The View: January 2026
Unless we get an arctic clipper barreling down from the north, expect more mild temperatures and solid catches in January. It has been a mild winter so far, and you won’t hear me complaining — I’m good with anything above freezing. I just need a good north breeze every couple of weeks to push more ducks across the Red River.
By January, the shrimp have left the bays and speckled trout shift fully to finfish. That’s when slow-sinking, mullet-imitating plugs like Soft-Dines and Texas Custom Corkys earn their keep. Areas with strong tidal flow typically hold the biggest schools — reefs and mud flats adjacent to the Intracoastal Waterway in East Matagorda Bay. Brown Cedar Flats, Chinquapin Reefs, Bird Island, Half Moon Reef, and The Log are all proven winter hotspots holding healthy specks.
Drifting is a solid play, especially with low-tide winter water levels. East Bay is often two to three feet below normal in January, depending on the strength of the north wind. Raymond Shoals, Boiler Bayou, Pipeline Reef, and Cleveland Reef produce well during winter, and when tides get extremely low, shoreline redfish drop off the flats and settle onto these mid-bay reefs.
Just be aware — trout don’t bite every day in January. One day they do, one day they don’t. You just have to keep going and hope you hit it right.
When the wind really howls, never overlook the Colorado River. Trout stack in its deep, warmer water, and if we stay in a dry pattern, the entire river all the way to Bay City can hold fish. December’s river fishing was outstanding, with most trout caught on Down South Lures, Bass Assassins, and MirrOlure Marsh Minnows.
Most days we cast toward the shore and work the drops. But when fish are hard to locate, we troll down the middle of the river and bump bottom until we find a school. The bank drops from two to five to nine feet, and trout position themselves along those breaks depending on water temperature.
We’ve outfitted our Haynies with trolling motors specifically for this kind of fishing. I run a Rhodan; others use Minn Kota. Both have spot-lock, which is worth its weight in gold when you need to stay put.
It’s nice having the river and channels as a refuge when the wind wants to take your hat off. If you’ve ever bass-fished the banks, fishing the Colorado is essentially the same technique.
Duck season continues through January 25. November and December were fair overall — steady action, but we’ve had to ease off the pressure to keep our marsh fresh. November produced the fewest ducks I’ve seen since I started hunting — not the fewest harvested, just the fewest days hunted.
Here’s hoping for another brisk front to send migrants south. Not too brisk to harm the fish — just enough for a toboggan and a hot thermos of coffee.
Please continue to protect our estuaries and release more than you take.
Happy New Year!
