7/23 Slow fishing lately and water to the dunes this morning - Ladyfish reports extremely dead fishing lately on the pier due to the fresh dirty water. Some redfish and small sharks reported recently and plenty of hardheads. Water could remain high all weekend due to T.S. Bonnie

6/18 - Winds and weed have slowed the reports though I have heard of a few Kings, Spanish Macks, Sharks, Whiting and Pomps, A few trout at night when it is calmer on live shrimp.

Jason Gutierrez with a 45" King taken 6/7

Here is a great report from krspykrmeburritto
from 6/6

These guys were plentiful. Blue Runners. Cut in half n nothing, not a click.

Butter perch I believe.

34" Bonnethead. Great fight for my mom on light 12# tackle. Double drop w/ live shrimp.

Sharpnose that hooked perfectly on a 12/0 circle w/ a 6" section of skippie. Didn't even know he was on but there were several other little chunks taken out of the skippie.

Plenty of bait only I wasn't having any luck with em.

GUITARFISH

First time I've ever seen one. Cool looking fish.
Had to get mutiple snaps. Very cool.

Weed was rolling in all day. Not too bad but enough to annoy you. Oh well.

Conditions when we left at 1230.

All fish were CPR'd successfully! If I'm not slaying them it ain't worth it!
Good just to be out in it!

5/27 Via Eksda - Got to the pier at 5 am and water was perfect winds calm. redfish glaore all over the shallows. problem they didnt want anything you threw at them only a few caught. went further out and set up for the day. about sunup a tarpon hits hubbys line and dance on the water 3 times before coming to pier and as htey were trying to land him took off under the pier, then the spanish mackeral hit and it was almost non stop for what seemed hours there was 4 of us and we all had so much. caught pompano and mackeral. about 11 am a school of redrfish hit out by teh t-head and there were some catching them. we used live shrimp and had dead. hubby lost serveral lures too. have some pics will get daughters bf to post for me we left by noon as we were all played out. had so much fun.pier was busy but everyone was nice no rowdy crowds at all.

5/20 Here is a report from Surfdragon 5/18 - Went to bob hall this mourning not knowing of cool front that was aproaching. Stoped at packery bridge to cast net some bait,Managed some finger mullet a couple of croakers one shrimp and some shad not bad. Water looked great with a greenish color with a light north wind. Not much sea weed in the water but reports that it was a mess before getting there. Fished with a croaker and bam a small black tip. Set out bigger rigs with live finger mullet on all lines. Just about then wind changes around to south east and starts blowing with some light rain. Saw some mullet jumping out of the water so some thing was going after them. Decided on getting some thing to drink at the cafe and was standing outside with a gentle man talking about fishing when he tells me one of my rods just flew over the rail,Well i start running over to my spot which wasn't to far off.I was fishing the third gut, And just hoping it was a smaller rig.Not that lucky, Well it must have been a school of some big fish because my biggest rod was hooked and bent over with a fish on.The other rod next to me starts bouncing an it wants to go off too.The first fish that was hooked as soon as i was setting the hook it came off but i managed to see it break the water far away,looked like a jack but not sure.Four reels set up with live mullet all got hit at the same time,Out come bustted line on one,loss of $200.00 rod and reel and two that got away. Oh well thats the breaks,Like i said water still looked great dispite the wind. Report of small sharks and jacks at the T . Heres some shots of the pier and water with one shot of my first shot of lightning.

5/7 Another great report from Cinco De mayo from the Bum - Viewer Discretion advised due to graphic hook injury! Got out there at 5am and the water sure looked fishy. 535am, phone rings. Had to go out to work. Got done a 8am and headed back out ot the pier.

Talk to a guy who was getting there as I was leaving for work. I asked if he got anything. He said he got 5 reds one after the other as soon as I left. Dammit!

Well, decided to move out towards the end as the clarity look better there. Got a slide line out and started throwing manolures. Hit after hit. A bunch of undersize Spanish and huge ladyfish. There were a few tiny bluefish mixed in. I did manage two 14" Spanish. I released them because didnt want to risk the shrinkage factor. I boxed a 14.5" and 15" Spanish.

About the time the larger macks showed up, I hooked a large ladyfish. Good fight until it jumped out of the water and shot the lure right back at me. Needless to say two of the three hooks sunk all the way into my calf.



Go figure it was a LADYFISH that stuck it to me. I spent the next 30 minutes trying to fish the hooks out. If it was just one, I would have done it, but having two in there showed me I could do it. So, off to the minor emergency care center and after a few shots, good yank by the doc, and $125.00 later, I was on my way home to get cleaned up and hit the rack.

4/28 Fishing Report from 4/26 from Da Bum - Well, after a long week at work and the weather actually cooperating on my day off, I decided to cut out early since things slowed down and head out the the pier to fish. I was looking for fish for the freezer. I decided to grab some live shrimp to see if there was any trout in the lights. I come to find out out that none of the bait stands were open. However I waited around Clems and shortly before 5am they openned up. Grab some live shrimp and headed to the pier.

