Hey everyone. To start off, this might be a tl;dr thread for most of you. I appreciate the ones who read it. I'll be heading back to Port Aransas November 20-23 for some fishing. I am by no means an expert- not even a novice. I'm still learning knots, rigs, different kinds of tackle, etc. I loved fishing as a kid and have become so focused with work the past 15 years or so that I've forgotten how much I loved the outdoors. I'm aiming to get down to the coast at least once every two months or so from here on out. My current gear is as follows:

Penn Battle 4000 on a Cabela's 7'2" Whuppin' Stick Spinning Rod (Power = Heavy, 12-50lb)
Cabela's Salt Striker SS-40B on a 7' Shimano Sellus Spinning Rod (Power = Medium, Action = Fast, 6-12lb)
Abu Garcia Abassadeur 4600C3 on a 7' Falcon Original Casting Rod (Action = Med/Heavy, 12-20lb test)

I know I don't have the nicest, most expensive gear, but I�m willing to purchase one nice setup before this next trip. I'm going to be staying at Channel View Condominiums and fishing off of their pier into the shipping channel. My main question is this- For pier fishing in the ship channel in Port Aransas, which setups should I be using this time of year? I was planning on having 1-2 live bait setups (probably croaker/mullet) and 1-2 artificial setups. Was thinking about a popping cork setup. Was also thinking about trying out the Berkely Gulp! Saltwater Shrimp artificial baits. Which of my current setups should I use for what purpose? Recommended rod/reel setup and tackle for that location and time of year?

I�ve been looking at the Shimano Stradic ci4 reels and I�m thinking about taking the plunge and getting one for this trip- pairing it with a St. Croix Mojo or Shimano Teramar Southeast rod. Any thoughts/opinions? I just want to have fun and possibly catch a fish or two. I won�t be angry if I�m not pulling 40� bull reds out of the water. Just worried about my cheap gear and if I should have even wasted the money on it. Thanks all. Any help would be appreciated.

Looks like your gear is good enough. The pier next that the condo is great for gafftop catfish and the occasional flounder if you are fishing for them. Gafftop run big there this time of year. Try Charlie's Pasture pier early in the morning as well. Free lining live finger mullet around the pilings sometimes produces nice trout. That pier has good flounder fishing or so I've heard. Just go and have fun but most of all make new friends and learn what the locals and the more experienced fishermen are doing there. If the surf is nice and flat head out to the big pier and try for pompano or sheepshead. Pomps will take dead shrimp fished on the bottom and sheepshead will take live shrimp in the winter. Trout fishing is usually good there at night with live mullet.

From there you can wander over to the big jetties, Fishpass jetties or Packery Channel Jetties. Where ever you go just spend a bit of time watching and learning before actually trying to fish. Have fun. Eat at my favorite restaurant Oceans of Seafood and say hi to Chris the Manager for me. Check out these blogs for some good info about fishing the area.

Cudakilla.com
Shorebound Anger

Thanks for the response Cuda. I'm up in Round Rock! When I was there last month around this time, it was hard keeping the bait away from the turtles. Had 4 large ones stealing our bait I think. I caught plenty of small Sheepshead, none near big enough to keep. My uncle caught a 28" Red and that was about the best we had on our short 3-day trip. Looking forward to hitting the water harder this time and learning a bit more. Would you use a popping cork setup down there in mid-November? I'm just wondering how I want to rig up my gear.

That gear should work well enough for any surf species short of big sharks and determine turtles! With finesse and correct drag you could even work a bull red with that. My son's cheap $9 5ft rod and reel have caught plenty of fish for dinner.

I am still learning the Gulf waters and species, and most of the time I use a Shimano Voltaeus 7ft, Med/Fast with a Shimano Carbomatic 3000 reel that was handed doe to me by an uncle. My surf is a Battle 6000 with a 9ft UglyStik Med/Heavy. In Peru I've caught plenty of flounder with a Daiwa Samurai 7i (30$) and a 7ft UglyStik Med/Fast.

More than expensive tackle it is finding the fish and appropriate bait, that will make you successful.
Berkley Gulp! has worked well for me, as well as FishBites and shrimp (fresh dead or live)
Good luck

channel view pier I use 7' Med spinning set up, 10 Lb test mono,2 0/0 croaker hook live mullet free lined, the specks are there between 900 - midnite under the lights always on the right side walking out, will catch lots, after that fish the end left corner and you will load up on sand trout use your dead mullet cut up in small pices. Never caught much during the day, so we always go and fish Horace calDwell pier during the day, catch some whiting on pieces of shrimp and use their heads for bait on your big rigs, caught lots of bull reds, me and the wife normally go every November and thats our routine, unfortunately can't go this year, learned that from the regulars and it works, have fun wish I was there to show it works good luck

Well how did ya do, just curious

You have some pretty good stuff in your arsenal.

I have the exact Whoopin Stick you have, but it is wearing a very old Penn 6500 SS reel, spooled with 30lb mono and it has brought in some pretty large fish, including a few decent sharks in it's time. I would suggest pooling some 40lb braid on the 4000 and calling it a day.

I just picked up a new 6500 C3, used to have a bunch of Garcia CBs at one time, fill that booger up with some 20lb line and it makes a great all around setup. Your 4600 would work nicely as a lure reel 12 to 15lb line would fill it nicely.

I don't know much about Salt strikers, but it sounds like that is an excellent candidate for 12lb line and use it as a float rig, finesse rig, weightless baits, free lining, lighter lures, stuff like that.

Only rig I see missing is a long one, 9 to 10 foot long, medium to medium heavy, Get a pretty good 5000 to 8000 reel and fill it with up to 20 lb mono or 40lb braid and you will be able to handle almost any situation.

A nice inexpensive rig I have a couple of is a 9 foot Shimano Fx rod, paired up with a 6000 Penn Pursuit II reel, well under $100 fully dressed.

Good stuff guys !!!