Sabine Lake
GOOD. 65 degrees. Limits of redfish with a few trout mixed in are good in Lake Sabine ake on shell, points and drops. Some flounder mixed in as well. Drum are in shallow water cuts in 8 feet of water with live shrimp under a popping cork. Sabine Channel rock piles and bulkheads in 5-12 feet of water are holding redfish and trout. Sheepshead and drum catches in the cuts of Texas Bayou. Jetties are good for sheepshead and drum on Carolina rigged live shrimp. Sabine South Revetment Wall and the North Levee are producing good catches of trout drifting with a popping cork with live shrimp drifting. Sheepshead, drum and redfish are good in the banks and points in the ICW with live shrimp under a popping cork. Report by Captain Randy Foreman, Captain Randy’s Guide Service Sabine Lake.
Bolivar
GOOD. 60 degrees. The March winds have arrived and it is going to be a wild week for fishing in and around Galveston bay between the winds and scattered rains. The forecast shows some beautiful weather days that should help clear up the water and produce some feeding frenzy trips.
Trinity Bay
FAIR. 67 degrees. Best catches are still being reported from the upper northwest corner of the bay around the Fred Hartman bridge. Waders are beginning to see some activity for speckled trout along the east shoreline. Best bite on live shrimp and for those wading, hard plastic baits and soft plastics lures. Report by Captain David Dillman, Galveston Bay Charter Fishing. Water clarity bounces back quickly after winds and rain with the incoming tide. Trout are grouping up heavily in reefs being caught in 2-3 feet of water using popping corks and purple and chartreuse WAC assassins with a �¼ ounce jig heads. Redfish are easily caught in areas with better water clarity with moving tide and a partially protected shoreline from the wind using live shrimp under a popping cork and gulp shrimp in the penny color. Drums are mixed in with the redfish. Sheepshead are lined in the sides of the ship channel on riprap free lining shrimp with a �¼ ounce split shot. Flounder are starting to air back up in the bay and looking forward to their numbers soon. Be prepared, be safe and pay attention to the weather before your trip.Report by Captain Zackary Scott, Zack Attack Fishing.
East Galveston Bay
GOOD. 67 degrees. Few reports coming from this area, but when conditions are right, catches of trout from the shorelines, along with some reds and black drum. Look for the reefs adjacent to the south shoreline for speckled trout once the weather stabilizes. Best bite on soft plastics and live shrimp. Report by Captain David Dillman, Galveston Bay Charter Fishing. Surface water temperature 68 degrees. Water clarity is decent for East Galveston Bay. Still catching trout, redfish, and a few flounder in the marsh and bayou areas, but the fish have started their transition out into the main bay system. We found good numbers of solid trout on the Shorelines over shell pockets and within close proximity to drains. Our experience has been that if you see bait flipping on the surface you will find some fish, if not, you are best to move on to another spot. The lighter the jig head the better, 1/16 to �¼ ounce, determined by the wind and current, and tails without paddles, performing the best, as we were utilizing Wac Assassin’s in Chartreuse & Monkey Milk, depending upon clarity and light conditions. This week Fish Smack Popping corks with a 2 feet leader above a Marker 54 Glide Shrimp has done equally well on our trips, with a hard pop and about a 5 second pause gathering the most strikes. Spring is here and fishing will continue to heat up as the water warms into the 70s and the days continue to get longer. Report by Captain Jeff Brandon, Get the Net Guide Services, LLC. Yates Bayou drain is holding redfish against grass line on popping cork and shrimp. Hanna’s Reef is great early in the day with twitching artificials or a popping cork with shrimp. Look for birds and slicks. small slicks could be just getting started. Watermelon smell in the air don’t pass on them. Look for bait moving. Pepper Grove Cove to Moody’s Pass holding fish. Smith Point to Moody National Wildlife. Redfish look for schools and birds. Report by Captain Raymond Wheatley, Tail Spotter Guide Service.
Galveston Bay
SLOW. 64 degrees. Open bay catches put on hold due to windy conditions. Those fishing protected areas finding a few speckled trout. Black drum numbers are increasing, along with sheepshead over structure. Report by Captain David Dillman, Galveston Bay Charter Fishing. The South Jetty is holding trout, sheepshead and redfish near the rocks on free-lined shrimp, or Carolina rigged float with live shrimp or soft plastic. SWP Holding Redfish from Pier and from Rocks. Sheepshead are in front of the concrete Seawall. The drains out of Swan Lake Campbell Slough holding sheepshead with an occasional Redfish. Report by Captain Raymond Wheatley, Tail Spotter Guide Service.
