Acadiana
rice-farmer buddy Durel Romaine.
