Reports & Forecasts: January 2007

Lake Calcasieu Louisiana
Jeff and Mary Poe | Big Lake Guide Service | 337.598.3268
December has been a great month for fishing. We've found lots of really eager "cookie cutter" redfish at 18-20 inches. They're hitting soft plastics real well and have been all month, lots of limit days. Trout numbers are great in the 2-4 pound range, but no really heavy fish yet, but it's stil early. Still a few birds working, but with water cooling down over the past month, the shrimp migration is about over and the fish under birds are small on average. We've been working lots of deep shell reefs for better trout throwing glow StingRay Grubs and Norton Sand Eel Jrs. in tequila gold with chartreuse tails. January is shaping up nicely but the weatherman always has the last word. If the weather remains fairly dry as it has been and we have no freezes, we're in for a really good run at big trout in late January through February. We'll be targeting shallower flats and throwing light heads on soft plastics. We also like jointed Thundersticks, Catch 2000's, Corkies and Corky Devils for serious winter trout work.

Sabine Lake | Dickie Colburn
Colburn's Sabine Connection | 409.883.0723
With little or no rain since last month's floods, the lake and both rivers are in excellent shape. Chasing the gulls in the open lake is slowly giving way to stalking the shallow flats for some magnum trout. Finger mullet are all over the north end of the lake and we have already seen two trout over eight pounds taken on topwaters this month. As the temperature continues to drop, we will do better on those same fish with Catch V's, Crazy Croakers, and Corkies. Bone and electric chicken have been excellent color choices thus far. The flats on the La. shoreline are also clearing and should hold good numbers of big trout by the end of the month. We have enjoyed a phenomenal redfish bite in the Sabine River the past two months and it shows no signs of weakening. Depending on water temperature, we are catching them anywhere from two to twenty-two feet deep on four inch Sea Shads and Hoginars. Glow-chartreuse, pumpkin-chartreuse, and bone diamond have been good colors. The stripers are now showing with the reds and can be caught on the same lures.

Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag
Silver King Adventures | silverkingadventures.com | 409.935.7242
James says, "If you ain't catchin' em right now, you ain't ever gonna catch 'em! You can catch fish just about anywhere in the Galveston Bay system lately, if you know what you are doing." Specifically, he's been fishing mostly in West Bay, drifting in three and a half to five feet of water, using 52M Mirrolures, in 808 and gold/chartruese. "I'm catching them on Mirrolures, counting them down and reeling them straight in, because it is easier on my old stiff wrists, but you can catch the fish on soft plastics too. Trinity Bay and the upper part of Galveston Bay have been hot too. As long as the runoff isn't too bad, it's the same deal up there. Went to East Bay one day and caught about 60 trout on 17M Mirrolures. Best ten would have probably weighed in the mid forty pound range." He says that the fish adjust to the cold water temperatures and after an initial shock period of a day or two, are catchable in medium depths over mud and shell. "When the water gets cold and stays there, you will be able to catch the fish every day once you locate them."

Jimmy West | Bolivar Guide Service | 409.996.3054
Jim says that the recent run of fishing in East Bay is about as good as it gets. "For about a week there at the end of November, it was just wide open. You could catch fish wading or out of the boat, it didn't matter, and you could catch them on whatever you wanted to throw, from soft plastics to topwaters. These recent fronts have kind of shut the bite down for us, but it will rebound as soon as the water warms up a little. Still fishing in the bayous and drains some, and I'll continue to do that into January. We find some scattered fish in there, both reds and trout, on most any day, whether it's cold or warm. If the tides are low and the water is cold, the fish will stack up in the holes and on ledges, but when it warms up and the tide rolls in, they scatter out on the shallower flats. So we'll be doing some wading and boat fishing this month, depending on the weather." There's a noticeably confident tone in his voice when he says, "We are about to see some good catches of big fish come out of the back of East Bay. The time is ripe."

West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays
Randall Groves | Groves Guide Service
979.849.7019 | 979.864.9323
Randall's enthusiasm for the bite lately ran through the line while I talked to him. "It's on over here right now. As soon as the water got real cold, we started catching lots of fish. Easy limits every day for a good while now." He says he's fishing fairly deep water, up to six feet deep, and fishing slow. "Best bite has been on an avocado/chartruese Norton Sand Eel Jr. rigged on a quarter ounce head. We are catching both trout and reds mixed together. As long as the weather stays cold, we should see this pattern hold up. Rain could throw us off in this area, but barring that, January should be another good month." He's been using a new snap swivel made by Norton lures called a Norton Quick.Snap. It comes in various sizes and is a rotating swivel with a snap mechanism for attaching lures to the end of the leader line. "I can switch from a topwater to a worm in seconds, or switch jighead sizes. They are strong. I've tried to break one, but I can't. It's really convenient and works like a charm."

