David (Da Drifter) and I have been talking about hitting a few rigs off Padre Island National Seashore sometime this summer....well that time finally caught up with us this past weekend.

I rolled down to Corpus Christi Texas on Friday, David has to work, so off to the Upper Laguna flats I go to pass the time. This area is the top end of the Laguna, near Naval Airstation Corpus Christi, a very fond fishing area for me through the years. Hot, no wind, glassy water.....not good for skinny water fishing but, you can't catch them if you don't give it a whirl. I did manage one "catch & release" redfish. Slow fishing, The Nueces River is running out of her banks right now, flushing the entire tidal zone with sweet fresh water. Typically the flats this time of year are loaded with redfish. Too much fresh water and they are scattered and tough to pattern. Things will get better as the summer starts to wind down and the river flow returns to normal. 

Based on my Friday fishing adventures in the Upper Laguna, David and I simply know we have to take the game offshore. So Saturday morning finds us running out Packery Channel, into the Gulf of Mexico, targeting a five oil rig set about six miles off the Padre Island National Seashore. On the troll out we score one Spanish Mackerel and I have one super sized RattleTrap cut off to something with teeth along a weed line. Oh well, that's fishing.

Slow trolling ribbon fish is slow so it's decided to tie off to a "stick up" rig and float ribbon fish under carefully tied pink doggie balloons.  David's son Robbie has gotten used to some of our fishing tactics. Heck it works!

As we float doggies for King Mackerel, we shift gears to casting tackle and start working Spade fish, Trigger fish and Lesser Amberjacks till our arms fall off. These guys can bend a 10lb test casting rod pretty darn good and I lost 4 fish that managed to muscle their way into the pilings for a break off.

Trigger fish and her lipstick.

Snapper (bottom) and Lesser Amberjack (top), near the stick up pilings.

After a few hours, the first King Mackerel makes a show in one screaming run. For a moment we both thought we had a good sized shark on. After gaffing this fish it's found it was foul hooked, top dorsal area, making the fight a little more of a handful. This fish made numerous long burning runs before the gaff. SCORE ONE for the cooler! Well done David!

What seemed like another hour or so, the second King Mackerel is on. SCORE TWO for the cooler!

We call it a wrap after the 2nd King Mac and cool off with one good swim before heading home. David is the Manmaid! LOL!

Excellent eating and awesome GOOD TIMES!