Store
Subscribe!
On Galveston: April 2010
Captain Mickey here and it's that time again. Overall - I would say our Galveston region fishing has been suffering from the effects of lingering winter. We've had twenty-seven nights of freezing temperatures so far which is pretty much unheard of in this area. I have not checked to see whether this sets an official record but most winters we get only a handful of days with below freezing temperatures and occasionally a year with none. As I am doing this report it is a not-so-balmy 29 degrees here on Trinity Bay, and I'm tired of it already.
Trinity Bay
I can sum it up pretty quick; lots of good blue cat action at the north end of the lake. Oh, my mistake, I should have said bay but sometimes I get a little confused. The Trinity River has been running in here at about 45,000 to 47,000 cubic feet per second from Livingston Dam and they just finally reduced it to 30,000 this morning. We have a lot of freshwater everywhere, just nasty looking stuff, and that's going to make things difficult for us for a while. Our long-range forecast includes several days of warm sunshine so maybe we're about to break out of this cold pattern and get to do some spring fishing. I think one good warming trend, you know with about four or five days of 65 to 75 weather will definitely make a difference. The fish are sitting there right now like a loaded gun and all they need is some warmer conditions and they'll just explode. The trout are holding in four to eight foot depths, just waiting to pull up shallow. This freshwater thing has been making it extremely tough in Trinity Bay Area. There is some good water remaining in the little back bays on the north end and you can catch a few fish drifting with soft plastic. I have been using the new MirrOlure soft plastic quite a bit lately and I'm liking it. They've also been working on one they are calling the Little John that has not been marketed yet but I received some early samples. It's kind of reminds me of a grub-style lure, somewhat like the earliest Sluggo lures about 3 inches long. I've been catching fish on it and the best thing about this bait is that it gets to the bottom quick.
Upper Galveston Bay
There is some catching going on out deep along the Seabrook Flats, along the pier pilings. Same thing over at Sylvan Beach and Seabrook, both areas are producing a few trout and redfish here and there but nothing to write home about. For the most part this area has been uncommonly slow of late and I believe it will improve as soon as we can get a decent warm-up underway.
East Bay
Talk about a loaded gun waiting to go off; you make a shoreline wade and you think there are no fish in East Bay, then you get out at another spot and pick up six or eight trout and a couple of reds. This bay is also running very inconsistent and again I'm blaming the weather pattern. Mark my words; the fish just have not committed to the shorelines and flats yet. Give us a week of normal spring weather and East Bay will explode. I mean it's due, past due. In a normal year, the north shoreline, which is the Refuge area, would have already been producing big time. Right now the water is still pretty cold and we have a nagging silt problem in some areas left over from Ike. Down along the south shoreline the water is better and it makes you want to go down there but the north side is where we always get our better trout in late winter and early spring. I am very firm in my belief that all we need is week or two of decent sunshine on the water to get those flats warmed up and everything will take off, a few weeks late but it's definitely going to take off.
West Bay
This area has been running fair to decent when the wind isn't howling. Shorelines with mud-shell bottom and some of the coves have been giving up some fish and of course the mid-bay reef action has been fairly steady. Drift fisherman are still catching a ton of fish, lots of little ones, out in the open water between North and South Deer Island and down toward Greens Cut and Carancahua Reef. Soft plastics and MirrOlures have been pretty much the norm on that.
Tri-Bay Area
Chocolate, Christmas and Bastrop Bays are giving up decent catches on any given good weather day but we're just not seeing too many of late, the pattern has been one or maybe two days and then the next front comes ripping through. Being able to get on solid action when the weather allows tells you they have good numbers down that way, but here again, we need to see some spring-like weather to gain consistency.
Wrapping it up I'm going to predict that April will bring us much improved fishing. Trinity may be out of play depending how this freshwater thing works out but East and Upper Galveston should be good. Right now there are not a lot of people on the water as they have beaten down by the elements and not willing to put in the time and effort until they see a turn-around in the weather. Better days are ahead so get your boats ready and all the tackle in order; give us a few weeks of decent weather and these bays are going to explode.
Trinity Bay
I can sum it up pretty quick; lots of good blue cat action at the north end of the lake. Oh, my mistake, I should have said bay but sometimes I get a little confused. The Trinity River has been running in here at about 45,000 to 47,000 cubic feet per second from Livingston Dam and they just finally reduced it to 30,000 this morning. We have a lot of freshwater everywhere, just nasty looking stuff, and that's going to make things difficult for us for a while. Our long-range forecast includes several days of warm sunshine so maybe we're about to break out of this cold pattern and get to do some spring fishing. I think one good warming trend, you know with about four or five days of 65 to 75 weather will definitely make a difference. The fish are sitting there right now like a loaded gun and all they need is some warmer conditions and they'll just explode. The trout are holding in four to eight foot depths, just waiting to pull up shallow. This freshwater thing has been making it extremely tough in Trinity Bay Area. There is some good water remaining in the little back bays on the north end and you can catch a few fish drifting with soft plastic. I have been using the new MirrOlure soft plastic quite a bit lately and I'm liking it. They've also been working on one they are calling the Little John that has not been marketed yet but I received some early samples. It's kind of reminds me of a grub-style lure, somewhat like the earliest Sluggo lures about 3 inches long. I've been catching fish on it and the best thing about this bait is that it gets to the bottom quick.
Upper Galveston Bay
There is some catching going on out deep along the Seabrook Flats, along the pier pilings. Same thing over at Sylvan Beach and Seabrook, both areas are producing a few trout and redfish here and there but nothing to write home about. For the most part this area has been uncommonly slow of late and I believe it will improve as soon as we can get a decent warm-up underway.
East Bay
Talk about a loaded gun waiting to go off; you make a shoreline wade and you think there are no fish in East Bay, then you get out at another spot and pick up six or eight trout and a couple of reds. This bay is also running very inconsistent and again I'm blaming the weather pattern. Mark my words; the fish just have not committed to the shorelines and flats yet. Give us a week of normal spring weather and East Bay will explode. I mean it's due, past due. In a normal year, the north shoreline, which is the Refuge area, would have already been producing big time. Right now the water is still pretty cold and we have a nagging silt problem in some areas left over from Ike. Down along the south shoreline the water is better and it makes you want to go down there but the north side is where we always get our better trout in late winter and early spring. I am very firm in my belief that all we need is week or two of decent sunshine on the water to get those flats warmed up and everything will take off, a few weeks late but it's definitely going to take off.
West Bay
This area has been running fair to decent when the wind isn't howling. Shorelines with mud-shell bottom and some of the coves have been giving up some fish and of course the mid-bay reef action has been fairly steady. Drift fisherman are still catching a ton of fish, lots of little ones, out in the open water between North and South Deer Island and down toward Greens Cut and Carancahua Reef. Soft plastics and MirrOlures have been pretty much the norm on that.
Tri-Bay Area
Chocolate, Christmas and Bastrop Bays are giving up decent catches on any given good weather day but we're just not seeing too many of late, the pattern has been one or maybe two days and then the next front comes ripping through. Being able to get on solid action when the weather allows tells you they have good numbers down that way, but here again, we need to see some spring-like weather to gain consistency.
Wrapping it up I'm going to predict that April will bring us much improved fishing. Trinity may be out of play depending how this freshwater thing works out but East and Upper Galveston should be good. Right now there are not a lot of people on the water as they have beaten down by the elements and not willing to put in the time and effort until they see a turn-around in the weather. Better days are ahead so get your boats ready and all the tackle in order; give us a few weeks of decent weather and these bays are going to explode.