# How to locate fish in the flats?



## yulp333

I grew up fishing the Port A area with my uncle, and he always took us to wade fish the flats near Mud Island. Fast forward 20 years and I am now fishing these areas alone, and can never locate any fish! What do y'all look for when choosing a spot to wade or drift? I typically fish artificials in shallow water and know to fish guts and sand pockets, but also see people fishing deeper areas further out than the flats. Is it just experience or is there any signs that I can look for to locate fish?


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## Sgrem

Get yourself Troutsupport.com


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## yulp333

Thanks for the reply! I'll check out that website. I've been told to look for birds and bait, and have seen mullet jumping but have never seen any birds working an area or seen a slick from a school of working fish. Is this something that you can find every day if you are looking for it, or a more of a rare "jackpot" scenario?


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## Sgrem

sgrem said:


> Get yourself Troutsupport.com


.....and it will show you how to put all those pieces you mention together. What you are seeing and how to fish it.

Troutsupport.com was made for you exactly to answer this question. Get it and catch fish this weekend.


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## Aquillin87

Find the bait find the fish


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## Sportv362013

If your fishing in just Port A area, another good resource is Jay Watkins website. He has videos has made over the years for that area and they are good information for fishing locations for different times of the year. Seasonal guidelines video set is good.

They're no where near the level of detail as Troutsupport videos regarding technical detail. Id recommend for that area the first TroutSupport video you need to get is the Marsh and Grass flats video; at minimum. I always recommend everyone to buy the whole set as they are the best technical fishing videos on the market. Plus Tobin is a solid guy and its always good to support local folks.


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## ccoker

nothing more frustrating than finding bait activity and can't pick up a fish with different offerings


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## gozag

ccoker said:


> nothing more frustrating than finding bait activity and can't pick up a fish with different offerings


Quite frustrating. But if you whacked em every time you went the days when you did wouldn't be as exciting!


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## c hook

*right*



ccoker said:


> nothing more frustrating than finding bait activity and can't pick up a fish with different offerings


ther isn't always fish on active bait. just like sometimes no bait, no surface activity or fishy signs, and bam fish on. but with that being said, you want to always try to key in on nervous active bait. :texasflag


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## Tony Nick

Some key procedures that work for me.
I focus on sight scent and sound.
Sight entails selecting a color dark for murky water and light and glitter for green water.
Scent,the use of garlic spray about every tenth cast.
Sound, using bait with vibration tails is beneficial.
It is very important to walk slow so you do not spook the fish as you cover the flats.


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## Jerry713

c hook said:


> ther isn't always fish on active bait. just like sometimes no bait, no surface activity or fishy signs, and bam fish on. but with that being said, you want to always try to key in on nervous active bait. :texasflag


c hook I agree. A few weeks ago I found shrimp popping out of the water in a marsh and thought for sure I was about to hook up just to find out it was schools of mullet blowing up the shrimp.


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## Aggieangler

I second the trout support recommendation and would say get a Hot Spot map also. There is a ton of good water towards Redfish Bay in that system for wading and doing well. The back side of Mud/Superflats etc is almost always good, as well as down towards Allyn's Bight. But you have to find water with bait, and then fish working the bait. Some of what you are seeing with folks throwing out deep, when wading, is folks catching fish on the drop off or also on reefs in some places.

If you grab a wading version Hot Spot map for the Aransas Bay system, there are tons of places to wade indicated on it, and also what times of year and species. That gives you a basic area to start in, if you don't have any clues otherwise, for the time of year, and fish you are targetting. Then, using the trout support knowledge since you paid attention to the DVDs, you start to eliminate bad water quickly and focus on good water with signs of fish presence.

This is also a good resource:
https://www.coastalbendfishing.com/coastal-bend/fishing-rockport


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## c hook

*fact*

typically in the winter, the 30incher will be along in a quite isolated area. no signs of bait or fish, dead calm water, very shallow next to the bank. you are thinking there isn't a fish for miles, no bait not even a ripple on the surface, and then "wham bam thank you ma'am", 28 to 30 incher out of nowhere, comes to the hand without a fight. :texasflag


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## smith04

*Trout Support*

I make a third recommending Trout Support. I am using it and the info is great. Great value.


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## Stumpgrinder1

ccoker said:


> nothing more frustrating than finding bait activity and can't pick up a fish with different offerings


they aint always feeding. I made peace with this hard reality years ago


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## Sgrem

Yep. Fish are just like people. They dont feed all day. But they may be there all the same. Just as you would jump at a lion sleeping on the other side of a tree you just walked around.....bait gets scared and spooks and jumps but the fish arent feeding. Up to you to grind and make em eat.... or wait them out.
Keep sharpening your axe and learn to read the bait. Read bait that is getting hassled and the difference bait that are simply in the presence of monsters at rest.


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## dylanmcmahan24

There are a few things you can do. First, always pay attention to wind direction. If it's blowing out of the south, you want to be hitting the north shoreline. Vice versa and so forth. You also want to pay attention to the major/minor feeding periods. These can be looked up online. You also need to pay attention to water color and bait location.


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