# Surf fishing insanity



## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

I'm no stranger to catching lots of fish, but yesterday was Incredible.
We got to the beach around 10am to catch the incoming tide. I didn't have much hope, because 90% of the time a full moon kills surf fishing, but this must have been the other 10% when the fishing is great.
I got the rods set out in the second gut with cut mullet, and almost immediately they started going off. We were landing bull reds one after another, with some keepers mixed in. We were also getting cut off left and right from sharks, until I switched to steel leaders. We had a system going, she would reel in the fish while I made leaders and casted the rods. This went on for over a hour until we were so exhausted we finally had to just reel all the rods in so we could take a break. After our break, as soon as I put the rods back out they were going off again. By 1pm we were ready to quit, because we were to tired to fish anymore. Just when we were ready to pack up, some reinforcements showed up, a fellow 2cooler and his son with some friends of his that just moved to Texas from Wyoming. I don't know what was better, getting to see a kid reel in a fish bigger then he was, or getting to see people who have never seen a fish bigger than a brook trout get to battle bull reds. We kept catching fish until 4pm when the tides got so high we were in danger of being trapped until the next low tide, so we called it a day.
We did get to see a couple of strange things, one was a sting ray with double barbs. I've only caught a couple of these in my life and I hope I never step on one. The other was a bull shark with a hook in his mouth. It had to be one that cut me off earlier in the day when I was using mono leaders because it was my hook. The strange part is it was hooked in the exact same spot in the corner of his mouth as when he cut me off the first time.
We did end up catching our limits of keeper reds, but due to my bad math skills we only had 5 in the box when we got home.


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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

...


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## Zeitgeist (Nov 10, 2011)

Y'all doing it again today?


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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

I forgot the keepers


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

You know what? Your fish catching skills and cooking skills are good, but so are your photography skills! I always enjoy the perspective you choose to capture.


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## 98aggie77566 (Jul 7, 2009)

Great pics and looks like an awesome day!!

You dang sure got the surf fishing figured out!!


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## gpappe (Jul 27, 2012)

Just curious, which beach we're y'all at?


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## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

I agree with Whitebass fisher. Great report and great catch.


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## POC Fishin' Gal (Nov 20, 2009)

WOW! Not only caught fish, had fun but MADE THE DAY for some complete strangers!! You the man in my book!!!!


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Really great Fishing and report!


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## Rawpower (Jul 4, 2011)

Did that Shark have 2 hooks in his mouth? One from a Previous catch?


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## gotmuddy (Dec 19, 2013)

great report, hope to run into yall when we come down new years.


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## salty_waders (Feb 13, 2006)

Well done! Which beach...north, south, in between?


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## planohog (Nov 1, 2006)

Perfect Day for you


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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

Rawpower said:


> Did that Shark have 2 hooks in his mouth? One from a Previous catch?


Yes. We had got cut off several times that morning by sharks, so I switched to steel leaders. We caught that shark in the afternoon and it had one of my hooks that got cut off in it's mouth. The funny thing was, it was hooked in the exact same corner of the mouth.


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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

salty_waders said:


> Well done! Which beach...north, south, in between?


Sargent beach. To be more precise, the east end of Sargent beach by Cedar Lakes. 
If you wan't exact pinpoint accuracy it's N.28.48.834' W. 95 31.739'.
There are no secret spots in surf fishing. Everything on the beach front changes almost daily. You can tear the fish up in a spot one day, and then not even get a bite the next. We went back to the same spot on Sunday and only caught 2 reds and some small sharks. If you wan't to become successful at surf fishing, you have to learn to read the water and adapt to changing conditions.
Yes, those are the true GPS numbers to the spot I was fishing Saturday. I don't mind giving them out, because they are irrelevant, and I'll probably never fish there again.


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## dirtdobber (Jun 23, 2009)

Great catch and great report


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## Rack Ranch (May 25, 2004)

Beautiful!!


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## Smoke On The Water (Jul 19, 2016)

Only in Texas do you fish in shorts and a T-shirt in November!


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## pocjetty (Sep 12, 2014)

POC Fishin' Gal said:


> WOW! Not only caught fish, had fun but MADE THE DAY for some complete strangers!! You the man in my book!!!!


