The View: April 2022

Time heals. That is what is happening in Matagorda. We are about a year on the better side of last February’s freeze and better days have been had. If the freeze taught us anything, it is that there are more anglers concerned about conservation and the good of the fishery than not, and that’s encouraging. New bag limits for trout have been established by TPWD to allow our trout fishery to recover; and, I applaud.

Really the best thing that has come out of the freeze is that attitudes have changed. We no longer take our fishery for granted. We no longer kill fish just to show we “caught ‘em.”

Success on the water is no longer measured by piles of fish on a cleaning table and the goofy grins on social media. We have come a long way in a year.

Redfish along the north shoreline of West Bay should be a mainstay this month. As tides rise reds hang around the reefs and tight against the grass trying to root out small shrimp. Back lakes like Oyster and Crab lakes are go-to locations for anglers tossing live shrimp under a Mid-Coast popping cork.

Never overlook mud flats in West Bay on the incoming tide. Most of the redfish guides post up with chunks of mullet and intercept moving schools around the Diversion Channel and the north shoreline.

Better catches lately have come from along the ICW. Many anglers are using their trolling motors and working all along the drop-off. You can cover a lot of ground and when you find them, hit the “spot-lock” on the trolling motor and work the school.

The familiar question that pops up every April is, “when will the glass minnows show up?” Glass minnows are really just bay anchovies – little white, silver flashes that swim in herds and like to be swarmed by hundreds of brown pelicans, trout and redfish. When the fish go off and gorge on the big balls of minnows along the south shoreline of West Bay it is a sight to behold.

I love to toss a small topwater along the grass and sand humps as well as a MirrOlure Soft-Dine. Some of the best wading happens on the afternoon incoming tide. Get a good night's rest, get up, read the paper, eat a little breakfast and head out. Take your time and wait for the tide to usher the glass minnows to the grassy shorelines of West Bay.

Never overlook the north shoreline of Palacios, including Turtle and Tres Palacios bays. There are piles of shell along the shoreline that holds all kinds of fish in April. Coon Island is also a player.

It’s a long ride from Matagorda, but Half-Moon Reef in West Bay holds trout in April. Best bait is live shrimp under a cork, but DOA Shrimp and Gulps work as well. When there is limited boat traffic, drifting over those rocks with a topwater is fun.

April kicks off the sixth season of the Texas Insider Fishing Report on ATT Sports Net and Bally’s Sports Southwest. I give the weekly Middle Coast Report and highlight the coast from Freeport to Port Aransas.

Please continue to conserve our fishery.