We have a house in pirates beach and wanted to see about west bay but we don't know where to go. Also I heard it's pretty shallow in most parts and there are a lot of oysters, so I would like to know a little before testing the waters.

You own a house or you are renting a house?
You have (or have access to) a boat? and what kind?

We are renting our uncles house. We have a 20' center console flat bottom boat with a brand new merc 150 4 stroke with a jackplate. We can run pretty damn shallow.

When?

We fish West Bay and you are correct about the shallow spots. It is near SLP and the channels are always changing. Best to use common sense and drive slowly watching for channel markers.
Navionics, ect... do a good gob of keeping you safe for the most part. Just be aware that in that area you can be cruising at 4' and be sitting in 4" in a boat length.
Good place to fish without knowing the area is around the pass, drop on bottom or work a popping cork.
Be careful the pass has very dangerous currents!

You're in luck... if you want to play it safe and want something super convenient... just idle into Dana Cove (immediately adjacent to the left as you leave the channel from Pirates). My in-laws had a house in Pirates for many years and we would just idle over there and wade at least twice a month when we didn't feel like going too far. It usually produced some good fish... mostly redfish but I recall a few times in recent years where we caught a bunch of specs. Occasional flounder/sting-ray/hardhead/etc. as well. Good luck. Pics and fishing report would be much appreciated!

I'd run straight across and go into Green's Lake to find the mud when the sun comes out, but you can sure get stuck back there and there are spots of oysters.

Dana Cove is a good spot. The water there gets surprisingly clear thanks to the growth of the seagrass in there. I really like it there.

In fact since Ike there has been tremendous grass growth along the south shoreline really improving the fishing. And most of those coves will be deep enough that you can comfortably drift them in that boat. If you've got a trolling motor even better.

You can also run across the bay towards Carancahua Bayou and fish the south side of the spoil islands along the ICW. The grass there has grown up (except for the spot where the dumbasses dumped a bunch of dredge mud a couple winters ago) and it's clear too. Generally much deeper as well and a good spot for trout. I had what would have been my best trout ever on the fly break me off there last fall. She was pushing 30" and as I got her to the boat so I could land her she gave a head shake and that big ass tooth clipped my leader with an audible "twing" and she was gone.

We went out there for a couple hours to check it out. Bought a west bay map but it was the wrong one so we just went to markings on our gps and spots that looked good. Went up to the ICW and ran into the rays and caught a few of them but that was about it.

Were you throwing live bait? Normally where there are stingrays there are reds and rays won't hit artis.

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Were you throwing live bait? Normally where there are stingrays there are reds and rays won't hit artis.

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Live shrimp, but we did try artificial for awhile.

Check the tides. I tend to prefer a falling tide because it pulls bait out of the marsh.

My go-to in Dana's was always a 1/4 oz. silver spoon. Always caught at least one slot red... worth a try if plastics aren't doing it for you.

Just found a very detailed map of west bay hung up in the laundry room that we could've used the past 2 days.

You got a very light wind out of the west in the am, you also have an outgoing tide until about noon. The spoil banks south of the intercoastal that were mentioned earlier should be protected and bait should be falling out of carancahua and greens lake so that could be a good choice for the am. In the afternoon the wind kicks up a little and will be out of the south, might not be a bad time to switch to the south shoreline of the bay and hit Dana cove.

Forgot to give the report yesterday. We went down to SLP and showed our real idiocracy by not being able to find the channel if there is one. Would like help on this for next time. Ended up running into the sheepshead and got some of those.

I definitely would not recommend trying to run out to the gulf via San Luis Pass unless you're very familiar with the area. The channel tends to stay closer to the Galveston side but it winds around. The amount of water & sand pushed through there by the current is amazing.

There's a reason people drown there on a regular basis.

Yeah I asked somebody else and they said you have to run close to the shoreline.