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2019 Fishing - Bent rods and tight lines


Mac8111

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You had 168 baits.....to fish for trout.....which have a 5 fish per person limit.  Even if you figure half your baits get eaten by dinks, and another few just die without getting a hit.....if you had 4 guys fishing, you needed maybe 60 baits.  Sounds like the guide has a deal with the bait camp owner.

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You had 168 baits.....to fish for trout.....which have a 5 fish per person limit.  Even if you figure half your baits get eaten by dinks, and another few just die without getting a hit.....if you had 4 guys fishing, you needed maybe 60 baits.  Sounds like the guide has a deal with the bait camp owner.

This is a good point. We ended up not paying for the bait. We were fishing for trout and reds. I have never fished for reds the way this guy as doing it, but he’s the guide who came highly recommended from a legit source.
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2 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

You had 168 baits.....to fish for trout.....which have a 5 fish per person limit.  Even if you figure half your baits get eaten by dinks, and another few just die without getting a hit.....if you had 4 guys fishing, you needed maybe 60 baits.  Sounds like the guide has a deal with the bait camp owner.

When I take people croaker fishing, I generally buy 6 dozen and that is for 1 to 3 people.  If I could fit more in my bait setup (and keep them alive), I would.  When the fishing is hot, you can run through 60 baits in 30 or 45 minutes, especially if your guests have never fished with croaker (or they suck at it, like I do).  It's standard practice in Texas for croaker guides to bring at least 12 dozen baits for each trip.  What is NOT standard practice is for 1/2 the baits to die; the guide must have had some issues with his bait well system.

         

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16 minutes ago, 3shot said:

When I take people croaker fishing, I generally buy 6 dozen and that is for 1 to 3 people.  If I could fit more in my bait setup (and keep them alive), I would.  When the fishing is hot, you can run through 60 baits in 30 or 45 minutes, especially if your guests have never fished with croaker (or they suck at it, like I do).  It's standard practice in Texas for croaker guides to bring at least 12 dozen baits for each trip.  What is NOT standard practice is for 1/2 the baits to die; the guide must have had some issues with his bait well system.

         

Thanks for that info.  I didn't know those ratios - seems like a lot of bait to me, but then, I haven't ever been on a guided trip with croaker.

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yep.  That's a fuck ton of bait.  They may have been beat up in the live well on the way down or there could be an issue with the live well itself.  We have two live well on our boat and I stopped using the front one for croaker because they took a beating crossing the bay if there was any swell at all.  The two dozen per person stated above is a pretty good average.  Hell, usually the bait shop can't count for shit and you end up with more than you asked for anyways.  

 

I've noticed that in POC, guides usually have a set fee ($575 or so) and then charge you extra for live bait.  But they usually are pretty fair about only getting how much you need.  Corpus area  guides charge $100-$150 more for the trip and include live bait.  And they typically load up. 


How was he fishing for reds that was so odd? 

 

 

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Only fished with croaker once, but guide bought something like 12 dozen for 5 people.   We smoked the shit out of the fish and went thru a ton of them. They get tossed each time you move, each time you miss a strike, etc.   Seems like an expensive way to fish.  ETA: also corpus area. 

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5 hours ago, Mac8111 said:

yep.  That's a fuck ton of bait.  They may have been beat up in the live well on the way down or there could be an issue with the live well itself. 

 

 

Lulz that reminded me - years ago my late FIL instituted a no drinking on the boat policy.  We were fishing out of Rockport and the trout were good on live shrimp, so we drove to hell and back to 3 or 4 places before finally finding a quart.  Just got out and started fishing when my drunk BIL promptly spilled half of his vodka and cranberry juice into the live well trying to grab a shrimp with his hand, which was also a no-no.   Fished with dead shrimp the rest of the day.

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15 hours ago, kmac30 said:

Went with some guys down to Corpus this weekend and had a guide. Put 14 dozen croakers in the live well. Got to first stop and half were dead. The rest were pretty damn close. Caught a couple throw back trout but other than that, nothing.

I know everywhere is different, but this was just a weird experience. I’m fine getting basically shutout, but would at least like a fair attempt. The fish we caught were with the few really good looking bait (they lit up when we grabbed them).

Is it just a bad time (guide kept talking about the full moon all week) or did we get jacked because of the bait?

 

14 dozen is way too much bait in a livewell.

 

and way too much bait in general, my buddy and I usually buy 3 dozen, 4 at the most, limit on trout and have some left over.

On 10/1/2020 at 12:11 PM, The Royal We said:

For sure!  I was planning on holding the exposed wires in my teeth while I jumped in to the water to set it up - with it plugged in, of course. 

