Reports & Forecasts: June 2020

Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag
Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com – 409.935.7242
James says he had good fishing on trips made in the days leading up to providing this report. “We have been mostly wading sand bars on recent trips. We have plenty of grass growing in the local bays these days, and once we get into the warm months, the trout generally pull up on the grass beds and we catch 'em pretty easy for a while. We're doing best with the old school rat-tailed Bass Assassins lately, rigging them on pretty light jigheads, like eighth or sixteenth-ounce to work them over the grass. Also having some luck on one of my favorite hot weather topwaters, the pink/silver ShePup. A good many of the trout we're catching are weighing between three and five pounds, so that's a bonus. We're also fishing out in the middle some, around birds and slicks. That drill works best when winds are lighter. And the slick-hopping part of that pattern should improve as the really hot weather settles in and more fish move out into the deeper water. Overall, it's been much better than last year, with fewer of the really slow days and a much better average size of the trout.”

Jimmy West - Bolivar Guide Service – 409.996.3054
Jim had been having a lot of productive trips prior to giving this report, and he'd been wading on most days. “The water out in the middle of East Bay is holding fish, but the mix of fresh and saltwater make it kinda muddy. If there's much wind at all, the fishing is better on protected shorelines. We're catching plenty of trout most every day we go. They're biting topwaters for some part of the day, but soft plastics are by far producing the most fish. This is typical when the weather gets really warm. We had a great bite during most of the spring on slow-sinking twitch baits, and you can still catch on 'em, but the fish have gotten smaller, and most of the time, it feels like you're just working harder to catch the same fish you can catch on tails. The water in Trinity and the upper parts of Galveston Bay are fresh right now, so people are concentrated in Lower Galveston Bay and the pockets of East Bay where the water's saltier. If we stop getting the big rains, more areas will open up. And, the fishing out in the middle will get better too.”

West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays
Randall Groves - Groves Guide Service  979.849.7019 – 979.864.9323
In June, the arrival of several types of forage species from offshore waters causes the trout and redfish in the San Luis Pass area to change their feeding habits temporarily, Randall says. “When the shad hatch is over and the pelagic species like white shrimp and ribbon fish roll in, we change our tactics and lure choices a little bit. In order to mimic the big shrimp, I like to throw full-sized Norton Sand Eels in light, natural colors like bone diamond. We usually rig these on three-eighths ounce heads, to keep them down in the water column. Best lure I've found for throwing when lots of ribbonfish are present is a pearl Skitterwalk. The slender profile and erratic action of it seems to trick the trout and reds better than some of the more cigar-shaped topwaters. It's also works well with fast retrieves.  And of course, June is the month when we really start watching the surf on a daily basis. Some of the best days of the year for fishing along the beachfront happen during the first few calm spells this month, when the water gets green to the beach.”

Matagorda | Bay Guide Service
Tommy Countz- 979.863.7553 cell 281.450.4037
Tommy describes several options that have tremendous potential in the Matagorda area during June. “We spend quite a bit of time wading down in West Bay this time of year. We like to start off early in the mornings throwing small topwaters right up against the bank, around grass beds. We usually catch plenty of keeper trout and some reds working that drill. As the sun climbs in the sky, we usually back away from the bank and fish around the outer bars for a while. We might stay with the topwaters or switch to soft plastics, depending on the bite. Often, we return to the grass beds tight to the shore and throw dark paddletails on sixteenth-ounce jigheads around them mid-day. Drifting open areas of East Bay and bumping dark soft plastics on quarter-ounce heads off the mud and shell also produces good catches this time of year. The fishing in the Diversion Channel and the Colorado River can be good too, if we don't get much rain. And, the surf is bound to pay off sometime soon. We usually catch a few big trout on topwaters out there in June.”

Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam
www.palaciosguideservice.com – 979.240.8204
Fishing has been off the charts good in the Palacios area lately. We've had a consistent bite for several weeks now. Trout are showing up best over shell in three to four feet of water. They're taking DSL in chicken of the sea, rigged on eighth-ounce heads. There are also plenty of trout to be caught around deep shell pads out in West Matagorda on freel-lined live shrimp.  The main key to the bite is moving water. On some days, the early morning bite is great; on other days, we're catching better in the afternoon. Whenever the tide is coming in, the fish are biting best. Redfish have been easy to find, since the high spring tides sent them well back into the marshes and bayous, where they're hanging in ditches close to points. Flounder gigging has been on fire lately too, as most of the fish have moved back into the bays. We're finding limits in just a couple hours on most trips. June should be an awesome month if things stay the same as they have been. The surf will come into play more often, as will the deeper reefs. We should have working birds and popping slicks too.

Port O’Connor | Lynn Smith
Back Bay Guide Service – 361.983.4434
Lynn mentions a variety of potentially productive options for June fishing in the Port O'Connor area. “We still fish the back lakes some this time of year. They can be full of reds at times. When we're targeting trout, we tend to favor areas with a firmer bottom. We fish the sand bars and shorelines close to the pass quite a bit. The bite in that area is especially good in the mornings, when the tide is coming in. We stay on flats with lots of grass lying close to drop offs into deeper water. We look for big rafts of mullet and also cast around the bright sandy pockets on the bottom. Farther from the pass, some of the shorelines with deeper guts close to the bank produce well too. We throw a lot of topwaters this time of year, especially right after daybreak and for the first couple of hours of the mornings. Most of the time, when the blow ups stop coming, soft plastics on light jigheads allow us to keep catching. On some of the calmer days, slow-sinking twitch baits work well too. By the middle of the month, we should start seeing weather patterns that open up the surf.”

Rockport | Blake Muirhead
Gator Trout Guide Service - 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894
Blake recently got a new boat, and he's using it to fish the back lakes around the Rockport area a little more than he has in the past, during this time of year. “I got a Haynie Super Cat. It allows me to access the back lakes a bit better than my old boat did. So, we're targeting reds in there quite a bit lately. We've had some good days throwing topwaters at 'em. Trout fishing has also been pretty good. We're fishing several bays, from Aransas up to San Antonio, wading on sandy, grassy shorelines mostly. The topwater bite has been good sometimes, especially on Baby Skitterwalks. We're also catching lots of fish on plum Bass Assassins. This is typical for hot weather fishing. The fish seem to like small topwaters a good deal of the time, but soft plastics in dark colors work more consistently. As we always do this time of year, we're hoping to get into the surf on a regular basis as the weather continues to warm up. It's been too windy on most days recently, but the wind patterns often change in June and give us a chance to go after the fish out at the beach.”

Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut
Robert Zapata – [email protected] – 361.563.1160
In a normal year, the strong winds of spring start to die down more often once the month of June rolls around. We're hoping that will be the case this year. Because the weather gets more consistent in June, the catching usually does too. All sorts of artificial and natural live baits will work to catch trout and redfish during this month. Recently, I've been catching very good numbers of speckled trout and redfish in depths of two feet or less. I'll be looking for good concentrations of mullet swirling or jumping in areas with sandy potholes breaking up the grass beds, or along deep edges of the grass. I've been catching well on four-inch Bass Assassin Sea Shads in colors like Calcasieu brew, reuse goose and chicken on a chain. I'm rigging them on eighth-ounce Assassin Spring-lock jigheads. The Assassin Elite Shiners in colors like meat hook and Houdini have produced well too. My old tried and true, the Die Dappers in trickster, salt & pepper/chartreuse and chicken on a chain rigged on sixteenth-ounce heads rarely fail me. In places with worse water clarity, we're switching to live shrimp under popping corks to catch more fish.

