Saltwater Fishing Report

TEXAS SALTWATER FISHING REPORT

SABINE LAKE: 86 degrees. Redfish are good on gold spoons, glow jigs with a chartreuse tails, and silver lipless crankbaits. Speckled trout are good on hogy lures and glow jigs with chartreuse tails.

BOLIVAR: 87 degrees. Speckled trout are fair to good on live shrimp and artificials. Redfish are fair on finger mullet and squid. Flounder are good on live finger mullet and mud minnows.

TRINITY BAY: 86 degrees. Speckled trout are fair on live shrimp and croaker. Redfish are good on mullet and shrimp. Flounder are fair around rocks using mullet and mud minnows.

EAST GALVESTON BAY: 87 degrees. Speckled trout are fair to good along the shorelines and near the jetties on live shrimp and croaker. Redfish are good in schools on gold spoons and soft plastics.

WEST GALVESTON BAY: 87 degrees. Speckled trout are good on shrimp under popping corks and croaker rigs. Redfish are good in schools on gold spoons and soft plastics.

TEXAS CITY: 87 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are fair on live bait.

EAST MATAGORDA BAY: 85 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are good in the surf on live shrimp under a popping cork.

WEST MATAGORDA BAY: 85 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are fair to good in the surf and over reefs on live shrimp under a popping cork.

PORT O’CONNOR: 85 degrees. Speckled trout, black drum and redfish are fair on croaker, dead shrimp and Spanish sardines.

ROCKPORT: 85 degrees. Redfish are fair to good on cut mullet and cut ladyfish. Speckled trout are good on shrimp under a popping cork. Flounder are good on mud minnows.

PORT ARANSAS: 84 degrees. Speckled trout are fair to good on shrimp.

CORPUS CHRISTI: 84 degrees. Speckled trout are fair on shrimp and croaker. Redfish are good off of the Portland shoreline on cut perch, ladyfish and croaker.

BAFFIN BAY: 88 degrees. Redfish are good on soft plastics along the grass lines. Black drum are good on mullet and shrimp.

PORT MANSFIELD: 86 degrees. Speckled trout are fair on ball tails. Redfish are good on paddle tails and top-waters.

SOUTH PADRE: 80 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are fair on shrimp.

PORT ISABEL: 82 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are fair on shrimp and soft plastics.

—TPWD

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When they started getting bites, they had let the fish take the bait.

“Sometimes we would give the fish 10 to 15 minutes to run with the bait before we set the hook, and even then, there were times where the hookset ended up pulling the bait and hook from the gar’s mouth,” she said. “They’re definitely a tricky species to catch.”

Todd landed a 6.5foot, 127-pound alligator gar, as well as three others in the 4-5 foot range during the trip.

“I even got into the water to release the biggest one,” she said. “I couldn’t believe how docile the beast was after the fight. It was a thrilling, bucket list experience for me.”

Gar fishing guide, Capt. Mark Malfa, said he’s been finding consistent action for gar anywhere from 25-150 pounds on Choke Canyon Reservoir, as well as along the stretch of the Trinity River that lies below the dam near Lake Livingston.

“The fish have been a little heavier per inch of length in Choke compared to the Trinity,” Malfa said.

In the Trinity River, Malfa has been focusing on deeper pools with water depths of 10-15 feet adjacent to long stretches that are 6-8 feet deep.

“On Choke Canyon Reservoir, deeper flats have been the hostpots,” Malfa said. “Flats in 10-15 feet of water have been concentrating good numbers of gar.”

The guide uses fresh cut carp rigged on a traditional bottom rig, without any type of cork.

“The key to catching gar is knowing when to set the hook,” Malfa said. “It’s a numbers

Stacy Todd and Chris Saunders caught several alligator gar on the Trinity River while fishing with Capt. Cody Cryer of Garzilla Guide Service. Photo by Cody Cryer. game. Sometimes they’ll eat the bait, and other times you’ll think that they’ve got it and you go to set the hook, and there’s nothing there. You just have to give them the opportunity to take the bait and hope you can get a good hookset.” Capt. Kirk Kirkland targets gar in the Trinity River around Lake Livingston. The largest gar one of his anglers has landed recently tipped the scales at 226 pounds. “We landed a fish just shy of 200 pounds a few days before we caught the 226-pounder,” Kirkland said. “Gar fishing has just been fantastic lately.” Kirkland said his customers have been landing anywhere from 7-10 gar per day using fresh cut carp along the bottom with a slip float, in water depths anywhere from 7-12 feet. “Most of these fish have ranged anywhere from 35-120 pounds on average,” he said. “We have just been moving around, targeting deep pools until we get bit.” Once a fish picks up a bait and starts running with it, Kirkland will follow the fish with the boat until it stops running. “That’s usually the signal to set the hook,” he said.

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