Saltwater Fishing Report

Classifieds

Ray Hanselman Jr., of Del Rio, led the Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain of Lakes after three days, but fell to third on the final day with a total weight of 71 pounds, 8 ounces.

Hanselman committed his week to 3- to 7-foot grass flats. Targeting pre- and post-spawn bass, he caught most of his fish on a rattling crankbait.

“I just ran out of fish over there; it got pounded pretty hard this week,” Hanselman said.

Hanselman earned $30,000 with his finish.

Tennessee pro Buddy Gross brought in more than 22 pounds on the final day to win the event, and $100,000, with 77 pounds, 11 ounces. Gross found his fish on shore breaks near vacant shellcracker beds, and used swimbaits and a craw worm.

Drew Benton of Blakely, Georgia, finished second with 75 pounds, 1 ounce. Benton targeted bedding fish with a prop bait and a frog.

—B.A.S.S.

Shallow cats

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the drag on my reel started screaming as the fish ripped line off of the spool.”

Wostal battled the blue cat for several minutes as it swam under and around their boat.

“At one point during the fight, I saw its tail come out of the water and realized just how big it really was,” she elaborated.

The hefty catfish ended up weighing 42.5 pounds and measured 44 inches in length.

“It was just 4 pounds shy of the state waterbody record for Lake Corpus Christi and will forever be a fishing memory I’ll never forget,” Wostal said.

South Texas guide, Raymond “Bones” Esckilsen, has been targeting cats on both Choke Canyon Reservoir and Calaveras Lake.

“Choke is loaded with eating-sized catfish in the 16-inch range,” Esckilsen said. “Stretches along river bends with structure in 20 to 28 feet of water have been holding the most fish. Worms, shrimp, and cheese bait fished about 2 feet off of the bottom have been the ticket.”

On Calaveras, shrimp has been Esckilsen’s choice of bait.

“A lot of the catfish on Calaveras are full of shad right now,” he said. “Most of these fish are channel cats in the 20- to 27-inch range.”

Esckilsen said there are some blue cats mixed in on Calaveras as well, and that most of them have been in the 10- to 14-pound range.

“Most of the catfish on Calaveras are holding around structure near the warm water discharge in 4 to 6 feet of water,” he explained. “On warm days the fish have been moving to shallow areas with weeds in the middle portion of the lake.”

Lake Tawakoni catfish guide, James Evans, said the catfish are scattered throughout the lake in areas anywhere from 3 to 50 feet.

“The most consistent bite has been up shallow where the water seems to be a little bit warmer,” he said. “Stretches in 3 to 8 feet of water with trees have been holding the most fish.”

Evans said most of these blue cats are 20 inches or better.

“Cut gizzard shad has been my go-to bait choice,” Evans said. “There’s a lot of 5 to 15-pound fish to be caught. Occasionally we are catching them in the 30- to 40-pound range.”

On Eagle Mountain Lake, Chad Ferguson said the best and most consistent catfishing he has seen all winter is taking place now.

“Blue cats ranging from 20 to 35 pounds have been feeding regularly, along with good numbers of catfish in the 4- to 6-pound range,” Ferguson said. “The fish have been staging in 10 to 20 feet of water depending on the weather. On warm, sunny days they are definitely hanging out in shallower water, and on cold days, they are holding out deeper.”

Jessica Rankin caught several catfish on the West Fork of the San Jacinto River while using chicken gizzards for bait in about 6 feet of water.

“I landed a 28-inch blue catfish that weighed 12 pounds, along with a few channel cats while fishing out of a canoe,” she said.

Tammy Jackson caught this channel catfish on Calaveras Lake. Photo by Raymond Esckilsen.

TEXAS SALTWATER FISHING REPORT

SABINE LAKE: 55 degrees. Speckled trout are fair to good drifting over clam shell and oyster reefs on soft plastics and shrimp under a popping cork. Redfish are fair in the Sabine Channel on shrimp.

BOLIVAR: 50 degrees. Redfish are fair at the jetty on shrimp. Speckled trout are fair on shrimp and soft plastics.

EAST GALVESTON BAY: 54 degrees. Black drum are fair on the reefs on live shrimp. Speckled trout and redfish are fair wading with soft plastics.

GALVESTON BAY: 55 degrees. Speckled trout are fair at the reefs on shrimp and soft plastics.

WEST GALVESTON BAY: 57 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are fair over deep shell on dark-colored soft plastics.

TEXAS CITY: 55 degrees. Black drum and redfish are good in the Galveston North and South Jetty with fresh-halved crab and dead shad.

FREEPORT: 56 degrees. Redfish and black drum are fair on live shrimp. Speckled trout are good drifting over shell and mud on soft plastics.

EAST MATAGORDA BAY: 64 degrees. Redfish are slow. Speckled trout are slow to fair wading with soft plastics.

WEST MATAGORDA BAY: 64 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are slow in north winds, and fair when wind shifts for wade-fishermen on soft plastics.

PORT O’CONNOR: 59 degrees. Redfish are good at the jetties on dead shrimp and Spanish sardines. Black drum are slow. Speckled trout are fair on soft plastics and live shrimp.

ROCKPORT: 56 degrees. Redfish are good on scented plastics and paddle tails. Speckled trout are fair on suspending lures. Black drum are good on dead shrimp.

PORT ARANSAS: 61 degrees. Speckled trout are fair on free-lined live shrimp. Bull redfish are fair on live shrimp.

CORPUS CHRISTI: 63 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are slow.

BAFFIN BAY: 65 degrees. Speckled trout are good later in the day for wade-fishermen using soft plastics.

PORT MANSFIELD: 65-75 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are fair to good on warmer days on top-waters and soft plastics.

SOUTH PADRE: 67 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are fair on warmer afternoons on soft plastics.

PORT ISABEL: 61 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are fair near the causeway on warmer afternoons on soft plastics.

Professional fisherman and Mingus resident, Gary Klein, will be inducted into the Texas Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in 2022. Klein has been an anchor in professional fishing for 42 years and an innovator on the cutting edge of the sport.

Klein officially began his professional fishing career in 1979 at the age of 21, but his first tournament event was in 1973 on California’s Lake Don Pedro at the age of 15. He has competed in 407 Bassmaster events, including eight event victories and 80 top 10 finishes. He qualified and competed in the Bassmaster Classic Championship 30 times, the second most in history. In addition, he is the only angler to qualify for at least one Bassmaster Classic in every decade from 1979 through 2019. Klein garnered Bassmaster Angler of the Year honors in 1989 and 1993.

In Klein’s more than 40 years as a professional angler, he boasts 161 top-20 finishes, 95 top-10 finishes and 10 wins.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, in cooperation with Klein and others, designed a revolutionary “Catch, Weigh and Immediate release” format for use in tournaments. The new format debuted in the 2007 Toyota Texas Bass Classic at Lake Fork.

Klein popularized the “flipping” technique which allows anglers to fish much closer to their targets and silently deliver a bait into the water. He worked directly with manufacturers to produce products for the technique and went on to develop additional baits and innovative fishing strategies.