San Luis Pass, TX

Two days of SSE-to-S wind at roughly 5 kt left this pass clean, and Monday's light W-to-NW puff at 4 kt is far too weak to dirty it - 5 kt out of the northwest does nothing here. The tide is the whole story: one uninterrupted fall from the 1.68 ft high at 4:36 AM down to 0.01 ft at 7:40 PM, so the bars and the drop-off run water all day long. Wind never touches 10 kt until late, so lure control is easy and the 9:21 AM major lands in the hard part of the fall. Baseline calls it EITHER and I agree - lures own the first three hours, croaker takes over once that 88.9 degree water heats up.

Be on the guts before light with a bone Super Spook Jr, walked slow along the first bar - a flat 4 kt morning is made for topwater. Once the sun clears the dunes, drop to a 1/8 oz jighead and a Down South Super Model in Chicken on a Chain, cast up-current and swim it back with the fall. If the sandy tint thickens through mid-morning, switch to a plum/chartreuse Bass Assassin Sea Shad on 3/16 oz and slow-roll the drop-off edge.

Live croaker on a 1/0 kahle, free-lined or with a single 1/4 oz slip weight, pitched to the deep side of the second bar. At 88.9 degree water that bait beats everything else on a hook after about 10 AM. Live shrimp under a rattling cork covers the shallower bar edges early while the fall is hardest.

Forty-eight hours of SSE at 5.5 kt has held clean water against the pass, and the 4 kt westerly swing overnight is not enough velocity to stir the bay. Gulf side will be the better looking water; the bay side back toward the flats carries a light stain that will thicken slightly on the last of the fall.

Redfish will work the back-lake drains on the last half of that long fall - gold spoon or a Texas Roach paddletail on 1/4 oz. Flounder are on the sand pockets behind the first bar; drag a 3/8 oz head slow and give them a three-count.

Best day of the seven. Wind stays SW to SE at 4 to 9 kt - never enough to muddy anything, and the SE swing after noon is the direction that pulls Gulf water into the throat. The morning tide barely breathes, only 0.19 ft between the 4:59 AM high and the 9:45 AM low, so ignore it; the real water is the 1.32 ft fall from the 12:15 PM high to 0.12 ft at 8:41 PM. Under 10 kt with sandy green water means lures are fully workable, which is why the baseline splits it EITHER, though the 88 degree afternoon still gives live croaker the edge on the bigger fish.

Drift the windward side of the reef with a Down South Super Model in Opening Night on a 3/16 oz head, quartering the cast into the current so it swings with the fall. When the light goes flat near the 7:34 PM sunset, get a bone or chrome/black Super Spook Jr over the bar and walk it fast. If they short-strike the plastic, a MirrOdine XL in a natural mullet pattern twitched over the drop-off will convert them.

Live shrimp under a three-inch popping cork worked down the drop-off with the outgoing - two pops, then let it sit. For the better trout in that heat, nose-hook a live croaker on a 3/0 circle and free-line it into the deep cut as the fall hardens after 4 PM.

Sustained S and SE at single digits keeps pushing clean water in without kicking up sand, so the throat will look salty green all day. Bay side stays a shade darker and warms fast in that 88 degree heat.

Redfish will push the bar edges on the falling water late; a 1/4 oz gold spoon or a live mullet under a cork will both get bit. Flounder set up on the down-current side of the sand humps as the tide drains toward 8:41 PM.

Cleanest water of the week - three straight days of S and SE at 4 to 9 kt with nothing from the north to ruin it. Tide is good, not great: the morning is nearly dead at 0.21 ft of movement, but the 1:50 PM high drains 1.15 ft down to 0.29 ft by 9:36 PM, and that fall carries the evening. Wind under 10 kt in clear green water is prime lure country, which holds the EITHER call, though the 43 percent storm chance through mid-day is worth watching - lightning at this pass is not something you sit out on a bar.

Clear water and 4 kt means finesse. Run a Lil John in morning glory or a Bass Assassin Sea Shad in Texas Roach on a 1/8 oz head, and work it with long pauses - they will eat it on the drop. Last hour before the 7:33 PM sunset, throw a bone MirrOlure She Dog over the bar. Leave the plum and dark colours in the box today; in water this clean they want natural and translucent, and light 15 lb leader matters.

Free-lined live shrimp on a 1/0 circle, no cork and no weight, drifted along the drop-off with the falling water is hard to beat in clean water. Live croaker or a finger mullet on a fish-finder rig in the deeper cut takes over once the sun is high and the trout sulk in that 85 to 88 degree water.

Seventy-two hours of clean-quarter wind at low speed with no sand stirred up means the pass is about as green as it gets in September. Even the bay side cleans up today; the only stain will be behind a heavy thunderstorm cell.

Redfish will be visible in that clear water on the sand - lead them by six feet with a Texas Roach paddletail. Flounder are worth a soak with live mud minnows or shrimp on a 1/4 oz head along the drain mouths on the evening fall.

Good, not great, and I am shading this one down off the baseline for one reason: the tide has gone flat. The high only reaches 1.35 ft, the morning moves 0.27 ft total, and the day's real fall is 0.94 ft that does not start until the 3:17 PM high - a weak, late push compared to Monday's all-day drain. Water is still sandy green off four days of S and SW at 4 to 9 kt, so lures work fine and EITHER stands, but with 32 percent storms and 88 degree water, live croaker in the cut is the higher-percentage play if you are hunting a trophy.

