Texas City Dike, TX

Two days of SE at 138 degrees and 6 kt have been quietly stacking clean Gulf water into the throat, and the light N to NW breath at dawn is only 4 kt - nowhere near enough to muddy this system. Tide is the best of the week: a 1.48 ft high at 9:43 AM and then one long uninterrupted fall to 0.0 ft at 9:36 PM, with the 8:20 to 10:20 AM major sitting on the turn. Wind under 5 kt means full lure control, and lure and bait scores are within four points, so bring whichever you like. Storm chance climbs to 47 percent after 10 AM - watch the sky.

Start at first light with a bone Super Spook Jr walked over the shallow bar edges while the water is still coming - slow walk, long pauses. When the sun gets on it, drop to a 1/8 oz jighead and a Down South Super Model in Chicken on a Chain, fished on a tight line down the drop-off face. If they short-strike the topwater, swap to a MirrOlure She Dog and let the rattle do the work. Once the fall starts after 9:43 AM, move to the down-current side of the guts and let the plastic swing.

Live shrimp under a popping cork is the easy money on the rise - pop it twice, let it sit, work the color change on the outside of the bar. If you want the bigger class of fish, free-line a live croaker on a 3/0 Kahle down the deeper edge as the tide turns to fall. Fish from the sand, and stay well off the channel side - that 1.48 ft dropping out builds current that will take you.

Forty-eight hours of steady SE has pushed clean water up through the pass and it is workable green over the bars. The bay side behind the bridge is still carrying a stain and that light N wind at daybreak will not help it, so stay Gulf side of the sand.

Redfish will be cruising the shallow guts and pockets on the rise - a gold spoon or a finger mullet on a fish-finder rig fished tight to the sand covers both. Flounder are starting to stage for the fall move; work the drains on that long afternoon fall with a 1/4 oz jighead dragged slow.

Wind goes W at 4 kt through the morning, which is normally the direction that ruins this place - at 4 kt it does nothing but flatten the surface. The measured SE history is still holding green water in the pass. Tide is a long slow rise all morning into a 1.45 ft high at 12:11 PM, with the 9:20 to 11:20 AM major right in the middle of the best flow, then a 10-hour fall to 0.05 ft. Dead-calm air and workable color mean lures are fully in play, and live bait works the same water just as well.

Slick calm and 4 kt is topwater weather - a MirrOlure She Dog in bone or chrome/black over the reef edges early, worked with a lazy cadence. When the rise picks up mid-morning, go to a 1/4 oz jighead and a Bass Assassin Sea Shad in plum/chartreuse and fan-cast the sandbar drop. If the sun gets high and they slide deep, step up to 3/8 oz and slow-roll the same edge along the bottom.

Live shrimp under a rattling cork worked across the bar face is the play through the major. When the sun is up and the water is pushing 88 degrees, switch to a live croaker on a 3/0 Kahle, free-lined or on a light split shot, and put it on the deep side of the drop - at that temperature croaker will beat plastic badly by late morning.

Two days of SE at 6 kt keeps the throat and the beachfront in decent sandy green. The light west wind will put a touch of stain along the bay shoreline by late morning, so fish the Gulf side of the bars.

Redfish will hold on the up-current side of the sand humps as the tide fills - a gold spoon or a live finger mullet on a Carolina rig gets them. Flounder should be in the drains and the mouths of the small guts on the evening fall.

Wind swings back S to SE at 4 to 9 kt, which is exactly the direction that keeps building green water, and clarity scores the best of the first three days. Tide has a 1.4 ft high at 1:34 PM and then a steady fall right through the evening to 0.15 ft at 11:11 PM. That afternoon fall lines up with the 5:38 to 6:38 PM minor and a 7:33 PM sunset, which beats fighting 90 degree heat at midday. Light wind and clean color make this a full lure day, though bait covers the same water.

Fish the last two hours of light on the fall. A chrome/black Super Spook Jr walked over the bar edge as the sun drops will draw the best bites of the day. Behind it, a Lil John in Opening Night on a 1/8 oz jighead fished on a slow drag along the drop-off face. If you go at midday instead, forget the surface - 3/8 oz head and a Down South Super Model in Texas Roach worked deep and slow is the only real option in 90 degree air.

Live shrimp under a popping cork drifted along the sand edges on the fall covers ground fast in the evening. In the middle of the day, with the water at 88 degrees, free-line a live croaker on a 3/0 Kahle into the deeper edge and be patient. Fish the outside sand and stay out of the running guts.

Sustained SE at 138 degrees over two days plus a fresh S to SE breeze all afternoon keeps salty green water moving through the pass. The beachfront side is the cleanest water of the week so far; the far bay side is a shade off.

Reds should be working the shallow flats behind the bars on the last of the incoming - a weedless gold spoon or a live mullet under a cork. Flounder will pin to the drains as the water dumps out through the evening; drag a 1/4 oz jighead and a natural-colour plastic slow.

Clarity is still excellent off the back of two days of SE at 138 degrees and the wind is nearly nothing at 0 to 4 kt E, so lure control is perfect. The problem is tide - a slow 15-hour crawl up to a 1.32 ft high at 2:50 PM means weak flow through the morning, and 56 percent storm chance from 8 AM to 1 PM sits right on the best of it. The 11:08 AM to 1:08 PM major and the evening fall carry the day. Good day, not a great one.

