Jump to content

2019 Fishing - Bent rods and tight lines


Mac8111

Recommended Posts

4 hours ago, TXLNGHRN10 said:

I'm going down to SPI next week for a conference, should have the evenings off, is there any place y'all would recommend to wet a hook? 

The Holly Beach area off of Mesquite Dr. used to be good.  I haven't fished that in years, and I used to access it by boat, but I always saw cars parked over there and waders...not sure if it's public or not, but it's worth checking out.  That area can hold lots of fish and very large trout.

And there's always the jetties.  Should at least be lots of sheepshead around still if you are just trying to get a pull.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

pancakes for breakfast

100-did-not-see-that-coming-1.gif?w=400

 

On 2/6/2020 at 6:03 AM, Kennythetiger said:

How about Key West during the middle of May?  Brother, Father, and I are looking at going for my brother's 40th birthday.  He's looking into these guys for a guide:   https://keywestfishing-charters.com/ but all of our research thus far is simply based off of Google searches.  

Check out Florida Sportsman Forum...   https://forums.floridasportsman.com/categories/keys-general-fishing-the-outdoors

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Mac8111 said:

Taking kids to Destin this summer for a week. What’s the fishing scene over there ? All offshore?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You can fish the bay for reds,  trout and flounder. You can fish the beaches for bluefish and a few others or you can run a few miles offshore for bottom fishing or further out for other species. There is a reason Destin calls itself the world’s luckiest fishing village.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/6/2020 at 5:03 AM, Kennythetiger said:

How about Key West during the middle of May?  Brother, Father, and I are looking at going for my brother's 40th birthday.  He's looking into these guys for a guide:   https://keywestfishing-charters.com/ but all of our research thus far is simply based off of Google searches.  

Based on their equipment, boat, and website I’m pretty sure they suck.

you want something like http://www.fishnkw.com/index.html or https://www.delphfishing.com or https://www.keywestangling.com. No personal experience with any of them.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does anyone harvest oysters while on fishing trips? Thinking of taking some oysters the next time I'm out fishing.

How does one do it? I know the below link details where and when you can harvest oysters in Texas. But other than that, are there other do's and don'ts?

https://www.dshs.texas.gov/seafood/shellfish-harvest-maps.aspx

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, crash_davis said:

Does anyone harvest oysters while on fishing trips? Thinking of taking some oysters the next time I'm out fishing.

I’ve got a friend that does it with his family a few times a year. They make a trip out of it just like they were fishing.  W Matty/POC area. Seems like a whole shitload of work to me.  Prices on the coast seem reasonable; I about shit looking at the cost of 8oz at HEB recently. Had the same idea as you...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since we started talking about crabs, when I started kayak fishing the coast in 2007, I remember seeing blue crabs. They weren't everywhere but I remember seeing a good number of them each trip to the flats. 

Now I can't remember the last time I saw a blue crab. Maybe it's anecdotal but I don't think there are as many crabs in the last few years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

I’ve thought about getting a long handled dip net and scooping blue crabs as we pole over them. 

Scooping blue crabs is about as much fun as fishing sometimes. I’ll take my nephews out, give them dip nets, and let them jump off the boat and chase them when the water is clear. They look stupid, we all have fun, and we eat well those nights. I’ve told them we could just dip them from the boat, but they like chasing them.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anybody done a charter out of West Palm, FL they enjoyed? I’ll be there 3/2-3/9 with my in-laws (not a bad thing) to catch a couple Stros spring training games. My FIL is an experienced fisherman. I’ve tried my hand at most things except fly fishing (hope to one day), but definitely consider myself an amateur. 
FIL has said he would be interested in bone fish or tarpon, but certainly not just dropping lines on a reef with a group charter (me neither). 
Any thoughts?
 
 

 
I am an inshore guy but this is who I fish with while down there:

http://phlatsinshorefishing.com/
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

How about Key West during the middle of May?  Brother, Father, and I are looking at going for my brother's 40th birthday.  He's looking into these guys for a guide:   https://keywestfishing-charters.com/ but all of our research thus far is simply based off of Google searches.  
I would research the charter operation as extensively as you research a VRBO or similar. Keys guides (and KW guides in particular) are NOTORIOUS for being rude, unprepared and not really motivated to put you on fish. I have had Keys guided trips that were a disaster after getting direct referrals from inside the S.Fla charter fishing industry. The asshole / retard rate is astonishingly high.

