Night time fishing docks?

[Lori77563]

Hey whats your address, while ur fishing other peoples lights I want to go to your house and have a BBQ in YOUR backyard. People in my neighbor hood are getting tired of kayakers that come in hook their lights causing them to flood and some just plain stealing off their docks. It's not all just a few that give all a bad rep. It would be nice if people would at least ask.

[scumLORD]

no one owns the water. Only kooks hook the lights. use a mirrordine and twitch it accordingly to the shad that are working in the light and that is only uhh 4 ft+ above the light. But my address is 10311 catlett ln la porte, tx fell free to come party in my piece of s h i t back yard anytime. I'd love to come party in yours.

[Lori77563]

Your right, but I do own the land under it. Which makes it trespassing if you anchor, tie up, touch the dock, heck even if your hook touches the bottom (check TX laws). Not trying to be an a hole simply pointing out that many people are not happy with night time kayakers and if would be nice if they were a little more respectful.

[SurfnFish]

Turn your lights off if you don't want people to fish there. Have em on and expect people to fish. After all that is the point of them.

[scumLORD]

I have yaked many lights without doing any of the things you listed. um you catch one fish from a green light then its bust for another 15 mins atleast. I have never touched a dock. Just because you get some ****** apples in your canals does not mean it's the same all around. SurfnFish is right, turn your light off if you have such a problem with people "taking your fish, or disrespectin' yo light mang" The next time one throws an 8 ft anchor on your dock at 3 am, feel free to shoot him/her in the face with a 12 gauge. Until then, and anything under the radar, I wouldn't take life that seriously.

oh and you don't own any land extending beyond your bulkhead. I could hang out in front of you dock for 17 days if I wanted as long as I was not doing anything criminal.

[Robalo]

Bobcat:

Jam Beach has a boat launch and so does Pirates and Sea Isle-go to Googlearth and use it to get familiar. As far as "trespassing", like I said in above post, be COURTEOUS and you won't have an issue-unless some jerkazz doesn't want you around (which so long as you are fishing/yaking and not "touching" their dock/bulkhead, you have every right to be there). Also, make sure you have lights on your yak-I know that soon some yakker is gonna get run over on a dark night because ya can't see them while running in your boat-I have even seen a few in the bay (albeit close to shore) with no lights at night. Good luck.

[Beandaddy]

If I didn't want someone to fish My lights I think I would just turn them off. No sense in getting in a pissin' match. Besides that if they were My lights, I would have a lot more time to fish em' since I was there to turn em' on. Just sayin'. It's like having a pool, let em' swim once and they think they have an open invitation, anytime.
Beandaddy

[Bobcat_Fisherman]

I didn't realize how touchy this subject was. I'm just a guy wanting to fish around some lights at night. I'm not looking to get drunk, break a bunch of lights and piss on someones dock. Are there really that many disrespectful nighttime kayak fishermen?

Robalo.... thanks for the tip. Any recommendation on which to try first?

[Gilbert]

Your right, but I do own the land under it. Which makes it trespassing if you anchor, tie up, touch the dock, heck even if your hook touches the bottom (check TX laws). Not trying to be an a hole simply pointing out that many people are not happy with night time kayakers and if would be nice if they were a little more respectful.

you might not be trying to be an a hole but you damn sure are doing a good job of it.

[Swells]

I didn't realize how touchy this subject was. I'm just a guy wanting to fish around some lights at night. I'm not looking to get drunk, break a bunch of lights and piss on someones dock. Are there really that many disrespectful nighttime kayak fishermen?

Robalo.... thanks for the tip. Any recommendation on which to try first?

Most all the 'yak fishers I know are very courteous people, and most will cruise by to fish a few casts and move on. They certainly are better than people who trespass on dry land, and get onto people's docks. Night fishing is very fun and all you need is a white marker light such as on the stern on a small pole, or a flashlight to alert other boats.

Yes, there are really grumpy people who think they own the water, when really they or their town or HOA might own the land under the water, and if they get to hollering and acting like jerks, well just paddle off and don't say anything to them. Anyway, the strategy is to stay in the dark water away from the docks, and shoot towards the dock and pull back. Most of your strikes will be in the slightly darker areas, anyway.

So there's no need to get within even casting distance of a dock, like 12 to 20 feet or whatever your range is. Just be careful because some docks have people casting into the water, and YOU don't want to get hooked by a folks with bad aim or who are intentional jerks. -sam

[Robalo]

Bobcat: Swells said it right-just throw past the light and retrieve-most hits will happen in dark areas or watch em suck down your lure in the light-really cool to see em slurp. I believe he's also right on ya need just one white light-seen em come down my canal and saw the light. If ya aint got a light, some jerk may call Police on ya, so make sure for your safety if nothing else. My light is unplugged right now-dang ballast is acting up apparently.

Jam Beach has a lotta lights and are IMO more concentrated than Pirates. Sea Isle is shallower canals-my brother is off Deaf Smith-4' of water whereas I have 6' average depth and some canals are 8-9'-as hot as it is, I would focus on Jam Beach or Pirates-then start trying Spanish Grant, Sea isle, Isla del Sol, Terramar-Terramar has a basin and it's about 9-10' but I have no idea how many folks have lights over there-same with Isla and Spanish.

good luck!!

[Lori77563]

All I was trying to do was to make SOME PEOPLE aware of some common curtesy and why some people feel animosity toward night time visitors. If I don't want you fishing my lights I unplug them (and have), just don't piss me off with attitude, so far no 15lb flower pots have been accidentally knocked off my upper deck but it could happen. By the way going around without a light on is dangerous and not just from other boats, it makes people very leery and suspicious.

[Wiggy]

I have been yaking in lights for years and have only had one drunk arse go off on me (wasn't even fishing. Just paddling by!) Courtesy is the name of the game. Their are a ton of lights. Approach them slow and quite and if some one is fishing them, swing out wide and pass them up as quite as possible and move on.

Another tip is to go during the week if you can. Much less folks to bother. Less commotion means better fishing to.

[Wiggy]

.....and snagging someones power cord to their green light should not be a problem. The fish are up in the water column. Bring yourself two lures, a silver/black mirrodine, and clear/gold DOA shrimp. Leave the lead head jigs in the box.

[Bubba T.]

Try the causeway lights in galvez, if you hit /moon phase and the tide right you can bust some good trout around the bridge lights, a few yrs ago, before the new bridge, i fished nites in the summer, i caught my pb trout on the south side in bound side 28" on live shad.
many times the clear minnows/shad/pigges would school up in large numbers around the pilings.