The View: April 2025

Winter fishing in the Matagorda Bays was great this year. The first quarter of 2025 especially gave up many days of great fishing. The trout I have seen caught and released recently gives me hope for a better fishery. Indeed, we needed a change, and from what I can see the conservation-minded attitude that has emerged is definitely working.

I am very optimistic about April and the warmer months that lie ahead. The weather will dictate which bay we fish in April. Light winds and green tides are conducive for finding heavy trout over deep shell in East Bay. Southerly winds and an incoming afternoon tide coincides with fishing the clouds of glass minnows in West Bay.

As tides bloat, back lakes will come to life with redfish and trout as well. Drifters working shell with live shrimp should find lots of redfish. Large, solitary trout are quite often found in the same vicinity.

Shell Island's maze of reefs hold plenty of specks, reds, and the perfect size black drum for table fare. It's tough to fish jigs on the shell without losing a dozen or more, so tie on your favorite cork to keep the bait suspended.

The warming trend should wake up the jetties for trout and redfish action. Large black drum and sheepshead have been roaming the rocks for the past month, throw in a thermometer inching closer to 70 degrees and trout, Spanish mackerel, and jack crevalle become players.

Crab Lake, Oyster Lake and Lake Austin are prime spots in Matagorda. These locales lie protected from most springtime blusters in excess of 20 knots.

We love to break out the topwaters in April. The myth that surface plugs only work in shallow water is just that, a myth. My largest speck of all time, a 31-incher, was fooled on a chartreuse-headed, black-bodied, prototype MirrOlure Top Dog in seven feet of water out of a boat at high noon. Topwater plugs only work when you throw them!

April once was a time for fishing the glass minnows. It was a rite of April in Matagorda. It still happens, just not a pronounced like days of old, probably due to disappearing seagrasses on the shorelines which tend to provide refuge for hatching minnows.

Longer days and swelling incoming tides prompt glass minnows (bay anchovies) to move on grassy shorelines anytime. Look for gaggles of diving brown pelicans to point the way. 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 it can get really silly.

Be patient in April. It can be one of the most challenging fishing months of the year. Winds will blow, tides will rise and fall, and water temperatures will warm and cool. It is that in-between month where the sun shines warm and bright one day and blows from the chilly east the next. Keep fishing. Some of the largest trout I have ever caught were around the full moon in April. Please continue taking care of our resource and please release more than you take.

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