2019 Saltwater Fishing Thread

[SaltwaterSlick]

Most people bought them for their detailed tide tables.. They had tides and correction factors for every little inlet and cove from one end of the coast to the other! Were some real salts writing for them too with amazing stories and "how to" articles that you could use to catch fish. If it had a weakness, it was some of the photography as many of the pics in the magazine were real on the spot pics taken by some ol' guy's fishin' buddy rather than a professional photographer following a sports writer around...

[JES]

Those Harold Wells were packed with real fishing information! I too read 'em cover to cover, New which tackle shops had the best prices on which lures... I used to get mine at Heights Tackle House or Marburger's original place... When Academy would put the Johnson Sprites on sale for $.99, I'd go buy 'em by the hand fulls then hit the worm bar and buy the 50 packs of tout tails... I bet I still have a 5 gallon bucket full of plastic that came from those worm bars, and I'll likely never have to buy another gold or silver spoon again... still got a sack full of unopened spoons.

They messed up when they stopped making the Sprite with the chartreuse sticker on them. And the perch Silver Minnow spoons, those were both great spoons they should have kept making.

[Mayhem]

I remember the worm bar at the old academy in humble there in the corner of that strip center at the 1960 bypass. I know you remember that store Charlie.


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[SaltwaterSlick]

Yessir but the first one was put in their first “flagship” store on I-10 at Campbell. Friend of mine was that store’s first manager. One year inTrinity and East Bays, the only plastics the trout would hit were either black or dark blue/purple dipped with a white tail. My buddy Bob pulled three 50 packs out of their shipment and saved them for me. No telling how many trout I caught on those things!!

[Quackerbox]

When the academy in tomball closed the worm bar I dang near cried. Luckily I had got a heads up and dad and I bought every bag if a certain color we use on fayette county today.

I may have 1.5 100 count bags left

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[droebuck]

When the academy in tomball closed the worm bar I dang near cried. Luckily I had got a heads up and dad and I bought every bag if a certain color we use on fayette county today.

I may have 1.5 100 count bags left

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Did the same thing at the old small Rayford store. I still have a few of the black and blue ring worms we liked to throw on Conroe.

[SaltwaterSlick]

You guys are right, I think those were 100 packs not 50 packs... In any case, I still have a bunch of 'em!

[bboswell]

Most people bought them for their detailed tide tables.. They had tides and correction factors for every little inlet and cove from one end of the coast to the other! Were some real salts writing for them too with amazing stories and "how to" articles that you could use to catch fish. If it had a weakness, it was some of the photography as many of the pics in the magazine were real on the spot pics taken by some ol' guy's fishin' buddy rather than a professional photographer following a sports writer around...

Speaking of tide tables, how far out are they accurate?

I researched tide and moon to select the date for our annual LLM fishing week 8 months ago. Now that the time has come the moon phase is on but the tides are whack. WTH?

[Mexico]

Speaking of tide tables, how far out are they accurate?

I researched tide and moon to select the date for our annual LLM fishing week 8 months ago. Now that the time has come the moon phase is on but the tides are whack. WTH?

I never trust those dang tide tables. Seems like they're always off!

[88 Bound]

Speaking of tide tables, how far out are they accurate?

I researched tide and moon to select the date for our annual LLM fishing week 8 months ago. Now that the time has come the moon phase is on but the tides are whack. WTH?

About the only thing you can count on way out like that is sunrise/set and moon phase. The rest is always a crapshoot until a few days before your trip at best.

[Diamond07]

Speaking of tide tables, how far out are they accurate?

I researched tide and moon to select the date for our annual LLM fishing week 8 months ago. Now that the time has come the moon phase is on but the tides are whack. WTH?

I think our tide is too dependent on the wind to really predict it. Other places where the wind doesn’t blow as much or the tide swings in feet and not inches I bet it’s easier to predict. Just my .02

[Capt Glenn]

Wasn’t around for those old school magazines, how do they compare to the new Texas saltwater fisherman magazines? I bet they have way more info based on actual fishing time rather than what the newest favs are at the time.


