*****BOB HALL PIER - BTB, JUNE 8, 2019 SATURDAY*****(((((UPDATES)))))*****

Hello to all my fellow kayaking friends. Just like last summer, 2018, I wanted to do something for this summer 2019 in regards to BTB kayak fishing for new people (of course intermediate and advanced kayakers are welcome). Five years ago in July I put together a BTB trip for anyone that wanted to get out to do BTB at Surfside. This included kayakers of all levels. It was awesome! We had a total of 34 kayakers that made it out that day. Many just went to the buoys while others went to the 5-mile rig. It was really cool to see that many yaks out on the water. Some of the people that fished off of the jettys at Surfside thought that there was a tournament going on with that many kayaks launching, lol. Four years ago in July I ran another one of these events except it was run out of Corpus Christi instead of Surfside. We had many more show up than the previous year. This trip was a huge success! I believe all the new kayakers caught kings that day and I would say around 70% of the new kayakers limited out on kings. On top of it all, even some of the new kayakers caught cobia. What an amazing day on the water it was!! As each year has gone by, this outing has gotten larger and larger.  This has turned out to be a great way for new kayakers to learn how to go BTB and hopefully to catch some fish while out there on the water.

Since Corpus Christi was such a huge success as in years past, I’m going to continue to do it at Corpus Christi again out at Bob Hall. The way it works is we all meet just south of Ball Hall Pier on the beach and make our way on out to the standpipe to try our luck at smacks, kings, and anything else that we can get into. If you are new to BTB, this would be a great trip to try out. The standpipe is not far offshore (maybe a mile) and there will be plenty of support out on the water with all the kayakers that will be fishing with us. This is not a tournament or an event (this is merely an open invite to anyone that wants to attend). It's just a way to get all levels of kayakers out on the water and to have fun hanging out while fishing. In addition to things, PACK (Paddling Anglers in Canoes and Kayaks) will be doing this trip as well. PACK is a kayak organization that has been around in Houston for a very long time. For more details on this organization, here is the link: http://www.packtx.org

The game plan is for everyone to meet just south of Bob Hall Pier on the beach at 6:00am Saturday, June 8th. We will launch around 7:00am. There will be a short meeting before hand to answer any questions by anyone. There will be plenty of experienced kayakers there that can answer anything as well.

The exact location we will meet at and where quite a few will be camping at is as such. Once you get to Bob Hall Pier, go south on to the beach. Once on the beach, continue for a brief moment until you see Access Rd 6 on the right. We used to camp out about 100 to 200 yards past Access Rd 6 on the left (beach side).  If there is new sand out there making it difficult for 2wd vehicles to get through and the tides have been coming up fairly high making it tough to camp on the beach side, what we will do then is we will be camping on the right up along the dune side right after you pass Access Rd 6.

*****In regards to a backup date, here is how that works. The backup date will fall to the following weekend until we have a good weekend to have this activity. Hopefully the weather will be good and we can all get out on June 8th. If interested, post your name on here and I will add you to the list.*****

OKAY.... WHO'S INTERESTING IN GOING?

01 Blake Colburn – tkf: Yakety_Yak
02 Al – TKF: bigtrout
03 Aldo
04 Alton Williams
05 Domingo Lucius
06 Eric Grace – TKF: Gotem
07 Bryce
08 Angel – TKF: yakano
09 Danny
10 Cliff Johnson – TKF: forager
11 Han – TKF: vg30et
12 Jason
13 Joe Arroyo – TKF: boricualouie
14 Joel
15 Jeff Echols – TKF: jeffechols
16 Mario Sciarra
17 Duy – TKF: duweezy
18 Randy – TKF: Outbackhunter
19 Jon Dancel – TKF: Acidcool6000
20 Frank
21 Scott Wiland – TKF: Punchingclowns
22 Kenny – TKF: WestEndTroutAssassin
23 Steve Marxer – TKF: fishinmachine
24 Thomas Kent – TKF: teen Yaker
25 Roger – TKF: Salty Coyote
26 Tim Payne
27 Juan-Carlos
28 Shawn Faris – TKF: 5x5
29 Steve
30 Keith – TKF: Chubs
31 Travis
32 Wayne Ferguson – TKF: reelmn
33 Bruce Bennett – TKF: Brucell
34 Jude Lopez
35 Fei – TKF: karyuu
36 Troy Guffy
37 David LaHaie – TKF: lahai1dj
38 Jeremy – TKF: El Gato Diablo
39 Matt – TKF: Datchew
40 Walter Gonzalez – TKF: Walteezy
41 Salvador
42 Charlie – TKF: kickingback
43 Mike Flores – TKF: fishin Ninja
44 Ben Watson – TKF: Volkswatson
45 Esteban – TKF: M5yakin
46 Collin
47 Blesson – TKF: flykool25
48 Odis – TKF: on a mission
49 Joel McLeod – TKF: jwmcleod
50 Steve – TKF: Crazy Yak
51 Josh
52 Justin – TKF: Poolio
53 Frank – TKF: fpatino
54 Karl Brindell – TKF: NOLA Yakker
55 Dan
56 Mike Smalley
57 Mike – TKF: Yakntx
58 Terrell
59 Tommy Mitchell – TKF: Cityfisher
60 Wyatt
61 Terry Howard - TKF: sanantonioyak
62 Edward - TKF: Ghostrider9920
63 Mike Williams
64 Brad - TKF: Bradw693
65 Michael Watson - TKF: mwatson71
66 Hosam Yacoub - TKF: hosam.yacoub
67 Tuan Nguyen - TKF: texastuan
68 Russell Fox - TKF: rfox123
69 Bow_Yak
70 GregO722
71 Adrian - TKF: Poseidon01
72 Adrian's son
73 Steven Unrue - TKF: SteveRetrieve
74 Milton Wilson - TKF: Dred
75 Ron White - TKF: TX-Kayaker
76 Cody L. - TKF: Codemann95
77 Chris Williams - TKF: Moken14
78 Mitchell Nowak
79 Nate - TKF: narmour12b
80 Rick Tussing - TKF: DerRikker
81 Rick’s son
82 Michael Tomberlin - TKF: MTSringer8
83 Rod Boyce - TKF: Longliner
84 Alex Aguirre
85 Jian - TKF: yangjianhunt
86 Mike Edgar - TKF: Mhedgar
87 Daniel Gomez - TKF: FishNinja87
88 Handle:  Sailfish


