What business tackle and bait should I have? What's there to catch at night. Going to fish it Sat. night.

ive only fished that pier at night and have caught specks, sand trout, black drum, reds, hardheads, ladyfish and 1 huge sheepshead. just bring your regular saltwater or bass/catfish tackle. I use live shrimp, crabs and cut bait when I go. I hope this helps.
If you are going on a sat. you had better get there early. I would try the causeway pier first so that you dont have to drive around the loop if they are not biting at red dot.

Where exactly is Red Dot pier ?

i've caught BIG black drum and loads of schoolie specks. Free lined piggie perch/shad usually yields keeper specks.

when they started building the pier extension i noticed a lot of action on the top near the pier stumps, threw out a top water and hooked into a small tarpon. It cleared the water and shook my hook out, but what a rush.

Red Dot is namely known for it's big red/black drum

I'm not sure how long the original pier was, but when we were there this Saturday the pier was the size of an average house pier around most lakes. I wouldn't really call it a fishing pier, rather a small dock. The water under the pier was only ankle deep and there were waders out past the pier fishing. So What happened to this long pier I see in the pictures. Saturday saw noone on the dock and the Hispanic guy working Red Dot couldn't tell me much either. Confused...?

Red Dot Pier is in Corpus Christi on TX22 (S Padre Is. Dr.)

So what is the deal here ? Is it good or what ? Are you talking about the same place or not ? Any ideas ?

yea i blieve we are all tlaking about the same place.

It's great place to take family who have never fished before and still have that opportunity to catch a monster

In ankle deep water ? Does it change much when the tides come in ? What were you fishing with ? At night only or have you tried during the day too ?

I think it may have been a tide issue, or something "Ike" related diverted water elsewhere. Not sure?

I would like to see some future (not past) reports with photos of Red Dot. Til then, I'll fish local and S. Padre.

Cut and paste this into google maps and it will show you the red dot pier:

27.656975, -97.260182

Right around the dock the water is shallow but the Humble Channel cuts directly between Red Dot and Cos Way piers and is pretty deep. That is where you need to throw your lines. I have done well tying the kayak to the concrete bridge rails and fishing the edges of the channel on both sides (Red Dot and Cos Way) and caught trout and seen many Big Uglies pulled up. Lots of ribbon fish this summer that are now in the freezer for Kingfish bait. I've seen many people wade out to the edge of the Channel between the piers to get their lines further in the water but any decent casting setup and you can hit the channel from the pier. And yes, the pier is fairly small, about like the docks you see down in Rockport for all those beach houses. Its easy to tell the new section cause the wood is still light brown instead of weather worn like the rest. If you want to fish it differently, when the pier is to crowded you can get up in between the two road bridges and walk the concrete side path on the bridge out over the middle of the channel and fish right around the pilings (this can be done easiest, IMO, on the Cos Way side). Hope this helps you guys out, I always get bait from the Cos Way and its a good place to take the family fishing.

Sean

red dot pier is great and fun but only at night on the part toward the road under the brige i caught about 30 ton 60 trout all the time i go they start to hit about 12-2 in the mornig some redfish have fun. bait to use mullet live shrimp crab for black drum

The pier is actually in shallow water.. But it runs parallel with the humble channel. if you want to catch the big fish you need to get your bait into the humble. It wont take much with a good ese wind which is prominent here in cctx unless a northern is blowing through. Huge reds / drum / specs even snook can be caught here.. They recently extended the pier so there's more room.. Just look for the faster moving water and there is the channel. Look on google earth and you can see the deeper water.. Good luck and have fun.