# Aransas Bay Packed



## onplane (Jul 26, 2017)

Aransas Bay, like I suppose the other bays, is overflowing with boats and fisherman this weekend. Large numbers of waders are fishing in the deepest water they can stand in without being in over their heads. (Word's out that current fish concentrations are around 5 feet deep). Standing hundreds of yards from shore in places like Paul's Mott, with water up to their armpits, and no conspicuous colors they are bolder than I am. Fishermen typically run that shoreline too close for courtesy and I wouldn't be surprised if some drunk or otherwise distracted boater runs over a wader.


----------



## pocjetty (Sep 12, 2014)

I went out yesterday afternoon, and you're right.

I tried to head in before the evening rush started. There were a couple of guys launching, so I had to wait to get to the ramp. And wait. A couple more guys showed up and meandered down to the same boat. One of the first guys had to go back to his truck to get something. A couple more guys show up and hop in. Two more guys get out and go back to their trucks. They're all yelling and high-fiving, coming and going while I wait. Finally, all six guys are in the boat, and they pull away from the dock. And I hear the guy driving say. "Okay... beer check. Who wants one?" And he starts passing around the brews while the boat is still moving (without him steering), because everybody wants one.

And these are the guys who have the job of watching for people wading, up to their shoulders, hundreds of yards from shore.


----------



## Kelley71 (Aug 12, 2018)

You are braver than I sir. Bring your own bay on holidays. If you ever see a guy in a big bright orange shelta hat, that's me. My wife told me the blaze orange looked like a woman hat. I told her this is so some dip sh&t not paying attention may just see this hat.


----------



## Moochy (Sep 13, 2014)

This is why the only water I’m getting in this week is the pool.


----------



## Csafisher (Nov 16, 2010)

I miss being able to fish during the week....


----------



## onplane (Jul 26, 2017)

Kelley71 said:


> You are braver than I sir. Bring your own bay on holidays. If you ever see a guy in a big bright orange shelta hat, that's me. My wife told me the blaze orange looked like a woman hat. I told her this is so some dip sh&t not paying attention may just see this hat.


I like Tilley hats but they don't have a blaze orange. I didn't know about Sheltas until your post. I think I'll get one. I think wearing Hi-Viz colors while wading is prudent. I don't need to show off my good taste to the fish, so fashion isn't a priority for me. The day before I saw those folks far out and barely visible I saw two guys in chartreuse wading off Traylor Island. Even from a distance they were easy to see.


----------



## Kelley71 (Aug 12, 2018)

i love my Shelta Hat. i have the Seahawk in Blaze Orange. The brim doesn't fold down when wet. I haven't lost it going full out in our mini hurricane winds the last few weeks.


----------



## Moose2 (Feb 9, 2017)

The vast majority of people launching there boat do not know how to pack there boat before backing into the ramp.


----------



## brad king (Jul 21, 2009)

Friday in West Galveston Bay was insane too!! I live in Jamaica Beach full time and it felt like a Saturday out there. Boats every hundred yards and wade fisherman EVERYWHERE!


----------



## tamucc04 (Jun 21, 2011)

I fished Galveston for the first time this weekend going out of the end of the Dike...TOTAL MAD HOUSE!!! No idea how people run out of there all the time. Im a normal Rockport guy and thought it was bad but nothing compared to over there. 

This is one of the reasons I really like the Fishhide shirts. The bright orange stripe on the back and down the back of the arms gives me a slight bit of comfort when wading.


----------



## mccain (Oct 20, 2006)

Kelley71 said:


> i love my Shelta Hat. i have the Seahawk in Blaze Orange. The brim doesn't fold down when wet. I haven't lost it going full out in our mini hurricane winds the last few weeks.


x2. i've been wearing one for about 4yrs (tan color). i'm thinking i may need to wash it. might be a science experiment by now


----------



## hjm (May 8, 2016)

What the OP described in the post is a every weekend (Saturday) occurrence. The worst part is most of these people have no respect for other anglers. The see a guide boat with bent rods and they immediately slow down and idle up to you to see whats going on. Its terrible and the worst I have ever seen it. The areas mentioned by the OP used to be fairly open on most days, and only fished by a handful of guides in the area. Now everyone with a pontoon boat or a bass tracker is parked in Allyns.


