Good evening everyone!
Luckily for work I get the joy of traveling quite a bit. Though, not always a joy, it gives me the opportunity to hit some pretty neat fishing spots. Typically I fish freshwater. Fly fishing, bass, catfish, anything I can get!
Next week I will be in Corpus Christi and plan on doing some fishing from the surf. I’ve been a few times but never targeted shark. I have two 12ft heavy rods equipped with Penn 10000 Battle III reels. They are spooled with 65lb braid then a 200lb mono leader, and 2ft wire.
Have any of y’all shark fished from shore? Specifically casting? I can rent a Kayak to get baits out far enough and may end up doing that for one or two days. Bait choices? Any tips? I do have three 10ft rods with Penn 8500 spinning reels I’ll have in the water as well for anything willing to bite fresh or live shrimp or blue crab if I can find some.
Any tips would be appreciated! Especially if you have fished along Padre Island.
Chunk of stingray, Bonita or ladyfish. A good cast will work as sharks hunt in shallow murky water to ambush and migrate with the schools of stingray, threadfin and tarpon but the Bonita and ladyfish are great to draw by scent and can get at any bait shop. I used to run the shark and grouper trips out of a large marina here when the captains needed time off and for something different from my inshore trips. Good luck.
Thanks! I’ve been practicing my casting with the 12 footers. 8oz I’m getting just over 100 yards. Which I understand will vary once I put a chunk of fish on. Sputnik weights and pyramid weights are also what I purchased. I use my 10ft rods often here when I’m catfishing. I have also read up quite a bit on how to read the surf for cuts and troughs. I appreciate your input!
I used to surf down there a bit but been a while.. But seems there isn't too much on the island, most of it is back in the city on the other side of the bridge. I believe the place is called Doc's at the base of the bridge that was good. But I'm usually by myself down there and go to whataburger! They tore down bob hall pier, so packery channel would be the only structure to fish off, other than fish pass jetties which are super short. But sounds like you are into beach fishing, and north padre island is a sweet beach that you can drive as far as you need to, to get away from it all. Also, Port Aransas is a great little beach town not too far north up the beach road (361) with a fun little skatepark and a nice pier. The coastal bend is a great area with great people, enjoy!
Bait = Stingray Chunk as previous mentioned. Pretty common to kayak baits a few hundred feet out. However, as also previously mentioned, what you are targeting may be right in the shallows. Either way, tight lines!!!!
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I know nothing about shark fishing in CC, but can give you a few recommendations on where to eat..
For seafood. Water Street Oyster Bar is tough to beat. It's an institution in CC. Cool atmosphere and fresh seafood. Sushi is good too.
Not a huge fan of fried seafood, but Snoopy's has some of the best fried shrimp I've ever had. Additionally, it's on the water, so the views are good as well.
https://www.waterstmarketcc.com/oyster-bar-cc/#oyster-home
https://www.snoopys.cc/
I tell you what though these bull Redfish were a great compromise! Ended up getting a total of 6 around the size of these two. Unfortunately the surf was too rowdy to kayak big baits out. I ended up flipping over all but two times I tried.
Looks like a blast to me.
That’s awesome man.
100lb + sharks are a blast but I would take catching 6 bull reds off the beach over that any day. Looks like you had an awesome trip.
Nice Reds!!!!
You didn't go fishing...you went CATCHING!
Awesome! Looks like a great time.
Finally got into some shark this week! Spent a few days down Padre Island National Seashore. If you ever get a chance (and have four wheel drive) I highly recommend going. We went to mile 18 and I believe it’s 60 miles in totality. No cell service and absolutely stunning scenery. Well, if you like the ocean and sand dunes.
The last time I went I kayaked my baits out, dropped them, and kayaked back. But when the surf is gnarly this becomes very difficult for an inexperienced kayaker. And, somewhat scary getting flipped over 300 yards out after cutting up fresh fish! Since this is something I’ve really gotten into and took my kids this trip I went ahead and purchased a drone. It’s made by a company called Swellpro. The drone can carry up to 8lbs and has a maximum distance of a mile though most people use them nothing near that distance. It connects to 10 satellites and after it drops the bait you hit the home button and it lands within 1m of where it took off.
Amazing weekend. Great time. 5 sharks in total with the biggest being around 6ft.
Now trying to figure out how I can get back asap.
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