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Search Gulf Coast Fisherman's Web Site Past articles, specific places or fish, etc.	NEARSHORE Angling Adventures By Capt. Robert Sloan	CURRENT MOON lunar phases
	Mention the words "offshore fishing" and I'll guarantee that 99.9 percent of whoever hears you say that will automatically assume that you are referring to angling anywhere from 30 to 100 miles out. But, that is not always the case when fishermen talk offshore angling. In fact, there are quite a few of us that fish offshore and never get any farther than 10 miles out. Some of the best nearshore fishing I've ever encountered was out of Sabine Pass. That's where you can find a group of rigs that are no more than a few miles off the beach. Actually they are off the southwest corner of Louisiana. To access them, most anglers will launch on the Texas side of Sabine Pass, run out to the east jetty, and then cut through the boat cut and head over to the rigs. There are at least 30 of them. And during the summer months they will hold anything from speckled trout and reds to ling and tripletails. It's pretty exciting fishing.
One summer I discovered that those rigs were holding big time numbers of tripletails - fish in the 5 to 10 pound class. The trick to catching them was to use a 1/2-ounce silver spoon. But to catch them, it took at least two people. One had to control the boat, while the other jigged a spoon close to the rig's legs. At the hook up, the guy at the helm slowly moved the boat away from the rig to pull the tripletail away from the line-shredding underwater structure of the rig. One day I was with a buddy and we were having a blast catching big tripletails. I went to flip a spoon close to a rig and watched as a ling, weighing about 40 pounds, inhaled the silver offering. Talk about a battle. That was it. Took about 45 minutes to get that ling to the gaff on 14-pound test line. If you head west from the Sabine jetties, you'll find a group of rigs about 4 miles offshore. They are fairly close together which makes it easy to rig hop. This is a good place to catch big reds, speckled trout, tripletails, sharks, kings and ling. When the water is clear and green, you can actually see kings and ling moving around the rig structure. That's when a silver spoon or white jig will catch 'em all day long. Trout fishing around the rigs anywhere from a mile to six miles off the beach can be excellent. The rigs from Southwest Louisiana and on over to Galveston will hold big time numbers of speckled trout during the summer months. The best way to catch them is with live finger mullet, mud minnows or shrimp. Usually, trout around the rigs will be feeding close to bottom. For example, if the rig is sitting in 20 feet of water, look for trout to be suspended at several feet off the bottom. Soft plastic jigs will also catch trout around the rigs. That's usually the way Sabine Lake guide, Jerry Norris catches them. "The best way to find trout around the rigs is to start out with soft plastic jigs," says Norris. "I like to use sickle tail Assassins in red shad or white/chartreuse. A one-quarter oz. jig head is best. But if you've got a strong current you might want to use a heavier head. Trout will turn off of jigs once you catch a few. That's when you can really hammer them with live baits. Most of the time trout will be holding on the down current side of the rig." One of the most exciting days of offshore fishing I've ever had out of Galveston was one summer day during July. The Gulf was dead calm and a couple of friends and I were trolling along a weed line that was about a half-mile off the beach. The water was clear and green and the bite was on. We were loading up with "chicken" dolphin while pulling white and blue jigs along well defined weed lines. The water depth was about 30 feet. We had just about filled a cooler with tasty dorado when the starboard rod, that was pulling a 3/4-ounce silver spoon, got hit by something that was melting line off the 6500 Ambassadeur reel at an alarming rate. We had to chase that fish, and when I finally hit it with a gaff I swung a 30-pound class wahoo over the gunnel. We couldn't believe our luck. I've never heard of a wahoo being caught that close in along the Galveston beach front. You never know what's going to be feeding within a few miles of the surf on any given summer day. A few years ago, I was fishing with Capt. Bruce Shuler out of Port Mansfield, TX. We were fishing around shrimp boats that were culling their catch from 2 to 4 miles off the beach. We pulled up to one boat that was flat loaded with all sorts of fish that included bonito, jacks, kings and Spanish mackerel. We were trying to chum a big ling out from under the boat when a sailfish suddenly appeared. And it wouldn't go away. In fact, it followed us away from the shrimper. Incredibly, the sail wouldn't hit anything we pitched its way. After about 30 minutes of trying to tease the sail into biting it went away. On another occasion, Shuler and I were filming a show with Keith Warren. Shuler took us to a rig that was about three miles off the surf. The water was blue-green and beautiful. Warren had tied on a white curl tail jig and was working it close to the rig when his rod doubled over. He set the hook and a 40 to 50 pound tarpon came rocketing out of the water. On the second jump, it spit the hook. Talk about wide-eyed, we were. I will rarely pass up the opportunity to fish behind a shrimp boat. Most of the time it's best to fish off the stern of an anchored shrimper. But, on more than one occasion, I've fished alongside moving shrimp boats and caught all sorts of fish from jacks to yellowfin tuna. The best day I've ever had while fishing alongside a moving shrimper was out of Port Aransas, Texas. I was with Capt. Tommy Gueldner. We were targeting working shrimpers that were culling their catch on the run. The action was no more than 2 to 4 miles off the beach. Each time they would shovel over a load of chum, jacks, blackfins and yellowfin tuna would churn the water into a froth. Once the chum ran out, we would move in and toss a scoop of chum off the stern of the boat. And, bingo, the fish would come to us. And, as long as we kept teasing them with limited amounts of chum, they stayed with us. That's a great way to catch big blackfins and yellowfin tuna. If you're just looking to have some line-stretching fun, pull up to an anchored shrimper and toss out a hand full of diced pogies. If anything is around the boat, it'll come up on the slowly sinking chunks of silver pogies. Many times jack crevalle will be holding in the shade of a shrimper's hull. But I've pulled many a ling out from under a shrimper. The great thing about nearshore offshore fishing is that you can just about always find a flock of gulls feeding over a school of fish during the summer months. Many times those gulls will be holding over big schools of bonito, Spanish mackerel and kings. My favorite way to catch fish under a flock of gulls is to troll close to them with jigs and silver spoons. You can hardly go wrong with a silver spoon or something like a four inch long nylon jig. Just about anything that swims in the Gulf will hit either of those lures. King mackerel are an absolute hoot to target with topwater plugs. I've seen them shoot out of the water like a rocket when hitting a topwater plug like a chrome colored Super Spook or Top Dog. Quite often, kings will be feeding under a flock of gulls. You can troll around the birds or idle up to them and cast topwater plugs. You'll find out if kings are under the birds in a hurry. They'll knock a hole in the water the size of a dinner table. It's classic topwater fishing at its best. Another way to find feeding kings is to fish around baitfish like pogies that are pushed to the surface. From July through October, there will be tons of baitfish on the surface that can be found anywhere from one to five miles off the surf. The fun thing about targeting schools of baitfish is that you never know what's going to hit your lure next. It can be anything form a tarpon to a king. Making short runs offshore is the way to go. It's not that expensive, it's a quick-hit option for smaller boats, and the variety of fish will amaze you. And one thing is certain, you never know what's going to bite until you go. [ Articles | Home ]