WHAT AM I DOING WRONG? I have NEVER caught ANY fish even CLOSE to trophy size or even REMOTELY large(other than some giant black drum at Port O' Connor and a 50'' snook)!!!!! I must be pathetic. Even though I do catch lots of fish, i have only caught THREE inshore fish that were over 20 inches, and none of them were any more than 25 inches long! The biggest fish that I have caught without going 25 miles offshore was a 35 inch black drum off the mouth of the jetties. I have never caught a limit trout or a trophy redfish. In fact, my biggest trout and redfish are 22" and 25", respectively.

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?
Please give me an answer!

Find this guy - he can probably help you out

Get a pro to guide you are find someone that can tell you where to fish , when to fish , how to fish .

You're bad and the karma will come around! Happy b-day!

Thank you!

Sometimes I do. It's expensive, so we don't get to do it every time that we go down, but we get most of our techniques and all of our spots from Capt. Dan (contact Jubilee Guide Services). The spots he shows us don't always give us big fish, but they do give us alot of fish. He has given me a couple of relatively large fish, including a 35", 32" black and a 25" red drum, but I'm looking for tips for REALLY big fish.

daveim,

Here's some thoughts based on many years of fishing around Galveston.

First, big trout are very rare. When I say big trout, I'm talking about fish over an honest 30 inches. Don't believe all the reports you read about trout over 30 inches...you can fish a lifetime on the coast and never catch a 30 inch trout.... I know good fishermen who have fished many years and have never caught one over 30 inches .... 28 plus yes, but never an honest 30 inch + trout.

If you expect to catch big trout often, your expectations are way too high.

Ok, that wasn't what you wanted to hear, but it's the truth.

Now, to your question, To increase your odds of catching big trout, you need to fish in areas that hold big trout. That may seem very obvious, even simplistic, but believe me, big trout have preferred haunts and you can fish all day every day under birds, over slicks, etc. and get limit after limit, but unless you are fishing locations where big trout hang-out, you will not catch one. To find those locations requires a lot of time on the water...and networking with some skilled fishermen.

Let's say you are fishing a spot you know has produced big trout. If you truely don't care about limits, about loading up the freezer, and are willing to grind it out, then first choice for really big trout, in a prime location, would be a live croaker or mullet, about 8 inches or so. Second choice would be large Mirror lures or other baits that imitate a good sized mullet.

Fish under very low sun angles and/or on cloudy days, or even at night. Fish only when the tide is moving and time your trips to coincide with maximum current days. Ignore the temptation to go "chase the birds" and grind it out....and still you may never get that fish over 30 inches...but if /when you do, it is worth all the effort. Then, when you succeed, keep your mouth shut about where you caught it, if you ever want to repeat the adventure.

Meadowlark gave you some good advice. You have to fish in the places that big trout hang out. One of those "general areas" is on Lake Calcasieu, in southwest Louisiana. ( sometimes called BIG LAKE...by the locals).

I grew up on the Texas coast and fished it on and off, all my life...but I hate to tell ya....there arent many fish on the Texas coast to compare with Calcasieu. The redfish limit in LA is 5...not 3. ( havent checked regs yet this year)...and the LA speck limit is 25 for most areas. Calcasieu has more large trout than anyplace I've ever fished and that includes the Chandeluer Islands. I think the Texas fisheries have been mismanaged for years....but I'm no biologist. All I know is that my success rate is lower in Texas for large inshore fish than it is in Louisiana.

Croakers, top dogs early and late, mullet, Catch 2000s and some of your other artificials help catch big trout. Big gold spoons, spinnerbaits, rattle traps and of course...bait shrimp and cracked crab will catch larger reds.

Try ONE trip to Big Lake during a medium moving tide...and you'll never want to fish the Texas coast again for big fish. I say that with great sorrow, too...for I love the Texas coast.

If you want to catch big redfish you can do one of two things. #1 fish the jetties soaking bait during the Bull Red run in Sept-Oct. #2 Pole or drift shallow flats sight casting to big reds with lures. (I know of a few locations to do this: POC or south towards the Landcut.)

As others have said, big trout take a lot of time and patience. You have to be where they are. Baffin Bay or further south produce quite a few big trout. The surf in the summer when it is calm and green is another good place to search for a big trout. My biggest trout, 9.7lbs, came from the surf.

I usually fish in Estes, with shrimp or croaker.

THROW NOTHIN BUT A TOP-WATER!! TOP'S MIGHT NOT CATCH ALOT OF FISH, BUT THE FISH U DO CATCH ARE USUALLY 25in+. GOOD LUK

JESSE JAMES

Unfortunately, I don't think you are going to get many bull reds on Estes. There can be the occassional big trout on Estes though. You would have to throw a topwater and grind it out. The time to catch those trophy trout is now! I found a dead 30" trout Saturday near Estes, so I know there are some good trout around there. Last year a good friend of mine caught a 27" trout down by Island #2, second island north of Conn Brown.

You can't expect to fish the same waters the same way with different results. Maybe expand your horizons a little bit and search them out. Try Nueces Bay in May/June.

BTW- I know a lot of people who have fished qutie a bit and still not caught a trout over 22" or a red over 25". Keep grinding and it will happen.

A trophy fish is a trophy fish for a reason. If everyone was catching them they wouldn't be a trophy, would they?

yeah, the last time i limited out on reds, they were all three 25-26 inches and it was the most incredible feeling in the world but now when i go back and catch like a 21 incher, i'm like, what the hell is this, are you even a keeper. sometimes not limiting out or catching trophies keeps your hopes up and you enjoy it every minute! don't get spoiled by it! i caught one 27 inch trout, it was so big i thought, i knew, it had to be a red, when i saw the pepper and yellow mouth, i thought i was gonna faint. i promised i would mount it, i did, and i also promised i would let everyone over 23ish go, and i have. its such a good feeling now, but the quest is over for the big fish. and don't worry about limiting out. most people never have. the last time i limited out on trout was about 6 years ago at cedar bayou. just keep fishing and having fun and enjoy every minute of it!

Ask around on this forum and other forums.... Alot of people will help you out... Good Luck.... Money also talks...

I only have one (useful) piece of advice to offer - bigger baits for bigger fish. You may not catch very many fish, but you'll get biguns more often.

I was about to say just this too.

I don't fish for trout, but I do fish for the Bull Reds, and I usually use cut mullet minimum of 8-10"

The one time that I did catch a trophy fish... But i can't remember what I was using.

Go to the jetties September and October, anchor up ,carolina rig on the bottom , fresh shad or mullet and I don't see how you could not catch a red over 35".

is crab as effective as shad/mullet?

Crab can be effective. If I were fishing the jetties for Bull Reds I would have crab and menhaden.

The first trout I ever caught was 28" so I am spoiled.

Since you may not have a boat, noting that you fish from the jetties, you are limited to your approach, however I see plenty of massive reds being caught by jetty fishermen.

Google the lemon rig and maybe learn how to rig it if you fish the jetties much.

no, i have a kayak (someone stole the foot pedal drives), a sun dolphin, and a canoe, and frequently rent boats.

Find some good flats wading areas.
Try fishing large tops for trout and reds. You will catch less fish on them also, but you will catch more larger fish and the majority of the fish will be quality fish.