I've been inshore fishing in the past with guides and I recently relocated to Bryan. My wife's family spends a good bit of time in Port Aransas and I got a kayak for Christmas. I've had the Wade and Kayak fishing book by Ray Crawford and I'm interested in doing some fishing in some of the bays and coves in the area.

I'll probably still go out with Slowride Guide Services a few times anyways and get to know the area. And I also have a Raymarine Dragonfly Pro 7 on my kayak which has the GPS so I'm not too worried about getting lost but I'll still do my research on potentially hazardous areas.

What would be some basic lures recommended to get my tackle box started?

I'm interested in spending about $100 to get started.

I was thinking some 1/4 ounce spoons, 1/4 ounce jig heads with some Z-man, couple MirrOdeans, and maybe a few top waters.

I have some Zara Spooks for bass fishing, a minnow bucket, a 7 ft. AllStar spinning rod, and I plan to get a baitcasting and another better spinning setup. Currently looking at Falcon for both of those but will see.

Get lighter jig heads. 1/16 and 1/8 oz. Fish them with bass assassin style baits. Lots of your kayak fishing will be up in the marshes. Also buy some of the weedless style jig heads and weedless spoons.
For cold water fishing try some of the corkies. As it gets colder the trout and reds will be over mixed shell and soft mud bottoms. Find bait..ie mullet in this type of area and grind it out. In the dead of winter even seeing 1 single mullet gives you a target area to work. If there's bait there should be trout and reds.
Tight lines!
1Fisher77316

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it!

Some of the floating corkies I take it?

Mirrolure,, gold spoon ,,,,basic

Controlled Descent Paddle Shad. They are very versatile and outstanding in shallow water. They can sink slower than a Corky or mirrolure if you want them to, they can float, or they can be fished like a standard soft plastic.

Keep it simple on a kayak. Couple of weedless 1/4oz spoons (gold = reds silver = trout), 1/16 and 1/4 oz jig heads and plastics of your choice (bass assassin and paddle tail styles, couple of top waters (small and large). That should cover everything. Try not to spend too much time thinking about the lure you are using. Some people spend more time changing lures than fishing with them!!

On the RR jigs, just get 1/0 hooks or do I need bigger?

3/0 RR hooks for those jigs will work well on 5" soft plastics ( SWBA, TTF, Nortons, etc.), ... which is what we normally use here in the coastal bend.

On Page 117 , 2nd paragraph, Ray Crawford writes about me and my RR invention in his book Wade and Kayak Fishing on the Coastal Bend of Texas .

In fact, ol' Ray's book is what inspired me to publish WadeFish Rockport .

Thanks, I have that book.

Seems I need to get yours too!

Try not to over think the amount of lures you need to fish. Although I carry quite a few lures (2 boxes and a binder) I really only throw a handful them throughout the year. Basically If I built one box to take out here's what I'd carry:

Silver Mullet Super Spook Jr.
Chartreuse Back & Belly/Orange Throat/Pearl Sides MirrOlure She Dog
1/4 oz Gold & Silver Weedless Johnson Spoon
1/4 oz Gold Glitter DOA Shrimp
Opening Night, Mumpy Glow, Pumkpinseed/Chartreuse, Plum/Chartreuse, Strawberry/White, & Texas Roach Texas Tackle Factory Killer Flats Minnow
1/16 & 1/8 oz lead jighead

The brand of lure really doesn't matter to be honest; they're just what I've built confidence in throwing. Any soft plastic or hard bait will catch fish as long as you have confidence throwing them. The lures I listed will allow you to fish most water/weather conditions you'll see around the Port Aransas area and still fit within a 3600 series tackle box.

Yeah I try to get at least 2-3 information sources just to have a good guess at what the fish might be doing at a given time of the year. I also have the Hot Spots maps for most of the Texas coast.

Unfortunately I can't be down there as much as I would like so I see it as an investment.

I was thinking of getting 3-5 topwaters, couple each of the gold and silver spoons, jig heads based on how deep the map says I should be in a given area, and then probably stick with Gulp shrimp but also pick up a one or two packs (different types) of the Salwater Assassin type baits.

I got a 3640 (water tight seal verson of the 3600) today and I'll probably get a 3740 which is a deeper 3700 box that I like to keep my bass plastics in. I'll put the Gulp, Assassins, and a couple poppin' corks in that one and that will be my tackle more or less.