Galveston Pier 21, TX

Two days of light SSW at 3-4 kt has not blown anything out, but it has not pushed clean Gulf water in either, so the pass is middling and the bay side is soft. Tide is the reason to go - strong movement off the 4:35 AM high with the fall into the 8:46 AM low landing right on sunrise at 7:00 AM. Wind is nothing, 4-9 kt swinging W then NW mid-morning, so lures are fully workable even if the water is not pretty; that light-air, average-clarity mix is why this scores as either lures or bait rather than one clearly beating the other. The 1.6 ft low is a shallow fall, so the movement is real but not violent.

Start dark and get right at first light: a bone or chrome/black Super Spook Jr walked over the bar edges while the water is still falling, and give it eight or ten casts in one spot before moving. When they quit blowing up, switch to a 1/4 oz jighead with a Down South Super Model in Chicken on a Chain or plum/chartreuse, cast up-current and let it swing along the drop. Sandy green wants some flash but not neon - Texas Roach is the safe middle. Off the topwater by 9:00.

Live shrimp under a popping cork, 18 to 24 inches of 20 lb leader, drifted along the outside of the second bar on the falling tide. If the trout go quiet after 9:00, switch to a free-lined finger mullet on a 2/0 kahle down the deeper edge - no weight, let the current carry it.

Light SSW at 3.0 kt over 48 hours has left the throat sandy green where the Gulf pushes in but the West Bay side of the pass stays off-colour with no onshore wind to clean it. Expect a visible colour change line along the sandbar edge - fish it.

Reds will stack on the last of that fall to the 9:05 PM 0.07 ft low along the sand pockets on the bay side. Flounder are worth a shot on a 3/8 oz jighead dragged slow on the sand-to-mud transitions.

The wind finally comes SE at 4-9 kt and that is the direction that builds green water at this pass - it is only one night of it, but it stacks on top of the best tide of the week. The 4:50 AM high dumps into a 9:13 AM low then climbs all the way to 2:26 PM, so you get uninterrupted movement through the whole low-light stretch. Wind under 10 kt means full lure control and topwater is on the table; the water is clean enough for artificials and calm enough that bait is not needed, which is why it grades either way. Storms are the one wrinkle - 53 to 69 percent through the morning, so watch the radar and get off the sand when it lights up.

This is the morning to throw a topwater and mean it. Bone Super Spook Jr or a MirrOlure She Dog in chrome/black across the bar tops right at 7:01 sunrise, walked slow with long pauses on the falling water. Back it up with a MirrOdine XL in a natural mullet pattern for the ones that swirl and miss. Once the sun is up, go 1/8 oz jighead with a Bass Assassin Sea Shad in Opening Night or a Lil John in morning glory - clean water means translucent and natural, not loud.

Live croaker on a 3/0 kahle, free-lined or with a single split shot, pitched to the deeper cuts along the bar edge - in 89 degree water croaker is the big-trout bait and it will out-fish plastic once the sun gets high. Live shrimp under a cork works the first two hours if you cannot get croaker.

Overnight SE flow at 5-10 kt is pushing Gulf water in, so the throat and the Gulf-side bars should be the cleanest they have been all week. The bay side lags but is only a shade behind - a light stain rather than mud.

Slot reds should be running the guts on that morning fall - a gold spoon or a Sea Shad in Texas Roach gets bit. Flounder are moving on the drain edges; slow-drag a 1/4 oz jighead where the sand meets the shell.

Second night of onshore SE flow then S all day at a dead-flat 4 kt - the water should hold that clean push and the pass will lay down slick. The 5:07 AM high falls all the way to a 9:55 AM 1.18 ft low, a long uninterrupted morning drain that carries right through sunrise at 7:01. Four knots of wind is as good as lure conditions get here, so artificials are absolutely workable; bait scores just as well only because the water is 89 degrees and croaker starts to matter late. Rain chance sits 37 to 46 percent most of the day, so plan around it.

Slick calm and clean water means downsize and go quiet. Bone Super Spook Jr at grey light, but the moment the surface bite fades drop to a 1/8 oz jighead with a Down South Super Model in Texas Roach or a Lil John in morning glory and fish it with a slow lift-and-fall along the bar drop. Long casts and light leader - 20 lb fluoro - because they will see everything in this water. A MirrOdine XL twitched over the deeper edge is the sleeper.

Live croaker on a 3/0 kahle, free-lined into the deeper cuts and along the drop, is the play from 9:00 on - the water is 89 degrees and the trout go deep and sulky by mid-morning, and croaker will beat plastic badly in that stretch. Live shrimp under a cork over the shallow bar for the first light hour.

Two straight days of SE and S under 10 kt with no north or west component means Gulf water has had time to seat itself in the pass. Bay side and Gulf side should look close to the same for once.

Reds on the flat behind the bar during the long fall, and this is a good flounder morning - the slow drain pulls bait off the shallows onto the drop edges. Drag a 1/4 oz head with a Sea Shad.

Wind backs SW at 4-9 kt for the morning, which is the direction that starts putting bay water back into the pass, so expect a step down in colour from Thursday. Tide is the weaker part - the 5:24 AM high falls to a 10:40 AM 0.94 ft low, a decent slide but slower and later than earlier in the week. Wind stays under 10 kt so lures still work fine, and both methods grade even; you are just fishing slightly dirtier water on a slightly softer tide. Storm chance runs 39 to 43 percent through the morning.

