Store
Subscribe!
Reports & Forecasts: June 2008
Lake Calcasieu Louisiana
Jeff and Mary Poe | Big Lake Guide Service | 337.598.3268
June is one of my favorite months of the year. The fish should be everywhere, and the winds are likely to calm down. The first person to say, "I’m hot; we need a breeze," is going to walk the plank! The winds have been so unpredictable and strong lately that we can’t fish half the water we want to. This is the month for fishing birds. You will see seagulls diving, and the trout will be under them with an attitude. These fish are extremely hungry and can usually be caught in good numbers before the school goes down. The oyster reefs around the lake are also good this time of year. The cuts around the ship channel are worth a try in the end of spring, early summer. Even the Cameron Jetties will get hot as the month wears on. Topwater action is at its best in June. My final bit of advice is to fish away from the ship channel during strong incoming tides at places such as Long Point, Commissary Point, and the South and East Banks. During strong outgoing tides, head toward the channel at The Washout, Nine Mile Cut, and The Old Jetties.
Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag
Silver King Adventures | silverkingadventures.com | 409.935.7242
“Fishing is okay right now, nothing great. Winds seem to keep things challenging on most days, but we’re still able to catch some fish. About two thirds of the fish are out in the middle, so they’re pretty hard to get at when the winds are up. The fish on the shoreline are all really shallow. You’ve got to stay right on the bank when you are wading. Best lures for wading lately have been topwaters or Bass Assassins rigged on the flutter jig hooks. We’ve been catching some fish wading around San Luis Pass and on the shorelines in East Bay around scattered shell near marsh entrances. When the breeze dies, we are heading out to the mid-bay reefs and working slicks and birds. Out there, we’re throwing mostly Bass Assassins on regular jigheads, sometimes a little heavier ones to get distance and reach out under the flocks. The average size of the fish overall is good, with trout up to about six pounds. With all the shrimp in the bays and all the rain we had over the last year, we are set up for an awesome summer of fishing.”
Jimmy West | Bolivar Guide Service | 409.996.3054
Weather has been the determining factor in the fishing in Galveston this spring, Jim says. “It’s basically feast or famine. When the winds are strong, everybody is pinned into some small areas of fishable water and it gets tough. One tide days are also creating problems, muddying up the water. On the tougher days, I like to stick with the Stanley Wedge Tails; they attract more strikes in dirty water. But in better weather, we’re catching plenty on SheDogs and Super Spooks. There are birds working out in the middle, redfish in the marshes, and some solid trout along area shorelines and in the surf. I’ve had a couple of good days already in the surf, with trout up to 26 inches and good numbers in the 20 to 24 inch class. Also, I heard reports of the Rollover Surf producing some giant trout again, with one over 10 pounds. They also had some eights and nines during that little run. June should be a little easier, or at least more consistent. Typically, we get lighter winds by then. When light winds coincide with four tide days, we’ll catch all we want.”
West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays
Randall Groves | Groves Guide Service
979.849.7019 | 979.864.9323
“Fishing has been good despite higher than usual winds most of the time lately,” Randall reports. “Today, we’re having a pretty typical outing. We’ve got seventeen or eighteen trout, two reds and a flounder. We just left some small trout biting to find some bigger fish. Tides have been really high a lot, making it hard to fish some of our spots, but we’re consistently finding and catching plenty of fish. Got to the surf one time already and really lit ‘em up. I see lots of activity related to that in terms of incoming baitfish, jacks inshore, stuff like that. I think the surf will be steady in June. Best lures this month have been the salty chicken Sand Eel, the big one, and 51 MirrOlures in bone/chartreuse. As we see the pretty water roll in from the surf next month, the red magic Sand Eel will probably catch fi re.” He’s excited to be running his new JH Performance boat, Shamu. “It’s one of the prettiest boats I’ve ever had, and it’s really easy to get in and out of. The new 200 Etec is running great, as was the old one when I quit using it. These motors are almost like magic.”
