Recommendations

Hi,
Maybe my reply might initiate some responses from others who could offer more feedback.

My son (18 yrs.) and I have been with the PACK for just under a year now. We had absolutely no kayak experience before being introduced to the Hobie kayak with its Mirage drive.

Recommendation 1... if you've never been fishing in a kayak and you don't have a Hobie... you need to get some practice time first. No need in wasting an entire day just trying to get the boat pointed in the right direction. Paddling takes time to master if you plan on fishing as well.

I started taking my son wade fishing in the Corpus area several years ago. I started him on live shrimp under a popping cork and then, over time, transitioned him to soft plastics (Bass Assassins – now called Saltwater Assassins). Young kids get tired and bored quickly – so working a lure might not produce the amount of strikes needed to keep a kid interested.

In regards to July fishing areas, my kayak fishing experience is very limited. Again, almost all my fishing was wading in the Corpus area before getting involved with kayaks. During the hot months, I would typically start either early in the morning or very late in the afternoon and fish only the shallows around oyster beds or grass pockets.

July is hot – take plenty of water out with you. I usually freeze a couple of water bottles and wear a fishing vest with a back zipper area. I put a frozen bottle in there to help keep me cool as the day heats up. They thaw quickly so you’ll have cool drinking water for some of the time.

My tackle consists of primarily medium action rods, spinning reels, 8-10 lb. braided line, and lures – mostly under a popping cork. My son swears by Gulp while I prefer the Egret Voodoo shrimp or Assassin lure. I stress, if your boy has not fished enough to be ‘hooked’ on fishing, use bait (live is best). Of course, everyone has their own preferences.

I hope some of this helps and that you might get additional feedback. Good luck and be safe.

Steve

The Fishing Center is also a goo location to launch from and offers access to some nice fishing areas in just a short paddle. What you need to be careful of though is that you have to paddle across the intracoastal waterway to get to the other side. There can be lots of boat traffic so make sure you pay attention to what is coming and going if you cross that area. Make sure you are very visible and can effectively get across in a timely fashion. Once across there a lot of nice shallow lakes and pockets you can fish in as well as also check out the Texas Park Paddle trail maps online which will give you an overview of the areas which are paddle friendly. If you haven't been in kayak before then renting and going fishing in such a manner is maybe not the best idea and you should try to get familiar as mentioned in the above post with paddling and handling a kayak before. Wear PFD and know how to get back into the kayak should you roll or fall out. Look around the PACK links which can offer you more info on possibly what to bring, etc

Thanks for the responses and the ideas. My son and i have paddled kayaks quite a bit on freshwater lakes but not saltwater. Both of us are able to right ourselves on a kayak if we flip, etc.. My son is already an "avid" freshwater fisherman :-). His summer fish total is already over 100 fishing in local freshwater ponds here and up north so we will probably go the lure route. I have rented two kayaks at Port O'Connor and will give it a try early Saturday morning.