Slick water and clean color calls for a subtle bait - a MirrOdine XL in a natural translucent pattern twitched over the bar edges at last light is the ticket. Back it up with a Down South Super Model in Texas Roach on a 1/8 oz head, fished on a long slow drag. If you fish the major at midday instead, go 1/4 to 3/8 oz and keep it on the bottom along the drop; the surface bite will be dead in the heat.

Live croaker free-lined on a 3/0 Kahle down the deep edge of the drop-off is the honest call in the middle of the day at 88 degrees. Come evening, switch to live shrimp under a popping cork and work it along the sand edge on the first of the fall. Watch the storms before you commit to a long wade.

Light easterly air will not move any mud, and the SE history has left clean salty green water in the pass. Behind the bar on the bay side the colour goes softer and slightly stained where the flow is weak.

Reds will be up in the shallow pockets and along the back-bar shoreline on the long rise - a live mullet on a light Carolina rig or a gold spoon. Flounder show up in the drains after 3 PM as the water starts to leave.

The water is the cleanest it will be all week and the air is dead calm, but there is no tide. A 1.0 ft high at 8:04 AM falls to 0.96 ft at 10:59 AM - four hundredths of a foot in three hours, which is slack water with a fancy name - and the afternoon only rises 0.26 ft to 1.22 ft. Slack water at 88 degrees kills the trout bite regardless of how good it looks. Lures are workable and calm conditions favour them, but there is nothing to make the fish eat. Save your day.

If you go anyway, dawn is the only hour worth having - the last of the rise into the 8:04 AM high with the 5:58 to 6:58 AM minor just behind you. Clear water and flat calm means downsize and go natural: a bone Super Spook Jr walked slow, or a Lil John in a translucent natural on a 1/8 oz jighead, long casts and light line. After 8:30 AM the water quits and so will they.

Dead water is where live bait earns its keep - free-line a live croaker on a 3/0 Kahle along the deeper drop, or fish a live shrimp under a cork with almost no popping in that clear water. Even so, expect a slow morning and be off the sand before the heat sets in.

Two days of SE push, no wind and no current churn means the pass will be the clearest it gets - you will see the bottom over the bars. Bay side and Gulf side look about the same today because nothing is moving between them.

Redfish tolerate slack water better than trout - a live mullet on a Carolina rig soaked along the sand edges is your best shot at bending a rod. Flounder need moving water in the drains and will not have it today.

West wind in the morning at 4 kt is too weak to dirty anything, and the SE history plus a SSE swing to 11 kt by afternoon keeps decent color in the pass. Tide is modest but the timing is right - a 0.96 ft high at 7:23 AM, twenty minutes after a 7:02 AM sunrise, with the 7:00 to 8:00 AM minor sitting on top of it and water turning to fall. That is low light plus a tide change, which is worth the drive even with only half a foot of range. Wind stays under 12 kt so lures work all day.

Be on the water before the 7:23 AM high and throw a bone Super Spook Jr over the bar tops in the low light - that top-of-tide turn is the whole play. When the fall starts, switch to a Down South Super Model in Chicken on a Chain on a 1/8 oz jighead and work the down-current side of the drop. Afternoon with SSE at 11 kt, drift the windward edge with a Bass Assassin Sea Shad in morning glory on 1/4 oz.

Live shrimp under a popping cork worked along the bar edge right at the tide turn is the highest-percentage rig this morning. If it goes quiet after 9 AM, free-line a live croaker on a 3/0 Kahle in the deeper water off the drop. Do not chase the fall out into a gut - fish it from the sand.

The pass itself holds sandy green off two days of SE at 6 kt. The morning west wind will put a light stain along the bay shoreline before the SE fills in after noon and cleans it back up.

Reds will be up on the shallow shelf at first light while the tide is full - gold spoon or a live finger mullet under a cork. Flounder start to make sense on the midday fall out of the drains.

SE at 10 to 12 kt through the afternoon is the wind that keeps clean Gulf water coming, and clarity scores 91 - among the best of the week. Tide is soft but useful: a 0.99 ft high at 6:52 AM, right on a 7:03 AM sunrise, then a steady six-hour fall to 0.66 ft at 12:58 PM. Only a third of a foot of range, but it moves the whole morning instead of stalling. Ten to twelve knots is prime soft-plastic drifting weather, so lures stay fully workable.

First light at the top of the tide - a chrome/black Super Spook Jr over the bar edges, then follow the fall with a Bass Assassin Sea Shad in morning glory on a 1/4 oz jighead. Once the SE picks up past 10 kt, use it: drift the windward edge of the sand and fan-cast a Down South Super Model in Chicken on a Chain, keeping the rod tip low to cut line sag. The 8:00 to 9:00 AM minor lands mid-fall - be on your best spot for it.

Drift live shrimp under a popping cork along the windward bar edge - the chop actually works the cork for you. For the better fish, free-line a live croaker on a 3/0 Kahle in the deeper water off the drop as the fall gets going. Stay on the sand and off the channel edge.

A week of SE and a fresh SE at 10 to 12 kt keeps salty green water pressed into the pass. The Gulf side and the throat are the cleanest; the far bay side stays a shade sandier where the wind chops the shallows.

Reds will be pushing the shallow guts at daybreak on the high - a gold spoon or a live mullet under a cork. Flounder should be sitting in the drains through the whole morning fall; drag a 1/4 oz head slow along the bottom.