Matagorda | Tommy Countz
Bay Guide Service | 979.863.7553 cell 281.450.4037
“We’ll be focusing mostly on West Bay in June,” Tommy predicts. “We like to start off inside the grass beds early with topwaters for the trout, using blue/orange Skitterwalks and bone Spook Jrs. As the sun gets up, we move to the outside bars and key on deeper grass, switching over to Norton Sand Eel Jrs. in voodoo and black magic. As far as locating the fish, we’ll key on slicks and bait activity. There’s an abundance of glass minnows right now. For the reds, we’ll stay shallower and use both the jr. Sand Eels and also the Texas Tackle Factory eighth ounce copper spoons, just reeling them along slow and steady.” He also mentions another couple of options that open up this month. “We’ll start looking for the tripletail in June too. There are already a few showing up, and numbers should be good by the first of the month. Also, anytime the surf is calm, we’ll head out there to look for trout. East Bay is kind of a last resort for me this month, though I do spend some time drifting scattered shell in the west end if other options aren’t producing.”
Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam
www.palaciosguideservice.com | 979.240.8204
Fishing in the Palacios area is the best I have seen in years. Loads of bait in the bays have trout, redfish and flounder chasing them all over the place. Redfish have been the most fun fish we have been targeting. Pods of fish from 25 to 32 inches have been cruising area sand/clay flats and blasting topwaters. SheDogs in chrome and black/gold/orange have been the best lures as of late. Our best trout bite has come out in the bays over deep structure around wells and wrecks. Live shrimp rigged 4 to 5 feet under a popping cork has accounted for the best eating-sized fish. Flounder ranging from 15 to 19 inches have been common on most nights with several bigger ones to 22 inches. A word of caution to folks fishing the south shoreline of West Matagorda Bay. The sharks are back. We have already lost several stringers to some big boys. Fishing in June should continue to sizzle. We will continue to hunt reds on area flats, focusing on depths of 2 feet and less, and also targeting one of my favorite species, the tripletail, at the wells and buoys.
Port O'Connor | Lynn Smith | Back Bay Guide Service | 361.983.4434
Lynn is partial to chrome topwaters in June. “We’ll be fishing those sandy pockets along main bay shorelines most of the time this month,” he says. “I like to throw topwaters a lot this time of year. We stick with the shiny ones mostly, like the chrome/blue SheDog and the Spook jrs. in the same colors. We’ll focus on areas with deep water pretty close by, but we’ll target bright spots in the grass and on top of sand bars where the water is knee deep to maybe waist deep. In some of these places, the trout and redfish will be found together. In other areas, the reds stay somewhat shallower than the trout. With all the wind we’re having this year, staying inside the bays is likely to be required on most days in June, but as soon as I can, I’ll be heading to the surf. The same topwaters will work out there, especially the SheDogs. The key when fishing this time of year is to find mullet, and I mean lots of mullet. Knocking rafted-up bait out of the way with the topwaters is a sure way to find some of the trout and reds lurking under them.”
Rockport | Blake Muirhead
Gator Trout Guide Service | 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894
“Fishing continues to be hot around Rockport recently,” reports Blake. “We are catching limits of both trout and redfish on most trips. The topwater action has been good most of the time. On the windiest days, it pays to stay on leeward shorelines. There have been schools of redfish and trout mixed on sandy bottoms with good amounts of grass. When the wind lets up some, all kinds of other options become available, including windward shorelines and open water reefs. On the reefs, topwaters will still work some of the time, but the old Norton Sand Eels in dark colors like pumpkinseed/chartreuse and purple/chartreuse will often produce better around the shell. We haven’t been able to get out to the surf much yet, but we’ll have our eye on that in June. I like to walk in at Cedar Bayou some of the time, especially if it’s a little too windy for running up and down the beach in the boat. But when the conditions are calm enough, it’s great to go out of the jetties and head north, cruising and looking for rafts of bait, working birds and slicks.”
Padre Island National Seashore
Billy Sandifer | Padre Island Safaris | 361.937.8446
June is the beginning of the highest quality surf fishing of the year, provided we get a break from the sargassum. Various shark species are present and available on casted and kayaked baits. Spanish mackerel, Atlantic bluefish, ladyfish, and whiting are usually in good supply with tarpon, king mackerel and redfish being in varying numbers. Topwater fishing for speckled trout becomes good in June and this will continue throughout the summer. Surf run trout are interesting and typically they will either hit topwaters or Bass Assassins but NOT both. If neither of these will produce, try blue/silver Rattletraps, MirrOlure Glad Shads or gold or silver spoons. For Spanish mackerel and ladyfish it's hard to beat Speck Rigs but you should replace the mono leader with small diameter solid wire or heavier mono to avoid cutoffs. Be careful driving at the water's edge; a thin layer of sand covering decaying sargassum can mire any vehicle.
Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut
Robert Zapata | [email protected] | 361.563.1160
It has been good and it’s getting better, the fish catching, that is. The strong winds have made it tough, but I’m still finding scattered areas with decent water clarity. Baffin Bay has been producing some very nice trout, up to 30 inches. The water along the Kennedy Ranch shoreline is in great shape and it has also been producing some big trout and red fish. In June, I will be fishing in 12 to 24 inches of water early in the morning before the wind starts to blow hard with MirrOlure She Dogs in colors like CRBN, CRCH and GCRCH. As mornings warm up, I will also be fishing with sixteenth ounce Bass Assassin Spring Lock jig heads rigged with Bass Assassin Slurps in colors like good penny and pearl. Bass Assassin bone diamond, plum/chartreuse and glitter bug will always be in one of my pockets for times when the fish do not want to go after topwater baits. Live bait like shrimp and croaker should be catching many fish in water that is wind blownand dirty. I will be fishing in water that is less than three feet deep.
Corpus Christi | Joe Mendez | www.sightcast1.com | 361.937.5961
Joe likes the month of June for fishing shallow and sightcasting. “In June, the winds typically die down somewhat, which helps with what I’m doing. I’ve been taking customers who use the flyrods quite a bit lately, and it’s easier to function when winds aren’t howling. Clear, shallow water and bright skies are also a help to fly fishermen, because we are able to see the fish we’re trying to catch and present the flies to them more effectively. Right now, the clear water is in the northern reaches of my area, starting around the bridge and spreading into Corpus Christi Bay. I’ll be checking the Land Cut and Nine Mile Hole next month too. Some years, the water clears up in there pretty good in summer. 2006 was a banner year for redfish in the Hole. You’d just cruise along until you saw the big schools making a wake, then troll into them and catch all you wanted. Last year was a totally different story; it was much tougher to find and catch the fish in there. But it’s always worth checking once the warm months arrive.”
Port Mansfield | Bruce & Brandon Shuler
GetAway Adventures Lodge | 956.944.4000
In June, the spring winds normally stop howling with such intensity in the Port Mansfield area. “The highlight of June will be that the winds give us a little break. When they do, we try to get offshore as often as we can. We’ll be chasing tarpon and bull reds up and down the beach. It’s also a great time to target the sow snapper a little deeper. It sets up to be a banner year for the blue waters if we can get out there enough. As far as fishing in the bays, the trout pattern is pretty simple. We target the outside edges of the grass beds in three and a half to four feet of water mostly. On days when winds allow, we’ll throw topwaters just about all day, light colored ones on bright days and dark ones on the cloudier days. When the winds muddy things up a little more, we turn to the Cajun Thunder corks and suspend the Berkley Gulps under them. It’s often almost too easy to catch ‘em on those things. Redfish action in shallower waters early in the morning should be a good bet too. They’ll be on the bright sand next to shore at daybreak.”
Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel
Janie and Fred Petty | www.fishingwithpettys.com | 956.943.2747
At first light, we’re throwing Maulers trailing quarter ounce jigheads on 15 inch, 20 pound test leaders with a Gulp shrimp in glow or pearl, catching as many shallow reds as possible before the outgoing tide slows or boat traffic kills the bite. As soon as we limit on reds, we’re heading to the dropoff to finish our trout limit with the same set ups. So it’s limit, limit; you can’t ask for better fishing than that! At the time of this writing, we’re still experiencing very high winds more days than not. Usually, the wind picks up out of the southeast around noon, but it’s so windy lately that it can’t really blow much harder and leave you with any kind of decent visibility. Freddy says, “The fish are much more active when the water is full of oxygen from the wind. Even the small reds are fighting like crazy. On calm days, it’s tough to get near a redfish in shallow, clear water, much less cast far enough to entice a bite.” The problem is deeper water can get really rough and muddy; however, we’re hoping the wind will be with us far into the summer months.
