On Galveston: December 2006

Trinity and East Bays

I would say in general that fall fishing has been less than we expected; October started out pretty good and then turned spotty on us. Then we got clobbered. We had an incredible 27" of rain in a seven day period. It started on a Wednesday and lasted straight through 'til the following Wednesday. Naturally we have received just tons of runoff but things are starting to come back around. Most of the runoff is layering into Trinity Bay, right now the surface looks bad but underneath it is real clear. The sunlight is not able to penetrate like normal so it makes lure fishing a little tougher than normal. But other than that we have started coming out real good over the last few days. When the winds are down and in between these fronts we are catching a lot of good quality fish. As far as boat fishing does, Trinity Bay is the best bet, working the birds and drifting the reefs. For wade fishing, East Bay is the best bet on into December. That is pretty much the way I fish this time of year. Before a front when you have a pumping south wind I will go to East Bay and wade fish, working the protected shorelines and behind the reefs. The soft mud bottoms hold warmer water and naturally the bait will congregate here. After the fronts go through and we start getting calmer days I will come back up and fish Trinity out of the boat. I mostly just bounce back and forth whichever the wind sends me.

Upper Galveston Bay

We don't talk much about Upper Galveston Bay but it has been holding some pretty good fish around Sylvan Beach especially since the San Jacinto River flushed like it did. A lot of reds and trout are holding over there in the pier pilings from Morgan's Point to Happy Harbor to Have a Good Day Bulk Head and all those old spots. There has been a little bit of bird action out deep. I have been fishing the pier pilings with Mirrolures and Corkies and those kind of slow sinking lures in the mornings. Keep your eye on the sky out deep and you can easily find 4-5 schools of birds working. If the birds you locate are working over good fish that should be about all you need to get a limit of trout.

West Bay

I do not know what is wrong with West Bay. There are some fish down there but reports I'm getting say it hasn't been easy. It is just not that good yet, I think that December and January will be better if we can get some real cold weather and if it gets any fresher up here it is going to drive a lot of fish down south to West Bay. For the most part the key to that bay's success is cold weather because a lot of those fish get up there in those marshes and up in the canals and beach houses. When you get a good hard-blowing front with your tides dropping the fish too come out of the canal. However, as soon as it comes back in the fish go right with it.

Overall, we are looking forward to a fairly good winter here in the Galveston System. It's hard to tell right now though; if we do not get anymore rain we will have a great winter but that's all up to Mother Nature and the weatherman. All in all I think we will be alright. I have had some real good catches the past few days. We still have lots of fish we just need the weather to cooperate and we will get to it.