OT- Texas Gulf Coast Fishermen

[Limp Lizard]

When I was a kid, approximately 1955-1965 every year my family would take a trip to Corpus Christi to fish. We also did some swimming in the ocean, but it was not all that much.
We would go on the group fishing boats (usually the early morning time) and after 3 hours and come back with a good catch per person (mainly me, my Dad and my granddad (Papa). The keepers were usually gafftops and sand trout. We also threw back a lot (ribbon fish, hardheads, mullets, crabs and too-small fish).

About 30 years ago I went to Corpus with my wife, my daughter and I. Corpus was nice, but the bay fishing was awful. Three hours and only a barely-large-enough Gafftop to keep the my 10 YO daughter caught. Just hardheads, crabs and other junk...and those hits were rare. The water in the Bay wasn't good to swim in (dirty, murky).

I haven't fished on the Texas Gulf Coast since then (shallow water, bottom fishing) since then.

How is the close-in (inside 10 miles) boat fishing going now/

 

[2themax]

Never was a fan of the bay.
I would recommend Aransas Pass
Port Aransas and Rockport.
In Rockport there are spots for wade fishing in town. Places to fish from piers too. It's very kid friendly.
Not gonna guarantee a large catch but you'll be able to catch something.
Mainly trout, redfish and small drum.
Drive to these towns are approximately 30 mins.

 

[2themax]

Shore fishing in Copano Bay in Bayside.
About 40 mins from Corpus.

 

[BrewingFrog]

When I was a kid, approximately 1955-1965 every year my family would take a trip to Corpus Christi to fish. We also did some swimming in the ocean, but it was not all that much.
We would go on the group fishing boats (usually the early morning time) and after 3 hours and come back with a good catch per person (mainly me, my Dad and my granddad (Papa). The keepers were usually gafftops and sand trout. We also threw back a lot (ribbon fish, hardheads, mullets, crabs and too-small fish).

About 30 years ago I went to Corpus with my wife, my daughter and I. Corpus was nice, but the bay fishing was awful. Three hours and only a barely-large-enough Gafftop to keep the my 10 YO daughter caught. Just hardheads, crabs and other junk...and those hits were rare. The water in the Bay wasn't good to swim in (dirty, murky).

I haven't fished on the Texas Gulf Coast since then (shallow water, bottom fishing) since then.

How is the close-in (inside 10 miles) boat fishing going now/

I cannot speak to the waters directly around Corpus, but just a little ways north around Rockport and the shallows surrounding the town there is plenty of fishing going on. There are good days, and bad (some would say there's never a bad day fishing), but it certainly doesn't stop the hardened fisherfolk from getting their lines wet.

My semi-deranged cousins refer to Rockport as "A drinking town with a fishing problem..."

 

[Frozen Frog]

Never had a bad day fishing in Port O’Connor. Rockport was tough a few years ago when I went.

 

[82 Frog Fever]

I’ve been fishing much of the entire Gulf coast, mostly for drum & snook, since New Years from Naples to Brownsville. I usually only fish FL. around Venice, so this year is a first for me.
It may only be my perception, but the outflow of the Mississippi R. really appears to be poor. Maybe even polluted to the point that it adversely affects all fish populations on the westward side.
In FL., we have occasional red tides in the summer caused by fertilizers washing into the Gulf. Much of it comes from the outflow of Lake Okeechobee. I wonder if the Mississippi is causing something similar.

 

[The TCU Football Jerk]

When I was a kid, approximately 1955-1965 every year my family would take a trip to Corpus Christi to fish. We also did some swimming in the ocean, but it was not all that much.
We would go on the group fishing boats (usually the early morning time) and after 3 hours and come back with a good catch per person (mainly me, my Dad and my granddad (Papa). The keepers were usually gafftops and sand trout. We also threw back a lot (ribbon fish, hardheads, mullets, crabs and too-small fish).

About 30 years ago I went to Corpus with my wife, my daughter and I. Corpus was nice, but the bay fishing was awful. Three hours and only a barely-large-enough Gafftop to keep the my 10 YO daughter caught. Just hardheads, crabs and other junk...and those hits were rare. The water in the Bay wasn't good to swim in (dirty, murky).

I haven't fished on the Texas Gulf Coast since then (shallow water, bottom fishing) since then.

How is the close-in (inside 10 miles) boat fishing going now/

Speckled trout catch is poor. Bad enough that Texas instituted a slot limit. Most likely due to the hard freeze a few years ago (snowmageddon anyone?) and a shorter duration one the year after. Couple that with the increase in fishing pressure that started with tons of people buying boats during covid and the influx of emigres to Texas and you've got a decrease in catch.

 

[Ron Swanson]

Me and my buddies are mediocre fishermen, but there is definitely still good fishing on the TX gulf coast. It mostly comes down to knowing what you’re doing.

Like Football Jerk mentioned above, those hard freezes the last few years put a hurting on the speckled trout population, but I expect that to be temporary.

Side note: If you consider a gafftop a good catch, boy do I have a place for you. Come down to my buddy’s bayhouse pier in Port Alto and you can catch a gafftop damn near every cast with dead shrimp. We joke that we should start a trophy gafftop guide service, or enter the local fishing tournaments that have a largest gafftop division.

 

[Limp Lizard]

Me and my buddies are mediocre fishermen, but there is definitely still good fishing on the TX gulf coast. It mostly comes down to knowing what you’re doing.

Like Football Jerk mentioned above, those hard freezes the last few years put a hurting on the speckled trout population, but I expect that to be temporary.

Side note: If you consider a gafftop a good catch, boy do I have a place for you. Come down to my buddy’s bayhouse pier in Port Alto and you can catch a gafftop damn near every cast with dead shrimp. We joke that we should start a trophy gafftop guide service, or enter the local fishing tournaments that have a largest gafftop division.

Not that big a gafftop (or freshwater catfish) fan, but they can get pretty big. First thing you had to get used to were that the edible part was small compared to the size of the fish. Those damn things are half head.
Actually, my favorite fish were the sand trout. None were caught on my last trip about 35 years ago. Never caught any drum: don't know how good they were to eat.

Do they still have boats going out for red snapper? I love them eating-wise, but they are so expensive at a store!

 

[Toad Jones]

Years back, my best buddy and I thought a good day to be had if we wadded out into the bay and fished some. We had more fish than we had a right to have, and COMPLETELY forgot the tide coming in. You already know the rest of the story, but you don't know we had to dump all of our equip and swim like hell, fast b/c we were further out than we thought. In our late twenties, we weren't as smart as thought. That best buddy ended up as the mother of my two kids.