Guys, though I am very much into bass fishing; I have grown up on and still live near padre island in CC, TX. So, I navigate back n forth between the saltwater and freshwater discussion boards on the forum. One obeservation that I have made is that the freshwater forum users post alot more than the saltwater guys. Maybee that is because less people live near the coast and have the chance to saltwater fish? Whatever the case, I wish that there were more replies to posts on the saltwater side. The difference is night and day, between the amount of posts and replies.!

Also, it seems that there is much better info, and general fishing knowledge coming from the freshwater end. Alot of those guys really know their stuff as opposed to some of the stuff I read on the saltwater end. Again, that could be a result of the demographic thing, where most people live inland and do not get the opportunity to fish saltwater on a regular basis.

Regardless, I would like to see more use on the saltwater side. Though my interest have shifted more towards bass fishing, I try to check things out around here and spread the yrs of saltwater knowledge that I have gain through living on the coast. However, I would like to see more feedback and useage. In the past there were a bunch of guys like PiePuncher, JustinTX, and others that knew a little something and made posts. I guess they got tired of posting. Kinda miss em.

Agreed. I'd also like to see a little more cool fishing pictures and a little less yacking. Yacking is good when people want advice but there is too much talk and too little fish pics it seems like on this forum. If the people on here that claim to fish 530 days a year want to give "expert advice" thats cool but add some photos from all of those millions of trips every once in a while to keep things interesting. I don't know about y'all but it gets my heart pumping seeing cool fish pics, not "expert/professional" fish advice from weekend warriors. Thats all i have to add. I am actually "fishing" on Sat, and will post some fish pics...

im with you on that fred! fishing friday, sunday & monday...! don't know how i pulled that one off! plus, supposed to be great weather too! oh yeah, i'll be posting the pixes too! good luck everyone!

Good luck amigo. Even if the fishing sucks its better than reading another "top ten" lure post followed by a few hundred responses. Get out and fish, take along a throw away camera, and post some fish pictures. This isn't nasa, we don't need to analyze everything. Fishing is about actually getting out there, enjoying the outdoors, catching fish, snapping a few photos, and telling good stories about it later. My suggestion to everyone who can this weekend is lay down the d#&^ keyboard, pick up your rod, and go fishing. This is a fantastic time of year to go because not many people are doing it. The fish don't care that its not "season" and since october I bet sarah and i have caught around a hundred reds without a single fish under 20". 75 percent of the time we've been alone on a 7 mile long pier (think about it). Not to mention we aren't fishing next to twenty guys with handlines, coated wire leaders, 150 pound test, beadheads, or the PFG retard "pros" who just walked out of an orvis catalog with their monogramed castaways chugging their bone colored top dogs or blue and silver superspooks praying for a bite because it worked one time on the south shoreline next to galveston state park. Get out there and enjoy it because summer is just around the corner and the mosquito fleet is on its way...

There can be any number of reasons for not seeing as many posts in the salt water section as in the past. For example, we, our family, used to fish the coast 4 to 6 times a year but, that was when gas was not $3.00 a gallon. With the obvious majority of the users of this forum being from the metromess combined with the fuel costs, sure would seem to be major contributing factors IMHO. Just yesterday, I had a fellow stop by my house just to talk about fishing the coast because he saw my CC boat sitting in the garage. We were both lamenting the lack of opportunity and I had never met the man before.

I will admit that I am not into takeing pics of my fish, rarely have a camera, and just dont think about it, but I am getting more and more into the picture thing the older I get.

I would love to show yall the pictures I have, however, I am not into the tech. thing and just cant really figure out how to do it. The last time I was able to post some pictures it took me like a whole day to figure it out.

I do have a scanner, and my fiance has a digital camera, but we have just given up on trying to post them because it is too tiem consuming for us. I would rather just be out fishing.

If anyone can give detailed instruction on how to post them, I have stacks of awesome back dated photos along with the current fishing trips that I take weekly.

