Hey y'all. Went surf fishing sunday, and threw cut mullet out and almost immediately caught a nice trout (1st ever!!) then something that bend the wide gap hook straight, lost it about 10 yards out, it was goin nuts so i think it was a shark, and then a small bull shark that i was able to release. All of this in the span of the first 30 min (about 1:30 to 2:15ish) . Then it stopped, and nothing for the next 3 1/2 hrs until we left. I've never been able to get out there before noon, and it allways seems if we catch anything worthwhile its in the early afternoon, then it all stops. Am i missing the feeding time? I did notice that it was at high(er) tide when we got there.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Tides have a huge effect on fishing. Get a tide chart and also log the times/tides you do good (and bad) for reference.

leave earlier, arrive earlier and fish the entire tidal movement - definitely better results

Wow...speck on cut mullet? Thats pretty rare. Did it look like this?
Not trying to start anything...but its just I've never seen a trout caught on cut mullet...heard it happened on cut croaker once...so I guess it could happen. Yeah get there when the sun is going up and coming down.

that happened to me once on cut mullet. I was surprised as heck to see that speck we were in the surf by SLP.

Look at the tide chart for high tide. This is the highest point of the tide. The activity picks up at the beginning of the high tide and continues to the highest point and sometimes maybe a little afterwards. In other words don't go at "high tide" . That is the end of the best part. Try to gauge and be there for when the low tide ends and the high tide begins. Tides are such an important factor. Also are lunar phases. If it is bright at night , fishing is slow the next day. Conversly a dark night and better fishing in the morning. Of course other significant factors can affect this. Examples are heavy rain downpours, strong winds, etc. Good luck.

There's a pretty large group of guys out of Mansfield who catch a lot of really big trout on cut mullet. Consistently.

Yeah it did. Pretty fish, except when the cooler tipped over in my car and the trout was sitting in the back seat......But 22" for my 1st trout...sweet.

Thanks again. I'm going again this satarday, lookin to be out there at about 0600-0630.

Cut Whiting or Skip-Jack both catch trout also..Popular at Baffin Bay

couple weeks back I saw a guy catch a nice speck while fishing for shark. He was using head of croaker.

I also have caught trout on cut bait. Only a few but I have done it. It just goes to show if the're hungry they will adapt.

on tv ive seen people fishing for trout with cut mullet and cut croaker.

Cut Bait is not a good choice of bait if you are targetting Speckled trout as PierRat stated. It is rare to catch a Speckled trout on cutbait but it is possible. Lots of people will catch sand trout on cut bait, thinking that they caught a speck but still, a speck is possible.
As far as when to catch fish, anytime is a good time, you just have to know where the fish are at a certain tide, whether it be incoming or outgoing. I guess I should say, get you a tide chart. Pay close attention to what the water is doing in a certain area at that point of the tide change and learn your waters. It may take a while but eventually you will be a pro and know exactly where to go based on what the water looks like. Does that make any sense? Good luck.

When I fish down Corpus Christi way (Bird Island) I catch atleast half of my specks on cut skip jack and the rest coming from plastics/live. I actually caught my largest speck at 27 with skip jack in the ICW down there.

I take some small mullet anf fillet the piecees and cut that fillet the long way and stick it onto a treble hook. Get the trout every time and the occasional keeper red. IT WORKS! I think they love the action the waves give the free floating piece of mullet