Around Matagorda Bay

Weekly Newsletter
and
Fishing Report

Welcome to all you new subscribers - we had a lot of you join this week!

Anyway you look at it, fishing is on the upswing now, I think. On the whole, East Bay is holding its own, and West Bay is starting to produce. So, start looking for lots of good fishing days to be coming -- The water is warming up and the baitfish are moving!

Oyster Lake is starting to get some action, and that will increase as spring gets underway.

In East Bay - try scattered shell reefs like Bird Island Reefs, Brown Cedar Cut, 3 Mile Reef, Boiler Bayou, and 3 Beacon Reef or fish along the south shoreline in places like Brown Cedar Cut, Eidelbach Flats, or Boiler Bayou. Plum/chartreuse and glow Bass Assassins should be good.

The south shoreline of West Bay should be best late in the evening when the bait is moving near the shore. Greens Bayou is definitely worth a shot!

On Friday the wind should be out of the SSE, but on Saturday, it should be more southerly and should be blowing strong. There's a possibility of rain, too, so bring your slicker jacket.

Good Luck!

See ya next week,
Webmaster

Thursday, March 28
Things came to a dead standstill in East Matagorda Bay today -- very few fish came out of the bay. However, things heated up in West Matagorda Bay along the south shoreline. Lots of trout were caught on soft plastics. Oyster Lake was great for redfish today - on live shrimp and cut bait. The Colorado River is producing some nice sized trout under lights at night. Diana Osborne, wife of Skipper Osborne, caught a really nice 29-inch trout at her house on River Run under lights the other night.

Wednesday, March 27
Fishing was much improved over yesterday. Nice limits of redfish caught by wadefishermen along the south shoreline of East Matagorda Bay - mudhoggin' (wading in about 4 ft.water with muddy bottom) was the best place to be. There were small trout being caught around the Tripod in West Matagorda Bay on the south side of the bay.

For those of you coming to Matagorda to go fishing, Hwy 35 is closed to thru traffic between Bay City and Wadsworth because of a well blow-out. You can detour this way: when leaving Bay City on Hwy 60, turn right on Hwy 2668 which goes by Celanese. Follow 2668 until you hit 521, and turn right. After about two miles you will run back into Hwy 60 south of Wadsworth.

Tuesday, March 26
North wind was blowing today - kept fishing...and catchin'...to a minimum. There were a few reds and trout caught out in East Matagorda Bay.

Monday, March 25
Only a few trout and reds caught today in East Matagorda Bay -- poor day of fishing.

Sunday, March 24
The wind was still howling down here around Matagorda Bay today! There weren't near as many fishermen out in the bays today and only a fair amount of trout being caught. The south shoreline of East Matagorda Bay produced some trout and a few reds, and the Diversion Channel was fair fishing this morning. Minimal tide action today slowed down the fishing, too.

Saturday, March 23
In East Matagorda Bay a fair amount of trout were caught today by wadefishermen wading along the south shoreline. At the fishing pier/jetties, some whiting and redfish were being caught. Nice drum are being caught in the lower Colorado River area near the old Parker's Cut. There were also reports of some redfish being caught in West Matagorda Bay.

Thursday, March 21
Very few fishermen went out today, so I was unable to obtain a report.

Wednesday, March 20
No fishing report today because of the wind.

Tuesday, March 19
Today was a bad day for fishing in East and West Bays - the wind was blowing really hard down here. However, we had reports of some flounder and trout being caught up in the Colorado River.

Most game fish are predators. Baitfish will move during tidal flow, so a trout or redfish will use the tides to bring the food to them and they don't have to chase it.

Tides change every day, but there are some facts about tides that will help you know when and where to fish:
1. Tides change seasonally - winter has lower low tides, and summer has higher high tides.
2. The closer to shore you are, the more important tidal action becomes.
3. Tidal flow helps fishing - fish usually won't bite much on a dead tide. Once the tide starts flowing, they'll start biting.
4. Fish will feed the most at the top of an outgoing tide.