Also, I agree that too many people here talk about fishing and it is easy to tell that they dont actually get out and fish, they just type. "Keyboard Fisherman"

Gas roundtrip from houston to galveston: $10
Quart of live shrimp: $14
Fishing on one of the jetties: Free

Total for a day of fishing $24

You're very lucky and we would do the same if able but, try towing a 19ft. center console from San Angelo to anywhere on the coast and in gas alone it's $300.00+. So, this key-board bass fishing family will keep on bass fishing and leave the coast for all those lucky enough to be within a $10.00 drive.

If you do alot of bass fishing that does not make you a keyboard fisherman. At least you are fishing, and the saltwater board needs your comments. I think that you are lucky to live near so many good bodies of freshwater. Though I live on the coast, my first love is bass fishing. I think that you read me wrong, or didnt read my first post.

Also, center console boats do waste alot of gass. I use my bay boat to fish choke canyon and the 45 min trip to the lake is a killer on gas. My company even pays the ticket, but darn they waste some gas as compared with a bass boat. However, I do feel lucky to live within 10 min of the bay!! I am well aware!

haha sorry bout that, didn't see that you were in San Angelo. That does make a difference especially when towing a boat. The funny thing is that in the summertime, guys on boats are fishing in the exact same place I am accept I am standing on the jetty. They put in at the GYB and drove all the way around the jetty which is around a 30+ mile trip. Seems kinda silly since I pull up, unload my rolling cooler and rods, and I'm fishing in about 5 minutes. Try driving down without the boat, it will be a lot easier and cheaper. My boat, Y'all are jealous as hell i'm sure, (One of a kind Tricked out Captain Morgan rolling cooler) she ain't pretty but..well..she ain't pretty...

Here's a few pics:

Port Mansfield







A few trout on topwaters:



A few stripers:

Here's a stringer shot of about half our trout from Feb 2 in Matagorda. I wish we would have taken pics at the end of the morning with our total catch, 17 trout to 24".

Maybe this weekend I will remember to do a better job of taking pics!

Here is a heck of a Grouper!

Hell of a Woman!!!! No offense but CUTE!!! A little sunburnt though, it happens!

What really makes it bad is that we lived in Corpus Christi for 4 years while I went to school for 2 years at what was then called CCSU. We fished every opportunity we had and duck hunted allmost as much. Sure do miss those days of Inza's Lonesome Coyote and stopping by Chat's for a cold one.

Hell of a catch, bet you had quite a tussle! Beautiful coloring, wow...Grouper ain't half bad either...Thanks for the pics men, if I saw another "top ten" list I was seriously going to vomit. Keep em comin.

These are some pics from Port A last summer. I am going down there this weekend so maybe i will have some more. We were there for a week and caught fish like this everyday.






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How about downsizing those pics a little fellas (Huckleberry)? Makes for some hard reading...


Hey there guys and gals. First off, I would like to thank LooptyLoop for the kind words. I have not heard from Keith (Pie Puncher) in a long time. I hope all is well and he is still a fish catching machine. When people get married, have children, and spend their time making money to support the two, there is less time for things like fishing.

I happen to live in Houston and spend quite a bit of time on the water. I work a normal job, live a normal life, but I have an abnormal love for fishing. My boss and girl friend are very supportive of this love, and I am thankful for that.

I don’t have the money to get a fancy boat, a nice truck to pull it with, and all that [censored] that goes with boat ownership. However, I do have two kayaks and they hit the water just about every weekend.

With that being said, I have heard all kind of jokes from co-workers, random people and even family members about me fishing out of these little “plastic boats”. I can tell you right now that I am not bothered one bit. I catch more saltwater fish than 90% of the people on this forum, guides being in that percentage. I have a cooler full of fresh Speckled Trout in my truck as we speak, and guess who is asking about them – co-workers that laughed the first time they saw a yak hanging out of my truck on a Friday afternoon.

