# This weekend?



## instinctz (May 2, 2015)

Hello y'all, 

I have been a lurker for a year and sort of a noob in surf fishing. I am living in Houston for over 9 years and got fascinated by surf fishing last year. I never fished before and knew nothing about poles, bait, hooks, knots, or anything. I have read and learned most of the basic stuff here and somehow convinced a group of friends(who never fished before) to go to Matagorda and fish. We brought a bunch of 10 and 12 feet rods, several hooks and a lot of bait. We started around 10 AM on a very windy Saturday with a slight drizzle. We found a clean looking place on the beach and started to cast, we found very soon that we needed to make sure we are casting actually into the water. We were on the beach for about 8 hours and caught one 10" hammerhead. At the end of the day, we felt like we were there to feed the fish. Distraught, we went to the store, picked up some fish and shrimp and had a good dinner at the vacation house. 

Tried the next day, nothing whatsoever. After that experience, I have fished 5 more times near Galveston(Rollover pass, Jamaica beach, san luis pass, surfside beach, etc). Not much luck! Caught some small mullet or perch for bait but never a red fish or a shark. Few times I have seen 

I researched more and more on how to read the surf and learned a lot from Sharkchum's posts. At this point, it seems like I have been going to the right places but may be not at the right times. 

After last year's debacle, I will be going fishing again this Friday evening with a colleague. We are planning to go to Texas City Dike around 6 PM and stay there possibly until morning. 

Since most of you are aware of the place and the forecast for Friday, could you guys please give any suggestions? Also, is Dike a bad idea and we should rather go to roll over pass or some other area during this time?

Thanks


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## jimj100 (Dec 1, 2012)

If u r not getting very good distance on your casts, your trip to the dike will be a short one!


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## Zoo (Mar 25, 2014)

That ten inch hammerhead is actually a pup of the species of shark known as "bonnethead".


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## [email protected] (Jan 14, 2005)

The **** will be fine. Don't get discouraged. Take some crabs with you. he black drum are out thee. Good LUCK!


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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

The dike is great for drum this time of the year, but there are a few things that are different from surf fishing. First off you need a long handle heavy duty net to land the fish. You can use a long handled gaff and gaff them in the mouth, but some people get upset about that. You can try to climb down the slippery barnacle encrusted rocks to grab'em, but after your first trip to the ER you will be more than happy to invest in a good net. The next thing you do different is "Do Not use spider weights", the wire just gets hung up on the 1,000's of broken lines in the water every time you reel in. Use 4oz to 6oz pyramid sinkers tied on with 20lb mono, so when your weight get's hung up, and it will, you only lose your sinker and not your whole leader. Another thing that happens at lease once every trip is your sinker will get hung up within 30' of the rocks when you have a big fish on. The best thing to do in this situation is to just put your reel in free spool and let the fish swim back out. I may spent 30 minuets or more alternating putting pressure on the fish and giving it slack before it gets un-hung or the sinker breaks off, but 90% of the time I get the fish in. I have my best luck down by the end where the channel is closer to the rocks. Here's the area's I fish.


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## [email protected] (Jan 14, 2005)

As of right now I think I might be down there on Sunday. I'm in a red GMC with a rod rack in the back. Stop by if you see me.


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## jimj100 (Dec 1, 2012)

one thing i learned from the locals, a 6' leader w/ 300 lb mono, you can grab from the dry part of the rocks and hoist up any red or drum. But yeah, unless you are building these leaders, then a net is good. I do use a spider weight, and they do get hung up, but sometimes the current can really rip, and a pyramid won't hold. 

I still say you are going to need a solid cast to get out there into safe waters! And when you pull up to bring in, DON'T STOP REELIN for nothin!! rod high, reel fast.


