Calling all Houston anglers!

Sorry, bud. Once you do catfisting noodling, fishing seems like a waste of time. And bait...

 

You could a lot worse than checking out the Doug Pike show on ST790 weekends from 8-10 AM, he talks about the 3 N's; Huntin', fishin' & Golfin' and you can even call in and ask the old-timer a ? if you feel like it, goodoldDoug...YesSir...

 

I have a largemouth lake in my back yard. Love to bass fish. I'm not in Houston though.

I fish mostly topwater because of plant growth. Bought some Prop series turtles and fish this year from Lunkerhunt to try out.

 

This seems like a good spot.

 

Fool needs to learn how to handle his gun.


I appreciate that he stayed in the fish fight though.

 

fishing is my stress reducer. When it's red snapper season make sure you go check out galveston party boats. Once in a lifetime experience.

I also like watching youtuber that fish, thresherfishing and blacktiph.

 

Around Houston is kind of tough. Lots of places are over fished. I've tried all the local ponds and such (if you time it with the time when TPWD stocks during the winter with Rainbow trout, you can have a good day).

For Saltwater, there's a lot, but still crowded. Texas City Dike (towards the end), Rollover pass (better do it now, they say it'll eventually be closing...I've never left here without fish, but a long drive - I personally drive down I 10 through Winnie to get there instead of using the Ferry), you can always just walk in the surf.

There's also the Freeport jetty, toddville road in seabrook, skyline drive in texas city (wade fishing - and also the end near the flood gate).

Personally, I used to try fishing all these spots, and kind of got bored with it. Now, myself and a group of friends will get a charter out of Louisiana. Rates are typically cheaper than the guides in galveston, and its normally a bigger haul of fish. We've done well on reds and specks. For a group of 3 + the guide, we landed close to 60 specks (limit is 15 there, with minimum being 12) and we hauled in 20 reds (limit of 5, no slot) on separate trips. . Just seems better that way for us.

 

Is the Texas City Dike wade fishing or do they have a pier? I’d like to find pier spots that aren’t too far away.

Also, what are good baits to use? I went fishing a lot when I was younger with my dad, but I typically used things like dead shrimp or squid. Would I be better off going with lures? Just looking for good baits that will give me the chance to catch a variety of fish. Thanks!

 

You can do 3 different types of fishing at the dike. 1 )Wade fish - this can be done off of skyline drive, or off of the dike near mosquito island (warning, west of mosquito island there is a pretty big drop off - best to wear a life jacket - people drown there), 2 pier fishing - there are smaller piers on the northern side of the dike. You can fish from these, although I haven't heard much success. They are free though. 3) Fishing the "rock side"/channel side. The dike runs 5.5 miles long, and the entire southern side has large granite rocks (much like the rock groins in galveston on the sea wall). You can fish these. I would always fish towards the end. Its hit or miss. Most success is actually a night, but you'll need a light/generator setup.

As for bait, I generally use live shrimp, either under a popping cork or a carolina rig. You can just dead as well, fished on the bottom (catch more trash fish this way). In absence of live or dead bait, you could use a Gulp Alive lure (sold at Academy and pretty much every where else). I've had luck on these.

If fishing the Dike's channel side, you could also use fresh/live cracked blue crab. Seen luck with this for large red and black drum.

 

Awesome, thanks. Most of my fishing was done down in Galveston off of the T head pier. Caught a lot of hard heads of course, but I was just happy to catch fish of any type. I’ve never used live shrimp but had always heard that’s the best option for speck trout. Is it a pain to keep the shrimp alive? Guessing you need a special cooler for that?

As for wade fishing, that’s another thing I’ve never tried but would like to. Do you need special clothes/shoes for it?

I’ll probably go out and try the Galveston pier again sometime. Used to love hanging out at the end and seeing guys hook big sharks and bull reds.

 

You dont need a special cooler, just a 5 gallon bucket and an aerator (you'll see these anywhere fishing supplies are sold). During the hottest months of summer, would be best to keep the bucket in the shade, or throw an ice cube in every once in a while to keep the water cool (shrimp will die if they get too hot). I always put mine inside of a cooler with a little bit of ice, just because I rode in a car and didn't want the bucket sloshing around.

As for wade fishing, depends on how brave you are. Some folks will just wear old tennis shoes and go. Some wear reef boots, and some wear Ray Guards. I'd recommend ray guards and a PFD (life jacket) for safety. Also would need something in order to carry your bait and/or lines.

 

I fish at the spillway in San leon, mainly just to drink beer and hang out. All I really catch is hard heads and sting rays though.

 

get a kayak. Fun. Cheap. And it will open up a whole new world to you. Especially seeing as you seem a bit apprehensive about wade fishing.

 

I miss Meacom's Pier in High Island/Bolivar. Had a couple of my best overnight redfish fishings (and a 3 foot shark, and flounder) there back in the day.

If you're a rainbow fisherman (fly or ultralight spinner) the Guadalupe below Canyon Dam is outstanding stuff if you time it right. It's actually a self-sustaining population now, but TPWD still stocks it annually.

eta: K lolo sounds like my kind of people, yall should listen to him

 

I'd actually like to get a kayak, but I have two young boys now. My goal in the future is to get a small bay boat, even if all we do is catch sand trout and hard heads.

 

Sand Trout are fun to catch, especially if you find a school of them! AND they are pretty darn good to eat, but just be sure to eat them after you filet them, they aren't as good after you freeze them unlike specs and redfish are. I have had days where I would go out to Todds shipyard and cruise my whaler into one of the big dock areas and catch 100s of sand trout, sometimes two at a time. My fingers were raw after a few hours, but you would be hard pressed to find more fun fishing than that. I ran out of bait about about 2-3 hours and started cutting up the smaller trout into pieces and using that as bait. The fish didnt even care lol

 

San Luis pass was my favorite spot but they closed due to people drowning. The undertows are killers.

 

I've gotten to the point where I do almost all of my fishing offshore when the Spanish and King Mackerel are running. Other than that, if you don't mind going 20 miles out, you can get some pretty impressive reds during the season.

 

Typically we go to Texas City Dyke. Fish the jetties towards the end. By the boat cut, the sunken barge. We’ve actually been having a ton of success on specs at the south jetties about 3/4 the way down. 8 feet of water and fish 2 feet off the bottom. Last time out pulled in 5 19” specs