Other big trout areas of the lagoon favored by Bird include:

Nighthawk-A narrow, little bay squeezed between the lagoon's east shore and spoil islands along the ICW. Nighthawk stretches for 8 miles from the Padre Isles subdivision to Bird Island Basin.

Its main feature along the east shore is a white sand beach merging with a distinct grassline featuring an abrupt drop-off to 2 to 3 feet of water. Excellent for wading and fly fishing, the shoreline is good with a light north wind pushing against the shore, but it also offers shelter and clear water when southeast winds are howling.

The strike zone is a 20-yard-wide strip where the sand meets the grass.

East Shore- Stretching south from Bird Island Basin, this long, curving shoreline also features a distinct "break" or drop-off where white sand and grass converge.

It is also a high traffic area for boats traveling between Bird Island Basin and Baffin Bay or the Land Cut. So Bird normally reserves fishing the East Shore during the quieter times of mid-morning and mid-afternoon.

Yarborough Pass-One of Bird's favorite areas for spring trout action, the Yarborough Pass area offers a fine mix of relatively deep water next to long stretches of sandy, grassy shoreline shallows.

North of the pass (or where it used to be), Bird concentrates on the outside edge of a wide grass flat that features a distinct drop-off to deeper water. South of the pass, the featured terrain is a wide, shallow sand flat that drops off to grass beds and potholes along a distinct line curving all the way from the pass to spoil islands of the ICW.

This curving break is actually a shoaling area between the deeper waters of the lagoon and the extreme shallows of the famed Graveyard area. The area provides sheltered wade fishing in high southeast winds, but can also be good in light northeast winds.

The Last Frontier:

If the sprawling waters of the Upper Laguna Madre system can be said to have a frontier, it's the west end of Baffin Bay, particularly the northeastern arm-Cayo Del Grullo-and its southwestern arm, Laguna Salada.

This is the trophy trout beat of fishing guide Les Cobb of Riviera, who is quietly gaining a reputation as a big trout producer among out-of-town anglers fishing out of Wild Horse Lodge.

From his out-of-the-way location, Cobb doesn't see the large numbers of Corpus Christi anglers who converge on Baffin Bay from marinas and launch ramps at the north end of the lagoon. They've already motored 20 to 30 miles by the time they reach Baffin's front door.

"Not many (Corpus Christi) fishermen come all the way to the west end of the bay," Cobb says. "So I'm able to spend 90 percent of my time back here without being bothered (by the crowds)."

He also finds his share of big trout in these lightly fished waters. "There's no telling how many trophy trout are caught back here without anyone knowing," Cobb reveals. "We had trout up to 33 and 34 inches last spring."

On top of that, the guide and his clients are never more than a few miles and a few minutes from good fishing. Launching from ramps at either Loyola Beach or Riviera Beach, Cobb can pick choice trout terrain in three directions. By "choice" terrain, he means grassy, sandy shallows and drop-offs along shorelines, as well as soft-bottom flats. The topo map of the area shows miles and miles of such terrain.

Depending on wind conditions, Cobb can head straight east into Baffin Bay to wade fish waters along the north shore around Kleberg Point or along the south shore in the Black Bluff and Los Coralles areas. He says a favored area is a shallow bar stretching all the way across the mouth of Alazan Bay between Kleberg Point and Starvation Point. With the ebb and flow of spring tides, trout regularly cross the thin-water bar between Baffin and Alazan. Some of the bar is sandy enough for wading, and its softer areas can be drifted.

If Baffin Bay is not on Cobb's agenda on a particular day, he can launch and turn northeast to try either the east or west shores of the Cayo Del Grullo or turn sharply southwest into the Laguna Salada. And for anglers who really take the time to get to know the area, there are some rocks out there, too.

They just might be the last secrets left in the lagoon.