Texas Gulf Coast Report
Sept. 21 - Both redfish and trout are biting plenty along the Texas Gulf Coast
By Doug PikeEditor's note: Doug Pike spent 23 years as the outdoors columnist at the Houston Chronicle, nine years and counting on radio (he's the host of the Doug Pike Show on 790 the Sports Animal), two years and counting as back-page humor columnist for Saltwater Sportsman, 10 years and counting on the masthead for Field & Stream, two years and counting on the masthead and as columnist for Texas Fish & Game, 10 years editor of Tide magazine for CCA. He has won more than 100 state and national awards for writing, photography, broadcast and editing.
Throw out a disappointing result for Matagorda trout fishermen, and this past week was another great one along the Texas coast.
One report after another indicated steady action for the state's top two coastal sportfish, red drum and speckled trout, which are responding as they always do this time of year to falling temperatures and the flushing of forage — by the ton — from marshes.
Pro angler Tim Young told me that the east shoreline of Trinity Bay has been good for mixed strings of solid slot reds and trout to nearly 20 inches on pearl or avocado/red flake soft plastics. Best catches have come from beneath slicks and mud boils in six to eight feet of water.
There were plenty of oversized reds in the upper end of Trinity Bay prior to the most recent weather change, but they've moved. If you want to wrestle giant redfish, look no further than the beachfront, where acres-large schools of reds stretching three feet and longer are slamming anything throw in their paths.
Fishermen who can deliver chunks of fresh mullet or menhaden beyond the third sand bar off the beach are catching bull reds from Sabine Pass to Bryan Beach.
Galveston-area fishermen stuck on trout also will find plenty under birds in East Bay. Soft plastics are the rapid-fire favorite for bites, but topwaters and the excitement they generate are powerful temptation.
Matagorda's speckled trout took the week off according to several reports. There's talk that their numbers are dramatically down, but that talk could change once water cools and birds begin to work.
In the stead of those absent trout, anglers willing to turn their attention to redfish found plenty. Back-lake shorelines are filthy with good redfish, and those reds have not been especially selective about what they'll eat. Fishermen who don't mind the occasional violent blowup that doesn't end in a hookup are having all the fun they can stand on topwaters. Those who prefer to stick nearly every fish that eats are better served with jigs.
The redfish theme plays as well down the coast as on the upper end. From Port O'Connor to Port Isabel, everyone is catching redfish. Baits and methods vary, but tight lines are consistent. It's that, for the most part, or mixed boxes of croakers and sand trout coaxed from the bottoms of deep channels with bits of fresh shrimp.
Continuing south, trout action doesn't become a factor again until you reach Port Mansfield and Baffin Bay, both of which produced some quality fish this past week on topwaters and jigs. As did the back bays around Port Isabel, which also doled out their usual ration of snook.
A bonus at the state's southern extreme is increased tarpon activity around the Port Isabel jetty. Fishermen on the rocks or near them at first light and throwing DOA shrimp or Baitbusters are turning the heads of snook, tarpon, trout and still the occasional mackerel.
A wet cool front was sloshing its way down the continent on Monday and is expected to bring much-needed rain to the coastal watershed. Teal hunters will enjoy immediate benefit, but fishermen will see a steady improvement as runoff helps push more groceries toward and into the open bay.