No experience with the operation in that link but the website leaves me with concerns. I live in Florida. I fish pretty regularly. Almost every one of my fishing buddies has a story about going on a guided trip in the Keys that was laughably bad. IE: "I had to use my own Sea Tow card to get the guide's boat towed back to the dock and then got talked-to in the marina about not leaving a tip" bad.
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

56 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

my guess is that the answer is YES

Well that makes it tough for several reasons.  He would have about a month left for this year.  That fishing is a straight up grind on pretty small areas (difficult to fit 7 guys) and most of those specialty guides don’t buddy up (2 boats).    
 

eta: just saw your reply, @Paco  I do not have any recs for what you are looking for.  If you ever want to do the trophy stuff, Cochran is very hard to beat (there are a few great ones, he’s def one).   One thing I’d look for is someone who’s year round down there. Baffin is well known for “summer guides” who do it as a second income. 

Edited by fattyflattie
Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

Well that makes it tough for several reasons.  He would have about a month left for this year.  That fishing is a straight up grind on pretty small areas (difficult to fit 7 guys) and most of those specialty guides don’t buddy up (2 boats).    
 

eta: just saw your reply, @Paco  I do not have any recs for what you are looking for.  If you ever want to do the trophy stuff, Cochran is very hard to beat (there are a few great ones, he’s def one).   One thing I’d look for is someone who’s year round down there. Baffin is well known for “summer guides” who do it as a second income. 

I target reds out of a yak. Oddly enough, for me winter fishing is the absolute easiest time to catch a limit of nice reds, especially mid and upper slot reds. They are way easier to pattern and the lack of natural bait makes them way less picky to where they'll almost eat at anything resembling food presented in front of them. I think much of it is where I fish from the yak, getting into places boats can't or don't want to because of shell bottoms. On the opposite end, I hardly ever catch trout in my winter areas. Most days I couldn't buy a trout biteif I wanted to. But I don't fish deeper reefs in the middle of bays. That's not conducive for yak fishing.

With that said, I imagine the adage is true all year round, "fish shell over moving water". I imagine if the tide is favorable and moving, fishing mid bay reefs would produce just like in summer. I would think any guide worth a shit would know which reefs to hit over winter.

Edited by crash_davis
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/12/2020 at 11:52 AM, fattyflattie said:

Well that makes it tough for several reasons.  He would have about a month left for this year.  That fishing is a straight up grind on pretty small areas (difficult to fit 7 guys) and most of those specialty guides don’t buddy up (2 boats).    
 

eta: just saw your reply, @Paco  I do not have any recs for what you are looking for.  If you ever want to do the trophy stuff, Cochran is very hard to beat (there are a few great ones, he’s def one).   One thing I’d look for is someone who’s year round down there. Baffin is well known for “summer guides” who do it as a second income. 

So if I went down in the next couple weeks on Baffin?  I Guess out of Bluff's Landing?  Two guys- maybe a third, haven't done Baffin before. Larger trout hunt. Willing to wad, but not sure if I want to add winter wade gear to the arsenal for a single trip.  But not that big a deal.

I thought about hopping down the last the weekend of Feb 29th, to just hang on the beach and chase a few pomps and oversize drum while I caught a buzz.  Was gonna buy one of the ghost shrimp suckers and see how those worked int he surf this time of year, while the wife walks on the beach.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/13/2020 at 4:17 PM, horn4life said:

So if I went down in the next couple weeks on Baffin?  I Guess out of Bluff's Landing?  Two guys- maybe a third, haven't done Baffin before. Larger trout hunt. Willing to wad, but not sure if I want to add winter wade gear to the arsenal for a single trip.  But not that big a deal.

I thought about hopping down the last the weekend of Feb 29th, to just hang on the beach and chase a few pomps and oversize drum while I caught a buzz.  Was gonna buy one of the ghost shrimp suckers and see how those worked int he surf this time of year, while the wife walks on the beach.

I'm far from an expert in the area, and I've always fished from a boat down there, so I don't have any walk in spots.  But we used to do really well drifting Rocky Slough every March, throwing corkys and 52MR's.  Never had much over 25", but plenty between 22-25".    Finding some bait is going to be everything; the best trip I ever had in Baffin was all because we spotted about 10 horse mullet.  It had been dead for several hours up to that point, and when we found the horse mullet we stopped and hammered that area.  Ended up with several fish over 7#, and up to 30", and never moved more than 75 yrds.  If memory serves we had 3 good fish the first day, and 10 the second (second was the day we spotted the mullet).  I don't recall the exact breakout per day but know we ended up with 13 fish over 7# in 2 days.   All were caught at/near the mouth of Baffin.  All on Corkys in mid-Feb.  I have some of the pics on this thread somewhere. There are some great walk in areas down there too, if that's what you are looking for; I just am not that familiar with it.   With regards to winter wade gear, I wear the same breathable waders as I use in spring and early summer/fall, so no specific winter gear you'd need.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fished tournament today with water starting out at 45 degrees and warming to 48 by weighin. Pretty slow. Caught my first keeper at 9:45 am in 32 foot of water. Then ran a bit of a pattern using a finesse jig I build. Ended up culling to best 5 of 10.5 pounds. Tried to make a big cull by moving to a deep ledge in 30 foot throwing a big football head jig. Marked fish on the graph. First cast got a good thump. Set the hook, pulled the fish a few feet, then SNAP. Broken line. Still not sure what happened. Might could have used the fish if it was the right one. Got 2nd and won $220. A few ounces was worth another $150. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@squib  I’ve got a bass tournament in March that I’ve fished for the last 6 or 7 years.  Even though I’m a saltwater guy I love it, mostly because my partner is a genuine hammer on Toledo.  Tournament usually draws ~600 boats and our lowest finish is 26th. I think 22nd once, and everything else has been top 12, up to 3rd.  There’s no real money in it (all for St Judes) but it’s a great time.  I think we got $900 each on the time we finished 3rd.   Two day payout and we were 2nd day 1, and finished 3rd overall so drug 3 checks ~$900.  It’s typically all flipping, 16-22# bags.   I really like the reprieve from the coast, for a week anyhow.  I absolutely love competitive fishing, and if I had the time to really compete, I would. 
 

