Summer Strategies

If this summer is anything like last summer, anglers are in for some fantastic fishing off the Texas Coast. In 2008, Texas bluewater anglers experienced a blue marlin bite that will be talked about for years. We can only hope that this year the fishing will be similar to what many of us experienced last season. With that said, June can be an unpredictable month, not from a fishing standpoint, but weather-wise. Right now the spring winds are blowing and some years we have a real windy June, other years we get a lot of nice days. But you really never know what you're going to get. As far as fishing goes, June is prime timeno more waiting, its time to go fishing!

Many large fish are caught in June. The bait is abundant, the water cooler and there has been very little pressure put on the fish compared to what they will see in the next few months. Many fish have taken up residency around different oil platforms over the winter and anglers can take advantage of this situation before conditions change. This is also a good time to check out as much area as possible to see what platforms and buoys have been added or taken away. This is excellent information to have as you begin the season.

BAIT! BAIT! BAIT! Bait is normally plentiful in the early summer and less so later. Take advantage of the bait situation by fishing where there is a lot of bait as well as keeping some on board. Bait always bites better in the morning, so load up your live well and tuna tubes early, then you'll be set for the day. Even if you're pulling lures, it doesn't hurt to have a live bait available for a pitch bait. Uh Oh the tuna's just popped up they don't like your big marlin lure no problem, fire out a live bait and hang on! Versatility is the key and you need to be prepared to fish several different methods to find what works on that particular day.

Early in the summer the cooler water is still mixing with the warm loop current eddies, so be sure to check your SST (Sea Surface Temperature) charts and look for temperature breaks which can also mean converging currents that cause rips, weed lines and color changes. Oh yeah it also concentrates bait which attracts big pelagic predators like marlin and tuna. Throw in an oil platform or a nearby rock and you have the makings of an epic fishing trip. Pretty simple game plan, right? Well maybe not so simple, but a great place to start, and that's what you have to do at the beginning of the season. You want to put yourself in the best place possible with the information you are given.

Online websites like www.hiltonsoffshore.com, www.roffs.com, www.texas-offshore.com and www.terrafin.com are great places to get SST and current data along with a myriad of other stuff like rig locations, water color, sea surface altimetry, salinity, weather, etc. These are great tools for the offshore angler Don't leave home without them!

Really, in this day and age you're at a great disadvantage if you don't use some, if not all, of the information available to you before leaving the dock. It's just too easy. Especially in a tournament, you will at least need to know what everybody else knows, because they WILL be using everything they can get their hands on to give them an advantage. It makes too much sense Why waste time, fuel and your sanity running around looking for fish, when you can make some of those decisions before leaving the dock. Don't get us wrong, you're probably not going to run straight to the fish and win the tournament but you might, and you have at least determined the areas that should be productive and eliminated those that are probably not. That's a big deal in a big ocean with a long boat ride, expensive fuel and limited fishing time. Throw in tournament entry fees along with boat pools and you can see what we're talking about. Give yourself the best chance possible for success!

For more information on Big Game Fishing off Texas, buying, selling or rigging your boat, call us or come by Tops-N-Towers in Seabrook, Texas. Our Fox Yacht Sales-Seabrook office has an extensive inventory of brokerage boats and Fox is the exclusive Texas dealer for CABO Yachts. We specialize in sportfishing boats and motor yachts. Come by and get a great deal on your next boat. For more information contact Bobby Byrd at 281-474-4000 or you can contact John Cochrane at 409-739-4827