Packery Channel fishing advice wanted...good or bad.

[Huntindad]

Gonna be at Port A this weekend. Figured I would fish Packery Channel with my youngest boy.

for the folks that have fished it... what works? fishing in the channel? Going towards the end of the jetty and casting out in the surf? I know there are rocks around the jetty. I freed up a sea turtle that got stuck in the rocks at the jetty last time I was there.

What bait(dead) would y'all recommend? It is gonna be a relaxing fish...nothing serious. We won't have access to a boat... so it will be bank fishing for us.

thanx folks,

[txnduckhntr]

my kids wore out all kinds of fish on incoming tides down there for a solid week. dead shrimp little weights.
trout reds gafftop sheephead and some huge ladyfish.
pm me your. # ill tell you were we were at

[doug]

Packery can be hot or cold, just depends on the conditions. You most always catch something on dead shrimp. Also can freeline live shrimp, croakers, mullet along the rocks. Just watch everyone else and see what is working.

I would also not limit myself to just the packery. If your in PA try those jetties. I like to take the jetty boat over to the north side. Although not my favorite choice you also have the Bob Hall pier in CC or the Caldwell pier in PA. Finally there are plenty of whiting in the surf that are easy to catch. Small hook with dead shrimp and fishbites will work very very well. Lots of options down there!

Good luck and shoot me a PM if I can help.

[Huntindad]

txnduckhntr... PM sent bud.

[Huntindad]

Doug, I may try some surf fishing...I have a ghost shrimp catcher thing. Those make good bait s well.

[AtTheWall]

Popping cork and live shrimp. Walk the jetty rocks, carry a stringer and put the shrimp in a floating bait bucket, and use a stick on the anchoring end, to wedge the line in between rocks as you move.

The South Packery jetty should have flounder on the far inside section, back away from Gulf, where the jetty rocks end and a large concrete wall, with an inlet into one of the back bays begins. Flounder will stage up along the sandbar edge between the jetty rocks and the channel, and if you sneak in with no one around disturbing that zone, you can cast a shrimp or live fingerling mullet, under a popping cork and reel that perpendicular to the rocks, just about 10ft out from the rocks on retrieve.

There will be a lot of specks, reds, sandtrout, sheepshead, a few snook and potentially tarpon swimming the inside channel zone from back to front the entire weekend. Pressure from people and boats is the challenge.

Go by Roy's Bait & Tackle and pick up a couple of these. Mirrolure M52R (black with rattles). After the sun goes down, fan cast these guys into the Main channel from the front of the rocks all the way back into the inside. If someone has a huge light setup, fishing on the North side rocks, cast as far as you can toward the lights (night time speck fishing) and simply swim it over the main channel. You can also cast this lure in the first 30 yards of the surf zone.....including casting the darn thing up on the sand and reeling it directly into the water inside the pocket, the zone where the rocks and sand meet, you will score reds and specks and if the snook are around, they too will nail the snot out of this lure.

Everything is feeding on mullet right now......having a couple of crank baits in a mullet shape is good fishing if fan casting and covering water with something that mimics a live bait.

I prefer to fish the jetties using artificial lures......you can cover some territory and you can play the current and swells to your advantage. Soaking baits and or floating corks, you will need to cast and let them swing on current and or deal with the seaweed more so than if you fish artificials.




DOA shrimp under a popping cork (New Penny color) and or Gulps (New Penny color), both work like live shrimp and they will catch fish. It may make fishing with a cork easier with your kid versus trying to manage a bait bucket and live shrimp. Tarpon have been hooked casting DOA shrimp bodies (without cork) on the South Jetty, inside channel side - noon on into 5 pm during the afternoons. DOA shrimp are weighted and I would recommend buying the 1/4 ounce variety and using that on your rod, with your kid using his under a popping cork. Both are deadly along the rocks in surf and or channel.






Also pick up a couple of Johnson Sprite gold and silver spoons. Fan casting these lures will score fish from sunup to sundown. At the end of the jetty casting into the surf side, you will score Spanish mackerel.



Chrome Rattletraps with a black and or blue back also score Spanish Mackerel in the surf and trout\redfish as well - on into the channel near the inlet ends.




Good luck! I like fishing Packery Channel during this time of the year. There are fish there, just need to move up and down the jetty rocks to find a pattern.

[AtTheWall]

If Packery is crowded and or the Gulf of Mexico surf is clean and clear, an early sunrise start at the Packery Channel Jetty may be better? Run across Packery Channel bridge North to Port Aransas - pass the Mustang Island State park, and take the BEACH ACCESS ROAD 3 out onto the sand. Once you see the Gulf, take a right and follow the beach South to the North Packery Channel jetty. From there, you can fish both jetty rocks, outside & inside. The South Jetty rock, roughly 30 yards off the sand casting directly into the surf into the wind, you can and will score specks along the inside and outside 2nd sand bar. Flounder will tuck up tight against the rocks and you can wade the surf and flip casts up tight against the rocks. Pompano also roam here and DOA shrimp and or Gulp Shrimp work like a champ!

[Rack Ranch]

I caught eight flounder wading the channel right at the 90 turn last thursday throwing new penny culp on incoming tide. Just letting the current bump it along the bottom.

