Texas City Dike, TX

Two days of unbroken S to SSE wind at 5 kt has left the water in decent shape and there is nothing in the wind history to have dirtied it. Tide is the reason this day scores: 1.45 ft at 12:11 PM dumping all the way to 0.05 ft at 10:27 PM is the longest, strongest fall of the week, and the 9:20 - 11:20 AM major sits on top of the last of the incoming. Wind under 4 kt makes it either game - lures are perfectly workable with slick water and long casts, though 90F water means croaker takes over once the sun gets high. Slick calm means fish spook easy, so stay off them.

Start at sunrise with a Super Spook Jr in bone walked over the shallow sand off the flats - water is slick so make it a long cast and a slow, lazy walk. Once the sun clears the horizon go to a 1/8 oz jighead with a Down South Super Model in Chicken on a Chain and swim it just off the bottom on the guts and drop-offs. When the fall gets going after noon, step up to 1/4 oz and let the current sweep the bait along the sandbar edges. Fifteen pound braid with a 20 lb fluorocarbon leader - clear water and calm air demands it.

Live croaker is the play once the water hits 90F by mid-morning. Free-line a 4 inch croaker on a 3/0 kahle with a small split shot and let the incoming carry it into the deeper cuts along the bar. Early, a live shrimp under a popping cork worked over the sand near the mouth will take them shallow. Do not wade toward the channel to reach deeper water - fish it from the bar and let the current do the work.

Forty-eight hours of SSE at 153 degrees has held clean water against the Gulf side of the pass with no north or west wind to dirty it. The bay side behind the bar will be a shade dirtier and warmer, but nothing that kills a lure bite.

Redfish will be running the surf side sandbars on the morning incoming - a gold spoon or a cut mullet chunk on a fish-finder rig gets bit. Flounder are starting to stage on the sand drains, and the evening fall pulling bait out of the guts is when to work a Bass Assassin Sea Shad slow on the bottom.

Clarity keeps improving with a third day of S wind on the record and nothing over 5 kt to stir the bottom. High of 1.40 ft at 1:34 PM into a 0.15 ft low at 11:11 PM is another long clean fall, and the 5:38 - 6:38 PM minor plus a 7:33 PM sunset stack right on the middle of it. Wind under 4 kt again keeps this either game - lure control is perfect, but the 90F water will push you to croaker through the middle of the day.

Evening is the play. Start the last two hours of light with a MirrOlure She Dog in chrome and black over the bar - the extra rattle carries in dead-calm air and calls fish up. When they blow up short, follow with a MirrOdine XL twitched slow through the same water. After sunset go to a Bass Assassin Sea Shad in Opening Night on a 1/4 oz jighead, cast up-current and let it fall through the sweep along the drop-off. If you fish the dawn instead, a Lil John in Texas Roach on 1/8 oz is the better pick in that cleaner morning water.

Free-lined live croaker on a 3/0 kahle worked along the deeper edge of the sand is the mid-day answer with water this warm. From about 5:30 PM on, switch to live shrimp under a Cajun Thunder cork and pop it along the bar where the falling water is pulling bait off the flat. Finger mullet on a light Carolina rig will pick off the bigger fish after dark. Fish it from the bar, not from the gut.

Three straight days of S to SSE at 5 kt and zero north component has the Gulf side about as clean as light wind can make it. Back in the bay coves you will still see a green stain from the heat and the algae, but the pass itself is fishable green.

Redfish will push the shorelines on the evening fall - live mullet under a cork or a Sea Shad in morning glory. Flounder set up right where the falling water drains a gut into deeper sand, so drag a 1/4 oz jighead there before you leave.

Cleanest water of the week - four days of unbroken S and SE wind, none of it over 5 kt, and no north or west air anywhere in the record to muddy anything. Tide is the weak spot: a 1.32 ft high at 2:50 PM off a long slow rise is the softest movement of the first three days, so time your trip to the moving water and not the clock. Wind stays under 4 kt so it is still an either day, but clear water plus 90F means natural lure colours early and croaker later. Storm chances hit 50 percent through the afternoon and evening - lightning at the pass is not a maybe, so watch the radar and leave when it builds.