Started fishing the shallow lights. Not a bite. Ran into John and moved out to where he was at sunrise. I heard of the SMACK action from last week. It really sucked cuz I had to work through it.



Sunrise brought limited action. I did manage a lot hits and some quality hook ups. It was great to hear the line ripping through the water by a big ol' SMACK! But at last someone changed my hooks to rubber hooks. I lost 6 straight nice SMACKS at the pier while waiting to be netted.



I kept on chuggin' and manage to put my first fish onto the pier. A nice pompano measuring out to 19.5". It was still frustrating missing more SMACKS while others landed them. The action was not hot and heavy like the week before, but they came in waves. We usually got 3 or 4 hook ups as schools went by. Finally I started to land some of them including this 28.5" Spanish Mackerel.



Far from epic trip, but I did manage to put a few fish in the ice box. And yes Tyler, I kept the pompano for food and not for shark bait...even though it was tempting.



Smallest fish was the pompano at 19.5". All the SMACKS were over 20".


_________________
FISH ON!!,

BUM

4/21 Spanish Macks are ON! -Krispykrmeburrito filed this report: Heard some reports of folks slaying smacks at the pier yesterday and having perfect conditions so decided to sneak out of work early and see for myself. Glad I did! Stopped n loaded up on some live shrimp and hit the pier around 1245 this afternoon. Guess everybody else heard about the smacks as well cause it was packed. Out of the 5 normal spots that I occupy, all 5 were taken so I sucked it up and set up close to the T.
Water was beautiful! Been a loooooooonnnnnngggg time since I've seen it that clear. Truly amazing of all the life below the shallows when its visible. Bait everywhere. People still slaying the smacks with some pomps mixed in. Saw one King caught off the right side of the T. Noticed they were slide-lining. With polarized shades I could see the smacks slowly circle my bobber and in an instance they darted off either nipping it right below the little treble or spitting the hook. It was a blast! Caught and released 8 smacks between 20-24". Lost well over a dozen! They were all solid size. Started off with 60#mono test leader and that didn't last long at all so had to adapt. Saw rays, turtles, jellies, numerous types of bait fish that I am unfamiliar with. Awesome day. The icing on the cake came from being out there with my Wife and our 2mth old daughter. She's my everything. Bought a little pop up tent for her and tried it out for the first time and I highly recommend it. Momma can even crawl in there if need be and have the privacy to feed on demand!

Its only gonna get better!







Bottom left you can see the schools of bait hiding under the pier from the predators


More bait hanging around


This lady is always out on the pier fishing and she always manages to leave with a full cooler! Don't know her name but she was nice enough to allow me to snap a shot of her catch.


little baby tent that worked perfect with something protecting it from the wind. Gonna make an angler out of her before shes 2!






One of the smacks. Not the biggest, but picture quality, its the best of the rest.

4/1 Before the Strong Winds Hit 3/29 Allsharkhunter reported - Headed out at 2:00 and had baits in the water. Chunks of cownose and a small perch. Perch gets munched but no hook up. Then 4 wide that was about about 150 yards gets slammed. FISH ON! Fight it for about 20 mins through tangled lines then it starts to shoot the pier. NOOOO. So i stick the rod tip below the bottom and hold on and get him turned. Get it up to the pier and measures 5'8 fat blacktip. I get the tag kit and stick it in smoothly. Then we heaved it over the side and it swam off to terriorize some more fish. After that i reeled em up and headed home. Water was nice an green and alot of cownose and smacks were being caught. May be the first tagged shark off bob hall. Pics soon to come soon as i figure out how to get them off my phone.

3/20 Bob Hall Pier is open! - Sargassum is increasing but still fishable. The water temps are close to 65. Look for Bonnethead Sharks and Whiting. The latest reports say "whiting , sand trout, bonnethead sharks and gafftop" Be on the lookout for Spanish Mackerel and Jack Crevalle if the water is green.

3/12 The concession is opening this weekend - That is the latest word we have. The folks running Horace Caldwell are now handling Bob Hall Pier. Please send us some reports or post them on the message board. The water temperature is at 63 degrees. Look for Jacks to show up soon with warmer weather and green water.

2/10 As mentioned David and Ladyfish say the new owners take over in a few weeks - Reports have been few with bad weather and rough, cold water recently. Expect catches to include Whiting and a few Pompano and plenty of Hardheads.

