In-shore Salt Water Fishing

[smashdn]

Anybody get into much?

 

We try and take two trips down to the gulf coast a year.  I started hauling a kayak a few years back.  It made a night and day difference in my ability to access and catch fish form just wading or surf fishing.  I had actually gotten to the point I didn't even bother to take fishing stuff with me until I took my old kayak one time.

 

I will spend time each morning we are down trying to catch some mangrove snapper, trout, reds and flounder.  I have not yet been brave enough nor connected enough to get with a group and go to the near-shore reefs and wrecks but I have been eyeing it.

 

I feel like I can go and catch trout and reds pretty regularly and easily.  Same for mangroves just that size can be an issue getting to some big enough to keep.  Flounder on the other hand I have not been consistent with and my goal this trip down in October is to really focus on flounder and try and catch a few good ones while down there.

 

We spend a week in a condo with my MIL and FIL as well as my wife's sister and her husband (SIL and BIL) and their two boys.  I get chastised a bit for "running off" but truthfully I do not like the beach itself and I am not one to just "sit on the beach."

 

Forgot to add I want to get some of those half sized blue crab traps to set out.  Last year i got my blue crab license and number but didn't buy the traps.  I did save my fish scraps for bait but never got around to putting them to use.

[ThinkingPlus]

We have a place on the coast with a boat (22' bay boat). Usually during the spring, summer, and fall we fish a week or two per month (this year health issues and home projects have made that kind of schedule not really possible). We catch the usual suspects (trout, reds, flounder, snook, etc...). In the summer and early fall we sometimes get opportunities for kings, Spanish, and even tarpon at the inlet. Lots of fun and a nice alternative to golf. Keeps things fresh.

[Kmagnuss]

Where are you headed?  I used to guide in SW Florida but I only did tarpon and snook.

 

-Mag

[smashdn]

On 9/1/2023 at 2:41 PM, Kmagnuss said:

Where are you headed?  I used to guide in SW Florida but I only did tarpon and snook.

 

-Mag

 

In-laws rent a condo for an entire month.  We go down the last week they have it, the first week in October.  It is in PCB.

 

If I could find a job and a house I would move thereabouts.  I am sure things are different when you live there but there aren't but a handful of places I would move to and there is one place on the list.

[smashdn]

Next question is what do you all know about kayaking off the beach to the near-shore reefs and wrecks?  May try that with several others as a change of pace.

[Kmagnuss]

I've never done the kayak to the reef thing, but I do fish inshore from a kayak pretty regularly and don't see why it would be an issue if you pick a calm day with East winds.  There's some reefs near Venice that are within range of a yak.  Hopefully you have a pedal drive kayak though... it makes it so much easier to travel longer distances.

 

Otherwise you can launch from Boca Grande beach and mess around near the phosphate dock.  Just be careful of big outgoing tides... if you can't manage it (they get close to 4 knots) you'll get swept out and through some potentially rough water in the pass.

 

There's some great inshore fishing in Charlotte Harbor on the east side (closer to PCB).  There's juvi tarpon hanging around that side during this time of year, typically.

 

Go to fishinfranks.com and check out their maps/reports.  It's a great resource that is updated weekly. 

https://fishinfranks.com/fishin_report.htm

https://fishinfranks.com/where_to.htm

[Kmagnuss]

Also... there are a couple reefs inside Charlotte Harbor that could easily be fished from a kayak.  They're on the map linked above.  And if you want a sleigh ride the big tarpon should be hanging out around the deep holes in the harbor by now.

[AnthonyC143]

I fish the inlets and slightly more inland here in jersey.  They produce fluke, striper, and some surprises here and there.  I stick to docks and bulk heads.

[bigred90gt]

I do some kayak fishing inshore here just outside of Houston. I grew up in Baytown (about 30 minutes east of Houston) and grew up fishing fresh water mostly (my dad fished tournaments back when I was a kid) until he sold the bass boat and bought a bay boat. From that point on, we rarely fished fresh water and spent most of our time in the bay here. I bought a Wilderness Ride 135 probably 15 years ago. I think I've had it out maybe 10 times, lol. From where I usually put in, it's just a long paddle to get anywhere good to fish. I haven't done much digging to find other places to put in with it. It's an all day affair, and last time I had it out, I ended up paddling back to the launch straight into about a 20 mph head wind. Water was choppy and it was brutal. Every time I stopped to give my body a break, the wind immediately pushed me backward. It took me every bit of 1.5-2 hours to paddle back to the launch and I just haven't had any real desire to take it out since then. When we sold our house in Baytown and moved to an apartment in downtown Houston, I put the kayak in my buddy's garage and haven't seen it since. That was August of last year. 

 

My buddy has an RV lot on the bay with a great pier that ends at a huge oyster bed, so if I get the hankerin for some fresh fish, I can walk out onto his pier and limit out in a few hours on trout. 

 

The best time I've had in the kayak was actually in fresh water. There's a bayou that runs off lake Houston (Luce Bayou). It's usually pretty calm water and well protected from the wind, just have to watch out for boaters hauling through there wide open. Aside from the boaters, it's peaceful and definitely a more relaxing paddle. 

[smashdn]

I should have long ago added some fish pictures.  Some of these are from this fall and some from last fall.  Spring of '23 we didn't go and spring of '22 right before we were going to leave out wife whacked a deer with her suburban so we ended up in a rental van so no kayak with me.

 

 

[smashdn]

[SurfDuffer]

On 9/1/2023 at 12:28 PM, smashdn said:

Anybody get into much?

 

We try and take two trips down to the gulf coast a year.  I started hauling a kayak a few years back.  It made a night and day difference in my ability to access and catch fish form just wading or surf fishing.  I had actually gotten to the point I didn't even bother to take fishing stuff with me until I took my old kayak one time.

 

I will spend time each morning we are down trying to catch some mangrove snapper, trout, reds and flounder.  I have not yet been brave enough nor connected enough to get with a group and go to the near-shore reefs and wrecks but I have been eyeing it.

 

I feel like I can go and catch trout and reds pretty regularly and easily.  Same for mangroves just that size can be an issue getting to some big enough to keep.  Flounder on the other hand I have not been consistent with and my goal this trip down in October is to really focus on flounder and try and catch a few good ones while down there.

 

We spend a week in a condo with my MIL and FIL as well as my wife's sister and her husband (SIL and BIL) and their two boys.  I get chastised a bit for "running off" but truthfully I do not like the beach itself and I am not one to just "sit on the beach."

 

Forgot to add I want to get some of those half sized blue crab traps to set out.  Last year i got my blue crab license and number but didn't buy the traps.  I did save my fish scraps for bait but never got around to putting them to use.

 

Was addicted to salt water fishing for many years.  Got my captains license and ran inshore and offshore charters for a decade.  Ultimately I got burned out after taking something I loved and turning it into work.  Around the time I was getting burned out on salt water fishing I got addicted to golf.  The past couple of years I've been craving getting back into fishing the way I was before.

[mrmacwvu]

I Fish SW florida. Mostly Bull and Turtle bay for snook, redfish and trout. Will put people on Tarpon if they want. If you have any questions feel free to ask.