Advice please

[EASTTEX]

Making my first trip to the west bay next week, staying in jamaica beach canals. Kinda curious on any good areas around there to check out and dangers to look out for. I have been reading that the top water bite should be coming in. I bought a hook and line map so i could get a idea of what's out there. Any advice yall can give me?

[drue mcginty]

Now that the waters getting colder, the best thing to do is find baitfish! If you can find the baitfish, the bigger fish will be there! Good luck!

[EASTTEX]

That was gonna be one of the first things i do and also look for birds

[basser]

Morning All. making my 1st trip in several years. does anyone know if the ramp to lake como is still there? used to fish the canals there and do ok. any advice?

[Robalo]

First off, the Jam Beach PD has a boat/water patrol, so please make sure all required gear is up to date. Second, go head speed only in canals (means, just in gear-no wake). There are sunken geotubes just south of GISP to the east of Jam Beach towards Pirates-they used to be above water but are now anywhere from 6 inches to 2 feet below the surface-check an older Google earth pic to see them-stay away from there unless you want to lose a lower unit or prop. The ramp at Pirates (Lake Como) is open I understand, but it's like $10 to use. Jam Beach ramp is fine and free. Closest bait is West Bay bait and tackle near the Chevron, west of jam Beach but may be closed, leaving Sea Isle as your closest bait camp. You can fish folks lights in the canals at dark-but be respectful and do NOT use a weighted hook and hook anyone's power cord-only idiots use weights to fish lights and those idiots rarely if ever catch in the lights because the weight and 'plop' spooks the fish-also don't use your motor-only a trolling motor or you are wasting time trying to fish the lights-again, spooks the fish. Jumbile Cove to west is sometimes good fishing-again, sunken geotubes barely below surface near shoreline. Shell Island between Jam Beach and Sea Isle is a navigation hazard and you may find it!! Too hard to describe how to safely get by it, but if you follow a boat (staying at least 400 yds back), you might find the safe route-it aint that bad, but Shell Island is sorta in the middle of the bay and I've seen quite a few newbies 'find it'.

Use google earth and zoom in and out, looking for 'potential' fishing spots-also to look for hazards.

West Bay Marina and the Sand Bar in Sea Isle is a good place for cold beer, drinks, food and has gas. Be safe, be legal and have fun!

[EASTTEX]

Thanks for the advice robalo! I thought about fishing green lights but i don't have a trolling motor yet. I ended up buying a green light to use at the house we are staying at. It will give us something to do while we drink a few cold ones and cook. I planned on trying to catch some bait using the green also.

[Robalo]

Just an FYI-I think the ramp at Jam Beach is for owners and their guests.

[EASTTEX]

THIS IS FROM THE JAMAICA BEACH INFOMATION PAGE. IT KINDA SOUNDS LIKE I CAN LAUNCH THERE AND PARK MY TRUCK AT THE HOUSE WE ARE RENTING. I WILL DO SOME FURTHER CHECKING TO MAKE SURE.

Located on Basin Drive near Jolly Roger Road, the boat ramp provides access to the canals of Jamaica Beach, which lead to West Bay. Public parking is available on a limited basis. Please be sure to check the posted signs for parking restrictions

[westbaytroutassasin]

If you follow robolos advice you will do fine out here

[plugger]

Robalo gave you a lot of good advice ..... He put some thought and time into it .

[EASTTEX]

I plan on using every single bit of that info. The geo tubes do concern me alot! I saw the tubes in the aerial view, are there some out in the bay that you can't see? The map that i have shows the depths also and it doesn't look like alot of real deep areas out in the bay. What is about the average depth? I located shell island and carancahua reef, how is the fishing around there?

[westbaytroutassasin]

Fishing real good at both locations given the right conditions. The bay average runs around 4-6' if you stay off the shoreline as few hundred yards you will be fine running but if you see a spot you want to get into. DONT run in idle in. West bay can be very deceiving and treacherous to a boat. Try to go on a low tide with an incoming so you can start marking your channels and locations. You should be seeing it also getting crystal clear once the nothers start blowing in

[westbaytroutassasin]

Northerners.

[EASTTEX]

I was real curious about being able to run up and down the bay and exploring some of the other bays and coves. We will be there this trip for 3 days so hopeflly i can find some spots i feel comfortable with for my future trips. Everyone has given me great advice and i really appreciate it all. It is always nerve racking to learn new water, i had to do the same thing in south carolina where the tides average about 8 feet. It becomes a completely new world at high and low tides.

[westbaytroutassasin]

Ill be on the bay all weekend. If you get jammed up. Send me a PM and ill look out for you. Learning new water its always good to have a backup man you can call