I have no experience pier fishin & have a question.How do you get a fish that you have caught up to the level where you are fishing from ???? Just pull it up through the air ?? What do you do if it's to big to pull up ?? Walk down to end of pier while somebody else holds your pole ?? Or is that not normally a problem ??

Prolly seems like a silly question & it's ok to laugh at me if ya want !!

You can buy or make your own pier nets. You need a round hoop of metal, 30 inches or so in diameter. They make net bags that will fit them. You then attach some heavy weight nylon cord at 4 points around the hoop, so that it will let down fairly flat into the water. You bring your four pieces of cord up to a central point, 24 inches or so above the hoop and attach them to a good piece of nylon rope. Then when you catch something, you just fight it down till it is tired, and you have someone let the net down into the water and lead the fish over it. It takes some practice but once the fish is over the net, you just start hauling the net up and the fish will be down in it. You can buy them ready made at the Academy's down closer to the coasts and at some of the piers. I think they will be cheaper at the Academy's. JMO.

Pier Net, I Agree ! !

Pier net is what I use also. I picked my net and rope up at the Academy on William Cannon and 35. But I have also seen them at the new one at Brodie as well. I think probably any Academy in Austin will have one.

aaahhhhh haaaaaaa NOw why didn't i think of that. Of course , a net. Duh Thanks

at thanksgiving i saw a guy using a big steel hook with a slot cut in to grab the first swivel on the leader. was a big snap type hook with a peice of steel welded to it with a slot that was skinny enough to grab swivel. he had a length on good sized rope with knots every foot or so to pull it up with. i borrowed it to pull up 38 inch red and it worked awesome. he said some guy named hector makes and sells them at galveston. i tried nets and that thing. making one for next trip. it beat the heck out of net and was easy to use alone.

Prolly seems like a silly question & it's ok to laugh at me if ya want !!
[/quote]

I just can't imagine why anyone would laugh at you for your post. I think it's an excellent question and it looks like you've recieved some very good answers.

We use a very long handled, 30" diameter hoop with a 36" bag. Works very well for us. Be sure to pull the net "straight-up" as opposed to using it like a "crane", which obviously would break the handle.

Would like to see a pic of the "slotted steel hook/rope" apparatus that picks up at the leader......does it rely on the fishook to secure the fish?

Thanks for a great post.

I too would like to see it. Also, if you cant get the fish up via net, walk him to the shore, have someone hold your rod and run down the pier, around the ramp and to your fish and grab him.. The piers in Port A and corpus have holes in the bottom of them, you could also put the handle of your rod in a hole and just walk down. There has been many times I have caught fish that are too large to put in the pier nets and the easiest thing to do is to drag them to shore. If you have a home made net, you could probably make one deep enough that the size of the fish shouldnt matter, unless you catch a giant black tip or ray or tarpon or something along those lines. I also dont know if I would put a King in one of those nets, the teeth would rip it up.

Would be nice if someone posted a pic of that other contraption. SOunds like it would work on just about any fish.

Thats why I always take a younger relative,just attach a bungee cord to their leg and lower,works everytime hehe kidding. I have always used those peir nets or a hand held long enough to reach down. Haven't caught anything big enough to not be taken up in one or the other from the peir yet,perhaps one day.

will try to draw pic of contraption i saw at galveston. it worked good. the guy using it pulled up 6 good reds and a huge gaftop. it does rely on hook in fish, but it seemed to work realy good. i am in process of making a few of them. will post pics when i get one done. it works great when fishing alone. i tried net first, but hard to do with a big red on the line and you are ten feet over the water. i am thinking i may have to try the kid on bungee cord idea....may work for retreiving stuck lures in freshwater and double as a depthfinder.....haha

BG, I agree I was in Galveston around the first of Nov. during the peak of Bull Red run. and one evening I was on 61 pier and had the priviledge of netting my own Reds. After catching 3 in a row, but took me an hour. I was wore out, and left them big ole fish biting. Trying to hold 10 ft surf rod, keeping that big fish away from pier and get into the net by myself, although it helped to tie net off just a foot below water guide fish in and make a dash for the rope on the net.

That one contraption where you hook your leader sounds like a great idea, I would loved to see one.

Drop/pier nets can definetly be a little messy, but get the job done.