----------



## Flat Nasty (Apr 12, 2019)

best thing about Aransas pass area is most of those people fish the same areas. I lived down there for a while and even tho there might be 100 trucks parked at con brown harbor only 1 % of them catch anything. try fishing in the after noon down there. every one is drunk and off the water by 3 and you can have the whole bay to your self


----------



## troutsupport (May 22, 2006)

Wading up to armpits is nothing.. until you're driving along and you think you're headed for a crab trap and then it Makes a CAST... that's fun. Guys wading up over their shoulders is just irresponsible in today times.


----------



## c hook (Jul 6, 2016)

*lol*



Flat Nasty said:


> best thing about Aransas pass area is most of those people fish the same areas. I lived down there for a while and even tho there might be 100 trucks parked at con brown harbor only 1 % of them catch anything. try fishing in the after noon down there. every one is drunk and off the water by 3 and you can have the whole bay to your self


every one is drunk and off the water by 3

lmao, that is funny. but i'm sure accurate. i'm kinda like Si on duck dynasty. i keep an ice tea working 7/24. start my fishing morning with my yeti and the kurid, and about 9am switch to tea.


----------



## Moochy (Sep 13, 2014)

troutsupport said:


> Wading up to armpits is nothing.. until you're driving along and you think you're headed for a crab trap and then it Makes a CAST... that's fun. Guys wading up over their shoulders is just irresponsible in today times.


I've mistakenly thought I saw a group of pelicans in the water one day and tried to see how close I could run up on them until one started waving at me. Freaked me out!


----------



## blackjack runner (Feb 24, 2015)

StabbinFlatties said:


> Iâ€™ve mistakenly thought I saw a group of pelicans in the water one day and tried to see how close I could run up on them until one started waving at me. Freaked me out!


Sad but true. Been seeing more and more where all you see on the wader is a head bob and the nearest boat is at least 150 yards away. The only savior is their croaker buckets look like crab trap float. It does get scary. Most of Aransas bay is 5 feet deep, and it looks like some waders are trying to cover most all of that.
I really try hard to pay attention, but also like to scout for slicks, bait movement, ect, but on some of these waders, you cant help but wonder what their thoughts are and how much they must hate that fish they are looking for.


----------



## Prizepig (Jul 13, 2012)

Yesterday was by far my worst day on the water this year in AP. To all you idiots that were running wide open within 100 feet of someoneâ€™s drift.....your time is coming when someone decides to pay it forward. And where did these morons learn that motoring within a few hundred feet downwind and stopping in someoneâ€™s drift was acceptable? Iâ€™m glad my daughter was on the boat who had the cooler head and talked me out of being a hypocrite because I was real close to be the guy to pay it forward times 2. Iâ€™m used to the typical weekender shenanigans already and they donâ€™t bother me so much, but this weekend it was on steroids.


----------



## Rockfish2 (Sep 1, 2017)

I mostly wade fish POC/Seadrift and south and its not like other more populous places but summer weekends are still kinda bad, esp. Saturdays. I do everything I can to get out during the week, and in the summer I like to fish evenings (which helps) and at night (which really helps, but...gators). I also try and fish spots as far away from people as possible. Having said all that, Iâ€™m not much for government regulation but I really think there should be some type of licensing/safety requirements for boating. The jackasses would probably ignore those regs though and it would just become another tax on law-abiding people.


----------



## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

Hunting season is the only time the weekends are fishable.


----------



## captain sandbar (Dec 9, 2011)

Your conclusion is correct. DMV hasn’t stopped googans from populating the roads. I just make a plan with options and when I’m blocked just kick back with buds u(pun intended slightly) and wait the googans out. Otherwise it’ll be a miserable day. Educate if you can. Ok so maybe just try.


----------



## Sour Diesel (Nov 9, 2013)

Port o was a circus Saturday as usual. But we were able to get out and on the water right at sunrise. We were planning on launching a clarkâ€™s to avoid Froggies all together and what seems like a mile walk back to the dock after parking. But when we got to clarkâ€™s to put in there was some JackAss that had his Majek anchored off in the launch with his power pole on his phone. If I wouldnâ€™t have had my 20 year old son with me probably woulda lost my sh**. So we ended up launching at the fishing center. 
But to some of the previous post itâ€™s only going to be a matter of time before something happens to many guys out there running around WOT with there music blaring burning shorelines and cutting off fishermanâ€™s wades and drifts.