I am not bragging, but I am good at what I do. I love the peace and serenity that being on the water brings. Most of the places I fish are very secluded and I rarely come in contact with others except those I fish with. That’s what I love about this sport. It gives me a chance to get away from the hustle and bustle the city brings and helps me clear my mind from the previous week’s problems.

The main reason I do not post here as often as I did in the past is because of the interest in what I do. I enjoy speaking with others about the same things I enjoy. That happens to be saltwater kayak fishing. The TFF is a great place for one to browse and learn wonders about all types of freshwater fishing (even in the rough fish section), but the general interest in saltwater fishing is little to none to say the least. There is always a few that post here and there, but its very random.

I invite anyone to shoot me a PM, or even an email (justinlhenderson@hotmail.com) if you have any questions related to inshore saltwater fishing. It might take me a day or two to get back to you, but I will when time permits. If you happen to be making a trip down to the coast, give me a holler. I wont tell you where my secret spots are, but I will do my best to give you helpful info and maybe even head out with you if things work out.

I spend quite a bit of time these days on kayak forums specific to the areas I fish. Come on by and check things out of you would like. (texaskayakfisherman.com is my favorite) I am also a moderator on another site dedicated to Texas saltwater kayak tournaments (slingshotrods.com/forum) Come on by and say hello.

Tight lines – Justin

Here are a few pics of fish I have caught over the last few months (all from a little plastic
boat)


I took a good friend of mine that always laughed at fishing from a yak on a little trip. You think he might have enjoyed it a little?

While wading a flat we found a school of huge Black Drum. He hooked up using a paddle tail plastic (TTF Flats Minnow).


It took about 15 minutes to land this beast on a trout rod spooled with 12lb test (recognize the monument in the background?)


Back to the drink she went…


This is what my yak looked like when we made it back to the launch…


My buddy with our combined stringer.




The next weekend he already wanted to go again. We headed to some of my favorite marsh.

click on the video


Nice Redfish in the marsh


At one point, he had three slot reds flopping around in my kayak (the smile says it all). I dont care if a guide can put you on a limit of Red's. Get out there and do it yourself and the reward is priceless...


Here is my limit of Reds for the day (we both caught our limits plus about 15 more slots that were released)…




Christmas Eve trip with a buddy… Trout to 27"




Here are a few Trout I caught Christmas morning – smallest right at 20”




Here is a really nice Flounder I bagged this year. Beat that!





Anyone had a stuffed Flounder the size of this? Don't think so...

Sweet, good to here from you Justin. You new me by another name in another place, but if you can guess, keep it to yourself. Its good to hear from a fellow fish ripper.

Looks like you been hitting the salt pretty hard, Id like to see some more post from you so that I have somebody to reply to that actually knows what they are doing. No offense to rookies, but if you dont know than dont argue with people who live to fish. Though I fish mostly fresh now, I still live in CC and like to help out others with the water that I know so well. However, I do got some salt trips planned with PiePuncher (kieth) and Im sure Ill scout things out a bit before he comes. Also, I have gotten big into summer time salt fishing in the surf and just offshore. Other than that, I got the bass bugg.

Caught a 12.4 lb bass at Choke this weekend and just got back from the lake about an hour ago. Took a customer fishing for work today (ha Ha)

BTW, Kieth stopped posting for the same reasons that I changed my name and stopped posting for a while also. It gets old getting in arguments with people that have no idea what they are talking about and act so stubborn though they look silly to any real fisherman. Start posting again and keep it real.

woah! nice picks guys where did all those fish come out of any from galvaston?

"I catch more saltwater fish than 90% of the people on this forum, guides being in that percentage"

"Here is a really nice Flounder I bagged this year. Beat that!"

"Anyone had a stuffed Flounder the size of this? Don't think so..."


we're not worthy, we're not worthy!...

there was a grouper in that pic?

Good to hear from you. I know who you are.

Congrats on that big Bass. I am fishing an online tournament that starts this weekend. I should be on the water and looking for the big ones. Wish me luck and I will be sure to post up my results.

