I've been taming the salt the last few days, finally got down here after 6 months or so. Has been cloudy, windy, and cold. Fish were few and far between until the sun came out today and warmed the flats up. I waded into one of the largest schools of reds I have ever seen in about a foot of water. It was an awesome sight. Limited out in 3 casts and caught 6 more out of the school. I had some guys down with me that were in the boat fishing a few hundred yards away and I spooked the school trying to get the boat set up for them to catch them. You could tell the reds had just pulled out of the channel, they had mud and silt all over their backs and looked brown, not the bronze and pink like they normally are. Stomachs were full of shrimp and sand eel looking things. There were probably 250-400 redfish in the a single school, mostly from 17-23 inches, I didn't see any big uns and they were fairly skittish. New Penny Gulp on 1/16 oz Zoom horny toad hook.

Sounds awesome! I'll be there from the 10th - 13th hopefully I can catch some reds and trouts as well. Where exactly were you?

Drake if you know the area, I would try several places this time of year. Dagger, and Ransom area or go the opposite direction and try Hog or Traylor Island. Morris Cummins Cut is good place too look also. TIGHT LINES and thanks for the report Bullet!! I'm gettin the itch to head down there as soon as I can.


Rob

So I appologize in advance for being a complete NEWBY. However I am new to Port A and would like to dive into salt water fishing. I read that wading is a good way to start. Any advice on a basic tackle/rod setup? I am a pretty avid bass fisherman so I've built up quite a collection of equipment.

I will also be taking a trap on Warf Cat there in Port A next tuesday. They have been reporting limits for the past three days. Should be fun. And in advance THANKS for any help!

Jeremy

Spend a little money and get a good reel. Cheap combos wear out quickly. I would advise talking to a lot of folks before buying a $60-$100 reel. Rods are a bit cheaper, and you can get a good one for around $40. Thats all for spinning stuff. I have a Daiwa 153 HL baitcasting reel that I fish for specks with. Expensive, but very worth the money. Its an inshore reel. Shimano Citica's are very good too. For your baitcasting set up, a good bass rod is good to have. I personally am taking my Carbonlite rod to Port A with me this year.

The biggest advice I can give you is to not skimp on saltwater gear. It will cost a little more, but will last a lot longer in these severe conditions. Folks in tackle shops are very nice. Talk to a bunch of people, and they will guide you in the right direction.

Just a word of advice...They ALWAYS report that limits are being caught. If one of the 133 people on board caught a limit of anything, they're going to report that limits were caught. Do yourself a favor and watch the marine and seas forecasts in the final days before your trip. If they are predicting seas over 5 ft. then I'd wait and go another day.

If you have a decent amount of stuff built up, you should be able to find something that works for saltwater. I used to fish green Shimano Curado 100s and 200s down there for years. (I switched to the Chronarch 50MG and love it). I used to use all sorts of All Star popping rods, and then I upgraded them to Waterloo rods. Any light-medium action bass rod will likely work well with a similiarly paired reel. Also, Academy sells some Texas Tackle Factory rods that work well for the money with a good Academy warranty.

My rule of thumb is that the cheapest equipment will fail after very limited exposure to saltwater, and I have fished there all my almost 40 years. Once you get to the $100 price range on a baitcaster though, you are in decent shape, at least in the Shimano line. Others can guide you on other brands, as I haven't fished anything else in the last 20 years.

If you are going to fish the Rockport area with plastics, I like pumpkin/chart and firetiger among others.

Any info on where to wade fish? Is it any good surf fishing and where? I will be there a two weeks and then at the end of July.