Corpus Christi / Joe Mendez—www.sightcast1.com—361.877.1230
Fishing in Baffin Bay, the Upper Laguna Madre and in Corpus Christi Bay can all be excellent in the month of June. “We catch plenty of fish in the shallows by sight-casting early in the mornings this time of year,” Joe says. “Then we catch more fish around deeper structures and along deep grass edges later in the day. Lighter winds in the mornings usually set us up for the best results this time of year. On a typical June day, the wind subsides some right after the break of day, and we have a relatively calm window for a few hours. This allows us to control the boat without making much noise and to sneak up closer to the fish in the shallows. As with any time of year, catching fish in super shallow water is usually easiest on soft plastic paddletails rigged on light jigheads. In most situations, a steady turn of the reel handle and a lure moving straight ahead through the water draws more strikes than one that's jigged up and down too much. When we're fishing deeper water, and the wind is typically stronger, using slightly heavier jigheads and employing more twitching in the presentations works better.”

P. I.N.S. Fishing Forecast | Eric Ozolins
361-877-3583 | Oceanepics.com
With summer arriving this month, we've got tons of predators and prey species in the Texas surf. On calm mornings this time of year, targeting trout in the surf is usually a productive plan. Specks will hit a variety of lures in the clear, green waters off the beach this month.  I like to drive the beach looking for anomalies which break up the uniformity of the sand bars, and fish in such places. My favorite lure for catching trout in the surf is a top water, but I do well on a variety of soft plastics too. These lures draw the attention of lots of other species too, like redfish and tarpon. Though the greatest numbers of tarpon hang around jetties and passes in June, catching a few in the surf is certainly possible. Mostly, for beach-going anglers, June is a month to target large sharks. Big baits like whole jack crevalle and stingrays draw strikes from some impressive sharks at the start of summer. Kayaking these baits out past the sand bars is usually the best way to connect with some of the brutes like bulls, lemons, great hammerheads and tigers, all of which lurk in Texas waters this time of year.

Port Mansfield | Ruben Garza
Snookdudecharters.com – 832.385.1431
Getaway Adventures Lodge – 956.944.4000
June is one of the best months of the year to fish with topwaters. Bone and pink/gold One Knockers work great in the surf and in the Lower Laguna Madre this time of y ear. One of the most productive areas lately has been behind the cabins at The Saucer. It is possible to work the area all day long, most days. Starting out close to the ICW with either a topwater or a Gulp! shrimp under a mauler is always a good plan. KWigglers in colors like Mansfield Margarita and plum/chartreuse provide good alternatives to the Gulp! Lures. If reds are the target, weedless gold spoons and paddeltails sometimes draw more strikes. On days with lighter winds, stretches of the west shoreline just south of the Land Cut produce well, especially in the mornings. If winds are up early, Wagner's Bar and Butcher's Island are better bets. In those places, the catching is often best in fairly deep water, on soft plastics dangled under corks. The water in those places tends to stay pretty clear, making it easy to see the potholes on the bottom, even at depths of four feet or a little more.

Lower Laguna Madre—South Padre—Port Isabel
Aaron Cisneros | tightlinescharters.com – 956-639-1941
If recent trends stay consistent, the weather in June will be hot, dry and breezy. Fishing in the Lower Laguna Madre has remained consistently good throughout the spring. The trout fishing in particular has been steady on days with good weather, meaning the day starts off with lighter winds, with lots of fish being caught along ICW spoil islands. Mainly, we focus our efforts this time of year around grass beds covered by thigh to waist-deep water, throwing KWiggler soft plastics rigged on eighth-ounce screw-lock heads when fishing the spoils. Topwaters are working well early in the mornings and late in the afternoons. Mostly, we're catching smallish keeper, with a few bigger ones in the mix. One customer landed a thirty incher earlier this week. Redfish have been abundant on shorelines, taking small topwaters. We're rigging them with single hooks, to cope with all the floating grass. The bone Spook Junior is a favorite. Flats lying close to deep water produce best, especially once we get into the hotter summer months and water temperatures and boat traffic both increase, so we'll continue to do most of our fishing around grass beds lying close to drop offs into deeper waters.