Oyster Reef Fishing

[LadyFish]

I fish an oyster reef where the water depth runs between 2-6'. My favorite is to drift fish the reef but get hung up constantly and lose a lot of tackle. I've tried everything from stationary corks to floating corks with live bait and just started using a variety of lures. <br /><br />My main interest is in specks and redfish. I've tried rattlers, mirrolures and plastic minnows so far with not much luck. Top dogs don't get hung, but I haven't had much luck with them either. Any suggestions?

 

[Specks n Reds]

Re: Oyster Reef Fishing

 

[LadyFish]

Re: Oyster Reef Fishing

You hit the nail on the head when you said West Bay. I was talking about The Karankawa Reef outside of Jamaica Beach, I'm sure you know it. Its a frustrating place to fish but when you hit it right you can haul in some whoppers.<br /><br />Thanks for those great tips. Weather permitting, I plan on trying them out this weekend.

 

[Fishbusters]

Re: Oyster Reef Fishing

Have you tried a floating weightless soft plastic bait? You know the kind that were originally designed for largmouth bass fishing that are fat for about half the bait then taper to a long skinny tail some have a fluke on the end while others are straight. Bass Assassin is just one name for these lures. They dart and jerk like a zara spook and can be used to walk the dog but they will also slowly sink providing you the ability to "walk the dog" underwater. These can be rigged weedless and will slither through almost any type of cover/snag that I know of. Of course oysters are known for hanging up almost anything because of the nooks and crannies in them but they should work well.

 

[LadyFish]

Re: Oyster Reef Fishing

Thanks Peter. I've tried Bass Assassins and I think the weight of my head&hook must be too heavy. How do you rig them weedless?

 

[Specks n Reds]

Re: Oyster Reef Fishing

LadyFish<br /><br />How you doing on Limits and Slot size over there now?<br /><br />Here we are down to one Red per day Slot 18-27<br />and Specks 5 per day Slot 15-20 1 can be over 20<br /><br />I usally end up doing a little Spanish and White Trout fishing too<br /><br />White's are OK but not as good eating as Specks and don't have the fight in them

 

[Fishbusters]

Re: Oyster Reef Fishing

First you need to use a bare hook like a kahel (SP) or even go to a F/W bass worm hook. You take your hook and run the point into the head threading the bait onto the hook about the length of the hook point running the point out of the bait when it starts to curve up the bend. You then slide the bait up till the "head" of the bait covers the eye of the hook then you stick the point back through the bait untill it is about to come out or you can even run it out then pinch the bait up a little and hook the tip of the point back into the worm covering it. It is importiant the bait is rigged straight. Thsi is just like a texas rigged plastic worm for bass w/o the weight. I will go now and look for a site with pictures and instructions because I bet I confused you. This bait will cast well especially if you use a slightly heaver plastic withoug a jig head or any weight.

 

[Fishbusters]

Re: Oyster Reef Fishing

Here is the texas rig for a plastic worm you follow it with a simple leaving off of the weight. Texas Rig <br />This was the best explanation I found. You can use any of a number of soft plastics rigged this way.

 

[LadyFish]

Re: Oyster Reef Fishing

Specs n Reds, we can bag 3 reds per day, slot 20-28" and 10 specks per day over 15". Now if you go offshore its a little tougher. Only 4 snapper and 2 kings. And I understand after July you can't tie up to rigs anymore. It has to do with Homeland Security.<br /><br />Hey Peter, I've used that method before in freshwater. I didn't think of using it for reef fishing, it should work out great.<br /><br />Sometimes I know alot, I just can't think of it.

 

[Fishbusters]

Re: Oyster Reef Fishing

I know fellows that swear by it for sightfishing. It is weedless and does not make a lot of noise when it hits the water. I think a lot of freshwater tactics offer a lot of potential for salt water. I have heard of and seen fishing shows where fellows were using spinner baits for redfish so who knows what else may cross over.

 

[ShawnQ]

Re: Oyster Reef Fishing

LadyFish...<br /><br />Just to let you know. I was fishing a few reefs in Copano Bay (near rockport), which is a good ways southwest of Galveston, but they have the same kind of fish.<br /><br />Anyways, I was using Salt water assassins, rigged like you two are talking about, with no weight. I had the best luck on pumpkinseed/chartreuse colors, red/white, and plum. They were also hitting the strawberry colors, from what I heard...but I didn't have any on me. Doh!.<br /><br />Anyways...we caugt a limit of trout within 4 hours, and that was 5 of us fishing. However, we released a good majority of them, just because...<br /><br />The largest fish was 26", and we caught a good number of schoolies. We only caught 4 or 5 reds all weekend, and the largest was 22", which was released. We weren't fishing for reds though, we were aiming for trout.<br />A few people there were catching reds in the surrounding grass beds on gold spoons, nothing spectacular, but a few slot sized...<br /><br />I also caught a small tarpon (less then 12"), very odd! Wish I had a digital camera on me, first time I've ever caught one, in the flats at that!<br />Just an FYI!<br /><br />Shawn