Heading to Arroyo city to a fishing cabin on the arroyo Colorado In 2 weeks. Looking for recommendations on how to fish from the lighted dock and any other bars/restaurants to visit in the area? Also is SPI open to vehicular traffic? Any advice is appreciated. TIA.

Speck rigs off the lighted pier.

Good burgers at Chili Wiilie's in Arroyo City.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SPIConcierge/?ref=share

Is your best source of current information

Just to add info, theres a lot of fresh (flood) waters coming down the arroyo negatively impacting fishing there to some extent

My family and I have caught 1,000s of fish off a lighted pier in the Arroyo. BIL has a house there a few away from the park/boat ramp. I have never really fished far up the river but assume it is the same. Also, I do know after the hurricane, the drainage of fresh water can drive out the fish for a while so that is something to ask around about.

Bring a crab trap too if you have one. Live shrimp from the bait stand (right in down town Arroyo city, you will learn what that means later) will be guaranteed success but is pricey. Use a small treble hook if you go live and hook the shrimp on the tail. If you go out into the bay, definitely grab some live shrimp and croaker.

A popping cork with glow in the dark Gulps is the best/easiest way.
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I prefer nuclear chicken...


A spec rig will work, but you will get bigger trout with gulps and a good popping action. Charge the glow gulps in the lights before you cast for a few seconds. Cast as far as you can and give it a few good strong pops and let it sit for a second or two. Then reel in slowly and repeat. They are good at spitting these gulps out so make sure to set that hook hard. Certainly we have lost 1000s also! One of the key elements is to leave the lights on and come out quietly. We are always on a noisy wooden dock and if you come out with a party, it will scare some fish away...not all, but some. Stay a little quiet and you will keep them there. Sometimes we let the kids start early then come back later and nail them.

The bugs will build up (mosquitoes are terrible because of the hurricane that hit bring off and candles) and and so will the bait fish, trout will stick on the outer perimeter of the lighted area on the water and you will see/hear them hit bait fish. In my experience cast into the sound/sighting of the hitting trout...you will see what I mean. You can get a few in the center of the lights but generally I cast as far as I can where the big mammas hang out. They are dumb enough to come into lights.

I also throw a few lines on the bottom banks of the channel with some squid for drums that run. That will be a 1 in 100 compared to the amount of trout you will get. Alligator gar is a big deal down there with some huge ones, but I am not a big fan. My nephew does bow fishing off of the docks into the lights also, so that is fun.

Don't know the reports down there since the hurricane, but the only time I don't catch anything is in 20 mph winds and the water is chocolate milk.

HTH.

Popping cork. Tie a small treble hook 1.5-2 ft below.

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Chilli Willie's is the only restaurant/bar in Arroyo City, and with the COVID bs, they have kept very loose hours of operation. One day they're open until 9, the next they close at 7. In most other places that would be a death knell for a restaurant but AC is different. I'd call before heading over to make sure they're open.

SPI is a different ball of wax. Check with the SPI Chamber of Commerce, or the website linked above for SPI Concierge, for the most up-to-date info.

When fishing under the lights at the Arroyo, my go-to is a DOA shrimp. No cork, no weight, just like you're free-lining a live shrimp. Sometimes the bigger fish are a little deeper in the water column so let it sink if you're catching nothing but 14" schoolies on top. The traditional Spec rig and live shrimp work, too, but I fish what I'm confident in and the DOA always produces. The Arroyo has seen a lot of fresh water runoff since maybe mid- to late-June and the fishing has been slower than normal, FWIW. There is still a lot of standing water from Hurricane Hanna and the rain that came after so mosquitos are worse than normal. Fishing in the LLM has been pretty solid all summer.

***Edit to add: I assume you are staying in Arroyo City and not Rio Hondo. If you are in Rio Hondo proper, disregard most of what I posted above as I have zero experience fishing off a lighted dock in Rio Hondo.

Great advice. Yes it's arroyo city not rio Hondo, thought they were one in the same, my bad. I was hoping the hurricane issues would have died down by next Sunday but I guess not. Bummer.

i was in a fish cabin in the intercoastal near Arroyo City last weekend. Bay water was still a little off, but specs as usual under the lights. Only fished once in the bay in a boat (spent all day Saturday 50 miles offshore) and we ran up to PM to some brackish water to load up on reds.

DOAs are fantastic as well.

I recommend breakfast tacos at the stripes 15 miles down the road! Q taco for the win!

It really depends on whether the bait (shrimp) has moved back into the Arroyo or not. If the shrimp are there, the specs will be, too. If there aren't any shrimp up the Arroyo then you're wasting your time. You can throw out some cut bait on a bottom pole and hope for luck but the crazy action you get under the lights won't happen without shrimp being under the lights first.