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Speckled trout bite good down south
By Nate Skinner
For Lone Star outdoor newS
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Speckled trout have settled into their heat-of-the-summer patterns along our coastal bay systems. While numbers of fish can be found over shallow flats during the early morning hours, most specks have been moving out to deeper water shortly after the sun breaches the horizon. The most consistent trout bite is occurring along the lower coast, while estuaries farther north seem to be producing spotty action.
Matagorda area angler Jacob Zemanek has been pursuing speckled trout in East Matagorda Bay, primarily wade-fishing along the south shoreline or targeting stretches of clean water in the northern half of the bay when the wind has allowed. He says while the fishing can be good right now, it’s inconsistent.
“It’s kind of been feast or famine,” he said. “Some days it seems you can stumble across a solid school of fish and really stick with them. On other days, you have to be willing to wade long stretches in between bites.”
According to Zemanek, the best action has been occurring early in the morning and quickly dying off a few hours after sunrise. Sand flats with scattered shell and grass and adjacent to slight drop-offs and depth changes have held the most fish.
Zemanek has been catching trout in knee-deep to waist-deep water, on top-wa- range, but he’s occasionally boating trout over 25 inches.
Tournament angler Colton Knipling has been chasing specks in Port O’Connor, where he’s been wading along shallow bars and shell early in the morning. Later in the day, he’s been targeting isolated sand pockets in waist-deep water.
Top-water baits have been producing strikes for Knipling at first light, but he’s been switching over to chunking soft plastics soon after sunrise.
“It doesn’t take the trout long to push out to deeper water and hunker down on the bottom after the sun comes up,” Knipling said. “Most of the fish have been in the 18- to 22-inch range, with a few stretching to 24-25 inches mixed in. The bigger trout have been hanging out alongside pods of
