Bill Sheka's missi'n is fishin'. The Corpus Christi, Texas, inshore guide lives, eats, breathes, sleeps and talks fishing 25 hours each day. And when the chance to catch seatrout — B-I-G seatrout — is good, he is a person possessed with piscatorial power.

So on a balmy September morning Bill Sheka was hurrying us into his shallow-draft, center-console Kenner boat.

"Let's get going guys, I know where the seatrout are holding, plenty of 'em, and they're big," he said in a fast, sure tone. "Gotta get that early worm out to get those big, fat trout."

Quickly Charles and Bruce Benedict of Forney, Texas, Tim Tucker of Micanopy, Florida and I loaded into Sheka's boat, he fired the 200 horsepower motor, and we idled away from a Corpus Christi marina. Soon we were skimming over the shallow flats of sheltered Laguna Madre, running wide open south to catch the early bite in Baffin Bay.

"Trout fishin' all this summer has been incredible," said Sheka over the roar of the outboard as we ran. "It's almost as good as it was in the ol' days, and I honestly think trout and redfishin' in Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay will continue to improve. I believe some record-class seatrout will be caught along the Texas coast so long as we don't get a killer freeze.

"We had a winter die-off of trout a few years ago, and that hurt the fishing. But we've had mild winters the last couple years, and there are no commercial nets hammering our inshore fish stocks now. So we've got plenty of seatrout and redfish, and they're getting bigger every year."

The sun was rising over wild and pristine Padre Island National Seashore as we ran south. Dozens of small still-house fishing camps dotted the shallows of Laguna Madre, which showed the importance of sport angling to the area. Soon we turned west off Laguna Madre into Baffin Bay, and hugged the shore to stay in a channel away from motor-wrecking rocks that cropped up from time to time. Finally, just as bright morning sun shone yellow-gold on us, Sheka slowed the boat and pointed to a nondescript place well out into Baffin Bay.

"Right there is where I've been gettin' my trout," he said. "It looks like a cluster of rocks, but it's not. It's a 'serpulid' reef, something I'll bet you've never heard about nor fished before.

"Biologists say that 'serpulid' reefs only occur in Laguna Madre and in Baffin Bay, so they're pretty unique. The 'serpulid' was a prehistoric and now extinct worm, and they were huge. Incredibly, their legacy to us as fishermen is from their feces, which today are in a petrified state, and occur in huge reefs that marine fish and forage gather around.

"The Texas state record seatrout was caught right near here by a wade fisherman. That trout was 13 1/2 pounds and measured nearly 34 inches long. Another trout that was found dead in Baffin Bay during a winter kill a couple years ago was 44 inches long and in the 20 pound class.

"To think that some of the best seatrout fishing in the world is found in Baffin Bay around coral-like reefs that actually are the petrified remains of giant, prehistoric worms is pretty amazing, huh?"

Sheka ran the boat wide of the "serpulid reef," set-up an upwind drift, and killed the outboard.

"This is shallow water, and the best way to get trout and reds is with a popping-cork rig," Sheka continued. "The best popping cork made is the 'Alameda Float,' which can be put on a line in seconds without re-tying, and it has a very loud rattle inside. The loud rattling of a float is vital to success because it helps attract seatrout. I think it sounds like shrimp snapping their tails, and that draws fish, just like the popping of the float. A loud, noisy attractor like the Alameda float is especially important during summer and early fall when we get brown, discolored water from algea bloom."

We positioned Alameda floats onto our lines three feet above number 4 treble hooks. Onto one of the hooks we threaded a Jawtec "Shrimp Worm," a soft plastic lure about the size of an index finger, but with four soft legs or tentacles that quiver and wiggle each time an Alameda float is popped on the surface.

Tucker was first rigged and made the initial long cast to the serpulid reef. He popped his float a time or two, then announced he had a fish. No one paid him much mind, because everyone was still rigging floats, hooks and "Shrimp Worms."

"Look guys, this is a pretty good trout, and I think someone should get the net," he finally said as the fish neared the boat.

We looked at his trout, and Sheka immediately dropped what he was doing and netted the first fish of the morning — a sleek, silvery, solid 6-pounder! Tucker's big trout got everyone casting and popping floats in a wild fishing frenzy. We caught many trout, all of good size, but nothing as heavy as the 6-pounder. Finally, the action waned, and we ran to another serpulid reef that Sheka said held redfish. We caught a number of heavy reds up to 10 pounds, all with green, red or brown "Shrimp Worms" fished beneath Alameda popping floats.

Sheka says that summer and early autumn have offered incredible seatrout and redfish action the past couple years. Roughly 40 percent of the big trout (ones over 26 inches long) he produces for clients during the year are taken June through October. Sheka believes this rejuvenation in Baffin Bay and Laguna Madre seatrout is due to the ban on commercial harvest and sale of the species, as well as a 14-inch minimum length limit, and a 10 fish per day bag limit.

Good trout and redfishing can be had by waders in Baffin Bay and in Laguna Madre. But much of the best fishing is reached only by boat, by anglers running south out of Corpus Christi or north out of Port Mansfield. For anglers unfamiliar with the area, hiring a guide like Bill Sheka is the fastest way to a big trout and redfish return. Sheka can handle up to four anglers. He can be reached at 2026 Silver Sands, Corpus Christi, Texas 78412, phone (361) 991-7191.