Reports & Forecasts: March 2022

Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag
Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com – 409.935.7242
James says the fishing in West Bay has been steady lately, with a good bite in the shallows most of the time. “During these warm spells between cold fronts, the wading has been outstanding. We're catching our fish over a sandy bottom with some shell scattered around, throwing everything from Assassin Sea Shads rigged on light jigheads to 51M MirrOlures to Catch 5s, MirrOdines and ShePups. When the water warms up to its highest point, the little pink and silver ShePups work great. March is something of a transitional month for us in this part of the world, as the weather warms up and the fish spread out some. Fishing can be great, but staying in the bite requires more adjustments than fishing in the dead of winter does. Once the shrimp and glass minnows start moving in, some of the trout will be roaming around, chasing them. Looking for working gulls and keying on places with lots of slicks can be important then, if catching numbers of trout is the goal. People looking to catch the bigger ones will wade mostly. March is great for catching quality trout in the coves, around the reefs, and over grass beds in West Bay.”

Jimmy West - Bolivar Guide Service – 409.996.3054
Jim reports seeing quite a few more solid trout caught on recent trips than for the previous several months. “We're finally seeing a few more nice trout over here in East Bay. We've been catchin' 'em really shallow, on shorelines around drains, when the weather's warm. The bite on slow-sinking twitch baits has been best. We're throwing SoftDine and MirrOdine Xls a lot. There's been a mix of fish, from dink trout to trout up to about five pounds to slot reds and oversized reds. We even caught three blue cats, up to about 4 pounds, on Paul Brown Lures up in Trinity Bay the other day! The water over there's gotten saltier, though, and we did catch some trout too. Come March, we'll start fishing more in the mornings, as the weather warms up. Lately, the bite has been best late in the afternoons, into the first hour or so of night. And, the fish usually spread out more in March, so we can catch 'em in more places. The mid-bay reefs usually start producing better, and some of the shorelines in the back of East Bay perk up too. I like some fairly strong winds in March, with a lot of easterly direction.”

West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays
Randall Groves - Groves Guide Service 979.849.7019 – 979.864.9323
Randall looks forward to the longer days and warmer weather sure to arrive with the coming of spring. “This time of year, the patterns change with the warming water temperatures, longer days and rising tides. Generally, the trout and reds like to be in shallow water this month, often because that's where they find two of their favorite food sources—glass minnows and brown shrimp. Usually, the glass minnows congregate around grass beds fairly close to shorelines, or in the back corners of lakes and coves. In the afternoon hours, it's often possible to find large clouds of them in places with a grassy bottom. Brown shrimp ride rising tides into the bays, and the trout and reds ambush them in predictable places, around points and sand bars which funnel water and generate tidal rips. Of course, other ways to locate the minnows and the shrimp include watching all kinds of birds, including terns, pelicans, cormorants, and gulls. Laughing Gulls, for some of us, kind of announce the arrival of spring, when they start squawking over the schools of migrating shrimp. Early in the month, I favor Junior Sand Eels, while the shrimp are small, regular sized ones later, when the white shrimp show up.”

Matagorda | Bay Guide Service
Charlie Paradoski – 713.725.2401
The catching in the Matagorda area can be epic in March, Charlie says, and the best patterns depend on the weather. “We can have all kinds of weather in March, from cold, with low tides and calm winds, to warm with high tides and strong onshore winds. Anglers targeting trout this month have to adjust to the changing conditions. After fronts, when the tide is low, fishing for trout is best out in the middle, drifting if there's some wind, throwing soft plastics in places near the main reefs, where scattered shell covers the bottom. If it's cold and calm, wading some of those same mid-bay reefs works well. When the weather warms, and onshore winds blow water in, filling up the shoreline coves, fishing for trout often improves in areas well up into the marsh. The big trout in particular seem to ride the rising tides into those kind of shallow places. Anglers after reds can find plenty of them stacked into the guts on the south shoreline in West Bay on low tides, if they know how to safely access them. Rising tides scatter them, but they're still pretty easy to catch around patches of shell and grass.”

Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam
www.palaciosguideservice.com – 979.240.8204
Fishing has turned fantastic now that cold weather has come and stayed around for a while. Catching has been easy in many places around Palacios, both from the shorelines, and from drifting boats. The harbor has been holding lots of keeper trout in the new turning basin and in the channel leading out into the bay. Pearl white Gulp! jerk-shads rigged on three-eighths ounce jigheads have worked best to catch the fish in the deep water of these ditches. Working the lures really slowly to maintain contact with the bottom has accounted for almost all the bites. Deep shell pads lying off the north shorelines of both Turtle and Carancahua bays have been holding good numbers of slot-sized reds on falling tides. They're biting small topwaters like Spook Juniors and Baby SkitterWalks in plain white colors lots of days. The Tres Palacios River has been full of keeper trout and reds, with most of the schools staying north of the 521 bridge. Three-inch Gulp! shrimp in white, rigged about three feet under popping corks have worked best up the river. Trolling the shorelines and throwing around points and into adjacent ditches has been the best plan there.

Port O’Connor | Lynn Smith
Back Bay Guide Service – 361.983.4434
In March, with Cedar Bayou open and allowing water to move back and forth between the Gulf and Mesquite Bay, Lynn likes the potential in the areas south of Port O'Connor. “We get all kinds of stuff moving in out of the Gulf this time of year, and that makes the potential for catching go up in places close around the mouth of Cedar Bayou. Down that way, we have plenty of options. Places like Carlos and Ayer's bays and the chains of islands close to them have lots of shell reefs, and places with muddy bottoms with some scattered shell. Those spots are good when the weather's cold this time of year. We catch some big trout there on slow-sinking twitch baits and soft plastics rigged on light jigheads, often in the afternoon hours. When the weather's warmer, and strong winds push plenty of water into the bays, fishing on sandy, grassy shorelines in the morning hours down that way usually produces better. Of course, when it's warm and windy this time of year, it's often cloudy in the mornings, all of which generates excellent conditions for using topwaters like SheDogs, SkitterWalks, One Knockers and Spook Juniors.”

Rockport | Blake Muirhead
Gator Trout Guide Service - 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894
With duck and dove seasons ending, Blake will be fishing all the time during the month of March. “We usually have really good fishing this time of year in the bays of the Coastal Bend. I'm normally still able to target some reds I found in the backwater areas during duck season. In March, they tend to become more willing to blow up on small topwaters than they are during the colder months. So, we do spend some time running around chasing reds in those places this time of year. The trout bite begins to perk up on area shorelines with a mix of sand and grass this time of year. Most of the best fish bite in places really close to the bank, where stands of cord grass grow. The water in most of those places will remain crystal clear, even when pretty strong southeast winds roll off the Gulf. Lures with natural colors works best to catch them most of the time, and some cloud cover in the sky makes the catching in those places better too. Topwaters work really well some of the time in those places, but soft plastics and slow-sinking twitch baits prove more consistent.”

Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut
Robert Zapata – [email protected] – 361.563.1160
Looking over my fishing logs from previous years reveals much valuable information about fishing the Upper Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay in March. Typically, both air and water temperatures steadily rise during this month when winter ends and spring begins. So do the average wind speeds out on the coastal waters. These factors tend to bring the fish out of deeper holes and basins and into shallower areas along shorelines and on the tops of bars and humps. My logs indicate the fish will be caught best in about three feet of water or less, where the bottom is grassy overall, with some scattered potholes breaking up the grass. Smart anglers will do what the trout and redfish do, and follow the bait. Gulls hovering together in tight flocks, brown pelicans diving and slicks popping in places all indicate the presence of predators. Both trout and reds eat plenty of smallish, four to six-inch mullet this time of year, so four-inch Bass Assassin Sea Shads in colors like salt&pepper/chartreuse, opening night, Calcasieu brew and chicken on a chain rigged on sixteenth-ounce jigheads rigged on eighteen or twenty inches of twenty pound fluorocarbon leaders work well to earn plenty of strikes.