1/21 Finally a report! This comes from David and Ladyfish - Took a drive over to the pier, stopped by the Park office for a update, the new ower will take over in appox. 6 weeks he is remodeling now. Everything will stay the same, the only thing will be rule enforcement. They say the rules will enforced. The new ower is the same person that runs Horace Caldwell Pier. Ok the water, dirty real dirty no weed or trash in the surf no dead fish and no live fish. I talked to all 5 people on the pier, 3 old men from Iowa not even a hard head lol, 1 young man 1/2 way down fished all night not even a bite, and Harley out on the end nothing. No bait fish No big fish, dirty water, and water temp at 55. Maybe Feb will be better. Hope this helped.

11/24 Bull Reds and Jacks 11/23 from Ladyfish who says - The day of the bull red and jack today was one of those days you dream about . We got to the pier around 7:30 am the water was pitcher perfect there were mullet in the first gut ,got a few set up just past the 1st gut, first rod out Bamb slot red, the water was boiling couldn't count the reds, didn't get a change to put out the second rod, ok Got 3 rods out, 3 rods down all three at once Jacks all big, To top it off the Bull reds came in , i was wore out, just sat there. but ladyfish stayed with it, every one on the pier was hooked up either bull reds or Jacks all bulls were released and the shark boys loved those jacks also, we got 2 30'' black tip sharks, Baitfish every where i saw the biggest Manhayden over 12 to 15 ins thousands and thousands, horse mullet pony and finger and thousands of 2'' gaff tops . We left them bitting at noon.

11/5 Finally A Report Here is one from Surfdragon from BHP - Packery - Finally my day off arrived,With clear skys and cool weather.
Stopped at bobhall first with gates open for free fishing, Not bad.
Water was clear and green,with shad around some of the columns.
Fishing was some what slow with spanish mackerels being caught on plugs and man o lures. Stayed for a while with no luck,And decided on north packery jetty.
Fish caught were black drum, slot reds ,pompono,mangrove snapper
and spanish macs. Heres a few pics of the day and some fish.

10/19 Restaurant Closed - Here is a report from BHP - Packery to Port A from Skipper "Went to BHP and the SPJ, then to Port A. The water is looking a lot better. It is dirty green but no red tide symptoms. Lots of people surfing and fishing. Here are a few pics from Port A. The first pic is from Friday, kind of a before and after deal. The second is about the same area.







Here are a few pics from SPJ




Adios"

10/1 - 10/3 Report from LilDave360 - The journey begins Thursday morning at 5 am in Austin, TX. The alarm goes off. I pop out of bed like a child eagerly awaiting Christmas morning. I quickly gather my belongings and load up in the truck. A quick kiss good by to the misses and I'm on the road headed down I-35 toward paradise. A quick 3 hours later and I'm rolling into Corpus. My mind racing a hundred hours per hour pondering what might be. A quick stop at Cosway for some live bait (shrimp and perch) and I'm off again, in hot pursuit of Bob Hall Pier. I finally arrive around 10ish to setup shop. I unload the cart,my rods, and the rest of the gear, and proceed down the pier. The first place I stop and setup is btw the 2nd gut. I setup shop and not a few moments later my good buddy Jaime from Alice shows up. He is here for the long haul just like I am. We both set up and after a few hours of fishing with live piggy perch nothing to show for it. We switch to live shrimp and we start catching whiting and more perch. At this time I figure it's time for me to bust out the cast net and see if I can find some finger mullet. I spot a few in the surf and bam I get about a half dozen and 2 horse mullets. So we thrown them in the bucket and hook a few up and still nothing. After trying all day in the second gut we decide to relocate towards the end of the pier. We setup shop at the end of the pier and try there for another 3 or 4 hrs and nothing. At this point I had walked back toward the front of the pier and noticed more mullet in the surf. I told my buddy lets move back since we weren't catching at the end and we decided to do so. So we set up shop in the second gut again with nothing to show. Around 4 AM I noticed large schools of horse mullet running in the guts so I netted up about a dozen for cut bait the next day. I finally get about an hr or two of sleep and when the sun starts to rise so do I. I re rig all my rods with fresh cut mullet and around 8 AM my friend Jaime gets hit and hit hard. But with his luck the fish runs under the pier and around the pylon and snap, the line breaks. He is upset of course but that's life. Then about 20 minutes later my rod goes off. I set the hook and I tell Jaime this one isn't getting away. We get him landed and it turns out to be a nice 26 1/2" red. Looks like this fish had a run in with a shark cause he had a nice little bite mark on him. Soon after that the rain begins and we have to seek shelter. After about 10 minutes of heavy rain it stops just as quickly as it had begin. We head back to our spot and re rig and bam another run on my same rod. Jaime grabs the rod this time since i wasn't close by and brings in a nice 22 inch" red. We re rig and bam another one, this time it was under sized. A quick pic and release back to the gulf. This would continue through out the day, picking up reds here and there. One guy even asked us what we were using and we gave him some mullet and on the first cast bam, he hooks up with a 23" red. He then proceeds to ask if we would sell him some of our bait and I told him I had plenty and didn't mind sharing with him. So he cast again and bam he gets another, but it was undersized. And then the bite just turned off. They were gone just as quick as they had appeared. The afternoon was slow with nothing to show, but once the sun went down the bite would turn on again. We caught more reds and heard reports that people were catching drum down at the end. So my buddy Jaime moves on down to the end and proceeds to catch one as well as his 3rd red, but really his second red since one of those was technically on my rod. lol Anyhow, we both end up catching our limit of reds for the day and release many more. We saw many people catching reds around us. I guess if you were in the right spot you were getting hooked up. Saturday morning we started out early again after a few hrs of sleep. I netted up some shad that was in the surf and free lined him on my light rod. Not even 5 minutes later, bam another red. this one would measure at 24". After that we would catch more undersized and call it a day around noon.

