FISHING REPORTS
Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com - 409.935.7242 James reports catching limits most every day in June and July, usually by working shallow structures lying close to deep water. “Not sure why all the fish are so close to deep water. You could shoot a BB Gun and hit water 30 feet deep in most of the spots I’m catching lately. If you have some rocks and shell in the shallows and deep water close by, with some mullet rafted up in the shallow part, it’s been money in the bank. We’ve been catching a fair number on pink ShePups. The shrimp colored Assassin Sea Shads are working well too. Today, the glow/chartreuse Lil’ Johns worked best. For a while there, it was a dark bodied lure with a white tail. I expect this to continue as we head on through the summer. Not seeing a reason for the fish to move shallow until we get some cooler weather now. Average size of the trout has been pretty good, with lots of two and three pounders, a few around four or a little more. No big ones really. But it’s good fishing. Better than I expected after the freeze and better than last year, with more spots producing fish consistently.” Jimmy West - Bolivar Guide Service - 409.996.3054 Jim says the fishing in East Galveston Bay during the heat of the summer is best in deeper water, on average, with a few exceptions. “Mostly, we catch ‘em out in the middle this time of year. We key on slicks and rafted baited, occasionally mud stirs and working birds to find fish around some of the deep reefs. Topwater bite can be good at times, but it’s mostly a soft plastic thing. Mostly, though, location is more important than lure choice. Wading can be better than fishing out of the boat at times. When it’s windy, sometimes we’re forced to wade the shorelines, or fish in the bayous and marshes. The shorelines produce better when tides are pretty high, especially when they’re coming in early in the mornings. Low tides and high winds are tough this time of year. It’s sometimes possible to catch fish in deeper holes in the bayous on low tides, when it’s windy. Of course, when the surf is right, wading out there is often as good or better than the fishing in the open waters of East Bay. I don’t do it much as a guide, but it works really well for others, for sure.” West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays Randall Groves - Groves Guide Service 979.849.7019 - 979.864.9323 August is a great month to fish in the vicinity of San Luis Pass, with multiple productive options, Randall says. “When winds are light, the surf on both sides of the Pass produces limits of trout on a steady basis. Topwaters work great out there when the waves are quiet. We also like to make some quick runs offshore to target king mackerel, snapper and other pelagics this time of year, when conditions allow. It’s really a hoot to watch kings blow up on topwaters. Calm winds also make the fishing good on the flats behind the Pass this time of year, when the tide is right. A decent high tide without too much strength in the current makes the fishing best. On windier days, and when tides are a bit lower, fishing the deeper water in West Bay is better. The spoils close to the ICW often produce good catches of trout on days like those. And, of course, fishing for reds in the backwater areas can be excellent this time of year. Some days, the reds will make fools of themselves taking topwaters like SkitterWalks. On other days, throwing soft plastics at them works a whole lot better.” 64 | August 2021
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Matagorda | Bay Guide Service Tommy Countz- 979.863.7553 cell 281.450.4037 Tommy anticipates some fast action in the surf in August. “We’ve had some light winds recently, and August usually brings more calm days, with green water to the beach. When that happens, we head out to the beachfront. I like to wade early, working topwaters in the first gut, especially if I see birds working close to the sand, or lots of mullet in the shallows. We’ll walk out a little deeper once the sun gets higher and switch to soft plastics. If we’re fishing East Bay, we’re usually drifting and throwing live shrimp under popping corks, unless winds are light and water clarity is good. Then, we do well with topwaters early and soft plastics later. Usually, we throw quarter-ounce heads and light colored worms, but if the bite is tougher, it’s sometimes better to move to a sixteenth-ounce head, which forces you to slow way down in order to stay low in the water. Same kind of plan works well at times when we’re wading West Bay. Especially on falling tides, the reds will sometimes pile up in some of the deeper guts a ways from shore, and they’re easiest to catch with low and slow presentations.” Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam www.palaciosguideservice.com - 979.240.8204 Lately, out trout bite has been pretty fast and furious out around the wells in West Matagorda Bay. We’ve been fishing live shrimp rigged four to five feet under popping corks, also working closer to the shell pads on the bottom at times, with good success rates. The surf has also been quite productive when winds are light. We caught good numbers of trout out there on SheDogs in green/chrome and pink/chrome recently, fishing the first gut just after daybreak, then moving out to the deeper guts later, where we caught better on pearl paddletails. Fishing for reds remains great; we’ve been catching most of our reds in the upper reaches of Tres Palacios Bay on live shrimp or mullet rigged about a foot under popping corks, close to any concentration of shell we find. Lots of black drum in the lower end of the slot have been running with the reds. Flounder gigging has picked up lately, as the water has gotten more salty, and we’re starting to see lots of good sized ones on most trips. Best time for gigging is on a falling tide early in the night. In August, we’ll continue to work these same summer patterns for the most part. Port O’Connor | Lynn Smith Back Bay Guide Service - 361.983.4434 Heavy rains and flooding conditions in the rivers dumping into West Matagorda and San Antonio bays will likely concentrate the fish in the area around Pass Cavallo at the end of the summer, Lynn says. “All this rain generally sends the fish right to us here in Port O’Connor. We’ll be fishing the shoreline flats close to the pass the rest of the summer, most likely, with trips out into the surf when winds get light enough to green the water up along the beach. This time of year, we spend most of our time wading and throwing topwaters early in the morning, then switch over to soft plastics as the day heats up. On some of the cloudy days, the switch is never really even necessary. As always, when the weather’s warm, finding concentrations of bait is a big key to catching the fish. That really shouldn’t be a problem as we get so many fish crowded into the area around the jetties and the pass, except it’s important to look for signs of the predators within
