I went fishing with Grace, a friend from Indiana. It was her 2nd try at surf fishing. We arrived at 11:30 during low tide. What looked like a tidal pool was actually the wade gut.

I hadn't checked the tide tables as it was a last minute trip. I didnt realize how low the tide was. I waded out to what I thought was the 2nd sandbar, wondering why the water was shoulder deep, and cast out. It turned out to be the 3rd sandbar. I ran out of line before I got back to shore and had to drag my bait in closer. Live and learn.

Grace sat on the beach and cast out. She started getting whiting. I waded to the 1st sandbar (actually 2nd) and cast out. I got a whiting fast. We caught whiting almost non stop. We kept 10" and up but a few smaller ended up in the bucket. You know how fish look bigger early in the trip. We threw back about about 2 for every one that we kept. We fished fresh dead shrimp and squid on the bottom.

I talked with some of the people on the beach. They were all catching whiting and complaining. I love whiting. They are easy to clean and taste great when fried. I noticed some new arrivals and went over to make some new fishing buddies.

I offered Wyatt, the little guy, to use one of my rigs to catch whiting. He has his own gear but they left it home. I gave him a few shrimp to feed the seagulls and he was happy.

I had a rod out deep with a croaker head and the crabs wouldn't even eat it. I changed over to a 3" Fish Bites chartreuse/pepper paddletail. I caught a ladyfish. I used her for cut bait. I threw her head out deep and expected a red or big gafftop. About a half hour later I got a big hit. I had the drag set light and line was running off the reel. I tightened down the drag and started making progress getting the fish toward shore. After about 5 minutes I could see something big in the water. I managed to get it just onshore as the line broke. I jumped on it like a WWF wrestler and managed to push it up onto the sand.

When I got home I found the hook in the corner of the speck's mouth. I wonder if he had enough power in the corner of his mouth to cut the line right at the hook?

That was my first speck in over 40 years. I was excited as could be. My fishing buddies saw me bring it in and gave me a wave and a cheer. Instead of casting out deep with another piece of cut ladyfish I picked up a cork with a Fish Bites 3" chartreuse/pepper paddletail. I plead temporary insanity. I got good hits but nothing hooked up. It must have been whiting too small to take a bait that size. I switched to another rig with a 1/8oz Rat-l-Trap. I hooked several small whiting. One made a run at the trap, missed it and flew about a foot out of the water. I started laughing and admired the ambition of the little fish.

The tide kept coming in. What had once been the edge of the beach was now the 1st sandbar. My rod holder was in 18" of water.


With the low tide I had noticed a small gut. I learned that I want to go back and ride the beach at low tide to find other guts. We fished both sides of it and kept catching whiting. Grace caught a 4" jack crevalle that we threw back.

We have intended a 3 hour trip but after catching the speck that all changed. We fished until 8:45PM. Around dark the whiting quit biting. Half hour later we started catching 10-13" gafftop. I think we could have caught some big keepers if we waded out deeper but we were both worn out. We left with the rest of our catch.


We had 24 whiting 10-14" (with a few smaller) and a 24" speck. We used light tackle and light drag to catch the whiting. They are fun. You can fish sitting on a bucket and never get wet. Or you can wade and try for bigger fish.

The water was green with 18" clarity. It looked like water you find at Padre. When I told one of the bait camp owners about it he said "Don't tell anyone or I can't afford to live here". He knows that dirty water holds back Galveston. He also told me that the locals call whiting 12" and up BULL whiting. That makes it sounds more macho when you catch them.

Sounds like a fun trip. That is why you always retie, and retie often, teeth, and just wear and tear on line usually happens where the knots and joints are.

It was a lucky hook to get the speck all the way to the beach so I could wrestle it. I might frame it. lol

The State Park and other nearby areas are usually good for me too. Nice job on the catching!

I like the State Park. Their small fee keeps out the riff raff. No drunks steaking the beach. lol

I really like that pink one !!!!

They were both very friendly and nice.

Yea, pink is a good color, don't you think?

they both look like eye candy to me......I wouldn't complain about seeing those...seen alot worse on the beach....

They agreed to let me take pics of them so I know they have classy judgment. They cheered and waved when I caught the big speck. And they didnt clutter the beach with their beer cans.