Fishin in Salt Water

Down here in TX. Spent the weekend at her gamily's beach house in Port O'Conner and really enjoyed being near salt water again. My Father-In-Law took me out wade fishing for Speckled Trout. Had a lot of fun and learned how to fish without a boat for a change...

Day 1 got out late in teh afternoon, and I skunked...my FIL wade out deeper than me and got a redfish and had a small trout get off the hook within a few feet of him...

Day 2 my wifes uncle took us out in teh boat to a flat where we wad fished in chest deep water. They use live bait (croaker) and her uncle burned m up...he got a limit of keeper trout with one real nice fish.. I lost two fish early by horsing em and them gettin off th hook... then i started lettin have a litle drag and takin my time wearing em out finally got the stink of fish on my hand... but had no keepers on day 2.

Day 3 we waded out from the beach and moved around some catching some small fish... then we were wading back to the boat when it happened... caught my first keeper spot... then my second... and finally caught a real nice 18 incher that was just awesome to fight...

I cant even begin to tell you guys how fun this type of fishing is... if you ever get a chance to wade fish for spots in matagorda bay TX..... DO IT!!!

will post pictures of the stringer when i get the camera back from the wife...

May a bull red make your day!

I loved it, used to fish matbay from the state campground, I believe that was the one where we parked right next to the water, The best spec fishing I found was in a small river that ran into mobile bay, what made it nicer was this was winter fishing.Left burkesville day after thanksgiving and returned home the second day of spring.Caught a lot of specs, and some good reds, plus black drum, and scores of stingrays.Camped on padre on the beach, life was good then.

Some photos of my stringer from day 3 and our haul from the 2nd day. I did have big fish at a little over 18 inches... i know its small but seemed nice to me after catching inch short of keepers for 2 days...

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I absolutely love wade fishing in the Gulf ( Just got back from Anna Marie Island in Fl.). It seems that any saltwater fish you hook into on light tackle is like hooking into a 6 lb. smalljaw. From the hard runs of Pompano, Bluefish and Permit to the aerial show put on by Ladyfish and they are as plentiful as bluegill here. As much as I absolutely love bass fishing, saltwater fishing is tops in my book.

ditto that... the 18 inch speck i got was making long runs and peeling drag, then would run side to side just making that line sing through the water. I havent heard that sound in a long time. It was like fighting a 5 lber that just blew up a surface bait and then was running for dear life... i loved it.

They keep trying to convince me that if i can hook a 25" redfish i will give up bass fishing forever...

Redfish are bulldogs. We used to get into schools of them in the mosquito lagoon on the east coast of Florida. It wasn't uncommon to have three guys in the boat hooked up at once.
They eat good too!

I really regret now that I never fished the intracoastal in Daytona Beach...

Wait till you get into a school of reds. You will fish until you are tired of catching them! If you think an 18 inch trout can peel drag, just set your hook into a 27 inch redfish! No comparison. If I ever had a choice between saltwater fishing or freshwater on a day, I would never get near that fresh stuff!

Congrats on the catches.