Fishingthe Foam
Warming tides heat up the Texas surf. Text and photos by Bink Grimes
A TIDE
S MY TIRES HIT THE Matagorda sand, it was evi- dent my backyard pool had more of a chop on it than the Gulf of Mexico. I
quickly exited my truck, fastened my wading belt, grabbed my favorite pair of plugs and stroked a long cast into the humid darkness.
I don’t know which was louder, the gentle lap of the incoming tide against the beach, or the scores of pogies get- ting crushed by something huge and hungry.
It’s a plugger’s dream to work a top- water in an emerald surf, hearing every audible sound of the ball-bearing as it dances left and right. The anticipation of a crushing blow from an intense speckled trout resonating through a quality piece of graphite ranks right up there with decoying snow geese, coastal careening pintails, mallards in
the timber and a Boone and Crockett buck.
I just knew any second my Top Dog would bark, but as dawn’s eyes opened, I hadn’t had a sniff. Then it all made sense. Large scales of silver verified all the commotion. There was a large school of 60-80 pound tarpon and occasionally a 120-pounder, shadowing a massive
Know the tides
before you take the plunge, or you might find yourself wasting your time fishing the first gut at the end of the outgoing tide.
concentration of menhaden on the second bar. If I were a speck I wouldn’t have been there either.
It was a sight to behold and proba- bly my most memorable surf fishing trip that never resulted in a single fish.
THE TIME IS NOW
With water temperatures in the mid- 70s, a flat Texas surf is only a light north wind away. Obviously, the appealing attribute of the surf is its access by anyone on foot and, with the invention of surf cams up and down the coast, you don’t have to waste a trip and the near $4 a gallon gasoline, pray- ing all the while the water is green and the waves are flat. Know the tides before you take the plunge, or you might find yourself wasting your time fishing the first gut at the end of the outgoing tide. Or
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