East Matagorda Bay, TX

Two days of SSE and S wind averaging 5 kt has set the water up right, and the NW then W bend from 8 to 10 AM is only 5 mph - that is a breeze, not a blowout, and it will not touch clarity here. Tide climbs to 0.89 ft at 10:41 AM then falls uninterrupted for eleven hours to 0.39 ft at 9:44 PM, and that long steady fall is the whole play. Wind under 10 kt all day means lures are fully workable, and with clean water and no chop neither method has an edge - EITHER stands. The catch is 93-degree water, so the middle of the day is a waste of daylight.

Fish the last of that long fall into dark. Start with a Super Spook Jr in bone over the outer bar and switch to chrome/black once the light goes flat - at 4 to 9 kt the surface will be slick enough that a walked bait carries a long way. If they blow up and miss, follow with a Down South Super Model in Chicken on a Chain on a 1/8 oz head, cast up-current and let it swing down the drop. Keep it slow. In 93-degree water the fish will not chase far off the bottom.

Live croaker free-lined on a 3/0 kahle with just enough split shot to hold bottom, fished on the deep edge of the bar where the current sweeps. If croaker are scarce, a live shrimp under a popping cork worked along the bay-side flats will do it. Stay on the bay side of the bars and out of the moving channel water.

A 48-hour SSE mean at 154 degrees and 5.4 kt has pushed Gulf water in without kicking up sand. The bay side stays a shade off from the runoff and the brief W breeze mid-morning, but the throat and the beachfront guts should be clean enough to sight a lure.

Redfish will work the guts hard on that afternoon fall - a gold spoon or a cork-and-shrimp rig at the mouth of a drain gets them. Flounder stack on the down-current side of the same drains once the water is really running, so drag a 1/4 oz jighead slow along the sand.

This is the cleanest setup of the week - S wind at 4 to 9 kt all day, holding the same direction that has been building green water for 48 hours straight, with clarity scoring the top of the stretch. Water rises steadily all morning to 0.88 ft at 1:00 PM, so you have moving water at first light and it keeps moving, and the major from 10:20 AM to 12:20 PM lands right on the strongest part of the push. Light wind and clear water is lure territory outright, though live bait fishes just as well here, so EITHER is the honest call. Only knock is 93-degree water shutting the bite down by mid-morning.

Topwater first - Super Spook Jr in bone at grey light, walked over the sand and shell edges while the water is still cool. Clean green water means natural and translucent: go to a MirrOdine XL in a natural mullet finish as the sun comes up, then a Bass Assassin Sea Shad or Lil John in Opening Night or Texas Roach on a 1/8 oz head worked along the drop-off. Keep the retrieve deliberate and let it tick bottom. When the sun gets high the fish slide deep and quit - do not fight it.

Live croaker is the ace once that water heats up past mid-morning - free-line one on a 3/0 circle down the deeper edge and let it swim. Early, a live shrimp or finger mullet under a popping cork over the grass and sand transition on the bay side will get worked over. Pop it twice, let it sit five seconds.

A straight S flow at 175 degrees over the last 24 hours on top of an SSE 48-hour mean means Gulf water is filling the pass with nothing stirring it. The Gulf side will be trout-green; the bay side holds a little more color but is still very fishable.

Redfish will be shallow on the incoming, pushing up onto the flats behind the bars - a cut mullet on a fish-finder rig or a weedless spoon covers ground. Flounder should be laid up on the sandy edges where the current bends around a point.

Wind swings SE at 4 to 9 kt, the best direction there is for this pass, and clarity is the highest number of the week. The knock is tide - a slow rise all morning to 0.87 ft at 2:48 PM, which is movement but lazy movement, and the major does not fire until 11:12 AM when the sun is already cooking. Lures are entirely workable in that light SE breeze so EITHER holds. Storm chances jump to 45 percent from 8 AM on, so get it done early and watch the sky.

Work a MirrOlure She Dog across the bar edge at first light - the light SE ripple gives it just enough surface texture. When the topwater bite fades, drop to a Down South Super Model in Texas Roach or a Lil John in morning glory on a 1/8 oz head and swim it just off the bottom on the incoming. Clean water calls for translucent colors, not loud ones. If lightning shows, you are done - this pass is no place to gamble on that.

Live shrimp under a rattling cork drifted along the incoming rip is the easy money early. Once the water warms, switch to a live croaker free-lined on a 3/0 kahle down the deeper sand edge - in 93-degree water croaker will beat plastic badly by mid-morning. Keep your feet on the bar and off the channel side.

Straight SE flow on top of a 48-hour SSE mean keeps clean Gulf water pressing into the pass. If those thunderstorms dump, expect the bay side to color up fast while the throat and the surf stay green.

Reds will follow the incoming up into the guts through the morning - a chunk of fresh mullet on the bottom near a drain is the low-effort play. Flounder come off the drop as the water builds; a slow-dragged 1/4 oz jighead on the sand picks them up.

Water quality is still excellent - S wind at 4 to 9 kt on a week of southerly flow, no chance of a blowout - but the tide is the weakest of the front half, one long slow rise to a single 0.84 ft high at 4:07 PM with nothing else all day. That is barely a crawl, so you need to fish the end of it rather than the middle. Wind is nothing and clarity is high, so lures stay fully in play and EITHER holds, but the 93-degree water means the middle of the day is dead. This is a late-afternoon-into-dark trip, not a dawn trip.

