FISHING REPORTS
Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com - 409.935.7242 James reports steady catching in parts of West Galveston Bay lately. “We’ve got plenty of trout over here for people who are willing to wade. When we get lots of freshwater in the upper parts of the bay system, West Bay usually becomes more consistent. The firm bottom and all the points and pockets, and even the grass beds, allow the water to hold its clarity better than it does on the other side of the channel when the wind is blowing south or southeast almost all the time. We’ve been catching pretty good on the best days on small topwaters for a pretty good portion of the mornings, until the sun gets pretty high. Once the clouds break and the sun is shining steady, soft plastics like the Assassin Sea Shads work better. This is typical for the hot summer months. We do have good numbers of fish in the deeper water in Lower Galveston Bay too, hanging around structures. People who know how to set up on the structures and present lures and baits to the fish the right ways, depending on the current, can catch plenty out there, if winds are reasonably light.” Jimmy West - Bolivar Guide Service - 409.996.3054 Jim had been experiencing fast and easy catching on the days he was able to fish leading up to giving this report. “All the freshwater coming down the rivers has the fish squeezed into relatively small spaces where the water is a little saltier, so the catching is good when we are able to get at ‘em. We need light winds over here to be able to catch ‘em out in the middle though. Any wind at all just makes a muddy mess out of that freshwater layer. If winds are light, we’ve been able to drift around and catch limits by the middle of the morning. Wading has been better on the windier days, and the fish are somewhat bigger on average, but we need pretty high tides to make that work on a consistent basis. On the last full moon, we fished late at night a couple times and caught some really nice trout on top in the dark. It was really fun. Reminded me of the old days. With more rain today and yesterday in the watersheds of the rivers, I expect more freshwater is coming. That will likely keep thing pretty much the same for a while.” West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays Randall Groves - Groves Guide Service 979.849.7019 - 979.864.9323 Randall fishes an area which provides plenty of good opportunities during the summer months. “We’re watching for the clean green water to move into the surf zone. We usually have some great days catching trout in the surf and on the flats just inside the pass when the green water first comes in. An incoming tide during the morning hours usually helps the bite, as long as it isn’t too strong. Too much current muddies up the flats behind the pass pretty bad. With the green water and incoming tides, shrimp and other critters move into the bays, and the trout take advantage. When we see lots of brown shrimp, the birds usually start working, and we throw Norton Sand Eels in colors like cayenne gold for best results. When the ribbonfish are showing, we do better throwing brighter colors, like glow and chartreuse. This month is a great time to make some quick jumps offshore too. Catching king mackerel and snapper on lures in the clear waters of the Gulf is a real hoot. We look forward to trips like that this time of year. Should be able to make a few in the near future.” 80 | July 2021
ORECASTS F from Big Lake to Boca Chica
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Matagorda | Bay Guide Service Charlie Paradoski – 713.725.2401 When July and its hot days arrive, Charlie usually finds himself playing a game with the wind when he’s fishing. “When winds are light and the surf gets good and green, we wind up on the beach side of the island, throwing topwaters and MirrOlures in the surf. When the wind blows harder, we come back onto the bay side and worked the sandy, grassy coves on the south shorelines, especially in places like Cotton’s and Green’s. Lately, winds have been stronger than usual, so we haven’t had much of a chance to fish the surf, but that should change in the coming weeks. We are seeing good numbers of trout coming through the jetties in West Matagorda and moving down the shoreline, so the catching’s been pretty good down that way lately. Once the wind settles down, drifting around in the deeper parts of East Matagorda, especially in the west end, should become more productive. Fishermen with more skill can catch plenty on soft plastics rigged on relatively heavy heads and bumped off the bottom most days. Those with less skill and motivation to work for bites will do better with live shrimp.” Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam www.palaciosguideservice.com - 979.240.8204 “We had about eighteen inches of rain recently, the rivers reached flood stages twice, and the fish have been moved around quite a bit. At times, the salty water is pretty far from town. Most of the fish we normally catch in and close to town have moved out into West Matagorda Bay, where we’re finding them around deeper shell pads and reefs. The reefs about six to nine miles out in the bay are loaded with both trout and redfish. We’re catching them best on live shrimp, either free-lined or dangled about four feet under popping corks. We’re seeing good numbers of trout for the first time since the freeze, and we’re releasing as many as possible. A bonus from all the freshwater comes from the fact it has pushed plenty of eating-sized black drum onto shallow reefs around town. Catching them on fresh dead shrimp a couple feet under popping corks over shell has been pretty steady. I look for action to pick up once the salty water moves closer to town, and we see more shrimp, mullet and shad. Tripletails should start coming into the bays, and the surf should be good on north winds.” Port O’Connor | Lynn Smith Back Bay Guide Service - 361.983.4434 Lynn is hoping to take advantage of fishing the surf as much as possible in July. “Normally, we get the first really good run of catching trout in the surf soon after the 4th of July. We’ve been catching some solid trout in the bays already, in places close to the pass, mostly. When we are able to get into the surf, we like to start off shallow throwing topwaters close to the beach, and move out a little deeper as the sun gets higher, switching over to sinking lures eventually, on most days. When we’re fishing flats and shorelines in the bays, in places close to the pass, the drill is much the same. We catch a lot of trout this time of year on topwaters early in the mornings, and do better on soft plastics later in the day. Staying around good concentrations of bait, mostly big rafts of mullet, is a key, as is fishing where the water’s moving. During summer, incoming tides during the morning hours tend to produce the easiest catching. We’ll start fishing
