I have very limited experience with fishing bull reds. What is your favorite bait for bull reds in the surf in the fall? I'll be fishing reds in late November around galveston. Live finger mullet? Cut large mullet? Live or chunked whiting? Crab? If chunking which parts or cut are best?

If using the fish live...how do you rig them? High low rig? Sliding sinker rig, or no weight? Thanks!

Around Corpus and Port Aransas, i use mullet caught with my net in the surf. I usually use a two hook leader with a weight on the end.

I'll put a live mullet, and a piece of cut mullet to start to see how they like it. Sometimes I catch small croakers or piggy perch (w/perch hook) to use cut or live (depending on size). I rarely use crab, but am sure they work well.

When using cut bait, I use all pieces/parts. The parts with the most blood & guts seem to work better for me. I cut Smaller fish in half. I cut the larger ones in lg bite sized pieces.

I hook live mullets towards the tail avoiding hooking their spine. I also sometimes hook them through the lips.

Depending on the tides, ill rig with a 2 or 3 oz spider weight at the end of my leader with 2 hook drops 1-2 ft up and between each other. If the tide is mild, a egg weight on a red fish rig works. I use 1.0 or 2.0 circle hooks. 30 lb test mono line. 9 - 10 ft surf rods & spinning reels.

Hope this helps

Honestly, I think its just a matter of what they want to eat that day. Weve had just as much luck using live mullet as we have had using squid. 2 weekends ago (kinda like yesterday) we had 4 or 5 different kinds of baits out and no good hits, just a matter of them being there and wanting to eat what you have.

Just a small comment, ive been reading people are using smaller hooks, like the 2.0 above.... all of our leaders have 7-8/0 gamakatsu octopus circle hooks and we really feel like the reduce the "bycatch" of the little fish.... when you have a 40 inch red an 8/0 hook really isnt that big.

I usually let the size of bait I am using control the hook size. Big fish, Big bait, Big hook.

There are times that the big bait big fish thing doesn't work, I have seen 40 lb black drum hit a quarter sized menhaden.

Big baits do give you longer time in the water while the little critters eat at it waiting for a larger fish to do cleanup on it.

The term "Match the Hatch" has been pretty productive for me, fish usually get one track minds if a particular bait is present, if there is a mixed bag, then it is a little harder to call.

I use double hook drops with 3/0 and 5/0 circles. I will put out 5-6 different kinds of bait when I arrive to see what they want that day. Somedays they don't want anything and other days they will hit your tennis shoe if you hook it up.

I use a light rig to catch whatever small fish are active in the surf. That is part of "match the hatch". Then use the small fish live or cut depending on their size. Cut ladyfish will always catch something.

I have also found that squid heads, with those long tentacles, mesmerize fish on days when nothing else will work.

Bring a wet suit fishing the surf in November.

Send us a report. We all like to share what the other guy catches.

Recently fishing in port oconner the reds were eating up the mullet we were throwing (3-5"). But as a heads up every fish we fillet'd had squid in their intestine.

I have always had good luck using big mullet or whiting heads with a big circle hook. They stay on there forever.

I have had the best luck with mullet caught where I am fishing, this means you are using the size of mullet currently in the area which seems to help the bite. I always prefer live bait over cut bait just because it opens the options of specks. My favorite bait by far though is little croakers or piggies. I catch these will the smallest perch hook you can find and a tiny piece of shrimp reeled fast through the surf. Have actually caught some 15" whiting this way too from time to time. If nothing is biting the big rigs I love to do this and at the very least catch something to make it more fun. Would work great if you had kids or the girlfriend / wife with you that are not as interested in waiting for the big ones.

that is true.... i have never put a piece of cut lady fish out and reeled it back in one piece

I agree with H4rdcore, the bait that has always worked the best for me has been what i've caught there at the beach may that be mullet, pinfish, or whiting. I like to use live (if the bait is small enough) with a circle hook (6/0) through the meat above the eye. I'll let them free swim on about a 24" leader with a spider weight at the joint.

We were at POC and caught 4 big bull reds on live finger mullet. When we came in, we talked to an old guide that we fished a couple of hundred yards from and he said his 4 clients caught over 40 bulls, all on big dead shrimp. We had fished the area he was fishing the day before using live shrimp and only caught sheephead.

It changes day by day hour by hour. They want what they want now and where they currently are.

Last month at Matagorda they were catching a lot of big bulls on fresh dead shrimp. Jumbo live shrimp were working the surf and big fresh dead shrimp were a good match for what was in the water.

Whenever I am fishing an area that might hold bulls I put out 4-5 different kinds of bait to see what they want. Dead shrimp, squid head, fish head, Fish Bites in shrimp and crab and Gulp shrimp. That also gives me a chance to see what bait other species are eating.

Port A & Mustang Island:

Our "bait du jour" last week was be-headed fresh shrimp. For some reason they didn't want 'em live...just bloody...kinda like a good prime rib.

The jack crevalles and pompano seemed to be on same diet as well.

Whiting heads is what we used we caught four bulls last thursday and friday off of HC pier in port a