Headed down to Matagorda with the family for Thanksgiving. I have not ever fished this time of the year in saltwater so I am a little clueless, not totally as we have fished a fair bit on the Texas coast but a little..
We are staying on the Colorado, Dock is not lit fwiw.

Any pointers, my 15 and 16 year old sons fish incessantly so I need to give them a general direction as we bass and crappie fish primarily.

Thanks in advance for any help

on the river, the trout will come to the lights. i'd take my own lights. a cheap set of Harbor Frieght quartz lights on a telescoping stand will work. make a deflector out of aluminum foil to direct the light. on the bay, flounder and redfish will be around the grass at sloughs and drains. go to the marina and ask around, most folks will give you some advice.

Drive down to the Matagorda Bay Nature Park at the mouth of the river (at the end of FM 2023). There are several lighted fishing piers there that are used nightly, and the fish are accustomed to hanging out there. There are also the jetties to fish from, as well as the beach. Good luck!

ive gone to matagorda probably 6 out of the last 7 thanksgivings. and heres my 2 cents.
if you can, try fishing the boat locks for flounder, they close the area up some times. in that same location you can throw out cut crab and shad and catch bullreds and black drum.
go to the jetties and fish for whiting and sandtrout with dead shrimp
if you buy live shrimp at rawlings, fish for sheepshead on the jettys as well. i like to fish closer to the end of the jetty on the calmer side.(cut the live shrimp up and use a popping cork with a 5ft drop or off the bottom)
There is a public lit pier on the colorado as you go down beach acess road. it uses green lights and its a hit or miss there. Just go there at night and see if the trout are smacking the shrimp, if not dont fish it
if the fish are around. live line live shrimp, or small plastics, spoons work too
Moving tides are good, incoming is my preferred.
There are a good ammount of black drum in the surf as well.
The bullred fishing can be excellent off the public pier that extends to the surf. if you have a surf rod fish the end of the jetty. if its less than 10ft, than fish the pier.
stay dry, if the waves are crashing over the pier jetty, go to the newly built ones dont go in the bays right now, alot of freshwater and your better off in the surf
you will get hung up, it is what it is

thank you gentleman, that is the type of thing I was looking to learn.
Much Apreciated

https://youtu.be/TE7tFYb7iZU we caught mulet with cast net and fished the jetty.

The river has been flowing a ton of fresh... probably not going to be many trout in the lights above the ICW. fish below the ICW this year ...the lights in the old river should do. Also, great time of year to chunk a big cut mullet off the jetties for a bull red. 1oz egg weight and a 4-5 /0 Kahle hook on 30ld leader. Equipment doesn't have to be huge.. but probably better to be bigger than bass size capacities. Striper gear would suffice for the bulls. The stuff in the lights and the flounder can all be caught on bass fishing gear.

Good luck, if they ever want to learn more about the salt and hunting down fish in the main bays many have loved the TroutSupport.com video series.

You can't drive back around to the East side of the locks anymore. They fenced it all off and says keep out. Jerks!