ISO Drum/Christmas Bay Kayak Fishing Info

[JackStrawTX]

First time poster, long time fisher of Surfside area. Was able to get down to Surfside for some good water this summer and smoked the trout a couple times. I have had a kayak I inherited from my brother who moved for a few years and have never used it in the bays once... my good buddy just bought one and we are looking to do some red and trout fishing back in the bays this fall.

My questions are simple.
What weather/winds provides the best fishing?
I imagine you probably want to fish high tide and a moving out tide in the cuts, is this right?
What else do I need to know about tides?
If we are running through Churchill and Cold Pass, should we fish the shores for Reds and the Gut for Trout?
Do yall ever have live bait lines in the water and toss lures at the same time?

In the surf, I usually start with Topwaters move to paddletail softies and then try out live bait. Will this gameplan work in the bays?

For the cuts should I use bobber rigs or carolina rigs with my like Croaker?

Sorry for all the questions. Thanks in advance for your input. Tight lines!

[TroutSupport.com]

Theres a lot to cover but maybe I can simplify it a bit.

Christmas and Bastrop can be good in the fall... so your at least in the right place.. Drum too.

Focus your time fishing on structure (oyster, a drop off, an edge, edge of seagrass, edge of a gut, anything is structure really if if holds baitfish and the fish can strike from below so to speak, but the above should be focused on).
If the structure doesn't have signs of bait or shrimp (you'll have to train your eyes over time to see signs of bait and forage) then move to the next structure.
Simplify your lure use... Use a Spook Jr as a topwater (bone), get a bag of paddle plastics with jigheads 1/8th oz. (Chicken on Chain Color), and a bag of curl tail gulp (Chartreuse) and a small popping cork doesn't matter what type.. there is no best of anything. The best bait is the one you throw in or in front of fish.

Learn to locate fish by reading the water.. the signs of life in the bay. Structure, with current, with bait.. fish it.. if you don't catch something in 15 minutes move to the next one. Keep moving until you find fish.

Trout will generally be in 2-5 ft of water in the fall, and reds will be in 12" -24".

If you like using live bait instead use it.. there is no right or wrong.. I suggest newish anglers use live bait until they get confident catching fish with them, then use lures.

If you want to speed up your learning curve consider getting one of our Instructional videos on TroutSupport.com (we have both trout and redfish videos). At your starting place look at getting the Limits video for trout, and then get the Shallow Redfish DVD for redfish.

I'll let others hopefully tell you more about the DVDs and if you should get them or not. Take your time, learn what you can from where you can, but when you're ready we'll be there to support where you want to get to. http://www.troutsupport.com

[JackStrawTX]

Thanks for the response man, appreciate it. I am a pretty good fisherman and have caught tons of trout growing up and am very experienced off shore.

Thanks for the tips on watching the water. That is huge offshore and I always forget about it in the surf.

Also trying to get info on the basic weather (water temps/wind) to look for in the bays, how to fish the tides effectively, and any other info as well.

[Wag]

Tobin's videos are marvelous.

[therocket37]

that whole area can be really good in the fall. tides and water levels generally need to normal-high. If you are going to plan your trip, try to fish a high tide that's starting to fall or the end of an incoming tide. you can view the actual water levels/predictions on NOAAs website under tides and currents. strong winds can muddy that area up, lots of local rain can do the same. google earth is an amazing tool for this area because the bays are so shallow. go back in the history on google earth to look at different images from the past, it's very easy to navigate this. pick out some little reefs and tow-heads (reefs lining a channel, etc) and visit those structures. you can find ones in the middle of those bays and ones on the shoreline, you can also pick out areas of scattered mud/shell and grass. if you find birds hovering close to the water and picking at shrimp below, there's fish under them and they are feeding aggressively. paddle over and throw in there without spooking them!
great lures for fall are soft plastics rigged on 1/8-1/4 oz jigheads, topwaters, and live shrimp under a cork. if you paddle into the marsh now thru November (even early December), you can find redfish feeding aggressively and it can be a lot of fun. need a decently high tide preferably and moving tide. lastly, you can find a lot of protection from the wind in these areas so look on the map to see what pockets and shorelines might offer protection, and then scout out any reefs, structure, points, bayous/marsh, and give it a shot! redfish get pretty active and schools up this time of year.