Hello to all my fellow kayaking friends. Just like last summer, 2019, I wanted to do something for this summer 2020 in regards to BTB kayak fishing for new people (of course intermediate and advanced kayakers are welcome). Five years ago in July I put together a BTB trip for anyone that wanted to get out to do BTB at Surfside, this included kayakers of all levels. It was awesome! We had a total of 34 kayakers that made it out that day. Many just went to the buoys while others went to the 5-mile rig. It was really cool to see that many yaks out on the water. Some of the people that fished off of the jettys at Surfside thought that there was a tournament going on with that many kayaks launching, lol. Five years ago in July I ran another one of these events except it was run out of Corpus Christi instead of Surfside. We had many more show up than the previous year. This trip was a huge success! I believe all the new kayakers caught kings that day and I would say around 70% of the new kayakers limited out on kings. On top of it all, even some of the new kayakers caught cobia. What an amazing day on the water it was!! As each year has gone by, this outing has become larger and larger. This has turned out to be a great way for new kayakers to learn how to go BTB and hopefully to catch some fish while out there on the water.
Since Corpus Christi was such a huge success as in years past, I’m going to continue to do it at Corpus Christi again out at Bob Hall. The way it works is we all meet just south of Ball Hall Pier on the beach and make our way on out to the standpipe to try our luck at smacks, kings, and anything else that we can get into. If you are new to BTB, this would be a great trip to try out. The standpipe is not far offshore (maybe a mile) and there will be plenty of support out on the water with all the kayakers that will be fishing with us. This is not a tournament or an event (this is merely an open invite to anyone that wants to attend). It's just a way to get all levels of kayakers out on the water and to have fun hanging out while fishing. In addition to things, PACK (Paddling Anglers in Canoes and Kayaks) will be doing this trip as well. PACK is a kayak organization that has been around in Houston for a very long time. For more details on this organization, here is the link:
http://www.packtx.orgThe game plan is for everyone to meet just south of Bob Hall Pier on the beach at 6:00am Saturday, June 6th. We will launch around 7:00am. There will be a short meeting before hand to answer any questions by anyone. There will be plenty of experienced kayakers there that can answer anything as well.
The exact location we will meet at and where quite a few will be camping at is as such. Once you get to Bob Hall Pier, go south on to the beach. Once on the beach, continue for a brief moment until you see Access Rd 6 on the right. We used to camp out about 100 to 200 yards past Access Rd 6 on the left (beach side). If there is new sand out there making it difficult for 2wd vehicles to get through and the tides have been coming up fairly high making it tough to camp on the beach side, what we will do then is we will be camping on the right up along the dune side right after you pass Access Rd 6.
*****In regards to a backup date, here is how that works. The backup date will fall to the following weekend until we have a good weekend to have this activity. Hopefully the conditions and weather will be good and we can all get out on June 6th. If interested, post your name on here and I will add you to the list.*****
OKAY.... WHO'S INTERESTING IN GOING?
01 Blake Colburn (aka: Yakety_Yak)
02 Domingo Lucius
03 Bryan Russell
04 Bruce Bennettt (aka: Brucell)
05 Chase
06 Chris Cherry
07 Connor Key
08 Bryce
09 Daniel
10 Roger Sanchez
11 Ryan Woods
12 Ryan Woods’s father
13 Cliff Johnson (aka: forager)
14 George Hensley (aka: Gwh753)
15 Esteban (aka: M5yakin)
16 Hosam (aka: hosam.yacoub)
17 Frank
18 Eric Grace (aka: Gotem)
19 Dru Bishop (aka: Deeepsouth)
20 Frank (aka: fpatino)
21 J C Butler (aka: Kalait)
22 Jared Tomanek
23 Jason (aka: jps1542)
24 Jeff
25 Jeff Cossairt
26 Jeff Echols (aka: jeffechols)
27 Jerry (aka: SWFinatic)
28 Jeremy (aka: El Gato Diablo)
29 Jim
30 Joel
31 Justin (aka: Poolio)
32 Karl Brindell (aka: NOLA Yakker)
33 Keith Brumbaugh (aka: Chubs)
34 Ken Bement (aka: YakRunabout)
35 Joe Arroyo (aka: boricualouie)
36 Matthew Davis (aka: rattlesnake68)
37 Michael (aka: apd448)
38 Marco
39 Mike (aka: mikez)
40 Mike Smalley
41 Brad (Bradw693)
42 Joel McLeod (aka: jwmcleod)
43 Marvin Monk
44 Mike Riebold
45 Mike Tomberlin
46 Nathan
47 Nathan's son
48 Owen (aka: ATX O)
49 Nathan
50 Mark Fernandez
51 Charlie (aka: kickingback)
52 Randy Moore (aka: Outbackhunter)
53 Russell Fox (aka: rfox123)
54 Raymond
55 Ron White (aka: TX-Kayaker)
56 Shawn Faris (aka: 5x5)
57 Troy Guffy
58 Jon Dancel (aka: Acidcool6000)
59 Steve (Baytown police officer)
60 Roger (aka: Salty Coyote)
61 Russell Moses
62 Sam (greenyak)
63 David LaHaie (aka: lahai1dj)
64 Steve Marxer (aka: fishinmachine)
65 Terrell
66 Terry Howard (aka: sanantonioyak)
67 Tony Aguirre (aka: taguirre1965)
68 Travis
69 Tony Keill (CoastieCulture)
70 Ronald Kent
71 Thomas Kent (aka: teen Yaker)
72 Tuan Nguyen (texastuan)
73 Van Patterson
74 Troy
75 Will Vrielink
76 Antonio (aka: Cayuco)
77 Brad Valtierra (aka: HobieBro)
78 Blesson (aka: flykool25)
79 Ben Morton
80 Jason
81 Dennis (bucknut10)
82 Vlad (aka: Vlad_989)
83 Salvador
84 Mark Partain
85 Bill Brumley (aka: Killerbee)
86 Hunter (aka: Joyful Pursuit)
87 Stephen Dunkelberger
88 Angel (aka: yakano)
89 Patrick Daniel Kurkoski
90 Odis (aka: on a mission)
91 Tina Schaefbaue
92 Mark Schaefbaue
93 Mitch Stain
94 (aka: Huskers94)
95 (aka: andy.villarreal)
96 (aka: christian myrick)
So far we have 96 kayakers going. These are people that are going or are a maybe. Who else wants to go? Post up on this thread and I will be happy to add you to the list.