Matagorda | Don Wood
Bay Guide Service | 979.240.4137
Regular fronts have kept Don fishing out of the boat, mostly in the river and diversion channel lately. "We've been catching lots of fish, both trout and reds. Best bite has been on a Hogie shrimptail in glow/chartreuse. We use a quarter ounce head mostly, occasionally heavier if the current gets too strong. The current needs to be outgoing to catch the fish in the river, and we've had lots of outgoing flow recently, so times have been good. There have been some big fish too. On my boat, we've had trout up to five pounds and I had a guy tell me the other day he lost a monster over thirty inches fishing the lights one night. We'll keep fishing the river and channel as long as the water is low and cold and the winds high." In January, he hopes to wade East Bay some too. "We're ready to get out the Corkies. All we need is a little higher tide and some settled weather and the big trout bite should be good in East Bay. Drifting open water scattered shell should be good over there too when the winds are light."

Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam
www.palaciosguideservice.com | 979.240.8204
Fishing has been on fire in the area with the recent drop in temperatures. Trout and redfish have both moved to traditional wintering areas and fishing has been hot. Trout have staged in areas over mud and shell in depths of four to five feet and have been eating the heck out of Bass Assassins in plum/chartreuse, pumpkinseed/chartreuse and firetiger. We've been rigging these on one-sixteenth ounce jigheads and slowrolling them along the bottom. Trout have been ranging from fifteen to twenty three inches with a few hogs over stretching well over twenty five inches. Redfish have been schooled up in the river bottoms and harbor in water depths of eight to twelve feet. Hot lures for these fish have been Berkley Gulp Mullet in watermelon and pumpkinseed rigged on quarter ounce jigheads. These fish have averaged twenty to twenty four inches. The Tres Palacios River along with the Turning Basin should continue to produce fish over the next month if the cold weather holds.

Port O'Connor | Lynn Smith | Back Bay Guide Service | 361.983.4434
Lynn reports some good fishing in area river systems lately after the cold weather. "They are whackin' em in the rivers on plastics lately." When asked for a prediction as to his plan of attack in January, he says, "I'll be wading flats with Corkies, staying as close to deep water as possible. We'll be letting the sun come up some before we start and will, of course, be fishing very slowly. Soft mud bottoms are the key. You have to concentrate on the mud and grass in the middle of winter." His favorite color Corkies, he says, are bone and silver hologram. "I throw a bone Corky mostly, unless it is really bright out, then I favor that silver holo pattern. Key with the Corkies is to work them as slow as possible if it stays cold like this. Soft plastics will be useful too. I like to stick with an eighth ounce jighead. I have good feel with it. I can work it faster if the fish are aggressive or shallow, and I can slow down if they move deeper or if they get lethargic and finicky. I just believe that I have better control of my lure when I stick with the same size jighead, rather than switching sizes."

Rockport | Blake Muirhead
Gator Trout Guide Service | 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894
Blake reports that the fishing has been good in Rockport lately. "I caught a fat thirty inch trout a few days ago," he says. "Caught it in knee deep water over mud and thick grass. Actually, we were looking for reds, but the first cast produced that monster trout. It was cool." He says he will be continuing to run cast and blast outings throughout January. He hunts early of course, and says that the limits have been filling early on most days, then turns to fishing the flats, primarily for redfish. "I'll be fishing drop-offs on the colder days and shallow muddy flats when it warms up. We'll be throwing lots of Corkies and Norton SandEels. I'll also be using the Berkley Gulp. I have had some customers lately who have really caught a lot of fish on those things. They seem to have found a scent that the redfish in particular can't resist." He mentions that he will focus much of his fishing efforts in Corpus Christi and Aransas Bays. "I'll also spend some time in Mesquite and St. Charles Bays. Basically, I'll be working my favorite mudholes over as much as I can."

