We don’t use bait so can’t help with the meat rig.
1/8 oz screw lock head with a paddle tail plastic will catch every game fish in the bay. Dark day color and bright day color will get it done.

A spook top water is good again color ranks way behind action.

Then just go fishing. Concentrate on action and presentation and what trick you just did that got you bit.

Thanks Pat! I’ll just have to really learn to work them lures!

This mornings wade, we were back in by 9;30 before it got sweltering. Tequila Sand eel and pumpkin Hogie super minnow. Saw the mud cloud, stabbed the scooter off and it was game on. I have no idea why that trout was in the middle of a bunch of redfish, but there he was.

Maybe he was adopted haha - super cool! Nice catch. That’s what I hope to do tomorrow but more likely I’ll just be exploring!

Skunked think I need to work on my lure presentation. Saw a bunch of bait popping and busting at the surface for a while from 630-8ish in the shallows (like ankle deep) so I didn’t think there would be game fish there. Tossed a to0 water when I saw the bait. There was an outgoing tide after that I fished a 3/8 jig head (probably too heavy considering how shallow everything was) until the water was too low and sun was too high so I called it quits. Definitely a little discouraged but a I know this is part of the process

OP it is always frustrating when the skunk happens. Keep swinging you'll figure it out.

What kind of bait were you seeing early? Shrimp or mullet, shad? Also when you say "busting" the surface were you seeing bait flying out of the water like they're running for their life or little surface boils? There's a difference.

In water that shallow if reds were there you probably would have seen them. Bait is obviously key but I keep moving unless I see bait being chased or I see mud boils/wakes.

Yessir thanks for the encouragement! Not down and out yet!

There was some shrimp and Shad jumping up in decent numbers towards the shoreline, and out towards the middle of the bay I could see and hear occasional mullet jumping out of the water but it’d be a very isolated and infrequent occurrence.

I thought I saw wakes chasing after the jumping bait near the shoreline, they definitely seemed to be moving frantically.

Keep at it. The real clues are subtle.
Redfish are rarely frantic. They’ll push up a wake until they find what they are looking for.
A small pod of shrimp scattering can pinpoint a feeding flounder.
The moving tide puts the fish in predictable spots. Falling tide pulls them into cuts and drains waiting on bait coming off the flat or marsh. Rising tide pulls them up in the marsh.

Yesterday I saw a mud cloud the size of a car hood. It wasn’t natural and was caused by a big school of reds in knee deep water just out in the middle of shoalwater bay. Certainly wasn’t where I was headed but sometimes a five minute detour pays off. Sometimes not.

Making the transition from lake to bay the biggest things to adapt is to understand how shallow they’ll be on the hottest days. And how small a change can be that will hold schools of fish.

I'm down to go wade fishing and I currently have a pretty open AM schedule. I'm based out of Friendswood and would enjoy joining your next trip out!

I love my Gulp plastics, but when I go with my 10 y.o. we use (looks around at who is watching) ... "Live Bait"