The address to Bob Hall Pier is.....
15820 Park Rd 22
Corpus Christi, TX 78418
(361) 949-0499
PS: As it gets closer to the date, I will make a post on here a few days before (the morning of Thursday, June 4th) to let everyone know if conditions/weather is good or not so that nobody makes a trip for nothing. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE CHECKING THE THREAD FOR UPDATES AS IT GETS CLOSER SO THAT YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON. SOMETIMES IT COULD COME DOWN TO THE FINAL DAY BEFORE THE OUTING BEFORE THINGS COULD CHANGE. THIS HAS HAPPENED A FEW TIMES. If things look debatable, I will cancel to be on the safe side. As stated above if the trip gets canceled, I will reschedule on the date mentioned in this thread.
If you are new to BTB and this is your first trip out or if you have gone out but not very much and still fairly new to BTB, please read. There are a few things you may need to know before hitting the water. First and foremost, please make sure you have your PFD on you at all times. The law states that you must have a PFD in the vessel at all times with you if you are 17 years of age and older (if under 17, you are required to have it on) but if you flip over and the PFD is not on your body, what good is it doing you? It would be worth your time to buy a good quality PFD and not the $9.99 version at Academy.
Another thing I would recommend investing into is a quality VHF radio. There are so many reasons as to why you should have a radio on you when you are on the water BTB kayak fishing of which I will not get into. If you need to figure out a good radio to purchase, please feel free to call me (832-588-7091) or even post up in the forum. There is a lot of good kayak fishermen on here that can help with that. If you do not have a radio, of which I hope everyone does, stay with a group of people while on the water that does have a radio. Safety is in numbers and the more people you can be fishing close to, the better.
Just a few items that people mentioned that were new to BTB in years past that said they needed to get the most but they didn’t already have were (in no particular order but I would hope the radio was at the top, lol) 1) radio 2) gaff 3) fish bag.
When we arrive in the morning a few ground rules will be covered in the meeting before we launch to make sure all the new people are on the same page. For the intermediate and advanced fishermen, you guys are good to go but while we are explaining things if there is anything left out, please feel free to chime in. I also would like to say that when you show up to fish, please make sure you have enough tackle. There is nothing worse than showing up and not having the correct tackle or hardly any tackle and asking everyone to borrow their stuff. It's one thing if you need a swivel but to borrow someone's $20 Waxwing lure, only to have a break-off and lose it, that's not good. Unless you plan on paying for that lure, it's better to show up with your own tackle. If you are not sure what to show up with, please ask on this thread. I can tell you for sure to make or buy king fish leaders (the key bait for kings is ribbon fish or even live bait). If you want to make king fish leaders, check out Prof. Salt's YouTube channel (click on the link I have provided). He has a video in there that explains how to make king fish leaders and it’s really good.
http://tiny.cc/3zdxbyIf you do camp on the beach, make sure you purchase a beach pass which can be purchased at any Stripes Gas Station. From what I have been told, if you camp on the beach past Access Road 6, no beach pass is necessary (I will be getting a beach pass just in case). I know I will be back again quite a few times and I will get my money’s worth out of it. The beach pass is $12.00 which is good for the entire year. Hopefully we can all get out there, have a great time, and catch some fish!
If you would like to read up on the reports from a few years ago and last year, here are the links:
https://tinyurl.com/yxzjfho4 and
https://tinyurl.com/quhj6ueFor those of you that have any questions, please feel free to post on this thread, PM me on TKF, or give me a call. 832-588-7091
One last thing..... BHP sells frozen bait but not ribbon fish. If you want frozen ribbon fish for your king leaders, you will need to call the local bait shops in the area to see who carries it. Always call before going up to see if the shops have plenty of ribbon fish. Some suggestions for bait shops that carry ribbon fish are:
Billings Bait Stand
13428 S. Padre Island Dr.
Corpus Christi, TX 78418
361-949-8692
Roy’s Bait & Tackle Outfitters
7613 S. Padre Island Dr.
Corpus Christi, TX 78412
361-992-2960
Red Dot Pier
11801 S. Padre Island Dr.
Corpus Christi, TX 78418
361-937-5347
Fisherman's Bait & Seafood
1101 Laguna Shores Rd.
Corpus Christi, TX 78418
361-239-4648