Reports & Forecasts: January 2023

Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag
Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com – 409.935.7242
January is a great month to fish in parts of Lower Galveston and West Galveston bays, James says. "We do better fishing out of the boat than we do by wading, most years, in January, but it depends on the weather. The old-school drill of drifting around off Mecom's and Green's cuts is still productive, in some years. When doing that, we throw soft plastics on medium-light jigheads much of the time, also 52M MirrOlures.  Pointing the tip of the rod at the water and pulsing it while reeling the lure in works great with the 52Ms. We usually key on areas where the water has some color to it; the clear water is normally not productive. If the weather is warm for several days, and the tides come gushing in during the afternoon hours, the bite on the reefs and in the coves on the south shoreline can be excellent for people who are willing to get out of the boat and wade. On the reefs, hard baits like Catch 5s and Catch 2000s work well, as do the soft plastics. In the coves, when there's lots of bait jumping, topwaters will often produce bites from the big trout."

Jimmy West - Bolivar Guide Service – 409.996.3054
Jim splits time between hunting and fishing during the first month on the calendar. "I'll be hunting ducks most weekends, fishing more during the weeks. I've also got some hog hunts to run this month. The fishing has been good lately. Once the water temperatures dropped down around 50° and a little lower, we found the fish stacked up in the deeper holes in the bayous. We caught 'em real good in there while it was still cold. Now that it's warmed back up, the fish are shallow, and they're concentrated where the water's salty in East Bay. We had another six or seven inches of rain, so the portions of the bay close to where the runoff comes in are still a bit fresh. These patterns will continue through the winter. When it's cold, the fish will move deep, and catching them will mostly require fishing out of the boat with soft plastics. During the warm spells, wading can get really good, and you can catch fish however you want to some of the time. So, it's a good month to be outdoors in and around East Bay. Fishing is really good, if you're after numbers of trout and reds."

West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays
Randall Groves - Groves Guide Service   979.849.7019 – 979.864.9323
Randall says the fishing can be quite productive, even magical, in January, but conditions and priorities dictate which strategies will be most effective. "With the frequent northwest winds, the tides are often quite low in the first full month of winter. If water temperatures are cold and tides low, the fish will retreat to deeper holes. When the tide comes back to a normal level and temperatures warm up, the fish are often stacked up in water around four or five-feet deep, with rafts of mullet. I throw Norton Sand Eels on three-eighths ounce heads most of the time in this situation, colors like red magic, chicken on a chain and trick or treat. Folks who want to target the trout of a lifetime, and who aren't bothered by fishing hard for just a few bites, should wade on the warmer days this month. My favorite lure for targeting the big trout is a Fat Boy. I like bright colors, like bubble gum pink, if the water's murky, and more natural colors like bone diamond if the water's clear. The most important keys when wading and targeting a trophy trout are being persistent and paying attention to the mullet around you."

Matagorda | Bay Guide Service
Charlie Paradoski – 713.725.2401
Charlie mentions four distinct options with good potential for folks headed to Matagorda in January. "If you're looking to catch a big trout, January is one of the top months. Most of the big trout we catch come out of East Bay, and most are caught by people who are willing to wade. Both shorelines offer good potential, the south shoreline when it's warmer and tides are higher, the north side when it's colder and tides fall out. Lower tides and colder water also elevate the potential for catching big trout drifting in East Bay. Most of the fish we're catching lately out of the boat are biting in the west end of the bay. Wading the south shoreline of West Bay is another good idea this month, if you're wanting to catch redfish. The reds stack up in the drains and holes over there when the tides fall out to low levels. And, as we speak, the water in the Colorado River is getting saltier by the minute. So, we should be able to catch plenty of trout and reds in the protected waters of the river throughout January, if we don't get too many more big rains."

Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam
www.palaciosguideservice.com – 979.240.8204
So far, the fishing in the Palacios area has been excellent since the weather cooled down. The local rivers have been producing good numbers of trout in the cooler waters.  The Colorado, Tres Palacios and Lavaca rivers have all been holding solid keepers ranging up to about twenty inches. We're catching them best on DSL lures in purple rain and magic grass rigged on three-eighths ounce heads. We're also catching excellent numbers of fifteen and sixteen-inch trout while fishing these areas, which bodes well for next year. Wading some of the area shorelines has produced decent numbers of trout in the three to five-pound class. They're biting Fat Boys in pear/chartreuse and pearl/black best. Redfish have been plentiful in the back-lakes. They're gorging on grass shrimp and small crabs. We've been throwing pearl/chartreuse Norton Bull Minnows and bone Spook Juniors to catch them. Night-fishing on the local piers continues to produce some good catches, with lots of eating-sized sand trout coming to hand, with the occasional keeper spec mixed in. At Pavilion Pier, locals are catching excellent numbers of bull reds and big black drum, soaking crabs and mullet. While water temperatures remain cool, the rivers and deep holes will produce best.

Port O’Connor | Lynn Smith
Back Bay Guide Service – 361.935.6833
Lynn expects to be targeting the biggest trout in the Port O'Connor area when he's fishing in January. "We normally catch some of our biggest trout of the year this month.  Most of the time, we focus on areas with a muddy bottom and either some dark grass beds or some scattered shell. We like to fish pretty shallow, but in places where deep water isn't far away. And, we favor the afternoon hours. Most of the big trout are more active after the sun heats up the water on the flats this time of year, so we normally don't even leave the dock until about ten or eleven o'clock in the morning, then fish through the afternoon hours. Our favorite lures this time of year are slow-sinking twitch-baits like Paul Brown Lures. We also throw Soft-Dine XLs quite a bit. With all of those, the key is to work them in at a slow pace, using the rod tip to get the heads of the lures wobbling from side to side. On the best days, the bite on topwaters is great, but those days don't come as often in the middle of winter as they do in other seasons."

Rockport | Blake Muirhead
Gator Trout Guide Service - 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894
January is a great time for Blake, as his cast and blast season reaches a crescendo. "We spend lots of days hunting ducks, then fishing our way out of the marshes this time of year. There's some good dove hunting in the afternoons, too. On the fishing front, we usually have plenty of reds and some bigger than average trout in water about thigh-deep in some of the back-lakes. Fishing is pretty good on shorelines with a sandy, grassy bottom in most of the area bays, too. We throw soft plastics a lot this time of year. I use my old standby Norton Sand Eels in dark colors with chartreuse tails, like I do all year, but I throw the pearl/chartreuse Gulp! lures more this time of year. They work better on some of the days when the bite is not really vigorous. On the other hand, I also have some really good sessions with small topwaters during January. I like the Baby Skitter Walks, in colors like gold/chartreuse and gold/blue. When the weather is warm and the bait is active, we normally have several days this month when we can catch plenty of reds and some of the bigger trout on those little plugs."

Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut
Robert Zapata – [email protected] – 361.563.1160
With so many deer hunters out in the brush country hunting big South Texas bucks before the season ends, the waters of the Upper Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay will be quiet during the first month of the year. That satisfies folks like me, who prefer chasing a monster trout over a monster buck. The water temperatures will decline after the passage of cold fronts, and the trout and reds will retreat to deeper water when this happens. When the sun warms up the shallows a day or two after a cold front passes, the bait and trout will move into shallower water. Soft plastics produce best in the middle of winter. I like to rig lures like the four-inch Bass Assassin Sea Shads in colors like plum/chartreuse, chicken on a chain and salt&pepper/chartreuse on eighth-ounce Spring-lock jigheads when targeting trout in January. We do best while wading, so wise anglers will check their waders for leaks before each outing and wear ForEverLast Ray Guards at all times. When warm weather persists, and the sun shines for three or four days straight, fishing for both black and red drum in ultra-shallow water with shrimp and Fish-bites rigged on eighth-ounce jigheads will be productive.

