Scrimp boat report
Mothers take their growing kids shopping for school clothes, before the start of a new grade, hunters begin to worry more about their feeders, as buck fever begins to tighten its grip on south Texas residents, inbound finger mullet swimming towards the bay dodge the single screw props of the outbound shrimp boats, as the summer fishing fever comes to a close, so begins the fall bite.
The shrimp boats have been working offshore since July, so by the time fall rolls around they generally have the fish rounded up. On an average day, with enough patience, just about any angler can make a day of chasing shrimp boats. However, it is important for anglers to remember that these boats are not out there for fun, they are out there to make a living and they should be treated with all possible courtesy. Some shrimp boats do not like to be fished and will generally indicate this by picking up to run while they are culling, or turning right at you while they are trawling, so be advised.
One of the most reliable species that can be found on shrimp boats trawling right outside the jetties is the blacktip shark. As these pesky sharks have been known to chew right through a shrimp net, most shrimp boat captains don’t mind a few anglers deterring this pesky species. Blacktips can generally be caught on dragging or culling shrimp boats in anywhere from 40-180 feet of water. When fishing for blacktip, most people use a three-hook kingfish leader baited with a ribbonfish or bonito strip, with enough weight to get the bait down near the bottom. It is important to pay attention when fishing a dragging shrimp boat, so that you do not get your tackle caught in the nets. Surfacing dolphin behind a trawling shrimp boat will usually tell you where the nets are, so make sure that your baits are in between the two nets, and not in them. Once your bait reaches the bottom, it is usually better to let the shark run for a few seconds before engaging the drag and setting the hook. Once you do set the hook, get your camera ready, as these sharks are known to make spectacular leaps during the fight.
Another species that can be caught on relatively shallow dragging shrimp boats is the ever-curious ling. Ling can be taken on dragging shrimp boats on surface baits, i.e. no weight, such as ribbonfish, menhaden, or sardines. This is also a great way to tangle with a hard fighting jack crevelle or a bonito, both of which make excellent blacktip shark bait. Jackfish, ling, atlantic sharpnose sharks, and even the occasional sailfish are known to hang around in the shade of anchored shrimp boats in the afternoon. To check an anchored shrimp boat for fish, the fish finder or bottom machine is generally a good place to look as you pull up to the boat. It is also a good idea to throw a few pieces of chum along with a couple of unweighted baits, or baits with a very small weight to see what can be caught.
Any shrimp boat dragging “the rocks” or thirty or more miles offshore stands a good chance of holding tuna, kingfish, dolphin, big sharks, or all of these species. The hard part is figuring out which species happens to be on the boat that you are fishing, as they all require different terminal tackle. Using circle hooks on monofilament is usually the best way to catch tuna. However, this tactic does not work well for kingfish and sharks. If you are fishing a boat for tuna and are getting consistently bit off, it is a good idea to switch to wire, as you are most likely missing kingfish and sharks.
Many of the Port Aransas charter boats and head boats have been coming back to the dock with great catches of blackfin tuna, snapper, a few yellowfin tuna, kingfish, and sharks. One of the easiest ways to get yourself onto a Texas charter boat is to contact Dave Matisons of Texas Charter Fleets at (361) 774-9998 or check out their website at
www.texascharterfleet.com. You can also contact Dave about flounder gigging charters, as it won’t be long before the flounder will be headed out of the jetties in droves with the falling tides. Just be sure and tell them that you are a Texas Outback reader and that you want to get hooked up.
Shrimp boat fishing can be a lot of fun, but it is important for anglers to know and respect the bag limits for all species. As there is no bag limit for blackfin tuna, I would encourage anglers not to get greedy and take home more fish than they need. There is nothing worse than a pile of fish, or a big shark lying at the dock that no one will claim. As usual, fall can be a pretty dodgy time to go offshore fishing as the weather can turn on you at virtually anytime. It is important to check the weather before you leave, and listen to the weather continuously while you are offshore for any updates or changes that may occur. Though offshore fishing offers some of the best action that can be found, fishing wise, it can also put people in some of the most unforgiving situations when the weather turns on you, or you have mechanical problems. As always, good luck, have fun, and don’t forget to take a kid fishing.
Capt. Peter Young
Offshore Night Fishing
This July, as temperatures climb to record setting heights from California, to the Carolinas, many Texas offshore anglers are finding a way to beat the heat by fishing at night. In addition to the cooler nocturnal temperatures, few spectacles can compare to the awe of an offshore sunset on the way out, or the breathtaking view of the vast starry skies, in open water.
Omar Torres, first mate aboard Risa Ann, a 45’ single screw charter boat out of South Padre Island, Texas reports nice catches of large snapper, grouper, and lots of sharks. Risa Ann and her crew troll during the day on a typical 24-hour trip, and at sundown, they will anchor up on “the rocks” sixty or so miles offshore and begin bottom fishing.
Nocturnal anglers in search of bottom dwelling quarry along the mid-Texas coast can head to Deep Sea Headquarters or Dolphin Docks, both located in the heart of Port Aransas, Texas. Rick Laros, an employee of Deep Sea Headquarters reports that the twelve hour night trips have been producing mostly red snapper, vermilion snapper, some kingfish, some sharks and boat loads of happy customers. Capt. Travis Simmons, a five-year veteran of Dolphin Docks, notes that they have been catching lots of kingfish, red snapper, Atlantic sharpnose sharks, dog snapper, and some larger vermilion snapper, about thirty or forty miles offshore, on their eleven-hour night trip. Look for Dolphin Docks to begin running their sixty and eighty hour offshore trips to the floating rigs found 130 miles offshore of the Port Aransas jetties, in search of the hard fighting tuna that live out there, within the next week.
Swordfishing is also a common nighttime activity for anglers with the proper means, as it is in the heat of the summer that the southeast winds lie down long enough for the Gulf Mexico to become as calm as a lake at times.
The owner and crew of the pristine fishing machine, Hot Rod, a 56’ Viking out of Rockport, Texas, spend their spare nights Swordfishing. That is, when they’re not spending their valuable time winning billfish tournaments like the annual Poco Bueno tournament held in Port O’Connor, Texas. Hot Rod recently caught a nice little swordfish off a drill ship that sits in about one thousand feet of water, on their way back from Louisiana.
One of the boats most dedicated to swordfishing on the Texas coast, is Booby Trap, a 46’ Bertram Express boat out of Freeport, Texas, operated by Capt. Brett Holden, a skipper who has been swordfishing since 1990. Booby Trap is a private vessel that fishes about five days a week and has caught twenty-four billfish in the past three weeks. Ten of those fish were swordfish, five of which were keeper fish, the biggest of which weighed in at 130 pounds. When fishing for “swordys”, Capt. Brett drift-fishes two to four hooks baited with two-pound squid or live blue runners illuminated with saline lights. The number of lines fished is largely dependant upon what the current will allow. The multiple baits are fished at different depths of water, sometimes using as much as ten pounds of weight to keep the bait down. Out of the ten “swordys” caught on Booby Trap this year, the last three were caught at less than twenty feet deep, four were caught at about 150 feet and three were caught at three hundred feet. Captain Brett feels that the phase of the moon is a major factor in determining which baits get bit. He notes that during a full moon they catch fish more towards the surface, and during a dark moon the fish seem to found at the deeper depths.
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