The plan is to mount the box on a piling that is under a roof, run the extension cord that runs to the light down through the dock and out to where the light will sit.  All of the cord that will be submerged is run through the water hose and is sealed off by marine/through hull sealant (and concrete on one end) as another layer of protection against fish hooks.

Thanks! I thought about the potential for snags too, that's why I thought about the fish bowl instead of a cage.  The spot where the light will sit isn't too far from where kids jump in the water and they can hit the bottom when the water is down, so I'd rather not have glass on the bottom if the light were to burst.  It's probably overkill though. 

Thanks again for the idea, I never would have thought to go this route without your suggestion.  Total cost of materials was less than $50, but I already had some stuff - extension cord, hose, box for the ballast, etc.

 

Sounds less like McGyver and more like Ruth Langmore

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Not one bite all day except one.  Happier than a pig in shit to have my buddy land this one.  We’re tossing shrimp in 2.5 foot of water and he yells out “what the hell are those?  Are those Tarpon?”  I said No but reel the fuck in and cast into them.  He does it and in seconds the cork goes down.  
 

45 minutes later of chasing this bastard all over the bay we finally got him landed.  Not sure we were gonna get it done on trout gear.  Spent the rest of the afternoon cruising and enjoying the beautiful weather with some cold beers.
 


 


 


 


 

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Jacks are a blast to catch on light line. One of my favorite fishing memories was from college...  tying up to a rig at night and snapper fishing. The jacks were unloading on flying fish on the surface, so after I’d had my fun with the snapper, I tied on a top dog and wore out the jacks all night. My arms nearly fell off, but I couldn’t resist tossing back out again and again and watching the explosion of another jack after just a couple twitches. 

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Thinking about driving down PINS a bit and surf fishing late today. Bad idea? We have two rigs (10-25 lb) with 20lb braided line, fresh shrimp and some lures, a 4x4, chairs and cold beer. Are we going to get stuck with the surge only a few days ago?

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On 10/6/2020 at 10:15 PM, Zwylde said:

Not one bite all day except one.  Happier than a pig in shit to have my buddy land this one.  We’re tossing shrimp in 2.5 foot of water and he yells out “what the hell are those?  Are those Tarpon?”  I said No but reel the fuck in and cast into them.  He does it and in seconds the cork goes down.  
 

45 minutes later of chasing this bastard all over the bay we finally got him landed.  Not sure we were gonna get it done on trout gear.  Spent the rest of the afternoon cruising and enjoying the beautiful weather with some cold beers.
 


 


 


 


 

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Jetty tuna. Nice!

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okay we drove down about a mile on PINS late afternoon and there were few cars so we stopped and then waded out probably thirty yards and couldn't get to green water.  don't have a kayak and unsure how far it's safe to wade out there.  I guess you just keep going until you die?

shrimp attracted hard headed catfish in the brown water, fuck those guys.  I've got some lures that aren't going to break absent a fish taking the line and it snapping for some reason.  not sure my OCD will let me cast shrimp on a hook that far out.  I'll want to reel it in to "check on my lure" much like I would be tempted to check on a brisket I'm smoking. 

thinking about hitting up the packery channel jetties this afternoon as an alternative.

our charter for friday in the bay was pushed to tomorrow so we have that too.

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@troph You generally don’t need to get out to the green water if the redfish are running the beach. Were there schools of finger mullet? You want to put your bait wherever they are swimming. When I used to fish the surf I’d take a cast net and use the mullet for bait but live shrimp should work too. Fish the north jetty in about the 2nd or 3rd gut. The fish pass jetties can also be good. Mostly I think the fishing has just been shitty lately. Probably need one more cold front to get things moving.

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13 minutes ago, troph said:

okay we drove down about a mile on PINS late afternoon and there were few cars so we stopped and then waded out probably thirty yards and couldn't get to green water.  don't have a kayak and unsure how far it's safe to wade out there.  I guess you just keep going until you die?

shrimp attracted hard headed catfish in the brown water, fuck those guys.  I've got some lures that aren't going to break absent a fish taking the line and it snapping for some reason.  not sure my OCD will let me cast shrimp on a hook that far out.  I'll want to reel it in to "check on my lure" much like I would be tempted to check on a brisket I'm smoking. 

thinking about hitting up the packery channel jetties this afternoon as an alternative.

our charter for friday in the bay was pushed to tomorrow so we have that too.

OK, first, the green water is ALWAYS just a little out of reach :), unless it's really trout-green to the beach, and that doesn't happen very often, but when it does...