Overall, this trip was very successful. We had a blast and the fishing was off the hook!

Total fish for the trip was 7 keeper reds, and 1 black drum. Almost all were caught on cut mullet, figure mullet, and live shad.

Here are a few pic i hope you enjoy!!!

This my set up at the pier.



This is me with my first two red of the day. If you look closely you can see the bite marks on the big one. The small one was released.



A few more pics of the pier. As you can see we had the pier to ourselves.





This is a pic of the keepers of the trip.


Here is a pic of my buddy Jaime Z and myself sporting our catches.


Me posing with the fish!! lol


Jaime posing with the fish! Don't let him fool you he only caught 2 of those fish!

9/18 Bob Hall Pier Via Wally Montez 9/17 - A lot of oversized reds and slot reds this week. Slow for most except on the end of the pier. Look at the reds coming through

 

These two guys are new to fishing. I bet they go again soon!

8/31 Bob Hall via Fishinglady - No sunrise this morning...all overcast, and the wind out of the northeast. The water is clear and green, no weed, and pomps, reds, and Spanish macks were biting, and there were trout being caught in the surf...at least until 10:30am or so. After that, the bites were very few and far between....wind shifted to easterly, whitecaps picked up,,,and most people left by 1:30pm
I managed an 18inch red on a little sabiki rig--returned to grow up, and one medium sized spanish mack that hit a watermelon shad under a bobber.
There were some shad in the water, but little to no obvious bait activity and the pelicans and herons were camped out on the light poles, not working the water.

8/14 Bob Hall reports! - Trout have been fairly good at night with the calmer winds under the lights on shrimp. Lots of Kings and Spanish Mackerel with a few Tarpon hooked on the t-heads. The water is finally warming up with temps near 83.

7/21 South of Bob Hall from JayandCoyote 7/20 - Made it out a little south of Bob Hall yesterday. My wife wanted to take my niece who is visiting from Houston out to the beach. Tide was still going out when we got there about 4pm. Caught whiting on shrimp and fishbites combo. I threw out some cut whiting but nothing touched it all afternoon or evening. I just noticed the wrong date was on the camera. These really are from yesterday. I did not see any bait in the water.

7/1 Bob Hall Pier Reports Finally Coming In! - It was on the past several days for King Mackerel, Spanish Mackerel, Pompano, Pup Sharks and a few Tarpon

Fishinglady reports from 6/30 "Incredibly clear water, no weed at all, and more bait than I've ever seen in the water.

I got to the pier about 7, intending to leave by noon, but ended up staying until almost 6pm. The bite came in spurts. Mid-morning the smacks were hitting watermelon shad under floats....and the smacks were huge. Then just after noon and again about 4pm the kings showed up in force...and they were huge too....and also hitting shad under floats and slide lined. I only ended up with one very large smack, which I gave away to a man from Dallas because, at the end of the day, I was so tired that I didn't want to have to clean it. I had several large kings on....all got away cutting through leaders, even wire wrapped leaders,breaking 20lb line, or actually straightening out/snapping metal clips and crimps. Once I was about to be spooled, so I had to tighten down the drag...metal clip broke. At least I got to see and fight them all before they broke free.

Lots of very nice, helpful people on the pier, and it was very clean too. The new management is doing a good job."

Ladyfish reports from June 29th "Today was outstanding, the water beautiful , Bait watermellon shad by the zillons and then Black clouds in the water the man-hay-don (sp) came in first time this year and with them the KINGs I know in one hour we saw 7 or more way to go John and miko and the boys on the end , also big smaks, and reds, We got 2-reds upper end slots and smaks and 1pomp Was home by noon." Watermelon Shad and Mannolures were the baits of choice.

 

 

5/21 from 5/17 SAPolice23 reported "Stopped at bob hall pier to fish a couple of hours coming from our little vacation to south padre, where the fishing sucks...anyway. Me and my other half arrived at 2pm with a bucket of live shrimp, and some lures. We did pretty well out there with such little fishing time. We were able to catch two reds, 24in, 26in; two smacks 27in and 18in, and one sheepshead 18in. We left about 5pm to drive back home. The water was really nice and green. Im pretty sure the fishing will get real good if the weather holds up. I plan to make a trip back for a day of fishing from early am to late pm and back. Good luck and hopefully you guys keep catching em too."