----------



## Txredfish (Oct 27, 2010)

If possible, I stay off the water during the weekends and holidays. Too many people that have no common sense. I don't know if they are just dumb or don't care. I had two dumb experiences last year. I was fishing about 20 yards off the intercoastal near Cove Harbor. Some idiot came about 1/2 throttle in a large 30' cruiser. He put up such a large wake that it almost sunk my boat. My partner was standing up and was almost thrown overboard. I had to grab him by the belt. The other time, at Conn Brown, I was loading my boat on my trailer. A large boat came by and put up such a large wake it threw my boat off line into side pier and threw water over the back of my boat. That is a no wake zone. Such idiots. That is one reason my gun is not within easy reach.


----------



## Its Catchy (Apr 10, 2014)

I guess it is like that everywhere because the south shoreline of Christmas Bay on weekends has an armada of Kayaks, wade fishermen and boats. A sign of the times. The good news is after labor day weekend the crowds tend to ease. Then when hunting season opens outdoorsmen are much more spread out.


----------



## onplane (Jul 26, 2017)

StabbinFlatties said:


> Iâ€™ve mistakenly thought I saw a group of pelicans in the water one day and tried to see how close I could run up on them until one started waving at me. Freaked me out!


I don't know how you could effectively fish with the water up to your armpits. I couldn't cast and my reel would be under water a lot. Even some of my saltwater reels don't stand up well to getting dunked. And, to fully break down and clean a dunked reel isn't easy for me. Normally, for good or ill, I just spray them down with a hose. For some that's not good enough and they'll seize up.


----------



## oakforestmx (Feb 9, 2011)

Gofish2day said:


> Hunting season is the only time the weekends are fishable.


X2 , at least until duck season gets good.


----------



## Huntandfishaggie (Nov 8, 2016)

I was in Aransas Pass this past weekend also and it was packed. Even the restaurants had long waits. Still found some fish despite the crowds. Cool place. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## bigfishtx (Jul 17, 2007)

Wish there was some place to avoid the crowds. I left POC 15 years ago because it was too crowded. Itâ€™s 3x worse now from what I hear.

Once Labor day gets here, things settle down. Then all the idiots can go chase doves, ducks, and deer.


----------



## impulse (Mar 17, 2010)

I'm curious... 

If the water's 5' deep, why aren't they fishing from float tubes? They're cheap, they open up water you can't possibly wade, allow you to cross channels to get to the other side (try that wading), and they are a great platform to keep rods, reels, and other accessories out of the water. And, unlike a kayak, they take up almost no room in a closet and just a small patch of space in the trunk.

Not to mention the safety aspect of floating, not falling into a hole, not shuffling up a stingray, and presenting a much bigger profile to drunk boaters flying by.

Just a suggestion.

Edit: And I would add... If you fish from a float tube with waders, there is no exposure to the nasty water that can cause Vibrio.


----------



## c hook (Jul 6, 2016)

*thank you*



onplane said:


> I don't know how you could effectively fish with the water up to your armpits. I couldn't cast and my reel would be under water a lot. Even some of my saltwater reels don't stand up well to getting dunked. And, to fully break down and clean a dunked reel isn't easy for me. Normally, for good or ill, I just spray them down with a hose. For some that's not good enough and they'll seize up.


In galvetraz a lot of time we will fish and fish with nothing, step out into chest deep water and cast straight out as far as you can, and bingo, fish on. We don't have vast expanses of shallow flats, so when wading, you move til you find them. Often it is out deep. it's part of the game here, so stay shallow and nothing or go deep and clean house.



bigfishtx said:


> Wish there was some place to avoid the crowds. I left POC 15 years ago because it was too crowded. Itâ€™s 3x worse now from what I hear.
> 
> i first stepped foot on matagorda island in 1979, 1st year open to duck hunting. at that time the game warden would drive you to the duck blind/path(mowed and marked), in a yellow school bus, after you picked your pond from a wall map. my first hunt, my personal limit was 9 bull sprigs and a canvas back. 9 bulls gave me 90 points, the next duck filled my bag. 190 points legally. i still remember one game warden telling the other, he shot the canvas back last, so he's good. in addition i helped one friend finish his bull sprig limit. our other buddy didn't have a licence, he was sol.
> 
> ...


