“Weather” We Like It or Not

NOAA’s National Weather Service forecasters said to expect a very turbulent tropical weather season in 2024, going so far as predicting 17 to 25 named storms in the Atlantic Basin. I hate to say it but it’s beginning to look as though they may have gotten it right this time. On June 19^th we had Tropical Storm Alberto. On July 8^th a Category 1 hurricane that bore resemblance to a Cat 2 hit our part of the Texas coast. As I sit here typing (July 24^th) my trips have been rained out three days in a row and the rest of the week isn’t looking any better as the Gulf is currently full of storms that are coming onshore every day. Back in spring the Lake Livingston dam was releasing record levels of freshwater, upwards of 130,000 cubic feet per second, and currently bouncing between 15,000 and 24,000 cfs daily. We’ve had to navigate our way through all of these weather events to remain successful at catching fish. Constant high winds from every direction, drastic salinity changes, and enormous tide level swings have kept us on our toes for sure, but by understanding what makes our bay system tick we’ve been able to win the battle most days.

I’m a huge baseball fan and while I enjoy every aspect of the game I’m especially intrigued by the strategies and mind games between pitchers and hitters. I’m not sure, but this could be because I was a pitcher from Little League through high school. The catcher doesn’t seem to get nearly as much credit but plays an equally important a role in the process. Pitchers, batters, and catchers alike study scouting reports and watch videos to better understand the talents and tendencies of each other. Big league players are good at hitting fastballs, especially those thrown down the middle of the strike zone. That’s a given. It reminds me of when we’re fishing in ice cream conditions with excellent tide movement and a gentle southeast wind. Everyone who owns a boat seems to catch them.

Good hitters have the ability to make adjustments to hit pitches other than fastballs. They can hit a good curveball and even a nasty splitter at times. They are good at reading the pitcher’s arm angles and ball rotations to where they can anticipate what pitch is coming. In the fishing world we are the hitter and Mother Nature is the pitcher. It’s pretty obvious that Mother Nature’s not always going to throw fastballs over the heart of the plate. More often than not we’re going to see curveballs, sliders, splitters and changeups. So far this year I think Mother Nature has used her full arsenal and may even be on pace to win the Cy Young Award!

Excessive rainfall and overcast skies have cooled surface water temperatures, which has pushed a lot of our fish shallower than they would otherwise be this time of year. As a result we are able to wade shorelines with great success, especially during the first couple of hours of daylight. It has also provided more oxygen in the water, further increasing fish activity. I had two clients the other day and we literally witnessed several trout doing summersaults out of the water while feeding on shad.

Pods of small shad and finger mullet are now congregated along shorelines bringing with them predator fish like trout, reds and flounder. I must admit this is not our textbook approach to late summer trout fishing here on Galveston Bay. Historically, we find ourselves working slicks while drifting over deep structure and oyster shell. While this strategy is still effective at times the shoreline bite has provided us with another option, especially when it’s too windy to drift open water.

I always talk about wading out to ridge lines (aka contour lines and drop-offs) this time of year but higher than usual tides caused by low barometric pressure and easterly winds have forced us to hang tight to shorelines and fish further back into the marsh. These are areas that typically harbor tiny crabs, shrimp and shad, so it makes sense that our smaller profile MirrOlure Lil Johns and Saltwater Assassin 4” Sea Shads rigged on 1/8 ounce and even 1/16 ounce Pro Elite Assassin jigheads have been super effective. Small topwaters like Super Spook Jr’s and MirrOlure She Pups have also been drawing some violent strikes.

In one of my articles a couple of months back I talked about how many of our trout were being pushed into the southern portions of our bay system due to the millions of gallons of freshwater flowing into our bay. Because of the excessive freshwater layer at the surface we were having to fish our lures lower in the water column with heavier than normal jighead weights to access the more dense salt water layer that remained there. Knowing the locations of the deeper channels and guts was a lifesaver as those were key areas that held pockets of higher salinity water. We were also having better success on darker colors such as Red Shad, Plum, and Texas Roach in the turbid water we were fishing.

Now, with recent tidal surges, evaporation, and reduced river inflows our salinities have recovered to more normal levels. This has changed our approach shot all together when it comes to choosing soft plastic lure styles, colors, and jighead weights. The water clarity is also much improved, so brighter colors like Chartreuse-Silver Glitter Assassins and Glow-Chartreuse MirrOlure Lil Johns have been unbelievably effective. A straight limetreuse Bass Assassin has also been hard to beat most days in the clearer water we’re fishing. The higher salinity water causes our baits to be more buoyant which makes them sink slower. As a result I’ve been using a longer fluorocarbon leader than usual (about 6 feet) as fluoro has a faster sink rate than braided line. I also love that little extra stretch it provides, along with its low-visibility properties that helps us trick more fish. My number one choice in fluorocarbon is Seaguar Gold Label. I prefer 20-pound test for most applications. A secondary benefit is found in Seaguar Gold’s smaller diameter per strength rating than most fluorocarbon lines on the market, allowing for slimmer joining knots that glide through my rod guides more easily.

There are many days when we can make the necessary adjustments to weather changes to still be able to have a productive day on the water. However, there have been many days when conditions were so horrible that it wasn’t even worth going, or it was just downright dangerous. As much as I want to work (fish) every day, we sometimes have to come to the realization that Mother Nature always has the upper hand. I actually view these short-term bad weather events as long-term gains for our fishery.

Many marinas and boat ramps were unfortunately damaged from storms and hurricanes which also drastically cut down on boat traffic, thus further reducing fishing pressure. Windy and stormy days have kept lots of anglers off of the water, which I think has resulted in more trout staying in our system for longer, which theoretically should allow for greater spawning potential. This should ultimately increase our biomass. I wouldn’t be surprised to see higher than usual TPWD fall gill net survey catch rates this year. I’m not saying that this would be the sole contributor to my predicted upswing but it certainly would seem to help.

Mother Nature has many pitches in her arsenal and, whether we like it or not, she’s been doing her best Justin Verlander impersonation this summer. If we want to be successful fishing these ever-changing conditions we must study the scouting reports and learn to hit more than just fastballs down the middle. It’s time to improve our batting skills!