I went out on the 6:00 am to 6:00 pm trip on the Dolphin Express out of Port A yesterday. As you would expect, we used their old Penn Senators and soaked dead bait. We caught small Atlantic Sharpnose sharks and Vermillion Snapper, as well as some Red Snapper that had to go back. Really nice crew. Can't say enough about them. Also a nice group of passengers. A word to the wise, the game warden boarded the boat on the way back in to check for illegal fish and everyone's fishing license.

If you were going to take your own tackle to try something different than what they are set up to do for the group, then what kind of lures would you want to carry with you and and how would you fish them within the limitations of being on a group boat like this?

Never fished that boat but I always take my own, I have never used boat tackle, I don't know how many went but on the boats I have been on casting and lures were not used, just live or cut bait.
Exception is the Bluefin and they are 1st class, you could use want ever you wanted as long as it did not get in way of others.
I like to free line large bait and bottom fish the same, not the cut squid but fresh caught bait or live fish, I don't care for the smaller fish caught and catch much less than others do but when I do hook up usually I have a very nice fish.

Which outfitter has the Bluefin? I would imagine that would cost quite a bit more than the $145 I spent for 12 hours on the Dolphin Express.

I'm curious, when you say 'boarded', do you mean a GW boat stopped y'all out on open water, or was this back at the dock before anyone got off the boat? Good to know, either way.

Kinda surprised a GW would bother with a partyboat in the first place. Usually such operations are fastidious about observing fish regulations.

The game warden came on board as we re-entered the marina in port a after a day on the water.

They looked over the fish pretty good, I suppose in particular for red snapper. This was, after all, the day before the red snapper season opened. They also caught a few fishermen without a license.

Yeah on this. Total waste of time there. they should be checking the CC's and other boats IMO

I think I lot of people might be tempted to go out on a party boat without a fishing license thinking that they will probably never be checked by the game warden. I was surprised. I already had a fishing license because of other fishing, but if I didn't already have one I would be asking myself what the odds might be of getting checked.

OTOH, we went out well past the nine mile state water line before we even fished. We came back through state waters with fish that we caught outside of state waters. But, the rules are the rules. Either play by the rules or go home.

Not sure what your point is here but there is no reason you cannot come back through and even stop and fish in state waters while you have limits caught in federal waters ..... as long as you are within the governing guidelines.

In Texas, to possess fish in State waters & to bring them in to port, one must have a valid TX fishing license. You don't have to have the license to fish in Federal waters, but if you bring fish back to TX, you need the license.

The headboats that are Federally licensed can't fish state water.

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you mean the ones that haven't paid the (red snapper mafia protection) money to the NMFS, right David?

If you go out on a 12 hour trip, you will not fish in Texas waters, but you must have a Texas fishing license for when the boat returns to Texas. Enough about that. Back to the original question.

I would love to have my own boat to go 50 miles out, but so far that just hasn't worked out financially. Taking boats like the Dolphin Express is a way that your average guy can access offshore waters. There might be other viable options, but so far I haven't discovered them. If anyone has any ideas, then please let me know.

I want to know if it is possible to go out on these kinds of boats and do other things besides fish on the bottom with the cut squid they pass out. What would be some ideas to try while on this type of boat?

Of course, in fact I recommend it. I have been fishing the headboats since the early 70's and have probably used their gear 3 or 4 times. For things to do, you can drift a live or dead bait for surface fish (kings, etc), you can fish a big live or dead bait in the mid depths for AJ's etc, you can fish a live or dead bait on the bottom for grouper. The list goes on. For bait, either bring it or look for grunts or other non game fish to be caught and talk someone out of it. Put a hook in it and go fishing.

Lite-Liner, You hit the nail on the head

Another thing is if you bring your own gear the deck hands will more often than not give you a little more attention. They know you aren't just a tourist out for some random fun. They have all the boat gear setup for the most basic and foolproof fishing. If you talk to them a little and let them know what all you brought they will be able to give you the inside scoop on what you can do to get some "bonus" fish like AJs, Grouper, or Ling. You might not catch as many fish but you'll catch bigger and better fish.

So you bring a five gallon bucket with a little aerator in it, or maybe an ice chest with some larger fresh dead bait?

I also wondered what all you could do without getting tangled up with the other fishermen. If I free lined a live bait, what would keep it from swimming around the lines of the people around me? Maybe it would swim out a little further from the boat while everyone else's line will be going straight to the bottom. Can you cast anything out with the people around you? I guess you have to learn to improvise quite a bit.