Thanks for the Info.

 

Agree 100% on all you listed as "to do" to catch them. As a bonus, redfish are often mixed with the snapper in the winter, excellent time to catch bull reds, and being in state waters means you can keep them.-Mike

 

• Always watch your sounder while under way
Rik Jacobsen was the master at finding new spots. His secret was, while under way,
he hardly ever took his eyes off the sounder. If he saw something that even remotely
looked fishy he would mark it to look another day or circle back and check it out.

I could use some advice here. I have a brand new Garmin EchoMap 50 dv.

My hope was to use the Down View under way at cruising speed (25-30mph) to find potential spots up to 30 miles out of SLP, and cover a lot of ground doing it. But it seems neither the fishfinder or DV works at speeds that fast......I see no fish, and only the flat Gulf bottom.

When I slow down, I get good returns on fish behind shrimpers and further out around the rigs, but still just flat on the DV. I was hoping to find the occasional rockpile, hole, ledge, or debris within 9 miles, but nothing so far.

Any suggestions on how better to use this unit?

 

Good info on state water snapper! Thanks!

btravlin2

You might try adjusting the tilt of your transducer, or moving it completely. If it is in an area that gets a lot of turbulence it might be causing the problems. If that doesn't help you might try investing in a better sonar. The low end Garmin's aren't the best, especially at cruise speed.

 

cool. thkx

 

eagerly awaiting my state water book

 

i just got the state water book in last weekend. and used it sunday. we caught a few keeper state snaps and did exactly as you described. used the chum to bring em up and got the bit going good till about 1pm.

 

Got your order country7 and we will get it in the mail ASAP! Thank you!

Thanks for the report jlai!!

 

Any of the new state spots near matagorda?

I have all the old books

 

Anybody?

 

Waiting and hoping that thx giving weekend is good, I would love to try some snaps.
Found a nice king out of freeport few weeks back.
Will be leaving out of galveston this time. To test out the spots from the book .

 

Any recommendations on how to avoid triggerfish?

Many times I go out for state snapper and I as soon as the line touches the water the triggerfish are on it.

 

I've had success with getting away from where the triggers are, move upstream 50 yards or so and drop down, then drift into your spot while baits are already on bottom. Some of the time triggers are top to bottom and the solution is just to try someplace else.
Artificial's, like snapper slappers, knife jigs, and twin tail grubs, will usually make it past triggers near the surface and at least give you a chance to present a bait to the snapper down below.
I've never tried it, but saw a TV show where they put bait on hooks and molded wet sand around it in a ball, as they lowered the bait the sand fell away and allowed them to get below triggers. Not sure , but the way the sand held together I'd guess they had mixed something with the sand to make it sticky -Mike

 

Thanks ML56 and Saltaholic. I definitely use both those tactics already.

Another tactic I try is to fish at night. For some reason the triggerfish shut off 30 minutes before sunset.

I was hoping to find a secret method for dealing with them. The sand is one I have not heard about, although not sure how to get that to work.

 

I'm fishing out of Port A. Are there plenty of numbers going from there?

 

The winter fishing gets better on the lower coast because the 9-mile line can be 70 to 80 feet and you can cover a lot of ground. Rocky bottom seems to work best, such as north of the Port Mansfield Jetties but check closer to Port A. Snapper schooling on inshore reefs tend to be small, however.

The sows sometimes are dispersed and not "on the numbers." They often find hard bottom right in the sand and hang out there - these numbers come and go with the storms the cover and uncover them. So watch the bottom machine. Your larger sow snapper will be here and there located tight on the hard bottom.

One way is to have an orange buoy or jug line with a small weight on the bottom, about 80 feet of line, and mark the spots as you pass them. Then drift down on the spot, maybe catch a few, and haul the buoy back up. The fish usually want meat like squid. Good luck y'all.

 

Does Rik's book cover areas out of Freeport and Galveston?

 

More so in Freeport, but yes.

 

Thanks! That'll be added to my list of must have's...

 

In reference to your question. When u say all of the old book are u including 2013 edition?

If so then you are up to date.

I hope this helps. I also hope the wind lays and we can get out there and hammer them!!

Tight lines and stay warm!

Tom

 

Triggerfish ceviche is hard to beat.

 

Texas rules go by the overall length of the fish. Triggers often have very long thin sections of tail that makes a small fish over the 16" Texas length limit if you measure all the tail.

But I am not positive how to measure a trigger does anyone know if you measure triggers to the tip of the long thin section of there tail, or to the end of the wide section of there tail.

 

Texas rules go by the overall length of the fish. Triggers often have very long thin sections of tail that makes a small fish over the 16" Texas length limit if you measure all the tail.

But I am not positive how to measure a trigger does anyone know if you measure triggers to the tip of the long thin section of there tail, or to the end of the wide section of there tail.

In TX, always pinch the tail to measure...

 

Fork length

 

http://www.gulfcouncil.org/fishing_regulations/RecreationalRegulations.pdf page-14 Federal Waters

 

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/regulations/outdoor-annual/fishing/measurement-tips State Waters

 

Best trigger fishing techniques. ?

These fish are naturally picking at the reefs and other structure, I thought
like parrot fish they actually ate the reef, sounds like someone eating fritos
on a scuba dive.

 

Go to any state water spot on rik's book out of freeport.

Put your line in the water with any bait.

Wait 5 seconds.

Catch a triggerfish.

Repeat.

 

In Texas waters you can include the tail tendrils for the length measurement.

 

Thanks that what I always thought, just wanted to make sure, they can add 2-4" to a trigger easy

I do not target them, but one of my good fishing buddies loves them and always want to keep some.

 

So .... what ever became of the fabled "Inside Nine" video? Hmmmm?

 

Thank you for asking about the Inside 9 video awesom.

We are currently working on the video. We have been shooting footage and writing the script with the notes that Rik left us. Unfortunately, the video was put on the back burner after Rik passed away. It was difficult to edit it together without Rik sitting by our side.

The answer to your question is that we will release it in 2015!

Here's the promotional video for Inside 9.