About two months ago a few friends and I went down to Surfside for the weekend to camp on the beach. I am from the Dallas area and this was only the second opportunity I have had to fish the coast, the other was a guided trip out of Sea Drift. I wound up catching a few good sized sheepsheads, red drums and a few dinky redfish in the surf on this trip. I now have the saltwater bug.

I recently bought a 18' SeaRay Laguna CC deep V and have been thinking it is sea worthy and have a wild hair to take it down to the coast. The only problem is that I have no idea where I should go. I don't have a specific species in mind but I do like red fish and have always wanted to catch a shark. I would just like my friends and I to catch a few good keepers.

Should I go out of Port A, Port O, Freeport? Are there public ramps to launch from? Is it a bad idea to go out to an oil rig or should I stay fairly close to shore? I use a casting net for baitfish up here. Is it hard to find bait or would it be best to buy bait at a bait shop near a ramp? Most of my rods are 7' to 8' medium heavy with Abu Garcia 5000 to 6000 series baitcasters. They work great for large catfish up here but will they be insufficient for coastal fishing?

From all the posts I have read I have gathered that fishing from just about anywhere on the coast of Texas will be productive but I was hoping that someone might line me out with a basic plan for a good trip. Any and all opinions and will be greatly appreciated.

From Waxahachie your closer to Galveston so I would plan to go that way, Go down to Texas City, get a hotel room on the outside of town near I-45(a major chain hotel),go to the Texas City Dike(get a good map at Academy), pick up bait(croaker/shrimp) at one of the bait stands on the dike, go to the end of the Dike(dike road is rough, go slow) and launch from the Boat ramp near the end (left side), proceed to Bolivar Wells, or any of the reefs in East Bay( again, get a map at Academy) for trout or reds, maybe gafftop. Or head out to the Jettys and pick up some bull reds, or sharks.Go back hotel, sleep, go back to Dike and start all over again. Your rods should do the trick, i would use 12-14 lb test, with trout you could pull the hooks out of their mouths so be easy on the hookset when targeting trout. Be sure to rinse your reels and use SaltAway spray. Sounds easy right?

One last thing.....I can be in Waxahachie in an hour so let me know when your ready to fish and save me a spot on the boat!