A sunny October afternoon — Halloween — the temperature in the 70's, but almost no one at Bob Hall pier in Corpus Christi. Red tide arrived here two weeks ago, turning the water a brownish red, filling the air with a toxin that stings the eyes and throat, and killing fish by the thousands. Normally October is considered by many the greatest time of all to go fishing, but when the red tide hits, it's a disaster. From the ocean beach at Corpus Christi south to Mexico, the beach is lined with dead fish, mostly mullet. They're not game fish, but they're a big part of the diet of game fish. Other fish of many species are killed in smaller numbers. This was the first major red tide event here in three years. The red tide is an algae bloom, and relief only comes with cool weather. Two weeks after its arrival, it looks like it's finally moving out. You could hardly see or smell it, and the water was fine for swimming and surfing.
The question is, what's left of the fish? A few people were fishing in the afternoon, and none had any fish. A fellow fishing on the end of the pier said he had caught two "bull reds" (red drum over 30 inches long) and one shark earlier in the day.
I went a mile away to the Packery Channel jetty, where water from the bays enters the ocean. At the moment it was flood tide, so water was going in from the ocean, but all was clear. I saw one person who had just caught a mangrove snapper. I decided to try for a few minutes, and in just a few casts with a "gulp" lure, I caught a foot-long redfish (red drum), a ladyfish and two grunts ("piggy perch"). That's all I needed to see. I believe the fishing will pick right up.
So if you hear Red Tide is hitting the beach you're going to, find somewhere else to go, but when it's gone — no problem.
The only ones who LOVE red tide are the sea birds. They're so fat now they probably can't fly.
Red tide updates in Texas:
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