Hey Guys,

Heading out to Port A for a week on June 26 and wanted to fish for reds in the surf. Any recommendations on bait and location? First time out there so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Might want to keep your plan B handy, if the wind keeps pumping the surf will be worthless.

Drive the beach until you see bait jumping in the first or second gut. If you're not familiar with locating guts in the surf check out some YouTube videos. For reds a 3/4 oz gold spoon is a good choice. A paddle tail with 1/4 oz or bigger depending on current will also work. If you use dead shrimp use bait elastic or the shrimp will be gone within 5 seconds courtesy of the bait fish. Fish bites can work but I've never used them in the surf. Live mullet is a good choice for live bait. I wouldn't waste any time with live shrimp bait fish steal it instantly.

As Pat mentioned the wind can make surf unfishable for most. 3-4 footers can knock you over. It's been running between 3 and 7 foot most of this month at least in Port A area. Jetties could be a plan B depending on crowd.

Here's a shot of current surf, if you see four surf breaks, it's time to fish the bay.

Dang. Thanks Pat! Any recommendations for wading bay spots?

Rule #1: Don't try and wade in poot mud.

The prime areas you want to target will be grass flats with potholes. You can actually see these on google maps. Prime walk in areas are closely guarded secrets, so you'll probably not get a red X on a map here. But search around.

Along highway 361 between Aransas Pass and Port A there's some good spots. South side of the road is better in my opinion because it has more access to flats. Also google Wilson's Cut. Good wade fishing here too but area is known for vehicle break-ins.

Don't forget about the jetties. You lose a lot of tackle and it can get crowded but not quite as bad during the weekdays and good variety of fish there.

I was in Port A all last week fishing the surf at night. The water was off color but weed free. Lots of trout in the lights. As the week went on, I began picking up some weed, but it was still fishable. By Friday night, the water was virtually un-fishable even with lures. Fishing with bait on bottom would have been impossible. I know Nick Meyer is still reporting a lot of weed around old BHP, so I would imagine it's still pretty thick. My suggestion would be to go to the bay at this point. You might check the surf as clean water and small waves were moving in as I left, but heavy weed would likely negate the otherwise good conditions. I know they're catching a lot of redfish on the channel side of the South Jetty so that may be an option, and it's possible that the South Jetty has also blocked a lot of that northerly moving weed, but it could also be coming in from far offshore. Spend a day scouting before committing to a specific style of fishing.

Google maps satellite view will show you a lot. Look at all the little roads off of 361 going south out of Port A. There's a ton of places on the bay side of the island.

do the weeds bother the fish?
i cannot stand the weeds
but it really exfoliates your skin

Cordell casting spoon in the surf catches every thing

Any recent reports?

I'll be in town for a conference next week and would love to try some surf fishing for an hour or two if it's fishable. I'll be on the island south of port A.

Thanks!