Christmas Bay, TX

Two days of light S wind at 4.3 kt left the pass sandy green, and the forecast NE at 4 to 9 kt does nothing to it at that speed. Water is moving under a 7:03 AM sunrise on the incoming to the 9:37 AM high, then dumps hard - 0.93 down to 0.32 ft in a little over two hours - right into the 11:09 AM major. Lures are fully workable at this wind speed and the lure score edges the bait, so this is the topwater morning of the week. Storms are only a 24 to 37 percent shot before noon.

Start with a bone Super Spook Jr on the sandbar shoulders while the tide is still pushing at first light - walk it slow, the water is clean enough they will eat a subtle bait. Once the sun is on it, go to a 1/8 oz jighead with a Down South Super Model in Chicken on a Chain along the sand-to-grass edges. When the 9:37 AM high turns and starts dumping, step to 3/8 oz with a Bass Assassin Sea Shad in Texas Roach and let it tumble down the drop. Natural and translucent all day - do not go loud in green water.

Live shrimp under a rattling cork on 18 to 24 inches of 20 lb leader, drifted along the sandbar edge on the incoming. Once the hard fall starts after 9:37 AM, pin a live croaker on a 1/4 oz jighead or a light Carolina rig and put it on the deep side of the bar where the trout drop back - at 92.3F the better fish sit deep and a croaker beats anything artificial by mid-morning. Free-lined finger mullet works the same water for reds.

Two days of S wind averaging 4.3 kt has settled everything without stirring it, so the throat of the pass is running salty green. The Christmas Bay side is a shade off with a light stain over the mud, but nothing that kills a lure.

Reds will nose the bay-side flats on the long afternoon rise to the 7:13 PM high - a gold spoon or a 1/4 oz weedless soft plastic covers ground fast. Flounder stack on the drain edges while the tide dumps between 9:37 and 11:50 AM; a 3/8 oz jighead dragged slow gets them.

Wind flips light N to NW at 4 kt through mid-morning, and 4 kt from that quarter does not blow this system out - it just knocks the chop off. The tide is the best of the week: a long uninterrupted rise off the 12:32 AM low all the way to the 9:54 AM high, so water is moving under the 7:03 AM sunrise. Lure and bait scores sit within three points and the water is clean enough for either, so pick on comfort. The catch is storms at 62 percent from 8 AM on - fish the early window and get off the sand when cells build.

The 5:59 to 6:59 AM minor lands right on sunrise with water still climbing - throw a chrome/black Super Spook Jr in the low light, and switch to a MirrOlure She Dog if they are blowing up short. When the topwater quits, go to a MirrOdine XL in bone twitched over the sand pockets, or a Lil John on a 1/8 oz head in morning glory. Cover water fast, because you are on a clock with the storms.

Live shrimp under a popping cork on that long incoming - work it up the bar face from 6 AM to the 9:54 AM high, popping hard every few feet so they hear it before they see it. If you want a trout over 20 inches, free-line a live croaker with a single split shot on the deeper edge and let it swim. Piggy perch under a cork is the backup when the shrimp run out.

The 48-hour S mean at 4.3 kt is still holding decent water in the pass, and the overnight N to NW breeze is far too light to dirty it. Sandy green on the Gulf side, a half-step more stain back in the bay where rain runoff hits.

The long rise puts redfish right up on the bay-side sand - a live finger mullet under a cork or a gold spoon worked at the grass edge. Flounder will sit at the mouths of the drains on the 12:32 PM fall.

This is the one day the wind comes out of the wrong quarter - SW at 9 kt from 4 to 6 AM, and SW is what pulls dirty bay water down into the pass. It is not hard enough to ruin it outright, and the tide is strong with a long rise to the 10:11 AM high, but between the SW push and a 68 percent storm chance from 8 AM to noon your best hours are compromised. Bait edges lures today on the stain alone - scent keeps working where a soft plastic goes invisible. Fish daylight to mid-morning and leave when it turns black.

