On Galveston: April 2007

It's time for the spring report. Things are picking up since we have been getting the warming trends. We are not doing too badly. We are just playing it between fronts and not doing too bad.

Trinity

Trinity is still holding a lot of fresh water over here. The entire upper end is still really fresh and off-color, real stained and ugly. Up in the top end of the bay where HL&P spillway is they are still catching pretty good trout up there while wade fishing. I have not been fishing up in there because it gets too crowded but a lot of them are walking in from McCollum Park and wading that gut that comes out of there and they are able to catch limits on a daily basis. There have been some good solid trout caught up there in the 8 or 9 pound class. However, the majority are just running at about 2 or 3 pounds.

Let's talk about the other parts of Trinity; on the east shoreline the water is still pretty cold over there. There is a good amount of bait that has showed up but the fish have not pulled in behind it yet. The hottest things we have going on right now is the upstream fishing like Tabb's, right here where it joins in with Trinity Bay and Fall Bay that is just north of Trinity. It has been yielding some good fish. You can catch them either wading or fishing out of the boat. They are biting on the Corkey's, topwaters and soft plastics, your usual big three. That is pretty much working very well behind the northers and also working off of a north-west to north-east wind. That has been holding pretty well over there. The water is in good shape.

On up the ship channel you get into Scott's Bay and Burnett's Bay. Those two little bays right there have been real hot for drift fishermen. They have been catching full limits there almost every day on soft plastics. The color of the plastic has not been making a difference. Everything is working. There are just a lot of fish up there. The reason there are so many fish is because the bait had been holding up there and the water is real clear. The fresh water has not affected it also the temperature holds real warm. Even after a norther, the water temperature does not drop like it does in an open bay.

Upper Galveston Bay

The spring specks have started to show up all along the pier pilings, Seabrook Flats, Kemah Flats and Sylvan Beach. All of those areas are holding some really good fish and everyone who is fishing over there wading are throwing Mirrolures and Corkeys and a few topwaters, are doing quite well. They have been on some good solid fish up there, weighing in around 8 pounds. Not too bad!

East Bay

In you get a good tide in East Bay; it is holding some good water. When you get a norther to blow through and the water comes back and you catch that good calm day, the wildlife refuge is still holding a lot of good fish over there. You have to have the green water and the full tides too. When that water gets real low it seems like you have to wade out a million miles to get out to the fish. That is not a wise thing to do out there because when that tide comes back in you will not make it back to the bank. There have been a few small schools of fish along the south shoreline but it is hit or miss over there. It is just spotty at the very best. One day you can catch 20 or 30 fish and then the next day you will not even get a bite. Those fish are still moving a lot over there, pulling in and out. Most of them are staying deep over the shell.

West Bay

The bite has been right at early morning and late evening. Right at light and right at dark, just a couple of good coves are paying off. Dana's Cove and Maggie's Cove are the two coves I would key on if I was fishing that area all the time. The best conditions for that area is the incoming tide, late in the afternoon and late in the evening. That is when the bite has been the best, with that good push of water in the back of those coves. Same type of lures working over there too, your big 3, soft plastics, Corkeys and topwaters.

The main thing now is just looking for good water and playing the winds. We head to whichever shoreline the wind is blowing off of. We try to find the good water with the baitfish, just look for the mullet and give it time. They are not going all day long, just in spurts. That pretty much sums Galveston Bay up. We have started catching some flounder. We are catching those in about 5 or 6 feet of water with tails. It's not far away it is fixing to crank! I would rate the fishing just OK right now, not great, just OK. However that is normal in this bay system for this time of year. The best is yet to come.