Isn't it cool when someone takes the time and effort to help complete strangers? People like that make the world a little bit better place. Those things never get blown away by hurricanes.



Smoke On The Water said:


> Only in Texas do you fish in shorts and a T-shirt in November!


I was thinking exactly that yesterday. If the season wasn't closed, I'd have been out floundering in shorts and a t-shirt last night. I love this place.


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## BFI-TX (Nov 26, 2016)

Wow, sounds like one neck of a day. Props to you for making someone else's day. You might have ruined those folks....having them thinking that's just a typical Texas fishing trip.


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## eliris (Dec 4, 2016)

Sargent beach. To be more precise, the east end of Sargent beach by Cedar Lakes. 

Do you need 4x4 to get to that part of the beach?

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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

eliris said:


> Sargent beach. To be more precise, the east end of Sargent beach by Cedar Lakes.
> 
> Do you need 4x4 to get to that part of the beach?
> 
> Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


If the tide is super low and you have full coverage insurance you can drive down the beach in 2 wheel drive. If the tide is up and it's been raining you can't even get down in a 4x4.


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## eliris (Dec 4, 2016)

Based on the tides on sunday, i feel like this is an obvious question, but what looks more promising, a moring session on low turning tide or an afternoon session on an incoming tide? I am leaning towards the sunset session...









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## imfishintoday (Jan 31, 2011)

I'm pretty sure the guy with hat on is Johnny Football . I wondered what he was up to these days.


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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

eliris said:


> Based on the tides on sunday, i feel like this is an obvious question, but what looks more promising, a moring session on low turning tide or an afternoon session on an incoming tide? I am leaning towards the sunset session...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This is the tide for Sunday. The fish will bite when I tell them to bite. Usually around the time my hangover wears off, around 1pm.









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## TwoKewl'er (Oct 10, 2017)

sharkchum said:


> If the tide is super low and you have full coverage insurance you can drive down the beach in 2 wheel drive. If the tide is up and it's been raining you can't even get down in a 4x4.


HaHa funny an interesting......In my experience rain creates hard packed and better driving conditions.
But either way I wouldn't test my Jeeps insurance policy lol

Carry on


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## eliris (Dec 4, 2016)

Interesting that the 2 tide tables dont match. One is for sargent (tides4fishing) and the other for freeport (sharkchum), but they have like 1 hour in low and 2 hours in high of mismatch. I thought this was an exact science...


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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

eliris said:


> Interesting that the 2 tide tables dont match. One is for sargent (tides4fishing) and the other for freeport (sharkchum), but they have like 1 hour in low and 2 hours in high of mismatch. I thought this was an exact science...


A tide forecast is nothing more then a guess, sometimes it's right and sometimes it's not.


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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

TwoKewl'er said:


> HaHa funny an interesting......In my experience rain creates hard packed and better driving conditions.
> But either way I wouldn't test my Jeeps insurance policy lol
> 
> Carry on


On any other beach in Texas you would be 100% correct, but Sargent's not a normal beach. Sargent island is composed of mostly clay with a thin layer of sand covering it. When the clay gets wet, either from rain or high tide, it gets soft and you sink in it, usually requiring a wrecker to winch you out.


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## TwoKewl'er (Oct 10, 2017)

sharkchum said:


> On any other beach in Texas you would be 100% correct, but Sargent's not a normal beach. Sargent island is composed of mostly clay with a thin layer of sand covering it. When the clay gets wet, either from rain or high tide, it gets soft and you sink in it, usually requiring a wrecker to winch you out.


Fair enuff, not that I go out looking for trouble (ie like getting stuck) but maybe I just don't get out much either

PM incoming so as not to bore the masses

Carry on


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## Longshot270 (Aug 5, 2011)

This is what I like about Sharkchum's reports. I learn something new every time.

Last time I was in Sargent was shortly after Harvey and I thought it seemed softer than my previous trip. I thought it was because I traded my little light weight jeep for a much heavier truck and was pulling my fishing/camping trailer. I've also found that wind can be a real game changer for the Matagorda/Sargent beach compared to Mustang Island.

How often do rays grow two spines? I've only caught three and my big 4 ft ray didn't even have a tail.


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