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  • #1

    Any Help Appreciated

    Bought a place in Sea Isle last year and bought my first boat last week. Am looking forward to going out in the West Bay and surrounding areas but need advice on how to proceed in the best way. I have a healthy respect for the water. Boat won't go skinny and I know parts of the west bay get shallow real fast. I think best thing for me to do first (after practicing backing up my trailer) is to find a good affordable GPS/fishfinder combo. I have already downloaded Navionics for my iPhone. Thought it might also be a good idea to hire a local guide to give me a tour of the area in general. Anybody have any suggestions for any of the above? I welcome any help and/or suggestions.

    Thx in advance,
    Tags: gps, guide, newbie, west bay
  • #2
    Welcome to the site. Need to introduce yourself on the Welcome Board also...Learn how your boat handles in different types of weather and how shallow you can actually go. The best thing to do is hire a guide on this site to show the areas around Sea Isle. Buy you a Hookstter Map (or other) that shows the reefs. Attend one of the FWE functions that are held at Sea Isle and meet some of the members on here, bunch of great guys. Suggestions for starters...

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    • #3
      Hire a guide, let him drive your boat, and get tracks in and out of places on your GPS. That way you feel comfortable navigating the bay system.

      Take into account that the west end is pretty bad for fishing. I suggest taking your efforts into Trinity/lower Galveston/East Bay.
      "If our father had his say, nobody who did not know how to catch a fish would be allowed to disgrace a fish by catching him." Norman Maclean, from A River Runs Through It

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      • #4
        Hire Greg Francis he is a sponsor on here.

        Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk
        KEEP IT WET..

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        • #5
          Any feedback/opinions re Raymarine Dragonfly? Thanks for the help and suggestions so far. Have booked a guide for Sunday week to take me around the bay.

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          • #6
            My dad had a place in Sea Isle back in about 92, so that's where I started learning the bay from. I run a 19' Whaler with a long shaft 150 on the back so it's not skinny at all, though you would be surprised on what I can run over on plane...

            Most of that end of the bay is easy to learn, south shoreline get skinny in places, but you can run from the inside entrance to the pass up to probably about Pirates with not much problem...stay N of Shell Island off Jamaica (I've hit is a few times) and watch out for karnkawa on a lower tide in front of Jamaica Beach. If your not sure keep your motor down and go slow, when you hit bottom trim up a little or jump out and wade.

            You can get into Greens on most days, if you stay on a plane all the way to the back there's deep water there where you can get up, if you come off plane in the middle some where you might have to idle out.

            The upper end of west bay is the most treacherous to me, from about Starvation Cove east, lots of shell to hit, great winter time fishing area, and you can usually see the bottom in 5ft in the winter up there which helps.

            Chocolate is easy to get into and has a marked channel to explore from, lots of stuff to hit once out of the channel.

            San Luis Pass can be a ***** to navigate but it's all sand so your biggest issue there is getting stuck on a bar, but normally not going to do too much boat damage, I did yank out my motor mounts one year hitting a sand bar wot, so again if your not sure slow down, and follow someone through and get a track on your GPS.

            I think its fairly easy to learn if you have the time and I hardly use my GPS except in the dark and fog in west bay. Of course a guide can speed up your learning curve but to me figuring it out on my own and with help from friends was half the fun.

            Good luck.

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            • #7
              Great advice in the above post, Drifting any of the reefs shown on a hook n line map or wading in the numerous south shoreline coves is a good place to start

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              • #8
                OR19, great advice as Russ757 says. Only proves the adage that Experience is the best teacher. Thanks for the info.

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                • #9
                  Thanks to all that have taken the time to welcome me and to post. Some really great info and suggestions. Have pulled the trigger on the Raymarine Dragonfly so will be downloading the manual and reading up (it won't get hear to maybe Monday from TheDigitalOasis.com). Looking forward to getting out on the boat and doing some exploring. Hooking up with a guiding next Sunday.

                  Life is good.

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                  • #10
                    X2 on going with Greg Francis.

                    Use Google earth and make some waypoints for the channels that you use to get in and out of. Get waypoints for both sides of the channel, not just the middle.

                    East and Trinity are great summertime areas.

                    Some of our customers have said that Getting the TroutSupport.com DVD set was the best thing they added to the new boat and it cut their learning curve drastically as far as fishing goes. http://www.troutsupport.com
                    TroutSupport.comsigpic

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