The second week of July me and my buddy are gonna hit some near shore rigs in his nautic star. Not looking for any particular species just looking to hook up. What would be a good selection to bring with us. Plan on bringing squid for sure.

Dead bait, Sardines and Ribbonfish. Live bait, Pinfish and Croakers?

piggy perch & frozen sardines, maybe some squid

Use cut whiting and finger mullet, and live shrimp. They will work better than squid. If you tie up drift ribbon fish 10 feet under a ballon 30-40 yards behind the boat. Set out a frozen block of chum too.

Any suggestions on a place to buy dead bait out of sabine pass or Winnie. I know the lazy pelican in Winnie has a lot of frozen bait for both inshore and off.

Catch whiting is the surf

If you are hitting up the close structure don't leave the dock w/o a few small to medium hardheads in the live well. Best bait ever if a cobia shows up...GUARANTEED.

Sea Pony's in Winnie, great shop

I'll second the hardhead recommendation...except don't agree its the best bait ever.

Live shrimp, the bigger the better, cast toward a rig has a life expectancy of about 15 seconds out there.

You can improve your odds and get an edge over 90% of the other anglers if you can throw a live bait out there.

use small jigs and catch bait at the rigs

Planned on jigging some sambiki to get some fresh bait as well. Sea pony is normally my main stop on the way to the bay. They just don't have live bait a lot.

Looks like the bait is covered, in my opinion going off shore without live bait is sac religious. Another suggestion is to have a rod set up that you can cast, with a small ball bearing swivel between the mainline and two feet of 40 lb fluorocarbon terminated with a Gamahatsu 6/0 circle hook. With this on stand by and a live bait you can catch anything from a ling that turns his nose up at all the dead bait you put in front of him to the big bull dolphin that comes out from under the weed bed to look and runs back under. Good luck on your trip
Ken

Best answer! And it's free.

Size 10 or 12 Sabiki with the gold hooks. Just tie on and add a 3 or 4 oz. torpedo sinker. Drop to depth that they are holding and put in gear. Pump the rod up and down. When you feel one on, start reeling slowly. You'll load up all 4 or 5 hooks that way, and fill your tank quick.

The best bait is the bait that's actually out there, not the stuff in the fridge at the local tackle store on land.

Thanks guys, it's getting closer!!!

What kind of small jigs are yall talking about? Are y'all talking bucktails or jigging spoons or......???

All of the above and some sabiki rigs too.