Visiting Texas to Fish

Hello! What a great forum you have here.
First I want to say that I am going to ask some questions that i'm sure you answer regularly. Also, I want to thank you in advance for your patience and responses. I understand that the topic of "coming to fish Texas for first time-where do I go, what do I do?" is probably something that you deal with quite frequently so I also apologize in advance for that.
My wife and I are coming to Corpus Christi on 3/15-3/19 to celebrate our 30th birthdays. We haven't taken a vacation since we started our business 9 years ago, so we're really excited. Unfortunately we can only leave for a few days. We're from Maine and salt/freshwater fish year round, mostly by boat, but definitely not exclusively (especially the 6 months of the year when there is ice). All we want to do is fish. I think we plan to fish the bay and ocean sides of PNS and bay side of Mustang Island-if it is accessible. Also looking to travel to Baffin, maybe Riviera fishing pier? Port Mansfield? Anywhere is possible, we're renting a car... That probably cannot drive on a beach.

#1- How do we avoid spring break? I don't know what to expect, but I think the places I listed are free of party people (Maybe not Mustang?).
#2- Can we rent a boat? Is renting kayaks going to be productive? I expect to spend the most time on shore, or wading.
#3- Poles: I was thinking of bringing reels and buying cheap poles? Or I've read about telescopic poles for airplane travel? What size would be most versatile. Or can I rent?
#4- Lures vs live bait- We're staying at an Air B&B. Thinking lures would be easiest instead of buying bait everyday and keeping it at our rental? Or what do you recommend for versatility of catch?
#5- Guides: Would hire a guide- good option, right? But who?
#6- Freshwater- Any rivers or anything like that to check out for exciting catches near where we'll be?

Thank you for your time and any help you can provide! Looking forward to visiting your great state.
Ryan

Spring break?
Stay away from the beaches.
Sure someone rents boats.
Bring your 2500 size spinning reel or bass size baitcasters.
6 1/2’ light med light rods get at Academy in Corpus.
If you want to really enjoy the best fishing with the least spring break crazy head down to Baffin Bay or Port Mansfield
Or north to Rockport or Seadrift. Lots of choices.

Thanks for your advice, I appreciate it.

Here's a post from a year ago; it's geared more towards Rockport, but some info for Corpus as well: CLICK

That's a great help. Looking like Baffin Bay area will be where we will spend most of our time. Is access an issue there or can you find many places to fish roadside? What about up stream? Is it still productive?

Baffin would be a tough place to wade into without a boat.

If you're boatless, there's more places when you head north than south. A lot more.

Thank you. That's great info. Wonder about delta's boat policy...

Rockport has the best access to wade fish or bank fishing.

There are 7 bays to choose from to fish, and you can find some wind protected shorelines that will produce fish for you, ... as well as, shell reefs that will produce trout, redfish, drum and flounder in the spring.

Know where those shells reefs are, their guts and points and you'll be on the fish.

Soft plastics like Gulp! 3" shrimp and 5" SW Bass Assassins work well.

I rig my soft plastics on a TEXAS RATTLER™ jig, which at this time can only be purchased online: TEXAS RATTLER™ jigs

With the Texas Rattler™ jighead and the Gulp!, you have both the scent of the Gulp! and sound of the rattle in the jig to help you attract game fish.

Great set up for novice anglers just beginning to saltwater fish to some pros that enter Fishing Tourney's to win prizes and money.

If you decide to wade, remember the StingRay Shuffle. Move your feet along the bottom in a shuffling motion. That lets any Stingrays ahead of you know you are coming and they will probably swim away. Stepping down on them can be very bad. Shuffling should eliminate most of the issue. I've been wade fishing for many years and never had an issue, but I do shuffle.

I'd buy some inexpensive vinyl waders at Academy, or, at the very least, plan on wearing jeans for wading. Old gym shoes will work if they are big enough to fit over the waders. Or, stop by a thrift store and buy some used, old, big gym shoes when you get here.

You should be able to rent some kayaks and that can add to the places that you can fish. Tons of good fish are caught out of yaks every year.

A couple of 1/4 ounce Sprite Johnson Gold spoons, with swivels, will catch many species down here. Cast, and vary your retrieve.

Have fun.

Stingray are NOT a problem during the spring and spring break in the Rockport Bay system

The ol' SaltH2O has to warm up a bit before they invade the shallows of the bays.

Ohh yeah,, ... I just wear Magellan khaki fish pants starting in the spring - that's all ya need.

