Ok, grew up in Chalmette LA (near New Orleans on the coast) fishing saltwarter, or what is really called brackish water. Moved out to Texas and got a new boat to take the family out and fish.



If I were there with this boat I wouldn't think anything of it, to take it out fishing. In fact, I've toyed with the idea of making a trip back down there and fishing some old spots.

My question is, if I were to take this boat to Port A and do inshore fishing, is the water more saltwater then brackish?

If the water is more saltwater then brackish, what are all the things I would need to do to get the boat ready for the harshness of saltwater, and what would I need to do after fishing?

When I was in LA, I'd wash the boat when getting home and flush the motor with garden hose for about 5 minutes or so.

I typically used a boat hoist, so I didn't have to worry to much about the trailer.

The reason I'm asking all of this is because of a fishing reel. Went to South Padre and did some surf fishing. One of the reels I brought got dropped in the water, and after hosing it down, a month later it had seized up.

I guess I'm worried that the things you do after fishing in brackish water aren't enough when fishing in pure saltwater.

Sorry for the long post.

Is your trailer plain steel, galvanized sttel, or aluminum? (I can't tell from the photo). If plain steel, you don't want to dunk it in saltwater, period.

Flush the motor religiously & wash down the boat thoroughly after each dunk in the salt. Likewise, be sure you're running freshwater into the bilge & letting the bilge pump run it through for a couple minutes.

Check the fuses & battery terminals for corrosion.

Boat should be ok as long as you take the time for cleaning & inspection.

Find some Corrosion-X and use it ... BEFORE you get on the Saltwater.

Follow the directions - including wiping the back of your electrical plugs with C-X a sprayed on a rag.

Except for Galveston and Matagorta Texas bays are going to be very frustrating in that rig because you'll be very limited where you can go.

If you're ok with that, the advice given was all good.

What Pat said...you will be confined mostly to the deep channels. Plenty of good family fishing to be had there in the deep water, but you will only be able to access about 10% of the water in the bay. You will have to pay close attention to the channel markers in order to not run aground in the shallow waters.

As for prep and maintenance, I agree with everything said so far.

And to answer your question it's YES, Texas bays, especially the further south you go, the saltier they become. Port Mansfield is 100X more saline then the Louisiana marsh you've been in. It will eat stuff alive you never knew you had.

The salt mist will nibble on it - the saltwater will feast on it

5 years later and I finally got down there.

True I can't run the area like you can, but I did find places to drop anchor.

Of course the mushroom anchor I have sucks for a hard bottom, but did bring my canjun anchor which helped.

Can't wait to go again

Can you? Yes Should you? No

Unless you dont care about ruining your rig.

Hiring a guide will be much cheaper than the repairs on your current rig.