Hillman Guide Service

[CaptSteve]

Well, it's been a long while since I've updated my reports. I spent a lot of time deer hunting in December and January while coming home to run a few trips occasionally before heading back to South Texas. I finally got the hunting bug out of my system by January 7th and got back to fishing pretty dang hard. We've caught fish on every single trip again this winter. Some days we'll catch more trout and some days we'll hammer the redfish. Most of it depends on which area of the bay we fish.

As usual, we've stayed way off the beaten path on most days to avoid what has become of very crowded bay. Some of my favorite winter big trout areas from years past are now being routinely stomped on by overzealous, social media-hungry fishermen. Some of them are new “fishing guides” just trying to make a name for themselves. There’s obviously nothing wrong with trying to get your name out there. We all had to do things to jump start our business in the beginning. There is, however, a right and a wrong way to do it. For instance, it’s not all that smart to post a picture on your favorite internet fishing board or Face Book showing everything including well-known landmarks in the background. Some folks will even post the locations of where they are fishing. Social media and networking in general have really clogged up areas that used to be best-kept secrets. Things have changed in the 30 years that I’ve been fishing this bay. I’m trying to cope with it, but it’s been a struggle. Sorry for the bellyaching. I feel better now.

We’ve been catching the majority of our fish over typical winter-time structure such as mud and shell. The magic depth has been 3.5 to 4.5 feet most of the winter. Some of our larger trout (up to 7 pounds) have come out of 2 to 2.5 feet of water. Most of the redfish have been caught out of schools over jagged oyster shell in 1.5 to 3 feet of water. MirrOdine XL’s, Corkies and Maniac Mullets have produced very well for the better part of the winter even when drift fishing. Soft plastics have been productive especially during the brief warming trend we just had. Anything with plum or limetreuse has worked well in Bass Assassins or Tidal Surge Split Tail Mullets. We’re rigging them on 1/8 ounce jigheads when drifting and 1/16 ounce when wading for the most part.