Reports & Forecasts: September 2024

Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag
Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com - 409.935.7242
James says the fishing in the Galveston Bay complex is overall better this year than last. “We’ve had a good topwater bite lately, fishing almost exclusively out of the boat. We’re catching good numbers of trout and getting 50 or 60 bites a day. Some of the fish are pretty big, not like the old days, but improving. The action has been best in lower parts of the bay, close to the ship channel. This is because we still have so much freshwater in Trinity Bay and Upper Galveston Bay, also East Bay. I was just in there today, looking around, and the water’s pretty dang fresh. This is likely to remain true through at least September, so people who have some knowledge about the structures close to the channel will have an advantage over those who don’t. We should also see a good run of fishing for bull reds along the beachfront in September. It’s spawning season for them. I will be fishing for silver kings, mostly. I’ve personally seen quite a few fish already, and I’ve gotten reports from others who’ve seen some too. Some Septembers are outstanding for those of us who love to catch tarpon.”

Jimmy West | Bolivar Guide Service - 409.996.3054
Jim mentioned he’d had some good topwater action for trout in the surf when he fished on the days just prior to giving this report. “We had a really good run for a while, then the two-tide days kinda messed things up for a bit, but the bite is back on in the surf now. When we have four-tide days and calm winds this time of year, the water gets nice and clean on the beachfront, and the fishing gets easy. We’ve had lots of shrimp, sometimes big ones, in the surf, when conditions are right. And the trout are biting topwaters as usual. Moving into September, with so much freshwater in the bays, I expect the fishing to remain best in the surf and around the jetties. When this is true, fishing can be great, but not when strong winds, especially easterly winds, get going. I’ll be heading into the fields to hunt doves and teal by the time this magazine hits the shelves. Dove season might be hit or miss, with all the rain we’ve had. But I’ve got plenty of water in the fields where I hunt the teal. We should have lots of birds to work with.”

West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays
Randall Groves | Groves Guide Service
979.849.7019 - 979.864.9323
Like many other experienced captains, Randall likes targeting redfish more than targeting trout as the calendar moves out of summer and into autumn. “Fishing for trout can be good this month, with the right conditions in play. If we get some calm weather, and the surf is pretty, we do well catching trout on topwaters and tails out there in September. Other than that, fishing for trout can be pretty unpredictable this month. Redfish save the day, though. They’re schooled up and aggressive this time of year. We often find them by searching for big schools of menhaden. When we find the reds chasing the shad, the action is often fast and furious on topwaters like pearl Skitter Walks, which can be worked fast and with lots of unpredictable movements. Sometimes, soft plastics like Norton Sand Eels in light colors like pearl/chartreuse work better. In either case, working the lures fast, with lots of starting and stopping gets the attention of the reds better than a slow, steady retrieve. If we continue to have lots of freshwater coming in from the bayous, we’ll have stained water. When this is true, the orange and gold lures often work better than the white ones.”

Matagorda Bays | Capt. Glenn Ging
Glenn’s Guide Service - 979.479.1460
www.glennsguideservice.com
September brings us the last of the summer heat. It can be a somewhat tricky month for fishing the coast. We’d like for it to be fall, and we want to start fishing the fall patterns we all look forward to, but it still fishes much more like summer with the heat and high water temperatures. In September, I’ll spend a bunch of time drifting the shell in East Matagorda Bay with live shrimp under Coastal Corks and with soft plastics, which are always a good choice in the hot months. I’ll also target redfish in the back-lakes off the ICW and on the shallow, muddy flats and grassy shorelines in West Matagorda Bay. Live shrimp under popping corks is a great option for the reds, but soft plastic paddletails and topwaters work great at times too. Wading mid-bay reefs in East Bay is another excellent option. Over in West Bay, the wading action is usually better around the grass beds and sandbars close to the south shoreline. With any luck, the surf will give us a few more good opportunities in September. I like to work the beachfront with Bass Assassins and topwaters, but live bait works great too.

Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam
www.palaciosguideservice.com - 979.240.8204
One of the wettest summers I can remember has us fishing in brackish water chasing redfish and drum lately. We’ve been focusing on finding the saltiest water we can over the shell and that seems to be the best bet in these adverse conditions. Fresh dead and peeled shrimp have worked much better than live shrimp in the muddy waters. We’ve been rigging the baits about a foot under popping corks for best results. Fall fishing should be fantastic with the bays getting a good flush. I look for redfish to be schooling on area shorelines soon, chasing hatches of grass shrimp and small shad. We always pay attention to egrets walking the shorelines to help us locate fish. Trout fishing should be good once the salinity rises in the bays and there are plenty of shrimp and shad for them to eat. Shorelines holding good shell and hard, sandy bottom under three to four feet of water should be optimal areas for the specks. Flounder fishing ought to be getting right as soon as we get better water in the bay too. We’ll target them around small drains and ditches on a falling tide with live shrimp or mud minnows.

Port O’Connor | Lynn Smith
Back Bay Guide Service - 361.935.6833
Lynn is likely to keep fishing patterns similar to the ones he’s fished all summer, once September arrives. “We still keep our eyes on the surf this month. If we get consistently calm weather, the fishing for trout is always best along the beachfront this time of year. In the bays, with a typical high tide and continued hot water, trout fishing can get pretty tough this month, especially for people who like to throw lures. If I can’t get in the surf, I like to fish places with shallow, sandy, grassy flats close to deep channels, where the water moves well, and where fish can escape the heat by going into the depths once the sun climbs high in the sky. This time of year, like all summer, the fishing on lures is usually best in the morning, during the coolest hours, especially if an incoming tide is bringing in clean, cool water from the Gulf. We do have excellent action at times for redfish in some of the coves and back-lakes this time of year. It’s one of the best months of all to catch reds on topwaters. We do best on small ones worked pretty fast and with erratic action.”

Rockport | Blake Muirhead
Gator Trout Guide Service - 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894
Blake says the fishing in the Coastal Bend has been outstanding most of the summer, and he expects the action to remain steady in September. “We’ve have good fishing in the parts of the bays close to the passes connecting them to the Gulf lately. Topwater bite has been great at times. The trout have been biting best in the surf, and we’re catching plenty out there when conditions are right. The reds have been schooling already on flats close to both the Lydia Ann and La Quinta channels. We’re able to catch ‘em pretty easy on small chrome topwaters when we can see lots of nervous bait in the area. The bite is steadier on soft plastics with bright tails when we don’t see as much moving bait. As we head into September, the redfish bite should remain steady as the fish concentrate in areas close to the Aransas Channel. Of course, this time of year, I start thinking about hunting, too. I expect to be in the fields, looking for doves and teal come September. Like everyone else in the state, we’ve had lots of rain lately, so dove hunting might be unpredictable, but the water should create excellent teal hunting.”

Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut
Robert Zapata | [email protected] - 361.563.1160
“In September, with lots of people headed out to hunt doves and teal, the boat traffic on the Upper Laguna Madre and in Baffin Bay usually thins out, making things pleasant for those of us who love to fish. With slightly cooler, longer nights, the water cools down more, and the trout and redfish show up reliably in the shallows for a while early in the mornings. This month is a great month to target both species in sandy potholes on the King Ranch Shoreline, and on grass beds and rocks sitting atop the sand bars and rock formations in Baffin. I like to throw She Dogs as the sun is coming up. On the best days, when winds are light, we catch lots of solid trout and reds on them. Catch 5s also work well this time of year. I prefer ones with some chartreuse on them. If the floating grass makes throwing topwaters and twitch baits too difficult, Bass Assassin soft plastics in natural colors work better. Once the air and water heat up, the action is usually better in the deeper potholes and around rocks in deeper water. Soft plastics work better than the other lures then.”

