I'm a total newb but loved the trip. I am planning on making surf fishing / pier fishing and later kayak fishing my main hobby. I'll appreciate any advice or question answers people are willing to share.

On Tuesday I took my 15 year old son on our 1st try fishing off a pier in Corpus We used 4 oz sinkers and caught 7 hardheads we avoided touching and threw back. We used artificial bait cause it was late but we also caught several of these fish,.so I assume it's super common. . (Picture will be attached)

Q1) These are only four inches. Are they good bait for reds and speckled trout? If so, you just cut them into small pieces? Can you just expose the barn and cast it, or is that naughty or not effective? Is there a rule of thumb of what makes good baitfish, or is shrimp.just better?

We spent hours buying gear and fished in the rain, so I thought maybe fishing deep would be good but was probably not the best. I didn't see a single real fish get caught but everyone else fished the surface. I'm guessing thats a better approach to avoid all the catfish lol.

Thanks for reading! I'm trying to read the other posts to avoid asking the same old stuff. We are looking to try surf fishing next week. No worries if it's not fun to answer questions for someone this green. I'll keep trying and they might be better posts later lol.

Fish is Atlantic croaker, most common baitfish used by guides late spring & summer for trout. Reds also eat them as do other species. 4 inch perfect size for bait. Fish it live, hooked above the lateral line behind dorsal fin.

You can cut it up & fish it on bottom. I'd have fished it live. Pinfish, Pigfish, mullet, mud minnows all are good baitfish, bait stands have them until they sell out. Cheaper to use fish bites, throw net, perch trap, etc and catch your own,

Shrimp is good just attracts a lot of "baitstealers" & non targeted species in warmer water temps, especially dead shrimp, & more so fished on the bottom. 4 oz weight seems excessive.

Not sure what you're asking about barn, naughty & effective.

Deep is often better during heat of day, rain/overcast, cool weather, night time fish often move shallow(er)

Fish bites are good to catch bait fish, can do well on reds & drum, Whiting, etc, especially in surf. Don't know if it matters, but lots & I mean a lots of surf pros swear by pink shrimp flavored fish bites

Which pier & you fished day time, about when? I'm guessing Indian Point pier?

Suggestion on asking questions, do as you mentioned. Read up, search the threads, formulate a plan of action and if not sure on anything ask away. Hardest part about answering on any forum is when the same info has been posted multiple times. Simply suggest do the research and ask specific points, you'll get better answers.

One other comment, there are no specific spots along the coast to catch fish. There are locations, in your case, you access on foot, vehicle & kayak to fish but the key is to fish locations w/ a pattern/technique & at a time frame based on all kinds of factors; wind, tide, water level, water temperature, time of day, season, etc. Try to put as much as possible together and have a plan & go for it. Sometimes you hit it right & knock them out, others times perfect conditions and a bust. No guarantees fishing the salt.


Welcome to the TFF. Hope you continue to post.

BTW, once surf fishing plan in place a few more specific points should be observed.

Good Luck down at the coast..

That is an amazing reply. Thanks very much! I appreciate you taking so much time to go over it. I've read over it a couple of times and I will revist later. When I learn a new skill I find I can't soak it all in when I'm new. I'm sure I missed more nuggets but what I got was amazing on this pass.

Yeah the pier at Indian Point is where we fished. I think we were there fishing 5-830pm. It rained a little but was very windy and turbulent water at the time.

I can't wait to try to fish the bait. I hope we get some Atlantic Croaker again.

Here is the plan for tomorrow:

I'm going down early tomorrow morning with my daughter. I bought a small bait bucket and airrater. I'm excited that we can keep the Atlantic Croaker's if they are biting again. I liked the advice for beginners thread about moving if nothing is biting. There were lots of people on Indian point not to catch anything that evening so moving would have been a good idea.

I like the idea of fishing and casting for bait. It's fun to catch the small stuff and even better now that there is a purpose haha.

I'm planning to drive down and be fishing at Indian Point by 7. Planning to bring the pink bite stuff to catch some bait and if we can't get bait I will go buy some bait and we will move out to Mustang island. I'd like to find somewhere on the back side. Those little spots by the bridge are always swarmed so I'm going to map scout for some places. I have seen little road and I'll use Google maps to get a couple places to try. I want to to try the cast net for bait on that side.

Going to fish 7-noon then drive back.

The next day we have a Family beach trip on Monday, so I'll try surf fishing. Hopefully we catch some bait and it lived overnight We stay in the water all day so wading will be fun but Ill probably have to share my rod on Monday, so the Sunday might be my best shot to catch anything lol.

What type of rig are u fishing with? This is what we use to get the bait in front of a fish. Tight lines