Hooked Up: September 2025

Between the heat and floating grass, I’ve hit my rev limit with the Laguna Madre and Baffin for a short while.  In anticipation of cooler weather another month away, I’m flying over the Rockies and will touch down in Cody, Wyoming in about an hour.  The remote camp I’ll be calling home for the next week is averaging 46-72 degrees this week at an elevation of 8,000 feet.  How wonderful does that sound at the end of August and early September in Texas?  Of course, I’ll still be fishing, but for a different kind of trout. Up here a really good one is 20 inches and a solid one is about 12 inches. Fine by me – with a 4-weight fly rod and a pocket full of cute little bugs that just float downstream – instead of that noisy MirrOlure She Dog I’m always raising hell with in Baffin. My heart is filled with anticipation of small fish and no cell phones.

We are truly into the dog days of summer now. Charters are slower for everyone at this point. Being out in the South Texas heat is really nothing to joke about and although wading keeps us a bit cooler, our lips and ears, and what’s left in-between, are starting to question the sanity of our choices. A much needed cooling off is at hand and my guilt meter is frozen at zero.

If you just have to go fishing, I would recommend shorter days, regardless of what bay system in Texas, especially south of the JFK causeway. My typical runs are in the dark of morning and getting in our first wade spot just as the eastern horizon is becoming visible. Ideally a thigh-deep flat with a big drop-off and lots of schooling mullet is my favorite scenario this time of year. Visible baitfish is the key to success right now. If you do not have it piled up where you park your Haynie that morning, just go into it with a mindset that you can and will still catch if at least some bait is active. However, you will face a slower bite.  As hot as it is, the morning bite is going to shut down by 9:30. For that reason, I put a lot of emphasis on big schools of mullet that will usually double our strike ratio.  Areas that are heavily laden with food will provide action from all species, not just trout, and that is certainly a plus when fighting the summer heat and wanting to get off the water a little earlier.  

Just about all mornings for me begin with topwaters. One out of three days will provide some crazy action, while the others are more of just one here and one there kind of a deal.  We all love that epic bite on top, but I’m using them more as a scouting tool and to really just check the mood of the trout every morning.  Lots of blowups and hooksets is obviously an aggressive bite and tells me I can fish just about any lure in my box and have success. On those mornings that they are just slapping at it and not hooking, I’m going subsurface with something like a Softdine or Double D. In the case of very few slaps or takes, I know within 10 minutes to put on my trusty Bass Assassin and keep it close to the bottom where they are being lazy from pulling an all-nighter of feeding. 

Hopefully y’all can see the simplicity of my approach. After so many years of doing this since the late 80s, utilizing every bass lure and hot saltwater lure on the market, I came to realize many years ago that it’s not the sizzle… but the steak they are after. Utilizing lures that are reflective of their mood is way more important than any color, brand, etc. Here’s a useful analogy for you: If you see a really good-looking woman sitting alone, crying, and cussing at her phone – how do you approach her? I’m going Bass Assassin subtle on this one. But, if she’s waving sparklers and dancing on the tables – I’m going with a He Dog. 

Fish are no different than us at any given time of the year. Deciphering their mood quickly and doing it their way is much more effective than busting down the door and expecting them to bite because we just showed up with all of the hot new stuff from the tackle shop. Fish smart!!