Christmas Bay, TX

Two days of SSE at 5.5 kt put a little green in the throat but never pushed hard enough to scour it clean. Morning wind swings W at 4 kt, which sounds bad and is not - 4 kt from any direction does not blow this system out. One high at 9:15 AM then a long uninterrupted fall the rest of the day is the tide shape I want, and the 9:21 major sits right on the turn. Lures are fully workable in a 4 kt slick, but 89 degree water kills the bite by late morning, so lure and bait are a coin flip.

Start at gray light with a bone Super Spook Jr over the sand humps while the tide is still coming - 4 kt leaves the surface slick, so walk it lazy with long pauses. When the sun clears and the fall kicks in at 9:15, drop to a Down South Super Model on a 1/8 oz head in Chicken on a Chain or Texas Roach and swim it down the drop into the moving water. Short strikes mean go smaller: Lil John in morning glory on the same head.

Live croaker on a 3/0 kahle, free-lined or with one split shot, worked along the deeper edge of the shell on the falling tide - in 89 degree water croaker will beat plastic badly after 10 AM. Live shrimp under a popping cork covers the shallower sand early. Fish it from the bank side and stay well off the channel on that long fall.

The SSE flow has been the right direction at the wrong speed, so you get sandy green rather than clean Gulf water. Expect the best color right in the throat and on the Gulf side of the bar, duller and more stained back toward Christmas Bay.

Reds will push the shallow sand at first light - a gold weedless spoon or a chunk of cut mullet on a fish-finder rig covers both ends of it. Flounder are starting to stage on the drains; crawl a 1/4 oz jig with a Bass Assassin Sea Shad slow through the outflow.

Measured history is still S/SSE and light, so the water keeps cleaning up rather than dirtying. Four tide events on the board and a hard 0.6 ft drop from the 9:22 AM high to the 11:23 AM low means real current over the bars, with the 10:17 AM major sitting on top of it. Wind never gets past 9 kt, so lure control is easy and bait fishes just as well - EITHER, and pick by how hot it gets.

Topwater window is real - chrome/black She Dog or a bone Spook Jr from first light until the tide tops at 9:22. When it starts dumping, go to a Down South Super Model, 1/8 oz head, Opening Night or plum/chartreuse, and let the current sweep it across the drop rather than working it back at the fish. A MirrOdine XL in natural colors is the answer if they suspend off the bar in the salty green.

Free-lined live shrimp on a 1/0 kahle drifted with the outgoing over the shell is the highest-percentage bait play through the mid-morning fall. Switch to live croaker on a light Carolina rig once the sun gets high and the fish slide deep. A second cork rod with a piggy perch parked on the edge of the guts will pick up the bigger fish.

Another 24 hours of S wind around 5 kt keeps pulling salty green through the cut. Gulf side and the throat are the cleanest water you have had in a week; the back side of the bay is still a shade sandy.

Reds should be on the sand early and along the marsh drains on the evening incoming into the 5:32 PM high. Flounder like a live mud minnow or finger mullet on a 1/4 oz jighead worked at a crawl in the same drains.

This is the cleanest water of the stretch - three days of unbroken S wind at 4 to 9 kt is exactly what builds green here, and nothing in the history has any W or N muscle behind it. Dawn incoming into the 9:37 AM high, then a fall to the 11:50 AM low with the major running 11:09 to 1:09, so the water is honest all morning. At 4 kt with green water, artificials have the edge over bait - LURE EDGE. Watch the 44 percent storm chance and get off the water on the first rumble.

Clean water and slick conditions - go natural and translucent. Bone or clear/chrome Spook Jr walked over the sand at gray light, then a MirrOdine XL in a mullet pattern along the bar edge once it gets light. On the plastic, a Down South Super Model in Texas Roach or a Lil John in morning glory on a 1/8 oz head, cast up-current and swung down the drop. Do not go loud or dark today; in this color it will spook them. Evening incoming to the 7:13 PM high is a second bite.

Live shrimp under a rattling cork over the shell on the morning incoming, then free-line one on a 1/0 hook once the tide starts out. In 89 degree water, live croaker on a light Carolina rig off the deep edge is the mid-day play. Keep the shrimp lively and change them often - dead ones do nothing in clean water.

Three straight days of light S flow has the throat running clean green with visibility you can sight-cast in. The Christmas Bay side stays a step behind at sandy green, so fish the Gulf-influenced water first.

Reds are the sight-cast play in this clarity - a gold spoon or a weightless Sea Shad thrown ahead of a cruiser on the sand. Flounder on a live finger mullet under a light cork worked slow along the drains through the 11:50 AM fall.

Best day of the week and it is not close. New moon puts the strongest swing of the stretch on the board - a 12:32 AM low, a 9:54 AM high, then a full drop to the 12:32 PM low - and the wind history is still S with no dirty-water direction anywhere in it. The moonrise minor at 5:59 to 6:59 AM lands right on sunrise with the tide already climbing. Wind stays 4 kt through the morning so lures work fine, but with 89 degree water croaker takes over after mid-morning - fish either, in that order.

