Hello everyone,

I'm mainly a freshwater fisherman, but this coming Thursday I will be fishing with a couple of buddies at Port Aranz(?). We are going on 12 hours charter boat. Was wondering how's the fishing lately? Also, the boat is suppose to provide bait and tackle, but should I go and buy my own tackle to be on the safe side? Does anyone has an advice?

Thanks,

Honestly, it depends on what you expect to catch and what charter company you are using. Some have great equip. and some don't. Snapper, Atlantic Sharpnose shark and small grouper can be easily caught on anything, but larger fish, well, who knows...this is where luck and offshore experience come into play, IMHO. Also, it helps if all the others on board are experienced...if all are beginners they don't always know how to get out of the way when a really big one is hooked, tangles occur and the fish can be lost no matter what you do.

Bobaloo,

I'll catch what ever is out there. I guess I better buy some weights and hooks to be on the safe side.

Thanks,

Can you let me know who your going with? If you rather email me do so.......Like Bobaloo1 says, it does depend on the captain and the customers. My experience is that off-shore charters have better equipment than party boats. I would not buy any offshore type stuff if your not going to make it a 2-3 or more times a year deal, wouldn't even bother with the hooks and stuff..........As for fish, shrimp season is over 'til July, so fishing behind shrimp boats is out. Most likely you will fish any combination of rigs, wrecks, anchored ships, rocks, and maybe rips, where two currents come together. Lots of time the rips will produce the best fishing now that there are no shrimp boats out there......Kingfish are a good possiblity, along with shark. Snapper most likely, maybe some ling and AJ's if you go far enough out. Tuna are not likely right know unless you go to the deep rocks, Aransas, Baker, etc. Then you got a chance there, however they are a deeper water fish this time of year. 70 miles+ out for them as a rule. But never know, that's whats so great about offshore, you never know. We (TFF) chartered a party boat for tuna fishing last Noevmber and hook up a white marlin! You'll have blast, let the captain do his job, which is to put you on fish. If he doesn't bust his rear for you, then let me and the TFF know. Good luck.

I don't fish charter boats, but my advice is also to rely on the boat for your gear. Being an in-shore fisherman, you probably won't know what you need and offshore tackle is very expensive. Odds are, the boat will have what you need. Have a good time. You never know what you'll catch.

FYI, last weekend, the tuna (yellows) were working the surface in large schools about 60+ miles out of Matagorda. They wouldn't hit anything we tried though. None of the other boats had any luck either. Anyone have any ideas on what they might hit? I am no tuna expert, so any help would be appreciated. I plan to look for them again this Friday and would sure like to catch a few.

There were also a few blue marlin lurking on the surface as well out there, but they didn't seem hungry either. They can be pretty finicky though, so no surprise there.

Not an expert by a long shot either, but have caught a few tuna. Where yall chunking and free-lining culled baitfish? Using diamond jigs? Might try a bit of styrofoam in the mouth of hooked bait. Let it out so it floats naturally on surface. Might also try letting it out farther than normal. Have caught Y and B-fins that way.......My only experience with marlin was the one hooked on the TFF tuna trip. He was hooked with a live bait, don't know what kind. Most likely pinfish......Might help with the marlin......good luck this weekend, interested in hearing if the Y-fins become more agreeable.

Thanks for the tips on the tuna. I said "we" earlier, but I wasn't on the boat last Saturday. The guys that went said they tried everything they knew to try to get them interested, but I'm not sure what that was. I don't know if they tried diamond jigs.

I have heard to let a line a long way out before, but never the styrofoam trick. Someone also mentioned using a pink/yellow squid type lure for tuna, so I'm going to buy a couple of those today.

We are going out of 'gorda tomorrow and heading to some rigs about 60 miles out and few miles south of the E-breaks. Then we are heading over to the E-breaks. I'll let you know how it goes and where we find tuna, if we find them.

We have had much more luck with marlin than tuna, but again, we're not experts. We have caught most of them around the 100 fathom line between the E-Breaks and Tequila. We have also hooked many a sailfish, wahoo, and bull dolphin out there. We usually catch our blue marlin trolling with large lures, but I know a lot of folks use live bait.

I caught a white marlin a season or two ago while freespooling a cigar minnow near a shrimp boat at the E-breaks. It hit the bait right next to the boat. We have caught sails trolling with ballyhoo and medium sized lures. We catch a heck of a lot of stuff on blue and green Rapala's. Our last black fin tuna was caught on a blue one as are most of our wahoo.

[This message has been edited by txjeep (edited 05-29-2003).]