I am planning a family fishing trip in May of next year. I usually don't fish salt water, I know where to buy live shrimp and I can cast net mullet close to where we are staying. I want to catch a shark is there any where around there? Could I just take a big mullet and float it off the pier with a big float or ballon? What can be caught off the pier? What bait should I use? What kind of tackle do I need? I was told ribbon fish are good bait but I thought that was more of an offshore bait, any helpful info will be appreciated!

Thanx
JJ

Although you CAN catch shark in the bay at Rockport, I recommend you take the short trip over to Port Aransas and fish the surf, maybe fish the Horace Caldwell pier. Or maybe down the road a bit to Bob Hall pier (see youtube). The piers on Rockport are a blast to fish. You'll catch mostly speckeld trout, redfish, flounder, sheepshead etc. I usually wade fish by day and fish the piers at night. Ribbon fish is a great offshore bait. I guess you could use as a cut bait in the bays....never tried. We used to catch them all the time down in the Humble channel and intercoastal south of Padre Island drive going to Padre Island. Never have caught one at Rockport before. Use shrimp, mullet, small croakers and pinfish for live bait. During the day though the piggy perch will strip your shrimp off almost as soon as they hit the water.

Thanx

I just went to Rock Port a week ago, Red tide has effected the place all over. You can't see the Red Tide but all the bait fish are dying. I took my cast net and i cast it out 50 times randomly and i only caught on mullet.....shrimp there is 12 per quart(about 40-50 depending on size). If u are going for smaller fish then don't but shrimp at Rock Port, instead buy them at a Asian Supermarket or HEB(make sure they have the head on) they are much cheaper and the shrimp at Rock Port are very soft like chicken liver. My favorite spots is the Copano Bay pier. You can't even imagine how much speckle trout is there....... Only 4 people with 2 quarts of shrimp and ended up with 80 mostly keepers. Last thing is the water there is really shallow and fish don't really get over 30 inches if you are on a pier. SHARks really unlikely to catch one because of the really shallow water but there are dolphins! They mostly come out at night and the chase all the fish, so we had to move to another spot. Well Good Luck!

It's a bit of a drive south, but hardcore shark fishermen who like to run lines from the beach have long enjoyed success fishing from PINS ... the Padre Island National Seashore below Corpus Christi. It's not a trip for the unequipped, though ... in terms of both tackle/rigging and off-road vehicles.

For sharks, I agree on the above thoughts of either going down to PINS or at least fishng the surf or larger piers off the beachfront from Part A to Corpus Christi. Those areas should offer you the best opportunity to hook up with a shark. Also, the jetties at Port A can provide some shark action at times. If you do not plan to drive around much and prefer to stay in Rockport while still trying to target sharks, then I would fish the Copano Bay Causeway on the north side of town. But, your best bet there would be to walk all the way to the end of the causeway (you can access from the north or south ends) and fish the ship channel. You have deeper water there so your odds should increase somewhat. Be forewarned, it's a good little hike to the end so you might want to take a wagon to haul a chair, cooler, tackle etc.