Hooked Up: April 2024

Greetings from Baffin Bay and the Upper Laguna Madre. The guys I’m fishing this morning are very self-sufficient, each in their own zone and catching fish. They started with me years ago and I’m sure they would readily admit they were very green back then. It’s really rewarding for me to see that they actually listened to all my ramblings over the years and are now way beyond the skill level of most fishermen I host on any given day. The cool part for those hovering around the average category is that anybody can cross that line into “next level” if they truly want it. Time in the water, paying attention to surroundings, casting specifically to structure holding a food supply, etc., are just a few of the things that separates average fishermen from the guys and gals in the top tier.

New trout regulations kicked in during the third week of March. In my opinion releasing all trout over 20” is definitely going to take this fishery to another level over the next few years. Since the big freeze, and the reduced bag limits that were implemented because of it, we have essentially had a three-year jumpstart toward some semblance of rebuilding toward a normal trout population. I’m a firm believer that over the next two years we will see a huge uptick in both quantity and quality.

In my younger days I was convinced that April was the month to be shallow for the best big trout bite of the year. I was partially right; it is indeed a premier month. But as I’ve gained more experience, I have also come to realize that they will always get shallow if not burned off the shorelines by constant boat traffic. But that’s another topic for another time.

Knowing all that we know now, and information being so readily at our fingertips, April is about as good as you can possibly ask for when keying on big trout. Just about every trout in the bay is looking for April’s warm shallow grass beds to do their spawning thing. A new bait supply is trickling in and tends to gather on windward shorelines, looking for the algae and other goodies trapped in that shallow grass that sustains them. So, put it all together and you have a dang good recipe for finding some of the most concentrated big trout opportunity of the year.

One suggestion I would make is to get an early start, get established in an area before the boat traffic begins, wade quietly and spend a good amount of time on your first wade. In years past it was a lot easier to just pull anchor and hit another piece of productive shoreline that hadn’t been molested by boat traffic. That luxury is almost a thing of the past, so we must fish smarter about where we start and have staying power. When the conditions are right, even when it’s a slow bite…Grind it out!

If you have ever been into Roy’s Bait and Tackle here in Corpus Christi, you are fully aware of the incredible number of lures available for targeting trout. Their selection is mindboggling and can frazzle my judgment as to what I might try next. The truth is that just about everything hanging on the rack will catch a fish, given enough play time. Personally, despite the variety, I have adopted a very minimalist mindset.

For me, I need something that darts and can get to the bottom quickly, and nothing does this better than the straight-tail 5-inch Bass Assassin. The Double D is a very effective floater-diver that can be fished around thick grass. In the suspending category, I like the Pro Series Fat Boy and MirrOdine. Last, but not least, a couple of topwaters like the She Dog or a Top Pup by MirrOlure fills the bill nicely. These will be my go-to arsenal for targeting April trout up shallow. While there are what seems a million variations of all the lures mentioned, by nearly as many manufacturers, these are proven winners that get it done every day in the spring.

The confusing part for many anglers is what colors do you need? Here again I like to keep it simple. In our water you want a small selection of colors for clear water and something either bright or dark for stained water. My regulars would tell you that my go-to in just about any lure is white for the win.

Remember the buffalo! -Capt David Rowsey