Hello I am headed to crystal beach in a couple weekends. Just looking for any tips to maybe catch a couple fish from the beach while I am there.

What kind of fish and with what type of gear do you have?

For trout any walk the dog topwater and also mirrodines or catch 5 work well. In the soft plastic category you might check out the TroutSupport Lure. It's a mullet walk bait that cast exceptionally well (as far as spook jr) and even into the wind. Trout eat a lot of finger mullet in the surf. Finger mullet and glass minnows are the mainstay for surf trout.. that and also smaller menhaden.

The key to surf fishing is not just walking in an casting. Many in the surf just get lucky to have walked into fish. Understand the structure, current, and flow in the surf. There is long shore current when we have S winds.. that current runs north / north east along the surf. Look where the first gut get's pinched off and the long shore current has to flow out across the second bar. This happens every 1/4 miles to some degree although you might not notice them without a trained eye and the right tide height and wind. Look for small bait concentration and focus more of your time near cuts like San Luis pass (but on the beach), or the Freeport or Galveston Jetties. More water flow mean more bait and more bait mean more predators. Learn to read the water.

For the long rods.. i'll let others on this board do that..

hope that helps.
t

also look for small shell areas at the edgewater. don't know if they have anything to do with the pinch area or not, but seem to be good areas to start. by small shell i mean areas that have a carpet of the small blue/white clam shell right at the water.