Hello, Fishy Folks!

Just found this website while trying to shop for next week's five day fishing trip to Port Aransas, Texas. Two days on the Scat Cat (hoping to get some of those red snappers)and perhaps the other days in the bay with our kayaks. Not sure about the latter, never kayaked fish before much less know what's really involved in the interior parts of the bay behind Port A.

So checking out the calendar... check, it looks real good with a new moon. I like that. Looks like I couldn't have picked a better weekend; hope the fish agree.

Being a freshwater girl, I get super excited in abundance when we talk about going saltwater fishing. What can I say, they're bigger! And in my humble opinion, tastier. So, after last year's haul of king mackerel, I bought a new freezer for the garage this year hoping to pack it with all sorts of different fish.

By far, I am not an expert at saltwater. In fact this is only my second trip to the gulf for fishing. A trip to Cabela's fills tomorrow night with a planned purchase for a rod/reel combo and it appears a shrimp bucket maybe the best bet for bait? I have lots of questions; so, I'm hoping I will find some good advice on here namely because I want to continue outfishing my husband.

Hi WaterDiva

Glad you found fishingreminder - welcome
You did pick a great weekend for your trip.
Hope the weather plays along well.

Are you planning to fish with softbaits/lures?

Yes to lures and softbaits. And yes to live bait. I'll give them whatever they want.

I couldn't wait and couldn't concentrate on work yesterday, so left a bit earlier than usual to meet up with my husband. We made our pilgrimage to the Ft Worth Cabela's. I was armed with some information for rod and reel ideas including Shimano Sratic because they do everything well and US Reel's line for its great casting abilities. It was a no-brainer once I arrived. Shimano ran just under $200 as expected, but the usually priced $120 180xs US Reel was on sale as a substitute for an out of stock less expensive model (to those with a club card) for just $34.99. I wanted a 7' ML pole but my husband thought a St. Croix 9' Heavy would be better. In addition to casting lures, this should also handle the live shrimp and baitfish.

For the insane discounted price of the reel, I may have to go back and get another one along with the 7' ML.

We put 30lb braid on the spool, and purchased a number of mirolures, skitterpops, and spooks to fill my re-purposed lure box.

If I go back for the 7' ML, seems I would want to max that out at 12lb and throw some lighter buggs or something.

If you have any thoughts, suggestions, or critiques, I would love to hear them.