The View: January 2024

It is a new year. A new block of vacation days…Another full month of duck season yet to go…365 days to make a difference…Hopefully only two months of winter remaining… Certainly, fewer boats on the water. Fewer boats burning shorelines is good. Winter serenity is good. January fishing is good.

It’s cliché, but January fishing is all about the weather. I apologize for the obvious, but it is so true. The weather drives the tides and water temps, the tides and water temps drive the bite. Toss in the position of the moon and your algorithm for success has even more variables. Really, keep it as simple as possible. Fish when you can fish. Go when you can go. Learn from every wind, tide and lunar phase.

We all know Corkys are premiere wintertime baits – I love MirrOlure Soft-Dines, too. During mild winters, topwaters get the nod on those warm, clear afternoons.

By January, shrimp have left the bays and speckled trout adapt their diet to finfish. That’s when slow-sinking mullet imitating plugs like Soft-Dines and Texas Custom Corkys go to work.

Flipping mullet are tell-tale signs that specks could be in the area; however, even though you don’t see active baitfish, that doesn’t mean the fish are not there. Work baits ultra-slow since cold weather turns fish in to methodical creatures.

There have been many winter days when even a single mullet never showed its face and I caught fish. It is not a tell-tale sign this time of year. It helps, but it’s not make or break.

Never discount wintertime drift fishing in Matagorda, especially with low-tide winter water levels. East Bay is often 2-3 feet below normal in January, depending how hard the north wind blows.

Raymond Shoals, Boiler Bayou, Pipeline Reef and Cleveland Reef hold good fish during the winter; and, when tides are extremely low, shoreline trout and redfish move off the flats to these reefs in the middle of the bay.

For waders, locales receiving the most tidal flow often hold the majority of schools – which means reefs and mud flats adjacent to the Intracoastal in East Matagorda Bay. Brown Cedar Flats, Chinquapin Reefs, Bird Island, Half Moon Reef and the Log are all proven winter spots holding healthy specks.

When the wind really blows, the Colorado River is waiting. Trout congregate in the deep, warm waters of the Colorado and if we remain in a drought, the entire river all the way to Bay City has potential.

Low tides in West Bay drain the delta at the mouth of the Diversion Channel and funnel all fish to the deep channel. Anglers drift across the channel with jigs and their favorite soft plastics. Most of the time we toss toward the shoreline and work the drop. But when we have trouble finding fish, we troll the middle of the river and bump the bottom until we find a school. The river drops from two, to five, to nine feet along the bank and the trout hang close to the drops, depending on the water temperature.

Nighttime fishing in January is also very popular. Piers along the river turn on lights at night to draw mullet, shad and shrimp. Often, some of the largest trout of the year are caught on the coldest nights. Corkys, MirrOlure Soft-Dines and glow plastics worked gingerly through the water column excite lethargic fish.

Duck season continues through Jan.28 and if past campaigns are any indication, we will have a strong finish. Our marsh holds lots of gadwalls and full-plumaged blue-winged teal. If you are looking for a cobalt-headed bluewing for a mount, our marsh gives you plenty of opportunities.

Please consider catch and release when applicable. Every fish you give back is the potential for thousands of fingerlings spawned for the next crop. Trout taste good – enjoy them – but only what you need. Consider never freezing another trout.

Let’s make 2024 a great one. Happy New Year!

For information on hunting, fishing, lodging, vacation rentals and coastal real estate, give Matagorda Sunrise Lodge and Properties a call or text.