Brown Lures

Third Coast Kayak Series - Blue Heron Adventures Report

Capt. Steve Utley - Team Blue Heron Adventures -

Charlie of Team Blue Heron wrote this article in recap of the Third Coast Kayak Series held by JerryB’s Kayaks.

I joined up with my teammate, Capt. Steve Utley of Blue Heron Adventures guide service, for a morning of fishing last Friday. We were pre-fishing for the Third Coast Kayak Series in Corpus Christi. It was to be the first of five tournaments scheduled for the year. We met up at the launch site at around 7am. Rather than haul my own kayak from Houston, Steve offered me the use of a Heritage Redfish for the weekend. I found it to be very comfortable, and it paddled nicely. We casually unloaded the kayaks and our gear, stretched our fly lines, and ate breakfast tacos. He showed me his newest Castaway rods, and I showed him some new flies. There was no hurry on this morning while the wind wasn’t too bad, and before long we were off and paddling. Steve led me to a quiet pocket a short distance away, and within minutes of our arrival I was hooked up on a nice keeper class redfish. The fish fell to Amber - Brown Lures Sea Devil, fished on a 1/16 oz jig head. We snapped a couple quick photos, and released the fish to fight again another day. I drifted in close to a shallow shoreline throwing a topwater and I was rewarded with another slot redfish on my first cast. Not bad, two quality fish in a matter of minutes. The bite slowed down a bit, and we continued paddling to our next area. It was about this time that my new partner Jonas had joined us. Jonas is very skilled with the fly rod, and he was more than happy to share a much needed casting lesson with me. We fished until early afternoon, and then called it a day. We all met up again that evening to join the other teams for the captains meeting at Jerry B’s Kayaks. It was nice to see all of the familiar faces and everyone seemed to be feeling confident. There was a lot of laughing and joking going on as always. The next morning, 4:30am came quickly, and we were on our way to Jerry B’s for the shotgun start. After what felt like an hour, but was really about 15 minutes, we were allowed to leave for our chosen fishing grounds. My new teammate Paul and I rode with Capt Steve in the Blue Heron Adventures Suburban. We launched together, but each headed our own way soon afterward. I worked the North shoreline of a series of islands picking up a handful of keeper sized Speckled trout along the way. The first fish hit a topwater bait, and the rest were caught on a Pink Hologram Sea Devil. The three of us met up a couple of hours later to compare notes. Paul had located an area that was holding some nice Redfish. He had already caught a limit of upper slot reds using a Black Cat Sea Devil rigged on a 1/8 oz jig head with an added rattle, and he also brought in one that measured 28.5 inches. Steve and I were both struggling to catch anything other than average sized fish. We all continued fishing for the rest of the afternoon, meeting again at around 2pm to load up. I was able to grind out a few more fish, but nothing big enough to put me in contention. Our fourth team member Jonas opted to fish a different area, and managed to catch some nice fish with his fly rod. We all arrived back at Jerry B’s with plenty of time to spare. There was a huge cooler of boiled shrimp for the competitors to enjoy while their photos were being reviewed. As always, there were some really nice fish brought in. Congratulations to all of the winners, including my teammate Paul, His 28.5 inch Red took top honors in its division. My efforts were recognized as well… I caught the smallest speckled trout of the day (7.75 inches) which won me a Kistler Rod donated by team Ocean Kayak.

Team Blue Heron Adventures took Third in the team division.
The next stop is Port Isabel and I am looking forward to joining my team for another weekend on the water.

Charles King (aka FlatFishCharlie)
Team Blue Heron Adventures
Twistedcritters

Click the link below to see what Capt. Steve Utley has to say about kayak fishing in Corpus Christi lately:

Corpus Christi Kayak Fishing Report with Captain Steve Utley

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Tags: Capt. Utley, corpus christi fishing, fishing report, fishing tournament, fly rod, kayak fishing, pink hologram, redfish, sea devil, third coast kayak series, topwater lures