Hi all! Been a lurker to the forum for awhile now and finally decided to create an account! Now to the meat of the post:

I went down to Surfside/Galveston with three fellow fishermen on Wednesday, Dec. 19, to wadefish in hopes of some Big 3 (speck, red, flounder). However, between the four of us we were completely SKUNKED!! We left late and got to the San Luis Flats (Galveston Side) at about 10am and after two hours of nothing but jumping bait fish with no accompanied luck, we moved on. Next we went further into Galveston to a highly recommended (by one in the group) spot down towards the edge of 8 mile road. After wading there for another hour and a half, we still came up with nothing. Finally, we decided to try our luck at Pelican Island where I had always caught fish before. Again nothing, not even a bite played to our advantage. I'm not an island local and have only been SW fishing for about 2yrs now so any advice would be appreciated! Oh, and everything we did was live shrimp on a popping cork! Would've thought for sure we might've had some takers..:(

-Nick

I fish the surf and piers at Galveston. If you are using a bait and method that isn't catching fish change the bait and the method. Some days they are on top, bottom or half way in between. Some days they want live shrimp, artificials, dead shrimp, on and on. When I hit the surf or a pier I put out 4-5 different types of bait to see what works.

Then, there are days that nothing works so you just enjoy the sky, birds and water.

Good luck on your next trip.

I'm not well versed in artificials so I'll have to give those
a shot. Also, I hear top waters are hot this time of year?
Ultimately, it was a fun trip and I look forward to the next
one! Thanks for the input.

Tight lines,
-Nick

If your gonna do artificial, use Gulp!. The buckets will run ya about 20 bucks and the smaller packs about 7 bucks. For top water She Dogs or the juniors. If you like live shrimp, try adjusting the amount of line after the float, deeper or shallower. Them varmints be picky! Also try not to have to much metal around the shrimp, trout have a keen eye sight and will spook if they see something out of place. For red drum try using live finger mullet on the bottom with a fish finder rig or cut on a double drop. So many options to try...

I've heard so much about the Gulp! Shrimp that I'll definitely have to give it a try. As far as the top waters go, any particular color scheme I should be looking for? Thanks for the advice, I'll give the mullet on the FF rig a try tomorrow!

-Nick

I use the new penny with chartreuse tail for Gulp!. My preference for top waters is just about any obnoxious color or colors.

I was catching more fish with GULP MINNOW GRUB 2",3"pearl,chartreuse,red and GULP SWIMMING MULLET 3" pearl ,chartreuse,black,pink,red.

I'll have to pick up an assortment of yalls suggestions. Looking forward to testing them out. Thanks for the info!

-Nick

There's a lot of good lure advice here but I have a question about selection of Waders to wear during fishing. I've been out wading by seawolf park but I did not have my own waders and need to invest in some. Do yall have any good suggestions as far as Waders go? thanks

Academy has a great selection of neoprene waders perfect for these colder winter conditions. I have a pair of Game Winner neoprene waders that have lasted me through hunting/fishing seasons without any problems. I have friends who I wade fish with that stand by Magellan as their brand. Personally, I think it goes a lot what your preference is and how they fit you.

Here's what I have: http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/stores...&N=98860935

-Nick

Yeah gulp swimming mullets are aways my backup baits down there

How do you rig your Gulp mullet?...jig head?

Yep I use a jig head with I think about a size 4 hook on a popping cork leader that I think is about 16 inches long from cork to jig