West Galveston Bay
FAIR. 68 degrees. Scattered catches of speckled trout being reported from lower west bay. San Luis Pass is good for sheepshead, black drum, and a few catches of redfish on live shrimp. Report by Captain David Dillman, Galveston Bay Charter Fishing. Greens Lake holding redfish against grass lines and by sandy shores early. ICW holding fish through greens cut and Carancahua cut holding trout and redfish with the amount of wind wind we are getting. Mecom Reef will have fish on it early up by rocks with artificial or live bait free-line or under cork. You’ll need to find protected waters with bait moving around as the winds pick up. Report by Captain Raymond Wheatley, Tail Spotter Guide Service.
Houston
GOOD. Water slightly stained; 58 degrees; 0.12 feet above pool. Water stained on the north end due to the recent rains. Crappie are starting to show up in numbers and getting up on structure on 8-14 feet of water being caught on minnows and hand tied jigs in the silver and black and chartreuse color. Gar are incredibly abundant in the creeks and are easy and fun to catch using rattle traps and rooster tails. Largemouth bass are shallow on structure and scattered. Bass are being caught on worms, cranks and grubs. Riprap seems to be the key in the morning and evening. Catfish in the creeks are getting good seeing decent size blue, channel and flatheads being caught on cut bait using a 6-10 feet leader on a jug line and also in trout lines. Be safe, be prepared and be courteous to others. Report by Captain Zackary Scott, Zack Attack Fishing.
Texas City
FAIR. 65 degrees. Oversized drum catches are good off the rocks on the Texas City Dike and the Galveston jetties. Best bite on live halved crab. Those throwing shrimp tight to the jetty rocks are catching good numbers of sheepshead, slot redfish, and a few keeper drums. Trout to 7 pounds are also being caught along the jetty rocks. Report by Captain David Dillman, Galveston Bay Charter Fishing. The Dike is holding bull redfish along the rocks with scattered catches of drum and flounder. Dickinson Bayou holding some redfish and drum on popping cork and shrimp or soft plastics. The rock shoals south of the dike holding fish on popping cork with live shrimp. Miller Point is holding a few trout and the occasional redfish. Look for slicks and birds this time of year. The smaller the slick, the fresher it could be. Report by Captain Raymond Wheatley, Tail Spotter Guide Service.
Freeport
SLOW. 70 degrees. Spring time conditions are here. Sheepshead and drum are at the jetties and pass on live and dead shrimp. Redfish have been good with shrimp under a popping cork. Trout have been good with down south lures and shrimp under a popping cork in the bays. Flounder are showing up at the pass and bays using mullet and live shrimp with a split shot and dragging them on the bottom. Report by Captain Jake Brown, Flattie Daddy Fishing Adventures.
East Matagorda Bay
GOOD. 62 degrees. Spring is here and the weather forecast is good for fishing. Drum and redfish are best fishing the reefs with live shrimp under a popping cork, wade fishing with artificials. Redfish are good on the flats with cut mullet. Bait camps continue to hold live shrimp and finger mullet. Report by Captain Charlie Paradoski, Captain Charlie Paradoski’s Guide Service.
West Matagorda Bay
GOOD. 62 degrees. Spring is here and the weather forecast is good for fishing. Drum and redfish are best fishing the reefs with live shrimp under a popping cork, wade fishing with artificials. Redfish are good on the flats with cut mullet. Bait camps continue to hold live shrimp and finger mullet. Report by Captain Charlie Paradoski, Captain Charlie Paradoski’s Guide Service.
Port O’Connor
GOOD. 60 degrees. Weather forecast looks good for the first week of spring fishing. Sheepshead are biting during incoming tides throughout the jetties on dead or live shrimp. Bull redfish are good near Alcatraz on Spanish sardines. Slot redfish are slow but biting in the inside of the jetties on Spanish sardines and live shrimp. Few trout are being caught inside of the jetty washouts during incoming tides. Report by Captain Marty Medford, Captain Marty’s Fish of a Lifetime Guide Service.
Rockport
GOOD. 63 degrees. Redfish and black drum are good with shrimp or cut mullet. Trout are good on popping cork with live shrimp or soft plastics. Report by Captain Kenny Kramer, Kramer Fishing Charters.
