Just looking to avoid paying for bait.

Specifically in the Galveston area. I have two questions:

1) What things should I be aware of to avoid getting tripped up by the rules for where to cast? I want to be following the rules. Some specific questions below.

2) Are there some general areas that are good for casting? Not asking you to give me your honey hole, but, some larger areas would be great.

Any general tips would be appreciated.

Some places that I have thought about, but think might be illegal:

1) In bolivar, in the marshes just east of the North Jetty? Seems shrimpy, and seems outside water, but never see people working the marsh.

2) Horseshoe lake? I would think that this is a nursery area and off limits, right? Just trying to get more comfortable with the definitions. 29.370899177132696, -94.77518639883614

3) Marshes along the ICW? A lot of these on the north side of Bolivar peninsula that look like they can be waded if you can brave the mud. How far are you allowed to go in the marshes? Ex: 29.480702644761713, -94.6055056443404

Help for a guy just trying to understand the rules would be appreciated.

I certainly appreciate your frugality. Just buy the shrimp. You are going to spend hours chasing them down in muddy marshes, probably get your cast net snagged on an oyster shell and spend a bunch on gas. And, once you find them and catch them, you have to keep them alive until you are ready to fish with them. Sounds like $100 worth of work to avoid paying $20.

nothing wrong with learning how to do it.

I'm just here to chuckle at 15 places to store latitude. 9 places is sub millimeter precision. 15 places is micrometer precision, useful for measuring hair diameters and determining what mapping software not to use.

Make sure you read all the regs. Depending where you go, it may not be allowed (mostly in marsh areas).

Dad? Is that you?

Spent many mornings chasing shrimp and mullet to finally get to our spot in the heat of the day. I get wanting to do it yourself, but as somebody that doesn't get to fish every weekend, buying shrimp before we go out is the easiest $20 I'll always spend.

I have done this along grass lines in shallow water with much success.

I've caught a crap load doing it off the rock groins from the seawall, when it's green to the beach.

I'm as cheapskate as anyone, but when I go salt water fishing,
I just buy the shrimp. You'll waste more time and money trying to catch enough, keep alive, etc and end up fishing in the heat of the day instead of just buying some and fishing.

Don't overthink it.

OK, why I want to learn to catch them:

I'm in a sabbatical and I get to fish twice a week on my current schedule. Most of the time, I get plenty of mullet before the sun comes up. Typically 4 to 6 casts to hit one school, and I'm done for the day.

I get that shrimp will probably not be that easy. But, if there was a way I could catch like 6 to 12 of them in an hour or so before the sun came up, that would do me for the day.

Now that that is out of the way, thanks for the suggestion about the marshes. Just trying to identify some marshes I could wade or walk to that would make sense that don't break the law.

I've done it (for a class at TAMUG, the shrimp being bycatch to the fish I needed) off the feeder road under the 45 bridge by offats bayou

A pack of gulp and some jigheads will last you several trips and you won't have to mess with nearly as much trash fish.

BusterAg said:

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OK, why I want to learn to catch them:

I'm in a sabbatical and I get to fish twice a week on my current schedule. Most of the time, I get plenty of mullet before the sun comes up. Typically 4 to 6 casts to hit one school, and I'm done for the day.

I get that shrimp will probably not be that easy. But, if there was a way I could catch like 6 to 12 of them in an hour or so before the sun came up, that would do me for the day.

Now that that is out of the way, thanks for the suggestion about the marshes. Just trying to identify some marshes I could wade or walk to that would make sense that don't break the law.

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Congrats on getting the time to fish and figure it out! I don't have an answer to your question. But I will offer that if you do find them, and don't use them all, shrimp are still delicious and you can flash fry the small ones whole with a light beer/cornstarch batter and a ton of black pepper. Good luck

So, apparently, recreational shrimping is like fight club, no one seems to talk about it.

Might be a great topic for a youtube channel.

As high school kids my buddy would hit the back bays along the road on the way to Port Aransas .. .. not even sure where we were at but he would catch some big shrimp and put them in the Rv .. then catch some more .. we would use them to eat and as bait .. we were just kids … we didn't know the rules, not sure of the rules these days but it was fun… we didn't worry about catching many fish

Sleep in and throw artificials. Fish gulp the same way you do shrimp and you will catch the same keepers with much much less of the undesirables.

SGrem said:

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Sleep in and throw artificials. Fish gulp the same way you do shrimp and you will catch the same keepers with much much less of the undesirables.

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Thanks.

I'm doing pretty good free swimming shrimp and mullet in current and around certain cover. I will buy some gulps and put them in the bait bag and see how they do when fish are biting.

Not interested in sleeping in. Fishing the silver light in the morning is good whether or not the fish are biting.

I used to fish 1-2 days a week and would catch all my bait. I caught shrimp in the creeks and marsh drains. Yes you will catch a few oysters, but it's fun catch your own bait. If you fish a lot a dozen shrimp and some finger mullet are plenty a fun morning. The shrimp are definitely harder to come by, and I would not get hung up if I didn't catch any.

Good luck!