Reports & Forecasts: January 2024

Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag
Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com - 409.935.7242
James finds the fishing in January productive when the weather’s right, sometimes by fishing out of the boat, occasionally by wading. “The fishing can be great in deeper water this time of year. West Bay can be really good in a winter when wet weather sends lots of water down the rivers and runs the fish toward the Gulf. In some years, we have really good luck fishing the muddy streaks in the clear water out around Green’s Cut. When that’s good, the wading can also be good around the reefs and spoil banks between there and the Galveston Causeway, especially late in the afternoons, when the tide is coming in hard. Fishing can also be good in some of the deeper areas in Lower Galveston Bay, between the Texas City Dike and the Causeway. Wading is almost always best on the second or third warm day after a front. If the tide comes back in good and fills the coves and lakes with water, the trout and reds will follow the bait into the shallows and we’ll catch ‘em good until the next front rolls through. On those days, MirrOlures and topwaters like She Dogs and She Pups often work best.”

Jimmy West | Bolivar Guide Service - 409.996.3054
Jim was experiencing good fishing in the days leading up to giving this report. “We’ve been catchin’ ‘em pretty good since the weather got cooler. The fish have been in the bayous and out in the middle, in deeper water, so we’re fishing out of the boat. The bite has been good, if you know how to work your soft plastics right, to keep ‘em down where the fish are. I hear there are some good trout on the shorelines when the tide is high and we get some east wind blowing. Since the water’s still salty in both East and Trinity bays, the fish are in the upper parts of the bays, and the wading has great potential in situations like that. I’ll be starting up the hunting seasons again in the next few days. I have four fields right now that are full of doves. Since the cold weather hasn’t been freezing cold, they’re staying put, despite the rain. Plenty of food for ‘em right now. The duck hunting was decent in the first half, too, and I expect it to be as good or better once January gets here. It’s a great time to be an outfitter and guide.”

West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays
Randall Groves | Groves Guide Service
979.849.7019 - 979.864.9323
When fishing in the area around San Luis Pass in January, it pays to keep an eye on the weather, mostly meaning the temperatures, since cold water makes the fish stay in deeper water more of the time. “We like to fish out of the boat when it’s cold this time of year, targeting the fish in some of the deeper holes and basins. The best bite is on a slow retrieve with a soft plastic, keeping the lure in contact with the bottom at least some of the time. We like to throw Norton Sand Eel Juniors in colors like tequila gold and cayenne gold, rigged on 3/8 ounce Norton Screw-Lock jigheads. The colder the weather gets, the more important it is to keep the lure right near the bottom, moving at a snail’s pace. When the weather warms up, the wading can be good on some of the shorelines and in the back-lakes and coves. Since we don’t have many shrimp in the bays, the trout and reds feed almost exclusively on small fish, sometimes crabs. Slow-sinking twitch baits and topwaters work best when we’re wading. Drifting in depths around four feet can be good when it’s warm, too.”

Matagorda Bays | Capt. Glenn Ging
Glenn’s Guide Service - 979.479.1460
www.glennsguideservice.com
“January brings about the urge to target trophy trout in many coastal anglers. The hunt will be on in East Matagorda Bay, with wading shell reefs and mixed mud and shell being the best bets. Some big fish will be caught by anglers drifting deeper areas with shell on the bottom, too. Lures which look like mullet, pinfish, shad and baby trout are the best options for trophy trout hunters, with Paul Brown Fat Boys being the most popular lures to throw. Soft-Dines, Double Ds, topwaters and various kinds of soft plastics also bring in their share of picture-worthy trout. In January, we have really good fishing in the Colorado River, as long as we don’t get too much rain and freshwater runoff. Drifting the river with soft plastics on heavier jigheads like 3/8 and 1/4 ounce produces best. In the river, I like to throw Bass Assassin 4” Sea Shads and Curly Shads more often than not. Lipless crankbaits like Rat-L-Traps can be effective as well, especially on warmer days. Redfish action should remain strong in drains and deep guts all winter. Cut mullet and shrimp are good options, but they’ll eat soft plastics and Gulp! baits too.”

Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam
www.palaciosguideservice.com - 979.240.8204
“We’re having one of our best fall fishing sprees in a long time, catching trout and redfish just about everywhere. Trout fishing has been excellent on colder days in the deep holes of local rivers and harbors throwing 3/8 ounce heads rigged with Down South Lures in White Ice and Magic Grass. Slow-rolling the lures on the bottom of these deep holes has worked best, and we’ve caught some really solid fish. On the warmer days, we’ve been catching trout over shell and mud in three to four feet of water closer to deeper water, throwing Paul Brown Fat Boys in pearl/pink, with some of the fish pushing 25 inches. Redfish have been thick in the rivers on the ledges and have been smashing Norton Bull Minnows in pearl/chartreuse rigged on quarter-ounce heads. On the calm days, we’ve been fortunate enough to troll the flats around the mouths of the rivers and sight-cast at some giants, which is about as good as it gets. Night fishing has been awesome as well; all three piers in town have been producing quality fish, with the best lure being bone Soft-Dines thrown out to dark areas between the lights and worked into the light.”

Port O’Connor | Lynn Smith
Back Bay Guide Service - 361.935.6833
During January, Lynn likes to sleep in and take advantage of the warming rays of the sun when he’s running charters targeting trout and reds in the Port O’Connor area. “We don’t usually leave the dock early this time of year. I’d rather wait until late in the morning to head out, then fish my way through the warmth of the afternoon. One advantage this provides is letting us get a feel for what’s going on when we’re heading out to fish. We can usually tell if the bait’s really active, or if it’s not, because the daylight allows us to see everything. If we see a flat close to deep water which we’ve had success on in the past, and it’s covered up with jumping bait, we sometimes pull in to check it out. That’s the key most of the time during the coldest months, fishing shallow flats with mud and grass and shell on the bottom, with deeper water nearby. We do best throwing soft plastics on the toughest days, but we’re always hoping we can get some action on the slow-sinking twitchbaits, which produce some of the biggest trout of the year for us annually.”

Rockport | Blake Muirhead
Gator Trout Guide Service - 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894
Blake will still be taking advantage of the numerous options available to sporting folks in the Coastal Bend in January. “Big duck season will be going on, and we’ll still be hunting doves at least in the first part of the month. The first half of duck season was good. We had lots of ducks. Not quite as many wigeon as we sometimes have, but plenty of others. And, we’ve had some more cold fronts since the break came, so we’ll likely have some fast shooting in January, at least on some days. The fishing has been really good too. We’ve caught some nice trout lately on topwaters, especially the brighter Spook Juniors with some chrome on ‘em. Typically, we start out our day hunting in the back-lakes, somewhere between Port A and Mesquite Bay. When the shooting stops, we like to chase reds in the marsh for a while, then work our way out to wade and target some trout on the main-bay shorelines, or some of the reefs in shallow water. The key to catching the trout is usually to fish in areas with some visible bait where there’s a soft bottom and some scattered shell.”

Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut
Robert Zapata | [email protected] - 361.563.1160
“With so many people ‘distracted’ by duck and deer hunting, the waters of the Upper Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay sometimes seem deserted during January. The fishing can be really hot while it’s quiet and the weather’s cold, though. The trout and redfish will spend some of their time in somewhat deeper water when it’s cold, often moving out of water shallow enough for wading during the night and then coming back into the shallows during the daylight hours. I like to start off throwing lures like Die Dappers in natural looking colors rigged on eighth-ounce heads when I’m wading the deeper water early in the day, then switch over to a sixteenth-ounce head when the water warms up some and we move shallower. If I’m catching fish steadily, and we don’t have too much suspended or floating grass, I’ll try my MirrOlure Catch 5s. Every winter, we catch some really big trout on those, especially when we see lots of mullet and other small fish moving around close to the surface or jumping in the area. If we have a day with bright sunshine and moderate winds, we’ll often finish our day with sight-casting drum in the shallowest parts of the lagoon.”

