Aransas Bay - Aransas, TX Fishing Report on 20th May, 2025

Our day on this trip started out slow - heading out into the flats in the dark with no electronics is not as easy as some might think, especially with a low tide ! After relaxing in the dark for 5-10 minutes pondering the rest of our day the team quickly jumped into action as we power poled up and began our first drift - we caught a few small trout - as I said we started off slow as fishing trips sometimes do, so we jumped up easily with the big 225 Mercury from Chris’s Marine and headed off to our nxt spot. We quickly found out that the low tide had drained the shallower flats to a level lower than what we needed to drift and the only access to these areas would be to wade. Well I had a group of in the boat fishermen so I quickly decided to head out to our third spot. Using my many years of experience I headed to a huge flat area that provided both the depth I needed to drift and the massive distance I needed in order to utilize the windy conditions. My knowledge and experience of this area allowed me to run the boat straight into this flat being confident that we would have enough depth to float and drift. This would be the start of our third drift. Again only small fish - at least in this case they were the right species- redfish- our prime target for this tournament. So we jumped up once again for the fourth drift shifting the start of our drift about two hundred yards North East. By this time the sun was up enough for me to see clearly into the foot and a half depth of water. We still did not have a keeper in the boat at this time but the team continued to stay upbeat and hopeful for the rest of our day. On this drift we caught our first keep, a speckled trout, although not the right species the catch immediately lifted our spirits and helped to maintain our hope for a competitive outcome for the team. We still needed four keeper redfish to fill our stringer for this tournament! After this drift we went back around and set up for our fifth drift again moving two hundred yards North East. My hopes were high for the team as I knew we were covering water very well and conditions were good to find redfish. I began to stand atop of my console to get a better view of the flat as we drifted over shallow clear water when suddenly I began to spot redfish and helped our team to pinpoint their cast and immediately they were rewarded with a visual experience that many sadly will never experience! Our team members valiantly fought the redfish following all instructions to the fine point in order to land our first of four redfish to fill our stringer for the day! One’s perception of any given situation can sometimes easily influence one’s perspective. It takes nerves of steel to fish a tournament and I choose to look at these situations with a positive perspective giving me and the team the ability to meet our resolve and claim fourth place in a very competitive field of guides and fisherman! In fishing as in life if you meet the day with resolve and an optimistic attitude anything is possible! Captain One Eye Jack