All of the fish I posted came from the Galveston area. I caught these last weekend in Galveston. Pics are not very good - the were taken with my phone...

Good one. You live in the same city as me. Get out there and get ya some... These fronts have made fishing pretty tough, but you can still find a few hungry ones.

Just an observation, but why is it that the Galveston area (TX City, Kehma, Clearlake, etc.) is so good for flounder, but falls behind the southern coast when it comes to trout and reds. In fact, the flounder fishing up there is alot better than down here.

I lived in Clearlake for 2 years; and coming from Padre and fishing the laguna madre, baffin, Aransas, and other south texas hotspots, wasnt too impressed with the trout and red fishing in the area. Though I did not have a boat at the time, there are dozens of places where I can wade out in the CC area and bag a nice mess of trout and reds. However, I might have limited one or two times while fishing areas like the TX city Dikes, or flats around GTown. Yet, I was always able to catch a mess of flounder!!

Soon, I began to target flounder when I went saltwater fishing around the Galv. area and was always able to take home close to a limit. Down here we catch flounder, but just not like you guys. Maybee its because trout and reds are more sought after and we just forget about them and you guys rely on them with the harder trout and red fishing. This is the only possibility that I can come up with, other than maybee the mid coast environment is more favorable.

Has anyone noticed this too, or have input on why there is such an abundance of doormats in the Gtown area.

All I can think of is the mid coast conditions might be a better habitat for Flounder. Maybe the dark, soft mud around the mid coast has something to do with it. I honestly don’t know. I haven’t fished your neck of the woods but a few times, so I really don’t know what the general area looks like. I do know that the water clarity is much better and there is an abundance of vegetation unlike the Galveston Bay complex.

I honestly never fish specifically for Flounder – they just end up on the end of my line. I focus my effort on Reds and Trout with Trout being my favorite fish to target. I am still looking for that 30”+ fish. I will find her some day. Those Flounder just seem to like what I am throwing. I have never caught a Flounder while trying to target one. I always try for a Flounder as my last resort when fishing a slam tourney. They are pretty hard to catch when you are looking for one.

Justin, if you want to get that big trout, than try targeting them in the colder months and throw nothing but large suspending baits or surface walkers. It is crucial that you fish over areas with a good mud bottom and in depths of about 4 feet. The mud bottom works to store heat and the trout will be laying in it using their dark backs to ambush prey from below. It usually helps when shell is present too.

The large suspending and surface walking baits more closely resemble the horse mullet that are the most abundant, and preferred prey species during this time of year. If you will notice, you dont see the large schools of finger mullet, shad, or glass minnows from Dec. to March like you do from late spring to fall. So these lures are the more natural choice. Plus, trout are trying to conserve energy by only wasting it on large meals that will fill them up fast, instead of chasing around glass minnows and shad like they will when it is warm. My most succesfull lure choices are the Catch2000 and hi-pitch shedog. However, some people swear by the corky, same approach though.

Use the surface walker to locate trout. Sometimes you will not need to switch baits once trout are located, but if they are missing the lure, or boiling just underneath, switch to the suspending lure and you will usually hammer em. I use this technique everytime I fish during this time of year and have had great success. I have only caught one trout over 30 inches but have caught more than I can count in the 28 inch range, and many of them came this time of year.

If you want to come down, let me know and I will take you out in the boat. Right now, I have a 19 foot blue wave (shallow runner) but I am looking to pick up a skeeter bay boat as soon as my Company starts paying for my truck which should be any day. I know some real good winter and spring spots and garuntee that I will put you on something close to 30 inches.

I just might have to take you up on that offer. I threw plenty of suspending plugs over the winter but have not broke the 23" mark this year... I found plenty of solid fish, just coyldn't find that big girl I have been looking for.

Why aren't we posting more pictures of hot girlfriends fishing..


??

Bum, we may disagree on a few things but that is not one of them. Good Call!! In bikinis too. Thongs even!! Or better yet, narked!

