Reports & Forecasts: March 2024

Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag
Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com - 409.935.7242
James reported decent catching in his area on trips prior to giving this report. “We’ve had some decent days lately, sometimes in places only for a day or two, while the saltwater hung around, before it all got flushed out. We had lots of fish far up the bayous, creeks and rivers before these big rains. They all have to go somewhere when this much freshwater comes rolling through. So, we’ll be fishing areas closer to the passes and channels connecting the bays to the Gulf for a while. In some years, when freshwater makes the fishing really tough in Trinity and East bays and Lower Galveston Bay, we have a really good run in the part of West Bay between the Causeway and about Carancahua Reef. If we get a salty pocket of water in that area when most of the other parts of the system are all flushed out, we can have really good fishing for a while. Lately, the bite has been best on hard baits like Catch 5s, 51M MirrOlures and similar lures. This might hold true for a while longer, since we don’t have many shrimp in the bays, but we still have plenty of mullet.”

Jimmy West | Bolivar Guide Service - 409.996.3054
Several big rain events in the weeks prior to this report have East Galveston Bay in a mess, Jim reports. “The back of the bay is fresh. Really, the whole of East Bay is tough right now. When we get this much rain in winter, it can set us up for bigger problems come spring. Best bet for people at this point is to start thinking about doing quite a bit of fishing either close to the beach or jetties, or at least in places where freshwater plays the smallest role. Areas like this include the flats around Sand Island, Pelican Island and the Texas City Dike, the basin and reefs in Upper West Bay, and of course the jetties and the surf close to them. In areas like this, it’s really important to keep track of the wind speeds and direction. Some of these areas pick up nicely on certain types of wind, while the same winds will wreck other areas. Another thing to consider when the water is fresh in lots of places is the tide cycle. In places close to the ship channel, incoming tides can move salty water into areas and stir up a temporary good bite.”

West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays
Randall Groves | Groves Guide Service
979.849.7019 - 979.864.9323
Randall ranks March right up there with February, as one of the top months in the year for targeting big trout on lures. “This is a great time of year to fish for the big trout with topwaters and slow-sinking twitchbaits. In my area, the best spots are usually close to patch reefs, or on shallow shoreline flats in bays like Christmas and Chocolate. We do catch some good ones in the back-lakes too, normally in shallow spots with patch reefs or a mix of grass, mud and shell on the bottom. We like to key on areas with visible bait present, usually jumping mullet, but if we can’t find any, we sometimes key on stretches of shorelines where we find some egrets and herons hunting, especially if terns and gulls are sitting on the water or diving in the same area. When the weather gets colder, which it sometimes does in March, the fishing is much better on soft plastics in deeper parts of the bays. In those situations, we like to throw soft plastics, normally Norton Sand Eels, in dark colors with bright tails if the water’s murky, and in more natural colors if it’s clear.”

Matagorda Bays | Capt. Glenn Ging
Glenn’s Guide Service - 979.479.1460
www.glennsguideservice.com
Winter has begun making its exit, and warmer days certainly lie ahead! March is always the kickoff to the busy fishing season in the Matagorda area, as Spring Breakers make their way down to the coast to enjoy some fresh air and sunshine. Sometimes the weather can’t decide if it wants to be winter or spring, but the fishing will heat up reliably, no matter what the temperatures and wind speeds read. I’ll be looking for good redfish action in both East and West Matagorda bays. Live shrimp and Gulp! lures dangled under Coastal Corks and tossed around concentrations of shell will produce mixed bags of redfish, drum and sheepshead. Speckled trout should be fairly easy to catch while drifting deep shell in East Matagorda Bay and throwing live shrimp under corks, or Bass Assassins when the bite is best. Wading anglers will do well working East Matagorda Bay shorelines and shell reefs, throwing soft plastics, Paul Brown Lures and topwaters. March is still a good time to catch big black drum off the jetties and in the lower parts of the river and in the ICW. Chunks of blue crab fished on bottom produce bites best.

Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam
www.palaciosguideservice.com - 979.240.8204
Fishing has been very good in our area lately, with lots of solid trout and redfish being caught on a variety of lures. The trout have mostly been in deeper areas such as the ship channel, the harbor, and in local rivers. 3/8-ounce jigheads rigged with DSL in purple reign, white ice and magic grass have been the best producers. Hopping the lures slowly off the bottom in the deep holes has accounted for most bites. Redfish have been roaming into the sloughs, drains, and bayous and have been feeding pretty heavily on crabs and grass shrimp. We have been throwing smaller lures at the redfish, like Matrix Shad in Cajun pepper and Norton Bull Minnows in pearl/chartreuse. This time of year, fishing the harbor at night is an often overlooked idea, but lots of big offshore boats leave their lights on at the docks and the trout bite can be phenomenal for people trolling lures through the lit areas. Any lure that is clear with metal flakes in it has excellent potential to work in this drill. As we start to see warmer weather this spring, I expect our fish to transition back to areas with shell and the outer parts of shoreline flats.

Port O’Connor | Lynn Smith
Back Bay Guide Service - 361.935.6833
Lynn usually sticks with his winter plan of leaving the dock late in the mornings and fishing through the afternoons, if the weather is on the cool side in March. “This is a transition month in lots of ways. The fishing can definitely still be best in the afternoons if we continue to get fronts coming through on a regular basis. But, if we start to have weeks and more of steady, strong southeast winds and warm, balmy weather, it’s often a better idea to head out early in the mornings, to take advantage of the relatively calmer conditions. I like to fish flats with shallow water fairly close to deeper guts and open basins in March, especially places with a mix of soft mud, dark grassbeds and scattered shell on the bottom. This is a great time of year to target some of the biggest trout in the state. In our area, they’re usually caught in remote backwater locations or along shorelines in the really shallow areas, where lots of people aren’t confident to fish. We catch best on slow-sinking twitch baits like Fat Boys, Soft Dines and similar lures. The topwater bite can be outstanding, too.”

Rockport | Blake Muirhead
Gator Trout Guide Service - 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894
Blake spends a lot of time working shallow shorelines in the Coastal Bend area this time of year, since the trout and reds generally stay close to the bank, or tight to the shallow parts of reefs. “We still do well in the back-lakes during March. In fact, if the schools of reds are lingering in their winter holes and the tide is up, they can be productive on a daily basis. And, we often find quite a few big trout lurking around the schools of reds in those places this time of year. But, the action definitely starts to pick up for the trout along shorelines with a mix of hard, bright sand and grass this time of year. The best action often happens within a few feet of the emergent grass on the shorelines. We do well on topwaters like Spook Juniors on some of the better days, and of course, we catch plenty of fish on the slow-sinking twitchbaits, too. The action on topwaters and twitchbaits is usually best when the air and water temperatures are on the warmer side this month, so more consistently good from Spring Break and along into April.”

Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut
Robert Zapata | [email protected] - 361.563.1160
“With the warming weather in March, the fishing really heats up in the Baffin Bay/Upper Laguna Madre area, especially for big trout, which helped make these bays famous. The trout move into the shallows pretty early this month, compared to what they’ve been doing during the colder months of winter. They’re typically hungry, looking to fatten up in anticipation of the first big burst in spawning activity. So, we spend a lot of time targeting them around potholes and on grassy edges close to shorelines, whether we’re fishing in Baffin or The Lagoon. The fishing can be great on the King Ranch Shoreline really tight to the mats of floating grass, especially if the issue with floating and suspended grass isn’t too bad. We like to throw MirrOlure Catch 5s a good percentage of time this month, and we have a long track record of catching big trout on those. If the grass becomes a problem, or if the fish just aren’t feeding as aggressively, we still do well on soft plastics like Die Dappers rigged on either eighth or sixteenth-ounce jigheads. If the water’s clear, colors like salt&pepper/chartreuse tail work best, but darker or brighter colors are best if the water’s murky.”

