I really wish I could hook you up. I haven't heard of those guys. It's been a while since I used a guide. The good ones get booked up. Even they get skunked. Go into it with the mind set on having a good time regardless. Oh, and lots of beer and water.
A friend of a friend who charters guides several times a year recommended Wally Mayer. Wally was booked but recommended those 2; apparently he uses them when he needs another guide and boat. I called up Pat Hunt and booked him. Seemed like a really nice guy on the phone. The trip is in late August. I will post the results. I think we are staying at the Hawthorn Suites in Aransas Pass. Oh yeah, we'll bring plenty of water, beer, sunscreen, UT caps and sunglasses.
I'm going down on Saturday for a week.. I'd make it a point to tell you where I fished and how we did, but a guide wouldn't care and a month later it wouldn't make a difference. There is a very small chance that the reds will be podding up that late. Estes flats would be where I would look for redfish pods in that area and at that time.
MO - fair enough, I over spoke, but I wouldn't go out of my way to fish out of Texas for YFT in the Summer.
Out of Venice, you're alsmost guaranteed to find tuna around all the structure out there. It's different off of Texas, but I've had days where I've seen acres of YFT busting the surface with double, triple and quadruple hookups. Agreed that I wouldn't specifically target them in the Summer, because it is hit or miss - just another thing you might catch when billfishing.
obviously you've had better luck than me with tuna in the summer. I've never seen such a thing. Then again, I only offshore fish two times a year (damn I wish I could say I did it more).
Off Texas, it really is hit or miss though, but they can be out there in numbers. I'm sad that it's Poco weekend and the tournament run is on, but our boat is for sale at Fox Yachts in Port A just sitting there not being used this year.
How has the bay fishing been now that it has stopped raining? A buddy of mine went a few weeks ago and it rained the whole time and he caught nothing.
I fished Matagorda a couple weeks ago and it was pretty bad. There was so much freshwater from the Brazos, Colorado and San Bernard Rivers that it pushed the fish out. There are still fish to catch, but it's going to be tougher. Also, there's a dead zone in the gulf up to about 35 miles out (similar to the LA/MS Delta area) from all the runoff. There were no fish weighed in at Poco this year and the $$$ was returned. One decent blue was weighed in down south at TIFT at 381 lbs. Chronicle Dead Zone Article
