My family and some friends are going down to Surfside Beach (near Galveston) this weekend and have a house on the beach. Initially we were going to surf fish, but two of us bought kayaks last weekend and are thinking of taking those.

Who has fishing down there from a kayak and is it worth taking then down there? We have plenty of surf rods, rigs, ect to fish from the surf, but i hear of people dropping bait even further out using a kayak. And how is the trolling from the kayak?

Thanks Guys

Posted this in the Kayak section i dont know who would know butter, the kayak guys or the saltwater guys

Lots of folks use kayaks at the coast. As mentioned, some use them specifically to take bait out to and past the 3rd bar. Others use them more inland where others would wade fish in shallow water but they obviously have more range with a yak. Others even launch from the beachfront and paddle out to the oil rig platforms that are 1-3 miles off the beach. They catch lots of kings, spanish mackerel, etc, etc around the rigs as well as on the way out or way back in. Drifting (trolling) ribbonfish shile paddling out can easily get you on kings. Other fish available once you reach the rigs, snapper, etc. Be sure to wear your pfd and I wouldn't advise going alone either.

Do you know the coast guard regulations for kayaks?

Whistle and PFD

If you're out at night you'll need a 360 degree all-around white light and visual signalling devices suitable for night time use, I.E. flares.

Make sure you have lights if you are out there at night. I use red, green and white glow sticks. I have caught a lot of reds and flounder in the grass on the bay side.

I doubt glow sticks meet the minimum required lighting from the USCG. 360 white lights must be visible at least 2 miles.

We were just down there two weeks ago. The wind blew until tye last two days, but once able to kayak bait out 400yds the bite was quick. first two baits were devoured without a hookup. The third was a large stingray. Check out tye 100+pound stingray on the second page of this forum. No sharks like we were looking for but still a blast to reel in. So if you have the equipment for it, I would never go without a yak.

I fish a kayak in Galveston and Port Aransas pretty much all over....Catch bait first in the surf..cast net live mullets..
Fish the surf in the day -wear a good safety life vest,have cords to tie your gear in the yak or it will get washed out when going out to sea..point your yak toward open sea.Paddle out past the third and better the fourth sandbars about 500 --600 yards from the beach..
Have an aerator in bucket to keep your live mullet bait alive.
I carolina rig my mullet..slide egg weight on main line- over barrel swivel- wire leader -to hook.live mullet hook through the lips..you will be way past the breaker waves so just let your line out to bottom and reel up two turns..
Hang on..you will catch large reds,kingfish,med size sharks,,lots of other types of fish..if you set your rod in a holder..make sure it is tied in or it will fly out of your yak fast..make sure you have a gaf or large net for your fish and rope to tie your shark onto the side of your yak after caught if you keep it..something to store your fish in to keep them cool after caught..

Haven't had any trouble in 15 years. I put the red and green 6" glow sticks on the bow and have a 6" white one on a suction cupped pole to give 360 degree visibility on the stern.

Trolling is OK. I use magnum Rapalas for casting and trolling in the gulf ...past the breakers in the deep...when you.see fish surface..I will tthrow them a large saltwater Zara spook in bone color...I do well on kingfish and large reds on lures and live mullet...

Well the waves were way to big for a couple of beginners to go out off the surf and we got hit by the weed coming in the tide so fishing went to the pooper, but still had a good time with family and friends

We did paddle around the port a little just for fun didn't really fish