Galveston Pier 21, TX

Two days of SSE at 7 kt built decent water, but Tuesday morning tears into it with N to NW wind at 10 to 15 mph and a 78 percent shot at thunderstorms right through the prime hours. The tide is the saving grace: high at 6:19 AM and a clean uninterrupted fall to 0.31 ft at 1:49 PM, so the throat will be pulling hard. Lures still work in the first two hours before the NW pushes mud out of the back bay, but bait is the safer call once it dirties. Watch the sky and get off the water when it darkens.

Start with a Super Spook Jr in bone at gray light over the sandbar edges while the water still has some green, then drop to a 3/8 oz jighead when the NW picks up and the current runs. Down South Super Model in Chicken on a Chain or plum with a chartreuse tail is the color for stained water. Keep it on the bottom along the drop-off and slow-drag it; do not try to hold a light head in that fall.

Live croaker on a 3/0 kahle, free-lined or with a single split shot, fished on the deep side of the sandbar. At 90 degree water croaker will out-fish anything you throw once the sun is up. If croaker are short, live shrimp under a popping cork worked along the color change on the bay side is the backup.

The SSE history left the Gulf side workable, but NW at 10 to 15 mph is exactly the direction that muddies San Luis Bay and it will only get worse through the morning. Expect a hard color change where the pass meets the bay by 10 AM.

Redfish will hold the stained side and eat well in dirty water - gold spoon or cracked crab on the bottom. Flounder are stacking on the guts with that hard fall, so drag a 1/4 oz jig with a white paddletail on the sand.

Wind swings back S at 15 mph overnight and settles SW at 10 mph through the morning, which starts flushing Tuesday's mud back out. Tide is the best of the first half of the week: high 1.48 ft at 6:03 AM dropping to 0.13 ft at 2:41 PM, nearly nine hours of uninterrupted fall over the bars. SW is a middling direction here - not the blowout NW was, not the cleaner that S is - so lures are workable but you are not going to see three feet down. Storms are still 54 percent through midday.

This is a soft-plastic drift day. Bass Assassin Sea Shad or Down South Super Model on a 1/4 oz jighead, Texas Roach or morning glory, worked along the windward edge of the bar as the tide dumps. If the first light water looks green, throw a MirrOdine XL in a natural mullet pattern over the shell before the sun gets high, then go back to plastic.

Live croaker free-lined into the moving water on the deep edge of the drop is the play with 90 degree water. Second choice is a live finger mullet under a rattling cork drifted with the fall on the Gulf side. Keep moving until you find the bait - the trout will be under it.

The overnight S wind at 15 mph pushes Gulf water back in, but SW through the morning keeps the bay side stirred. Fish the Gulf-facing edges where the color is best and leave the back bay alone.

Reds will run the shoreline with that long fall - topwater early, then live mullet on a fishfinder rig. Flounder are worth targeting on the last two hours of the drop in the guts.

Best water of the week so far - S at 5 to 10 mph with a mostly sunny sky means the pass finally clears up to sandy salty green. The problem is the tide: a single low at 3:40 PM and nothing else, so the water moves slow and steady rather than hard. That drops this from a great day to a decent one. The morning major from 5:14 to 7:14 AM lands right on sunrise, and that overlap is where your fish are.

Clean water and light wind means topwater. Super Spook Jr in bone or chrome and black walked over the bars from gray light until the sun hits the water, then a MirrOlure She Dog if they are slapping short. Follow with a Lil John or Sea Shad on a 1/8 oz head in Opening Night or a translucent natural - keep colors subtle, the water is clear enough that they will inspect it.

Live shrimp under a popping cork drifted with the slow current along the reef edges is the right rig for weak tide - the cork noise does the work the current is not doing. Once the sun is up and the water is at 90 degrees, switch to a live croaker on the bottom in the deepest hole you can reach safely.

Twenty-four hours of S wind at 5 to 10 kt has flushed the last of Tuesday's stain out and pushed clean Gulf water well into the pass. This is the direction that builds green water here and it is finally doing its job.

Reds will be visible in this clean water - sight-cast a weightless soft plastic or a gold spoon on the sand flats. Flounder are a low-percentage bet with tide this weak.

This is the one. High 1.76 ft at 3:28 AM falls all day to a minus 0.08 ft at 4:44 PM - thirteen hours of uninterrupted movement with no slack to kill it. Wind is S to SE at 5 mph, and three straight days of S flow means genuinely clean water. The morning major runs 6:14 to 8:14 AM with sunrise at 6:58, so peak solunar, low light and hard falling water all stack in the same hour. Lures are absolutely workable - this is the best artificial day of the run.

