Catching Wild Spotfin Butterflyfish On Texas Jetties

[Jetty Diver]

Hello,

Does anyone have any ideas on successfully catching Spotfin Butterflies on the Texas jetties? I live in Flour Bluff on the East side of Corpus Christi, and at Packery Channel, a local channel that separates Padre Island from Mustang Island there are some here. I have seen about 10 of them there ranging in size from about an inch to about 3 inches. I would like to catch one that is about 1.5 to 2 inches long. I have had good results catching the French Angelfish that we have here using 2 green aquarium nets in the 6 to 10 inch size of nets, but the angels are a lot less skiddish than the butterflies. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and any suggestions on their care too.

Thanks,
John

[jrossjr79]

try fish traps

[Jetty Diver]

Do you mean bait traps like you catch killifish with? I have tried one of those without any luck using bread and small pieces of shrimp.

[FireWater]

Patience and luck would be my guess. I would say a throw net, but that could get you in trouble and cause serious harm to the fish. If it were me I would make a couple walks to see if I can find out their habits and where they might be at certain times. When I fish or hunt I look for travel paths and predator ambush points so the same principle would apply in this instance. I would also look at a larger fine mesh net. The bait nets for fishing work very well.