I'm planning on going to rockport on vacation in July. I'm looking for any recommendations on a rental property for a week and a guide for specks and reds. Also some of the property's that we've looked at say that you can fish off of private docks or fishing piers, has anybody had any luck doing this?

Piers and docks can be hit or miss during the daylight hours in July. You can sometimes catch fish at daylight depending on what the area has to offer, grass, shell beds, etc. You will probably have success at night fishing around the lights. You can almost always catch a bunch of schoolie trout at night around lights provided you don't have the tourist crowd throwing over your lines. If it's private, you should catch them but plan on catching a lot of small fish and maybe a few keepers. It's a lot of fun though! I've been going to that area for 25+ yrs and I've never rented a private place, just hotels, motels and cottages. We normally stay in Port A now because we got tired of having to drive back and forth to the beach in Port A (so much better than the beaches in Rockport). Plus, I like to surf fish and occasionally jetty fish so Port A offers a better opportunity for those.

Thanks Scott for the info.

I like fishing the lights at night for schoolie trout. It's true that they tend to be a bit smaller, but through my experience if you bottom rig a live shrimp you tend to catch bigger trout on average. Last time I was there I went from free-lining 13-16 inchers to 15-20 inchers. Definitely saw a significant increase in size