Texas
Gulf Coast

Spring in January?

My calendar says it’s January but it feels like March. The Texas coast has not had many cold snaps this winter. The last good one was around New Years day. Air temperatures along the coast have been holding in the 60s with some days reaching the high 70s. Fishing conditions have been great the last 2 weeks but a cold front is expected through late this week and conditions may go south in a hurry. Thunderstorms are expected along the coast Friday and into the weekend. Weekend prospects will vary depending on location. Check the forecast before heading out.

Guides reported that they were wading wet last year well into November. They also reporting large numbers of smaller fish inhabiting the bays in December. Other than donning waders, the New Year hasn’t brought any significant changes to area anglers. Lots of redfish and speckled trout are still being caught in the bays and blue water action is going strong.

Attention all fly tiers! This Saturday, the Texas Fly Fishers will be holding their annual fly tying festival in Houston. For more information, call Mike or Ruben at Cut Rate Tackle at 713-827-7762.

Some winter fog has started to show up over the last few weeks. Expect this to phenomena to continue through the spring until coastal waters warm up. Give yourself some extra time on your drive to the launching ramp and lay off the throttle as you head across the bay. Even with a GPS system, accidents can and do occur.

My apologies to Reel Time reader, Bruce Miller of Poughkeepsie, New York for incorrectly crediting Captain Eric Glass with a 10 pound bonefish in a December Fishwire. It turns out that Bruce, while fishing with Captain Mark Krowka in Biscayne Bay, caught the nice bone on a Mr. Pinky, which is a fly that Captain Eric Glass of Port Isabel developed. Bruce occasionally fishes with Eric and somehow the facts got mixed up. Sorry about the confusion Bruce. Check out the Reel Time Gallery for a picture of Bruce’s catch and a report of the trip.

Are there any hard core saltwater fly fishermen out there that would like to participate in a Reel Time Spring conclave on the Texas coast? We can’t let our readers on the East Coast have all the conclaves or all the fun, can we? If you are interested in fishing in a Reel Time Spring Fling, drop me a note. If we can organize enough anglers, we will try to have a Spring Conclave sometime in March.

That’s it for this week. Don’t forget to drop me a fishing report.

Tight Lines!

Greg Berlocher

Texas' Gulf Coast Fisheries

Upper Coast

Now that the Christmas season is over, Captain Chris Phillips of Galveston, is spending a lot more time on the water. As of yesterday, conditions were excellent in West Bay reports Captain Phillips. Water clarity is super and water temperature is holding in the mid 60’s.

Captain Phillips also notes that water temperature in the back of several coves was 69-70 degrees. Interestingly, he didn’t see a single fish. He has been catching fish in waist deep water or while drifting over shell. It seems that the water temperatures are not cold enough for the fish to seek out the warmth of the flats.

Captain Phillips reports good fishing in the Mecom’s Cut area and also around Green’s Cut in West Bay. Unfortunately, these areas have a small armada around them every weekend.

Due to the deeper water he has been fishing, Captain Phillips has been throwing Clouser Minnows almost exclusively over the last two weeks. He also caught a few fish on a big, white Rattle Rouser.

Dave Wallin, owner of Christmas Bay Outfitters, is hard at work rebuilding the facility. He plans on holding a petroleum free tournament as a re-opening event in the near future. The tournament will be open to both fly fishermen and conventional anglers as well. No outboards are allowed. Sounds like a great chance for all the kayakers out there. Stay tuned for further details.

Coastal Bend

Tom McDonnell, owner of Port A Outfitters, reports good fishing conditions in the Port Aransas area. The best fly fishing has been in the afternoons around the edges of flats. Chartreuse poppers have been drawing strikes from reds cruising the flats. Tom also reports that a lot of fish have been caught out of potholes in grass beds.

Tom also notes that conventional anglers have been boxing nice catches of trout around the jetties. Free lining a live shrimp has been very productive lately. The jetties have continued to unload big catches of sheepshead as well.

Lower Coast

David Lohse, owner of Padre Outfitters, reports that Captain Eric Glass put his clients on 15 nice redfish the other day. Captain Glass was having trouble getting the fish to eat the day before so he opened up a red that they had kept and found that it was full of crabs. Bingo. The next day the fish cooperated nicely.

In addition, several folks from out of town went by Padre Outfitters to get some advice on where to fish. The anglers were directed to a spot near the convention center. All three fishermen had a good day catching speckled trout. One of three caught a nice red while the other two watched. If you are in South Texas and are in need of some good advice, drop by the shop. They would glad to meet you.

Offshore

Offshore action has been great the last two weeks when conditions allowed boats to make it to deep water. Boats on the upper coast have been nailing limits of big snapper since the snapper ban was lifted.

Action along the coastal bend and lower coast has been great lately. The run to blue water is much shorter out of Port Aransas and good reports of offshore species have been coming in. Big snapper are being caught, with lots of them pressing 20 pounds. In addition, yellowfin and blackfin tuna are being caught.

Tom McDonnell, owner of Port A Outfitters, told me the key to catching blackfin on a fly rod this week. First, you must chum them up fairly close to the surface. Then Tom recommends a red & yellow Seaducer fished on a long leader. You will need a sinking line to get the fly down in the water column. Thanks for the advice Tom.