Corpus Christi | Joe Mendez - www.sightcast1.com - 361.877.1230
“In September, fishing for reds can be fantastic in the Corpus Christi area. By this time, we normally have plenty of schools moving into the waters not far south of the JFK Causeway, coming from areas farther to the south, headed toward the Gulf. These schools usually include lots of fish in the upper part of the slot and lots of oversized fish, up to about 35 inches. Locating them is easiest early on calm mornings. Boat traffic usually has them pushing wide wakes. Once we find them, we like to work upwind and ease toward them using the trolling motor, then make long casts with paddletails and spoons to target them. Lots of reds will also be caught in places like Shamrock Cove and East Flats this time of year too. The fishing over there is better when winds are blowing pretty hard out of the east and southeast. The water in those places remains clear and beautiful long after it’s a mess in most parts of the area. Another overlooked spot for reds and sometimes fast fishing for trout also is the Boat Hole area. The fishing can be great in there when the tide is moving.”

P.I.N.S. Fishing Forecast | Eric Ozolins
361.877.3583 - Oceanepics.com
Scattered patches of sargassum and sauerkraut weed continue to wash onto Texas beaches. Coming into September, large masses of dusky anchovy baitballs will begin making their way along the beaches. When they do, skipjacks, mackerel, tarpon, and sharks will all be attacking them. The speckled trout bite has been above average this year in the surf. Many have been caught on topwaters and soft plastics. Expect that bite to continue through October. With more and more species coming in to feast on the anchovies and migrating mullet, targeting the trout will become tougher. Late in September, jack crevalle will be moving along the beach in good numbers. Spoons and large topwaters work well to target them, and they also provide a chance at tarpon. September may perhaps be the peak time to target tarpon from the beach. They’re sometimes seen feeding in pods. When surface action is spotted, acting quickly and casting large lures into the fray sometimes draws strikes. Slot reds can be targeted with spoons or mullet. When the baitballs move in close to shore, the sharks will be moving closer and cruising throughout the day. Be careful and alert for both sharks and rays in the shallows.

Port Mansfield | Ruben Garza
Snookdudecharters.com - 832.385.1431
Getaway Adventures Lodge - 956.944.4000
Dove season is here and that means lots of Cast-N-Blast opportunities on the flats and fields near Port Mansfield. Those outings are really fun. Redfish will begin gathering in larger schools. Good places to start looking for them lie along the east side of East Cut. Lots of lures will get their attention; I prefer topwaters. It’s fun to watch them fight over the lures on the surface. South of East Cut, the Pipeline area holds plenty of reds. Farther north, they can be found from the Cut all the way to Butcher’s Island. The jetties is another popular area in early-fall; redfish, jack crevalle, Spanish and king mackerel, and occasionally tarpon are players there. Wire leaders are recommended for the toothier critters. Early-fall trout action is usually reliable in the Saucer area and in West Bay. Up north, I like the area from the Weather Station all the way up to Butchers Island, targeting the trout in potholes in thigh to waist-deep water. My go-to trout lure this time of year is the KWiggler’s Ball-tail Shad rigged on an eighth-ounce jighead. Favorite colors are Mansfield Margarita, bone diamond, coastal candy, and the old standby--plum-chartreuse.

Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel
Aaron Cisneros | tightlinescharters.com - 956.639.1941
Both the water temperatures and the fishing action in the Lower Laguna Madre have been hot lately. With the fish feeling the high temperatures, most of them have been hanging around the deepest water in the area, which is, of course, the Intracoastal Waterway. We’ve been finding plenty of trout and redfish lurking on the drop-offs of the sand bars lying adjacent to the ditch. A key factor has been keeping the Z-Man StreakZ in redbone color close to the bottom. To do this, we’re rigging them on a quarter-ounce Trout Eye jighead most of the time. The heavier than normal head keeps the plastic down in the strike zone better than the lighter ones. Trout of all sizes have been schooling together because they all want the cooling effects of the relatively deep water. Redfish have begun schooling up around the passes leading into the Gulf, and in the deep water of the ICW, moving onto the shallows briefly, early and late in the day. Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ in redbone have been working well to draw strikes from the migrating herds. Rigging them on quarter-ounce heads facilitates longer casts and keeps the lures right down in the cooler water.