Second, there are 3 sandbars on our coast, and between each sandbar is a "gut," so when you say you went out about 30 yards, sounds like you were in the gut between the 1st and 2nd sandbar.  So, keep walking a bit and it will get shallower again (where the waves are breaking).  Cast from the 2nd sandbar into the gut and go put your rod in a section of PVC pipe and grab a beer, unless the current and/or grass are bad, and then, you are kind of screwed.  If you want to fish lures, then just stand out on the second bar and cast, moving up and down the bar as you see bait.  But, if the water is brown, I wouldn't bother with that...need some green in the water for trout to be there in any numbers.  Also, the first gut WILL hold fish, especially early and late.  Don't forget to fish it before striking out for the 2nd sandbar.  For bait, if you don't want to mess with shrimp, Fish Bites work.  There's probably some whiting near you and they are good to eat.  No idea if the bulls are running yet, but they eat fish bites too.  Hopefully you are fishing with a "pompano rig" already, but if not, got to Woody's or Port A Outfitters and get some, along with some 1 or 2 ounce pyramid weights and small circle hooks (as the tackle place what size, but I think I use size 6?).  When you get a bite on your rig, you will know because your rod will double over and the circle hook will set itself.  Seriously, you will know.  Don't reel in and check it unless you are checking to see if you still have bait, which if you are using Fish Bites, you almost certainly will unlees you had a bite because that stuff stays on your hook forever.    

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Y’all are mad geniuses. Super pos rep.

 

Going to go out again late afternoon and wade further and take fish bites. Used fresh but dead shrimp yesterday (had some left from a boil) and swimmer/shad lure about 3 inches.

 

Tired of being a novice. Ugh.

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So we made it out to the second sand bar and gut and thought about going to the third but when my “legs for days” left me bobbing up and down and losing my footing we decided stand just past the breaking waves and cast from there.

 

We caught some impressive sized fish, and had real action for the two hours we were there. but they were those fucking catfish. Think we need to adjust our bait. Smart bites tho worked well. Largest one I caught was probably 24 inches? Dude was pretty big.

 

I don’t care it’s a trash fish, when I had that big one on the line I was happy. Who knew adults can play in the surf too and have a blast. It was fun as shit.

 

We are going to dial this in. Coming back again soon. The thing is, I don’t worry about tomorrow, I’m not depressed about COVID, I don’t think about who I am or being different, I’m not anything, I’m just hoping. My future is catching fish. It’s a simple life really. It’s that moment. The one we chase.

 

Drive back is pretty special too. Beer buzz and the sunsetting off to the bay side of the dunes. Yeah, this place is really special.

 

Bay fishing tomorrow then going to the beach once more before heading home.

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2 minutes ago, troph said:

So we made it out to the second sand bar and gut and thought about going to the third but when my “legs for days” left me bobbing up and down and losing my footing we decided stand just past the breaking waves and cast from there.

We caught some impressive sized fish, and had real action for the two hours we were there. but they were those fucking catfish. Think we need to adjust our bait. Smart bites tho worked well. Largest one I caught was probably 24 inches? Dude was pretty big.

I don’t care it is as trash fish, when I had that big one on the line I was happy. Who knew adults can play in the surf too and have a blast. It was fun as shit.

We are going to dial this in. Coming back again soon. The thing is, I don’t worry about tomorrow, I’m not depressed about COVID, I don’t think about who I am or being different, I’m not anything, I’m just hoping, my future is hopping waves and catching fish. It’s a simple life really. It’s that moment. The one we chase.

Drive back is pretty special too. Beer buzz and the sunsetting of to the bay side of the dunes. Yeah, this place is really special.

Bay fishing tomorrow then going to the beach once more before heading home.

I’m thinking those big “catfish” you had were probably gafftop, and they are actually good eating if you can stand to clean them.  

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9 hours ago, troph said:

We’re taking the drone to drop bait in green water next time. Already figured out how to use it.

Drop it at the edge of the color change if you can.  

And those gafftop really are good eating.  The only consistent advice I’ve heard is to cut off or cut a ring around their tails to let them bleed.  My FIL would do that and put them on a stringer for a while.  They’re slimy AF.  Old timers would put them in a burlap sack to get some of it off before washing them.   In modern times I saw a guy at the car wash with a stringer, power washing them.  We always just used a water hose and skinned/filleted them like catfish.

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1 hour ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

Drop it at the edge of the color change if you can.  

And those gafftop really are good eating.  The only consistent advice I’ve heard is to cut off or cut a ring around their tails to let them bleed.  My FIL would do that and put them on a stringer for a while.  They’re slimy AF.  Old timers would put them in a burlap sack to get some of it off before washing them.   In modern times I saw a guy at the car wash with a stringer, power washing them.  We always just used a water hose and skinned/filleted them like catfish.

