Another skunking

Post Reply
User avatar
Michael Meyer
Posts: 44
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2016 11:38 am

Another skunking

Post by Michael Meyer »

My wife and I fished South Bay in Aransas Pass Saturday morning. We launched where the old casino ship used to dock. We were on the water about 30 minutes before sun up. Just about hit high tide on the button. Great bait action. :D Great water clarity. :D Light wind. :D No fish in the boat. :shock: A few tail slappers. A couple of strikes. One took the bait and ran and I did not get a good hook set. Fished top waters (Super Spook, Jrs., and DSL paddle tails). We did see numerous dead crab and dead fish in the water.

Saturday night my son and I returned and began fishing about 30 minutes after sunset. Pegged low tide and it was low. The water was generally 18" or less (in some places significantly less). I have never seen the water so low. A ton of action. :D Bait everywhere. :D A number of what appeared to be schools of predator fish feeding on bait. :D Once again, no fish. :shock: We fished topwaters and Gulp.

Water temp in both morning and night was about 86 degrees.

My son and I were considering going back out early Saturday morning - maybe hitting the water about 4:30 a.m. or 5:00 a.m. We have not had significant success in a considerable amount of time. I guess my confidence is pretty shaken.

Wanted a recommendation: Because it is so hard should we (a) shift over to live bait, (b) keep the kayaks out of the water until September, or (c) keep doing what we are going?

If you would recommend live bait what would you recommend and how should I rig the bait (popping cork, free lining, etc.)?

Finally, is there anyone out there who has fished this area recently with any luck?
User avatar
Crusader
Posts: 613
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2014 7:28 pm

Re: Another skunking

Post by Crusader »

don't fish where you were fishing. Go elsewhere
KingO'Dinks
Posts: 124
Joined: Sat Jan 30, 2010 1:59 pm
Location: Motorized OK Trident/Manta Ray/Center console/Austin/Seadrift

Re: Another skunking

Post by KingO'Dinks »

I fish with artificials almost exclusively, but there are times when they are ineffective, when that happens, use cut mullet for redfish (has to be fresh, not frozen, get a castnet), and live finger mullet or shrimp for trout. If you don't get bit on those, you ain't fishing where the fish are.
User avatar
Yaklash
TKF 10,000 Club
TKF 10,000 Club
Posts: 12028
Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2004 10:15 am
Location: Houston Heights

Re: Another skunking

Post by Yaklash »

Don't know Port Bay well, so I can't speak as to its fishiness....

...but this past weekend, as I tried to put a trip together, my only thought for the tides and other conditions were either get to the surf at 4:00 am on Sunday (and hope the water was in good shape) or to get onto a West Bay flat at about 3:00 am, as the tide was flowing in hard. That high-low-high from morning till early afternoon had virtually no tidal movement. The late afternoon outgoing and overnight incoming were my only hope and given a choice between those two, I'd take the relative cool of night over the hottest part of the day. Trouble is, I won't do night trips without a buddy and I found no takers on short notice.
texnomad
TKF 3000 Club
TKF 3000 Club
Posts: 3123
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:55 pm

Re: Another skunking

Post by texnomad »

It is my opinion that the areas you are fishing do much better between peaks and lows when the water flow is moving. We have been getting small trout in the 17-18 inch size on lures while wading the reefs in Little Bay here in Rockport . Park along the road and wade in carefully.
Post Reply