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## instinctz (May 2, 2015)

sharkchum said:


> The dike is great for drum this time of the year, but there are a few things that are different from surf fishing. First off you need a long handle heavy duty net to land the fish. You can use a long handled gaff and gaff them in the mouth, but some people get upset about that. You can try to climb down the slippery barnacle encrusted rocks to grab'em, but after your first trip to the ER you will be more than happy to invest in a good net. The next thing you do different is "Do Not use spider weights", the wire just gets hung up on the 1,000's of broken lines in the water every time you reel in. Use 4oz to 6oz pyramid sinkers tied on with 20lb mono, so when your weight get's hung up, and it will, you only lose your sinker and not your whole leader. Another thing that happens at lease once every trip is your sinker will get hung up within 30' of the rocks when you have a big fish on. The best thing to do in this situation is to just put your reel in free spool and let the fish swim back out. I may spent 30 minuets or more alternating putting pressure on the fish and giving it slack before it gets un-hung or the sinker breaks off, but 90% of the time I get the fish in. I have my best luck down by the end where the channel is closer to the rocks. Here's the area's I fish.


Thank you for your relentless passion in helping out people like me who want to learn fishing. I will insure I get a long landing net. I really appreciate you advice on spider weights as I would have definitely used them because of my previous experience with surf fishing.

I will follow all your tips and hope for the best this Friday.


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## instinctz (May 2, 2015)

[email protected] said:


> The **** will be fine. Don't get discouraged. Take some crabs with you. he black drum are out thee. Good LUCK!


Thank you, I hope this trip would be different. I am fishing on Friday and going to Austin on Saturday to see family. Hopefully, I will get to see you some other time.


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## instinctz (May 2, 2015)

jimj100 said:


> one thing i learned from the locals, a 6' leader w/ 300 lb mono, you can grab from the dry part of the rocks and hoist up any red or drum. But yeah, unless you are building these leaders, then a net is good. I do use a spider weight, and they do get hung up, but sometimes the current can really rip, and a pyramid won't hold.
> 
> I still say you are going to need a solid cast to get out there into safe waters! And when you pull up to bring in, DON'T STOP REELIN for nothin!! rod high, reel fast.


Appreciate your tips, I'll remember to REEL! I did not catch any good fish but got really good at casting as thats what I did often. I am able to do the pendulum cast with good efficiency when there are not many people around. When you say solid cast, you think 150 yards is a good average distance for this area?


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## jimj100 (Dec 1, 2012)

instinctz said:


> Appreciate your tips, I'll remember to REEL! I did not catch any good fish but got really good at casting as thats what I did often. I am able to do the pendulum cast with good efficiency when there are not many people around. When you say solid cast, you think 150 yards is a good average distance for this area?


150 yards would be way better than solid. If you can pendulum cast, you will have NO problem at the dike. At least getting it out there you won't!


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## instinctz (May 2, 2015)

jimj100 said:


> instinctz said:
> 
> 
> > Appreciate your tips, I'll remember to REEL! I did not catch any good fish but got really good at casting as thats what I did often. I am able to do the pendulum cast with good efficiency when there are not many people around. When you say solid cast, you think 150 yards is a good average distance for this area?
> ...


Thank you, I'll update on how it goes


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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

I hate to give you bad news but the tides for the dice don't look very good for Friday night. If ya'll could fish during the day Friday between 10am and 3pm you would do much better. What tides you fish in different locations will vary from place to place and time to time. Some places I do better on a hard falling tide and some are better with a slow incoming tide, but I've always had my best luck at the dice on a hard sharp incoming tide, and that's what it will be Saturday and Sunday during the day.









Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


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## matagordamudskipper (Feb 18, 2006)

Hi to even higher then sharp low...aww yeahhhh peanut butter hammer time.


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## instinctz (May 2, 2015)

sharkchum said:


> I hate to give you bad news but the tides for the dice don't look very good for Friday night. If ya'll could fish during the day Friday between 10am and 3pm you would do much better. What tides you fish in different locations will vary from place to place and time to time. Some places I do better on a hard falling tide and some are better with a slow incoming tide, but I've always had my best luck at the dice on a hard sharp incoming tide, and that's what it will be Saturday and Sunday during the day.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you very much, we have decided to fish until Saturday 11 AM. After fishing until mid night on Friday, we will be back around 7 AM on Saturday. Really appreciate the information. With the way tides look right now, is there any chance at all on Friday evening or we would be better off with a bbq grill on Friday evening?

