TexasKayakFisherman.com

HELP. Im brand new to kayaking, just bought a pescador 13.0 and wanna try to take it out in the next couple of days. I have only been on a kayak once that was my buddies and fell in love. Not with the boat, the experience it was a pelican castaway and I could not reach for anything behind me or even move for the most part because I felt like I was gonna flip it! I still told my self I had to have one. So I wanna get out for the first time but just don't really know where to go. The one time I went out was by the power lines behind the church I believe they call it dead mans or kates hole??? It was fun hooked a small red and lost one, didn't get to do very much fishing. Spent more time learning everything and trying not to turtle it.
So with that said does anyone have any recommendations on where would be a good safe place to go for a beginner? Or are there any good maps I should get that would help?
Thanks for your help and if anyone going out in the next several days that would mind me tagging along, I'd appreciate it. Thanks guys!

Welcome to TKF!

I'm not too familiar with the CC fishing area, I mainly fish Bird Island when I'm in that area but I'm sure someone should chime in with some spots.

You can also look at buying a book by Ray Crawford called Wade and Kayak Fishing the Coastal Bend of Texas. Cool read and tons of spots. Hook n Line and Fish n Maps are 2 that you can look at.

Good luck and stay safe!

The area you fished at is a great area to learn, especially if you are wanting to familiarize yourself with kayak fishing. Other than the "hole" by the power lines, it is relatively shallow out there. If you did flip, you can stand up in most areas. If I was you I'd focus on the the shallow water near the spoils straight out and on your left very early in the morning(as soon as you can see). I have heard that tides are very low right now so that could throw patterns off a bit. Hope that gets you started and others chime in. I might fish that area tomorrow, depends on the weather. I'll let you know if I do and maybe we will see each other. Good luck!

The Tide is still super low right now so that will change you experience a bit and will make these places quite a bit different in a month when it returns.

Also the wind should be GREAT this weekend so don't get spoiled by the nice conditions.

Generally anywhere on the backside of the island from the national seashore to Port Aranasas.

Deadman's/ kates might be too shallow. Supposedly the drum are in the channel along the highway on the island after you get off the bridge. If that's the case, there's a good chance they're roaming the deadman's flats as well. Perhaps putting in at packery park would be a good way to avoid some of the shallower parts of Deadmans.

I've heard Shamrock is going good right now but you have the risk of break ins. If you go, leave nothing of value in and/or visible in your car. Lot's of people leave their doors unlocked to avoid replacing windows.

Bird Island is usually good but the water clarity is still pretty crappy (kinda true all the way to Fish pass area as well. (not sure about north of there))

Seen a lot of boats and kayaks out on the boat hole and pita island area. Heard some good fish were being caught off Pita.

Other than that, Crawford's book is great and there is an ACK launch app that has a lot of good launch info on it.

That's all i got.

Get a Hook'N'Line map for that area - I think it's titled Upper Laguna Madre, but to be sure, look at the map before you buy. The maps have boat ramps and kayak launches highlighted & numbered hot-spots all over the bays. If you look at the inset tables, you can get an idea of which species are likely to be found in those spots in any if the 12 months of the year.

Couple that with reading fishing reports and weather predictions and you have a good starting point.

Sweet! I appreciate the info guys.
Just ordered Ray crawfords book from ACK. I guess Im gonna give it a whirl this weekend and hopefully have some pics to share with you all.
This forum is awesome, Thanks again!

labtech81 wrote:The one time I went out was by the power lines behind the church I believe they call it dead mans or kates hole???

Please be careful when parking there. My vehicle was broken into a few weeks ago, lost a lot of stuff including equipment for our Heroes on the Water chapter...not trying to scare you off, but make you aware that fisherman are a big target for thieves on the island.

Get a hook and line map, or start using the search function (top right area of this page) to help you learn about a spot and find out what people are saying.

For example here are a few launch spots you can search:
BIB
Brown and Root
LHL
Shamrock
Porno Flats
Packery

That should provide you about 2 weeks worth of reading right there but it will answer many questions you have.

Good luck

Sure will take your advise MT stringer, thanks.
Yeah unfortunately I'm new to kayaking but not the cc area. It's crazy you can't leave anything out in view. The one time I did go out I forgot to put my strap in the cab of the truck. I thought about it the whole time I was fishing luckily it was there when I got back. I'll check things out , thanks.