Fishing the coastal surf has it’s rewards whether wading from the beach or from a boat.
Story and Photography By Robert Sloan

While growing up in southwest Houston the one thing a whole lot of friends and I liked to do was fish the surf between Surfside and San Luis Pass. It was pure adventure and a type of fishing that always provided an unexpected twist like having a tarpon smack a lure and go head over tail.
As we hit our driver’s license age our only obstacle was talking our parents into loaning us a vehicle when the tides were clean and green to the beach. We hit it right about 50 percent of the time. The trick was to have a light southeast breeze.
Back then we wore white pith helmets to hold an array of lures in place. A pair of lightweight khaki pants, shirt and a pair of Chuck Taylor Converse tennis shores completed our outfit. It was simple. So was the rod and reel. One of the best was a six foot Fenwick rod seated with a red Ambassadeur bait casting reel. That’s when the rod and reels would last for years.
The go-to lures for fishing the surf in the 70’s included a silver spoon, a 52M28 slow sinking MirrOlure, a few shrimp tail jigs like the old Touts and maybe a topwater plug like a Super Spook.
Fast forward to 2017 and you’ll see that things have changed a good bit. Boat’s cost upwards of $60,000, ditto that for the tow vehicle. A good rod and reel can easily cost $500. And suiting up will blow a few hundred dollar bills out of your wallet faster than greased lightning. Just a pair of wading boots can cost well over a hundred bucks.

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