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Well, it was alot different back then. We did not have 5% of the inshore saltwater specific stuff we have now. There were no fishing clothes. No Columbia shirts. No long sleeve breathable shirts. No wading boots. No breathable waders. Very, very few lures targeted at inshore fishing. Very few different reels. No high end fishing polarized glasses. No wading gear. No GPS. No saltwater trolling motors. No power poles. No jackplates. Very few depth finders and they weren't like what we have now. Heck, croakers for bait weren't even a thing. More people used mudminnows than croaker.

Also the tactics were very different. When I first started reading that magazine topwater fishing wasn't even a thing. Yeah, some folks used topwaters but it was not something that 95% of the fishermen on the bay even knew would work. Most folks were still throwing spoons day in and day out. Spoons and touts. Maybe mirrolures in the winter and in the surf.

Also boats were way different. We didn't have 200+ HP motors and didn't have tunnel hulls, cats, etc. Most folks were fishing smaller tri hulls or flat bottom boats of one flavor or another abd a 90 hp outboard was pretty big. Maybe a few Whalers and Makos.

Add all that together and the articles had a much different slant. There were surf articles and articles on fishing the birds. Articles about fishing the rivers in the winter. Wade fishing articles. Stuff like that. It and the Houston Chronicle were probably where I first read about using broken backs and later Jumpin' Minnows.

So yeah, it was different. Maybe not better, but it was good in my opinion at that time. There is thousands of times more info out there now than we had back then. Back in those days you really had to earn it to become a good fisherman. You couldn't read about it on a fishing forum, watch some videos and then go emulate it on your own.

The tide charts and recommended days was something I always paid attention to. We fished every weekend regardless but I still liked to see if their good days correlated to our good days. Usually there wasn't much of a correlation. They got a few right and a few wrong.

[Capt Glenn]

Speaking of tide tables, how far out are they accurate?

I researched tide and moon to select the date for our annual LLM fishing week 8 months ago. Now that the time has come the moon phase is on but the tides are whack. WTH?

What part is whack? Tide heights or times of day? Usually the times of day for incoming and outgoing tides are accurate. The wind may mess with that and you may have 2' high tides when the chart calls for 6" tides. But that is all due to wind. The tide schedule itself is pretty predictable.

[TexasBob]

Cool discussions on old vs new so a couple topics

1. Catch more fish now with the new tools or just focus on too many things?

2. Spend way more on gear now?

3. Ever tempted to go back to basics?

I packed 3 curados, two round reels and a avet to go to destin plus a tackle box full of crap and live bait rigs. Kayak with a gps fishfinder. Could probably take one rig with a couple lures plus a live bait leader and be just as successful. I watch YouTube prepping for the trip and find something else I think I need.


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[Capt Glenn]

We caught alot of fish back then but I would love to take my current gear and knowledge back in time and see what I could do.

But at the same time these fish are pretty simple creatures. If you can get a lure in front of them when they are feeding, any lure, you are probably going to be successful.

I went through a time where I bought way too much tackle. Back in my early 20's. I chased the hot new bait and had every color. I tried lots of baits that were made for other types of fishing but were not common in our Texas inshore scene too. I had more lures than I could fit in my boat and I swapped out lures all day long. And slowly i realized there are no silver bullets, no magic baits. The lure doesn't matter nearly as much as the location and time. I gradually thinned out my stuff and started taking a minimalist approach. And I got very attached to certain lures. I am still that way now. I am very, very slow to adopt new lures into my rotation. I like to try new stuff but it takes a long time before it makes the cut to be something I carry all the time. I am also very stuck on certain color combinations. I have maybe 4 or 5 combinations I use all the time. They cover all water conditions. If fish won't eat those, they won't eat anything. So overall I don't carry just a huge selection of lures. But what I carry works.

One thing I find myself doing more now is going back and revisiting old classics that I have not used as much in awhile. Break out a redfin, jointed thunderstick, jumpin' minnow, 51mr28 in the surf, maybe throw a spoon for a morning, etc. I still use shrimptails some. Stuff like that. It's just being sentimental but it's fun to see that they all still work now just like they did then.