Galveston West Bay

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Jhol0988
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Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2016 6:50 pm

Galveston West Bay

Post by Jhol0988 »

I launched off of around 7 AM 8 mile Rd. to explore South Deer Island armed with 2 fishing poles. One was tied with a Bone color Super Spook Jr. and the other had a jig on it which I eventually put on a Pumpkinseed Gulp Swimming Mullet. I decided to explore West of the island first looking for any activity I could find. I actually never thrown a top water lure before so I decided why not? Let's learn to do it today. I actually got the hang if it pretty quickly. It was a fairly windy day, ranging between 10-17 MPH. So I make my way around the island drifting and casting and I run into a school of reds near a shallow patch of shell directly behind the island. At this point I am trying to stop my Kayak but I cannot! :x Left my stakeout pole at home and the type of anchor I had would not grab anything. I literally see about 3-4 huge tails feeding on the bottom and more in the area just feasting on bait. So the current carried me and I'm sure I spooked most of the reds in the area. I was able to get one good cast in the area of the tailing redfish with no success. So after being just flat out sick from seeing that, I made my way around the island to deeper water with no success. I did catch one hardhead in a flat area on the east side of the island on the Gulp I was throwing. I also noticed a school of bait on the shoreline around 11:30.
It was a gorgeous day on the water nonetheless! Still trying to put things together, any input is welcome! I jotted a few notes here on the bottom. I also attached a link to yesterday's tide chart as well as the weather.

Notes:
According the the tide chart, the tide was rising between 7:25 AM and 11:45 AM.
The time I saw the redfish was around 9 or 9:30 ish which the wind was around 15 MPH around that time gusting to almost 22 MPH
Noticed a huge school of bait pushed up against the shoreline right at the time high tide was supposed to be


http://www.tides4fishing.com/us/texas/j ... h-west-bay
https://www.wunderground.com/history/ai ... story.html
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Yaklash
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Re: Galveston West Bay

Post by Yaklash »

If I'm in water shallow enough to see tails, and I can't get anchored or staked out, I would at least try to get my feet to the bottom as brakes or, if not, get out of the kayak altogether.

Secondly, not sure what bait you threw at the reds, but if you see reds tailing, a topwater bait is not likely to be very successful. Not saying it hasn't happened. I have caught a red on topwater that was tailing when I cast to it, but it's rare. A bottom lure like your Gulp would have stood a better chance, if placed out ahead of the tailing reds and not moved until they are on top of it.
Jhol0988
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Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2016 6:50 pm

Re: Galveston West Bay

Post by Jhol0988 »

Yaklash wrote:If I'm in water shallow enough to see tails, and I can't get anchored or staked out, I would at least try to get my feet to the bottom as brakes or, if not, get out of the kayak altogether.

Secondly, not sure what bait you threw at the reds, but if you see reds tailing, a topwater bait is not likely to be very successful. Not saying it hasn't happened. I have caught a red on topwater that was tailing when I cast to it, but it's rare. A bottom lure like your Gulp would have stood a better chance, if placed out ahead of the tailing reds and not moved until they are on top of it.
Sorry I left that detail out. I did throw the Gulp and not the topwater, but the water was moving so fast I was only able to get one cast in that direction. I was just in awe of what was going on and was trying to move around but make as little noise as possible. I didn't want to spook them.
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karstopo
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Re: Galveston West Bay

Post by karstopo »

Jhol0988 wrote: It was a gorgeous day on the water nonetheless! Still trying to put things together
This is about as far as I have gotten in years of fishing. I think you are on the right track. Try to solve the puzzle. Enjoy the time out. Look forward to next time.
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