Port A and Corpus next weekend!! tips?

OK...wanna make sure I'm not leaving anything out.....Taking family and my 10 year old really wants to get on some fish, any fish, he don't care...lol...He is really new to fishing as he just caught the bug up in DFW banking, which sucks, but we still have fun.
Obviously rod and reels in tow (Penn Battle II combo 7'ML with 2500 series reel, and a St Croix Avid X 7' ML with a 2500 Shimano Stradic Ci'4 ). Ill be using a popping cork on 20lb braid, with 6-7ft 20# flouro leader with hopefully live shrimp on a #10 treble hook. Never been to Port A, know of a few piers, but that's about it, what should we be looking for? What other baits, or tactics should we come prepared with? Any other tips or suggestions is greatly appreciated!
Thanks guys!

The South Jetty is always a popular fishing area at Port A. I always walk down to the end of the jetty but i'm not sure if that's a good idea for a 10 year old. Main thing you have to worry about is the wind gust. Live shrimp on a popping cork will be a good set up to keep the little one entertained. If the water is blue then live shrimp will definitely work. I would recommend throwing some krocodile/crocodile spoons (gold and silver works best for me) 2-3 oz depending on what your rod can handle. Topwater plugs and spooks are also good lures for a variety of fish. if the water is blue, there should be bait fish and if there is bait fish there will definitely be bigger fish (Red, Jacks, Kings, Tarpon, smacks, macks, etc...) There are a lot of big bull reds in town right now and the jetty is an easy to way to catch them. Use mullet or cut bait or big spoons. I've also caught big bull reds on zoom magnum fluke on 1-2 oz jig heads.

Heck yeah!

Awesome info man!! Very cool pics!! Man I’d be down for that action if the kiddo could handle it! Still a bit young but man looks fun! Never fished a spoon. May look videos up later on that!

If you just want him to catch some fish buy a cheap spinning combo with 10 - 12 pound test rig up like you would a Carolina rig and buy some fresh dead shrimp. Wade out into the first gut on the gulf and cast it out. There are tons of whiting 10 - 12 inches with an occasional 15"+ and maybe a red fish or two.

Constant action that will keep him interested. I would also pinch the barb on the hook because the whiting will swallow the hook.

You can also take him out to the jetties for some bigger fish, but the action can be slow out there.

The piers at night also have a lot of whiting action. About half way out on Horace Caldwell pier has worked for me.

And get fresh dead at the bait stands. Much better than the frozen stuff you pick up other places.

Sabiki rig with tiny pieces of shrimp fish bites. Cast anywhere pass the first cut with a pre-spooled Zebco 33 combo and he will catch a fish nearly every cast. Sometimes my son catches 2 or 3 whiting per cast. The reel will be trashed after the weekend and you can throw it away and keep the rod for another little perch set up for home. I try to avoid fishing the rocks and jetties with my son because it can be dangerous.

This =goodtimes!!

I have my kids use the sabiki rig with fish bites to catch my bait at Bob Hall Pier. Once we have enough live and cut bait, we cast out the big rods. Typically first 2 lights we use live perch to land big specs. Larger live bait and cut bait used about 2nd and 3 cut for reds and small shark. Large live and cut also used at the end for shark or kings.

I always use fresh dead shrimp because you can cut small pieces of each shrimp for more casts. I like to peel the shrimp pieces for better hookups. Use small #8 gamakatsu octopus cirlce hooks to help avoid gut hooks. I usually dropshot it a few feet out. You could make it a team effort & have your son catch the bait while you throw it out for the big ones.

We were there (Corpus) about a month ago and we were fishing off the pier, didnt have much luck off dead shrip or mullet...hooked up some frozen squid and the catfish were killing it! Wish i would have bought a couple of bags to bring home. They stay on the hook really good too!!! Was able to use the same piece of squid to catch like 3-4 fish! Too bad they dont sell it up here...already looked for it

Buy bottled water. They've been having water quality issues down there for years. Last time I went I had the [censored] for a week.