Corpus Christi / Joe Mendez – www.sightcast1.com – 361.877.1230
Fishing in the ULM and Baffin Bay area is simple in some ways, during January. "We usually have plenty of trout and redfish in the Intracoastal Waterway and adjacent channels this time of year. When targeting trout and reds in those places, with cold water temperatures, it's really important to pay attention to the size of the jighead rigged with the soft plastics. Depending on the strength of the currents and the winds, the size of the jighead determines how easy it is to keep the lure in close contact with the bottom. In general, a slower fall rate makes the fish more likely to strike in cold water, so using the lightest jighead which keeps the lure close to the bottom is optimal. Most of the time, the fish hang out close to the main drop-offs, or on the ledges extending out from them. We also catch lots of trout and reds this time of year casting at the deepest edges of the grass beds at the outer edges of the flats adjacent to Beacroft's and Emmord's holes. Tossing around rocks close to deep water next to the ledges on the Kenedy shoreline also works well."

P. I.N.S. Fishing Forecast | Eric Ozolins
361-877-3583 | Oceanepics.com
January and February bring the coldest water temperatures of the year. On ultra-cold days, action can seem dormant, but on sunny days, the action picks up. The Florida pompano run started strong this year. For the remainder of winter, any warm day with green water close to the beach should provide ample opportunity to catch good numbers of pompano. They bite best on shrimp or Fish-bites rigged on small 2/0-4/0 circle hooks. Bright colors attract their attention. Calm conditions can create the potential for catching monster surf specks this time of year. Slow-sinking twitch baits worked slowly produce best. Redfish of all sizes will also be present in the surf. Mullet is the best bait for them, but cut whiting also works well. The mullet must be less than 12 inches in length to be used legally, up to February 1st. January can provide a bounty of black drum. Winter sharks will also be around, including sandbar sharks, which can measure more than seven feet in length. The smaller Atlantic sharpnose and bonnetheads will be more numerous. Water temperatures at or above 60° increases the opportunity for catching sharks. Cooler water usually forces them out deeper.

Port Mansfield | Ruben Garza
Snookdudecharters.com – 832.385.1431
Getaway Adventures Lodge – 956.944.4000
During this month of rapidly changing weather patterns, the smartest anglers key on any and all signs which indicate the presence of fish, whether jumping mullet or other small forage species flipping around at the surface. Diving pelicans can also lead observant anglers to schools of fish. West Bay is a great place to try. Its middle section makes for good wading on lower tides. The area behind the cabins in The Saucer can also be productive in January. In both these places, topwaters and soft plastics produce well at times. Up north, the east side of Dubb's Island is a great area to look for trout. Water ranging from thigh to chest-deep over grass and potholes in that area holds plenty of solid keeper trout and the occasional trophy fish. A bit farther north, on the west shoreline, the stretch around the mouth of Little Bay can be quite productive, for both waders and drifters. During the middle of winter, tides usually run quite low, so some areas become inaccessible. Wise captains remember this and don't run into areas where really shallow water proves unforgiving and can leave people stranded and walking toward deeper water looking for help.

Lower Laguna Madre – South Padre – Port Isabel
Aaron Cisneros | tightlinescharters.com – 956-639-1941
With winter approaching soon, we've seen the patterns which produce the best catching change. Most of our best fishing over recent weeks has happened in the afternoon hours, stretching into the evenings and the early hours of the night, when water temperatures reach their highest levels. Our trout fishing has been steady. We're finding most of our fish in three to four feet of water, feeding over sandy potholes breaking up a grassy bottom lying closer to deeper water. KWiggler Mansfield Margarita Ball Tails rigged on eighth-ounce screw-lock jigheads have been earning plenty of strikes. We're catching even better numbers of redfish than trout. Calm, warm mornings create great conditions for finding the reds feeding in water ranging from a foot to two-feet deep, over a sandy bottom. The smaller topwaters like Spook Juniors and She Pups work well at times in these conditions, but KWiggler Ball Tails in plum/chartreuse rigged on eighth-ounce screw-lock heads have produced bites more consistently. During these colder months, the smart anglers prepare accordingly, wearing the proper types of clothing and timing their outings to coincide with the best potential for catching, usually meaning fishing some kind of tidal movement or lunar bite during the afternoon hours.