Corpus Christi / Joe Mendez—www.sightcast1.com—361.877.1230
March is a great time to catch some of the big trout which helped make Baffin Bay and the Upper Laguna Madre famous. For the most part, these fish stay in shallow water this time of year, frequenting places along the King Ranch shoreline at night and early and late during daylight hours. Best areas for targeting these fish include large mats of rotting seagrass, some scattered sandy potholes on the bottom and some rocky patches. Some stretches of shoreline having all these features produce well from year to year, while others prove less consistent. Lots and lots of jumping mullet in an area normally indicates a much higher potential than anything else. If the water is stupid clear and the skies bright, fishing in Baffin Bay, where the water has at least a little color, is often better. Big trout come out of lots of areas down south this time of year, including Alazan Bay, the Badlands, the flats behind the bars on both sides of the bay, Yarbrough Flats and areas around the entrance to the Land Cut. In these places, anglers targeting big trout tend to work shallow areas with soft bottoms, lots of dark grass, some potholes and some rocks.

P. I.N.S. Fishing Forecast | Eric Ozolins
361-877-3583 | Oceanepics.com
The weather during this winter of '21/'22 has been chaotic and random; some days, the water is murky and cold, clear and warm on others. While the dramatic swings in weather do prove confusing, a few calm days verify plenty of fish are around. Both red and black drum have been plentiful, biting traditional bait and Fish-Bites. Pompano are hungry, biting small pieces of shrimp or Shrimp-Bites rigged on 2/0 or 3/0 hooks best in clear water. As we transition into spring, expect various migrations to take place along the beachfront. We will still have our cooler water species, but expect to possibly see jack crevalle and Spanish mackerel make their first appearances of the year. Lures or live baits will work to catch both. Shark fishing has remained steady all winter, and we should see more activity this spring. Blacktip sharks will come in thick and are suckers for giant whiting or whole pompano. We will still have some sandbar sharks around and at the end of the month, the bulls will move in. There is also a chance (though rare) at a mako this month. Overall, there should be loads of action to be had with a variety of species.

Port Mansfield | Ruben Garza
Snookdudecharters.com – 832.385.1431
Getaway Adventures Lodge – 956.944.4000
In March, fronts typically continue to pass over the waters of the Lower Laguna Madre, creating somewhat unpredictable patterns for those of us trying to catch trout and redfish. Occasionally, during this month, birds can be found working around Peyton's Bay, or near Century Point. In Peyton's, most of the fish found chasing shrimp and attracting the attention of the gulls will be redfish. Over at Century Point, speckled trout more likely cause the pattern to develop. If and when birds aren't working to reveal the locations of the schools of trout and reds, drifters should work the potholes along the break into deeper water. Areas like the weather station, Butcher's and Dubb's islands provide plenty of opportunity up north. On the west side, the water close to the break to deeper water usually holds fish, when wind speeds aren't too high. Down south, the deeper water around the pipeline and east of Bennie's Island produces good catches at the beginning of spring. The area directly behind the cabins along the ICW in that area can be really productive too. KWiggler Wig-A-Los and Willow-tails rigged on eighth-ounce jigheads are the most productive lures on a daily basis during this time of transition.

Lower Laguna Madre—South Padre—Port Isabel
Aaron Cisneros | tightlinescharters.com – 956-639-1941
Fishing has been fairly steady lately in the Lower Laguna Madre. We have found plenty of good trout in areas near the intracoastal waterway, and also flats with lots of potholes, in depths ranging from about two to four feet. We've been throwing KWigglers Ball-tail Shads rigged on quarter-ounce screw-lock jigheads for best results. Our main color of choice lately has been plum with chartreuse tail. Our most consistently productive presentation has involved slow, steady retrieves with short hops off the bottom. This works best on the cooler days. We pick up the speed and intensity some as the water warms. Redfish continue to be plentiful in similar depths as the trout, often around the same potholes. Low tides do move the reds away from the shorelines toward the transitions into deeper water. The presence of smaller mullet along these depth contours often leads us to the most promising areas for fast action. KWiggler Willow-tails on eighth-ounce jigheads have produced lots of bites when worked low and slow, especially those in the dirty jalapeno color. I expect both species to remain in areas with some deeper water close by until both air and water temperatures rise and stay well above sixty degrees for a while.