Clear water means translucent and natural. Lil John in Texas Roach or morning glory on a 1/8 oz jighead, worked with long pauses along the drop-off, will out-fish anything loud today. A MirrOdine XL in a natural bone-and-silver twitched over the bar at last light is the big-fish bait. If you get a topwater window at gray light, a Super Spook Jr in bone - not chrome, the water is too clean for flash. Downsize to a 20 lb fluorocarbon leader and make longer casts than you think you need.

Live shrimp under a popping cork over the sand near the mouth on the evening fall is the simple, deadly choice. If the fish sulk deep in the afternoon heat, free-line a live croaker on a 3/0 kahle down the edge of the bar. Piggy perch under a cork will hold a bigger class of trout if you can get them. Stay off the channel side entirely - fish this from the beach and the bar.

Four days of light SSE to SE and no wind above 5 kt has let the suspended sand drop out - this is as clean as San Luis Pass gets in September. The bay side sits a shade sandier where the wind ripples the shallow flats.

Redfish will be cruising the clear shallows and are very spooky in this water - long casts with a weedless gold spoon or a free-lined finger mullet. Flounder keep filling in on the sand drains, so work a slow-dragged jighead through the guts on the fall.

Water is still clean - S and SW at 5 kt has not hurt anything - but the tide is dead. A 1.00 ft high at 8:04 AM to a 0.96 ft low at 10:59 AM is four hundredths of a foot of movement across three hours, and the afternoon rise to 1.22 ft at 4:23 PM is barely more. Slack water over these bars kills the bite outright, and with 90F water the fish will sit deep and sulky all day. Wind will let you fish either way, but there is no current to make it matter. Save the day.

If you go anyway, take the hour either side of the 8:04 AM high and nothing else. Super Spook Jr in bone over the shallow sand at first light while it is still cool, then a Down South Super Model in Chicken on a Chain on a 1/8 oz jighead fished dead slow - with no current you have to make the bait do the work. Long pauses, small hops. Once the sun is up you are done. Do not waste the middle of the day throwing plastic into slack water.

Slack water is where bait earns its keep. Live croaker free-lined on a 3/0 kahle down the deeper edge of the bar is the only thing with a real chance today, because scent works when current does not. Live shrimp under a popping cork at first light will get a few. Fish the beachfront side and stay well off the channel - even weak tide moves hard through the guts here.

Light S and SW at 5 kt keeps the water clean enough, and there is no north wind in the history to blow it out. With almost no tidal exchange the bay side will look slick and stagnant even though it is not dirty.

Redfish are the better target on a dead tide - work the back lakes and shoreline with cut mullet on a fish-finder rig. Flounder will still eat a slowly dragged jighead in the sand drains, but expect a slow day across the board.

Water quality is holding with S and SW at 4 to 9 kt and nothing dirty in the wind record. The tide finally turns useful again at the right time - a 0.96 ft high at 7:23 AM right at the 7:02 AM sunrise, with the 7:00 - 8:00 AM minor sitting on top of it, then a soft fall to 0.80 ft at 11:57 AM. That is water moving at first light, which is worth more than the numbers suggest, but it goes flat after mid-morning. Light wind keeps it an either day, though 90F water tips the middle of the day hard toward croaker.

This is the topwater morning of the weekend - be on the bar in the dark. Super Spook Jr in bone or a She Dog in chrome and black walked across the shallow sand from gray light through the 7:23 AM high. When the blowups stop, go to a Down South Super Model in plum and chartreuse on a 1/4 oz jighead and swim it along the drop-off with the light fall. By 10:00 AM go deeper - 3/8 oz on the same plastic, bumped down the outer edge of the bar. After that the heat shuts the artificial bite down.

Live shrimp under a popping cork over the sand from first light through the high is the easy pattern. Once the sun climbs, free-line a live croaker on a 3/0 kahle along the deeper edge and hang on - at 90F that bait beats anything you can throw. Finger mullet on a light Carolina rig is the backup. Fish it from the sand and do not cross a gut on the fall.

