Galveston Pier 21, TX

Two days of light S and SSE have kept clean water feeding in, and nothing north or west has been strong enough to dirty it - 5 kt out of the W at daybreak will not move the needle in this system. The tide is the reason to go: one uninterrupted fall from 1.77 ft at 4:28 AM all the way to -0.05 ft at 8:08 PM, already dumping at sunrise. Wind under 5 kt means topwater and a 1/8 oz jighead are both fully workable, so either method scores - lures at daylight, croaker once it heats up.

Start dark with a Super Spook Jr in bone on the sand off the second bar - flat water and a hard fall, walk it slow with long pauses. When the sun gets up, switch to a Down South Super Model on a 1/8 oz head in Chicken on a Chain and swim it with the current across the drop, or work a MirrOdine XL in chrome and black through the guts. Cast up-current and let the fall do the work. If you are getting short strikes, downsize to a Lil John in Texas Roach.

Water is 89.4 F, so live croaker is hard to beat once the sun is up - free-line a lively one on a 3/0 kahle with a small split shot and let it swim down the edge of the drop. Early, a live shrimp under a popping cork worked over the reef shell on the bay side will get bit. Fish from the bank or the shallow sand only - do not wade toward the channel on a fall this long and this hard.

The 48 hour SSE mean at 5.5 kt has fed clean water into the pass but slowly, so expect sandy green over the bars with a shade of stain where the bay drains in. The light W and NW hours before noon are too weak to dirty anything.

Reds will be stacked where the falling water pours off the flats into the guts - a gold spoon, or cut mullet on a fish finder rig on the sand. Flounder are starting to stage for the fall run; drag a 1/4 oz jighead and a white paddletail slow along the drains.

Clarity is the same sandy green as Monday - light S and SSE history, nothing dirty behind it - but the tide falls apart in the morning. It only drops from 1.69 ft at 4:35 AM to 1.60 ft at 8:46 AM, which is four hours of dead water right through first light. The real move is the 1.63 ft fall off the 12:45 PM high, and by then it is 90 degrees. Wind stays under 10 kt so lures are workable and bait scores even, but heat and slack push this one to an evening trip.

Skip the dead morning and hit the evening fall. Bass Assassin Sea Shad or Down South Super Model on a 1/4 oz head, Opening Night or plum and chartreuse, swum along the windward edge of the bar as the water drains. Last hour of light, put a MirrOlure She Dog over the shallow sand and make some noise - low sun and 89 degree water means they will come up late. Slow roll it, do not burn it.

Live croaker free-lined on a 2/0 or 3/0 kahle down the deeper edge is the play in 89 degree water - the fish sulk deep until dark. Live shrimp under a rattling cork drifted along the reef takes over the last hour of light. Stay out of the current and fish from the sand.

A 24 hour mean of 5.1 kt out of the S keeps clean water trickling in, but a few W hours mid-morning will put a little color on the bay side. Gulf side stays the better looking water all day.

Reds will feed on the evening fall along the shorelines - free-lined finger mullet under a cork, or a soft plastic in morning glory. Flounder pick up at the mouths of the drains as the water pulls out after dark.

Best water of the week. Forty-eight hours of S and SE with no north component at all, and the wind holds S to SE at 4-9 kt all day - that is the direction that builds green water in this pass. Tide is the strongest of the stretch: a fall to 1.41 ft at 9:13 AM, a long rise to 1.69 ft at 2:26 PM, then 1.43 ft of drop straight through to 9:55 PM. Light wind and clean water means lures are fully workable, and 89 degree water still makes croaker deadly - genuinely either.

Evening fall, clean water, dying light - Super Spook Jr in bone or chrome and black over the sand, walked steady across the bar. Follow it with a Down South Super Model on a 1/8 oz head in Texas Roach, or a Lil John in plum and chartreuse, cast up-current and swung with the drop. Keep colors natural and translucent; this water is clean enough that they will inspect it. Storms run 41 percent mid-day, so watch the sky and get off the water when it builds.

Free-lined live croaker on a 3/0 kahle along the drop is meat and potatoes in 89 degree water, especially 2:30 to 6:00 PM. As the light dies, switch to live shrimp under a popping cork over the reef and shell. Fish it from the bank and the shallow sand - the fall after 2:26 PM runs hard and the guts are not worth crossing.

A steady SE feed on top of a 153 degree 48 hour mean has cleaned this up about as well as it gets in September. Gulf side will be the prettiest water; the bay side lags a shade sandier but is still clean enough to fish on sight.

Best redfish day of the week too - cut mullet on the bottom where the fall dumps out of the guts, or a live finger mullet under a cork along the shoreline. Flounder will sit on the down-current side of the drains as the tide pulls.

Water is still good - a run of S and SW at 4-9 kt with no real north in it keeps this sandy green - but the tide gives some back. The morning only drops 0.36 ft, from 1.54 ft at 5:07 AM to 1.18 ft at 9:55 AM, so first light is soft. The evening makes up for it: 1.68 ft at 3:51 PM falling to 0.5 ft at 10:40 PM on the new moon. Light wind keeps lures honest, but 89 degree water tilts the middle of the day to croaker - either method, just pick your hour.