The 7:01 to 8:01 AM minor sits on sunrise with the tide still pushing to the 10:11 AM high. Go louder than Wednesday - a She Dog with rattles for the first hour, then a Bass Assassin Sea Shad in Opening Night on a 1/4 oz head where the color line sets up. Work the seam where clean Gulf water meets the stained bay water and stay on the clean side of it. If the wind lays off to 4 kt at 8 AM, a Lil John in plum/chartreuse on 1/8 oz over the sand is worth ten casts before you move on.

Stained water is a bait day. Live shrimp under a loud popping cork worked right along the color change, or a live croaker on a fish-finder rig set on the down-current side of the bar. Give them noise and scent - pop it three times, let it sit, repeat. Keep a few live mullet on hand for the reds, and get off the sand the moment lightning shows.

The 48-hour history is still S at 4.3 kt so the Gulf side holds sandy green, but SW at 9 kt before daylight will smear the north and west shorelines of the bay. Fish the Gulf-influenced water near the mouth and leave the back side alone.

Redfish do not mind the stain at all - cut mullet on a Carolina rig on the bay side will out-produce everything if the water goes off. Flounder on the 1:17 PM fall at the drain mouths, but that sits in the lightning window; check the sky before you commit.

S at 13 kt from midnight through 6 AM and again all afternoon - right direction, but enough speed to keep the shallow bay stirred, and clarity is the lowest of the week. The tide is still good, a long rise off the 1:58 AM low to the 10:26 AM high, and wind backs to 9 kt from 8 AM to noon, which is your window. At 13 kt you can still control a soft plastic on a windward edge, but the bait score is seven points clear of the lure score and in stirred water that gap is real. Do not expect a topwater morning.

The 8:01 to 9:01 AM minor overlaps the last of the incoming and the lightest wind of the day. Fish dark and loud - a Down South Super Model in Chicken on a Chain or plum/chartreuse on a 3/8 oz jighead so you can actually feel it in the breeze. Drift the windward edge with the wind at your back and keep the rod tip low to cut line belly. Skip topwater unless it is dead flat at first light, and then only a chrome/black Spook Jr for the noise it makes.

This is the day the cork earns its keep. Live shrimp under a rattling cork drifted downwind along the bar face - the racket pulls them in through the stain. For a real trout, live croaker on a 1/4 oz jighead bounced along the deep edge; at 92F the good ones are down and sulky and a croaker is the only thing that reliably digs them out. Stay planted on the sand and out of the current.

Two days of S wind building to a sustained 13 kt has the shallow bay churned and off-color. The Gulf side of the pass still runs sandy green on the incoming, so the closer to the mouth you fish, the better your water.

Reds love this - stirred water, moving tide, cut mullet or a live piggy perch in the bay-side guts. Flounder slide to the drop-offs on the 2:03 PM fall, but that is 13 kt and hot; the morning is a better use of your time.

Three straight days of S wind, now S at 9 kt in the morning before SE 13 kt fills in at noon - right direction and finally a reasonable speed early, so water quality ticks back up. The tide is the weakest of the stretch: one high at 10:36 AM and a slow slide to the 2:49 PM low, with no second high to work. Lures are workable at 9 kt and the lure and bait scores are dead even, so fish whichever you like best. Good morning, poor afternoon.

The 9:01 to 10:01 AM minor runs straight into the 10:36 AM high, so fish the last of the push and the first hour of the fall. Lil John or Bass Assassin Sea Shad in Texas Roach on a 1/8 oz head over the sand, stepping to 1/4 oz when the SE breeze picks up around noon. If you are there for the 7:05 AM sunrise, a bone Spook Jr on the shallow bar is worth the first hour. Once the sun is high, twitch a MirrOdine XL on the deeper edge instead.

Live shrimp under a cork on the top of the tide, then switch when the 10:36 AM high turns over and they slide off into deeper water. Water is 92F - a live croaker on a light Carolina rig fished on the deep drop is the highest-percentage way to a solid trout after 10 AM. Finger mullet under a cork on the bay side for the reds.