So far we have 88 kayakers going. These are people that are going or are a maybe. Who else wants to go. Post up on this thread and I will be happy to add you to the list.

The address to Bob Hall Pier is.....
15820 Park Rd 22
Corpus Christi, TX 78418
(361) 949-0499

PS: As it gets closer to the date, I will make a post on here a few days before (the morning of Thursday, June 6th) to let everyone know if conditions/weather is good or not so that nobody makes a trip for nothing. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE CHECKING THE THREAD FOR UPDATES AS IT GETS CLOSER SO THAT YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON. SOMETIMES IT COULD COME DOWN TO THE FINAL DAY BEFORE THE OUTING BEFORE THINGS COULD CHANGE. If things look debatable, I will cancel to be on the safe side. As stated above if the trip gets canceled, I will reschedule on the date mentioned in this thread.

If you are new to BTB and this is your first trip out or if you have gone out but not very much and still fairly new to BTB, please read. A few things you may need to know before hitting the water. First and foremost, please make sure you have your PFD on you at all times. The law states that you must have a PFD in the vessel at all times with you if you are 17 years of age and older (if under 17, you are required to have it on) but if you flip over and the PFD is not on your body, what good is it doing you? It would be worth your time to buy a good quality PFD and not the $9.99 version at Academy.

Another thing I would recommend investing into is a quality VHF radio. There are so many reasons as to why you should have a radio on you when you are on the water BTB kayak fishing of which I will not get into. If you need to figure out a good radio to purchase, please feel free to call (832-588-7091)/PM me or even post up in the forum. There is a lot of good kayak fishermen on here that can help with that. If you do not have a radio, of which I hope everyone does, stay with a group of people while on the water. Safety is in numbers and the more people you can be fishing close to, the better.

Just a few items that people mentioned that were new in years past that said they needed to get the most but they didn’t already have were (in no particular order but I would hope the radio was at the top, lol) 1) radio 2) gaff 3) fish bag.

When we arrive in the morning during the meeting, a few ground rules will be covered to make sure all the new people are on the same page. For the intermediate and advanced fishermen, you guys are good to go but while we are explaining things if there is anything left out, please feel free to chime in. I also would like to say that when you show up to fish, please make sure you have enough tackle. There is nothing worse than showing up and not having the correct tackle or hardly any tackle and asking everyone to borrow their stuff. It's one thing if you need a swivel but to borrow someone's $20 Waxwing lure, only to have a break-off and lose it, that's not good. Unless you plan on paying for that lure, it's better to show up with your own tackle. If you are not sure what to show up with, please ask on this thread. I can tell you for sure to make or buy king fish leaders (the key bait for these is ribbon fish or even live bait). If you want to make king fish leaders, check out Prof. Salt's YouTube channel (click on the link I have provided). He has a video in there that explains how to make king fish leaders and it’s really good. http://tiny.cc/3zdxby

If you do camp on the beach, make sure you purchase a beach pass which can be purchased at any Stripes Gas Station. From what I have been told, if you camp on the beach past Access Road 6, no beach pass is necessary (I will be getting a beach pass just in case). I know I will be back again quite a few times and I will get my money’s worth out of it. The beach pass is $12.00 which is good for the entire year. Hopefully we can all get out there, have a great time, and catch some fish!

