Kayak fisherman new to area!

[blueyakman]

Hi all,

I'm originally from Arkansas, but I'm moving down to the Houston for grad school. Finally decided I couldn't leave the yak at home, so I'll be getting a storage unit up to keep all the fishing/kayaking equipment.

I'm hoping to get some west bay action this weekend. Can anyone recommend a decent place to try? I'm not looking for anyone's honey hole, I'd just like to catch a red or trout or two and get my kayak wet in the salt water. I've heard that Galveston State Park is a good place to start. I'd also appreciate any other general advice y'all might have.

Thanks,

Blueyakman

[trophytroutman]

Welcome. That's a good place to start.

[Curmudgeon]

Welcome aboard. The park is where I started out too.


Curmudgeon only pawn in game of life.

[Ibtsoom]

Good spot. Drift through the cove and figure out what depth / area the fish are holding. Plum / chartreuse assassin on a 1/4 oz jig head. Have confidence in it .. It works.

[BlackHawk]

If it is too windy you can try Chocolate bayou. Launch at 2004 and go left, upstream, and hug the shorelines.

[mgstei1]

Or Lutes or Horseshoe a little further up the Bayou. My preference to launch is at Lutes as they are good people and tons safer than the 2004 bridge. Good areas either upstream or down to 2004 bridge for a yak. The bend where Pleasant Bayou drains into Chocolate and where the Hi Voltage lines cross are 2 of my favorites. If the rain forecast is a dud this week it should be good to go by the WE. If however the Bayou watershed gets a deluge than the runoff will screw the salt water up and water will be slightly fresh.
Also Bastrop Bayou action is hot right now but I am not familiar with that area.

[blueyakman]

I appreciate the responses, guys. I've fished jigs for bass and flounder, working the jig along the bottom. Is it pretty much the same for redfish and trout, or are they usually higher in the water column? Also, any word on topwater action this time of year? Could you see a skitterwalk, spook, etc. getting any strikes?

[Curmudgeon]

Use both topwaters and soft plastics. Reds are often working the bottoms but they'll hit a topwater as well.


Curmudgeon only pawn in game of life.

[blueyakman]

That's something I hadn't considered. It looks like the wind's supposed to be right out of the south this weekend. Do you think some of the smaller coves on the north end of Galveston (e.g., at state park) might be protected by the island from some from that south wind?

[blueyakman]

The above response is to BlackHawk's comment about wind. It didn't show up where I thought it would in the thread.

[Silver Wolf]

Welcome. If their not on top or bottom, try a corky or a minnow type plastic lure with a worm hook and no weight. They will be suspended. The use of the worm hook also catches bass and stripers. Hope this helps. Lord Bless.
robert

[plugger]

WELCOME !

[Ibtsoom]

You'll be good in the coves with a southerly wind. Tops early and soft plastics when the sun gets up. (Unless the top water bite stays hot).

[blueyakman]

Hey all. Ended up fishing GISP last weekend after all. It was pretty hectic with moving down to Houston on top of that, but you've got to have your priorities straight! I actually got down there without my paddle, but was able to borrow one from another yacker. I got there around 11, and fished for about 5 hours. I threw skitter walks, salt/pepper/chartreuse paddle tail plastics and plum/chartreus assassins. I fished the plastics with some of that Pro-Cure. Didn't catch a thing. I talked to ~12 other kayakers and waders and only ran into one fella who had caught a couple small trout. The wind was pretty rough after all.

One problem I kept running into was that, when fishing plastics, my jig would grab a bunch of the moss/soft grass off the bottom and make it tough to fish. Pretty much everywhere I fished the water was only ~1.5 feet deep, even though I did paddle a ways. Maybe look for deeper water?

I'm thinking about trying closer to the pass tomorrow, maybe redfish cove. I'll report back and post pics if I have any pics other than my kayak just sitting on the sand

[Curmudgeon]

Kayak fisherman new to area!

Sounds like a good start. Keep at it. You can use weed less worm hooks or rig your jig heads for weedless. I always catch a lot of grass over there. I catch plenty of oyster shells in other places so grass seems like an improvement to me!
Keep working your way down the shore in either direction. There's a myriad of things to be gleaned from there. Good luck!

I forgot to mention: the first photo I posted was simply the front if my yak in the water since I didn't catch anything! lol! We all started like that.
Curmudgeon only pawn in game of life.