Going to Port A Thursday thru Sunday. Can anyone tell me their favorite baits (live and articial), and favorite methods to fish there? I am a saltwater rookie, so be easy! Probably going to take surf rods and baitcasters.

Depends on when, where and what.
Day or night?
Surf
Piers
Jetty
Wade fishing
What you are after
Live or dead shrimp will get you the most variety, either under a popping cork or bounced off the bottom.
Finger mullet and piggies work well for trout and reds.
silver and gold spoons for trout and mack's
Plastic worms work well off the jetties for trout

Scobby, since your just starting out, keep it simple. stick with bait - hard to beat shrimp either under a cork, freelined or on the bottom. do this until you get a better feel of fishing the salt then move to artificals. Wade fishing is plenty easy and you can spread out from other anglers. the surf is fun just watch out for the soft sand. piers and jetty's are fun but can get crowded. keep track of the tides and wind when you do fish and soon you'll get a general sense of how it works. lastly, rinse/wash your equipment - saltwater is evil.

Well, normally I like to fish mornings and maybe at night in the surf. Don't know much about tides, and when to fish them, can someone tell me what I should look for there? I will probably try to bait fish the mostly, but plan on taking a couple of lures to try. Which spoons and soft plastics do you prefer? Where should I get my bait? How for under the popping corks do you have your bait?

Tides: Best if moving for game fish, you can check the local paper or ask at anybait stand when high and low are.
Johnson spoons in either gold or silver, Kastmasters, jigging spoons, mano lures, gotcha jigs.
Sorry, I seldom throw plastic
Be careful in the surf both very early and late, sharks have been on a feeding frenzy on rainbow minnows. We saw them on the beach the other evening.
Port A Outfitters has a good supply.
The distance can and does vary, anywhere fron 18 inches to eight feet.

Try silver spoons in the wade gut....not over knee to thigh deep e-e-e-early morning and whatever the rest of the day. You can get on H.Caldwell pier with tiny pieces of cut bait on a #2 (or so - small) circle hook and go to about the 4th light when tide is in and catch whiting. After dark go back to the same spot with a 2/0 kahle hook and live bait (almost anything) and catch more trout and hopefully some reds....(fish on bottom with just enough weight to keep it down-and fish close to pier - don't cast more than 15 or 20 yards at most)....you'll catch reds - they just all might be dinks, never know. Tight Lines...give a report.

Thanks for the replies guys! Where is the best place to get bait? Is shrimp easy to keep alive? I was thinking of taking a surf rod to throw out in the surf when I am just sitting on the beach with frinds...too. I was wondering how I should rig this rod, how heavy of weight, what size hook and what type of rigging for these? Also, what bait? Shrimp, cut bait, something else? Should I take a throw net to catch bait? If so where and when is the best place to catch it?

There are plenty of bait stands on the highway from Aransas Pass to the ferry. We usually stop in at the Fin and Feather to get started. That way we don't have to spend too much time trying to catch bait. But it is always a good idea to bring along your cast net because you can't beat using what the fish are eating for bait. As far as catching bait goes, I find it easiest to get bait anywhere there is grass in the water. Usually piggies, pinfish and finger mullet. Just make sure you have a decent aerator, and keep your hands out of the bait water to keep them alive longer. As far as fishing the surf, your gear is really going to depend on what you are wanting to catch and water conditions. But you definitely need to use spider weights( the weights with wires sticking out). Grab you a variety anywhere from a couple of ounces on up. And of course your bait will dictate your hook size. Cut bait allows for bigger hooks and potentially bigger fish, at least that is mho. But you never know. Good luck, and roam around on the other strings, there is alot of great info floating around on the TFF, you are bound to find out more or better tips.

If you are just starting out on saltwater, I would advice fishing the flats off 361. What I would do is stop at the Fin and Feather and get some live shrimp, then go towards PA, but stop on the last bridge on the left side. During tide changes there will be fish passing through there. But it's good most of the time. Fish the shrimp under a cork with a small j-hook. You'll get little reds, big pinfish and pigfish, and maybe something else. If you aren't getting anything right away, there are no fish there, so cast out a little further or at a different direction. Also use a slip cork so you can adjust how far down the shrimp are.