Greeting Anglers:

I am vacationing in the Rockport area next week and look forward to a lot of fishing. I am a new boater with a 16.5 foot v-hull boat � more of a bass boat than a flats/bay boat. Anyway, I want to fish the bays in that area (Aransas, Red Fish, Copano, etc.) but I need to consider my inexperience combined with the following:

- My boat probably does not run real skinny. If I had to guess, 2.5 feet is the shallowest I would go.

- Range: My boat has an external 6.5 gallon tank. I get about 3.5-4 miles per gallon with a little 2 stroke 40 horse motor. I will take an extra 5 gallon portable gas tank, but I prefer not to use it if I don�t have to.

-GPS: I have a Lowrance iFinder H20 with basic navigation, but I don�t have the detailed maps. I do have the Hook-n-Line map of the area bays.

-Keep out of grass areas (I may wade a grass area if I can get close enough without running through it)

Based on this (long winded) information, can anyone point me in the direction of some safe places to navigate & fish considering these conditions?

I plan to drift/anchor around reefs, but if I can creep up slowly on a some shallow spots (grass, hard sand), I may get out and wade.
I�ve consider the following advice form a few posts I�ve read:

-Launch at Cove Harbor � take intracoastal to Quarantine Shoreline / Lydia Ann Channel (because of range limitation, it might make sense for me to launch near Port A)

-Launch at Sand Dollar Marina in Fulton and head out to Longs Reef.

-Launch on Goose Island and fish Black Jack Shore/Black Jack Point.

Just looking for ideas and pointers from the experienced anglers on this forum. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks.

Jimmy

You will be in for a world of suprises when you take your little lake boat into saltwater.

I assume it has a painted trailer. If so, go ahead and budget for a new one next year.

All your electrical connections, with the bare copper wire and blue butt connectors are gonners. Schedule a weekend in four months to replace all that.

While you're there, go ahead and buy some new carpet, because you'll never get all the salt and sand out of yours.

Other than that, fishing is fishing, predators will gather around changes on the bottom, canals, holes in the grass, reefs, etc. A good hooksetter map will point out all these locations. If it's a dark bottom, you're probably ok to run through, if it's white, you'll ground it up.

I wouldn't launch at Goose island if your boat runs deep. I used to have a tahoe fish and ski which ran in 2ft of water and I couldn't make it out. It got stuck way too many times. Fishing around the jetties at Port A would be good depending on the weather. If the water is grenish, you will be fine, but watch out if you see grass or the water turns brownish. My best advice is to study the map and keep it with you, as well as a gps if you have one. Good fish'in

Pat:

Thanks for the info about the carpet and trailor. I can't do much to protect the carpet, but I invested about 30 bucks into Corrision X to spray down the trailor and electrical connections.

One more thing, if you put in around Rockport there are quite a few oyster reefs around there so I would put in more like around Aransas Pass and just make sure to watch for shallow water. Make sure you don't get too shallow on a falling tide either. The South side of the road leading to Port Aransas has a good ramp and good grass to fish close by. There is good water on both sides of the road, but less trouble to get into on the South side.

I would be sure to protect all my electrical connections and Wash the heck out of the rig after each trip out. Go to a car Wash if needed. Also make sure to flush you lower unit after each day.

Good luck and the fishing is great down there. If you decide to put in around Rockport anyway get someone to point you to Cedar Bayou, it's a cut going through from the bays to the Gulf, but watch for the reefs! Unless it has changed you can drive almost all the way to the surf and walk the rest. I use to catch a lot of Flounder on the edge of that cut near the Gulf.