5/15 Nickaway reports Albert caught and released this 7.5 foot Hammer last Saturday. Story

5/11 Mother's Day Report from krspykrmeburritto - Well, Mom decided she wanted to attempt to have a repet of last weekend at the pier. Without any argument like a good son does, I sucked it up and had everything packed within 15min. Get some live shrimp and by 1:30 her line is wet. Nice conditions, no seaweed, small swells and a SE wind that cooled us down instead of blowing us around. within 5 min of letting her shrimp soak......

Fish on, a nice 23'er

I proceed to catch a 21"er and she catches a 22'er and I catch 20"er and that was it. Redfish bite turned off about 2:30. During this time saw a couple of other reds and drum along with a 23" speck that seemed out of place. Smacks showed up along with an army of Bonnetheads. Caught at least 3-4 all between 18-30". All returned. Managed to box a decent, cookable pompano but was overshadowed. Of course

A couple of hardheads, blue runners and...

Angel fish. Does anybody eat these? Just asking.
At the T saw a nice King that went for at least 40". No details.
All in all it was a great day to get dragged out of the house
Oh the sacrifices we must make........

4/6 Frayednot with a report from 4/3 via the messageboard - Visited Padre Island this weekend. My wife wanted to do some fishing for her Birthday. She remembered the days when she would fish with her grandfather at Bob Hall Pier in the 70's. We made the roadtrip and were on the Island around 8am. My son wanted to try a little surf fishing to start so we saw a little spot just south of the pier. Water was off color as far as the 3rd bar. No weed in the water but the water was cool so my son and I put on the waders and moved out. We were trying to hook into some Pompano and were chunking Fishbites and peeled shrimp. Some of those waves were making us wish we had brought our "cups"! My son caught this small hardhead after about 40 minutes. After that we packed up and drove down the beach a while and took a few pictures then moved on to the pier.







As we were walking down the pier we saw many people landing fish. They were catching Whiting and Pompano and Sheephead along a color change in the water. I was thinking we got here just in time
We set up in a nice spot. There were alot of people but not to crowded. Immediately my wife was catching Whiting and was way up in the "count" over my son and I. She also caught the largest Whiting. The folks just a ways down caught this really cool "puffer" fish.





Towards the end of the pier they were catching a lot of really big Sheephead. There was also a 4ft. Hammerhead landed and a smaller Blacktip Shark landed. We stayed 'till around 3 and got some lunch and rest. My wife was having a great time and wanted to return to the pier later in the evening. It was a little windier that evening. There were lots of Hardhead and Gafftops and small Whiting. Later in the evening my wife hooked the largest fish of the outing, a BonnetHead Shark. We stayed untill Midnight then turned in.





The next day we visited the Port Aransas Jetties. Not much luck there. It was really crowded. We did see one large Sheephead landed. Watched a few ships move through. We moved on to the the shops. My wife enjoys Wintons Candy Store



Thanks for letting us revisit and share. And thanks to those that served and sacrificed for our Country.

 

1/15 WOO HOO! FINALLY - The pier is open. The bad news is that there is no concession stand. The good news is that admittance is free! Please post up your reports. Thanks

12/12 - Good News! - KRIS TV reported that repairs to Bob Hall Pier should be done by next Wednesday or so 12/17

9/17 Bob Hall Closed for Repairs - The last word had it that Bob Hall would be closed at least until Friday 9/19 to repair damages caused by Ike. Major portions of the railing were destroyed and numerous 1500 pound cement blocks leading up to the pier were tossed around like legos. The parking lot is a mess as well. Picnic tables and shelters all gone.

9/9 Gib's Report - Night fishing at the pier continues to be difficult and challenging for the trout chasers due to water clarity, wind direction, and current.

This summer has seen perhaps some of the least productivity in several years. It did not help that over 5 weeks of the summer water was chocolate milk.

A couple of nights ago the trout were in and it took some time to figure out what they wanted with a current running north to south. The ticket was shad, but by the time this was discovered, 5 were brought in before the bite turned off like one would to a light switch.

Overall, this has been the year of the perch. Perch are generally a good go to bait, but this year has been more so.

Last night, the water was pretty churned up with a rough surf. Several gafftop were caught, and I did not see any trout or reds caught. Some sharks are being caught here and there.

Everything at the pier is going well with no serious problems to speak of. It is the best, along these lines, that I have witnessed in five years.