Be on the water before light with a Super Spook Jr in bone and walk it over the bar edges through the major. When the blowups stop, go to a Down South Super Model on a 1/8 oz jighead in Opening Night or a translucent natural pattern, and fish the drop-off on the falling water. A MirrOdine XL suspended over the shell is the sleeper if they short-strike the topwater. Clear water means finesse colors - leave the plum and chartreuse in the box.

Live croaker on a 3/0 kahle, free-lined into the current and allowed to swim down the drop, is the biggest-trout rig on the coast right now with water at 90 degrees. Live shrimp under a popping cork works the first two hours in the shallower water, but the croaker gets the better fish once the sun is up.

Sustained S and SE wind at 5 to 10 kt since Tuesday night has pushed clean Gulf water deep into the pass. The bay side lags a shade sandier but is still fully fishable.

Reds will be running the drain edges hard on this fall - gold spoon or a weightless soft plastic. Flounder will stage in the guts on the back half of the drop; a slow-dragged 1/4 oz jig with a white paddletail will find them.

A carbon copy of Friday, maybe a touch better on the tide. High 1.83 ft at 4:25 AM drops all the way to minus 0.11 ft at 5:53 PM - the strongest single fall of the week. Wind is E to SE at 5 mph all day, which is nothing, and the water has had four days of S and SE flow to clean up. The major from 7:17 to 9:17 AM sits just after sunrise, so you get low light first and peak solunar second. Lures and bait both work; pick your poison.

Topwater first light - Super Spook Jr in bone, or a She Dog if you want more noise over the deeper shell. Once the sun clears the horizon, a Lil John or Bass Assassin Sea Shad on a 1/8 oz head in a natural translucent color, worked slow along the deep side of the bar. In water this clean use light fluorocarbon leader and lengthen your cast - they will spook in the shallows on a flat calm morning.

Live croaker free-lined on the deep edge of the drop-off is the play once the water heats past 85, and it is at 90. Early, before the sun, live shrimp under a popping cork along the reef edges will get plenty of eats. Keep the bait alive and lively - clean water means they inspect it.

Four consecutive days of S and SE flow at 5 to 10 kt has the pass as clean as it gets in early September. Even the bay side should show a green tint rather than the usual stain.

Sight-casting weather for reds on the sand flats - a weightless soft plastic or a gold spoon. Flounder will be on the guts through the afternoon drop to that minus tide.

Tide is as good as Saturday - high 1.83 ft at 5:03 AM falling to minus 0.10 ft at 7:04 PM, a full-day pull. Wind goes W then NW in the morning, but only at 5 mph, and 5 kt of NW does not blow this system out - it just takes a little polish off the bay side. Major runs 8:20 to 10:20 AM, later than ideal, so fish the low-light hour first for the topwater bite and then work the major on plastics. Still a real day.

Work a Super Spook Jr in bone through first light, then switch to a Down South Super Model or Sea Shad on a 1/8 to 1/4 oz head through the 8:20 to 10:20 major. Step the color a shade darker than Saturday - Chicken on a Chain or Texas Roach - to account for the slight sand in the water. Keep it on the deep edge where the current is doing the work.

Live croaker on the bottom in the deeper water once the sun is up; at 90 degrees the fish are sulking deep and croaker is the only thing that reliably drags them off the bottom. Live shrimp under a popping cork along the color change first thing is worth an hour before you commit.

The overnight swing to W and NW is light enough at 5 mph that it barely touches the water, but it will pull a little of the back-bay stain toward the pass by mid-morning. The Gulf side holds its color all day.

Reds will work the drains on this long fall - live mullet on a fishfinder rig or a gold spoon. Flounder are a good bet on the back half of the drop toward that evening minus tide.

Tide is still excellent - high 1.77 ft at 4:28 AM falling clean to minus 0.05 ft at 8:08 PM with no slack in between. What pulls it down is a W to WSW wind at 8 to 10 kt through the whole morning, which is the wrong direction and enough speed to put sand back in the water. The major does not open until 9:20 AM, well after the good light. Lures still work, but you are fishing a lesser version of the weekend. Wind swings back S and builds to 14 kt after dark.

Fish the first hour with a Super Spook Jr in chrome and black - the darker back shows better against a west-wind sky. Then a Down South Super Model or Sea Shad on a 1/4 oz head, plum with chartreuse tail or morning glory, dragged on the deep edge where the fall runs hardest. The heavier head keeps you in contact once the west wind puts a belly in your line.

Live croaker free-lined on the drop is the highest-percentage bait with the water at 90 degrees. If the west wind stains it up by mid-morning, go to live shrimp under a rattling cork - the noise and scent still get found when a soft plastic disappears.

W and WSW at 8 to 10 kt through the morning will undo some of the weekend's clarity, worst on the bay side. The throat holds green longer because the falling tide is dragging Gulf water through it.

Reds will feed well in the off-color water - cut mullet on the bottom near the drains or a gold spoon along the shoreline. Flounder should be good on the long afternoon fall.