----------



## c hook (Jul 6, 2016)

*??*



impulse said:


> I'm curious...
> 
> If the water's 5' deep, why aren't they fishing from float tubes? They're cheap, they open up water you can't possibly wade, allow you to cross channels to get to the other side (try that wading), and they are a great platform to keep rods, reels, and other accessories out of the water. And, unlike a kayak, they take up almost no room in a closet and just a small patch of space in the trunk.
> 
> ...


we don't keep 3 or 4 float tubes on the boat. :texasflag


----------



## impulse (Mar 17, 2010)

c hook said:


> we don't keep 3 or 4 float tubes on the boat. :texasflag


Here's mine... Complete with a pair of waders, aqua socks, fins and a rechargeable 12V air pump, all in the bag.

Goes with me every time I take a road trip that may find me, a stretch of water and some free time converging. One of my fondest memories is floating Leigh Lake in the Tetons and catching lake trout. Just because it was in the car.

I've taken it out a few times in the Sea Isle canals.


----------



## c hook (Jul 6, 2016)

*wow*



impulse said:


> Here's mine... Complete with a pair of waders, aqua socks, fins and a rechargeable 12V air pump, all in the bag.
> 
> Goes with me every time I take a road trip that may find me, a stretch of water and some free time converging. One of my fondest memories is floating Leigh Lake in the Tetons and catching lake trout. Just because it was in the car.
> 
> I've taken it out a few times in the Sea Isle canals.


that is cool, didn't know such a thing existed. it would be a chore, bringing it in the boat but doable. :texasflag


----------



## Bullitt4439 (Sep 18, 2014)

Its Catchy said:


> I guess it is like that everywhere because the south shoreline of Christmas Bay on weekends has an armada of Kayaks, wade fishermen and boats. A sign of the times.


Oh man, don't get me started. Nothing like kayaks fishing in the middle of the boat cut that's hardly 2 boats wide leading to cold pass. :cheers:


----------



## impulse (Mar 17, 2010)

Bullitt4439 said:


> Oh man, don't get me started. Nothing like kayaks fishing in the middle of the boat cut that's hardly 2 boats wide leading to cold pass.


That's the flip side of etiquette. They block the only navigable water, then accuse you of being rude when you have to run past them...

A few weeks ago I gave up on getting where I wanted to go, for fear of incurring the wrath of a couple of dozen waders. Wading the shallows, but casting into the only passable cut.


----------



## Eb78 (Jun 21, 2017)

I thought Port O was too crowded 20 years ago..... 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J327A using Tapatalk


----------



## Bowhntrmatt (Sep 16, 2015)

I agree. Iâ€™d say most folks are courteous but the big thing Iâ€™ve seen is folks that donâ€™t know who has the right of way when approaching each other perpendicular. 

Also, if you donâ€™t want to get buzzed, donâ€™t fish in the highway. I hate when a kayak or boat is anchored up in a narrow channel, then yells at you when you pass him close. Warriors weekend is the worst for this type of thing. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TroySmith (Dec 9, 2017)

*Drunks and Sharks*

I just cant convince myself to wade out in the water past my knees. I been watching shark week. In the last couple months sharks weighing close to and just over 1000 lbs have been caught "in the surf..." here in Galveston and Padre Island, and that's why I bought a boat. To each his own. 
:fish:Tight lines my friends:fish:


----------



## impulse (Mar 17, 2010)

TroySmith said:


> I just cant convince myself to wade out in the water past my knees. I been watching shark week. In the last couple months sharks weighing close to and just over 1000 lbs have been caught "in the surf..." here in Galveston and Padre Island, and that's why I bought a boat. To each his own.
> Tight lines my friends


Yet, you'll brave the highways to get to the beach.

I figure I'm safer in shark infested water than on I-45 on a weekend. And the numbers bear me out on that one.


----------