Jeff and Mary Poe | Big Lake Guide Service | 337.598.3268
June is one of my favorite months of the year. The fish should be everywhere, and the winds are likely to calm down. The first person to say, "I’m hot; we need a breeze," is going to walk the plank! The winds have been so unpredictable and strong lately that we can’t fish half the water we want to. This is the month for fishing birds. You will see seagulls diving, and the trout will be under them with an attitude. These fish are extremely hungry and can usually be caught in good numbers before the school goes down. The oyster reefs around the lake are also good this time of year. The cuts around the ship channel are worth a try in the end of spring, early summer. Even the Cameron Jetties will get hot as the month wears on. Topwater action is at its best in June. My final bit of advice is to fish away from the ship channel during strong incoming tides at places such as Long Point, Commissary Point, and the South and East Banks. During strong outgoing tides, head toward the channel at The Washout, Nine Mile Cut, and The Old Jetties.
Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag
Silver King Adventures | silverkingadventures.com | 409.935.7242
“Fishing is okay right now, nothing great. Winds seem to keep things challenging on most days, but we’re still able to catch some fish. About two thirds of the fish are out in the middle, so they’re pretty hard to get at when the winds are up. The fish on the shoreline are all really shallow. You’ve got to stay right on the bank when you are wading. Best lures for wading lately have been topwaters or Bass Assassins rigged on the flutter jig hooks. We’ve been catching some fish wading around San Luis Pass and on the shorelines in East Bay around scattered shell near marsh entrances. When the breeze dies, we are heading out to the mid-bay reefs and working slicks and birds. Out there, we’re throwing mostly Bass Assassins on regular jigheads, sometimes a little heavier ones to get distance and reach out under the flocks. The average size of the fish overall is good, with trout up to about six pounds. With all the shrimp in the bays and all the rain we had over the last year, we are set up for an awesome summer of fishing.”
Jimmy West | Bolivar Guide Service | 409.996.3054
Weather has been the determining factor in the fishing in Galveston this spring, Jim says. “It’s basically feast or famine. When the winds are strong, everybody is pinned into some small areas of fishable water and it gets tough. One tide days are also creating problems, muddying up the water. On the tougher days, I like to stick with the Stanley Wedge Tails; they attract more strikes in dirty water. But in better weather, we’re catching plenty on SheDogs and Super Spooks. There are birds working out in the middle, redfish in the marshes, and some solid trout along area shorelines and in the surf. I’ve had a couple of good days already in the surf, with trout up to 26 inches and good numbers in the 20 to 24 inch class. Also, I heard reports of the Rollover Surf producing some giant trout again, with one over 10 pounds. They also had some eights and nines during that little run. June should be a little easier, or at least more consistent. Typically, we get lighter winds by then. When light winds coincide with four tide days, we’ll catch all we want.”
West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays
Randall Groves | Groves Guide Service
979.849.7019 | 979.864.9323
“Fishing has been good despite higher than usual winds most of the time lately,” Randall reports. “Today, we’re having a pretty typical outing. We’ve got seventeen or eighteen trout, two reds and a flounder. We just left some small trout biting to find some bigger fish. Tides have been really high a lot, making it hard to fish some of our spots, but we’re consistently finding and catching plenty of fish. Got to the surf one time already and really lit ‘em up. I see lots of activity related to that in terms of incoming baitfish, jacks inshore, stuff like that. I think the surf will be steady in June. Best lures this month have been the salty chicken Sand Eel, the big one, and 51 MirrOlures in bone/chartreuse. As we see the pretty water roll in from the surf next month, the red magic Sand Eel will probably catch fi re.” He’s excited to be running his new JH Performance boat, Shamu. “It’s one of the prettiest boats I’ve ever had, and it’s really easy to get in and out of. The new 200 Etec is running great, as was the old one when I quit using it. These motors are almost like magic.”