Padre Island National Seashore
Billy Sandifer | Padre Island Safaris | 361.937.8446
During the month of January in the PINS surf, pompano, whiting, redfish, black drum and sheepshead should accommodate bottom fishers with peeled, fresh, dead shrimp and "Fishbites" being the baits of choice. Light tackle lure enthusiasts will be targeting speckled trout and Atlantic bluefish. 51M Mirrolures and Corkies are typically the most productive plugs for the bigger trout. Soft plastics work well too, especially natural colored ones rigged on light jigheads. Often, the best conditions for catching trout in the mid-winter surf occur after a front, when westerly winds have the surf blown down, and the water is clear. Silver spoons work well on the bluefish, and fishing for these toothy critters will require the use of a lightweight wire leader. Blacktip, bull and sandbar sharks are present in varying numbers and the potential for a mako or sand tiger exists. The second day behind incoming cold fronts normally offers the flattest surf, the most productive fishing and the most user- friendly driving conditions.

Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut
Robert Zapata | [email protected] | 361.563.1160
It has been almost winter-like fishing during the last few weeks. The cold fronts we had recently lowered the water temperatures to the low sixties and upper fifties. The water level has also dropped considerably, which is typical for this time of the year and this has caused most of the fish to move off of the shallow flats. I've been finding fish in guts and holes that have two and a half to four feet of water with sandy bottoms. On the cooler and cloudy days, the trout and red fish have been on the bottom of the sandy holes, but on warmer, sunny days, the water has warmed up enough to bring the bait up to the shallows along with the trout and redfish. This has been happening in some parts of Baffin Bay where the water has cleared up enough to have about two feet of visibility. I've been using Exude RT Slugs in colors like glitter bug, plum/chartreuse and bloody white rigged on eighth ounce jigheads on the cooler days. On warm days, I've had good success with Mirrolure Catch V suspending baits in colors like #11, #21 and #CHBL.

Corpus Christi | Joe Mendez www.sightcast1.com | 361.937.5961
"I've been concentrating on channel edges in the Upper part of the Laguna since the cold weather arrived," Joe says. "I've been throwing Exude soft plastics, of course, and rigging them on heavier jigheads than I do when I'm fishing shallower water. I like a quarter ounce head for fishing the ledges. I'll usually fish in stretches with a lot of intersecting channels or with some contour to the edge and I'll start working the drop off looking for the fish. If I don't locate them in the usual spots, I'll make short moves in the general area. Once I locate some fish, I'll make repeated drifts through the area until I stop catching. Usually, the fish will be schooled up in relatively small stretches in cold water like we have now." In January, Joe plans to do more wading as the big trout move shallow. "I'll be fishing Baffin more later this winter. The water's pretty in a lot of places right now, and if people are willing to explore a little, productive spots are not hard to find when the water clarity is good. Look for shallow, muddy grass flats next to deep water."

Port Mansfield | Bruce & Brandon Shuler
GetAway Adventures Lodge | 956.944.4000
Fishing has been more than outstanding in the Port Mansfield area in response to recent cold fronts. "We are on some pretty fish around here lately, and lots of them," Bruce says. "I had one trout over thirty one inches recently that weighed nearly eleven pounds. We've caught good numbers of seven to nine pounders to go with that monster. Our best bite has been on slow-sinking twitch baits like Corkies and Catch V's and 2000's. Easiest fishing is on the pre-front side of the cold weather. When the fronts blow in, it's best to wait a couple of days. We are targeting mostly drains next to deep water, fishing in depths of one and a half to three feet. When the warm shallow water drains onto the muddy flats, it's a real treat. We are excited about the potential for some real wallhangers in January. We'll still be using twitch baits, but won't hesitate to tie on our topwaters when the conditions get right." Offshore action can be incredible in the nearshore waters in mid-winter too, when some of the big snapper are as close to shore as they will be all year.

Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel
Janie and Fred Petty | www.fishingwithpettys.com | 956.943.2747
This winter, like last year, the tides are incredibly low and with strong north winds, the water emptying off Gas Well and South Cullen flats creates a redfish-packed environment. The temperature is hovering in the 40's and 50's early then warming as the sun rises, keeping the fish in the ten to twenty four inch potholes that hold warmth better than the open grassy areas. We're limiting on reds and throwing back or tagging oversized ones using Maulers and Cajun Thunder Corks with a 3/8 ounce jighead tied on about a twelve inch leader, with a nuclear chicken or new penny Gulp three inch shrimp. We're catching some real nice trout, just not the numbers we'll expect to see in a month or so and also picking up a few black drum. Freddy says, "Fishing is great this time of the year for a couple of reasons; it's deer season and the weather is rough, so there's no traffic, which allows us to really work over holes that are loaded with hungry fish and the Winter Texans keep us busy; they know how to fish and don't mind the cold weather."