Also, I tried to understand your explanation of the tides and understand what a sharp incoming tide is. For example, I got the following tide info for Friday:










As well as for Saturday:










Now, what do I look at to understand these two tide charts? Is it just the wave height? and wave direction? And does a tall wave and incoming(Sea to the bay) direction good at dike?

Thanks


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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

instinctz said:


> Thank you very much, we have decided to fish until Saturday 11 AM. After fishing until mid night on Friday, we will be back around 7 AM on Saturday. Really appreciate the information. With the way tides look right now, is there any chance at all on Friday evening or we would be better off with a bbq grill on Friday evening?
> 
> Also, I tried to understand your explanation of the tides and understand what a sharp incoming tide is. For example, I got the following tide info for Friday:
> 
> ...


Those are wind and wave forcast's, not tide. The tide is driven by the moon, strong winds can influence the tides some, but the real power is from the moon. Any tide chart you look at are nothing more than predictions based on the moons lunar cycle, and a prediction is nothing more than a educated guess. The moon can also influence the feeding habits of fish and other wildlife. They actually have charts that show hourly predictions on when the best feeding times will be based on the lunar cycle. I for one don't believe in these charts, but I do believe in the power of the moon. I base my predictions on experience, and I'm far more accurate than any charts. If you start keeping logs of your fishing trips with all the information you can get, tides, moon phase, wind speed and direction, air and water temperature, baits used, what you caught, just everything you can write down, after a few years you will notice patterns. Learning the patterns is how you become more successful at fishing. There is no skill involved in fishing, it's just knowledge. I can take anyone fishing with me and show them how to rig up and where to cast and they will catch just as many, if not more fish than me. I don't have any special power's or a magic fish call, I've just spent my life learning the when, where, and how to catch fish. This is a quote from Thomas Edison when he was asked why he failed so many time at making the light bulb. "I have not failed 1,000 times. I have
successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb." Fishing is the same way, sometimes you have to eliminate all the thing that don't work before you find the one thing that does.


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## instinctz (May 2, 2015)

sharkchum said:


> Those are wind and wave forcast's, not tide. The tide is driven by the moon, strong winds can influence the tides some, but the real power is from the moon. Any tide chart you look at are nothing more than predictions based on the moons lunar cycle, and a prediction is nothing more than a educated guess. The moon can also influence the feeding habits of fish and other wildlife. They actually have charts that show hourly predictions on when the best feeding times will be based on the lunar cycle. I for one don't believe in these charts, but I do believe in the power of the moon. I base my predictions on experience, and I'm far more accurate than any charts. If you start keeping logs of your fishing trips with all the information you can get, tides, moon phase, wind speed and direction, air and water temperature, baits used, what you caught, just everything you can write down, after a few years you will notice patterns. Learning the patterns is how you become more successful at fishing. There is no skill involved in fishing, it's just knowledge. I can take anyone fishing with me and show them how to rig up and where to cast and they will catch just as many, if not more fish than me. I don't have any special power's or a magic fish call, I've just spent my life learning the when, where, and how to catch fish. This is a quote from Thomas Edison when he was asked why he failed so many time at making the light bulb. "I have not failed 1,000 times. I have
> successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb." Fishing is the same way, sometimes you have to eliminate all the thing that don't work before you find the one thing that does.


Thank you very much for the valuable insight and advice. I fished on Friday night until 2 AM, Saturday morning until 11 and Sunday evening from 5 to 9 and seems like I need to follow Edison's path. I was not able to catch anything whatsoever. I have used fish finder, double drop and fireball rigs with different types of hooks on 3 different rods and moved among different locations on the dike. As far as bait I used live shrimp, mullet, squid, gulp bait and some other tiny fish I caught with the net. BOYDs said it was illegal to sell crab right now.

After reaching home on Sunday night, I was mulling 2 options: Going to grad school for Marine biology and buying that phantom drone to drop the bait 400 yards into the water! But after a really busy week at work, I took a step back and might try again this weekend as I would be out of the country for next one month.

But nevertheless, even without fish, I really enjoyed spending time on the dike. Weather was very pleasant last weekend.

I had couple of questions while fishing, how long do I leave the bait in the water? If I used shrimp I was pulling it back within 15-20 minutes and when I was using fish, I left it there for an hour.


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