Weak tide means you go to them. Work a Down South Super Model in Chicken on a Chain on a 1/4 oz head down the deeper edge, slow, with the rod tip low - cover water until you find a group. Topwater only in the last 45 minutes before the 7:31 PM sunset, bone Super Spook Jr. If it stays dead flat, a MirrOdine XL suspended over the reef and twitched is the best moving-water substitute.

Live croaker on a 3/0 circle with a 1/4 oz egg sinker, fished on bottom in the deep cut - at 88 degrees the trout are down there sulking and croaker drags them out. Live shrimp under a popping cork along the drain mouths on the last of the evening fall for the schoolies.

The SW component at 4 to 9 kt is too light to blow the bay out, so clarity holds, but SW does not push new Gulf water in the way SE does. Expect the throat to stay green and the bay side to hold a sandy stain that gets worse as the range weakens.

Redfish are the better bet on a weak tide - work the drains and back-lake mouths with a gold spoon or a cut mullet chunk on the bottom. Flounder pick up as the water drains after dark toward the 10:30 PM low.

Wind picks up to SW 9 to 13 kt, which is still soft-plastic drifting weather but takes topwater off the table for most of the day. Water stays sandy green - five days without a north wind - so the fish can see a lure, and the EITHER call holds. The tide is the weak link: 0.40 ft of movement all morning, and the useful fall is 0.71 ft off the 4:37 PM high into the evening. Solunar helps, with the moonset minor at 7:17 PM landing right on that fall.

Drift the windward shoreline with the breeze at your back and throw a Down South Super Model in Opening Night on a 1/4 oz jighead - go heavier than you want so you keep contact through the line belly. Plum/chartreuse Bass Assassin Sea Shad is the call where the sand has stirred. If it lays down near dark, one pass with a chrome/black Super Spook Jr over the bar before the 7:30 PM sunset.

This is a popping cork day - live shrimp under a rattling cork, drifted along the windward edge, and a 13 kt breeze does the work for you. Live croaker free-lined into the cut on the evening fall for the heavier fish in that warm water.

SW at 9 to 13 kt is the first breeze this week with enough push to stir the shallow sand, so the bars will sandy up while the deeper throat holds salty green. Bay side will be noticeably dirtier by afternoon.

Redfish love a stirred windward shoreline; fan-cast a 1/4 oz gold spoon or soak cut mullet on the down-wind side of the bar. Flounder will hold in the calmer pockets behind the sand humps.

S at 13 to 17 kt all day. Water quality is excellent - a solid week of clean-quarter wind and the clarity number is right at the top - but 13 kt-plus makes lure control a chore and the pass gets ugly to stand in. Tide is workable rather than strong: 0.56 ft of fall to the 11:13 AM low, then a 0.78 ft rise into the 5:52 PM high, and that incoming pushes green Gulf water through the throat. The 1:28 PM major sits right in the middle of the rise, which is what makes this day worth the drive. Baseline splits it dead even and so do I.

Heavy up. A Down South Super Model or Bass Assassin Sea Shad on a 3/8 oz jighead is the only way to hold bottom contact in 15 kt of wind - Texas Roach or morning glory to match the clean water. Fish the green line where the incoming meets the stained bay water and keep your rod tip down into the wind. Skip topwater unless it lays off at dark.

Live shrimp under a heavy popping cork drifted with the wind along the bar edge - the chop actually helps the presentation and the cork calls them up. Live croaker or a piggy perch on a 3/0 circle with a 3/8 oz slip weight in the deeper water on the incoming for the better trout.

Straight S wind at 13 to 17 kt for a full day stacks clean Gulf water against the beach, and the afternoon incoming carries it right into the pass. Bay side will be chopped up and sandy along the shorelines, but the throat cleans up as the tide rises.

Redfish will be right in the wind-blown sandy line - gold spoon, or cut mullet on a bottom rig off the beachfront. Flounder are slow in this much wind. Fish from the beach side and stay well back from the channel; that current is not survivable in a hard wind.

S at 17 kt sustained is the edge of workable and past the edge of comfortable at this pass. Water is still clean - a full week of S and SE keeps clarity right at the top - and the tide is decent, falling 0.73 ft off the 5:04 AM high to 0.53 ft at 11:49 AM before a 0.95 ft rise into the evening. But the belly in your line at 17 kt kills bite detection and lure control, so I am moving this off the baseline EITHER to a bait edge; a cork rig does not care about line sag. Fish the dawn fall before it peaks, from the beach side.

If you insist on plastic, it has to be 3/8 oz - a Bass Assassin Sea Shad or Down South Super Model in Texas Roach, cast straight downwind with the rod tip buried so the wind cannot bow your line. Work it on the dawn fall before the breeze tops out. Forget topwater and forget finesse; you will not feel a bite on anything lighter.

This is what live bait is for. Live shrimp under a heavy rattling popping cork, drifted downwind along the bar edge on the morning fall, and a croaker on a 3/0 circle with a 1/2 oz egg sinker in the deeper water once the sun is up. Wind does not stop scent or a cork rattle.

A week of unbroken S and SE wind means the water quality is the best of the forecast, even at 17 kt - this wind stacks Gulf water in, it does not blow the bay out. The bay side will be white-capped and sanded up along the shorelines.

Redfish are the realistic target in this wind - cut mullet on a bottom rig off the beachfront where you can hold position. Flounder is a write-off today. Do not wade the bars and do not cross a gut on that morning fall; 17 kt and moving water at San Luis Pass drowns people.