# Surfside Surf



## big D. (Apr 10, 2010)

Staying at the Ocean Village Hotel & Resort on the beach next to the Red Snapper Inn resteraunt. I can see the jetty from here. The water looks green to the beach and the weed doesn't look too bad.

Is it worth fishing here or should I drive toward the pass and hit one of the access roads (3-6)? Anyone fish here?

There is weed in the water but it looks minimal enough to soak some bait or cork & shrimp! I'm gonna give it a shot this evening and at first light in the morning!


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## big D. (Apr 10, 2010)

Has anyone fished this area? Any good? My son cleared a path through the weed and the tractors are working  maybe we can get on them?


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## davidluster (Sep 16, 2008)

Some of my students have been hammering trout in the surf under corks in that area...shrimp and arti's.


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## SurfRunner (May 22, 2004)

Fish there! It can be good!


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## wish2fish (Mar 1, 2005)

If the weed isn't there then it is probably the only spot on the Texas coast where it isn't so I would stay there and fish it.


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## big D. (Apr 10, 2010)

Been in the water all afternoon. Not much weed. Just alittle on the bottom at times. I'm about to pop some shrimp under a cork. Report to come later. The weed would prob make it hard to fish Artie's though...


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## big D. (Apr 10, 2010)

Horrible evening! Just left the ER. The water was green and full of bait, but the surf was too rough! My son caught a hardhead and after he took the hook out, a huge wave knocked him over and the catfish stuck at least 1" into the ball of his hand! We cut the fish off, but he was in so much pain that I had to take him in! They numbed it and gave him morpheme and a tetanus shot. Doc had to get vice grips and pull hard to get it out. I couldn't believe how much was in there! There is barbs down the length of the spines!!! Ouch!


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## ak (May 6, 2012)

I can only imagine I've had a few stick in my hand and foot but never that bad hope it gets better quick.


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

Glad you got him to the ER.


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## fishingtwo (Feb 23, 2009)

sorry to hear(see) that. Not much worst than that.


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## waltmeda (Jul 9, 2013)

Holy Ouch!!!!!


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## dbarham (Aug 13, 2005)

Man that sux!


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## Yellow.mouth (May 10, 2013)

Another lifelong hatred for heardheads is born! Glad your boy is ok, had a similar experience as a kid, and i know it was miserable for him.


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## NOCREEK (Jan 18, 2012)

Wow! That's a Dog! Hope he heals up quick and doesn't get surf shy.


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## Rawpower (Jul 4, 2011)

Man, Thats s**ks. I hope your son is o.k. I had a small hardhead stick me in the calf. It took a couple of weeks for it to heal up. Good luck!!


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## dan_wrider (Jun 21, 2011)

Man, that's too bad. I just knew y'all were going to pull some trout from there. Hope the young man gets to feeling better soon. I've never been hit anywhere near that bad at least I never lost that much blood but I have been hit pretty good once. It felt like my hand had been electrocuted.


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## shutout (Mar 2, 2014)

Sorry to hear about your son. Hope he heals fine.


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## Duckchasr (Apr 27, 2011)

Man sorry to hear that. Hope hes ok. When my kids were little I took them down to the surf to fish with fresh dead I caught a HH and it flopped around and buried the fin in the ball of my hand I yanked it out but it immediatly swelled up and I started to feel faint had to sit on the beach and recover for over an hour. I hate them bastasted.


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## pickn'fish (Jun 1, 2004)

Sorry about the misfortune. Keep a close eye on it...
Last year, a buddy got a dorsal from gafftop stuck in his chest. He was unable to pull it ouch!. ER and no wading for several weeks...

I try not to handle hardheads. I try to CAREFULLY flip them off by using pliers to twist hook out of their mouth. Sometimes, if possible, after applying some amount of pressure with said pliers...

That's one of the worst experiences in the salt, it's mostly all uphill from there. Hope he's recovered and back in the water soon...


