Im going to Port Aransas with the wife March 25th thru 30th and was thinking about taking my old Hobie Outback kayak with us. I remember last year when driving around down there that there was an area called Wilson's Cut south of town and just west of 361 and saw some folks going out of there in kayaks. Is that a decent area to go fishing at? What kind of fish can you catch this time of year? Trout, Redfish? I'm not really a bait fishermen would rather be casting and reelin'. What kind of lures and what kind of tackle should work? I got several bait casters with line from 12lb to 20lb test and I generally bass and striper fish up here in North Texas. I'm fairly new to saltwater fishing and especially inshore fishing and any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

There are a lot of canals and flats in that area to fish with a kayak. I fished there a week ago and saw several kayaks. Probably mostly redfish with possible trout and flounder. I would fish a soft plastic jerkbait on a light jighead (1/16 or 1/8 oz), something like a Saltwater Assassin or Down South soft plastic. Water is probably clear back there so go with lighter colors. Johnson weedless Gold spoon might work well. If you are a bass assassin a spinner bait, topwater or frog might action from redfish.

Thanks! Blutarsky! I will give it a shot! Sounds like most of those lures and techniques are right up my alley!

Here's a Google Map with access points: Click

As far as lures are concerned I would keep it simple.
Bone topwater (I prefer Super Spook Jrs, but Skitterwalks and She Dogs are great too)
White/Chartreuse, Chicken on a Chain/Chartreuse, Plum/Chartreuse, and Strawberry/White soft plastics (Norton, Bass Assassin, H&H, Down South Lures, and TTF are good brands. In other words they all catch fish.)
3" New Penny Gulp Shrimp
Nite Glow 3" DOA shrimp
1/4 oz weedless gold & silver spoons
1/16 & 1/8 oz jigheads
A wire cigar float (such as a Cajun Thunder or H&H TKO) for fishing the Gulp or DOA shrimp. Use some line from your reel to make the leader so the shrimp stays just above the grass or bottom when fishing.

Once again thanks everyone for the help on this! I really appreciate it!

I will probably take 3-4 rods and reels in the kayak. Im thinking 30-40lb braid for my topwater rig, 15lb seagaur invizix for my jig head rig. You guys think these would work? Any sugestions? Thanks again!

If you're going to have a dedicated topwater rod you need to spool it up with monofilament or coploymer line. You need line which floats and has a little stretch. If you insist on braid then you need to run 3-6 feet of monofilament leader for the topwater rod.

I throw 12 lbs PLine CX premium on my two baitcasters and 10 lbs Power Pro w/ 6 feet of 12 lbs fluorocarbon leader on my one spinning setup.

Good memories of fishing Estes Cove area, launching from Palm Harbor RV park and paddling north/ north west.. for reds and trout.

I�m staying at On the Beach RV park in Port Arkansas. Hopefully I can catch some fish and make some good memories as well

What style lures do you all use in the bass assasin or other brand? die dapper, Little dapper, shad assssin, Fluke, sea shad? I got some Reaction Innovation Skinny Dippers in houdini color, pearl shad, sexy shad and others. What type of retrieve do you use? Slow swim it or worm fish it stop and go? Would a weightless fluke setup work and fish it with the jerk/twitch and pause?

Several brands I have found work really well are DOA and Category 5 for soft plastics and then put on a 1/4 or 1/8 jig head on them.

Either the 4 or 5 inch sea shad are the most common used, followed by the shad (rat tail) baits. Plum/Chartreuse and Pumpkinseed/Chartreuse are proven colors from Bass Assassin. I used to throw them a lot, but they're pretty dang soft and don't hold up too well to the toothy inshore species; great action though. Of the lures I mentioned above they are all more durable than the Bass Assassin's.

I typically use a twitch twitch reel motion when fishing paddle tails on a jighead. I'll vary the retrieve to see what they like, rarely will I use just a slow, swimming retrieve. Weightless flukes (such as the Super Fluke Jr.) or rat tail baits are a good option in shallower waters to stay above the grass. The Trout Support Grass Walker was designed specifically for this and is a very good lure.

We fished aransas this last monday and did well but we were fishing with cut mullet and dead shrimp. The bite was slow but the weather was aweful. We had a cold wet north wind with heavy cloud cover. Took us all day but we managed a 3 man limit of reds with 2 oversized and some black drum in the mix. Everywhere we fished is accessible with a yak. Look at the map I. The pic. The red hilited areas you can easily launch and the yellow hilited are where we caught fish. I mostly targeted the wind blown sides of some of the small islands on the bay flat and a long rock berm that stretches all the way across the bay. All the fish were fairly tight to the rock or shell. Get out there and let us know how ya do!

I may have to take the ferry back across 361 and go try that area. I could also go with cut bait or dead shrimp. What kind of rig do you use to fish the cut mullet orndead shrimp? Carolina rig? If so how heavy of a weight? Rod/reel and line combo? Thanks again everyone for helping a inshore newbie.

So is Shamrock cove accessible? There is a RED dot for it. Thanks for the great map.