Matagorda | Tommy Countz
Bay Guide Service | 979.863.7553 cell 281.450.4037
“We’ll be focusing mostly on West Bay in June,” Tommy predicts. “We like to start off inside the grass beds early with topwaters for the trout, using blue/orange Skitterwalks and bone Spook Jrs. As the sun gets up, we move to the outside bars and key on deeper grass, switching over to Norton Sand Eel Jrs. in voodoo and black magic. As far as locating the fish, we’ll key on slicks and bait activity. There’s an abundance of glass minnows right now. For the reds, we’ll stay shallower and use both the jr. Sand Eels and also the Texas Tackle Factory eighth ounce copper spoons, just reeling them along slow and steady.” He also mentions another couple of options that open up this month. “We’ll start looking for the tripletail in June too. There are already a few showing up, and numbers should be good by the first of the month. Also, anytime the surf is calm, we’ll head out there to look for trout. East Bay is kind of a last resort for me this month, though I do spend some time drifting scattered shell in the west end if other options aren’t producing.”
Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam
www.palaciosguideservice.com | 979.240.8204
Fishing in the Palacios area is the best I have seen in years. Loads of bait in the bays have trout, redfish and flounder chasing them all over the place. Redfish have been the most fun fish we have been targeting. Pods of fish from 25 to 32 inches have been cruising area sand/clay flats and blasting topwaters. SheDogs in chrome and black/gold/orange have been the best lures as of late. Our best trout bite has come out in the bays over deep structure around wells and wrecks. Live shrimp rigged 4 to 5 feet under a popping cork has accounted for the best eating-sized fish. Flounder ranging from 15 to 19 inches have been common on most nights with several bigger ones to 22 inches. A word of caution to folks fishing the south shoreline of West Matagorda Bay. The sharks are back. We have already lost several stringers to some big boys. Fishing in June should continue to sizzle. We will continue to hunt reds on area flats, focusing on depths of 2 feet and less, and also targeting one of my favorite species, the tripletail, at the wells and buoys.
Port O'Connor | Lynn Smith | Back Bay Guide Service | 361.983.4434
Lynn is partial to chrome topwaters in June. “We’ll be fishing those sandy pockets along main bay shorelines most of the time this month,” he says. “I like to throw topwaters a lot this time of year. We stick with the shiny ones mostly, like the chrome/blue SheDog and the Spook jrs. in the same colors. We’ll focus on areas with deep water pretty close by, but we’ll target bright spots in the grass and on top of sand bars where the water is knee deep to maybe waist deep. In some of these places, the trout and redfish will be found together. In other areas, the reds stay somewhat shallower than the trout. With all the wind we’re having this year, staying inside the bays is likely to be required on most days in June, but as soon as I can, I’ll be heading to the surf. The same topwaters will work out there, especially the SheDogs. The key when fishing this time of year is to find mullet, and I mean lots of mullet. Knocking rafted-up bait out of the way with the topwaters is a sure way to find some of the trout and reds lurking under them.”
Rockport | Blake Muirhead
Gator Trout Guide Service | 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894
“Fishing continues to be hot around Rockport recently,” reports Blake. “We are catching limits of both trout and redfish on most trips. The topwater action has been good most of the time. On the windiest days, it pays to stay on leeward shorelines. There have been schools of redfish and trout mixed on sandy bottoms with good amounts of grass. When the wind lets up some, all kinds of other options become available, including windward shorelines and open water reefs. On the reefs, topwaters will still work some of the time, but the old Norton Sand Eels in dark colors like pumpkinseed/chartreuse and purple/chartreuse will often produce better around the shell. We haven’t been able to get out to the surf much yet, but we’ll have our eye on that in June. I like to walk in at Cedar Bayou some of the time, especially if it’s a little too windy for running up and down the beach in the boat. But when the conditions are calm enough, it’s great to go out of the jetties and head north, cruising and looking for rafts of bait, working birds and slicks.”
Padre Island National Seashore
Billy Sandifer | Padre Island Safaris | 361.937.8446
June is the beginning of the highest quality surf fishing of the year, provided we get a break from the sargassum. Various shark species are present and available on casted and kayaked baits. Spanish mackerel, Atlantic bluefish, ladyfish, and whiting are usually in good supply with tarpon, king mackerel and redfish being in varying numbers. Topwater fishing for speckled trout becomes good in June and this will continue throughout the summer. Surf run trout are interesting and typically they will either hit topwaters or Bass Assassins but NOT both. If neither of these will produce, try blue/silver Rattletraps, MirrOlure Glad Shads or gold or silver spoons. For Spanish mackerel and ladyfish it's hard to beat Speck Rigs but you should replace the mono leader with small diameter solid wire or heavier mono to avoid cutoffs. Be careful driving at the water's edge; a thin layer of sand covering decaying sargassum can mire any vehicle.
Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut
Robert Zapata | [email protected] | 361.563.1160
It has been good and it’s getting better, the fish catching, that is. The strong winds have made it tough, but I’m still finding scattered areas with decent water clarity. Baffin Bay has been producing some very nice trout, up to 30 inches. The water along the Kennedy Ranch shoreline is in great shape and it has also been producing some big trout and red fish. In June, I will be fishing in 12 to 24 inches of water early in the morning before the wind starts to blow hard with MirrOlure She Dogs in colors like CRBN, CRCH and GCRCH. As mornings warm up, I will also be fishing with sixteenth ounce Bass Assassin Spring Lock jig heads rigged with Bass Assassin Slurps in colors like good penny and pearl. Bass Assassin bone diamond, plum/chartreuse and glitter bug will always be in one of my pockets for times when the fish do not want to go after topwater baits. Live bait like shrimp and croaker should be catching many fish in water that is wind blownand dirty. I will be fishing in water that is less than three feet deep.
Corpus Christi | Joe Mendez | www.sightcast1.com | 361.937.5961
Joe likes the month of June for fishing shallow and sightcasting. “In June, the winds typically die down somewhat, which helps with what I’m doing. I’ve been taking customers who use the flyrods quite a bit lately, and it’s easier to function when winds aren’t howling. Clear, shallow water and bright skies are also a help to fly fishermen, because we are able to see the fish we’re trying to catch and present the flies to them more effectively. Right now, the clear water is in the northern reaches of my area, starting around the bridge and spreading into Corpus Christi Bay. I’ll be checking the Land Cut and Nine Mile Hole next month too. Some years, the water clears up in there pretty good in summer. 2006 was a banner year for redfish in the Hole. You’d just cruise along until you saw the big schools making a wake, then troll into them and catch all you wanted. Last year was a totally different story; it was much tougher to find and catch the fish in there. But it’s always worth checking once the warm months arrive.”
Port Mansfield | Bruce & Brandon Shuler
GetAway Adventures Lodge | 956.944.4000
In June, the spring winds normally stop howling with such intensity in the Port Mansfield area. “The highlight of June will be that the winds give us a little break. When they do, we try to get offshore as often as we can. We’ll be chasing tarpon and bull reds up and down the beach. It’s also a great time to target the sow snapper a little deeper. It sets up to be a banner year for the blue waters if we can get out there enough. As far as fishing in the bays, the trout pattern is pretty simple. We target the outside edges of the grass beds in three and a half to four feet of water mostly. On days when winds allow, we’ll throw topwaters just about all day, light colored ones on bright days and dark ones on the cloudier days. When the winds muddy things up a little more, we turn to the Cajun Thunder corks and suspend the Berkley Gulps under them. It’s often almost too easy to catch ‘em on those things. Redfish action in shallower waters early in the morning should be a good bet too. They’ll be on the bright sand next to shore at daybreak.”
Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel
Janie and Fred Petty | www.fishingwithpettys.com | 956.943.2747
At first light, we’re throwing Maulers trailing quarter ounce jigheads on 15 inch, 20 pound test leaders with a Gulp shrimp in glow or pearl, catching as many shallow reds as possible before the outgoing tide slows or boat traffic kills the bite. As soon as we limit on reds, we’re heading to the dropoff to finish our trout limit with the same set ups. So it’s limit, limit; you can’t ask for better fishing than that! At the time of this writing, we’re still experiencing very high winds more days than not. Usually, the wind picks up out of the southeast around noon, but it’s so windy lately that it can’t really blow much harder and leave you with any kind of decent visibility. Freddy says, “The fish are much more active when the water is full of oxygen from the wind. Even the small reds are fighting like crazy. On calm days, it’s tough to get near a redfish in shallow, clear water, much less cast far enough to entice a bite.” The problem is deeper water can get really rough and muddy; however, we’re hoping the wind will be with us far into the summer months.