Pointe West Vacation Help

[Buffs 1]

Hi all. I am a freshwater guy coming to Pointe West with my family next week. Other than "don't wade SLP," I am looking for any advice I can get for fishing around that area. I would like to try wading the bay around there, but I really don't even know where to start. I'm also up for surf fishing if the odds are better than wading the bay. Just looking for a few tight lines while on vacation.

I'm planning on bringing a couple cheap surf rods and my freshwater gear. From what I can tell, it sounds like spoons, gulp shrimp, jigs and swimbaits are a good place to start, or would I do better with live bait? Any help from you regulars on where to try and what to throw would be appreciated, and thanks in advance.

[FlyPelican]

The flats behind the toll booth at the Pass are fine to wade and accessible from the shore. There are some deep guts you need to be careful of...just wear a life vest and shuffle your feet...you'll be fine. Any of the baits you mention will work.

Did I mention wear a life vest?

Good luck. Let us know how you do.

-FP

[Curmudgeon]

There's a big flat on the bay side behind the condos at Point West where you'll see people wade. There should also be plenty of productive fishing with your surf gear on the shore side. Live bait usually gets more fish, but also plenty of snot sharks. Definitely shuffle your feet and wear a life vest. Have fun!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Buffs 1]

Thanks for the tips. How far out do I need to wade on the bay side? I have no idea how deep I should be fishing.

[TroutSupport]

How far you wade in varies. Fishing fresh for bass and fishing salt for any predator fish is actually fairly similar with some BIG caveats.

Where did you catch your bass in fresh? It was on structure that held bait where they could also ambush from. Well it's sorta similar in saltwater too; except the structure looks a little different. Structure is anything that holds bait fish... oyster reefs, scattered oyster over a mud bottom, just a little grass on a mud bottom, the sea grass edge, drop offs, potholes in the grass, rocks, all these are 'structure'. Fish the right depth for the season where bait is on these structures and edges and you'll tend to catch some trout, reds, and or flounder. So far you wade in can be knee deep to chest deep. ;-) Don't wade all the way to neck deep please for us boaters. At that point your head looks like a crab trap buoy and I run pretty close to those. I do try to avoid waders though ;-)

Use some of your bass lures instead of buying bait, bone zara spooks will catch both trout and reds, same with rattle traps and yes, you might loose a few on rocks or oysters just like fishing the rip rap, also spinner baits are great for redfish, take the skirt off and use a Berkley gulp swimming mullet curl tail.

You can find plenty of walk in wading spots, use Google earth and find structure and edges and then find a way to get there. You can also use the Google Earth street view to move down the road and look to see if there are no parking signs or if there is parking available.



Have fun.. your always welcome to email me with more questions as well...
tobin@troutsupport.com