From FL, gonna try yakkin in the laguna madre for the first time middle of july for trout and redfish...Flying into Corpus Christi and thought we'd work our way south for a week...willing to go just about anywhere, but no idea where to start...plastic vs. live bait...places to put in...favorite spots...bait shops...how bad are the bugs...want to make the most of the time there...Help....Red195

Are you going to try to end up in south padre, port isabel, arroyo city, baffin bay? What do you mean by working your way south? IF you plan on going down through the north cut (south cut from corpus) then I could maybe help out, but other than that my knowledge is limited.

How are you planning on flying kayaks?

sorry for the late reply, flying into corpus christi...stayin in port aransas the first night...trying to stay at the kingfisher a night or two and ending up in south padre end of week...but nothing set in stone...will rent kayaks by the day at each place...how would you spend the week?...Red

Scott at the Kingfisher can clue you in to some great spots. Only problem is it is a long paddle from Kingfisher down the arroyo to the bay. here are a few tips. 1) lots of lighted piers on the arroyo near kingfisher. Great trout and snook action at night under the lights. 2) once you make it out to the bay, you will immediately intersect the InterCoastal Waterway. that time of year, the edges of the ICW have incredible action, especially early in the morning. The west side of the ICW typically has a more abrupt drop-off and the fish will move up and down from the flats. You can go north or south and find great action. If you go south you can fish the "edge" early and then have the southeast wind to make your paddle back a little easier.

The edge is easily identifiable (with good polarlized glasses). If you are a fly fisherman, Scott has some great flies. Try his VIP popper early, and switch to his Mother's Day fly after the sun gets up. If you are a lure fisherman, I like to try a topwater early on the edge. Zara spooks and mirrolures work great. I typically take off the back hook and tie a leader to it (about 18 inches). at the bottom of the leader, put on a D.O.A. shrimp in glow-in-the-dark color. You can use a small ultraviolet flashlight to illuminate the shrimp. The action from walking the spook also puts great action on the shrimp. You will absolutely kill fish with this on the edge early morning.

Good luck. I will be down there as well, July 8-15.

I fish alot of topwater and catch fish well with it. This technique with the DOA Shrimp tied on to the back??? New to me how well does it work?

the "dropper" shrimp works awesome at night and early in the morning. You will get strikes on both lures.

Redfisher, here is a great link with sattelite photos of the LLM.

http://www.texmaps.com/aerials/14southern-laguna-madre/