Go a shade louder with the stain coming back. Chrome/black Super Spook Jr at first light, then a 1/4 oz jighead with a Down South Super Model in plum/chartreuse or Chicken on a Chain - dark topside with a bright tail is what you want when visibility drops. Work the colour change where the clean throat water meets the stained bay water; that seam is the whole game on a day like this. Slow the retrieve down and keep it near bottom after 9:00.

Live shrimp under a rattling popping cork on the bay side where the water is off-colour - the rattle and the scent do the work the plastic cannot. Croaker free-lined on a 3/0 kahle in the deeper throat water once the sun is high and the trout drop off the bars.

Morning SW flow works against the clean push and puts a stain back on the West Bay side of the pass. The throat and the Gulf-side bars hold sandy green because the tide is still bringing water in through the afternoon.

Stained bay-side water is redfish water - a live mullet under a cork or a gold spoon along the shoreline pockets. Flounder should be on the drain mouths as the tide bottoms out near 10:40 AM.

S and SW at 9 kt most of the day - onshore enough to hold the water together but with a SW lean early that keeps the bay side dirty. The 5:39 AM high falls to a 11:26 AM 0.73 ft low, which is a long slow drain rather than a hard one, so you get all-morning movement without much punch. Nine knots is easy soft-plastic drifting weather so lures are workable and the two methods stay even. Saturday crowds will be on the sand, so get there early.

Nine knots is drifting wind - work the windward edge of the bar with a 1/4 oz jighead and a Bass Assassin Sea Shad in Opening Night, letting the wind push the drift and keeping the line tight enough to feel the tick. Bone Super Spook Jr for the first thirty minutes of light before the breeze puts a chop on. If the surface stays slick in a lull, a MirrOlure She Dog will pull a bigger fish off the bar top.

Live shrimp under a popping cork is made for this - 9 kt of wind gives you a natural drift along the bar edge and the cork does the popping for you. Keep it 24 inches under and drift the outside line. Free-lined croaker in the deeper water once the sun is up.

Steady S at 9 kt keeps Gulf water working in, but the early SW at 9 kt puts a light stain on the West Bay side. The throat holds the better colour all day.

Reds will be working the windward bar edge with the drift - same jighead, Texas Roach. Flounder on the sand-to-shell edges as the water bottoms out late morning.

S at 4-9 kt turning SE by mid-morning with no west component all day - that is the clean-water direction and the water should be back to its best. The 5:49 AM high starts a long fall that runs all the way to a 12:12 PM 0.55 ft low, uninterrupted movement through the entire fishable morning, and 0.9 ft of drop is real current over the bars. Wind under 10 kt means full lure control from first light; both methods grade close because the heat, not the conditions, is the limiter. Rain chance 31 percent, background summer stuff.

Long fall and clean water - start with a bone Super Spook Jr walked over the bar tops at 7:03 sunrise, then transition to a 1/8 to 1/4 oz jighead with a Down South Super Model in Texas Roach or a Lil John in morning glory as the sun climbs. Fish the current seams where the drain water pushes off the bar into the deeper cut; that is where they sit on a long slow fall. Natural and translucent, not loud - they can see it all in this water.

Free-lined live croaker on a 3/0 kahle down the deeper edge is the mid-morning bait once the water hits 89 and the trout sulk on the bottom. Live shrimp under a cork on the shallow bar for the first two hours while they are still up.

No west or north component in the wind for two days running and a steady S to SE beam means Gulf water sits well up into the pass. Bay side is a shade greener than it has been but still lags the throat.

That long drain pulls bait out of the back and reds will set up at the drain mouths - live mullet under a cork or a gold spoon. Good flounder tide too as the water empties toward noon.

Wind builds SSE to 14 kt overnight and holds 11 to 13 kt through daylight before easing - onshore, so the water quality holds, but that is the windiest morning of the stretch and it puts real chop and line sag on you. Tide is strong: the 5:44 AM high runs down to a 12:59 PM 0.42 ft low, over an inch of drop per hour all morning. Fourteen knots is still workable soft-plastic drifting weather so lures are on, but bait tolerates the belly in the line better and that is why the two grade close with a slight edge to bait. Skip the topwater unless there is a lull.

Go heavier to beat the wind - 3/8 oz jighead with a Down South Super Model in Chicken on a Chain or plum/chartreuse, fished on a tight line with the rod tip low so the chop does not put a belly in it. Drift the windward edge and let the wind do the work. A MirrOdine XL casts well into this breeze and stays in the strike zone. Keep the topwater in the box unless it lays down.

This is the day the popping cork earns its keep - live shrimp 24 inches under a rattling cork, drifted along the windward bar edge, and the chop keeps it working on its own. Free-lined croaker in the deeper cut for the bigger fish once the sun is up.

Sustained SSE keeps Gulf water coming so the colour holds, but 13 to 14 kt of wind puts enough chop on the shallow bars to stir sand into the top of the water column. Deeper edges stay cleaner than the flats.

Reds like the wind-driven chop on the bar edges - same 3/8 oz jighead and a dark plastic. Flounder are a long shot in this much water movement; fish the leeward drain mouths if you want one.