Be standing in it at 6:30. Bone Super Spook Jr or a chrome/black She Dog over the sand and the first drop while the light is low and the tide is pushing - this is the topwater morning of the week. When the sun gets on it, go Down South Super Model on a 1/8 oz head, Chicken on a Chain in the sandy water and Texas Roach where it is greener. Bump to a 3/8 oz head to hold bottom in the hard current after the 9:54 high turns.

Live croaker on a 3/0 kahle, free-lined into the moving water off the bar, is the money bait today and gets better as the water heats past 89. Live shrimp under a popping cork on the incoming before 9:00 if you want numbers. Anchor up-current and let the bait drift back into the guts; do not wade out into that new-moon current.

Four days of S and SSE at single-digit speeds keeps salty green moving into the pass on every incoming. A brief SW swing at dawn is only 4 kt and will not touch the color; the far bay side stays stained.

New moon tides push reds into the marsh drains hard - cut mullet on a fish-finder rig at the mouth of a drain, or a gold spoon if you want to hunt them. Flounder should be on the same drains on the noon fall with a live mud minnow on a 1/4 oz head.

Still a good day, just past the peak. Wind goes SW at 9 kt for the whole morning and builds to 15 mph S in the afternoon, and SW is the direction that starts putting bay water back into the pass - clarity slips to sandy green. Tide is strong, a 1:17 AM low to a 10:11 AM high and back down to a 1:17 PM low, so current is not the problem. At 9 to 13 kt you can still throw plastic, but wind chop plus 88 degree water tips the day to bait - BAIT EDGE.

Fish the windward edges and let the chop work for you. Down South Super Model on a 1/4 oz head in Opening Night or plum/chartreuse - go darker now that the water has some stain in it. A She Dog in chrome/black at first light gives them something loud to find. Keep the rod tip low and take up slack as you drift so a 13 kt belly in the line does not cost you the bite.

Popping cork with a live shrimp on an 18 inch leader is the right call in this chop - the pop calls them in when they cannot see a lure. Live croaker free-lined on the deeper edge once the sun is up and the water pushes 88. Drift the windward shoreline and let the cork work; stay out of the hard current in the cut.

A morning of SW at 9 kt starts undoing what the S wind built, but it is not enough speed to blow this system out. Sandy green in the throat and on the Gulf side; the bay shoreline gets noticeably dirtier as the day goes.

Reds will feed well in the stained edge - fresh dead shrimp or cut mullet on a fish-finder rig where the mud meets the sand. Flounder on a live finger mullet on a 1/4 oz head along the drains on the afternoon fall.

The throwaway day of the week. S at 13 kt overnight and through dawn has enough sustained chop behind it to stain the bay side, and clarity is the worst of the stretch. Tide is still good - 10:26 AM high to a 2:03 PM low - and the wind backs off to 10 mph from 8 to 11 AM, which is your one clean shot. Lure control is workable but not easy in 15 mph with stained water, so put a cork out - BAIT EDGE.

Stained water means dark and loud. Down South Super Model or a Bass Assassin Sea Shad in plum/chartreuse or Opening Night on a 1/4 to 3/8 oz head so you can feel it in the wind. A chrome/black She Dog with a hard walk gives them a sound track to follow. Work the windward shorelines where the chop stacks bait against the sand and keep everything slow and close to bottom.

This is a cork day. Live shrimp under a rattling popping cork, 18 to 24 inches of leader, drifted along the windward shoreline and popped hard every few seconds. Live croaker free-lined on the deeper edge for the better fish once the sun is high. Bait carries scent and noise through this stain where plastic disappears.

Two days of S at 13 to 15 mph has finally kicked up enough chop to color the bay side. The throat still holds sandy green on the incoming, but everything behind the bar is stained and the fish will be hunting by sound.

Stained water and moving tide is redfish weather - cut mullet or a fresh dead shrimp on a fish-finder rig at a drain mouth will stay busy. Flounder are worth a look with a live mud minnow crawled through the same drains on the 2:03 PM fall.

Wind eases back to S and SSE at 7 to 13 kt and swings SE by evening, which starts pulling the color back the right way, so this is better than Saturday. Tide is the weakest of the week though - one high at 10:36 AM and a long slide to a 2:49 PM low, with no strong morning push. Wind is fine for lure work at these speeds, and the water has cleaned enough that plastic gets seen again - EITHER, with the edge to whatever you are confident with.

Cover water on the incoming into the 10:36 AM high - a Down South Super Model on a 1/8 oz head in Chicken on a Chain over the sand and the first drop, and a bone Spook Jr while the light is low. The 9:01 to 10:01 AM minor lands on the last of the push, so slow everything down for that hour. Afternoon major from 2:13 to 4:13 PM sits on the 2:49 PM low - fish a Lil John in morning glory tight to the drop through it.

Live shrimp under a popping cork worked over the shell through the morning incoming, then free-line one into the guts as the tide turns out. Live croaker on a light Carolina rig for the deeper edge in the heat of the day. A piggy perch under a cork parked on the sand edge is a good second rod all morning.

The SE swing late in the day starts rebuilding green water after two blown-up days. Sandy green in the throat and along the Gulf side; the bay side is still a shade off and slower to recover.

Reds along the sand and the drain mouths on the morning push - gold spoon or cut mullet, either works. Flounder should be moving on the long afternoon fall; a live finger mullet on a 1/4 oz head dragged slow through the drains is the play.