The View: September 2023

Grab a rod, grab a shotgun - grab both – this is what we do in September.

Grab a new license, too. Yours, like mine, probably expired August 31.

We all need rain. The bays need it, the marsh needs it, the lakes need it, the deer need it, the fish need it, the ducks need it and all our home’s foundations need it.

I can’t remember a hotter, dryer summer than what we have endured. I can’t remember tides being so low for so long this summer.

Hopefully September gives us relief and lives up to the pattern of the first cool fronts of the year and swelling Equinox tides.

Expect redfish to fill the back lakes and grassy shorelines and readily eating small topwaters and weedless soft plastics. Bloated water levels also encourage large, solitary trout to extend their boundaries to the upper reaches of estuaries.

We typically find large schools of redfish on the north shoreline in September. Live shrimp, mullet and topwaters all work well. Back bay areas like Oyster Lake, Crab Lake and Lake Austin are known to hold healthy populations. Don't be surprised to see birds working in the back lakes on calm days as shrimp begin to leave the marsh.

Wading the mid-bay reefs in East Matagorda Bay produce trout throughout the year. With higher tides, the muddy bottoms around Brown Cedar Flats hold both trout and redfish for waders and drifters. The far east end of the bay gets really good this time of year.

Most waders overlook the grassbeds in West Bay in September, but they still hold fish, redfish especially. Guts and cuts along the south shoreline also often get overlooked. I don't know why anglers forget about West Bay in September, but it's a good place to get away from the crowds.

Reefs along the north shoreline of West Bay hold trout, redfish and black drum that can be taken readily on live shrimp. Shell Island, Twin Island and all the points along the north shoreline are littered with shell. Redfish have been known to school in large numbers in late September in these locales.

The bruiser redfish will be on the beachfront and along the jetty rocks. Cracked blue crabs and fresh pogies are a nice snack for big spawners.

Lots of tarpon were found along the gulf beach from Matagorda to Port O’Connor in August and those same migrating schools should still be there this month. Our tarpon fishery is an untapped resource, but it would blow your mind to see all the huge schools of ‘poons rolling and daisy-chaining so close to the beach.

Teal season runs Sept. 9-24 and we will be hunting the mornings and fishing the afternoons. Few things rival acrobatic teal cutting their wings over a marsh or prairie pond. It’s always a good idea to practice a few rounds of clays before heading to the blind.

The Emergency Order enacted by TPWD that reduced limits on speckled trout due to the calamity of the freeze of February 2021 is set to expire Aug.31, 2023. Bag limits for trout will revert back to 5 trout per day with a size limit of 15-25 inches, with one over 25 legal to harvest.

The way I see it, this is not good for the fishery. So, guides out of the Sunrise Lodge will continue to play catch and release with trout and only harvest male fish and those legal fish stressed to the point where mortality is eminent.

We encourage all to practice catch and release. It works.

The attitudes of Texans toward a more conservative approach to trout harvest has caught fire since the freeze; and, trout quantities and qualities are improving because of it.

Please do what is best for our fishery. Treat it like you would treat your own backyard pond – you surely wouldn’t kill everything in it.

Sunrise Lodge and Properties is a full service lodge and real estate company. Feel free to call us for all your coastal fishing, hunting, and real estate needs.