live croaker in galveston

[Gilbert]

I usually don't have good luck with arties so try to use live when possible, I have work at 11 and live in sugar land, might have to wait till the weekend haha thanks all

welcome to my side of town.

[Gilbert]

Aren't bait camp flag colors:

Black – Fresh Dead Bait
Blue – Live Piggy Perch
Yellow - Live Croaker
Green – Live Finger Mullet
White – Live Shrimp

yes.

[Curmudgeon]

Aren't bait camp flag colors:

Black – Fresh Dead Bait
Blue – Live Piggy Perch
Yellow - Live Croaker
Green – Live Finger Mullet
White – Live Shrimp

Cool! I always wondered.

[Oleander Kayaker]

Aren't bait camp flag colors:

Black – Fresh Dead Bait
Blue – Live Piggy Perch
Yellow - Live Croaker
Green – Live Finger Mullet
White – Live Shrimp

[IndyKid]

thanks for the tips guys, plan on doing some reading tonight. Arties are much much less hassle, so will be great when i finally start catching something on them haha

[Reef Drifter]

X2 on reading Aqua Pimp's threads

[ubermensch1324]

thanks for the info swells! I didn't know croaker had that reputation! I stocked up on the usuals when i moved down here, mirrolures corkies etc etc but just haven't had much luck with them. Back to basics!

Good man! I'm glad you decided to give artificial a shot. If you need to use live - you can't lose fishing the surf when the conditions are good on live shrimp with a popping cork.

As far as artificials go - search the forums for Aqua Pimp and read his post on colors. It will help you decide what you need and which colors do best in the morning/night/cloudy/sunny conditions etc.

I highly recommend starting with soft plastics - salt water assassin's are probably the most popular brand here used on the texas coast. Anything in chartreuse, plum w/ chart. tail, or morning glory w/chart tail for early morning or dark conditions. Rig them on a 1/8 oz. jig head and single bump them on bottom with a moderate retrieve. Also you can just reel them in normally w/standard medium retrieve and the paddle tail does all the action for you - no need to work it unless you'd like to.

IMO live bait is too much of a hassle - not only to buy but to constantly rig and mess with. Artificial all the way!

GL

[IndyKid]

thanks for the info swells! I didn't know croaker had that reputation! I stocked up on the usuals when i moved down here, mirrolures corkies etc etc but just haven't had much luck with them. Back to basics!

[Swells]

Welcome aboard and welcome to Texas!

No discussion of golden croaker would be complete without both sides, so let me say that some fishermen consider them cheating, they are so effective, and at one time our game department was thinking about outlawing them for fishing bait.

Enough said there, but many of the really good fishermen use artificial baits because that's harder and takes some finesse - such as on lures known as Corkies, Mirrolure, She Dogs, and various plastics in shad and shrimp shapes.

[Root Canal]

Are most of the bait camps open 24/7 now? Looking to hit the water at around 4 before work

Boyd's one stop is open 24 hours on Thur, Fri, Sat.

The other days of the week... open at 4:30 till midnight.

[IndyKid]

I usually don't have good luck with arties so try to use live when possible, I have work at 11 and live in sugar land, might have to wait till the weekend haha thanks all

[imhammer]

Welcome aboard.....Just get out there and throw some topwaters early and then you can go get some bait when they open if you really need it.

[IndyKid]

Are most of the bait camps open 24/7 now? Looking to hit the water at around 4 before work

[IndyKid]

Thanks all for the replies! Hope to report back with some good catches

[reeltime]

Boyd's in texas city or the bait stand that line the frontage off the 61st exit or on 61st st!