I have gone flats fishing twice in the last two weeks and I love it. However, I can't seem to catch any fish! I was fishing a white super spook jr top water lure and caught only two little specs. Last week, I took my kayak into redfish bay and the redfish were jumping all around me and I couldnt catch anything! So, I need to know the top 5 lures to have. From what I've learned, it seems bay fishing isn't like bass fishing where you have to carry 1000 lures all in diff colors. If the fish aren't biting, they aren't biting. I'm sure this is true to some degree, but I'm sure you have to have a few options.

When I bass fish, I love to work Yamamoto 4" and 5" senkos. Do these work on redfish and trout?

Not looking for your secret lure setups, just tried and true stuff that will catch fish 90% of the time if the tides are right.

Help me catch my first redfish!

glow or gold doa shrimp or terroreyez,mirrodine,3'gulp shrimp new penny,skitterwalk red/white, and tsunami paddletail swim baits...black buzzbaits at night can be fun at night when its warmer

1. Tsunami topwater, the zara spook looking bait.
2. Norton Sand eel, pumkin chartreuse, baffin magic, tequila gold/chartreuse. 1/8 oz oldham screw lock head w/gamakatsu hook.
3. hogie super minnos, red/white, pumkin chartreuse, white/chartreuse.
4. weedless gold spoon
5. chatter jig, color doesn't matter.

senko would probably catch something, but it's a little slow for most of my fishing. If you sight fish a red, it's seldom they'll turn down the sand eel or norton minnow...ever. Some days they are picky, most days they aren't. Bright days/clear water call for the brighter colors, darker days/colored water usually mean the darker colors.

Figuring out the combination for the day is what keeps us coming back, something will work, just find it.

Is "Baffin magic" a color or what you call it?

How do you fish the eel? Just about the grass? Along the bottom? Twitchy?

Night fishing from a kayak....that would be fun. Might have to keep that plan from my wife.

TTF Trout Killer and Killer Flats Minnow in salt and pepper / chartreuse. Only ones I need because they are the only ones I ever catch fish on lol.

Thanks so much!

How do I fish it?

It really just depends on what the fish want. I use 1/8 or 1/4 oz jig head. Sometimes the trout want the bait to drop faster. For flounder almost always use a 1/4 but a lot of people use 3/8 oz to make sure its on bottom. As for reds i have never caught one on artificials yet. As for retrieves, trout are usually in the upper to middle water levels so you need to use a medium to fast retreive, vary speeds until you find what they are hitting on. I use many different actions as well to find what they want. You can use a steady reel, slow pulls, jerks (light or heavy), really fast small jerks (like you are walking a top water). After that you can combine 2 actions and make some sort of rhythm. With all of those variables at your disposal there are hundreds of different presentations you can use to catch them. For flounder it is much easier, just slowly bounce the jig along the bottom until it gets eaten. I usually first try to find specks, every 10-20 casts i will throw in a flounder retreive to see what i can find.

The main thing to boost your confidence using artificals is to get onto the fish and tear it up. Some days you will get on fish in super feeding mode that will hit anything, it really helps you feel better about your lure work. I used to never use lures. When i started earlier this year i had only caught a couple fish the first 10 or so trips i went on. Then about 3 or 4 weeks ago i caught around 40 specks in 3 hours. Since then i have done much better on jigs than live bait.

Here in Galveston, the water is often stained (visible to only 2 feet):

1. DOA Shrimp (Red w/ White Tail)
2. TTF Trout Killer (Plum w/ Chartreuse Tail)
3. Weedless Gold Spoon
4. Mirrolure Suspending Crankbait (White w/ Red Head)
5. Rattletrap (Chrome)

Super Spook or She Dog
Weedless gold spoon
DOA shrimp
Plastic shad/cocaho bait in either pearl/chartreuse or plum/chartreuse (too many brands to mention. they all work)
Berkley Gulp new penny

I would also have a couple of popping corks to use with the Gulps or DOA if you want to fish them slower.

Southtex, I have never seen a redfish jump. Are you sure you weren't seeing large mullet?

Yeah, been to two county fairs and three goat breedings, and seen thousands of redfish, seen em splash around, but never jump.

These redfish were laughing at me too and pointing with their fins....

Well, I saw several good size fish with dots near their tail jump! I'm new at this so I could absolutely be wrong. But, I saw mullet and saw these "redfish" and they were different looking. I will take your word for it since you have seen barnyard romance and I haven't.

The moral of my story, misguided as it may be, is I didn't catch squat.

I'm at Academy...

Academy is out of everything...apparently everyone is reading this forum...

If it has a v shaped tail, ignore it. Except for snook. A spot on the tail is a definite. Keep fishing, you are getting closer to solving the puzzle.

If youre at an Academy in Austin and not one near the coast, you can bet they'll have very little saltwater tackle.