9/8 - 9/5 Bull Red report from Ladyfish - There Back,The water was beautiful today, Even with a north wind, the bait was everywere you name it it was there, Started out at the end of the pier the sharks were everywere we got 2-nice 36'' black tips so we were moving closer to the surf. About 1/2 mile north of the pier there was a cloud of dirt about 2 football fields in size as it moved closer then under the pier you could see thousands of cow nose rays and then the bull reds, there was several hook ups and a lot of broken lines, soon 3 were on the pier there color was unbeliveable dark red, Well ladyfish taged hers. the stomact was big real big as I cleaned this Sow i was shocked it was full of Sand Dollars I mean full, There was a few small smack, and blues caught up front a ton of skip jack and ribbon fish Looks like a good weekend coming up have a great day David and Nancy.

8/29 - 8/30 from Fishinglady - Went to the pier Friday and Sunday.....both times, there wasn't much biting or catching...just small sharks, lots of ribbonfish, as well as whiting and sandtrout. Bait fish were hard to find with a sabiki. By late Sunday, the water was calm and clearing in places, sandy in some other places. Several dolphins were around for a couple of hours on Sunday.

8/21 report from 8/18 Sorry about the lack of reports but the water has been offcolor for more than a month and if people are fishing they have not reported much other than hardheads Here is a report from Skillzzz9 from Monday - "Monday out at BHP was struck by the number of Menhaden at the pier. Cast my net a couple of times and filled the bait bucket. I then noticed the numbe of Tarpon rolling in the surf. Baited out for the with surface slide line, under a cork and on the bottom with live shad. Picked up three tarpon hits all missed, but the strange thing was the Gafftop (big ones) hit all three baits. (Slide, cork and bottom) Anyone else have slime monsters hit like that? "

Sorry no pics. Need another camera.

6/27 - Report via Joho5 - Big Reds were hot up until about dark. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th light. I got there about 30 min until dark and boxed a 26 in Red in the 2nd gut along with a Bonnet Head. When it got dark, didnt see any more Reds caught and was hoping for the Trout bite to start and it never really got hot. Came home with the Red, 1 Trout, and a Whiting. Fished for only about 2 hours. All caught on live shrimp.

Surfdragon had this report on 6/25 - My brother and i went on a surprise fishing trip, At least for me i hadnt been fishing in a while. Picked the right location today,It was bob hall and the water looked great! Got there around 8 am and the red fish started hitting at the T.With some small sharks,Black tips,Bonnets and some atlantic sharp nose? not sure on the name on that one. One large spanish mackeral on a slide line and even saw a 4 ft tarpon turning on top.
Bait of choice was water melon shad. And the reds were on fire almost all reds were slot and hefty.Not to many pics of fish just to busy fishing.
Heres a few shots of the day.



Water melon shad























Water was in good shape little sea weed,Bait was there and so were the fish.

6/20 David and Nancy report - Today finished a great week, With the full moon and tides the fishing turned on around 10:30 and was going strong still at 12:30, I have seen alot of Pompanos over the years this week brought some of the biggest most pier fishermen (and ladies) have seen in the 3-4 lb range, Smack up to 28'', Reds, Sharks and even a few Tarpon, and Ling. It was like going to the fish market , Bait of choice live Shrimp or a Mann-o-lure, Lemon rigs or free lining shrimp, no one wanted cut bait this week. Hope the weekend is good for all of you, I need the rest see you all on Monday
David and Nancy P.S. A lot of Trout night and early morning.

6/12 Ladyfish reported good action Tuesday - Fishing has been hot saw a 5 ft. Tarpon yesterday . We got 4 reds and 1 trout all on the bottom used piggy, and mullet, there were several limits caught .

6/5 Tough Conditions with the winds lately. Here is a great report I got this week from a trip last Friday from Eduardo Montez - Eduardo wrote: "This is Justin Gomez of Beeville with a few pics from our trip Friday May 30th at Bob hall Pier. The reds hit mostly live bait we fished on the bottom. The king ate a live golden croaker under a float and the jack swallowed a pony mullet on a slide-line. The sharks are a bit of a nuisance as evident by the four footer that plucked my only thredfin from a slide. Sorry but the date is set wrong on the camera"

 

5/10 A Report from David and Nancy Novak - "We thought yesterday was pretty good fishing, when David got a Jack, and I had steel leaders cut in half, and a Circle Hook Straightened. I know that fish is in Houston by now.
Today just had to be the best since last year. The wind was strong, and alot of Gaftops, and Hardheads first, and as it broke daylight, a couple Rods got hit hard, and cut off. Then David's brought in a Stingray, then had a Red on, but was tangled in the net, and bouyes, on the pilon, we tried everything, including his Gaf, which is still hanging over the pier and caught up in the net, and finally got the Slot Red on the pier. Another rod went down, I had a Shark, which turned out be 48", with no Gaf to bring him up, and finally had to net him. My rod went down again, and I had a Bonnet Head Shark, that David couldn't believe how big he was, and brought him on the pier with the net, and it measured 45". Since he was short of the Record, we took pictures and released it, so it could continue to get bigger. After that I was getting a little tired, but couldn't resist grabbing the next rod that went down, and had a 27" Red. It really made up for not being able to fishm due to the weather. Everything we caught was on last years frozen mullet, and since David only brought 2 bags, we had to go home...lol

5/01 Bob Hall via Cowboy at the Pier - Weed is minimal and the catches the past few days have included Spanish Mackerel, Redfish, small sharks, and a few stingray. Water temp is near 75.

