The situation at Pass Cavallo is similar: Just a few miles east of the pass are the Port O’Connor jetties, east of the jetties is West Matagorda Bay, and west of there lies Espiritu Santo Bay -- miles and miles of bays fed by tides that flow in and out of the pass and the jetties, both of which are accessible only by boat or small airplane.

The wade-fishing opportunities at Pass Cavallo are about as good as they get. You can catch reds and trout, and some very large sharks, along with the occasional tarpon while standing in one spot there. Numerous sandbars form all sorts of guts in the pass. The shallow areas on the bars hold trout and reds on high tides; the deeper guts are best on falling tides.

Most fishermen at Pass Cavallo beach the boat on one side or the other and wade the shallows. Don’t wade out too deep: Passes create dangerous currents that can sweep the sand right from under your feet. When fishing Pass Cavallo and San Luis Pass, I don’t ever get out over thigh-deep.

Last summer I did quite a bit of wade-fishing at Pass Cavallo, a lot of that fly-fishing for reds and trout. One afternoon I was wading along the east side of the pass. In gin-clear water on an incoming tide, I was sight-casting to big reds and jacks in about 18 inches of water. The trick was to keep the 1/0 Bonehead popper away from the jacks, and give the reds a chance to eat it. That day of fishing was a hoot.

Another option at Pass Cavallo is to anchor and fish live and dead baits on or near bottom. That’s a good way to catch some hefty bull reds.

The Port O’Connor jetties are basically set up for boat fishing only. The rocks are rough and difficult to walk. Your best bet there is to anchor and fish live baits under slip-corks. The water on the channel side of the jetties is very deep and difficult to anchor in. Take along plenty of rope -- like a few hundred feet -- and use a Danforth-style anchor. The idea is to slide the anchor into the water, feed out plenty of line and hope that it bites.

The several areas in which groups of underwater rocks form little pyramids and upwelling currents are very good for fishing along the Port O’Connor jetties. And the absolute best way of fishing those rocks is to use a slip-float and live shrimp. While fishing live shrimp 8 to 12 feet deep under a slip-float both during the day and under the lights at night, Mike Barnes, Vito Randazzo and I have caught thousands of trout -- that’s no exaggeration -- along the POC jetties. Once you find the right rocks, you’ll discover trout stacked up like bananas on a truck. The trick is to get anchored and drift back far enough to allow your baits to float over the rocks.

Passes create dangerous currents that can sweep the sand right from under your feet. When fishing Pass Cavallo and San Luis Pass, I don’t ever get out over thigh-deep.

Slip-floats will work along any jetties, but they’re particularly deadly at the POC rocks. The key: Make sure that your slip-float is working properly, and that your shrimp is at the right depth. Once you’re at the right depth, click the reel in free-spool and feed line out as the rig floats with the current.