Gimme a T for Texas Trout!!
What do John Elway, Michael Jordan and Houstonian Jim Wallace have in common? They are all the best in their field, at least for the time being. With the two aforementioned likely to be dethroned in a few short months. Jim Wallace for those of you that have already forgotten is the Texas trophy trout reigning champion. With a monster trout hitting the scales at 13 pounds, 11 ounces and length of 33 inches caught way back in February 7, 1996 this record may stand a few more years, or will it?? With one mild winter under our belt and another most likely to end in a few short months. Texas trout have had little worries these past few years. Hanging around their favorite haunts with few cold snap worth mentioning to drive them into deeper water they have found life pretty easy and the pickins easier. Which hopefully for most of us except maybe Mr. Wallace should translate into some exceptional size trout.
With February being the prime month for hanging one of these bad boys of the bay that record may be falling shortly. Why February you may ask, well most people in the know believe this is the best month for catching those records. Prespawn trout are at their fastest and healthiest this time each year. While spending the past 3 or 4 month sitting out the cold spell doing little more than gorging themselves on bait fish, which has been especially easy these past few years. February is when if your lucky enough you can find one of these 30 inch plus trout laden with built up bulk on the end of your line. Although many a record breaker trout has come close over the years none has quite broken that magic mark just yet. But perhaps this may just be the year.
So the trick now is to know just where to find one of the infamous trout. Guaranteed to get you and you new found buddy plastered over a wide variety of fishing publications and TV shows. Many will say go to the source of the last known sighting where the former champion called home, which would be Baffin Bay. Which would be a good start, but there are no guarantees. Others tend to believe the upper and lower Matagorda bay system has seen her share off contenders over the last couple of years, maybe this might be the year. While other think the massive Galveston Bay system must have a record breaker swimming somewhere in her waters. Then those die hard jetty fishermen swear the next cast among the granites is bound to turn up that next Texas record breaker. So who you going to listen to?
My advise like the popular sports slogan goes "Just Do It!!" What ever your times and monies allow will pretty much dictate where you'll be fishing anyway. Which ever bay system finds you during your day of fishing will no doubt greatly increase your chances of catching that trophy trout more than sitting on the couch, so go for it!! Myself, if anything comes over the side of the boat more than ten pounds may cause this angler some serious chest pains. If I were fortunate land a record breaker I would more than likely have hers and mine ashes scattered at the place this angling-ending event took place.
So get out there this coming month and set those sites high. Who knows maybe you just might get lucky and hang that next record breaker. As you fish her out of the net and hold her up for all you buddies to gawk at. Remember to take plenty of pictures to capture the magic of the moment, cause more than likely it will be a long time before that happens again, even if she is only double digits in weight watchers category. Then as the flash of the camera hit her eyes just right you share a warm feeling a kindred spirit if you will. And decide to release her back into the water to pass on her genetics for future generations. Yeah, right,"" NOT BLOODY LIKELY""!!!!