I would be eating fish right now!!!

Well, I went to Galveston for the first time with family and we rented a beach house on the surf just outside Jamaca Island. On Friday the surf was ROUGH and the seaweed was THICK. I fished for six hours in the day and not a nibble. Then around 6pm I went out again for three hours and caught several hardhead. I was using squid and shrimp on a popping cork. Most hardheads were dinks, but two were 12 inches or better.
On Saturaday the water was beautiful and no seaweed, so I tried my luck again in the evening only to find my same friends the hardhead back to feast. This night I caught at least twenty.

Not sure if it was me or the fish, but there appeared to be no game fish. I am sure the piers would prove better chances, but this was a family deal so I had to stay close.

Any ideas why I missed the good fish?

Yea the prob is most likey bait. You need to try live shrimp and lures. watch for where the birds are feeding, as for big rods cut shad ladyfish and jack will produce sharks and reds. I hate hardheads as well and stopped fishing with thay stuff and have never caught another one since. I hear you can eat them but since all they eat is ****...No thanks.

You missed the fish because you stated that the surf was rough. It needs to have some visibility in it, or you won't catvh any trout.

Rob

But you will have a chance for bull red in that surf.

Don't forget...hardheads are "Tourist Trout".

yeah, the good thing about fishing with lures is that you weed out some of the unwanted species. and, the higher up the water column you go, you get rid of more. have heard of gafftops hitting topwaters, tho.

LOL... You take someone to the coast that doesnt know a thing about fishing and he/she will think he/she has hit the jackpot after catching a ton of hardheads....lol... U can catch hundreds of them if you are using the wrong bait. I havent seen a hardhead caught in a while though. My buddies and I were talking recently about how long it had been since we have caught one because usually u cant go down without catching one. I hope to keep it that way, no hardheads for me. Even a few months ago I went down with a friend, ross, and we were telling a buddy of his that he might catch a ton of them and he didnt see one his entire trip. Try a different bait next time and if the water is stirred up, you are better off fishing for reds. Reds dont mind the stirred up sand too much but the trout are not too fond of it.

My last 2 trips to the beach I gave up fishing with fishbites as I was constantly catching HH's with them...caught 2-3 Hardheads to every decent fish - who knows. Was using orange and green; shrimp and clam; surf and bay...didn't matter - same results.

nothing more disappointing than finding hardheads 10 miles out offshore. makes my brother so mad!

nothing more disappointing than finding hardheads 10 miles out offshore. makes my brother so mad!

yea but if that was happening i would either move to another spot or just switch to using lures

We were down last weekend throwing topwaters just before daylight, I was throwing a GIANT superspook and caught a hardhead that no lie, the front hook was in his mouth and the rear hook was in his tail.
I couldn't believe he hit that thing, I figured he was looking more for a mate than dinner.