Been out a few times deep sea fishing with my dad while growing up. I remember one of the last trips we took we went to Biloxi with his fishing crew and caught a boat load of black tip sharks.

Life got in the way and haven't been fishing in years. Always been out for the bass in fresh water when I did, but now, I want to after some reds.

Will my freshwater gear work for salt life or do I need to get some salt specific gear? Just talking with the girl friend and she's all for it, so we're going to get the all water licenses and try to hit the coast this year sometime. What time of year is good for red fishing? Is there a season for them? I am certainly not opposed to getting a guide a couple of times either, is there a better part of the coast to hit up for bull reds? I don't know if dad could handle going out on a boat to fish any more, but would definitely ask him if he wanted to go. He's old a frail now, so...

I sure do appreciate any info you might dole out.

And no, I haven't gone through the salt section yet, will spend a couple hours reading through this section tonight.

Your bass gear is just fine for reds. You don’t lock the drag down or they will break stuff.

If you can catch a bass you can catch a redfish. They’ll hit topwater plastic swim baits spoon whatever. Not usually picky.

The challenge isn’t how.
It’s where.
For us it’s typically in the back lakes less than 2’ and sight fishing. It’s pretty addicting but you gotta have a boat capable of running in shallow stuff to get there.

Start at Port O Connor and go south for the best areas.
Guide? Look up Nathan Beaubot he posts here and fishes out of Seadrift. Or Andrew out of Port Isabel. Or give me a call and I’ll take you. My travel schedule is pretty whacked but we can find a day.

Anytime is good but now until December is best.

Pretty sure Shane here put his tracker up for sale after he caught a few.

Pat, I was actually going to hit you up last year. In fact, it was this weekend last year. It was a spur of the moment trip for the girlfriends B-day, just never materialized. Never even got to touch the water while down there.

If you'd like to try sharks, reds, tarpon, jacks trout, etc. from the Port A jetties hit me up with a PM. We fish mostly the Port Aransas North Jetty. You're more than welcome to tag along. We often spend the night out there.

Rinse your gear with fresh water each day.

I wish I was healthy enough to traverse one of those Port Aransas jetties - but those days are over.

@Lmgreeri,

If you were limited to piers and beaches, where would you recommend casting lures for jacks? I watch the webcams provided by The Dunes Resort in Port Aransas and the beach looks very shallow for a long way out - it seems like it would be a long wade before a person reached fishable surf? Is that just my imagination?

My son makes soft plastics, and he fishes out of a kayak for reds, trout, and flounder all the time. He has a YouTube channel and makes informative videos all the time.

He keeps very few secrets. Give him a shout. https://www.biteandfightangler.com/

JR

The hardest first lesson for a typical freshwater guy to understand is how shallow you can find what you're looking for. You read the "experts" who say you need to go deep to catch a redfish or trout. Complete BS. Why?

You're a 25" trout, what do you fear?
Getting eaten.
You're too big to worry about a pelican snatching you up, but anything that can end your day is out there in the deep water. If you don't go there, they can't get you. You'll catch more in the knee deep first cut in the surf than you ever will past the third bar. It will brain lock you for a while, because you have to unlearn everything you thought you knew.

Thanks Pat! I will keep this in mind

I actually have lots of surf fishing experience - back east - but the beaches drop off pretty quick back there. We did not have Jacks back home, but I caught lots of them when I lived in Hawaii, and not only were they awesome fighters, the Blue Jacks in Hawaii are incredibly good eating!

I want to catch Jacks and Reds, if I am lucky enough.

There's multiple "Jack" fish here, you have the highly desirable Amber Jack, which is a offshore fish.
Then there's the Jack Crevalle, cook it however you like, the cat wouldn't eat it.
And then the skipjack or lady fish, which are fun to catch a few but you're not going to stick a filet knife in one.

When you catch the surf flat and clear, the number of big trout and reds you can catch on a topwater fifteen feet from the bank is amazing.

I bet you $10 if we caught some 5 to 10-lb jack crevalle, and filleted them & removed the dark red meat immediately, and put the fillets in a brine, on ice, and I cooked them for you, you would be surprised how good they taste. Also, they are excellent in a ceviche!

Might be so, I've never seen a 5 lb Jack crevalle. All I do know, a few years ago a bud invited us for a big fish fry, he was really excited to have a bunch over to share in his exploit. A scoop full of poot mud would have tasted better. Seriously like licking hot road tar. We asked what the F is this? He didn't know the name of the fish, but he had pictures. Yep, cleaning table full of smiling jacks. I dashed home and got a couple bags of speckled trout filets to save his outing.

I do know, I can filet a trout, red or flounder, and not do anything else but cook it up and eat it. You might can make a hardhead taste like a prime rib, I'll never know.

You can occasionally get into some jacks off the end of Caldwel Pier but it's not an everyday thing for sure. You can reach them in the surf to...they will come in behind the 2ng bar often chasing bait. You might want to reconsider the Port A Nort Jetty though. Since they re-topped the walking path a few years ago you could take wheelchairs out there now. And when the jacks are in they run up and down that jetty. No better inshore fishing in the area. Another jetty with easy access and a good walking path is the Packery Jetties. In a couple more years Bob Hall pier will be back. I'm printing renderings of the design options for some architects this morning as I type this. Great jackfish action there.

Thanks, I will give the jetties some thought.