BTW, Justin just keep pluggin away with those suspending lures. Not trying to talk down on your area, but a 23 inch fish is pretty good for up there and I would take a day full of em down here any time. However, I do know that some big ones are up there ready to be caught. I would suggest throwing a surface walker then. The big trout love to hit surface walkers this time of year, under the right conditions. I would throw it and nothing else, except for maybee a corky or catch2000 every once in a while.

My biggest trout in the Galveston area came in the early spring off of a hipitch sheDog (surface walker). It was a 28 incher. As a mattre of fact the two biggest trout I have seen caught down there came off of a SheDog.

I am actually looking for 21" fish for the next month...

http://www.slingshotrods.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=351

I've been trying some suspending baits myself, no luck yet, but I haven't used them much...

As for the discussion at hand, it's an interesting thing...

one reason may be that there's almost 5k sq miles of freshwater in the state (second only to Alaska)?

Maybe just a cultural difference? I mean look at the difference in boats, clothes etc... maybe the serious saltwater angler doesn't like the internet as much?

Also it's harder to successfully fish our coast consistantly... different tides, moons, winds (and I understand freshwater fishermen face these as well, it's just a different monster here, and a larger monster)... the winds made fishing a big "NO" twice that I saw this week, and that happens every week... and I'm talking all day... We've journeyed to our backlakes across the bay at 6:30am on a sheet of glass just to pop out at 8:00am in a scene of "The Perfect Storm" that would continue all day... the fish don't like the mud being kicked up too much in the shallow areas of our bays, so there are a lot of wasted trips...

also look at your different saltwater fishing scenereos... some use the saltwater for flounder-gigging... that's what they want to talk about... some like to chunk out some bait for reds... some like the artificially catch reds... some like their trout... some prefer wading from their boat, some prefer kayaking the bays for reds and trouts, some like kayaking beyond the breakers for shark, some want to fish from the jetties or piers and some from the land... everyone wants to do something different, so there's not gunna be too much discussion...

in freshwater it's pretty much one thing: Largemouth Bass (my fav is stripers at Canyon Lake, but I'll do some LM Bass)... whether you kayak or boat, you're mostly targetting lm bass with artis... so there's going to be more discussion because almost everyone relates...

I wish there was more talk myself, but for some reason there's not... but anyway...

the date on this picture is wronnnng... this was last saturday morning's catch... we didn't fish too much because we were trying to get the hang of my friend's new boat... mine's the big one (33/34 inches.. couldn't get an exact, but big)... I was gunna let him go but my friend wanted to keep him so I tagged him after we strung him... my biggest red to date:



we went out the next morning as well, same spot in the backlakes and we brought in about 10 more keepers... the two biggest that day were the two 28s my friends girlfriend hauled in.... on her little zebco I wouldn't trust a perch on... all catch and release that day...

another thing... this morning I turned on the TV and saw bassmasters was on (like every other sat. morning)... every major fishing show seems to be freshwater based... just a bigger deal I guess...

nice reds zimmy

Like you said, the main reason is that most people do not have access to the coast, therefore they fish freshwater. However, the other freshwater fishes boards do get way more hits that the salt boards.

Even though there are just more freshwater guys out there, the difference in number of posts between fresh and salt is way too enormous. Take a look sometime on how quickly a new post will move off the first page. It takes less than half a day, if there are not rapid, freaquent replies, while posts on the saltwater side will stay on page one for days.

Also, Zim; like I stated earlier, use a surface walker such as a hipitch sheDog to locate trout, then it may be better to switch to the suspending baits once you know they are there. However, cold whether fishing with a suspending lure is just a pound it out patient kind of thing. You usually wont see fast action but will catch some monsters. If you want numbers than dont throw it and go with a plastic, but if you want to take advantage of the time of year, and the big trout that are yielded during these months, then keep chunking that suspending lure.

I don't post a lot because I'm still trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing!

Maybe some day I'll post stringers full of fish, but 'til then I'll just sit back and learn from the pros.