Fish the top of the rise and the first of the turn. A Super Spook Jr in bone or a MirrOlure She Dog over the bar as the light drops, then a Bass Assassin Sea Shad in Opening Night on a 1/8 oz head slow-rolled along the drop-off. On slick calm clear water go lighter and quieter - long casts, small profile, no wading noise. The minor from 6:50 to 7:50 PM lines up with sunset at 7:34, and that is the best hour of the day.

With water this hot and the tide this lazy, live croaker free-lined on a 3/0 circle down the deep edge is the highest-percentage bait, worked slow. Live shrimp under a cork will still take fish on the shallow sand late in the evening when the water cools a degree or two. Fish the bay side of the bars only.

Four days of unbroken S and SE flow at single-digit speeds has the whole system clean, with the Gulf side and the bay side closer in color than they have been all week. Slick calm water also means the fish get spooky - lengthen your casts.

Redfish are the better target on a dead tide - work the shorelines and drains with cut mullet on the bottom and let them come to you. Flounder will be scattered with this little current; concentrate on any place the slow incoming pinches around a point.

The tide quits on you. High of 0.7 ft at 5:23 AM falls to 0.65 ft at 12:13 PM - five hundredths of a foot over nearly seven hours, which is slack water dressed up as a tide - and the afternoon rise to 0.81 ft is barely better. On top of that the wind bends SW through the morning, the one direction that pulls dirty bay water back toward the pass instead of clean Gulf water in. Add 93-degree water and you have no current, no bait movement, and a bite that never turns on. Lures are technically workable at 4 to 9 kt, so EITHER stands on paper, but neither method fixes dead water. Save the gas and go Saturday.

If you go anyway, ignore the morning and fish the afternoon rise toward the 5:20 PM high. A Lil John or Bass Assassin Sea Shad in plum/chartreuse on a 1/8 oz head, worked painfully slow on the bottom along the deepest edge you can reach from the sand. Topwater is a long shot with this little current, but a bone Super Spook Jr right at sunset is worth twenty minutes. Expect a grind.

Scent is your only real edge on dead water - live croaker free-lined on a 3/0 circle down the deep edge, or a live shrimp under a popping cork with plenty of noise to call fish in from a distance. Popping the cork matters more than usual today. Stay well back from the channel.

The SW component through the morning is the first off-direction of the week and it will start to pull stained bay water toward the pass. It is light enough that the throat holds sandy green, but the bay side loses a step compared to Tuesday and Wednesday.

This is a redfish and flounder salvage day. Cut mullet on the bottom in the guts for reds, and a live mud minnow on a light jighead dragged across the sand for flounder.

Wind comes back S at 9 to 13 kt, which is the right direction and enough breeze to put a working chop on the windward edges without hurting clarity. Tide improves over Friday - a fall from the 0.73 ft high at 5:07 AM down to 0.57 ft at 12:54 PM, so you have water leaving at first light, then a better rise to 0.78 ft at 6:53 PM. That is the best combination of moving water and low light in the back half of the week. At 13 kt lure control is still fine, so EITHER holds, but 93-degree water still shuts the mid-day down.

Drift the windward edge with a Down South Super Model in Chicken on a Chain on a 3/8 oz head - go heavy enough to keep contact through that 13 kt breeze and the current. Where the chop is stacking against a bar, a Bass Assassin Sea Shad in plum/chartreuse gets seen. Topwater still works right at grey light: a chrome/black Super Spook Jr covers water and the chop hides your approach. Keep the rod tip low to cut line sag.

A windy drift is prime for a live shrimp under a popping cork - let the breeze push you along the sand edge and cover ground. Once the sun is up, live croaker free-lined on a 3/0 circle down the deep side of the bar takes the better fish in this heat. Do not wade toward the channel on that morning fall.

Sustained S wind at 9 to 13 kt keeps Gulf water coming but starts putting sand in suspension along the shallow edges. The Gulf side stays greener; the bay side will be a touch off with the chop working the flats.

Reds should be in the guts and along the wind-blown shoreline where the chop stirs bait - a cork and shrimp or a gold spoon both work. Flounder hold on the down-current side of every drain during the morning fall.

Best tide of the back half - a real fall from the 0.76 ft high at 5:00 AM down to 0.5 ft at 1:32 PM, so water is moving out under you all morning, then a long steady climb to 0.77 ft at 10:56 PM. S to SSE at roughly 10 to 13 kt is the correct direction, though days of sustained breeze put more sand in the water than earlier in the week. That chop makes it a soft-plastic drift rather than a finesse day, but lures stay workable, so EITHER holds. Fish it early - by noon the water is hot and the bite is over.

Fish the falling water on the windward side with a Down South Super Model or Bass Assassin Sea Shad in Chicken on a Chain or plum/chartreuse on a 3/8 oz head - in stained water and chop you want a louder color and enough weight to hold the bottom. Cast up-current, let it swing through the sweep, and set on anything that feels heavy. First thirty minutes of light, a chrome/black Super Spook Jr is worth throwing over the bar.

Live shrimp under a popping cork drifted with the wind along the outgoing rip - the noise and scent cut right through the stained water where plastic disappears. Later in the morning, free-line a live croaker on a 3/0 circle down the deeper edge. Fish the bay side of the bar and never cross a gut on this falling tide.

Steady S and SSE flow keeps Gulf water pressing in, but at 10 to 13 kt sustained the shallow edges start giving up sand. Expect the throat to fish salty green and the bay-side shoreline to be noticeably more off-color.

That long morning fall pulls bait out of the marsh drains and reds will be sitting on them - cut mullet on the bottom or a shrimp under a cork. Flounder set up in the same spots; drag a 1/4 oz head slow across the sand just outside the drain mouth.