2019 Fishing - Bent rods and tight lines

[Brisketexan 105154]

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.

[crash_davis 23113]

fishing sucked yesterday. full moon bite usually always sucks. i knew better than to try.

[troph 24815]

hey guys need some help - the guy I have in my contacts for bay fishing charters is out of town.  need a Port A bay fishing guide rec for next friday.  two adults, 3 tween/teens and 2 older folks.  halp.

[kmac30 416]

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.

[3shot 139]

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.

         

[Brisketexan 105154]

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.

[Mac8111 2107]

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? 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2020 by Mac8111

[fattyflattie 4639]

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. 

Edited October 5, 2020 by fattyflattie

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

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.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

3 hours ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

Lulz that reminded me - years ago my late FIL instituted a no drinking on the boat policy.

He must’ve really not wanted you to fish with him.

[4th and 5 4914]

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

[kmac30 416]

How was he fishing for reds that was so odd? 
 
 

I’ve been fishing for reds a handful of times. Every time we were throwing towards a bank. I don’t know where we were, but we were in the middle of nowhere just throwing out.

[Zwylde 812]

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.
 

 

 

 

 

[Stinkpalm 687]

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. 

[Braff Zacklin 13616]

1 hour ago, Zwylde said:

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.

[troph 24815]

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?

[davidg 4038]

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.
 

 

 

 

 

Jetty tuna. Nice!

[Hook1997 5375]

I’m in Rockport on my hotels pier trying to catch something in these three feet waves but it’s not working out well...   Going fishing and floundering with my buddy tomorrow or Tuesday evening and night if the winds die down.   

[troph 24815]

Surf fishing help needed -

How do you get the line out to the green water when it’s 50+ yards out? Do you wade that far out? I know some folks have cast cannons they use but I think those are frowned upon.

[The Royal We 3072]

I’ve seen a lot of people paddle it out in a ‘yak if they are fishing with a heavy weight and bait. 

[kmac30 416]

I’ve seen guys wade out as far as they can go and toss. Kayaks. Or recently I saw a couple guys with drones. They flew them out a few hundred yards, dropped bait, and flew back.

[BearSchlong 8098]

This looks awesome - why are they frowned upon?

 

 

[SurlyBDR 22805]

Heading to Port Mansfield on Friday. We booked an 11 hour trip trailing shrimp boats, should be interesting.

[troph 24815]

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.

[justhookit 4191]

@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.

[3shot 139]

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.    

[troph 24815]

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.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

one of those days....

had a buddy come up from denver and he brought along a buddy of his who had never fly fished. we've had this day on the calendar for a month, but this week i see there's a massive system coming in and he tells me he's bringing up a completely newbie. uh-oh.

we get on the water and about 30 minutes in the winds get going, 40+ MPH straight up river, blowing the boat back up the river...then the cold, driving rain. top 3 worst conditions i've ever fished in, and this poor sap is on the bow throwing streamers and just getting the absolute shit kicked out him. 4 straight hours of absolute hell (he was a former army ranger and described it to some horrible initiation they did). 

then the sky clears and it turns into the prettiest fall day you could ever hope for. about 500 yards above the take out, we eddy out and he starts working a riffle and hooks into this fish and gets it to the net. i've never felt happier for a guy catching a fish. anybody else in that position quits hours ago, but he just wouldn't stop.

we get to the boat ramp and he hands me a pliny the elder. best beer i've ever had. not sure if i'd be saying that if he hadn't caught that fish.

Edited October 12, 2020 by DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt

[Chewbacca 7780]

You fish today or yesterday?

Pliny is amazing.  

[troph 24815]

That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

1 hour ago, Chewbacca said:

You fish today or yesterday?

Pliny is amazing.  

Yesterday. Brutal.

[Chewbacca 7780]

1 minute ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

Yesterday. Brutal.

You guys didn't get snow?

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

Just now, Chewbacca said:

You guys didn't get snow?

None. Not even a dusting at higher elevations. Makes no sense, it was cold and so wet.

[troph 24815]

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.

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

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.  

[troph 24815]

Maybe? Alls I know is plenty of guides have told me the saltwater catfish looking things are sharp and dangerous.

 

That big one took at least 3 mins to bring in on light tackle. Fun.

[troph 24815]

Yep these:

 

 

https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/gafftop/

 

Caught 4 today, 1 yesterday. Maybe not trophy fish but they’re our fish.

 

One of them I decided to lessen the drag for the fun of it. Maybe she’s right, I do like to fight for the sport of it.

[troph 24815]

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

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

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.

[3shot 139]

10 hours ago, troph said:

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

I'm interested to hear how this works out.  Looks like the green water may be a little closer in tomorrow.

[crash_davis 23113]

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.

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

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.

[crash_davis 23113]

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.

[crash_davis 23113]

This is a great youtube channel. He's actually a really good cook. He cleans and cooks a lot of "trash" fish. Most all of the shit that he makes looks appetizing as hell.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Landsharkfishingtv

 

[Jiggy-Z 3432]

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.

[troph 24815]

Baffin did not disappoint.

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

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.

[troph 24815]

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.

[troph 24815]

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.

[Jiggy-Z 3432]

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.