Freshwater Inundation will Impact Upper Texas Coast Saltwater Fishing, But Benefit Lakes
Sunday and Monday of this week were strong concrete testimony to the old adage: “When it rains, it pours.”
And pour it did. Here around the home office confines of Seabrook, Texas, we got almost five inches of rain in that brief 48-hour period. That pales in comparison to Conroe, where the community north of Houston received over a foot of rain. It will make Upper Texas Coast saltwater fishing as difficult as much as it will improve fishing on Lake Conroe.
Liz and I celebrated our anniversary in July with a stay at Del Lago Resort on Lake Conroe. It’s a beautiful facility, right on the lake and a close run to April Plaza Marina, but during our stay the super-low water levels were putting a damper on the fishing scenario … not nearly so much for white bass and hybrids, but mostly for largemouth bass.
That situation will now change big-time.
(Continue reading this post for information on Upper Coast saltwater fishing, and particularly, flounder hotspots that traditionally produce quality catches of flatfish during the autumn bay-to-Gulf migration).
With over a foot of rainfall, the lake is bound to gain some serious new bank flooding … which, in turn, will yield some excellent fishing for largemouth bass taking advantage of the fresh cover and forage (lots of flooded insects, earthworms, etc.).
As for the saltwater scene, the freshwater inundation is going to be a setback for at least a couple of weeks. A drive over the Kemah Bridge yesterday revealed a huge and swelling curtain of brown freshwater runoff that extended almost all the way to the Galveston Ship Channel. I am sure, too, that Trinity Bay is now washed out due to massive runoff from the Trinity River that will continue for at least the next several days.
It will likely be two weeks or so before salt content in these areas regains its normal quantity. Meanwhile, if you are hard-pressed to go fishing anyway and defy the odds, remember two basic principles: the redfish are likely still there, although they will be holding tight to the bottom beneath the overhanging freshwater layer. Slowly-worked soft plastics … particularly the Berkley Gulp series of shrimp baits … rigged on fast-sinking quarter-ounce jigheads will get down deep and entice hungry reds for fishermen willing to go the extra mile (or several feet deep).
Secondly, heavy rainfall in the Upper Bay System invariably pushes sportfish … especially salt-sensitive speckled trout … toward the much saltier climes of the Galveston Ship Channel. As such, both the north and south Galveston jetties can be outstanding venues.
To catch fish, you have to follow them. The jetties at Galveston (and Freeport as well, to a lesser degree) should hold good numbers of trout, redfish and flounder. The flounder run is still a ways from kicking off in earnest. Soon as we have a bona fide strong cold front that pushes air temps into the upper 40s or low 50s, the flatfish should get cranking in earnest.
I will be at the traditional hotspots, fishing inshore-size Black Salty baitfish on the bottom, soon as the big females begin to run in earnest. Among the more productive traditional venues are the area around Seawolf Park (at Pelican Island), the North Galveston Jetty boat cut, San Luis Pass, Rollover Pass, and when the water salts up a bit, the area around Smith Point (the bordering peninsula between Trinity Bay and East Galveston Bay).
I’ll get the news posted as soon as the flatfish start moving in substantial numbers, and gaining in average size with the movement of larger females headed out toward the open Gulf for the annual bay-to-Gulf migration.
Howdy. I am 
