Fishing off a dock in the brazos river (texas)?

Question

lately ive been fishing off of a dock on the brazos river, i'm really wanting to catch some pretty good size large mouth bass, for the past week ive gone fishing from about 10pm to 4am every day and a fish or two will jump up out of the water maybe every 15 min (judging by the splash they are decent sized fish) but i havent even got a bite yet! ive been useing top water lures,rubber minnows/worms, and some rapalas or whatever they are called? what is the deal? how come i cant catch anything? what lures should i use? what colors? how fast should i reel in? tell me what you have had the most luck with at night?

Answer 1

i would try using black jitterbugs, big chunky dark colored worms. rapala original floating minnows are a good choice and again go with dark colors. that big splash you are hearing could possibly be gar. from what i have heard, there are alot of alligator gar in the brazos and they get huge.i would fish topwater lures with a jerk and stop motion or "walk the Dog". worms and other plastics. twitch them on the bottom and everything else just slow and steady

Answer 2

Where on the Brazos? If you are near Freeport then the water can be too brackish for bass. I have actually caught rat reds and specks all the way up near Brazoria. During the dry spells the tide can push the saltwater up the river easier. If you are near the brackish water area then you are better off fishing for reds, specks, flounder, and gafftop. The hardhead catfish caught around that area can be a pain to weed through sometimes, I've caught hundreds of those guys out of the Brazos. Like the other answers said, alligator gar are a big target on the Brazos. There is a nice tournament under the HY36 bridge every August for alligator gar. They take the weight of your biggest four gar. Lot's of nice prizes in that tourney. Not as nice as the Fishing Fiesta tourney over the 4th of July weekend in Freeport. I was able to fish that one this year and will try to make it back down for the next one. I use to spend allot of nights catching gar out of that river, some close to 100lbs. You need some serious tackle and whole mullet to catch those guys. If you are above Brazoria in fresh water then try to work your baits along the bank of the river more, especially with worms and minnows. 40yr exp

Answer 3

Micheal is right. The brazos river and many lakes in the area are saturated with Gar. You may want to use some cutbait(chicken livers, pieces of meat, etc) if you want to catch these gar, but they can have some nasty teeth so watch out!

  If you are looking for catfish or sunfish you can use worms or shad.

    For bass, try to cast parallel and close to the dock you are fishing on with some spinnerbaits or some plastic worms. Bass will often hold close to cover like this during the summer.