Need some advice. I took my twin boys (13 yo) out a couple months ago on the Wharf Cat and they are hooked. Other than hooking up with a 7ft shark we were stuck fishing for bottom fish. They have a bday in December and are wanting to go offshore again, but I would prefer they had the opportunity to drift fish. It was a little difficult for them to reel up huge lead weights in 200+ ft of water. Looking to see if anyone knew of any head boats on the Texas coast that drift fish. Unfortunately I can't afford a private charter. Thanks for any feedback.

Go to Dolphin Docks https://dolphindocks.com/ and go on the 8 or 12 hour trips. Tell the deckhands you would like to get your kids a fish drifting. They throw out drift lines on the back of the boat and you should be able to catch kingfish for them. They may also just pull up to shrimp boats and drift if they are around. My wife and I like to go on their 4 hour trips. If the seas are low they will go to the close rigs and fish in water 50 to 70 feet deep. We will often go on 2 of these trips instead of the 8 hour depending on the fish we are after. Make sure to check that they will not just be fishing in the bay unless you are ok with bay fish. You can look at the pictures on the website and see what they are catching. Make sure to check the sea wave height. It is not fun to go out in high seas and you don’t want to make it a bad experience for the kids.

You aren't going to find much good "Drift Fishing" in December. The kingfish are all out deep. Most of the December headboat fishing consists of 3 things at that time...bottom fishing for snapper (they do come into shallower water in winter so you wouldn't be dropping 200 ft but instead 50-75), amberjack and tuna (both out deep). Your best drift fishing is summer time for kingfish, cobia and such. They still catch those in winter but again...out deep around the rocks in 200-300 ft.

The one exception is the redfish going on right now around the jetties and close rigs but by December that is falling off some to.