Advice: Going on a Port A. kayak fishing trip May 13th

This will be my first time fishing the flats/bays and fishing from a kayak in saltwater.

Here�s my plan and don�t hold back telling me where I�m going wrong, or how I might be more productive.

My kayak is not very big and not rigged up for too many accessories, so I have to travel light.

I�m looking for edible size reds, specks, etc. Not that I would be mad if I hung a big red hog, but I really want to bring a couple of decent fish back to camp to eat, and my boat, rod/reel is medium weight, so I would be in trouble hooking a really large fish. (I don't know how those guys land sharks and Tarpon in a kayak.)

anyway.....

My backup plan is to have dead shrimp if all artificials fail.

I was going to try spoons first. I�m hearing gold with a red dot.

I heard a lot about the DOA shrimp here, so I was going to bring a pack of those. Do I rig those with a jib head, slip sinker, etc.???? Do they work like a crank bait, reeling it in slowly but consistantly, or mostly bumping along the bottom?

I heard good things about soft plastic Shad looking lures, and white with a red dot or red head seems to be the color combo. If these are a good choice, do I use a jig-head, and bump it along the bottom?

On all of these lures, my question is presentation. Do I bump it along the bottom quickly, or maybe pop it and pause a second?

Just to be clear, we are thinking of fishing mostly flats in shallow water along the edges of grass or whatever looks fishy.

Any help/comments will be appreciated� unless you just tell me to stay in Dallas, go to Tom Thumb, buy some fish, and watch Roland Martin on TV all weekend.

Sounds like you are headed for some fun, Troy.

I have been down to Port A a few times, and fished from a yak once. We had a blast! We fished the flats early in the morning, and then again in the late afternoons.

You really need to pay attention to the tides. Tidal movement=fish.

I would suggest bringing some live shrimp as well as the lures you described above. Live shrimp is always nice to have when the bite is slow.

DOA's can be fished a few ways. You can try under a popping cork, or tied directly to your line. If using a popping cork, give the bait consecutive jerks while slowly reeling in. This rattle/popping noise will attract fish.

When tied to your line, fish it like you would a plastic worm (small movements). Remember, you are imitating a live shrimp, they move somewhat slow, compared to how fast you are able to move the bait with your rod.

You might want to try some soft plastics such as Saltwater Assassins, Norton baits, Gulp baits, Texas Trout/Red Killers. All of these would be fished on a jig head. (I prefer 1/16-1/4 ounce depending on the wind, and water movement)

That water is really clear down there, so you really have to be somewhat quiet while navigating your yak.

Good luck man, and let us know how you do!

Lure selection, I have used gold spoons with great success but I do not think they are the best lure of choice, unless fish are schooling thick! Justin was right on about the plastics though, I would deff. take some nortons and some TTK's. The new packery channel has made the water near the packery very clear and Liquid shrimp has been gettting lit up when I have been down. Liquid shrimp is a clear and pink with metallic flakes in it. Awesome color!!!! when using, you will want a light jighead that will still allow you to cast the lure. Size of jighead will be determined by tide and wind.
Justin was also right about the live shrimp and if not live shrimp, you would be better off with menhadden or mullet. Dead shrimp are soft and tend to get eaten by every **** fish in the ocean, except for the ones you are targetting(not **** fish).
Outside of the plastics, I would make sure to have a few topdogs on me or a few skitterwalks, take your pick. It is a blast throwing topwaters on the shoreline and watching them get blown up as you come across the grass. Trout and reds will blow up the topwaters.
If in a kayak and in Port Aransas, I would hit up shamrock cove first thing and if that didnt work, I would work the water on both sides of St.joe island. Either side is productive and are both a very easy paddle.
Another option would be to drive to the back of fish pass and put in there and fish the shorelines in that area. There is a big sandbar out there that is very productive by fishing the backside of it and there is also some good water that you can get to in kayak that would take forever if wading. The kayak gives you lots of options and allows you to fish waters that are not easily accessible.
In all honesty, I would have to say that other than my honey holes, Shamrock might be your best bet. You can get so some really good places in a yak that some of the larger boats will have troubles getting too and there are some awesome stretches of shoreline to fish in the area. I have yet to spend a day out there and not limit out on trout and catch a few reds in the process.
Other places to try, kates hole, deadmans hole, redfish bay, and if the surf is calm, hit up the end of the jetties. You can catch trout, reds, smacks, jacks, kings, ling, shark, mangroves and just about anything that comes close to shore by fishing the ends of the jetties.
One last place to think about would be dagger island but that is one heck of a paddle. It is doable but you will be the king of paddle if you made the trip. Dagger is an area that is crystal clear due to all the oyster reefs in the area, hence the name Dagger island. I havent caught anything but dinks in the area but have friends that really like fishing the area.
Good luck on your trip and I do wish you the best of luck. If you dont feel like paddeling one day, you could always hit up some structure (rocks and anything else in the water)along the current break wall for sheepies and mangroves. You will catch reds and trout in the process but mainly snapper and sheepshead. Good luck

Keith

One thing I forgott, dont forget to bring some storm wildeyes in mullet color, either the black mullet or the brown. Both work well.
The red/white pattern you were talking about seems to work better offshore than near. When I was a kid, I used the color because everyone else said it was great. As I got older and wiser, I came to the conclusion that people tell you about that color (red and white) so you dont catch the fish they are after. LOL Wish I had found that out earlier!

Justin and Keith.. thanks a ton. Wow, some great info.

I will be making a �Bass Pro Shop� trip soon to stock up on some of the lures you mentioned.
(Don�t you love that place?)

I guess I should buy a good map, as Google doesn�t show all these places you mentioned. I see �Redfish Bay� and �South Bay�, but it doesn�t show much else in that area, which is where we will be camping, which is just off the Causeway.

I must find �Shamrock�. Anyone know of an online map of this body of water, as well as the others like, St.joe island, fish pass, kates hole, deadmans hole, dagger island, etc.

I�m finding some info online, but not a lot of clear directions. All the directions rely on you knowing the area already. Any info would be appreciated.

Another note about shamrock, stay to the righ of the boat ramp. If you notice once you get down there, you will see trails that go to the right, I usually put in in the water body that is right of boat launch and paddle to the back waters. Once you put in, paddle straight out and you will see a duck blind a ways ahead and kind of off to the left. To the right of the duck blind(if looking at it), there is a grass shoreline that drops str8 into a sand bottom, there is usually a good # of fish in this area. After you find the blind, start working your way around all the small islands. Once I find a new island, I usually pull the kayak onto the island and wade the area. Good luck. I will be down for the next 10 days laying wood to the trout and reds.

Keith,
could you give me a link to a map that shows this boat launch?

If you go to http://maps.google.com/ and find the area and zoom in as much as possible, there's a button at the top right of the page that says, "link to this page". If you click on that, the address bar will now show a long address. Can you send me that address?

ex. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=corpus+christi,+tx&ll=27.869089,-97.089615&spn=0.026405,0.053902&t=k&om=1

If not, I uderstand. You have been a lot of help already, as well as Justin.

Thanks

The boat launch is on the right side of the road if you are on the highway and headed to corpus. It is right outside of Port A. Keep your eye on the right side of the road, you will see a turn off and quite a few trucks lined up. I would pull it up on goodgle earth but My laptop is slow at pulling the dang thing up. Sorry. Maybe someone else can be of some help. Remember what I said about the duck blind. I dont mind sharing that stop with everyone but I do hit it everytime I am back there. That shoreline is a good one.