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## h.f.d.firedog (Dec 29, 2008)

Hope he recovers quick. Young man needs to fish.


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## Sea-Slug (May 28, 2004)

When we were kids, Lucky Ed the original SnookMaster and I were fishing off of the Old Catalina Motel and Condo Pier in Corpus Christi Bay and we were hammering sand trout and large croaker around 1973 I guess on dead shrimp. Ed caught a big hardhead and as he unhooked it it fell on the dock. Ed decided he was gonna stomp smash the bait thief then kick him in the water I guess, he stomped down and the dorsal went through the bottom of his tennis shoe and about 1 or 2 inches into the bottom of his foot, blood pouring out his pinned to his foot shoe. I never saw anybody hurting that bad before that day but of course I did later in life. Ruined the next week or two for him. Sorry about your sons misfortune but tell him its all part of the growing pains of learning the salt. A bad hardhead stick is darn near as bad as a ray hit.


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## Surf Rodder (Jun 28, 2013)

*'Tourist Trout'*

Man, me and hardheads go way back. While in high school (1974) I was once surfing an area we called 'transformer' (long before they first started marketing toys with the same handle) way down on West Beach, in a full length Spidersuit by O'Neil wetsuit, hood, booties, and gloves. It was Feb. and in the upper 40's.

The surf was huge and I had drifted about a quarter mile down the beach before getting back to shore. As I began the long and cold walk back to a warm car and an even warmer girlfriend in it I noticed scattered dead hardheads lying on the beach. About the time I uttered "Man, it'd be a bummer to step on one of those" I did. After tossing my surfboard to the wind I found myself rolling around on the ground trying to dislodge it from the bottom of my foot. Once I RIPPED it out, I stood and walked to my board, feeling the warmth of the blood flowing inside of the surf booties I was wearing. Given the cold of the water & my feet, the warmth of the blood felt good, but only for a brief moment. About the time I bent over to pick up my board, the TOXIN made another pass thru my system. 'Toxin? What TOXIN?!' I hit the ground again and rolled around like a fool.

After the near-death experience subsided I made it to my feet again and looked towards my car hoping the girlfriend hadn't noticed. She hadn't.

Another 10-15 steps later I repeated the exercise, this time with both hands affixed to the foot thinking that was where the agony was coming from. 20 seconds later when it dawned on me that I was going to live I started off for the car again. Round three of the 'ground & pound' occurred shortly thereafter. This time Missy was all over it. "Hey, are you alright?" I could hardly utter a word, let alone scream "OH, I'M JUST FINE, THANK YOU!"

Her having seen me on the ground like I'd just been 'tazzed' help me to man up and just sort of tolerate the misery as I made it back to my car and her. I can still remember how good those soft warm hands felt on my bloody foot. Seeing the blood, she looked a me and said "I thought you said you were alright!" I let her rub it a minute or two longer than it needed....

Yeah, I HATE hardheads. Heck, if I had another honest 5-7 minutes I tell you one that tops the above.


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## mccain (Oct 20, 2006)

stepped on a hard head in padre 20yrs ago. fin went thru the sole of my topsider into my big toe. 1/3 of my big toe is numb to this day. glad to hear your boy is ok. get him back on the horse(surf)


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## big D. (Apr 10, 2010)

He's doing great! He's at football camp and already lifting weights on with the hand Iâ€™m cleaning his real this week and as soon as it gets flat and green, we will be out there. We had a few good days last year, but I would love to hook up with an experienced surf fisherman and learn the ropes! We fish for whites and hybrid/striper most of the year, but venture to the surf when the time and weather are right!

Thanks!


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## surfguy (May 17, 2011)

Watch out for Rays this time of year too. Two years ago on June 8th, I got ambushed by a big one laying in a hole about 10 yds off the sand in 2ft of water. Spent 4 hrs in the ER taking Morphine and Dilauden injections to stop the excrutiating pain. Two months more in rehab with multiple infections despite all efforts to avoid it. Be careful out there and walk slowly when wading in the surf.


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