Corpus Christi | Joe Mendez - www.sightcast1.com - 361.877.1230
“In March, fishing in and around Baffin, in the Upper Laguna Madre, and in Corpus Christi Bay can be really easy or quite tough, depending on the conditions,” Joe says. “Some of the toughest days we typically get this time of year are post-front days with zero cloud cover and dead calm winds. In that scenario, the fish often become really finicky, seeming to sit on the bottom and inactive for periods of time. And, the glare on the water makes sight-casting impossible, unless the fish are moving and pushing wakes. We have much better luck when we have some cloud cover and winds are blowing at moderate speeds. This usually means the weather is somewhat warm, and that the winds are blowing out of the east and southeast. For the most part, we catch our reds and trout in shallow water during March, either tight to the shorelines or on top of sand bars and rock formations. We also do well way out in the middle of some of the vast shallow flats at times. If the water is clear, we’ll be searching for sight-casting opportunities with big trout and reds, usually in and around sandy potholes on grassy flats.”

P.I.N.S. Fishing Forecast | Eric Ozolins
361.877.3583 - Oceanepics.com
“Our winter season has included the usual changeable weather. The red and black drum have been good to very good on shrimp, mullet, and Fish-Bites. Pompano are still around and are best targeted on calm days with clear water. This has been a fairly productive winter for this species, with many anglers making good catches when the conditions are right. The best way to target pompano is to use smaller 2/0 or 3/0 hooks with a small piece of shrimp, tipped with Fish-Bites. While we’ve been catching them sporadically in the first gut, walking out on that bar at low tide and casting to the second bar has been more productive. We will still have our cooler water species lingering, but expect to see jack crevalle and Spanish mackerel making their first appearances soon. Lures or live bait work well for both. The winter shark fishing has remained fairly steady, and we can expect activity to increase in spring. Blacktip sharks will be numerous and are suckers for a giant whiting. We will have a few sandbar sharks around, and bulls will begin to arrive toward the end of March. Though rare, there is a chance at a mako if all the variables align.”

Port Mansfield | Ruben Garza
Snookdudecharters.com - 832.385.1431
Getaway Adventures Lodge - 956.944.4000
“I like fishing north of Port Mansfield during March, especially around the points and in the coves of the west shoreline, every day the wind allows. I encourage downloading the Windfinder App and referencing the Rincon de San Jose weather station to monitor the winds in this area. I also recommend the Gladys Hole area and surrounding flats this time of year. The east-side flats can also be very productive, holding better water clarity, when the wind will not allow hitting the west shoreline. Reliable east-side flats areas to target would be near Butcher’s and Dubb’s Islands. Trout action in all areas mentioned above has been best in depths averaging mid-thigh to waist-deep. We’ve been finding some scattered topwater action, mostly on Mansfield Knockers. The soft plastic bite has been best on KWiggler Ball Tails and Willow Tails on eighth-ounce jigheads. A range of colors have been effective; Flomingo, Mansfield Margarita, Lagunaflauge, and The Truth, depending on water clarity and cloud cover. Heading south of port, the Saucer and Pipeline areas are often productive this time of year. Areas along the ICW can also be productive when they hold lots of bait, especially behind the cabins, and along the edges of any of the many spoil banks.”

Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel
Aaron Cisneros | tightlinescharters.com - 956.639.1941
“Fishing in the Lower Laguna Madre has been very good the past several weeks. We have been finding our trout population to be healthy, despite recent cold snaps. Best locations to find the fish have been on grassy flats with plenty of bright, sandy potholes breaking up the green, in water averaging about three to four feet deep. Our go-to lure has been ZMan StreakZ in Sexy Mullet rigged on eighth-ounce Eye-Strike Trout-Eye jigheads. We work the lures at a fairly quick pace over the grass, then let them flutter down into the potholes. Redfish action has been steady on shallow flats with grassy bottoms, where depths average two feet or less. Muddy flats adjacent to deep water have also been productive for reds when the weather is colder. Locating active baitfish is always a key to finding the reds in these areas. ZMan StreakZ in Sexy Mullet on Trout-Eye jigheads are also working well for the reds, but we’re generally making slower, steadier presentations across potholes to attract their attention. March weather can be highly variable, and different winds can cause the tide to fall way out, or come in really big. This can dictate where the best fishing occurs.”