I know that fishing with live bait and dead for that matter for reds is considered by many as cheating and i agree, but in clear lake on the north west side of galveston bay all i get into with any bait is rat reds, unless im lucky. Dead shrimp is all that works consistently unless a school is near and they are rats anyway. I dont know if im fishing in the wrong spots or if it is my bait, but the trout get big in here and the flounder as well. I was wondering if any advise could be offered as to where i might be able to catch reds with size and power, preferably in the seabrook/kemah area. Dont worry i release evrything i catch except a few flounder in the fall, so no competition here.

bump a 4" gulp shrimp in new penny off the bottom with a 1/8 oz jighead.

Who cares if they call it cheating, as long as you are out there on fish. Also try cut finger mullet under a popping cork.

good luck finding big reds around here(seabrook) me and a buddy got into them last year (6 the smallest was 29) but since then ive olny caughten a handfull of slots

if you want some power go for the bib black drum with crab and hold on, went out this past weekend and my buddy cought a 35lb on a curado in a kayak and went for a sliegh ride. JUST TARGET STRUCTURE and you wil find them. if you have A BOAT OR DONT MIND WADEING(I HAVE A KAYAK) you can fish the bay-side of the kemah flats by th fishmarkets and tear the drum up

and where are you catchin the specks....if you dont mind sharing

Reds can be finicky. I find that lures are about on par with live bait for catching reds. Saying that, sometimes it does not matter what you throw at them, they will ignore it.
My first choice for reds would be small mullet. If thats not getting hit, i would switch to 5" bass assassins. I'd give a dozen throws, and if no interest, i change color, until i find what theyre after. If that doesnt work, I switch to a slow retrieve spoon. If that doesn't work, i go back to mullet, lol.
A reds fave food is oyster. 2nd to that is sea lice, and thirdly, crab. Reds are oppertunistic, though. if theres a shad or mullet in eating distance, they'll have it.
My local bait shops charge extortionate prices for crab, thats why i dont take it with me.
If your out looking for drum, take a small pair of binoculars with you. You can cover at lot more area looking for them tailing that way. If its deeper than 2 ft, just wander around, blind casting, until you come across either oysters, or patchy grass, then work those areas.
If i'm out kayaking, i usually have a rod, bottom rigged, that i stick out back, with cut bait ordead bait. i use a small owner mutu circle hook, and i pull out about 8 - 12ft of line, both for my kayak moving around in the tide, and for the fish to take off and chomp the bait before the line tightens. If something pulls it, i can feel it. There's always a few fish every trip hook themselves on that line. Not always keepers, but hey! Obviously, there can be stingrays attatched, which is a nightmare to deal with in my kayak. I usually cut the leader and tie on a new hook.

Try live perch I catch them with a perch trap by the dozens. We slammed the reds this past weekend using perch, 3-4 inch are the best size. the bigger the bait the bigger the fish is my motto.

big black drum now thats more possible sounds good i do have a kayak but as for the trout i can tell you a few good places and chances are your gonna see me there, its under lights at night time in clear lake. You can hit any apartments off of nasa road one and go to the piers for nice trout action from keepers to over 20 sometimes. try harbor point apartments or THE LANDING which is best because its right on the mouth of taylor lake and it produces big ones and if you want a good fight use a small grub lure for BIG GARR!you will see them in the top 6 inches of water when they go by. by the way, use those same grubs for the trout because there realy is no better lure for trout than a grub, dont anybody argue that with me because it never misses with that tiny hook and they love it.

hardheadbuster, if you have a kayak i can show you where to catch the drum. and i think ive seen the lights

if you want to go for a paddle and catch those bad boys shoot me a pm

and wat kind of kayak do you have ?

Do you have to fish the lights from a boat or can you fish from the pier? Does it cost any money?
Thanks

Try finger mullet on bottom with about a 1 ft steel leader and a sliding weight. I recommend cutting part of their tail off to get some "flavor" in the water. I've caught a lot of bulls at the end of the jetties doing this. I'm glad you can catch a red on dead shrimp, I can't.

the apartment ownt the bulk heads, so i do not think you can legalaly fish the lights from the bulkhead, but once the light leaves the bulb they no longer own it, so for "safty" sake if you have a boat use it.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b275/cowboytongue/IMG_0422.jpg


Calaveras Lake no upper size limit they dont spawn put and take lake..

you can fish right there from the land if you wanna save your boats gas because i have never been asked to leave by anyone from the apartments. Last night i couldnt get a single good bite but a guy next to me used a finger mullet and got a keeper trout, then right about midnight the most incredible thing i have ever seen in clear lake happened, probably several hundred if not thousands of large mullet jumped simultaniously all within the light and around it. It scared the bujesus out of me but it made me wonder, what on earth would make that many fish frightened?

Would you believe something wanting to eat them . Once saw acres of mullet jump at same time when being chased by Jacks.

Has anyone heard how the reds and trout are hitting in south padre island. i am going down there in a few weeks and am hoping that the action is heating up. also what about whiting on the jetties?

speaking of mullet, I saw the biggest one ever today jump out of the water... REALLY big... would like to know what he was scared of