On Galveston: January 2007

In my last report I told you that we'd had some rather spotty fishing back in early November due mostly to the weather and runoff down the Trinity River. Lucky for us, December has been much the opposite.

Naturally the fishing was down when the strong northers had all our water blown out there around Thanksgiving, some areas were down by nearly 5 feet from what they had been, but when the water came back it was on, big time. We had that one front several weeks back that blew real hard for about a day and a half and it took almost all the water from bays that were full of fish, and when it came back it brought even more fish in. They came out of the marshes, river and bayous; the entire Galveston bay system had tons of fish. You could stop anywhere and find fish. You did not have to look to the birds or the bait to jump, the fish were everywhere. Just drift and fish. I would have to say that this was my best November ever.

When Trinity Bay has 400 boats in it with everyone catching, I would have to say it was good. Live bait or lures, it did not matter. I did not want to get into the "gladiator deal" fighting for position over the reefs so I fished in other areas. During the Thanksgiving holidays I saw a flock of birds that was about 5 miles long and a mile wide just working those trout. You could see the schools of trout jumping out of the water feeding on shrimp. It was amazing.

Fishing this time of year is easy to predict if you watch the fronts. After the tide drops and after the fronts push through, that is the time to fish. All the bays are on, from Burnett to Trinity. East Bay is still on and West Bay has finally turned on. Upper or Lower Galveston, anywhere is good as long as you play it between the fronts.

The deeper reefs hold the fish through the winter; however, that's where you'll also find the crowds. Lately we have been avoiding that whole scene, electing instead to hit the shorelines with shell and mud for some winter wading. We have been catching them up to 7pounds with the Corky Lure, Cocahoe Minnows, Texas Trout Killers and even topwaters some days.

If you are patient, the topwaters will bring in the big bite. The bite is slow but you are getting bigger fish. Look for the same patterns to continue throughout the Christmas period. I have found the best way to approach winter fishing is to wait for the fronts to blow out and water to come back in.

The almanac and weather experts predicted a mild wet winter but so far it has been cold and dry. Fishing has just been really good. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would have to say it is a 12 right now.

Negating a hard freeze we will have a banner January just like early December has been and it will continue on into February. Play the winds. If there is too much wind find a protected shoreline. If you find any mullet or other jumping bait activity, WADE IT! Start out with tails and once you have established the bite switch to Corkys and topwaters to work on the big bite.

Looking back on 2006 I would have to say that was the best summer we had in over 20 years and the best November and early December fishing I can remember in my life! I met several new customers and we only had a couple of tough months so here's to a heck of a year and hoping for another in 2007. Happy New Year!