TexasKayakFisherman.com

I plan to fish Sea Rim tomorrow at first light. Based on Bigfost's post we will start closer to shore and work our way out. Has anyone had any recent issues with Mullet availability at Sea Pony?

Rick has pony mullet, or did this weekend. The season is closed for the big mullet, so he's not knocking himself out trying to catch mullet right now.

Lots of finger mullet in the water yesterday.

I may very well surf fish east McFaddin tomorrow. If I do, I'll be down about 3/4 mile from the entrance. Come by when you come back in. Red Tacoma with a bunch of rods out.

BTW, you guys can have all the rest of the big sharks. I'm actually tired of catching them this year.

We will look for you. Let me know if you would like me to pickup any bait for you at Sea Pony. If you plan to arrive later than 7:30 we could leave it by my Silver Ford Escape and settle up when we leave.

I'm good on bait, thanks.

On the tandem we ended up catching 19 BRs, 2 small sharks and 1 ray all on cut mullet. We had to move a lot to find fish but caught equal numbers between 100 yards and 400 yards offshore. The weather conditions were fantastic. When leaving we got to visit with Bigfost who was surfing. Its always great to seeing another TKF.

I have experimented with different sized circle hooks up to a 14/0 Eagle Claw but still 50% of the BRs swallow the hook. I also tend to set the hook early in the bite. I'm wondering if this is typical. I would like to minimize my impact on the fish. Does anyone have suggestions to reduce the number of BRs that swallow the hook?

Rainmaker wrote:On the tandem we ended up catching 19 BRs, 2 small sharks and 1 ray all on cut mullet. We had to move a lot to find fish but caught equal numbers between 100 yards and 400 yards offshore. The weather conditions were fantastic. When leaving we got to visit with Bigfost who was surfing. Its always great to seeing another TKF.

I have experimented with different sized circle hooks up to a 14/0 Eagle Claw but still 50% of the BRs swallow the hook. I also tend to set the hook early in the bite. I'm wondering if this is typical. I would like to minimize my impact on the fish. Does anyone have suggestions to reduce the number of BRs that swallow the hook?

ask rick at sea pony for the "best redfish hook on the texas coast". its to the left of the cash register area sitting on the counter.

I experienced the same about gut hooked with Eagle Claws circle hooks. But when I switched over to Mustad circle hooks then the problem stopped. The problem with Mustad circle hooks is their point is not very sharp in comparing to Eagle Claws circle hooks. I had to sharpen the hook tip with the file. I used 16/0 Mustad circle hook.
Give it a try.

There is no way to totally eliminate throat hooks, which is probably what you are actually experiencing. Especially when there are large numbers of fish competing for food, the reds tend to "gobble". They grab a bait and quckly swallow. When that happens, a certain number will be hooked in the throat or crushers.

About all you can do is be prepared. Don't set the hook. Allow it to work as it's designed. I haven't found size to be significant. Secondly, come prepared to unhook those deep hooks. I use a pair of extremely long needle nose pliers from Harbor Freight. Mythman found a pair of very long vice grips somewhere. I have only had to cut one leader in the past several years.

I use 14/0 and 16/0 non-offset Mustad and Eagle Claw circles- prefer Mustad. The offset circles tend to get deep hooked more often.

Good luck