Those work well as teasers for flounder in a hi/lo rig too. Excellent catches you two are making!

What would you put on the bottom?

In order of my preference: a gulp shrimp on a jig (however heavy you need to cast) - a brined shrimp on the same - a large shrimp rubber banded to stay on - a brined mullet strip about 5" long. Brining for me is simply taking the bait and dumping non-iodine salt on it the night before to fully coat & ready in the morning. With the gulp I'll take a little bottle of menhaden oil and coat them with it.

I have worked a weight in (3 oz) with nothing but the teaser and caught them well, only thing about that method is if they cut the line you've lost the whole rig vs just the jig that you can tie right back on.

Karstopo those are some nice trout ! Soooo where is the spot or at least the beach ? Bryan , Surfside , Quintana the mouth of the Brazos ?

Just like on the outer banks of NC and in most lakes in Texas the fish are never in one place to long.
They move up and down the beaches following the bait fish.
While most surf anglers set up on a spot where they can reach a sough between the sand bars with their long casts and put the poles in sand spikes it is far better to try to keep mobile.
If your beach allows beach buggies or atv's you can stay more mobile and will be able to move with the schools as they chase the bait down the beach.
But there are certain places along the beach that seems to hold the fish you seek better than others. That slough that comes in from the ocean and brings the fish closer to the beach, A good spot is just up ocean from a jetty or fishing pier depending which way the gamefish are pursuing the bait fish.

With the advent of drones I would think that flying one over the waves to see where the sloughs are would be an advantage. Something that I did not have my years of surf fishing.

One thing I will say is that while artifical lures are fun catching the game fish, local bait from either a nearby inlet or in the surf with a throw net or pogy rig will increase your hookups on the bigger fish you are after. Ever hook a tarpon in the surf? Woohoo and it will burn your thumb before you realize it is happening.

I fish Surfside and Quintana/Bryan. I generally like Quintana/Bryan better, but only if the Brazos isn’t dumping too much fresh and muddy water.

I think Bryan beach is so eroded now it is very tough to get to the mouth of the Brazos. May be wrong and probably tide level depending.

In that same vein - learn to use the Bing/Google imagery to locate structure/cuts and flip back and forth between the two as the differences in images for the same point can be striking. With the distance feature on you can see if the cut or reef is in realistic casting distance or not.