texasfishingforum.com logo
Main Menu
Advertisement
Affiliates
Advertisement
Newest Members
TraeMartin, Power-Pole CS, T-Rigger, JoeGoes, EcKo
119150 Registered Users
Top Posters(All Time)
hopalong 120,565
TexDawg 119,511
Bigbob_FTW 94,879
John175☮ 85,892
Pilothawk 83,259
Bob Davis 81,478
Mark Perry 72,280
Derek 🐝 68,311
JDavis7873 67,416
Forum Statistics
Forums59
Topics1,037,807
Posts13,934,808
Members144,150
Most Online39,925
Dec 30th, 2023
Print Thread
Aransas Bay first timer #13644003 07/25/20 04:54 PM
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 5
R
razzie1947 Offline OP
Green Horn
OP Offline
Green Horn
R
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 5


I am going to fish Aransas Bay for my first time in a couple of weeks. Can anyone give me some good information on safety and what I need to pay attention to while I'm boating in this Bay. I have a 21 foot Cajun Center console boat. Any tips on how to fish the oyster reefs for speckled trout, redfish, flounder.Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.


Last edited by razzie1947; Yesterday at 05:07 PM.

William Houghton

 


William Houghton

Re: Aransas Bay first timer [Re: razzie1947] #13645276 07/26/20 08:14 PM
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 371
B
Brock Landers Offline
Angler
Offline
Angler
B
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 371

Re: Aransas Bay first timer [Re: razzie1947] #13645743 07/27/20 03:01 AM
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 254
F
FishWrangler2 Offline
Angler
Offline
Angler
F
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 254
I’d probably go up to San Antonio Bay as the Copano reefs got knocked down pretty bad from Harvey. Aransas Bay reefs I guess were ok too but many more options in San Antonio Bay. Those maps won’t be updated, more than likely. We kept on trying to set up on them in Copano and probably 1 out of 4 were really there. If you find an updated map, let me know.

Re: Aransas Bay first timer [Re: razzie1947] #13645942 07/27/20 12:59 PM
Joined: Apr 2019
Posts: 1,234
J
Jerry713 Offline
Extreme Angler
Offline
Extreme Angler
J
Joined: Apr 2019
Posts: 1,234
Brock sir no disrespect but I'm going to disagree with you on those H&L maps. I have a pile of them and don't use them. Google Earth is a much better resource/tool and more updated. Those H&L maps are decades old. They have some good info no doubt but there's also a lot of false/inaccurate info on those maps. And the scale is off too which makes them hard to use for navigation.

OP Aransas Bay doesn't have a lot of reefs. I'm guessing your boat needs about 18" of water to keep up so I'd recommend to stay in the channels and cuts. The surf is a great place to catch trout right now if it's fishable. Jetties can also be good. Where do you plan on launching?


You get out of it what you put into it!
Re: Aransas Bay first timer [Re: Jerry713] #13646856 07/28/20 12:19 AM
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,136
S
Skunked Again Fishing Offline
Extreme Angler
Offline
Extreme Angler
S
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,136
Originally Posted by Jerry713
Brock sir no disrespect but I'm going to disagree with you on those H&L maps. I have a pile of them and don't use them. Google Earth is a much better resource/tool and more updated. Those H&L maps are decades old. They have some good info no doubt but there's also a lot of false/inaccurate info on those maps. And the scale is off too which makes them hard to use for navigation.

OP Aransas Bay doesn't have a lot of reefs. I'm guessing your boat needs about 18" of water to keep up so I'd recommend to stay in the channels and cuts. The surf is a great place to catch trout right now if it's fishable. Jetties can also be good. Where do you plan on launching?

Jerry,
Good point on google earth. I use it to see passageways during low water months for navigation. What do you look for to know if it’s a reef?

Tim


One 10-pounder is better than ten 1-pounders; but 100 1-pounders is ok too!
If this kind of stuff floats your boat, be a subscriber to my youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/SkunkedAgain
Get exclusive information by following SkunkedAgain Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/SkunkedAgain
Re: Aransas Bay first timer [Re: razzie1947] #13649156 07/29/20 06:40 PM
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 371
B
Brock Landers Offline
Angler
Offline
Angler
B
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 371
I do wonder how accurate those maps are, and how often they are updated. I've used Google Earth to find spots to fish, just wish it showed water depth and underwater obstructions.

Re: Aransas Bay first timer [Re: Skunked Again Fishing] #13654407 08/03/20 11:39 AM
Joined: Apr 2019
Posts: 1,234
J
Jerry713 Offline
Extreme Angler
Offline
Extreme Angler
J
Joined: Apr 2019
Posts: 1,234
Originally Posted by Skunked Again Fishing
Originally Posted by Jerry713
Brock sir no disrespect but I'm going to disagree with you on those H&L maps. I have a pile of them and don't use them. Google Earth is a much better resource/tool and more updated. Those H&L maps are decades old. They have some good info no doubt but there's also a lot of false/inaccurate info on those maps. And the scale is off too which makes them hard to use for navigation.