Corpus Christi | Joe Mendez - www.sightcast1.com - 361.877.1230
In January, the coldest month of the year, the fishing is usually good when the weather’s nice, but knowing exactly how and where to fish makes a huge difference in catching or not catching. “On the warmer days, when winds die down, the fishing can be great in both the Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay this time of year. After really cold weather, the deeper parts of Baffin Bay near the north shoreline, in places around the Badlands and Cathead hold plenty of trout and reds. While it’s still really cold, and water temps hover in the low-50s, the fishing is usually best out of the boat, in water a bit too deep to wade. Once it warms up a bit more, and water temps climb into the mid-50s and above, the bite in the shallows gets much better. Most of the time, soft plastics rigged on light jigheads work best this time of year. The area around the northern entrance to the Land Cut is also productive after cold snaps, places like Summer House and The Gutters. In the Laguna Madre, the fishing is normally best late in the afternoons this time of year, unless it’s cloudy and warm.”

P.I.N.S. Fishing Forecast | Eric Ozolins
361.877.3583 - Oceanepics.com
“On cold days, the surf may seem dormant, but on sunny, warmer days, the action can be steady. The Florida pompano run started early this year. For the rest of winter, any warm day with green water should produce numbers of pompano. Peeled shrimp/Fish-bites combos on small 3/0 class hooks usually get ‘em. For surf trout, the calmer days with good water may produce some monsters for waders working slow-sinking twitchbaits or 52M MirrOlures at a slow pace. Redfish of all sizes will be in the surf. Mullet is the best bait for them this time of year, but cut whiting also works well. Remember, only mullet less than 12 inches can be used for bait until February 1st. This time of year, the surf can also hold plenty of black drum, which often bite when we’re targeting pompano or whiting with shrimp. Sandbars are typically the largest sharks we encounter this time of year, with some just over 7’ long. We also catch smaller Atlantic sharpnose and bonnetheads. Water temps at or above 60 degrees produce best for sharks. Fronts that drop water temperatures into the 50s will push the sharks and many other fish away from the beach.”

Port Mansfield | Ruben Garza
Snookdudecharters.com - 832.385.1431
Getaway Adventures Lodge - 956.944.4000
“With strong fronts passing and north winds blowing, water levels are usually lower than normal in the LLM this time of year, creating danger for people who are unaware of navigational hazards or who don’t pay attention to the tide levels. South of town, West Bay is a great place to start, as are the submerged ICW spoils north of Bennie’s Island. On the east side of the ICW near Bennie’s, some of the deeper potholes produce well, as does the Saucer area. On the light wind days, the west shoreline from the Oak Mottes south always has potential, especially for people looking to catch big trout. One of the keys to catching the big trout in cold water is to do everything slowly, including the pace of the wading. On some days, we won’t move more than 200 yards during the entire day when on good structure. Seems like many folks can’t resist the urge to cover lots of water, but that’s often counterproductive during January. The parts of Gladys Hole holding about two and a half or three feet of water can produce outstanding catches of both trout and reds, especially after strong fronts blow the water out of the shallows.”

Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel
Aaron Cisneros | tightlinescharters.com - 956.639.1941
The recent cold snaps have driven water temperatures and tide levels down and kicked off the reliable patterns we find productive this time of year. We’ve been having success on most every trip, catching plenty of trout in some of the deeper potholes with a bright, sandy, gravelly bottom. Our best bite lately has been on 4-inch ZMan StreakZ in the sexy mullet color. We’re working the lures really slow, rigging them on quarter-ounce Eye-Strike Trout Eye jigheads. Best retrieve has been allowing the lures to sink to the bottom and stay within no more than a foot or so of it the entire way in. The redfish bite has also been great most of the time. We’ve found most of our fish in the deeper drains in the mornings, when the tide’s going out. But after the tide falls all the way out and starts to come back in, they’re biting best over a sandy bottom on flats covered by about a foot to three feet of water. Finding concentrations of active, jumping mullet is a key to finding the reds then. Best lure for them is again the StreakZ, but we’re catching the reds better on fast, erratic retrieves.