Target Fish
 

What is your target fish when fishing Big Lake? Im curious as to what most of you prefer. I myself like Red fish, and honestly, Ill throw back specks or flounders "normally"

Hard heads

Throw back a flounder ??

Blasphemy

Haha you won't find me throwing a flounder back. Best eating one of the three. I will toss a red back.

X2....the wifey would put in the dog house if she knew I let an eating size flounder go....

I prefer then flounder! I like catching them with a spinner bumping along the bottom

I catch most of my specks fishing out of V-Bay and offshore. Would like to get good at catching trout in BL but I don't put in the time or effort.

Normally when I go to BL it is in the summer. We start out looking for trout then after the am if the trout bite has slacked we go to flounder fishing tactics and luckily we do very well there.

Flounder 95% of the time. Then specks. Reds, never.

Trout, but don't put in the time to know what I'm doing there very well.
Would rather reds but not sure where to target them in BL/Black Lake area anymore...

HAHAHA that's some funny **** right there!!

I'm not good enough to "target" any specific fish. I'm usually just happy to catch something.


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He's not joking...
Attachment 86133

I target trout wherever Im fishing.

Reds are the first to get thrown back out of specs, reds, and flounder. Back in the old days my dad told me that most people didnt keep reds. They were considered less desirable. I think it was chef Paul Prudome that made them extremely popular with his blackened redfish dish.

I absolutely love them, on the grill on the 1/2 shell, over flounder and specks.

I would say it definitely depends on the time of year. I target what ever fish is most likely to bite the end of my line. With that being said I never target flounder.


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I am an equal opportunist!!!
I will catch and eat them all but prefer to catch specs!

Prefer flounder. Couldn't imagine throwing a legal one back. Speck and reds after that. Like sheepheads too.

All reds get a free pass. I find myself surrounded by reds, Im crankin up and leavin

Next time that happens call me before you leave.


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call me first, I live further away, need the extra time to get there;)

Leave the boat you can jump in with me and save some travel time


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:smokin: 10-4

Only trout....Big Lake is the best big trout fishery on the Gulf Coast.....anyone that hasn't been there needs to go....best fishery I've ever seen

This thread really made me ask myself what fish I like to catch more, Red's or Specks. The answer I have come up with is both. With Specks, its all about the hunt, they are a challenge to find and even when you've found them catching them can prove equally as difficult. But there also times they seem to jump in the boat. On the other hand, when it comes to redfish there is nothing I love to do more than imposing my will on a big nasty that wants to scrap. If I am specifically targeting redfish I use 50 or 60 lb braid on a Mojo Bass Med/Heavy rod and tighten the drag 3/4 the way. As soon as the hook is set, I don't stop cranking. If you set the tone early in the fight, you are going to win. When I catch them on mono with my trout rod, its not nearly as fun. With Reds I would rather the fight be more MMA than Boxing. Nothing beats beating down a badass. Reds are defiantly more fun to catch, trout are more rewarding. If I catch a flounder, I wasn't trying to but I am still excited I caught a fish. I don't thrown any of them back. I don't eat all that much fish but I love giving fish to my friends, neighbors, and especially to the less fortunate in my community. I don't understand how anyone who enjoys catching a fish, can't enjoy catching a red. It sorta hides me, especially when its implied in a tone that suggest there is something wrong with me because I do enjoy catching redfish. I view both species in the same way I view women. Trout are like pretty girls, they're easy on the eyes, they taste good, but a lot of times are a PITA. Where as Reds are like bigger girls, not as good to look at but you can usually find a few down to party, and they do way more stuff.

Good analogy

Figures, I like Redfish, I like big girls. ... they have bigger ti....... hearts ;)

I like catching reds. I just don't keep a bunch unless they are small. I love to sight fish them on ultra lights and fly rods.
But when you are in the trout and hook a 30incher on a light rod and waste all kinds of time catching him it's annoying.
Or they come in a big school and run out all the bait and the trout move.
Trout seem to be more organized in their feeding approach. They will ball bait up and push it to the surface.
Reds will just run the bait all over the place until they crash them into a bank or not.

Thats happened to me a few times and you are right, its aggrivating. All I do when that happens is do a durability test on whatever setup I am fishing with. I don't think I can snap any of my trout rods unless I try to flip a big red so I just get western with em unless I am throwing a corky or some other 10$ bait. If I break off I usually have another rod are two ready to rock in the my rocket launchers. As far as reds running off the trout, I find thats more of a long term problem. Like last year on Caldwell. The schoolies were tick from the end of Aug to mid Oct. Just when I started catching nicer trout out there, the bull reds moved in and you couldn't buy a trout. But most of the time they play nice and self segregate. I have also caught reds under working birds like trout so I am guessing they are balling up bait as well. You can really see how they interact fishing rigs at night under the lights. Almost always the reds will be directly under the light and the trout on the outer edges. I think the act the same way with current. Reds will feed directly into the moving water while trout will be at points of current discontinuity.

When you see the gulls moving really quick you can bet that there is reds mixed in.
They will eat on a bait ball like trout but if you get too many reds forget it. Put the tmotor on high and start chasing.

Can't really argue with you, I have count on my hands how many times I have fished under birds and hooked up with a red. I have caught some in the pass under birds but I am pretty sure it is the reef balling up the bait and not the fish.

Oh yeah the end of Caldwell on a falling tide the current slams everything into the reef and keeps everything in that one spot. It's pretty cool. I wore em out right there last year a couple times.

How did Tette Butte treat you? They never showed up out there like they had the two previous years. Seems like Tiger Shoals held all summer, but the big name reefs never took off. I caught one fish on Diamond the whole summer.

I went to tete butte once last year it was in October and I crushed them. Only time I went. I can't get off BL.

Target flounder

Trout reds flounder