Reports & Forecasts: June 2023

Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag
Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com - 409.935.7242
James sees June as a month when patterns become more reliable on a daily basis, after the fluctuating ones created by the changing weather of spring. “When it gets hot and stays hot, we do still catch some fish by wading, usually in places close to the jetties or a pass, when the tide is moving with some pretty good strength. Early in the mornings, if the tide is coming in strong and bringing cool water in from the gulf, the fishing can be great for trout. During the hotter parts of the day, we’ll start to see the patterns out in the middle become more productive. When fishing in places where the water is too deep to wade, it’s important to use slicks, mud-boils and rafts of bait to find the fish. Keeping the boat in the right location to allow for casting at the schools of fish and bringing lures in front of them in the right direction is another key. Much of the time when the water’s hot, the fish will bite lures better when they’re moving steadily along, rather than when they’re hopping around, so I don’t twitch the rod tip too much this time of year.”

Jimmy West | Bolivar Guide Service - 409.996.3054
Jim had been experiencing mixed results on recent charters, with some banner days on which the big trout were biting. “I had one a little over 28 the other day, weighed seven pounds. And, we’ve had some other sixes. Key has been the tides. When the tides dump out and get really low, the fishing isn’t nearly as good. We’ve been wading mostly, and I expect to be wading a lot in June, too. Usually, we have some good fishing on both shorelines in East Bay at the start of summer, and the fishing on the beach in the Bolivar Pocket can be really good. Out there, the fishing is best if the tide’s fairly high and we have south winds. I also expect the fishing out in the middle to pick up in June. We’re starting to catch some fish out there lately, which is somewhat late. But in any year, fishing around mud stirs, slicks and rafts of bait in June is good. The problem with the fishing out in the middle lately has been the size of the fish. Some days, it feels like the bay is just full of dinks. You’ll catch ten undersized trout for every keeper.”

West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays
Randall Groves | Groves Guide Service
979.849.7019 - 979.864.9323
June brings in the beginning of the peak season for fishing multiple patterns in the bays and nearshore waters around San Luis Pass, Randall says. “We should have all kinds of bait in the bays by the time June arrives, including everything from shrimp, glass minnows, ballyhoo and ribbonfish. Of course, we still find fish by locating rafts of jumping mullet too. Fishing for reds in the back-lakes and coves can be steady this month, when tides are high and winds are fairly strong. Fishing for trout around the sand bars and guts behind the pass is also a great option when it’s calmer. Tides of medium strength make that pattern best. And, of course, the action should kick off in the surf when winds lay for a couple days in a row. If it stays calm even longer, and the water runs clear to the beach, the action for king mackerel and other pelagics can be good almost within sight of land. We throw topwaters a lot this time of year, especially in the mornings. Pearl Skitter Walks are a favorite, as are shiny, chrome She Dogs and Spook Juniors. Full-sized Norton Sand Eels work better later in the day.”

Matagorda Bays | Capt. Glenn Ging
Glenn’s Guide Service - 979.479.1460
www.glennsguideservice.com
Warm, steady weather patterns open up just about every fishing option in Matagorda in June. Wading will be good in both bays, mostly on reefs in East Bay and on grass flats in West Bay. Topwaters and soft plastics on light jigheads will be great options. The marshes and back-lakes continue to hold good numbers of redfish. Natural-colored soft plastics, small topwaters and weedless spoons are great options to target them. Drift fishing should stay strong, if we get persistent light southeast winds. June usually gives us our first shots at getting in the surf. When the waves lay down, the first couple of guts off of the beach usually fill up with bait. Big shrimp usually show up in the surf in large numbers, and the fish can’t resist them. Soft plastics, topwaters and live shrimp under popping corks all work great along the beachfront. The jetties also hold plenty of reds and trout this month; the reds take cut baits best, and live shrimp under corks takes the trout and most everything else. June is a great month to chase tripletail around visible structures. On the calmest days, cobia can be chased and caught in the open gulf.

Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam
www.palaciosguideservice.com - 979.240.8204
These temperature swings have spread our fish out. We’re staying on a pretty consistent bite, but have had some tough days with these late-season cold fronts. Our redfish and black drum fishing has been really good this spring, with lots of good eating-sized fish coming to hand. We have been having best results fishing over shell reefs in about two feet of water. Live and fresh peeled shrimp rigged on popping corks have accounted for most of our bites. We have had lots of runoff from spring rains and have been catching lots of trout on the north shoreline of Tres Palacios Bay. Topwaters like the green/chrome She Dogs and the pearl Skitter Walks have taken some nice trout along the seawall. The trout are still holding around some deep shell reefs and eating live shrimp rigged about four or five feet under popping corks. Flounder gigging has started to take off on area shorelines; when we get some good east/northeast winds that clean up the shorelines, there have been plenty of legal fish to stick. June should be a great month. With all the rains we had this spring, plenty of bait should be in the bays all summer.

Port O’Connor | Lynn Smith
Back Bay Guide Service - 361.935.6833
Lynn expects to continue fishing much the same ways in June as he has been in May, with a few notable deviations. “I have been catching quite a few trout on grassy flats lately. That pattern is usually good into June, especially on the flats around the pass. We do best over there when we have some strong incoming tides during the morning hours, which encourage the trout to move up onto the sandbars where the grass is growing. I also expect the reefs lying alongside the channel between Port O’Connor and Port Lavaca to start producing some good catches of trout. This pattern usually perks up once the water temperatures rise into the 80s and stay there consistently. Of course, we’ll be looking to get into the surf as often as we can in June. Some of the best beachfront fishing of the year usually happens the first few times during the summer when calm winds allow the water to run green to the beach. We’ll keep fishing the back-lakes when it’s windier. We’ve been catching some trout around grassbeds in some of the lakes lately, and action for them and reds usually remains steady in June.”

Rockport | Blake Muirhead
Gator Trout Guide Service - 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894
Blake says the fishing in the Coastal Bend Bays has been excellent this spring, and he expects the catching to continue in June. “We’ve had a good trout bite lately. We’ve been catching our fish mostly on sandy, grassy flats in water from about knee to waist-deep. We’re fishing shorelines loaded with jumping mullet most of the time, in the lee of the land when it’s windy, on windblown shorelines when winds are lighter. We’ve also caught some trout on some of the reefs at times. We’ve had a good bite on small topwaters some mornings, and the bite on dark Norton Sand Eels with bright tails has been steady most days too. We will be throwing live croakers more of the time when June arrives. The coves and lakes are still holding plenty of reds for people who like to tangle with them. We’ve been able to catch plenty of slot-fish on some days. I do expect to spend some time along the beachfront of Saint Joe Island this month too. When I’m fishing out in the surf, I like to start off early throwing topwaters close to the beach, then move out to the deeper bars and guts later.”

Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut
Robert Zapata | [email protected] - 361.563.1160
People who like to fish like the month of June because it is such a consistently good month for catching. My confidence in catching fish during this month is consistently higher, and it shows in my better catches when all is said and done. The water temperatures will be ideal for trout and redfish to be in three feet of water or less. The trout will be spawning, so look for the big ones in less than two feet of water along grass lines and around sandy potholes early in the mornings, and just before and after sunset. This is a great month to fish with MirrOlure Catch 5s in natural colors, if there is not too much suspended or floating grass. If there is too much grass, Bass Assassin Die Dappers in colors like trickster, salt & pepper/chartreuse, and plum/chartreuse rigged on sixteenth-ounce Spring-Lock jigheads work better. Wading is a great way to approach the target areas, but because stingrays will also be in these areas, all those wading should wear ForEverLast Ray Guards. Sight-casting for red and black drum will also provide lots of fun with shrimp-flavored Fish-Bites on light jigheads thrown into about a foot of water.

