May 19th arrived 9pm.....
May 20th set up camp......we have 3 newbies, 3 children under 4 years old...fishing took a back seat.
May 21st finally.......camped in Padre Bay.
Water temp was 68F and we set out for Buoy 25. Water was glass even after organizing the family we set out around 11am. There were 3 boats from the sheer wall to the small cove east of Face Canyon. We trolled along the wall in 100ft+ of water, hooked up twice but both came off. Ended up in the small cove and decided to cast to shore in 40ft of water. Immediately hooked into a striper then started chumming with anchovies....game on! Spent 90 - 120 minutes stirring up the school, we had some friends that were first timers on LP so I played bait boy and they kept fishing. A lot of learning and these friends were so thrilled about catching some fish that fought so hard. All ranged from 2-4 lbs. All had fat bellies and looked healthy. Hooked into the first fish with a swim bait, shad color, then we went to anchovie baited 1/2 oz jig hooks. Dropped straight down until out of sight, than BAM! FISH ON! (Text Book) Even my daughter reeled in a small striper, which I filleted for bait. First time using this technique...worked fantastic. Hooked through the skin, and that bait does not come off, would catch 2-3 fish without having to rebait the hook.
Ended up with 14 striped bass and one Small Mouth (caught on a XD Strike King 20' crank diver sexy shad while trolling).
Saw 2 guys in a white boat in the same cove doing well and a guy (big hat) on a pontoon with his boy and wife. Said hello and he said he had about 20 in the boat just off the point of the sheer wall to the north.
DMA