3 Mistakes Sabotaging Your Inshore Trips (And How to Fix Them)
- By: Pat Ogletree
- on
- Found In: Fishing Tips, Inshore Fishing, Weekly Newsletter: 09-07-25
If you are tired of going out on the water and not catching the quantity or quality of the fish you want or even worse, getting skunked, it’s more than likely you are making one or more of these mistakes.
I’m going to tell you what these mistakes are and teach you what you should be doing instead.
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If you are struggling to catch fish or you hit a plateau, make sure that you are not making these costly mistakes:
- Stay out of dead zones
- Have a handful of lures you have confidence in and know how to use them well
- Plan your trip out ahead of time, but also know how to make a change when the plan is not working
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-Pat
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STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish ever trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish every trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
Good stuff, thanks Pat!!!
These are becoming more second nature to me the more I fish. Thanks Pat and Salt Strong.
Great Tips Here. I’m guilty of too much tackle and not moving often enough to find fish. Thanks for the reminders. I needed to hear this.
Thanks Pat, that’s probably the best advice I have heard on how the have better success fishing
Great posting Pat, tons of spot-on info packed into this one. I really need to think like a fish more as I seem to struggle with why they are not comfortable being where I am. Thanks for the pointers.
When it comes to locating fish, is it worth buying a fish finder or is it more important to observe the water for predator and bait activity?
Depends on where and how you fish. The term inshore is relative to your area of the country. Where I fish I am rarely if ever over 3 foot of water so I don’t even own a depth finder. But if you’re in an area that has deeper water, bridges, reefs and other structure like that then a depth finder can be very valuable to have
Thank You Pat ‘n
Good information and tips,
I am Heading to Port Isabel in Late
September, I will be doing more
Fishing from the piers , jetties and shore line , I never fished Port Isabel,
before , I do both , live bait and lures,
Salt Strong has definitely helped so far
A lot good information and tackle,
Any more tips is appreciated
Thanks again , Tight lines!!
I love fishing that area, one of my favorites. The jetties should have big reds moving out to spawn and the trout moving back in along with flounder starting to move out. It should be a good time to be there. It’s possible to get snook at the jetties too.
Chunk bait like cut mullet will catch a lot of different fish but you will deal with a lot of sharks. Cut crab is best if you’re specifically targeting reds without attracting the sharks. Big lures like the Skinny Lipper XL will do well during the lower light times and the Prawn rigged on a Hoss Weedless Football Jig head will catch fish too.
There’s plenty of places to wade and one of my favorites is the east end of the Causeway that connects to South Padre Island. Reds, trout and flounder can be caught there.
Hope it’s a good trip!
Thank you for the advice!!
This why I love Salt Strong!!
Good stuff and noting for sure. I bring a lot of stuff with me and need to pair it down…I will say I MAINLY change colors often if I feel I’m in a good zone. The dead zone thing I get and one challenge being in kayak is you can only cover but so much ground so I am guilty of hanging around dead areas. Lately, I’ve had some good drum action and I explored the shoreline and after moving up most of it with nothing, I saw some splashes which again, to me did not seem like the large mullet which are in the area and I was right (for once LO) and had 4 drum bites right away getting two before they disappeared on me.
Congrats on the drum! You’re right on the kayak, sometimes I think out of the three methods that I fish, wade, boat and kayak, the later is the least mobile.
need to make a plan thanks alot
Pre planning is key!
I am always very conscientious when I catch a fish, as to, “What was I doing when that fish bit?” What retrieve was I doing, what depth was the bait, was it in open water or next to structure, what color was the bait? Recognizing what you were doing “right” when you got the bite will allow you to pattern that retrieve (or otherwise) for the next several hours. Be the bait!
Very good advice! When we fish with intention this becomes much easier. Thanks for sharing!