The View: August 2022

Here’s a little good news in a depressed economy – our fishery is recovering. It has been what I estimate to be 15 years since have I caught so many 2-3 pound trout in East Matagorda Bay. Our new 3-trout limit (from 17-23 inches) seems to be productive. It’s amazing how feisty a 16 ¾ -inch trout is. The real joy has been the release - knowing those age-class fish have a chance to be 5,6 and 8-pounders and enjoyed by so many.

Another bright spot is the changing attitudes of so many anglers. It is not as cool to kill everything you catch. It is not as cool to post dead fish pictures. It is not as cool put a knife in a 20-inch fish.

It is cool to let them go. It is cool for captains to explain to customers what we are trying to do to bring back a fishery. It is cool to post pictures with large grins and then release that healthy fish back to the fertile waters of Matagorda. It is cool that our cleaning table at Matagorda Harbor no longer looks like a butcher shop on a calm day. We can’t take, take, take and expect the fishery to give, give, give. Those days are gone. Most get it, but still some don’t. Keep smiling – attitudes are changing for the better.

Along with the heat, August normally brings a few weak cool fronts that knock down the humidity, flatten the Gulf of Mexico, and ushers in the first batch of blue-winged teal. We will work the surf and jetty on these days, concentrating in the first gut on the incoming tide and tossing topwaters on the outer bars on the falling tide.

Don't be surprised to find birds working along the north shoreline with calm conditions. Since the ICW runs along the northern boundary of East Bay, those shrimp running the "ditch" often enter the bay on the incoming tide.

Likewise, the reefs along the north shoreline are a boon for waders tossing topwaters on the incoming tide. Never underestimate the cuts leading to the bay on the incoming tide as well. Those fish enter and exit the ditch daily through the cuts. There are some good trout on the shorelines for waders as well. Again, it's an early bite with the heat. We find those trout over the grass early, then they fall along the ledge in about 4-5 feet of water later in the day.

When winds are light we also drift the middle of East Bay. Trout and redfish hang there all year, and slicks become more prevalent during August, especially for schooling redfish.

The mid-bay reefs consistently hold good trout in August. We start out in waist-deep water on the shell drop then end up in chest-deep water on the end of the reef as the water warms. Know your tides. There have been many mornings I have arrived to find nothing, but patience prevails knowing the incoming tide will bring fish to the reef. Slicks popping in deeper water adjacent to the reef are good signs.

Offshore anglers have enjoyed excellent red snapper action in 40-80 feet of water.

Tripletail action in the bay has been hit-or-miss. Better catches have come on the weedlines just off the beach.

Expect kingfish, cobia and dorado to remain consistent over structure.

Expect tarpon to show along the beach in August. More and more anglers are finding large schools of poons along the Matagorda beachfront.

Teal will begin to arrive along the coast this month. In less than 40 days we will be on a shallow flat enjoying these ariel acrobats.

Keep your head up America. It is going to get better in the coming days.

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