The View: March 2024

We all await spring sunshine, spring break, crawfish boils, and a little color on our pale winter skin. March gets our Matagorda economy going again after months of winter doldrums. We welcome everyone back and are ready to go fishing.

You can bet that sunny and mild March days have potential to send fish to the sand and grass shorelines. But, they typically aren’t far from the mud, either. If you can find a spot with mud and grass you will probably also find fish.

Winter is a determining factor in March fishing. A winter that lingers tends to keep fish in deep, muddy haunts – a mild winter brings swelling tides, pushing fish to the shallows. If winter winds persist, find the nearest deep water channel and try natural baits. Saying that, you still can’t go wrong with slow-sinkers. The water temperature dictates, but chances are they are just as likely to hit a slow-sinker anytime they get ready to eat. Spots like the Colorado River and Diversion Channel in Matagorda and Caney Creek in Sargent always harbor winter fish.

At the time of this writing the coast has received much needed winter rains, and most rivers and bayous are currently swollen. But that’s only a temporary setback for late winter fishing. The fact is that these rains and associated runoff are much needed for the health of the estuaries to balance the salinities after nearly two years of drought.

Though many will claim the only way to catch a lunker trout is to wade, Matagorda anglers know otherwise. You have just as good a chance, weather permitting, of catching the largest trout of your life while drifting over mid-bay shell in five feet of water. I fought it for years, but the fish keep telling me they also like it in the deeper water.

Shorelines once littered with acres of seagrass are now seasonally reduced to mostly mud. When we lost the grass we lost our population of large trout that traditionally staged there during winter and early spring. That’s not to say there aren’t large trout on the shorelines, just fewer; and, the proof that there remain lots of big trout in East Matagorda is shown in catch and release photos while drifting over five feet of water.

Our redfish also get going in March. Tides begin to swell this month and bigger tides mean more redfish in West Bay. All that shell along the shorelines are potential haunts for redfish and black drum. We feel like we can catch redfish in practically any wind when we have big tides. There are lots of spots to hide and our shallow draft boats are perfect for blustery March days.

News from Austin indicates that more conservative trout regulations will be enacted this month. Please be good stewards of our natural resources, and if you don’t have a reason to harvest a trout, give it back to the bay. The days of killing everything you catch are over. If we want our bays and estuaries to thrive we must give, give, give instead of take, take, take. Better days are on the horizon with these new regulations. I thank all anglers for putting the resource first.

Sunrise Lodge and Properties just put the finishing touches on a few renovations to our lodge. We added a pool and installed a putting green to give our guests more entertainment in the afternoon after a morning of fishing and/or hunting. We look forward to seeing you and all that 2024 brings.