I have a 14'jon boat with a 15 hp motor on it. I am looking for some places to take my son or daughter fishing. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks Mike

I wouldn't know the first place to tell you to take that rig in saltwater. Jon Boats are ok on small lakes and the river but I'd leave it at home if your going to do some saltwater fishing with your kids. Don't mean to sound negative but my grandfather has a friend who is missing a son to this day because he went out into corpus christi bay in a jon boat 20 years ago

Bastrop Bayou, Chocolate bayou. I hunted and fished out of a 14ft jon in Bastrop with no problems. Be careful and wear your vest.

Christmas Bay is great too, for protected water. Plus, it is about the only Upper Coast bay with significant aquatic vegetation.

You have to be careful of barge traffic/wakes, but if you anchor from the bow close to the shore you might be amazed at the fish you can catch if you fish the Intracoastal Canal between Galveston and High Island. Soft plastics or live bait will catch a bunch of redfish, ironically because of the currents created by the barges. I did some successful Black Salty field testing up there last summer, and discovered that the surge that precedes a barge coming up the canal is as good as a temporary tide. You'll do well if you focus on the interlocked/manmade bulkhead blocks on the south shore (some on the north as well). Small blue crabs hang out in the crevasses of that structure, and get washed out when the tugs and barges pass by.

Just be cognizant of those wakes, and be sure to keep a heads-up at all times.

Good luck ...

Boz

Thanks for the input. Vest will be a must. I'm looking to find some well protected bayou or canals. Don't see my even trying to venture into the bay. Got a map from academy and started looking at it, going to drive and look at some spots this weekend. Most of the fishing we do has been from the different piers.

I have a 14 ft jon boat too with a 25 and i take it out in a lot of things that i probably shouldnt. Duck season is killer but if you are smart and know how to hit waves, you shouldnt have a problem. If you ever venture down to Port a give me a holler and i cann show you a bunch of places to fish in a jon boat.

In a small boat like that, you can run drum and most of christmas bay if you stay near the shoreline. Put in at Swan Lake Ramp and go down the old intercoastal into the bay. Its narrow and well protected. You can find some deep channels in there.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=28.995079,-95.263996&spn=0.107955,0.152092&z=13

From Swan Lake Ramp go East to the ICW and look at the narrow arm that branches off to the right. That is the Old ICW. It is protected and you can run it easily in a small boat. Then you can drift fish the bays where there isn't much boat traffic.

We used to fish Estes Flats down between Rockport & Aransas Pass all the time in a 16' aluminum flat bottom with a tiller handle motor. Good luck and have a safe trip.


Rob

Whatever you do - take it easy and IF IN DOUBT, DONT...

Explore slow, know the weather, tides, and slowly learn the area, keeping a comfort level...

Good luck and God bless...

+1 for Estes!