OP Aransas Bay doesn't have a lot of reefs. I'm guessing your boat needs about 18" of water to keep up so I'd recommend to stay in the channels and cuts. The surf is a great place to catch trout right now if it's fishable. Jetties can also be good. Where do you plan on launching?

Jerry,
Good point on google earth. I use it to see passageways during low water months for navigation. What do you look for to know if it’s a reef?

Tim

Tim reefs are usually more light color with sometimes a darker edge around them. The 1st pic shows reefs (yep that's a duck shaped reef!). The lighter color is dead shell and the darker color around it is live living shell. Most of the time the fish will hold on the live shell. Grass and shell can be really hard to tell apart sometimes. The 2nd pic I believe is shell due to the darkness of the color. [Linked Image]
[Linked Image]


You get out of it what you put into it!
Re: Aransas Bay first timer [Re: Brock Landers] #13654408 08/03/20 11:41 AM
Joined: Apr 2019
Posts: 1,234
J
Jerry713 Offline
Extreme Angler
Offline
Extreme Angler
J
Joined: Apr 2019
Posts: 1,234
Originally Posted by Brock Landers
I do wonder how accurate those maps are, and how often they are updated. I've used Google Earth to find spots to fish, just wish it showed water depth and underwater obstructions.

I asked the owner of H&L how often they are updated and the answer was mostly rarely and in a few cases never. There has only been 1 new addition to most of them and that new addition is now over 20 years old. The maps do have some good info on them and could be worth it in some cases. I would verify the info on them either with Google or ask someone before I put a lot of time into fishing an area or spot on those maps.

Even with Google Earth you have to keep in mind Harvey changed a lot of things (reefs, rocks, cuts, etc). I'm told Hanna changed some things too further south.

Last edited by Jerry713; 08/03/20 11:43 AM.

You get out of it what you put into it!
Re: Aransas Bay first timer [Re: razzie1947] #13655191 08/03/20 09:35 PM
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 254
F
FishWrangler2 Offline
Angler
Offline
Angler
F
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 254
So are you saying that you can see these for reefs 4+ ft deep?

Re: Aransas Bay first timer [Re: FishWrangler2] #13656214 08/04/20 06:28 PM
Joined: Apr 2019
Posts: 1,234
J
Jerry713 Offline
Extreme Angler
Offline
Extreme Angler
J
Joined: Apr 2019
Posts: 1,234
Originally Posted by FishWrangler2
So are you saying that you can see these for reefs 4+ ft deep?

If you'll notice the pic was taken in January. That's when the tides are low and the bays are flushed out. Water definitely wasn't 4 feet deep there when that pic was taken. Probably more like a foot to the shallow parts of the reefs. Also this pic was taken when the water was really clear.


You get out of it what you put into it!
Re: Aransas Bay first timer [Re: Brock Landers] #13656590 08/04/20 10:31 PM
Joined: Aug 2019
Posts: 126
A
atx_ben Offline
Outdoorsman
Offline
Outdoorsman
A
Joined: Aug 2019
Posts: 126
Originally Posted by Brock Landers
I do wonder how accurate those maps are, and how often they are updated. I've used Google Earth to find spots to fish, just wish it showed water depth and underwater obstructions.


I found an app called "Fishidy", I think you can pay $50 or $100 a year and get access to all kinds of underwater wreck/obstruction data. I think it's more up-to-date than the H&L maps, but I use Google Earth to confirm. My process is:
- Find obstructions that are marked on Fishidy,
- Use Google Earth (earth.google.com) to zoom in as much as possible, and see if you can see anything. You can mark the points yourself on Google Earth, and save them as a project. Then you can have all of your research with you on your phone when you go fishing.
- For extra credit, download Google Earth Pro (free) for desktop. They have historical data -- this is useful because you'll get lucky (sometimes!) and find days where the tide was really low, or the water was really clear.

I like Google Earth for another reason -- if you don't have a boat, you can tell where fences are, so you can find places that are public (or, more often, "public-ish"). I'm currently poring over a bunch of urban ponds around Austin, looking for bass fishing places smile But I've used this method to re-examine places that I grew up fishing (Surfside, West Galveston Bay, Matagorda) to find places I didn't know about. One example, I'd never fished this little stretch of bayshore (I'd fished about every other adjacent piece of bay shore!), but you can see some AWESOME potholes here. Last time I was back in Galveston I nabbed some nice specks and reds fishing them smile

Hope it helps!

Last edited by atx_ben; 08/04/20 10:31 PM. Reason: formatting
Re: Aransas Bay first timer [Re: razzie1947] #13659484 08/07/20 01:29 PM
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 121
TrueTexan Offline
Outdoorsman
Offline
Outdoorsman
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 121
Great Information. I haven't used the Fishidy app, but have looked at it several times.

Previous Thread
Index
Next Thread

© 1998-2022 OUTDOOR SITES NETWORK all rights reserved USA and Worldwide
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.3