I read that rubbing them around in the sand also takes off the slime. I've never eaten a gafftop but have seen a few videos of people cooking and eating them. All say that it tastes good.

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10 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

I read that rubbing them around in the sand also takes off the slime. I've never eaten a gafftop but have seen a few videos of people cooking and eating them. All say that it tastes good.

There have been a couple times in the surf where 3 or 4 of us got into a school of them where we were camping and that's all we could catch.  After the 1st time we said screw it and started keeping the good sized ones.  Got about 5lbs of fillets and had a fish fry a couple weeks later.  Just like any other fish, if you're careful to cut out most of the red meat it is delicious, milder, whiter and more firm than freshwater catfish.

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1 minute ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

There have been a couple times in the surf where 3 or 4 of us got into a school of them where we were camping and that's all we could catch.  After the 1st time we said screw it and started keeping the good sized ones.  Got about 5lbs of fillets and had a fish fry a couple weeks later.  Just like any other fish, if you're careful to cut out most of the red meat it is delicious, milder, whiter and more firm than freshwater catfish.

US consumers are spoiled and are picky as shit with our food. We are spoiled by relatively affordable, clean fillets that we can easily buy at the store. The idea of working a little harder (dealing with slime, caring for bones, cutting blood line, etc) for our fillets turns us off on perfectly fine eating fish. I guess we can be picky because we have choices. The rest of the world are better cooks because they don't have the luxury of only grilling or frying beautiful fillets. 

This goes back to the saying, there's no such thing as bad tasting fish, only bad cooks. For example, fish with a lot of smalls bones, the rest of the world knows how to harvest the meat and make fish balls. There's no way in hell any of us is going through the extra 20 mins to make fish balls.

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4 hours ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

There have been a couple times in the surf where 3 or 4 of us got into a school of them where we were camping and that's all we could catch.  After the 1st time we said screw it and started keeping the good sized ones.  Got about 5lbs of fillets and had a fish fry a couple weeks later.  Just like any other fish, if you're careful to cut out most of the red meat it is delicious, milder, whiter and more firm than freshwater catfish.

That Shaggy trip to Matagorda back in 2013 was Gaftopapalloza. I must have caught 50+ of those things. Did not keep a one.  Luckily, the crew pulled out a few bull reds and some sand trout before breaking out all the firearms.

BTW.  I am heading down there on the 21st.  I am going to do a kayak/camp at 3 mile cut and maybe hit the surf for some bulls.

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3 minutes ago, Jiggy-Z said:

That Shaggy trip to Matagorda back in 2013 was Gaftopapalloza. I must have caught 50+ of those things. Did not keep a one.  Luckily, the crew pulled out a few bull reds and some sand trout before breaking out all the firearms.

BTW.  I am heading down there on the 21st.  I am going to do a kayak/camp at 3 mile cut and maybe hit the surf for some bulls.

Good luck - if you're taking your kayak, look into going to Oyster Lake near Palacios - it's a great place to wade/kayak.  My grandson was finally born today, so hopefully now I can finally break quarantine and get down there and fish before it gets too cold.  I missed the PINS trip 2 weeks ago, but they didn't catch much - the place where we usually camp at the Mansfield jetties was all washed/blown out, plus they're dredging that channel now.

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There have been a couple times in the surf where 3 or 4 of us got into a school of them where we were camping and that's all we could catch.  After the 1st time we said screw it and started keeping the good sized ones.  Got about 5lbs of fillets and had a fish fry a couple weeks later.  Just like any other fish, if you're careful to cut out most of the red meat it is delicious, milder, whiter and more firm than freshwater catfish.

Seemed like that’s all we were gonna catch so we had fun with them.
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I'm interested to hear how this works out.  Looks like the green water may be a little closer in tomorrow.

Talking to our guide today he agreed it’s farther out right now. Said second sand bar was far enough. We are going to try and come back down next month and bay fish one day and surf fish end of the day for a week - we will practice the drone shot before we go. Will let you guys know.
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11 minutes ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

Good luck - if you're taking your kayak, look into going to Oyster Lake near Palacios - it's a great place to wade/kayak.  My grandson was finally born today, so hopefully now I can finally break quarantine and get down there and fish before it gets too cold.  I missed the PINS trip 2 weeks ago, but they didn't catch much - the place where we usually camp at the Mansfield jetties was all washed/blown out, plus they're dredging that channel now.

We usually just stay in one place and set up a big camp.  3 mile has been good to us.

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