TexasKayakFisherman.com

....trout and other oddities. The last two days have been very pretty on the beachfront - I regrettably have not had the freedom of schedule to get down there. A friend with a place near Surfside has been wacking the trout yesterday and today (which in my experience means tomorrow will suck, even if the water is still nice). Limits of trout from 17" to 25" and she said she lost a monster (28"-30") Tuesday, caught her limit again this morning before 10:00. She's using live shrimp under a popping cork and live finger mullet on bottom, with smaller fish coming on the shrimp and the bigger coming from the mullet.

Then I read today where Doug Pike and Joe Doggett fished the surf yesterday (Tuesday) "off Quintana." Besides catching "quality trout" they saw a 5 ft alligator in the surf, "swimming past us slowly in the second gut."

So, if your schedule allows, get down there quickly and take your gator guards

I've heard the same type of reports, minus the reptiles. Yesterday I guess was awesome everywhere, inshore, surf and offshore. My bud went on a snapper trip and had to beat them off with a stick. All the fish went 30" or more, with kings on the side and AJ's (forbidden) that they avoided getting hooked. I, on the other hand, had too much work and other BS to get away. Yes, the surf usually is good for trout for a couple of days then the ladyfish, bluefish, and smacks move in if it stays reasonably clear and small.

yesterday was a full moon too ... usually its the 2-3 days before & 2-3 days after when the fishing gets good.

When I was much younger I often fished the surf in front of San Luis Pass on the West side. As I remember May was the month for the surf to really turn on. Yacklash..............what is your experience ????

picaroon wrote:When I was much younger I often fished the surf in front of San Luis Pass on the West side. As I remember May was the month for the surf to really turn on. Yacklash..............what is your experience ????

Over the years, I've found the trout start to really show up in the surf 2-3 weeks before Memorial Day and are pretty much there for May and April in numbers and size. I've been told they are always out there, but move in closer to shore as the bait moves up nearer to shore, or maybe that's just when I start fishing the surf.

Back in (I think it was) 2005-2009, I caught at least one 7+ lber per spring/summer, usually right outside the first bar. In 2006 I think it was, I caught two 7.5ers in consecutive trips in early May. The Surfside jetty is also probably crazy with trout right now and I'd be willing to bet that there are a few monsters there. Once saw an old Vietnamese man land a trout there that was at least 30" on cut bait. He dragged it over rocks rather than walk the rocks down to net it. It had swallowed the hook He put it under his wagon and put a wet towel on it and then proceeded to fish for at least another 3 hours before I left. Had to be 90 degrees that day.

We would go to the Pass before the road was paved and there was no bridge. Many times all we did was run the beach. We did quite well for years. There was a spot further West down the beach called the Boilers and we did well there for reds. Actually we did quite well and somewhere I have some old photos taken by my father of some fantastic stringers of fish.

I remember near the pass there was a guy who would take an aluminum ladder out to the third bar and stand or set on it and catch fish. He did this for several years. One weekend during the summer peak period he was not there. We all wondered.

About two weeks later we saw a very large Hammer Head Shark washed up on the beach and it drew a large crowd. The Game Warden came down to look at it and so did some Biologist. The thing had a big patrusion in its belly and when the Biologist cut it open it was a leg from an aluminum ladder........................

picaroon wrote:We would go to the Pass before the road was paved and there was no bridge. Many times all we did was run the beach. We did quite well for years. There was a spot further West down the beach called the Boilers and we did well there for reds. Actually we did quite well and somewhere I have some old photos taken by my father of some fantastic stringers of fish.

I remember near the pass there was a guy who would take an aluminum ladder out to the third bar and stand or set on it and catch fish. He did this for several years. One weekend during the summer peak period he was not there. We all wondered.

About two weeks later we saw a very large Hammer Head Shark washed up on the beach and it drew a large crowd. The Game Warden came down to look at it and so did some Biologist. The thing had a big patrusion in its belly and when the Biologist cut it open it was a leg from an aluminum ladder........................

What a great and horrifying story. We all know there are lots of sharks in the surf. I have a pilot friend that sees tons of big ones if the water is clear while he flies along the beachfront. I try not think about the Sharks and walk any fish in that I'm going to keep. I pretty much avoid the swim to the third bar these days. I just don't want it that bad. I've seen some pretty good ones cruising real shallow. I've backed out of the surf a time or two when things didn't feel right and the hairs of the back of my neck prickled. Your story just added a notch of .... Caution...

You are right about the sharks. I used to fly with my uncle when he checked pipelines, we always came back to Corpus up the beach. Miles and miles of sharks that looked like sunken phone pole sections right in the guts, just wandering around in groups of four or five. Manta rays too. It's always a mystery to me why shark fishermen don't catch more of the bigger ones, they are certainly there and a hell of a lot closer. There is no need at all to set a bait out further than the back of the third bar or even the second.

Two years ago I was in the kayak south of Bob Hall, tossing a spoon at skipjack schools busting bait. I watched a shark fin and tail about 6 ft apart cruise slowly thru the school right in front of me. I think the water was all of 5 feet deep. At the time I was pretty well slimed with skipjack blood all over the yak and myself, it made me re-evaluate things a bit.