Port Aransas
GOODD. 63 degrees. Sheepshead with averages of 5 pounds are great with live shrimp at the tip and along the rocks. Trout are fair on live shrimp free lined along rocks. Redfish are good on shrimp and cut mullet. Spanish mackerel are also starting to show up with water temps increasing. Report by Captain Kenny Kramer, Kramer Fishing Charters.
San Antonio Bay
GOOD. 65 degrees. Trout action is good over shell and mudflats adjacent to deeper water using soft plastics, and topwaters. No need to hit the water early as trout will move to the flats midday. Some keeper trout, but many are undersized which is promising for the summer. Redfish are good in the back lakes and along the shorelines. Look for mullet to find the redfish. There is good tide movement, so flounder should improve in the sloughs and cuts coming out of the marshes. Report Captain Lynn Smith, Back Bay Guide Service.
Corpus Christi
FAIR. 66 degrees. Sheepshead are thick at the jetties with reports of nice size catches. Redfish are holding as shallow as possible using sardines and live shrimp under a popping cork. Drum are in waist deep water on the drop-offs in the channels running through sand bars fishing dead shrimp off the bottom. Trout bite should improve in the next couple weeks. Report by Captain Aerich Oliver, Rockport Paradise Outfitters.
Baffin Bay
SLOW. 73 degrees. The water clarity is off slowing the trout bite. The live bait bite is better than artificials, but some can be caught on sand in 4-5 feet of water. Better trout fishing to come. Drum and redfish are good live bait. Report by Captain Cliff Webb. Spring patterns are just beginning on Baffin Bay and there is a lot of grass on both the north and south shoreline. Mullet is plentiful everywhere and that usually means that the fish are right behind them. Baffin Bay is usually a late starter. Meaning the water usually stays cooler than the warm grassy bays of Port Mansfield and Rockport, Port Aransas. Therefore the big feed up for the trout spawn is delayed usually to the last part of March through the early part of June. Fish plastics, topwaters, and Corkys on drops and edges and shorelines where there is the most bait. Look for slicks and bird activity as well. The trout spawn usually occurs when the water temperature gets to 75 or 80 degrees and stays there so from this point forward, Fish will be eating up to give them energy to spawn. See you on the water! Report by Captain Sally Black.
Port Mansfield
GOOD. 71 degrees. Spring has arrived and we have even had a few days of wet wading. Water temperatures recently hit 83 degrees in the afternoon, but have fluctuated back down to the low 70s. Being on the water most days lends itself to see the first signs of the spring transition, such as small shrimp popping and glass minnows. Trout are spawning and we are seeing more small male trout around. We are having to downsize to baits such as the junior Wigalo and junior Ball Tail Shad. Barts Sand Ninja and Pollo Loco are great colors to start with. Still catching good fish on Mansfield Knockers over potholes in about 2 feet of water. We will have to deal with high winds for the next couple months so be sure to consider darker colors when the winds are up. Good redfish are also showing up along with a few flounder. Report by Captain Wayne Davis, Hook Down Charters. It has been a fantastic week of fishing with cooperative weather and great opportunities to catch some big ones. The water has been off-colored in most places due to the wind, which tends to stir up the activity amongst the baitfish, redfish and trout. We are throwing darker baits in this dirty knee to waist deep water. Custom Corky Soft-Dines in dark colors have been highly successful in catching both big speckled trout and redfish. Soft plastics, we are also leaning to dark colors with a chartreuse jig head to allow some trigger colors in the strike zone.
South Padre
GOOD. 67 degrees. The sheepshead bite is about over. Trout are plentiful all over the bay. Best spots are south of the pier on the flats, Laguna Vista Cove, Gas Well Flats and the edge of the Intracoastal at Three Islands. Flounder are getting better on the edge of Intracoastal with white gulp chartreuse tail. Report by Captain Lou Austin, Austin Fishing South Padre.
Port Isabel
GOOD. 67 degrees. The sheepshead bite is about over. Trout are plentiful all over the bay. Best spots are south of the pier on the flats, Laguna Vista Cove, Gas Well Flats and the edge of the Intracoastal at Three Islands. Flounder are getting better on the edge of Intracoastal with white gulp chartreuse tail. Report by Captain Lou Austin, Austin Fishing South Padre.
Source: TPW