4/6 Bob Hall 4/05 via Rick - Lots of weed, lots of wind, water real dirty. Nothing being cought. I used live shrimp last night 04/05 could not lose a shrimp..

3/21 Lady fish reports - Finally a report from the pier, there a lot of fishermen on today there were a few small whitting and a lot of hard heads, We manage to put two nice reds in the box both 27'' one weighted 5.7oz and the other 7.1oz lost 2 other the surf was rough, water was dirty ,but the birds were working.

2/21 Still Tough and Sorry for the lack of updates but the winds and fronts have things looking a lot like this lately. Here is a report via Surfdragon and you can see why there have been no reports from Bob Hall - bob hall pier the surf was rough all the way to the T,Meaning
the surfers were out. Fishing was slow with whiting and catfish being caught. heres some photos of the surfers and people fishing,Surf was rough and dirty.

12/7 Lots of Whiting and some Reds - Here is the latest from Pier Regular Ladyfish "Whiting Whiting and more Whiting a few sharks, saw two bull reds caught out on the end its been real quiet with a lot of winter Texans fishing too!"

11/15 - Front hits - Look for Spanish Mackerel, Jacks, Pup Sharks when the weather settles. Chances are good for Bull Reds even in rough weather. Bigdawgdanny and his wife Sandi caught these 39 inchers on 11/9 along with some pup sharks. Four other Bull Reds were also landed.

 

10/31 - Good fishing for Bulls - Bigdawgdanny sent in this report from the weekend: "Fishing was real good this weekend at bob hall pier lots of reds 20"- 28" also some bull reds 36" - 44" some tagged some released. and unfortunately some taken illegally . However word was out that the game warden was there a couple of times this past week and issued plenty of citations to those not obeying the law. a big thank you to our game wardens for doing a great job. really appreciated by many locals and out of town visitors. here are a couple of pics from our fishing on Sunday night. myself with my first bull red ever caught 38" released to see another day. Josh Trevino catches and tags his @ around 40".

Danny

Josh

10/3 - Gib says - "Redfish are in with one being able to catch limit - live bait . Game Wardens have frequented the pier. Law Enforcement is walking the pier even "escorting" "unruly drunks" to a better location . Things are lookinhg up! " Here is a photo sent in from Bigdawgdanny of the recent Full Moon from the pier.

 

9/19 - Here's a fresh report from Gib from the message board: The reds continue to be caught on a regular basis at night off of the pier. It seems that live pin perch and live mullet are baits of choice for slot reds.

They are catching OVERsized reds at the "T" or near to it on large chunks of cut mullet. I do know the past two nights that over 17 bull reds have been hauled off the pier, and I do not mean back into the water.

These guys know what they are doing as they are almost at a run when exiting the pier, leaving for 10 to 20 minutes in vehicle, and then returning to start over.

It is against the law and it affects future fishing for the next generation. Question: The fish being carried off are over 40". We are not talking about a 30" or even 35" redfish. I have been told that the ones over 40" no longer breed or lay eggs as they are too old. Is this true?

Regardless, it is not right. One of the culprits loaded up into a truck with local company advertising on the side. I have contacted the company via letter to inform them of situation. Several indicated they would not be calling them for business. A bit drastic at this point as the owner may not even be aware of situation, or he may be the one. I choose to give him/her benefit of doubt at this point.

One of these days I will have pictures to post as I know everyone enjoys them just as I do, but I have to convince the wife, and I have to be taught. Right now, it would be like giving a 12 or 13 year old the keys to the car and saying have at it - a recipe for disaster. Upon these two major accomplishments, I have to learn how to get them in the computer and on this website.

The trout are still there, but it does not seem to be as many or as big. Water has been a little murky. I believe there is at least one more good opportunity for the trout bite this week and next before slowing and eventually shutting down for the year at the pier. This is not absolute, but it is generally a pattern every year.

9/6 David Sikes Article on Caller Times about Bob Hall Pier - Caller.com Corpus Christi News and Information
Bob Hall Pier cleans up after complaint
By David Sikes
Originally published 05:15 a.m., September 6, 2007
Updated 05:15 a.m., September 6, 2007

Earlier this year, Matthew Gibson's sons nearly stepped on the spiny dorsal of a hardhead catfish someone had left for dead on the planks of Bob Hall Pier.

