Going fishing off Padre. Any tips/advice?

I'm not sure if anyone on here does much salt-water fishing. I'm a novice fisherman. I love to fish, but I'll be honest I'm not terribly good at it.

I'm taking a trip this weekend with my dad. We're going to fish off a boat with a guide for one day, but the other two days we're going to fish some of the channels.

We'll be fishing of Mustang Island or northern padre island.

If anyone has any suggestions on lures/rig setups. I'd like to catch a Red or two, but I'm really just wanting to fish anything I can keep and eat.

DOA brand shrimp and berkley gulp shrimp in new penny color for red and trout. Live bait for anything else. Hit up bob halls pier if you can. i heard good things about mustang island just watch out for all the college kids causing trouble over there. My buddy rents a cottage over on mustang island. Maybe we can take a trip next summer

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cjriojas

DOA brand shrimp and berkley gulp shrimp in new penny color for red and trout. Live bait for anything else. Hit up bob halls pier if you can. i heard good things about mustang island just watch out for all the college kids causing trouble over there. My buddy rents a cottage over on mustang island. Maybe we can take a trip next summer

---

Sweet man. What kind of hooks do you like using out there? Any preference on size? I was thinking like buying a few of 1/0 to 5/0.

Oh and caught this among others today. Nothing special. I would guess it weighed a little over 3 pounds. My buddy caught a couple catfish over 8 pounds.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/IMG_0286.jpg

for red and trout 1/0 i think are kinda big. they have small mouths and i heard the trouts can get pretty sneaky. The DOA should come rigged and use a worm hook about a size 8 maybe (i have to check). Live bait you can use anything from a 12 to 5/0 depending on what you are going for. The salt cats are fun to catch but dont eat them. Rays are fun too.

Thats a nice bass. what rod did u end up going with?

when i went to port aransas a month ago i used Gamakatsu 5/0 circle hooks and for bait i stoped at a fishing store and bought squid. that was the first time i used squid and man did i get alot of bites on it. when i go back in 2 weeks thats all the bait im using. between 4 of us in a day we caught over 80 fish easy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cjriojas

. The salt cats are fun to catch but dont eat them. Rays are fun too.

---

can i ask why i should'nt eat a salt water cat? i caught a 20" cat and it still in the freezer. i havent eaten it yet.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by randomhero

I'm not sure if anyone on here does much salt-water fishing. I'm a novice fisherman. I love to fish, but I'll be honest I'm not terribly good at it.

I'm taking a trip this weekend with my dad. We're going to fish off a boat with a guide for one day, but the other two days we're going to fish some of the channels.

We'll be fishing of Mustang Island or northern padre island.

If anyone has any suggestions on lures/rig setups. I'd like to catch a Red or two, but I'm really just wanting to fish anything I can keep and eat.

---

next time you come down check out a bud of mine: Baffin Bay Specialist Poco Loco Lodge & Guide Service Cast N Blast Quail hunting
he fishes the best kept secret in tx " baffin bay"...they have been tearing up the trout down here lately...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lechez71

can i ask why i should'nt eat a salt water cat? i caught a 20" cat and it still in the freezer. i havent eaten it yet.

---

i cant tell ya why, but ive always been told the same thing!

The only reason not to is if there is an advisory about pollution or bacteria in the water. Otherwise, they should be fine.

Fishing: Saltwater Catfish, poisonous spines, reef cat

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cjriojas

for red and trout 1/0 i think are kinda big. they have small mouths and i heard the trouts can get pretty sneaky. The DOA should come rigged and use a worm hook about a size 8 maybe (i have to check). Live bait you can use anything from a 12 to 5/0 depending on what you are going for. The salt cats are fun to catch but dont eat them. Rays are fun too.

Thats a nice bass. what rod did u end up going with?

---

Haha, I'm probably not going to buy a very nice saltwater setup, but my freshwater setups have grown considerably.

I was given an American Rodsmith Titanium 6'6" rod by a pro fisherman friend. I ended up throwing that on.

I think I'm going to invest in another Falcon rod since I've gotten quite used to it. I'm tempted to try on of the Carrot Stix rods as well.

I now have accumulated:
2 Abu Garcia Bait Cast Reeds(Both fairly old, but were around $150 in new condition)
Shimano Chronarch Baitcast reel($200 reel given to me for free)
Shimano left hand Baitcast reel($100 reel, My favorite, bought at an estate sale for $3.50)
Pfluger Spinning rod combo(Present from my girlfriend, smoothest action I have yet to feel)

Basically I have about $1000 in rods/reels at this point, I just need to learn how to fish better. The good part of it though is that I got two of the reels for $3.50, one for free that needed about $15 in parts, the other was a present from my girlfriend, and the other my dad never uses.

Cheap/Free stuff is always cool!

I love fishing the intercoastal with live shrimp on a bobber.

Doesnt take any technique, works like a charm and catch all kinds
of fish all day long.

Nice thing about salt over fresh water fishing is the fish are a lot more
aggressive about taking bait, so getting something on the hook is a no brainer.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lechez71

can i ask why i should'nt eat a salt water cat? i caught a 20" cat and it still in the freezer. i havent eaten it yet.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ramair2002

The only reason not to is if there is an advisory about pollution or bacteria in the water. Otherwise, they should be fine.

Fishing: Saltwater Catfish, poisonous spines, reef cat

---

Thanks for the link. The locals had told me not to eat them because they contained a much higher level of toxins than fresh cat. However, i did a little research and found that you can eat them and that they even taste pretty good.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by randomhero

Haha, I'm probably not going to buy a very nice saltwater setup, but my freshwater setups have grown considerably.

I was given an American Rodsmith Titanium 6'6" rod by a pro fisherman friend. I ended up throwing that on.

I think I'm going to invest in another Falcon rod since I've gotten quite used to it. I'm tempted to try on of the Carrot Stix rods as well.

I now have accumulated:
2 Abu Garcia Bait Cast Reeds(Both fairly old, but were around $150 in new condition)
Shimano Chronarch Baitcast reel($200 reel given to me for free)
Shimano left hand Baitcast reel($100 reel, My favorite, bought at an estate sale for $3.50)
Pfluger Spinning rod combo(Present from my girlfriend, smoothest action I have yet to feel)

Basically I have about $1000 in rods/reels at this point, I just need to learn how to fish better. The good part of it though is that I got two of the reels for $3.50, one for free that needed about $15 in parts, the other was a present from my girlfriend, and the other my dad never uses.

Cheap/Free stuff is always cool!

---

Sounds like you got a good little arsenal goin on for pretty much nothing lol. Shrimp and squid are common baits and arent very expensive. Take a bucket so you can get live sardines or other baitfish. They work well also.

Ended up doing alright. Between 3 of us(My dad, girlfriend and me) we caught 19 specs, 3 reds, and 1 Atlantic Croaker. We caught well over 50 fish total, but only those 23 keepers. My girlfriend caught a total of 5 reds, but only 1 keeper, we each caught 1 red and I had the largest at right around 26"
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/IMG_0277.jpg

dam, i need to go on a charter. That looks like a good time. What did u end up using for bait? How long were u on the water?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cjriojas

dam, i need to go on a charter. That looks like a good time. What did u end up using for bait? How long were u on the water?

---

We were on the water for a long time(about 10 hours). We caught about half the fish during the first 2 hours, then didn't catch a single thing from 9-12. After that we started catching quite a bit of them.

We are using a really simple rig setup. Braided 20 lbs line with a surgeons not to connect the leader. There was a croaker hook with a bead and another surgeon and we were throwing piggy perch and croakers out there.

The red fish were caught on 3 different pieces of the same cut up perch.