There is a section at the end of my WadeFish Rockport© DVD, that comes with my book, and goes into wade fish rigging and gear to wear.

This is just great! I'm really thankful for your responses. I really appreciate versatile lures, so that's a wonderful help. We're both looking forward to this, we run a slaughterhouse and getting away is not so easy. How cold will the water be? 50? That's almost like our water temperature in the summer! I've been checking out the Rockport area, places like behind the airport, goose island, maybe past that- around the "big oak tree"... Right track? Kayaks are definitely a great plan. How about kayaking in Baffin bay? Is that a good option? Thanks again for all this information!

Saltwater temps should be in the low - mid 70°'s.



https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/dsdt/cwtg/wgof.html

to the forum!!

Thanks everyone for your responses and messages. What a great resource!

Look up my buddy Lance if you plan a trip to Baffin. He'll put you on the fish. He also can make some great recommendations for wade fishing the area. http://www.baffinguideservice.com/

Any lures you would use for bass will be fine for trout and reds. Small walk the dog lures such as spook juniors or zara spooks will do fine. A spinnerbait with the skirt removed and a minnow shaped paddle tail us a great redfish bait. Same for small shallow diving (wake baits) such as the Manns 1 minus. Caveat, after your trip you'll probably have to replace all your hooks becuase they will rust, but that's ok. During your short trip, the freshwater black nickel hooks or bronze hooks will be fine.

I personally would still do the Stingray Shuffle, I've seen stingrays on spring break, not lots of them but 1 is enough to ruin a lot of things..and could sideline you for months while the recovery happens. The foot action is just sliding the feet along the bottom instead of stepping.. it's a little akin to ice skating without actually taking the sole of the boot off the bottom. If you slide the toe forward it will bump a stingray on the side of it's body and like the above poster said, not step on it.. when you step on them they will barb you.. and it will go through most boots or shoes or what have you. I've waded the texas coast for over 20 years and I've never been stung with this method.. just keep your balance and take your time.

Spring weather can be highly variable hear in Texas.. I mean all ya'll have is Damp Cold this time of year.. on the Texas Coast it can be Damp cold one minute and bright sunny and hot the next. But mostly fairly cool on the water and the wind will make it feel cooler. If you have waders you might consider bringing them.. .you can wet wade that time of year but I wouldn't go deeper than thigh deep... maybe waste deep, but the combination between the wind and wetness can still be quite cool.. especially for your female partner. If I was wet wading with scuba booties or the like for footwear I'd stay in water thigh deep or less.

I agree with not walking into Baffin.. there are a couple of places near Rivera beach near the public pier, and one in the back next to Williams Landing at 1543.. it's right next to the boat ramp.. but if it's a hard south wind.. it's going to be tough to fish. There are maybe one or two other spots north of the county park as well... but you have to be savy using google earth looking for sea grass along the bank and find access to it as well...

good luck on your trip. ... oh, and like photobill mentioned, a trip with a guide while you are down would be highly recommended. I like Baffin Bay Rod and Gun and they have a lodge you can stay at and they have fished that area for 40 years.

troutsupport wrote:



Actually you can't make a hasty generalization regarding stingrays.

Some Texas bay's have quite a bit more stingray problem than others.

Matagorda Bay is prolly the worst for harboring stingrays.

The Rockport Bay system may be the best.

I wade fish year round, several times a week and do NOT have a problem with stingrays - even during the summer when they are prevalent in the Texas bays.

There are some techniques and tricks a wade angler can use, too long and lengthy to describe and type, but those techniques and tips/tricks for avoiding stingrays while wade fishing is on my WadeFish Rockport© DVD.

went to buy license online and realized they are not printable like here in Maine. Can you buy them at Walmart or academy or do they need to be purchased somewhere special?

Yep Wal-Mart can take care of you.

FYI: fished Location 6 in the WadeFish Rockport© book for ~ 1 hr Sunday evening ...

and, .. the fish are biting ... Tim caught this nice flounder while we were testing out the Chickenboy 4" soft plastic on the a 1/8 oz. TEXAS RATTLER™ with it's U-Lock™ - the plastic didn't tear or rip from any wire or lead prong on the jighead, and that's a good thing !!!

You can buy them at Walmart and Academy here. You should be able to buy online and it will send the PDF to your email. Just keep that on your phone.

So far about 30 fish including hardhead catfish, trout, red drum, black drum, and sheepshead! All on shrimp. Thanks everyone, this is a really great state you have here.