Sassy Shad
all different sizes

I don't believe nobody has mentioned the Mirrolure mirrodyne! Been absolutely slaying the specks with this over the past few months-in fact, several times it outfished live shrimp. Seems to work especially well under the lights, at night.

Nice!

I am not going until the fourth weekend in April so I will see what the fishing reports are looking like.

I also bought a CastAway 7' Croaker Smoker spinning rod and a CastAway Taranis 6' 7" ML casting rod today.

Well, the fishing was slow for most people on Saturday and for me too until about noon. Then I started getting bit.

In all I managed 17 trout, 2 Skipjack, and a gafftop. All but 3 of the trout were under 15 so they went back. The trout I kept were 15" (on the money), 15.5" and 19".

We stayed at the Sandcastle so between the two locks on my kayak and a fenced in and guarded parking lot I still have my kayak too. I also somehow managed to roll it over for the first time but thankfully all I'm out so far is a Rockport Rattler 1/16 jig head and two pairs of pliers. It seems my reels are still functional despite taking a dip but time will tell if they are ruined or not.

All in all it was fun and I am looking forward to going back and exploring more of the area.

ben b: Take it from me, you really, really need to take your reels apart, before the salt water dries. When salt water dries, salt crystals grow, taking up the space between parts. After that, you have to take stuff apart with a hammer. Get 'em apart, wash everything with fresh(or distilled) water, let them dry in the sun, then oil all the bearings, and put light grease on parts that slide together. If you don't do this, you'll regret it.

IslandJim

Oh, I partially disassembled them and washed them with freshwater that night and then disassembled as much as possible when I got home and repeated. So far everything looks good and the bearing are still turning freely. I lubed the spinning reel I was using last night and I'll grease and lube the baitcasting reel tonight or tomorrow.

The spinning reel was new but is a $50 reel and the baitcaster I've had for almost 20 years. If they seize up it's a loss but it wouldn't be enough money for me to have a bad taste for saltwater fishing in the future.

Is that a threat?

Color?

Just a suggestion, but I'd mention instead of going with Slowride, go with a friend of mine that used to work for them but started his own guide service... Ryan Ford of Rockport Kayak. We get our heads together on wild foods and fishing and the conversation goes sideways for hours. He really knows his stuff. Never have known a guide that I could get lost talking to for hours like I can with him.

As far as lures, Unfair Lures shrimp is getting a lot of chatter but gold or chrome spoons work too. Mainly you have to read the water and watch for your grass. 1/4 oz and 1/8 oz jig heads, plain and with eyes work. With soft plastics, you cut or bite the rounded end off them to have them flush with the jig head. Saves you a lot of short strikes especially with flounder. I've been hearing a lot of chatter about white gulp mullet with curly tails on 1/4 oz jig getting into good size flounder.

I'd be launching out of the Aransas city park over where the city pool is and paddling around there or Estes flats. Also over near the redfish lodge on Copano bay is a place I hit a lot when down there. You can't go wrong with Goose Island and there's great fishing over that direction too.