By the way, leaving a hardhead for dead is against the law. But that's not my point. It was dark and lighting on the pier was poor.

Being a five-year pier regular, Gibson had become accustomed to poor maintenance at Bob Hall. But this incident sparked a sequence of events that put Gibson into the role of activist. There's a lesson here, a civics lesson with favorable results.

Pier regulars I've spoken with in recent years say their list of Bob Hall complaints included occasional unruly drunks, surfers/kayakers jumping off pier's end, anglers staking out a section of railing with way too many rods, poor maintenance/lighting, profanity, auto burglaries, overnight camping and inconsiderate anglers who toss castnets from the pier, which is against the rules.

Gibson said that initial attempts to address some of these concerns had failed. Part of the problem is that the people who lease the concession rights at the pier and manage operations there have no enforcement authority. The new managers out there tell me they intend to tell repeat offenders they're not welcome or they'll call the cops on egregious violations.

After the springtime hardhead incident, Gibson called the Nueces County Parks offices, but didn't receive immediate relief.

So he decided to make an end run by posting his complaints and a request for help on the popular Web site CorpusFishing.com. This began a chatroom thread that eventually attracted more than 4,000 online views and 83 responses as of Wednesday.

This response boiled down to about 20 legitimate comments regarding nagging pier issues as well as a suggestion to contact Nueces County Commissioner Chuck Cazalas, whose district includes Padre Island.

Gibson called Cazalas and explained the problem, then followed up with an e-mail containing the online comments. Cazalas said he would look into it, and he forwarded the comments to the Nueces County Parks Board.

Then Gibson, along with about a dozen concerned anglers, attended a park board meeting in late-August to follow up, provide details and answer questions. Gibson said he was encouraged by the reception they received. Also at the meeting were representatives of the new pier management and restaurant owners.

Since then, Gibson said he's seen positive results.

"Things are getting done out there now," he said. "The pier is in the best shape I've seen it in five years. They've really stepped up to the plate on maintenance and cleanliness."

Despite this, Gibson said there is more that could be done to improve the pier, mostly involving enforcement of parking lot crime activity and violations of pier rules.

"About a month ago, I saw three or four anglers on the pier and 40 rods set out," Gibson said. "I'm not kidding. I'd be tickled to see someone from law enforcement once a week out there."

Part of the challenge, explains Jim Needham, a Nueces County Parks Board member, is that a while back the city annexed a lengthy section of the beach between Port Aransas and the Kleberg County line. This resulted in a drop in funds for the county in the form of hotel/motel tax revenue. The county no longer could afford as many park staffers, including park rangers.

Enforcement out there falls on the Corpus Christi Police Department, the Nueces County Sheriff's Department and Bobby Sherwood's crew of Nueces County Constables. Cazalas said he's begun talking to these folks, and Gibson tells me he's already seen a higher presence of law enforcement at the pier, particularly from Sherwood's officers.

Cazalas said he's hopeful that patrol officers who usually deal with crime and traffic violations on the beach and on the island will stop in and walk the pier from time to time.

Nueces County Parks Director Blake Pettis said that while poor weather may have prevented proper maintenance in recent months, he hopes that pier anglers continue to provide input on such issues. Perhaps they could become like a volunteer eyes and ears committee, he suggested. Gibson said that would be OK with him.

Maybe Pettis should post his phone number on the pier for convenience.

Meanwhile, the parks board, Cazalas and Pettis are seeking a consensus or at least a majority opinion from pier anglers on a variety of issues. If you want them to rescind the no-castnet rule, tell them. Or if you'd like to see the rod limit raised to four, let them know. Needham said the board will post any issue that rises to the top on the board's agenda for a vote.

See, the system works.

Outdoors writer David Sikes column appears Thursdays and Sundays. Contact him at 886-3616 or sikesd@caller.com

 

8/30 Report from Nancy Novak - We fished Wednesday there were only 8 people from 6am until about the 11am it started to rain , and David thought he would melt lol, each caught a small black tip a little over 30'' there were several spanish mackerel caught, and small trout, talked to several leaving around 6am with some nice reds and trout, i guess night fishing is better. Fished Monday, water as been nice some weed near the surf, but clear, again only about 10 people on the mostly regulars one guy from san Angelo got skunked. he fished for 3 days nothing,Bait was small watermelon shad no finger mullet in the surf, some very large horse mullet18 to 20'' about 2lbs or more, hopefully Friday will be better. Nancy and David

Here is a picture of a spotted eagle ray caught and released by Juan

 

 

 

| Home | Laguna Madre | Message Board | Padre Island | Baffin Bay | | Port Aransas | AransasPass/Rockport | Fish ID | Bob Hall Report | | Weather & Tides | Books on Tx Saltwater Fishing | Photo Gallery | Photo of the Week | Tips | Wading Spots | Previous Polls|