Warm Weather, Kids, and Great Fishing!

If you spend your fair share of time along the Texas coast you already know July means several things, and on top of the list is warm weather. Texas summers are notorious for sweltering temps and breathlessly still days that often times start off near 90° before the crack of dawn. Fishermen will need to employ some different strategies this month in order to remain successful and comfortable.

There was an AM radio station, KOGT here in my hometown of Orange, that for years ran a program called Let’s Go Fishing and they gave reports for Sabine Lake, Toledo Bend, and Sam Rayburn. The host, Richard Corder, had a saying, “If it’s 80 before 8:00am you know it’s gonna be a hot one.” I often think about those words each morning when I check the weather before heading to the launch and realize how right Richard was, especially when the calendar is flipped to July. Those ultra-still and sticky mornings require a little more preparation than normal, especially when you have folks in the boat who may not be properly acclimated to these types of conditions. Special precautions need to be taken each time you leave the launch during summer because suffering a heat stroke or any other heat related illness is a real problem that can happen in the blink of an eye if you aren’t careful.

Obviously, the early morning and late evening bite is the most comfortable and two of the most popular programs in town. Plenty of anglers will trade a few extra hours of sleep to enjoy the comfort that’s provided when the sun is going down. I normally don’t run much in the dark but, when I do, you can bet one of the top places I’ll look at first will be the jetties. If you’ve never been fortunate enough to get in on the pre-dawn topwater bite at the rocks you are missing out because there’s not much like it when it’s right. I have said forever that the trout that hang out at the jetties are a different breed, for some reason they seem to be so much more aggressive and just wired up like 440 volts. If you make one quality trip down there and get into those fish before the sun comes up I promise you will figure out a way to do it again.

Despite the warm temperatures, July tends to be much more predictable as far as weather is concerned, especially when it comes to wind. Quite often there isn’t even a breeze to be found and the absence of wind can be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand you get very little relief from the heat, while on the other hand it makes finding fish so much easier. During the summer months, both Sabine and Calcasieu will have some solid fishing under flocks of birds. The gulls and terns will be shadowing both speckled trout and redfish while they gorge on brown shrimp that are making their way out of the marshes and into the main body of the lakes. Those flat calm days make it so much easier to keep up with the schools of fish as they move because you can not only see where they are going but you can hear them as they crush their meals along the surface of the water. That tell-tale “slurp” has been a welcome sound to fishermen forever as they try to chase down those fish that are herding up the shrimp.

Many times, after the birds leave a school of fish you can sit in that area and wait until the fish get cranked up again. All it takes is one trout to eat a shrimp from the surface to give away the location of the whole school and suddenly everything starts all over again. When this happens it’s especially productive because the birds have usually gone looking for another easy meal, which means there is nothing to attract another boat to your location. Having a hungry school of fish all to yourself is a joy unlike no other.

Just like many other things there are two sides to every story. So where one story makes things good it also makes other things tough. The calm seas will be a welcome sight for the folks who patrol the big water like the beachfront, the nearshore oil and gas platforms, and beyond. The flat calm days will allow the water to settle out and provide some of the best clarity we will see all year. It’s much easier to turn your nose up at catching trout under the birds when you can run the gulf and go after species such as snapper, tripletail, and others that will give you a bona fide full pull.

Like I mentioned earlier there is also a bad side to the elevated temperatures and slight winds, and that’s the negative impact that the shallow water guys will sometimes experience. The backwater marshes and ponds will get super-heated during this time of the year and this can make the redfish we’re chasing very lethargic. The elevated temps will do a number on the grass and other vegetation, which in turn reduce oxygen levels in these shallow water areas, making catching those fish much tougher than normal. If and when you do manage to catch redfish in that warm water, take extra care when releasing them as it takes quite a bit longer to revive them after a fight. Make sure those fish swim off healthy and don’t go belly up after a few yards; you owe it to them to make every effort to completely revive them before releasing.

July will provide us ample opportunity to pursue a variety of angling scenarios, which is an absolutely perfect time to get the kids involved. Like I mentioned before, please take proper precautions to deal with the heat. Bring the obvious necessities such as plenty of cold drinking water, sunscreen, a wide-brimmed hat, or some other type of shade. Keep your trips to a minimum and don’t force the kids to stay if they are not comfortable or having fun. Remember that it’s their trip too. Do whatever you can to avoid having them less than anxious to go next time. Carry some bait, live or dead, so they can increase their odds of catching something. Remember kids just want to feel the pull and the species doesn’t matter, which is exactly as it should be.