S and SE at 9 to 13 kt is the wind that walks Gulf water into the pass, and three days of it has the throat running sandy green again. The bay side is still a shade off from Saturday's chop but it cleans up hour by hour.

Redfish will work the shorelines on the long afternoon fall to the 2:49 PM low; a gold spoon or cut mullet at the drains covers it. Flounder are on that same falling water - drag a 3/8 oz jighead slow across the sand.

Four days of sustained S and SE wind at 9 to 13 kt is exactly what puts green Gulf water in this pass. The tide backs it up: a long rise off the 3:17 AM low to the 10:31 AM high, then a five-hour uninterrupted fall to the 3:36 PM low that drops 0.76 ft - the strongest stretch of moving water in the forecast. Wind is 9 kt through mid-morning so lures are entirely workable, and lure and bait score identically, so it is your call. Storm chance is down to 22 percent.

The 10:00 to 11:00 AM minor lands on the high and the top of that five-hour fall - that is your hour. Bass Assassin Sea Shad or a Down South Super Model in Texas Roach or morning glory on a 1/4 oz head, cast up-current and let it sweep down the drop-off. Step to 3/8 oz when the SE breeze hits 13 kt in the afternoon. At 7:05 AM sunrise the water is still rising, and a bone Super Spook Jr on the shallow sand is worth the first hour before the sun kills it.

Fish the fall. Live shrimp under a popping cork drifted with the outgoing along the bar edge from 10:31 AM, or a live croaker on a 1/4 oz jighead worked down the face of the drop. With the water at 92F, a croaker fished deep beats a cork bait once the sun is up. Never wade out into that outgoing current - fish it from the sand, standing still.

Sustained S and SE flow since Saturday has been pushing clean Gulf water in on every incoming, so the pass is the best it has looked since Wednesday. The bay side is still a half-step more stained, but the difference is small now.

Falling water pulls bait out of the back lakes and the reds line up for it - live mullet under a cork or cut bait at the drains. Flounder are the real bonus on a five-hour fall; a slow-dragged jighead or a live mud minnow at the drain mouth.

Wind stays S and SE at 5 to 9 kt, the direction that has fed clean water in all week, and the tide is the best on paper - a rise into the 9:51 AM high, then a long fall to the 4:25 PM low at 0.08 ft. What holds it back is the solunar, with both majors at 3:22 AM and 3:47 PM sitting outside good light, plus 92F water and a 92F afternoon that will have the trout down and sulky by 10 AM. Lures work fine at this speed and bait is within a point, so either. Fish the first three hours hard and go home.

Sunrise at 7:06 AM with water still climbing to the 9:51 AM high - a bone or chrome/black Super Spook Jr on the shallow sand for the first hour, and mean it, because that is your window. After that go subsurface: a MirrOdine XL twitched on the drop, or a Down South Super Model in Texas Roach on a 1/4 oz head worked slow along the deeper edge. Once the long fall gets going after 9:51 AM, cast up-current and let the jig sweep - do not swim it, let the tide do the work.

Live shrimp under a cork at first light on the incoming, and expect that bite to be over by mid-morning. Then it is croaker - live, on a 1/4 oz jighead or a fish-finder rig, on the deep side of the drop where the fish sit out the heat. At 92F water a croaker out-fishes artificials badly after 10 AM and it is not close. Free-lined mullet in the bay-side guts if the reds are showing.

A full week of S and SE flow at moderate speed has this water as consistent as it gets - sandy green through the pass, with the cleanest of it riding in on the morning incoming. The bay side has caught up and is only marginally off.

The long fall to the 4:25 PM low drains bait out of the back and the reds will be at the drains through the afternoon - cut mullet or a live piggy perch. Flounder are worth targeting on that same outgoing with a slow jighead or a live finger mullet on the bottom.