Saturday morning I expected a crowd in the Nueces delta, so I showed up an hour before daylight hoping to have time to paddle into the good areas before anyone else. The tides were really low, and I was barely able to get through my "short-cut" by dragging the kayak through what should have been water but that was now just mud. I slogged through and washed as much of the mud off as I could, then hurried on. The tides were so low that much of the marsh was just mud, but I've learned how to make that situation work in my favor. In these conditions my time is spent almost exclusively searching drains/canals and the connected shelves that still have enough water to allow fish to crawl around, so I just have to be willing to cover the needed miles to conduct a thorough search. I was specifically looking for exposed reds feeding, so submerged fish and those puffs of mud that we all sometimes see were not slowing me down. In the first channel that drains several areas, the only fish I found were so spooky that they wouldn't let the bait hit the water without jetting off into the deeper water ...so I kept moving. I got to a lake that was only about 1/3 covered in water, but that piece of water held hunting fish. Moving in I realized it was so shallow I couldn't sneak any farther so I waited for the fish to come closer. After a few minutes of watching, a nice red came within range. The Z-man craw landed softly just ahead of the fish and it immediately pounced. The water was so shallow that it couldn't fight very well, and it flopped around creating more foam mud and noise than anything. I released the 24" fish and waited to see if the other fish would also come my direction, but as luck would have it they worked away from me so I headed back out to check other areas.
The next channel had no visible fish, but the first big shoulder adjacent to this drain did have some action. Reds were swirling and chasing bait, not as a group but as singles within the same area. I waited until a back was within 30 feet and working towards me. The bait landed beside the fish and it stopped. Experience has taught me not to move the bait quickly in such shallow water, so I slowly (very slowly) moved the bait forward and the fish turned and attacked. Just as I was preparing to net the fish, it darted under the kayak and out the other side. Before I could get the line clear it snapped and the frightened fish ran right through the others and spooked all of them into the channel, so I retied and kept looking. The next channel had a shore crawler just as I entered the drain. I spooked the fish trying to pull the lure close enough to be seen, so again I kept moving deeper on the channel. One small lake had a few fish along an edge, and I managed to release another 24" fish.
Farther back another shelf had two big crawlers, and one approached within ten feet of the kayak before I gently put the bait in front of his nose. The take was instant, and after the fish got me soaking wet the 28" red went on ice.
His buddy was gone by now, so I advanced farther into the marsh along the canal. I figured there wouldn't be any more fish this far back because it was too shallow, but as I turned the last bend and looked down the shoreline the clouds parted for a few seconds ...and EIGHT bronze backs were shining in the sunlight, parked along one small piece of shoreline. As I approached I kept looking for a reason why they would just beach themselves while appearing to stare at the shoreline. Odd. I got within 20 feet for an easy cast, and put the craw on the mud just above the closest fish. As I slowly brought it past his nose the fish turned to follow, and as soon as they had disappeared beneath the surface, it slammed the bait. I figured all the other fish would leave, but they seemed sleepy or confused. Most of them just rearranged and stayed as they were.
This second 27" fish went on ice and as I looked back up, two other reds had slid right into the same spot where I just caught their buddy. A repeat cast brought the same result and I had a limit of fish.
picture urlThis one finally spooked the others into swimming out toward the bay. I saw them leaving but was busy landing the fish, and as soon as he too was on ice, I began to follow in that direction. About a hundred yards along I caught up to the school, and although most were in deeper water just leaving faint wakes, for some reason one of them was cruising the edge with his back showing.
I put the bait just ahead of him and it was like he had already read the script. This 28" fish swam away quickly to catch up to his buddies. 
As I got back to the main bay, I looked over and saw yet another big crawler exposed and working toward me. It appeared to be the same fish I had spooked on the way in. I took my time and waited until he offered an easy cast. The craw landed about a foot to the side of the fish and I crept it right across his nose ...and you can see what happened. This one was 28.5" and was released swimming strong. The wind at that point was getting strong, so I headed for home and a warm shower. By the time I arrived at the truck I had covered 13.5 miles. That's not unusual for me, but with water that shallow it was a lot more work than usual.
Important things I have learned hunting fish this way: stealth is critical, so moving slowly and avoiding splashes, bumps in the boat or digging the paddle blade into the mud to "push" should go without saying. Cast the bait so that it lands as softly as possible on the surface. An alert red in 5" of water will almost always be frightened of an unexpected splash. To help with this I use finesse jig heads of 1/10 or 1/15 ounce size. The Z-man branded weedless "finesse bullets" are strong enough for even large reds, but land nicely and run as weedless as any jig. Third, use light braid (I have been happy with 15lb for this style of approach rather than my usual 20lb). Lastly, use three or even four feet of fluoro leader in 15-20lb test. These things put together give you a sneaky presentation that even spooky fish will often fall for, without them being able to detect something amiss. I had trouble in the past with connecting the braid to the fluoro. It seemed fine but would sometimes fail during a fight. I discovered the modified Albright knot and my problems were gone. I literally haven't broken at that connection since converting to this knot for connecting braid and mono. To connect the fluoro to the jighead I'm partial to the perfection loop. It allows for maximum movement and can be tied very quickly, but holds strong.
This guy explains and demonstrates it better than I could: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_xtk2n ... %2FYouTube