If you would like to read up on the reports from a few years ago and last year, here are the links:  https://bit.ly/2GR5K9K and https://tinyurl.com/yxzjfho4

For those of you that have any questions, please feel free to post on this thread, PM me on TKF, or give me a call. 832-588-7091

One last thing..... BHP sells frozen bait but not ribbon fish. If you want frozen ribbon fish for your king leaders, you will need to call the local bait shops in the area to see who carries it. Always call before going up to see if the shops have plenty of ribbon fish. Some suggestions for bait shops that carry ribbon fish are:

Red Dot Pier
11801 S. Padre Island Dr.
Corpus Christi, TX 78418
361-937-5347

Roy’s Bait & Tackle Outfitters
7613 S. Padre Island Dr.
Corpus Christi, TX 78412
361-992-2960

Billings Bait Stand
13428 S. Padre Island Dr.
Corpus Christi, TX 78418
361-949-8692

Fisherman's Bait & Seafood
1101 Laguna Shores Rd.
Corpus Christi, TX  78418
361-239-4648

Nobody interested in coming to this? This is not a new outing. This is going to be the sixth year I have put this outing on. This outing caters to people that have never gone or have gone and are still fairly new to offshore kayak fishing. Come on out this summer and join us for some offshore kayak fishing. If you are into the camping on the beach thing, there will be a few of us that will be out there hanging out, chatting up the midnight oil, and falling asleep to the sound of the ocean. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to post on here or text/call me. My number is in the thread. Tight lines!!

Texas is a bit far for me.  Otherwise sounds like it would be fun.

Sounds like a lot of fun and a great way to get newbies or on experienced comfortable on the big lake but way too far for me. Stay safe and good luck out there!

My daddy always told me not to leave to fish to fish!  Fishing in California is probably way better than Texas and that seems like an awful long ways to fish! What kind of fish you catching down there? Let's see some fish pron of what to expect to catch if someone was to go down there. Nothing like posting fish porn to get a fisherman excited!

Would be nice to experience, but deadheading 2000 miles to an event that I would be like a fish out of water does not excite me.  For the same mileage I could hit multiple spots on the Baja Peninsula on my way to the East Cape.  At least there I would know what I was doing.  (Well sort of.)

I hear ya.  I'm just crazy like that when I fish.  I will travel to try different places.  I didn't know if there was anybody like that, that would be interested in trying this out.  Also, you never know if someone in Cali would be already traveling to Texas.  This would be perfect for that person(s). 

To answer a question, some of the fish we catch offshore here are:
red snapper (few other types of snapper species)
grouper
mahi
sailfish
AJ (very rare to catch that close to shore but within the last few years, someone has done it)
king
spanish
ling (aka:  cobia)
sharks (obviously)
bonita
jacks
tripple tail
etc....

The big thing everyone wants to hit here are the big kings.  It's not unusual to find a 50+ inch king.  Three summers ago three of us were on my Hobie TI and we landed a 62" king.  The state record is 58" but that one was heavier than ours.  No worries, we still had fun catching it.  The kings here have some size to them.  Another challenge fishing in a kayak here in Texas is launching through our surf.  The surf zone can be a challenge sometimes and it's quite a ways to get through it before you get past it. 

If anyone here does end up going, be sure to reach me before coming out to make sure weather/conditions are good.  832-588-7091

I used to live in Houston for 10+ years and all my brothers & sister still live there.  I visit them from time to time ( I was there in January for the New Year celebration).  If I happen to be there on business during that time frame, I would love to join this event.  I caught Cobia, Amber Jack, and Kings from the Galveston's pier in the past and Redfish from kayak in the mash.

I used to live in Houston for 10+ years and all my brothers & sister still live there.  I visit them from time to time ( I was there in January for the New Year celebration).  If I happen to be there on business during that time frame, I would love to join this event.  I caught Cobia, Amber Jack, and Kings from the Galveston's pier in the past and Redfish from kayak in the mash.

I have added you to the list.  If anything changes to where you can't attend, hit me up 832-588-7091.  By being on the list that puts you down as a yes or a maybe.  Hopefully you can make it and we can all catch some good stuff on the water.  Check the thread as it gets closer for changes or you can even call.  Tight lines! 

Okay gentlemen, for those of you that are interested in this outing, here is what I'm going to do moving forward.  Because this outing is in Texas, the bulk of the kayakers are from Texas.  Please see my post in there and the updates so that you are kept informed on things.  The last thing I want to happen is that someone from California goes all the way down to Texas only to find out that the outing had been rescheduled to a better weekend but because that person didn't read the updates, he/she never knew.  All my updates moving forward will be posted on here:

http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=249410

You can always call me if you have any questions.  832-588-7091  We are two weeks out, therefore, it's too early to see how the conditions, winds, weather will be.  I have posted this in many other coastal states so to make things easier on me, I am having everyone check the Texas forum (TKF).  Hopefully things will be awesome for June 8th.  If so, I will see you guys then.  Tight lines!!

What is BTB?

Texas and Florida’s lingo for beyond the breakers.

haha.

Great event, "World peace through kayak fishing!"  Good job thanks for the outreach.

But, most of us chuckle when we read, "Another challenge fishing in a kayak here in Texas is launching through our surf.  The surf zone can be a challenge sometimes and it's quite a ways to get through it before you get past it. "

Here's a forcast from mid-December.

Bushy

Okay folks, I wanted to follow up for anyone that has followed this thread.  This outing is completed.  A lot of good times and fish were captured!  For details, see the report:  http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=250070