Fishing advice

[Ken]

I need some fishing suggestions.

I've fished many, many times over the years but I'm far from a good fisherman. But now I'm "stuck" at my in-laws who live on the canals in Padre Island (near Corpus Christi TX). I've used this opportunity to do a ton of fishing over the last month but my results are terrible. Zero keepers.

Initially we were fishing with cut up squid on the bottom, and I was catching a lot of small perch, nothing interesting. Then we switched to live shrimp under a popper, and the little suckers were just stealing my bat most of the time. The last couple weeks, the minnows have come in, and they are everywhere, by the thousands. I've been kayaking at night and fishing the green lights around the canals with little success.

Last night I switched to an iridescent rubber minnow lure and finally got some good bites fishing on the edges of the green lights. Had 3 big bites, one I got up to the boat before losing it, one busted my line. Caught one 14'' speckled sea trout, but of course the minimum is 15. There are amber jacks everywhere (literally I see ~100 a night, they jump up to the surface and grab minnows, it's amazing) but I'm not landing them.

I see other people using shrimp still, so not sure what I'm doing wrong with the shrimp.

I'm not greedy but it would be nice to pull in 1 or 2 good keepers for all the time I've spent on it. It's a blast either way but I would like to see some returns.

Any advice/suggestions/resources?

[Gregg]

I am very jealous.

I fish Illinois and Wisconsin. My Florida fishing is limited.

I like to fish Sheepshead for eating (and fun). They like crabs and shrimp. We lose a lot of those as we wait too long before setting the hook. It is recommended to use braided line. It is also a must for Amber Jack. (I have only caught one). Was planning on more this trip in Feb. but I had to cancel it.

We were fishing in about 25 feet of water using shrimp with pretty good success last year. I do not know about shallower waters. It is my understanding that there are top water artificial baits for Amber Jack. I cannot imagine what one of those hitting would look like. I have experience with top water bait for Large Mouth and it is very exciting. These are only 1-5 lbs. I can only imagine what a 40 lb or larger Amber would feel like.

I hope you find out and let us know. Good luck!

[Gregg]

Newest member of my bucket list:

[Ken]

I am very jealous.

I fish Illinois and Wisconsin. My Florida fishing is limited.

I like to fish Sheepshead for eating (and fun). They like crabs and shrimp. We lose a lot of those as we wait too long before setting the hook. It is recommended to use braided line. It is also a must for Amber Jack. (I have only caught one). Was planning on more this trip in Feb. but I had to cancel it.

We were fishing in about 25 feet of water using shrimp with pretty good success last year. I do not know about shallower waters. It is my understanding that there are top water artificial baits for Amber Jack. I cannot imagine what one of those hitting would look like. I have experience with top water bait for Large Mouth and it is very exciting. These are only 1-5 lbs. I can only imagine what a 40 lb or larger Amber would feel like.

I hope you find out and let us know. Good luck!

Appreciate all the info! I still haven't caught one of the Jacks although these guys are in the ~3-4 lb range not the big guys.

Last night I got two more decent trout fishing the edges of the green lights (although still just below keeper range). I would have had more if I didn't lose my lure twice. Lesson learned, bring extra poles with me.

[Ken]

Update - I'll be eating red drum tomorrow, got two nice ones tonight.

[heyelander]

Scuba and a spear

[TranaGreg]

Update - I'll be eating red drum tomorrow, got two nice ones tonight.

expecting an update in the corona-cooking thread

[Gregg]

Update - I'll be eating red drum tomorrow, got two nice ones tonight.

Congrats! Good eating.

[Ken]

Congrats! Good eating.

thanks! cheers

[Redbirds Fan]

Looks like great fun!

What kind of gear are you using? How deep is the water where the Amber Jack are feeding? We need many more pics!!

[Ken]

Looks like great fun!

What kind of gear are you using? How deep is the water where the Amber Jack are feeding? We need many more pics!!

I had popping cork and shrimp early on and I wasnt catching anything. Probably doing it wrong. I switched to these and everything hits it.



Just using a basic spinning reel, the gear was here when I arrived from other family using it.

It's a blast, although I didn't look happy in that pic above I was!

The canals are 8 feet where I'm fishing, I think the amber jacks were mis-identified, sadly, in lieu of just your standard skipjack. But those are fun too.

I'll work on getting more material to show off this weekend

[GwynnInTheHall]

I had popping cork and shrimp early on and I wasnt catching anything. Probably doing it wrong. I switched to these and everything hits it.



Just using a basic spinning reel, the gear was here when I arrived from other family using it.

It's a blast, although I didn't look happy in that pic above I was!

The canals are 8 feet where I'm fishing, I think the amber jacks were mis-identified, sadly, in lieu of just your standard skipjack. But those are fun too.

I'll work on getting more material to show off this weekend

A little wasabi and soy and you're good to go.

[KnuckleBalls]

Nice!! I'll take mine Blackened!!!!

[KnuckleBalls]

Have you tried any spinners? Amberjack are aggressive and a fast flashy rooster tail like spinner could be effective
Or big spoon to mimic the minnows

[Ken]

Have you tried any spinners? Amberjack are aggressive and a fast flashy rooster tail like spinner could be effective
Or big spoon to mimic the minnows

I haven't really had much luck lately. The skipjacks never bit anything, or at least I havent been able to pull one in. Getting lots of bites now but little success actually reeling them in.

To date, 5 trout and 2 redfish, the trout were all 12-13 inches. Had about 10-15 bites tonight and just pulled in 1 trout.

Switched back over to shrimp on a popper tonight first, and the fish loved it, they ate it all up and never got hooked. I'm sure I'm baiting it wrong..

After the shrimp was gone I switched back to my rubber minnow. Had a huge fish on and fought with him a while and he came loose. He ended up biting my rubber lure in half.

Caught a 12 inch trout on the other half of the lure and called it a night