On Galveston: February 2007

Trinity Bay: Despite all the fronts and bad weather, believe it or not, fishing is still good. There are a lot of redfish running shallow right now. When you get these warming trends between fronts and get a northeast or easterly flow, Trinity Bay is yielding a lot of limits of reds in knee deep water. We are catching them on various baits; gold spoons, soft plastics, topwaters and Corky's. I recommend a soft plastic so you will not tear up all of your good baits. We are pulling out some nice trout mixed in with these reds. Some are weighing in the 7 pound class, not a whole lot of them, but they are there. Redfish are the bonus in the skinny water right now. Way out in the middle of the bays we are working streak lines. Streak lines occur when the tide current starts moving over the reefs, stirring bottom sediment and creating streak like color changes in the water. We are catching a lot of good trout drifting the streak lines and the best depth currently is about 6 feet of water. It has paid off very well with the past couple of warming trends and we are looking forward to the same patterns happening in February. Again this is happening mostly in Trinity Bay. Upstream, back bays like Tab's, Bennett and San Jacinto are also holding a lot of fish. They are even catching them in the San Jacinto River up by I-10. Most of the fishing up there is drifting and the trout are being caught on soft plastics, color is not a key factor lately.

Upper Galveston Bay: Fishermen hitting Sylvan Beach and Seabrook Flats are catching good quality fish on Mirrolures and soft plastics. They have been working the pier pilings in between the fronts. The best wind conditions are anywhere between a northwest to a due west wind, and we have been pulling a lot of those lately behind the passing fronts. The key right now is to wait until after the front and the water warms back up to the 55 60 degree range. That is when the fish are going bonkers! This pattern should prevail on into February. All of these places are going to hold fish. I have learned over the years that if the fish have not left these areas by now they are probably going to stay through to spring.

East Bay: Fishing patterns right now are running very similar to what we discussed in Trinity.

Working over deep shell is paying off pretty good, so is drifting in about 4-6 feet of water. During these fronts the bait is down, but once the sunshine is back out and the water warms back up the bait will come back to the top. That is how we are keying on finding these fish. Fishing the streaky areas with the mullet in it is the plan. Believe it or not, there are still quite a bit of shad in the bays. A lot of the fish we are catching have shad in them. It appears that the bait is here to stay. The shrimp are scarce but the shad bait is what the trout are living on. Keep an eye on the back end over there by the refuge and tide gates and behind Rollover Pass. That has been paying off real good both before and after the fronts. If you fish the south side on a pumping south wind before the fronts and wade fish all that back there, it is sure to pay off. You will catch them with Corky's and Mirrolures. They are both working very well.

West Bay: Again the same type of pattern is occurring over here as well. We have mostly been drift fishing. From north and south of Deer Island to Greens Cut area, over all of that open bay shell. It is holding a lot of fish. Fish with soft plastics and drift the streaks, you will need the tide either incoming or outgoing, you need movement- period. The water streaks and the bait gets in there and naturally the fish are going to it. That is what we have been keying on in there also.

Overall I'd say that since this time of year can be pretty bleak, we have been lucky and the fishing has held up nicely this year. We had a great December and a decent January so far. It is looking real good. As long as we keep getting these breaks between fronts where it can warm up we are going to continue to do real well.