Bolivar: GOOD. 82 degrees. Water levels are perfect with tides and low wind this week changing back to four tide days over the weekend. Less freshwater on the bay side but it has not affected the bite. People are still catching plenty of redfish of varying sizes everywhere! Small croakers along with sand trout, sheepshead, black drum, speckled trout, and crabs caught along the jetty with plenty of stingrays and sharks. Pompano and jack crevalle are still running. The surf is producing redfish and black drum, gafftop, lots of stingrays, and bigger sharks along the whole peninsula with high activity towards Gilchrist and High Island. The sargassum, seaweed, is sporadic in spots per normal. People are using all kinds of different things for bait this past week with awesome results. Finger mullet has been a popular alternative. Report by Captain Shane Rilat, North Jetty Bait Camp.
Trinity Bay: SLOW. 86 degrees. Saltwater returning to the northwest side of the bay. Catches of speckled trout, black drum, and redfish coming off live shrimp and croakers. Report by Captain David Dillman, Galveston Bay Charter Fishing. Water clarity is improving rapidly. This storm surge has pushed a lot of salt water north and the fish have come with it! Reports of redfish being caught at HL&P Spillway and in Baytown off of live shrimp under a piling cork and free lining fresh caught shad. Trout are showing up north of Morgan’s Point being caught on live shrimp under a popping cork. Drum and sheepsheads are being caught around riprap with live shrimp under a popping cork. Pattern lately has been grass lines with rock early and pushing off to the deep offs later in the day. Pay attention to the weather and always wear your kill switch while operating a vessel. Report by Captain Zackary Scott, Zack Attack Fishing.
East Galveston Bay: GOOD. 87 degrees. Waders picking up decent numbers of speckled trout on soft plastics. Drifting the reefs with plastics or live shrimp will put fair numbers of trout in the boat. Report by Captain David Dillman, Galveston Bay Charter Fishing. East Bay and Intracoastal waterway are holding plenty of small speckled trout, black drum, sheepshead, and redfish caught on live shrimp, croakers, and topwater lures. Report by Captain Shane Rilat, North Jetty Bait Camp. Surface water temperature 84.6 degrees in East Galveston Bay. The tropical storm that rolled into Mexico last week pushed an enormous amount of water into East Galveston Bay, along with the Full Moon. This resulted in several days we could not fish due to tides. The Bay is still very off-colored, but fishing continues to improve. We are having to weed through a number of undersized trout to find the better fish along protected shorelines over shell pockets. Redfish are along the grass lines and over the shell. A few nice flounder busting bait up around grass lines and over shallow shell beds, with good current flow. The lighter the jig head the better, 1/16-�¼ ounce, determined by the wind and current, and tails with paddles, performed the best for us again this week, as we were utilizing Anahuac-based, WACky Shad XL’s and top performing colors varied, depending upon water clarity and light conditions, with Rollover Moon, being a favorite of the fish this week. Success using Fish Smack Popping corks with a 1-2 foot leader above a pink tinted shrimp imitation lure, or tails with a 1/16 ounce jighead, with a hard pop and a 5-8 second pause gathering the most strikes. The topwater bite has also been good when utilized on our early morning and late afternoon trips, so if you like throwing walking baits, now is the perfect time to get on the water and make it happen. We are starting to see more solid fish show up on reefs in the middle portion of the bay, which is getting better as the days go by. We also found a few birds working in the middle portion of the bay over the past couple days and found some solid trout under them. The fishing pressure has been higher than normal for East Bay, so if you can go any day other than Saturdays, that would be my recommendation for your fishing pleasure. Report by Captain Jeff Brandon, Get the Net Guide Services, LLC.
Galveston Bay: SLOW. 86 degrees. Trout scattered along the shorelines and structure near the ship channel. Better number of black drum coming from the channel on live shrimp, along with sheepshead and the occasional redfish. Report by Captain David Dillman, Galveston Bay Charter Fishing.
West Galveston Bay: GOOD. 87 degrees. Tides are still running high, making it difficult to wade in some areas. Fair numbers of trout and redfish being caught on live natural baits and artificial lures. Report by Captain David Dillman, Galveston Bay Charter Fishing.
Houston: GOOD. Water stained; 83 degrees; 0.10 feet below pool. Water clarity continues to clear, and the lake is slowly returning to pool level. Coming off this full moon should get the fish going quite a bit. Largemouth bass are patterning up on structure shallow early and in the shade around docks and drop-offs late being caught on worms, grubs and crankbaits. Crappie are being caught on small jigs tight to structure in 8-14 feet of water in Luces Bayou and the East Fork. Catfish are on fire near the power lines and on the bulkheads close to the train tracks being caught on fresh caught shad. White bass are schooling up at the mouths of rivers and will be headed south very soon being caught on slabs and swim baits. Gar are thick in the creeks being caught on red rattle traps. Pay attention to the weather and always wear your kill switch when operating a vessel. Report by Captain Zackary Scott, Zack Attack Fishing.
Texas City: FAIR. 86 degrees. Winds have finally subsided, although high tide is still above normal. Better catches of speckled trout, redfish, black drum, and sheepshead coming off structures like oyster reefs, rocks, and pilings. Live shrimp under corks is best. Report by Captain David Dillman, Galveston Bay Charter Fishing. Fishing is good to excellent. Anglers are still catching plenty of speckled trout, redfish, and flounder every day with some occasional black drum, sheepshead, sand trout, and gafftop. Successful wade fishing around Mosquito Island and the Moses Lake Tidal Gate in the mornings and late afternoons. Along the dike has been productive by the shrimp boat docks and piers. Live shrimp and finger mullet have been the best baits. We have been selling out of live bait almost daily as well at Lee’s Bait & Tackle. Report by Captain Shane Rilat, North Jetty Bait Camp.
Freeport: GOOD. 87 degrees. Fishing been steady for trout, redfish and flounder around the San Luis Pass, Bastrop Bay, Christmas Bay, Chocolate Bay and the west end of Galveston Bay. Wade fishing has been good in the guts at the pass and in west Galveston bay with croaker and shrimp for trout, redfish and a few flounder mixed in.The Freeport harbor has been steady with sheepsheads, drum, redfish and mangrove snapper free lining shrimp with a split shot. Report by Captain Jake Brown, Flattie Daddy Fishing Adventures.
East Matagorda Bay: SLOW. 84 degrees. Tides are lower in the bay. Trout are good drifting with live shrimp. Waders have been successful with trout with croaker or artificials. Report by Captain Charlie Paradoski, Captain Charlie Paradoski’s Guide Service.
West Matagorda Bay: SLOW. 84 degrees. Redfish and drum are good drifting with artificials or croaker. Report by Captain Charlie Paradoski, Captain Charlie Paradoski’s Guide Service.