Work the evening drop. MirrOdine XL in chrome and black along the deeper edge, or a Bass Assassin Sea Shad in morning glory on a 1/4 oz head bumped down the slope. New moon dark comes on fast, so put a Super Spook Jr in bone over the shallow sand for the last thirty minutes of light. Vary the retrieve until you find them - soft tide means they will not chase far.

Live croaker free-lined down the drop through the afternoon, then live shrimp or a finger mullet under a popping cork over the shell as it gets dark. New moon usually means a good night bite off the lighted bank - keep the bait moving with the current and stay well off the channel edge.

SW at 4 kt through the morning is far too light to blow this system out, but it does nothing to clean it either, so expect sandy green over the bars. Gulf side stays a notch clearer than the bay side.

Reds should work the shoreline on the evening fall - free-lined mullet or a gold spoon. Flounder are staging; a live mud minnow or shrimp on a light Carolina rig near the drains beats a lure for them right now.

Clarity is fine and the wind is nothing - SW at 4-9 kt will not hurt water that has had two days of S behind it. The problem is the tide: 1.5 ft at 5:24 AM down to 0.94 ft at 10:40 AM is a 0.56 ft fall over five hours, the weakest movement of the whole stretch, and it goes slack through the hottest part of a 91 degree day. Lures are workable on paper and dead in practice when nothing is pulling over the bars. Save the day and fish Wednesday or Saturday instead.

If you go anyway, wait on the drop off the 5:07 PM high and fish light - a Lil John or Down South Super Model on a 1/8 oz head in Texas Roach, worked slow and low along the deepest edge you can reach. A Super Spook Jr in bone at last light is your one honest shot at a decent fish. Do not expect a topwater grind in dead water.

Bait is the only fair way to catch on a day like this - free-lined live croaker on the deep edge, or live shrimp under a cork drifted with whatever current you can find. Fish the last two hours of light. Even then, keep expectations low.

Two days of light S and SW leave the water the same sandy green it has been, but with 0.56 ft of range there is no current to keep it stirred and clean over the reefs. Bay side will look flat and tired.

Reds are the better target - cut mullet, or a live piggy perch under a cork along the shoreline where the little bit of fall drains out. Flounder are not worth chasing with this little water movement.

S at 9 kt all day and all night is exactly the direction you want, and clarity is the second best of the week behind Wednesday. Tide beats Friday - 1.47 ft at 5:39 AM falling to 0.73 ft at 11:26 AM, so water is moving at sunrise and keeps pulling through mid-morning. Nine knots is prime soft plastic drifting along the windward edge, and bait scores nearly the same, so take the morning and be off before the heat.

Drift the windward edge with a Down South Super Model on a 1/4 oz head in Chicken on a Chain or plum and chartreuse - the 9 kt chop lets you get close before they spook. Start at sunrise with a Super Spook Jr in bone over the shallow sand while the fall is fresh, then go subsurface as the sun climbs. Cast into the wind-driven current line off the bar and let the plastic sweep across the drop.

A live shrimp under a rattling popping cork drifted along the bar with the 9 kt wind is the classic rig for this - it covers water and the rattle calls them in the chop. Switch to free-lined live croaker after 9:00 AM when they slide deeper. Stay on the shallow sand, never toward the channel.

A solid 24 hours of S at 9 kt keeps pushing Gulf water in and there is no north or west in the forecast to undo it. Cleanest water will be the Gulf side of the throat, with a slight stain where the bay empties out.

Reds cruising the sand will eat a gold spoon or a free-lined mullet on the falling water. Flounder are moving toward the pass for fall - work a live mud minnow slow on the bottom near the drains.

S at 15 kt in the morning is the top end of comfortable, but it is the right direction - days of S and SE have this water in decent shape, so the wind builds it rather than ruins it. Tide is solid: 1.47 ft at 5:49 AM falling to 0.55 ft at 12:12 PM, moving at sunrise and pulling all morning. At 15 kt you get line sag and less feel, so a cork holds up better than a light jighead - lean bait, but a heavier head keeps lures in the game.

Go heavier to beat the wind - 3/8 oz head with a Down South Super Model or Bass Assassin Sea Shad in Opening Night or plum and chartreuse, rod tip low to cut the line belly. Fish the windward side where the chop stacks bait against the bar. First light, a MirrOlure She Dog will call them up out of the rough water - the rattles carry when a quiet bait would not.

This is the day the cork earns its keep - live shrimp or a small croaker under a rattling popping cork, cast down-wind and drifted along the bar. The chop and the rattle do the work when a lure gets hard to feel. Keep your feet on the sand; 15 kt of S wind on a falling tide makes the guts and the channel edge no place to be.

Fifteen knots of S is a clean-water wind here, but it will stir sand off the bars and knock visibility back to sandy green. Bay side will be choppier and dingier than the Gulf side.

Reds like a chop - free-line a finger mullet or a piggy perch along the windward shoreline on the morning fall. Flounder will tuck out of the current behind the bar; a live mud minnow on a light Carolina rig is the way to reach them.