Well, this trip was a shorter weekend trip than usual. I got up early Friday to hit the road around 4:30 and arrived at the town of Matagorda around 9.
The first priority was to fill the bait cooler which I was able to do surprisingly easy. In less than 30 minutes I was able to fill a small bait bucket up with live shrimp and the 46 qt igloo cooler live well with mud minnows and a variety of mullet sizes.
With some mild wind from the south the surf was a bit rough and sand fluffy but heavy with humidity. Eventually I found a spot firm enough to set up camp where the jeep and trailer wouldn't immediately sink into the wet sand.
Lunch time came around and I found out the mountain home spaghetti is pretty good grub for the beach.
After 8 hours of catching nothing but a few hard head catfish (saltwater catfish that is generally considered a rough/trash fish) I figured I'd take some time to get a good scouting if potential bait, fishing and camping spots. The wind started to pick up and sand humidity started to fall making the sand have the consistency of deep powdered sugar. The jeep didn't get stuck but with it barely having the torque to pull itself through deep sand in 1st gear, I got bogged down by the trailer three times before calling it a day.
Map of the area I was checking out
So I backtracked to the jetty park where the beach starts and found a good place to camp.
On the sand I don't sleep much so once every hour or two I was up checking the tide. Around 4 am I got a feeling the water was about to flood and it was time to pack up camp. After the 2015 floods, I listen to my gut. So I got 95% ready to roll and laid back down for a little more rest. About 5 I heard my water alarm go off indicating that in the last hour the water had risen over 2 ft with surges washing around the jeep and trailer tires. I quickly put the bait live well in the trailer and bugged out in a spray of rising tide until I was in the nearby parking lot for the county owned public park and pulled some pound cake from the big cooler for breakfast.
Knowing that the water was up and likely to get worse add the wind picked up, I thought I'd check the surf to see if it was still fishable. Turns out the water had completely flooded the beach with a number of people who barely made it out reporting lost and damaged gear that couldn't be picked up in time.
I figured that with rain and up to 40 mph wind in the forecast I'd call it quits and head home. It didn't take long for the winds to catch up and turn an smooth cruise into a white knuckle ride. As usual, it didn't rain until after I washed off my gear. On the bright side, I had 5 shrimp and three mud minnows make the trip home in spite of the bubbler power clamps coming off the battery.
Btw, today was the last day for the harbor freight red tag sale on winches.
After all the shovel work getting the trailer unstuck, I figured a small utility winch was worth the $45.
