The Gulf of Mexico is a great place, if not the best place on Earth to fish for many species of wonderful fish. Every day boats leave the docks and head out to catch fish, and at the end of the day these boats come back with quite a catch on a regular basis. I have been Offshore Fishing the Gulf since 1974 and I must conclude that of all the trips I’ve taken on other coasts, none compare to the trips I’ve taken fishing the Gulf Of Mexico.
The particular area of the Gulf that I feel is the most productive is from Matagorda Bay, Texas to Mobile Bay, Alabama. This area has lots of food for fish to eat, making them big, strong, and fun to catch. I believe that this is why the biggest fish in the Gulf of Mexico are caught in this part of the Gulf. Recently I was fortunate enough to be on a trip with Paradise Outfitters out of Venice, Louisiana; Captain Scott Leger put us right in the middle of the action and it was great. All told we must have boated 500lbs of fish in less than six hours, we released many fish, brought some home, and everyone had a blast. This trip was pretty typical on what you could expect from an offshore fishing adventure in this part of the Gulf of Mexico.’
The Bay fishing and other inshore fishing spots are just as good as I have found many favorite spots to fish, and I think I like them all so much that I feel like they are somehow related to me. If I had to pick one inshore fishing spot of all of them, it would be the Jetty at Surfside Beach, Texas. This Jetty is amazing in length, as it extends a mile out into the Gulf of Mexico, it is also free to fish from. So many varieties of fish can be caught from the Jetty, as well as many different tactics can be used to catch the fish. What would happen if someone was to take a D.O.A. shrimp and just walk up and down the Jetty tossing it, letting it drift down slowly, twitching it upwards, casting it close, and casting it far. I would bet that a person could catch many different species just doing that. Or perhaps you have much larger ambitions as you head to the end equipped with a balloon and a live fish for bait, letting the wind drift your bait as far out as you can, and then WHAM!
The Resilient Gulf Of Mexico
May I go on record as stating that the Gulf of Mexico is one of, if not the best destinations God has created, and I have been blessed to have spent a lot of time there. Renting a beach house for a week was always one of my favorite vacations. We always went to a little hideaway beach called Surfside Beach, Texas, not much to do there and I kinda like that. Miles and miles of beach to walk, explore, or just sit and meditate on how perfect this is. There is at Surfside Beach, a jetty that is free to fish from and goes a mile out into the Gulf of Mexico. This would occupy some of every day for sure, as we would come up with plans involving multiple tasks designed to catch fish. Elaborate plans which would often contain a fair amount of risk, stopping at nothing, we carried on towards our goal of catching big fish. Nice it was to know that we were moments from our beach house, with showers, a full kitchen, and people you love. I am always amazed at how inexpensive the beach houses are, depending on when you visit, you can get a two bedroom beach house for $500 for an entire week.
A slight ways out of town there is a beach you can drive a car on. Kids love to ride in a car on the beach at night, I know this. We would get into this Ford Pinto and drive for miles down the beach, we saw some neat stuff, some of which involved people hugging, at least that’s what my mom said. There are other areas of The Gulf of Mexico that are much more beautiful, however for many reasons I would choose Surfside Beach, Texas over all of them. One reason is that there are way more, and bigger fish in the area of the Gulf around that part of Texas than in other areas, due to more food, brought by bigger rivers. The choice is the same though, Surfside Beach, Texas is the best part of the Gulf.
The finest Offshore Fishing is found at a little company in Freeport, Texas called Underwater Expeditions. This is one of the best kept secrets around. I have been on their boats many times and have always caught lots of fish, because they have the best captains. Given the fact that Freeport is only six miles from Surfside Beach this only adds to the easy choice of this great vacation spot.
Long Range Deep Sea Fishing Trips
Perhaps the best time to be had while offshore fishing is the long range fishing trip. This is the type of trip where you have plenty of time to catch fish, and I mean Big Fish. The “Big E” owned by Underwater Expeditions with Captain Raul Reyes is the best long range offshore fishing boat in the Gulf of Mexico. The long range trips they offer are second to none at taking their clients to the big fish and they do it very consistently. Most people think of Deep Sea Fishing as that wonderful type of fishing trip where you go out early in the morning, fish all day, and then come back late in the afternoon. What if though, at the end of the first day you found yourself 150 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico catching Giant Tuna all night long? How about at the end of that night of fishing which you will never forget, the Captain calls out on the loud speaker, “Hey guys, it looks like the Tuna bite is slowing down. We are going to rig up some rods for trolling and see if we can’t catch a big Wahoo or something. If you want to give it a try, head to the back of the boat and get in line.” Sound perfect? How about after trolling you get a bite to eat as the boat runs to a spot known for big Grouper and Amberjack? These trips are so nice that I guess my only problem with the long range trip is that I personally can’t find time to sleep. It’s true; I fish so much on these trips that by the time we are finally heading in I am nearly in a fishing induced coma.
Is it time to raise the stakes? Underwater Expeditions has a trip that they run in early July that is during the Freeport Fishin’ Fiesta and let me tell you, this is the best fishing trip I have ever been on. We saw everything from Marlin to Yellowfin Tuna, I personally saw live bait which weighed 3lbs devoured by monster sharks….twice. Can you believe that there is even prize money? PRIZE MONEY?!?! Currently there are still spots available for this trip in July, but at $1000 a spot they are going very fast, especially as it gets closer to this notorious fishing tournament.
Great Offshore Fishing In The Gulf Of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico has got to be the best saltwater fishing destination on the planet. Whether you are bay fishing, pier fishing, or offshore fishing there are many great species of fish waiting to attack your lure. Bay Fishing is a really good time and there are many ways to go about it, with many bait or lure options. One of my all time favorites is using live shrimp for bait, with no weight only a medium sized strong hook. This particular method is highly effective for quite a few fish, and if you don’t use all of ’em for fishing you can cook up the rest of your shrimp with your fish. If you don’t like the idea of using live bait, you can use a DOA shrimp lure, or pretty much anything else to catch fish while bay fishing.
Have you ever fished from a pier or jetty using balloons to carry your bait out further? I love this trick! You take a larger hook (around 4.0) and about six feet up tie on a snap swivel (to attach the balloon to the line) as the wind (which must be blowing the direction you want your bait to go, or this one won’t work) blows your bait further out something will eat the bait and pull the line hard enough to free the balloon, then it’s just you and the fish playing a game of tug o’ war.
Offshore fishing is my favorite location or type of fishing, as the possibilities are near endless on what you can see on an average day of fishing the Gulf of Mexico. You can fish on top, or drop it to the bottom. Amberjack are a great mid-depth fish that fight harder than any fish except the Tuna. They are caught on everything so get to the right depth and hold on. The biggest amberjack i have ever seen caught was on a silly lookin’ squid type lure and this fish weighed 116lbs. Red Snapper, Grouper, Wahoo, King Mackerel, Mahi-Mahi, Ling, Barracuda, Bee-liner, Triple-tail, and sharks are all on the guest list for an action packed day on the sea when you are offshore fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.