Corpus Christi | Joe Mendez - www.sightcast1.com - 361.877.1230
In June, the normal calm winds and predictable weather patterns create excellent opportunities for people fishing the ULM, Baffin Bay and Corpus Christi Bay. “Fishing is usually excellent in the mornings during June. Winds calm down at the end of the night and provide several hours of great fishing conditions early in the days. On calm June mornings, small topwater lures work great for folks who like to throw them. Both the trout and reds take them readily on many days. People who prefer soft plastics often find fast catching throwing them under tightly packed schools of mullet. The lack of wind in the mornings does create a glare on the water’s surface, which makes sight-casting difficult or impossible. Once the winds begin to blow late in the morning, though, that changes. Sight-casting for both black and red drum and the occasional bigger than average trout in the clear water left in the wake of the calm lull is usually good during the mid-day hours this month. One of the best aspects of calm weather is that is allows for fishing anywhere, which spreads the people out. This is necessary during June, one of most popular months for fishing here.”

P.I.N.S. Fishing Forecast | Eric Ozolins
361.877.3583 - Oceanepics.com
The sargassum weed showed up recently in volume for the first time in a few years along the Texas Coast. While still present, it should thin out as we start to get into summer. It’s quite an annoyance to fishermen, but it’s great for the ecosystem and all parts of the food chain. It’s not uncommon to hook cobia or tripletail from the beach during times when the weeds are thick. Remember, these floating rafts of weeds harbor exponential amounts of plankton and small fish, attracting larger predators. June should be a phenomenal month to catch trout for those willing to work around the sargassum. Topwaters should be regularly effective. This has also been the first year in many with active jack crevalle, which can become a nuisance, attacking topwaters thrown at trout. Those targeting jacks should look for them crashing bait under birds. Large spoons get their attention about as well as topwaters. Slot reds should be plentiful in the surf. Large schools of skipjacks should materialize under a variety of baits. With the large amount of skipjacks, sharks will follow. Sharking at night will yield some large fish, primarily tigers and hammers, with some massive bulls mixed in.

Port Mansfield | Ruben Garza
Snookdudecharters.com - 832.385.1431
Getaway Adventures Lodge - 956.944.4000
Although June is hot, it’s still not the hottest month of the year; the fishing can be outstanding. Traditional June days feature light winds in the mornings and heavier winds in the afternoons. West bay is always a good choice south of town, when boat traffic isn’t too heavy. The slightly deeper water east of Bennie’s Island to just north of The Pipeline also offers excellent potential, especially the deeper potholes. Early morning topwater action can be great with Mansfield Knockers in colors like Zombie, Ruby Tuesday and Golden Croaker. Heading north is often a better option when boat traffic is heavy. With light winds, Community Bar and Century Point are great options, as is the area by the Weather Station right by the deep water break. Drifting that section to Butcher’s Island can be productive. The fish like KWigglers in colors like Lagunaflauge, plum/chartreuse and Mansfield Margarita rigged on eighth-ounce jigheads. In the deeper water outside the break, a quarter-ounce head usually works better. On the east side, it’s often good to stay shallow, throwing Mansfield Knockers or quarter-ounce gold spoons at the reds cruising around over the bright sandy bottom.

Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel
Aaron Cisneros | tightlinescharters.com - 956.639.1941
Warm weather is the norm now as we are entering the summer months. Our trout fishing has been steady. We are finding most of our trout on deeper grass flats, averaging three to four feet. As trout have been spawning we have found all sorts of sizes schooling up together, and ZMan redbone StreakZ on a fast retrieve over potholes has been our go-to technique. Redfish numbers have also held up and should only get better in coming weeks. A good redfish bite has been occurring regularly along windblown shorelines. The afternoon redfish bite has been mixed with trout in deeper potholes lying in 3-4 feet of water. Spook Jr topwaters in bone color rigged with single hooks have been a great early morning choice. Later in the day, as winds pick up, we are throwing ZMan redbone Kicker CrabZ rigged on Eye Strike Texas-Eye weedless hooks. Our lure presentation with these is generally slow over sandy pockets .Tides and winds should begin to diminish somewhat as June rolls along. Watch for fish to be on the move for deeper areas.