Another thing that those flights taught me, there are plenty of big sharks in the bays too.

picaroon wrote:We would go to the Pass before the road was paved and there was no bridge. Many times all we did was run the beach. We did quite well for years. There was a spot further West down the beach called the Boilers and we did well there for reds. Actually we did quite well and somewhere I have some old photos taken by my father of some fantastic stringers of fish.

Aren't the car bodies in that area also? I remember articles about the Boilers and the Car Bodies long ago. I've never found the actual location of the car bodies. Do these directions sound right? http://www.gorp.com/parks-guide/travel- ... z3c9S8pjR8

habanerojooz wrote:

picaroon wrote:We would go to the Pass before the road was paved and there was no bridge. Many times all we did was run the beach. We did quite well for years. There was a spot further West down the beach called the Boilers and we did well there for reds. Actually we did quite well and somewhere I have some old photos taken by my father of some fantastic stringers of fish.

Aren't the car bodies in that area also? I remember articles about the Boilers and the Car Bodies long ago. I've never found the actual location of the car bodies. Do these directions sound right? http://www.gorp.com/parks-guide/travel- ... z3c9S8pjR8

TRUE STORY
we fished the cars years ago.. I caught a big fish once there and it got caught in one of the cars..a guy on the beach who was scuba diving went out to see .. when he returned he told me it was a big red.. I ask him why he didn't free it from the car .He said he tried but every time he did the red rolled the windows up ..

Check the Surf Cam- waders out there right now on a flat surf.

today

Why the hell am I at work?

I hit the Galveston beach this morning with the fly rod and wound up outfishing the baitsoakers. Chartreuse over white clouser and chrome clouser were the ticket. All in the first gut, early bite. It was all over by 8:00. That's when the dolphin showed up.

karstopo wrote:today

That was from 8:04 am. Have to be careful. I made the mistake once of thinking the Octagon Surf cam was near real-time. NOT!! All of the 3 shots from that surf cam service are once a day after sunrise. There used to be a good one that did a shot about every 5 seconds on Crystal Beach. No Mas. The City of Galveston has some near real-time surf cams. But the surf is still a nice sandy green right now.

Real time. Some jacks or something big messing up the mullet out past the third bar. Seen a couple croaker caught. Saw a lefty catch a small trout after an hour and half wading chunk a spoon and some red and white plug.

I waded out earlier and there were a lot of shad balls moving up the coast. Lots of mullet, but they were safe unless they got out past the 3rd bar. A couple of folks had lines out with cut bait but no takers. Morning might be good. Visiblity was good, about 2feet.

There used to be a good one that did a shot about every 5 seconds on Crystal Beach. No Mas. The City of Galveston has some near real-time surf cams. But the surf is still a nice sandy green right now.

If you look at anything other than the http://www.gtownsurf.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; webcam for Galveston you are wasting your time. By far the highest quality, most reliable, and very importantly it gathers enough light to discern the breakers before dawn.

Hit Follets Beach at 6am on Saturday with every angler known to mankind. Shoulder to shoulder waders from Surfside to SLP. Water was flat and looked perfect. Lots of bait. Nothing. Then went to Galveston side of SLP and found nothing but sharks. Bait out the wazoo. Pelicans diving everywhere. We threw everything in the tackle box. Saw one guy wading in my shark hole and landed a nice flounder. Beautiful day. Was TPWD fish free day. I would say it was a bonanza for the event. Bucees at Surfside was unreal at 5:30 am.

Hutch wrote:Hit Follets Beach at 6am on Saturday with every angler known to mankind. Shoulder to shoulder waders from Surfside to SLP. Water was flat and looked perfect. Lots of bait. Nothing. Then went to Galveston side of SLP and found nothing but sharks. Bait out the wazoo. Pelicans diving everywhere. We threw everything in the tackle box. Saw one guy wading in my shark hole and landed a nice flounder. Beautiful day. Was TPWD fish free day. I would say it was a bonanza for the event. Bucees at Surfside was unreal at 5:30 am.

Hum... hit the access 6 at SS at dawn on Sat. Nothing early on tops... the guys to the west were fishing live with popping cork and started catching at about 6:30. So switched to live shrimp under a bomber popping cork. Started catching trout to 20" on 2nd bar and then swam to 3rd. The bite stopped at about 9:00. Ended up with 8 trout and 3 smacks. Largest smack went 26".

Nice report YakLash.

They have been doing well in the surf.

picaroon wrote:We would go to the Pass before the road was paved and there was no bridge. Many times all we did was run the beach. We did quite well for years. There was a spot further west down the beach called "the Boilers" and we did well there for reds. Actually we did quite well and somewhere I have some old photos taken by my father of some fantastic stringers of fish.

I remember near the pass there was a guy who would take an aluminum ladder out to the third bar and stand or set on it and catch fish. He did this for several years. One weekend during the summer peak period he was not there. We all wondered.

since it's time to start fishing the surf i thought i'd resurrect this thread
~~~~~~~~~
when we plan on fishing the surf we still go to "the Boilers"
in the old days the stack to the boiler of the Acadia still stuck out above the water
great structure along the 3rd sand bar

Wow, thanks for posting that!

about the Acadia "Boilers"

http://www.texasescapes.com/DEPARTMENTS ... Acadia.htm

https://deadconfederates.com/2014/09/23 ... s-aground/

The Brazoria County Historical Museum in Angleton has some artifacts from the Acadia and a nice research collection on some of the history from this period.

Now that's a cool story! No working compass, fog, strong currents - Just wasn't their day!