By Cory Byrnes
For Lone Star Outdoor News
With recent rains, the typical summer heat has been stayed somewhat, and fishing on the surf has been hit-or-miss depending on water clarity. There have been a few surprise species, though, like tripletail and Spanish mackerel caught as the surf clears up.
At Sabine Pass, the surf-fishing has been slow the last three weeks due to off-colored water.
“There has been a lot of gafftop the last couple of weekends,” surf angler John Walter said.
The past few weeks, the water has cleared up a bit, and fishing conditions have improved. Walter has been targeting shark using live mullet hooked through the tail with a 5/0 circle hook and 2–ounce spider weight.
Most of his success has come around the third gut.
“The third gut is about 75 feet out,” Walter said. “That’s where I have hooked everything.”
In the Galveston area, Jeffery Millet of 3rd Coast Fishin’ said he has been catching some unusual fish.
“We are catching fish we normally don’t see up close, like tripletail, pompano and Spanish mackerel,” Millet said.
Millet usually targets sharks, but sometimes seeks the smaller fish.
“For the smaller fish, I use fish bites, live shrimp and cut mullet,” he said. “It seems to work pretty well for most stuff.”
He recommends using spoons for ladyfish and other cruising fish he sees while walking the beach. He uses a 9-foot rod with 30-pound test.
For shark, he drones his bait out about 500 meters.
“Cownose ray is a key bait these days,” Millet said. “Really, anything that’s in the surf is good bait to use for them.”
He said the fish will move farther out later in the summer.
“It makes fishing a little tougher, but keeping around structure and moving water helps,” he said.
On Padre Island, Tristan has been having success targeting sharks and bull reds from the beach with cownose rays for sharks and finger mullet for reds.
“The water was absolutely beautiful, and that new moon starting had all the offshore water pushed in,” he said. “I couldn’t ask for the water to be any cleaner in Texas.”
He walks out to the first sandbar and casts in between the second and third gut.
“If the current and surf aren’t bad, I’ll walk out to the second sand bar and cast as far as I can,” he said.
For bigger sharks, he uses a drone to get his baits out.
“If you get a hit and don’t hook up, wait about 10 minutes in case that fish comes back, and if not, reel it in to make sure you have bait,” he said.
The anglers said perfect conditions include a north-to-south wind when it’s laying the waves down in the surf. The sharks prefer the cleaner, clearer water when the surf isn’t too rough, but dirty water doesn’t seem to bother the reds.