[Yelladog]

I'm not sure exactly where the 90 turn is. But we fished the channel close to the casway and caught 2 nice flounder doing the same thing with small piggies. Wish I had thought of the gulps. That was Saturday. Surf was really rough when we were down there.

[AtTheWall]

I meant FISH PASS jetties up ACCESS ROAD 3 - enroute to Port Aransas.

Typing this and working on a phone call at the same time - Brain fart

[Tommyh]

Popping cork and live shrimp. Walk the jetty rocks, carry a stringer and put the shrimp in a floating bait bucket, and use a stick on the anchoring end, to wedge the line in between rocks as you move.

The South Packery jetty should have flounder on the far inside section, back away from Gulf, where the jetty rocks end and a large concrete wall, with an inlet into one of the back bays begins. Flounder will stage up along the sandbar edge between the jetty rocks and the channel, and if you sneak in with no one around disturbing that zone, you can cast a shrimp or live fingerling mullet, under a popping cork and reel that perpendicular to the rocks, just about 10ft out from the rocks on retrieve.

There will be a lot of specks, reds, sandtrout, sheepshead, a few snook and potentially tarpon swimming the inside channel zone from back to front the entire weekend. Pressure from people and boats is the challenge.

Go by Roy's Bait & Tackle and pick up a couple of these. Mirrolure M52R (black with rattles). After the sun goes down, fan cast these guys into the Main channel from the front of the rocks all the way back into the inside. If someone has a huge light setup, fishing on the North side rocks, cast as far as you can toward the lights (night time speck fishing) and simply swim it over the main channel. You can also cast this lure in the first 30 yards of the surf zone.....including casting the darn thing up on the sand and reeling it directly into the water inside the pocket, the zone where the rocks and sand meet, you will score reds and specks and if the snook are around, they too will nail the snot out of this lure.

Everything is feeding on mullet right now......having a couple of crank baits in a mullet shape is good fishing if fan casting and covering water with something that mimics a live bait.

I prefer to fish the jetties using artificial lures......you can cover some territory and you can play the current and swells to your advantage. Soaking baits and or floating corks, you will need to cast and let them swing on current and or deal with the seaweed more so than if you fish artificials.




DOA shrimp under a popping cork (New Penny color) and or Gulps (New Penny color), both work like live shrimp and they will catch fish. It may make fishing with a cork easier with your kid versus trying to manage a bait bucket and live shrimp. Tarpon have been hooked casting DOA shrimp bodies (without cork) on the South Jetty, inside channel side - noon on into 5 pm during the afternoons. DOA shrimp are weighted and I would recommend buying the 1/4 ounce variety and using that on your rod, with your kid using his under a popping cork. Both are deadly along the rocks in surf and or channel.






Also pick up a couple of Johnson Sprite gold and silver spoons. Fan casting these lures will score fish from sunup to sundown. At the end of the jetty casting into the surf side, you will score Spanish mackerel.



Chrome Rattletraps with a black and or blue back also score Spanish Mackerel in the surf and trout\redfish as well - on into the channel near the inlet ends.




Good luck! I like fishing Packery Channel during this time of the year. There are fish there, just need to move up and down the jetty rocks to find a pattern.

You DO realize you just gave someone apoplexy here by giving away all this information allowing someone to catch that person's fish, right? theyre sacred creatures with voodoo magic knowledge only a few can be blessed with knowing. youll be labeled an outcast!

[Huntindad]

You DO realize you just gave someone apoplexy here by giving away all this information allowing someone to catch that person's fish, right? theyre sacred creatures with voodoo magic knowledge only a few can be blessed with knowing. youll be labeled an outcast!

Had to look that up

Rob, this is more of drown bait type of fishing/playing weekend. If my older boy would have stayed down here, we'd be doing some of the stuff you mentioned. I do think I will get some of the baits you mentioned and give it a whirl.

thanx,

[AtTheWall]

LOL!

I'm hoping his fishing is so out of control, the thought of fishing for relaxation becomes a game of work and toil! Fish after fish - one after another - each requiring attention to be iced and eventually cleaned to a point, you have to take a day off to recover from that planned, relaxing day of fishing!

[AtTheWall]

Had to look that up

Rob, this is more of drown bait type of fishing/playing weekend. If my older boy would have stayed down here, we'd be doing some of the stuff you mentioned. I do think I will get some of the baits you mentioned and give it a whirl.

thanx,

Drown some cut mullet - redfish and flounder. Cast and slow reel it over the bottom, recover, aim at a new direction and cast again. Fan casting will cover the bottom for flounder on hold using fresh cut mullet.

Dead shrimp, suspend that below a popping cork and make the line drop about 3ft long - just short enough to stay just above the lower rocks. Cast that out about 10ft off the rocks and let that drift with the current with shrimp suspended below. Mangrove snapper, sheepshead, redfish should hit it but be expected to deal with piggy perch and some of the smaller rocky inhabitants that will pick the shrimp to pieces.

If you have a pair of binoculars, take them and eyeball the opposite jetty side for action. I do this a lot when I'm fishing the rocks and it helps greatly with figuring out what the fish are doing as well as the techniques used to catch them. You may find going to the other side may be well worth it? There are times schools will work in or out of the inlet and they may choose a specific side to do so (wind, bait, currents etc).