ETA: the year we came in third, we were out of first by less than a pound.  My partner broke off a pig with something like 6 minutes before quitting time.  Hook set, rod doubled, whap! Broken line.  One of those times where we both knew what he just lost, but figured we’d be well out of it.  Absolutely sickening when we got to weigh in.  

Edited by fattyflattie
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/15/2020 at 11:21 PM, fattyflattie said:

@squib  I’ve got a bass tournament in March that I’ve fished for the last 6 or 7 years.  Even though I’m a saltwater guy I love it, mostly because my partner is a genuine hammer on Toledo.  Tournament usually draws ~600 boats and our lowest finish is 26th. I think 22nd once, and everything else has been top 12, up to 3rd.  There’s no real money in it (all for St Judes) but it’s a great time.  I think we got $900 each on the time we finished 3rd.   Two day payout and we were 2nd day 1, and finished 3rd overall so drug 3 checks ~$900.  It’s typically all flipping, 16-22# bags.   I really like the reprieve from the coast, for a week anyhow.  I absolutely love competitive fishing, and if I had the time to really compete, I would. 
 

ETA: the year we came in third, we were out of first by less than a pound.  My partner broke off a pig with something like 6 minutes before quitting time.  Hook set, rod doubled, whap! Broken line.  One of those times where we both knew what he just lost, but figured we’d be well out of it.  Absolutely sickening when we got to weigh in.  

I fish about 15 tournaments a year. Mostly smaller local tournaments with a few bigger, state-wide events mixed in. Used to fish BassChamps, Honey Hole, and two other circuits. That was back when my kids were smaller, and I could be gone every weekend. As soon as I get my last one out of high school, I'll go back to hitting it hard and heavy.

I have just about given up all hobbies other than those related to bass fishing. I am either building tackle, building rods or at the lake--or mad because I am not doing 1 of the 3. Tournament fishing ties this all together for me, and I would be much less into fishing if it were not for tournaments. That is somewhat of a shame, but it is what it is. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/17/2020 at 2:59 PM, immortal13 said:

peacefulness out of fishing

Absolutely. 
 

On 2/17/2020 at 2:59 PM, immortal13 said:

take all of the fun out of fishing

But wha?  
 

It’s kind of like airboats for me. I despise them when I’m not in them, but love it when I am. Hypocritical ass.   My favorite part is several days of practice, before the few days of action. And the weeks of planning before hand. Also the captains meetings and afterparties. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

53 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

i fished a charity fly fishing tournament once. finished in last place. team name was 'Duck or Bleed', we threw streamers all 3 days and there was zero streamer bite. no fucks were given.

Fished a charity SW tourney out of Port O'Connor maybe 25 years ago.  Not even that many boats, we didn't come close to finishing in the money, one of the other boats included Rick Perry and his son, they were plenty nice to hang out with after weigh-in.  That's about all I've got.  I'm a terrible, awful, no-good, very bad amateur fisherman, so don't see much point in trying to be a pro at being bad.

However, if any of you ever fish a tourney where there's a separate jackpot for "most times a team member fell out of the boat," or "most unintentional bleeding by a team member," I'm your RINGER, man.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

However, if any of you ever fish a tourney where there's a separate jackpot for "most times a team member fell out of the boat," or "most unintentional bleeding by a team member," I'm your RINGER, man.

If ever I enter a shark tournament, you ARE MY GUY, but I'm bringing a homeless guy to play the victim to your luck/skills.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/11/2020 at 1:34 PM, Lat22 said:

You can only keep the right claw of a stone crab and it has to be 2.5 inches long.  You pull the claw off and throw the crab back. You can keep as many claws as you want.

I guess that's why crab claws cost an arm and a leg.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...