Around Matagorda Bay

Weekly Newsletter
and
Fishing Report

Looks like good fishing winds on the horizon for this weekend - they are supposed to stay less than 10 mph and be out of the northeast for a while - then turn variable, so keep your fingers crossed. This should make the bays pretty smooth and do a lot toward clearing the water up. There's always going to be the chance of a summer thunderstorm sneaking up, though, so keep an eye out!

If the winds are light this weekend, it should be a delight for you offshore fishermen - seas should be 2 ft. or less. There should be lots of kingfish, red snapper, ling and dolphin out there just for the taking.

East Matagorda Bay - if the wind blows from the northeast as expected, places like Old Gulf Cut, the Flounder Cuts, Bird Island Reefs, or Halfmoon Shoal should be good spots for trout, reds or flounder. The new cut near Caney Creek should be good for redfish this weekend, but they may be hard to catch if the water is messed up. If the wind turns more to a southeasterly/south direction, try 3 Mile Reef and throw some bone/chartreuse topwaters for reds or give the south shoreline a try on pumpkinseed/chartreuse or red/white Norton bull minnows. With a southeast or south wind, give the Oyster Farm or Brown Cedar Flats a try.

West Matagorda Bay - if the wind is out of the northeast, try Outer Shell Island Reef, Round Reef, Halfmoon Reef or the Wells for reds and trout.If the wind comes out of the southeast or south, the south shoreline should be good - down around Cotton's and Green's Bayous.

Hopefully the surf will improve a litte. Try live shrimp under a popping cork, She Dogs or Super Spooks.

The pier and jetties should be producing trout and reds on live finger mullet and shrimp.

What baits do we like this week? My favorites for the week are 1) live bait such as shrimp, finger mullet or croakers, and 2) pumpkinseed/chartreuse or firetiger Norton bull minnows. If you're fishing at night, try glow or avocado soft plastics. For the surf, pearl/chartreuse and chrome Top Dogs, and plum/chartreuse or pumpkinseed/chartreuse soft plastics. Around the wells in West Bay and over the deeper shell, try croaker or plum/white soft plastics.

A word of warning - if you're out wadefishing, watch for jellyfish. I've had lots of reports of jellyfish around Hog Island on the south shoreline of East Matagorda Bay

To the Hoffman gang - hope you have a good day of fishing! And in the meantime - come on down and wet a hook! Enjoy our bays!

Good Luck!

Webmaster

P.S. I would love to get some feedback from you guys -- are you finding these newsletters helpful? Any suggestions for improvements? Let me know.

Thursday 08/01/02

In West Matagorda Bay there were stringers of trout caught by wadefishermen along the south shoreline near Green's Bayou using fire tiger Bass Assassins. There were a few trout caught along the south shoreline in East Matagorda Bay as well, but West Bay was the better choice today. Flounder are being caught near the drawbridge in Matagorda by people fishing off the bank. People have been catching trout and sand trout in the river from around River Bend Tavern on down to the mouth of the river at night under lights There were red snapper, ling, dolphin and a few kingfish caught offshore today.

Wednesday 07/31/02

Another slow day...there were some whiting being caught at the fishing pier/jetty. A few trout came out of East and West Matagorda Bay -- mostly caught along the south shoreline on artificials.

Tuesday 07/30/02

Another day with not much happening on the fishing front. There were some stringers of trout brought in from the south shoreline of West Matagorda Bay -- no other reports.

Monday 07/29/02

Real slow day of fishing here - very few boats out in the bay. East Bay did produce a few flounder and some trout -- and that's about it. It's still windy and the water is muddy.

Sunday 07/28/02

Sorry I missed posting the fishing report yesterday - we were out of town. Looks like no news isn't always good news in fishing reports. Yesterday there were a few trout caught but it wasn't a real good fishing day. David Mintz of Van Vleck went out yesterday - he reports that Matagorda had no live shirmp anywhere. His party caught a few small trout on artificials, but the wind started blowing hard by noon and messed up the water. The middle of the bay was rough and muddy. Today was pretty much the same story. A few guides took parties out but were back in early with few catches. The wind was bad today, too. Thanks, David, for your report on yesterday's fishing.

Friday 07/26/02

A day of fishing just about like yesterday -- winds were still out of the southwest. In East Matagorda Bay there were some trout being caught on live shrimp and soft plastics along the south shoreline on the west end of the bay around the Three Mile area. West Matagorda Bay produced some trout along the south shoreline around Cotton's and Green's Bayou areas. Some stringers of trout came in from the surf using live shrimp under a popping cork and a few trout and whiting caught off the fishing pier using live and dead shrimp.

Thursday 07/25/02

Not as good a day today as we had yesterday. There were some trout caught in both bays along the south shoreline -- not a lot, though, because of the west wind. There were some trout caught in the surf by people who drown down the beach and fished. There were also some trout caught by boats that went out the jetties and turned right and fished the surf by boat.

Some of the problems you will encounter -

• You have to figure out how to lure fish out from beneath the deck
• Try presenting your bait from downstream - it's really the area where the fish are most likely to hold
• Cast a jig or spoon just under the edge of the pier, allowing the current to begin sweeping it away from the structure so that a pursuing fish is heading away from the line-cutting pilings when it strikes
• You can fish live or cut bait on float rigs or bottom rigs the same way
• You might try outside edges of piers but watch for hang-ups when the current drags the line into the pilings
• Fish upstream as a last resort – anchor upstream and use heavy tackle - let the current carry the bait underneath the pier but you have to remember to retrieve fast so that the fish will follow the bait out and strike outside the pilings You should use heavy line, stiff rods and tight drags to pull fish away from the pilings before they recover from the hook-set and wrap the line around the pilings