More Surf Launchings

Aside from storms, I consider August to be the most friendly weather on the Texas coast, perfect for using small boats to cross some of the bays and even fish the inshore Gulf. If kayakers can get away with it, then a fast jonboat should have no problem. Except for one thing, launching in the surf. Texas has what is called a high-energy coastline, and you really don’t want waves slamming over your boat’s transom while launching or retrieving back on the trailer. Launching power boats in the surf is a lost art in Texas, but very common around the world. We’ve been spoiled by so many boat ramps built in sheltered waters.

Some ramps on the bay can get exciting when a thunderstorm arrives, but it’s the Gulf beaches that are often too rough for months at a time. In other regions fishermen will return by running a boat right up on dry sand with the motor tilting up. Back in June, 1980 we met a shrimper doing just that in front of the Arco plant east of High Island. (Shrimp were right in the surf and it’s possible Gulf shrimping season hadn’t started yet. But that lonely road had little if any law enforcement). Compared to all that, launching from a calm marina is nothing. Although some people struggle even with that, as videos from YouTube clearly show.

Finding a flat or “slick” Gulf is always a treat and launching an aluminum boat and fishing miles from any bay with its boat traffic makes for memorable days. In our younger years we actually launched in the surf and fished from a 12-foot jonboat that was light enough to fit in the back of a pickup truck. Caught trout, tripletail, even a 20-pound ling. We then graduated to 14-footers that were far more versatile at fishing the bays, duck hunting the marsh, anchoring on or at the jetties and yes, launching in the surf. Today, older and wiser, it’s the 16-foot johnboats we still use because even aluminum of that size floats shallow and can be manhandled in the surf. If there’s a chop, you launch and spin the hull around, pointing the bow into the waves.

An increasingly rare tilt-bed trailer makes all this far easier to launch and retrieve a boat. Or, a standard non-tilting trailer can be unhooked from the ball and the tongue allowed to rise several feet, as the boat is cranked onto slick trailer bunk pads. (No more shag carpet). It’s always advisable to use a 4-wheel drive vehicle when backing near the water.

I mention all this because Port Arthur buddy Mike Spencer launched his own 16-foot jonboat in the surf in June, using his aging Skipper B tilt-bed trailer, a model that’s been discontinued as far as I know. Fishing during unusually calm weather, the pogy schools were out a couple hundred yards, well beyond surf-casting range, and bull redfish were crushing those baitfish. Spence cruised up and down the beach like it was a pond and landed 19 bulls, texting me photos and videos repeatedly, while I coached them on taking pictures. Pogies were jumping and redfish were thumping against the boat.

They used Shimano TLD 15 reels with 40-pound line, mounted on standup rods, preferring three feet of 125-pound Ande leader for this work. No gaffing or netting, just grab the leader and tail them aboard. Inline circle hooks are by far the best; offset circle hooks cause real problems. They throw big spoons with Shimano 200GT reels with 30-pound line mounted on 7-foot casting rods.

Meanwhile, people on the beach nearby caught little or nothing. When the usual 4:00 p.m. breeze arrived with small whitecaps, Spence gave up on catching an even 20 reds, and he drove right back on the beach by his truck. Out there in the Gulf your luck can run out fast, and you need to know when to leave.

These guys used a small castnet and caught all the pogies they needed, sometimes thirty or more per throw. They’d pin a pogey on a medium-sized circle hook and throw toward the schools, or just let that bait drag behind the boat as it drifted. They also slung big, 5-inch Drone trolling spoons mounted with a single hook, the kind commercial kingfish boats use. Which was a smart move; these schooling reds will hit almost anything during a frenzy, even topwater plugs. However, you don’t want to pry treble hooks from such a strong fish. That single hook is designed for fast action and is more easily jiggled loose, once a fish lands in the boat.

Other offshore players include blacktip sharks, big jacks, and occasional tarpon. They’ve seen few tarpon in recent years; it seems the Texas population has been in decline, at least on their part of the coast. Menhaden (pogies) have been scarce at times, and my friends were heartened this June to see some nice bait schools. Maybe the Louisiana net boat fleet this year will stay in their own waters. Not sure why they’re allowed to net in Texas waters, because they’ve caused big fish kills in past years, with hundreds of dead bull redfish washing up on the beach around High Island. A lot of fish species depend on those pogey schools, including tarpon.

Anyway, next day with the Gulf still flat calm, Spence visited the Galveston jetties with great water clarity, and was impressed to see fish 20 feet below. However, the bull reds weren’t there; it was strictly big jacks that are experts at cruising up and down the jetties, busting up tackle. They caught a few and then ran back down the beach several miles until they found the bull reds again. It seems the pogey schools don’t hang around jetty rocks very much, but prefer open (and I suspect) muddier water with more plankton, which they feed on. Sometimes predator fish will corner a pogey school in a jetty pocket. (Easily marked by diving pelicans.)

When the action is slow, Spence makes drifts and drags a “chum tube” made of thick PVC pipe with many drilled holes, filled with chopped pogies. This setup attracts bull reds. Sharks too, but they can’t bite through a PVC pipe like they can a mesh chum bag. Spence says they toss the weighted pipe overboard on the upwind side as they drift, and set a good-sized bait, maybe a sturdy mullet, on either side of the tube. Bingo! Another bull red. This technique has worked even in seven feet of water off the beach. He has pictures of this setup, and I’ll show them in a future issue.