Hello, I am new to this forum and would first off like to say HI!
I am a dad of two young boys (8&9) and used to do a lot of fishing in Florida. However, it has been years since I picked up a rod and reel. I live in Austin and am heading to Mustang Island & Corpus this weekend with the family and figured this would be a good time to start them fishing. I would like to try some surf/wade fishing and maybe some pier fishing. I would like your recommendations on what kind of terminal rigs to use for each type of fishing as well as types of bait to use. Any recommendations on piers, beaches, etc. to fish will also be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your help!

Only because I just saw some pics of it and lots of ppl talking. Careful of the stingrays!! Not sure if they are around where your going but that is a life changing injury in most cases. Be care and I hope yall enjoy yourselves! Don't forget to take pictures! As for advice I'm the last person to help, im new to it all, sorry :P im sure someone will help though. Best of luck!!

To keep the kids happy and safe, the packery channel jetty has rails and decent fishing. Live shrimp works good. Small pieces of squid will keep them catching piggy perch and then you can use it for bait, also. My 8 and 9 year old fish it with no problem. Surf fishing will probably be hard unless you have someone to help you and them. I saw that there is a lot of bacteria in the water so make sure you have pliers for hard heads and no open wounds....



Plus there are turtles for them to watch and the beach around there is pretty clean. Make sure to wash out your rods afterwards.

Thanks for the replies. Any additional info is appreciated. :-)

Thanks for the reply. What type of rigs would you recommend? Is 20# heavy enough or too heavy? Where is a good place to buy bait in Corpus?

To be honest, go prepared for everything. If it's windy you may need heavier weights. I usually use a pre tied trout leader with small hooks, weight and swivel on the kids poles. I carry a little of everything and you will lose some tackle in the rocks. I also use a big surf rod with cut bait for bigger fish. I'm not an expert as I only moved here in May but I've been catching fish. Last time out I caught a red, a few trout, big whiting and a couple big gaff top. And I spent most of my time baiting other peoples hooks. 20# is fine. I use smaller on the smaller rods. But I do have 2 "BIG" poles with 65# braided backed by a 20# mono for bigger fish. I'd say the biggest thing is it keep your bait in proportion with your tackle.........

You might have to hit couple different places to find live shrimp. Depends on the day. There are 6 place between flour bluff and padre island. You would need a plan to keep them alive, though. If you don't, you may as well buy dead shrimp. Most any place will have squid......

Packery is a great suggestion in my opinion. In one 10 hour night there I caught at least 10 different species including red, trout, black drum, flounder, and a Jack crevalle. Not to mention its very safe for a jetty.

If you want to fish from the surf. Make some rod holders out of pvc. Get some single or double drop rigs. Grab some spider weights generally 2 to 3 ounce ones are pretty sufficient most of the time... fishbites and some shrimp. Cast out into the second gut. Walk it back to the rod holder while letting out line so you dont pull it back in. Place in rod holder tighten up the line a bit and wait... about as simple as it gets... can catch whiting 80%of the time reds here and there, possible some trout and other various fish...

I just got back from a few days fishing the surf around the Bob Hall pier. I used a Carolina rig about 1/2 the time & a popping cork the other 1/2, both with live shrimp. You'll get TONS of bites like that. Caught reds, whiting, trout & ladyfish. Specifically 1/2 oz weight, 1.0 hook with 20lb braid main line & 15 lb or same braid leader for the Car. rig & 1.0 hook with a small split shot & weighted popping cork. I fished exclusively sun up to about 10:00 AM. I waded as far out as shoulder deep but caught fish as shallow as a foot & a 1/2 at sun up. Those ladyfish fight VERY well. I would buy 80 shrimp - $10.00 each morning. Hell of a lot of action & fun for $10.00. Also I hooked something really big twice. Never slowed them down, spooled & broke me off. Fun as heck though. Quickly becoming my favorite way to fish. Also when I found birds working & diving close by the action was fast and furious, so look for them working. Hope this helps you man.

Ive taken my son 4 and daughter 2 there the last 2 years and LOVE it. Enjoy it so much were attempting to move to the corpus or Galveston area soon. If your just lookin for some fun for the kids 20lb on any decent reel will do what you need. Surf just drop a double drop rig in the 2nd gut and you will catch alot of fish. If the skip jack are in the 2nd gut get your self a few poping corks they can be a TON of fun for the kids things jump 3 feet out of the water, though you will loose alot of them. Night fishing Bob hall is a great place to go. Can get into bout anything out there and more than likely youll see some big fish caught while out there. Always awesome for the little ones to see a 5 ft shark on the dock:). If your like me and you don't want to deal with live bait just get a few different packages of fish bites. ive caught everything on them. Then if I want something big(reds or shark) I use some of the small fish I catch on the fish bites. Take care and enjoy yourself!