By Cory Byrnes, for Lone Star Outdoor News
The Texas coast has some of the best land-based shark fishing in the Gulf of America.
Out of the Matagorda and Sargent area this year, the fishing started off slow, but it is picking up.
“I found that the bite this year has been pretty slow. Of course, now things have started to pick up to where it normally is this time of year,” said Walter Colton with Just Bitten Fishing Tackle said. “I fully anticipate that it is going to pick up.”
Right now, Colton has seen a lot of bull sharks caught.
“I have seen a lot of bull sharks caught and not as many blacktips as I am used to seeing this time of year,” Colton said. He isn’t sure why that may be. He speculates that it might be due to all the rain recently or the water temperatures.
For bait, Colton keeps it fresh and takes what the surf will give him.
“I use what’s fresh. I use the triple-drop bait rig. A lot of the time, I go to the beach with no bait, and whatever I catch is what I use for bait,” Colton said. “What you’re catching fresh is what they’re eating right now.”
With the recent clarification from TPWD on drone use for bait dropping, to get his baits in the shark zone, Colton is dropping by kayak or recently with a remote-controlled boat.
“I don’t fish as deep as other shark fishermen,” Colton said. “I like to vary my baits at 50 yards, then one at 100, then at 150, and then at 200. If nothing bites after a while, then I’ll start over again and keep moving out until I find them.”
Colton expects the blacktips to arrive in numbers.
“The warmer water temperatures will bring back the blacktips. That’s when you can go to the beach and catch 12 to 15 sharks over a 24-hour period,” Colton said. “Be patient and look for subtle differences in the surf for your setup.”
Further to the north in the Boliva Peninsula and Galveston beach areas, the fishing has been on fire, reports Josh Diaz with Gulf Gear Fishing.
“This year, shark fishing has been wild. We have seen sharks since January 1, and they haven’t let up,” Diaz said.
He and his clients have landed and tagged 100 sharks already this year.
“Peak season hasn’t even started,” he said.
Diaz and his clients will run 3 to 4 rods at a time with hooks ranging from 16/0 to 24/0, depending on the bait.
“Some of my all-time favorite baits are whole sheepheads. But second would be cownose stingrays,” Diaz said. “The way we typically work is we are using whatever we can catch right there in the surf. If we are catching big whiting, catfish, stingrays right in front of us, that’s what’s going out. We always try to match the hatch.”
Diaz is constantly scanning the surf before setting up.
“We like to stay as far away from people as we can. That determines a lot to us. Then we start looking at the surf. We usually are looking for nice, clean water coming in closer, wave patterns looking for larger guts and structure. If you can see anything on the (Google) maps beforehand, even better,” he said. “Look for rips and water that doesn’t break like normal over the sand bars. Those are indicators of guts and structure underwater.”
Once Diaz and his clients set up, they vary the bait drops. The bigger baits go the furthest out, and the smaller baits he will drop after the third gut or closer.
“If we start seeing a consistent area they are running, we will adjust the other rods near that area,” Diaz said.