A touch of SW in the overnight and morning air puts a little sand back in suspension along the bay side, but with speeds only 4 to 9 kt it does not blow this system out. Gulf side stays sandy green and very fishable.

Redfish push the shoreline hard on that dawn high - a gold spoon or live mullet under a cork gets them. Flounder are increasingly reliable in the sand drains this time of September; work a jighead slowly through the guts as the water starts to leave.

Clarity is excellent again with a full week of S wind and nothing above 10 kt on the board. The high hits 0.99 ft at 6:52 AM, right at the 7:03 AM sunrise, and falls to 0.66 ft at 12:58 PM - only a third of a foot of drop, so the movement is soft, but it is happening at exactly the right time of day. S at 4 to 9 kt is textbook soft-plastic drifting weather and keeps it either method, though the 90F water sends the artificial bite home by mid-morning. Dawn or nothing.

Topwater at gray light - Super Spook Jr in bone over the bar before the sun touches it. Once the high turns at 6:52 AM and the water starts to leave, set up a drift down the windward edge with a Bass Assassin Sea Shad in Chicken on a Chain on a 1/4 oz jighead and cast ahead of the boat or wade with the wind at your back. Keep the rod tip low, tight line on the fall - that S wind is enough to put a small belly in the braid. By 9:30 go to a Lil John in Texas Roach on 3/8 oz on the deeper edge.

Live shrimp under a Cajun Thunder cork worked with the wind along the bar at first light. As the water warms past mid-morning, switch to free-lined live croaker on a 3/0 kahle down the drop-off, or a piggy perch under a cork if you can get them. A drifting cork in 9 kt of S wind covers a lot of water and stays in the strike zone. Stay on the sand and out of the channel.

A week of steady S wind at 5 to 10 kt with no north component has this about as clean as the pass gets. The bay shoreline picks up a light stain where the chop works the shallow mud, so favour the Gulf side of the pass.

Redfish work the shorelines on that early fall - cut mullet on a fish-finder rig or a weedless gold spoon. Flounder are set up on the sand drains and the falling water pulls bait right past them; drag a 1/4 oz jighead slow through the guts.

Best tide of the back half of the week - a 1.07 ft high at 6:29 AM falling to 0.55 ft at 2:04 PM, half a foot of drop starting right at the 7:03 AM sunrise, so you get moving water at first light and hold it for hours. Wind bumps to S at 9 to 11 kt, which puts a little sand back in the water and drops clarity a notch, but it is nowhere near enough to blow this system out and it is perfect drifting speed. Still an either day - lure control is fine at 11 kt if you keep a tight line, but croaker takes over once the water heats past mid-morning.

Drift the windward edges with soft plastic - this is the day for it. Bass Assassin Sea Shad or Down South Super Model in plum and chartreuse on a 1/4 to 3/8 oz jighead, cast up-current and let the fall sweep it down the drop-off. Go heavier than feels right so you keep contact through the wind. If you get a slick calm pocket at gray light, a Super Spook Jr in bone is still worth ten minutes. With the water sandier, favour a little more chartreuse and a darker back than you fished midweek.

Drift a live shrimp under a popping cork with the S wind along the bar - the chop and the falling water do the work for you and the cork stays in the zone. When the sun gets high, free-line a live croaker on a 3/0 kahle along the deeper edge of the sand. Finger mullet on a light Carolina rig is the big-trout play. Wade from the sand, keep the current at your side, and never cross a gut on this fall.

S at 9 to 11 kt is the right direction but enough speed to lift sand off the shallows, so expect a working sandy green instead of the glass of midweek. The Gulf side of the throat stays cleanest; the bay shoreline gets noticeably more stain.

Redfish should be feeding well on that long morning fall - live mullet under a cork or cut bait on a fish-finder rig off the beachfront. Flounder are stacking on the sand drains as the fall run builds; a slow-dragged 3/8 oz jighead through the draining guts is the way to get them.