What’s hot along the Texas coast this week is the jetty fishery. Late August is the heart of the Texas tarpon season, and the fish are showing at the Galveston, Freeport and Port O’Connor jetties on calm mornings. Add a solid nearshore king run and a dependable deep-shell trout bite and this is about as good as the Texas coast gets — provided you beat the afternoon heat and the sea breeze.
What’s Hitting
Tarpon are rolling at the jetties and along the beachfront on flat mornings, with fish from 40 to well over 100 pounds. Kingfish and Spanish mackerel are on the nearshore rigs and bait pods in 30 to 80 feet. Speckled trout are holding on the deep shell and along the guts, best in the first two hours of light. Redfish are on the shorelines and around the jetty rock, with bull reds starting to gather near the passes. Flounder are showing on the sandy edges near the channels.
Where to Find Them
The Galveston North and South jetties, the Freeport jetties and the Port O’Connor jetties are the tarpon and jetty-fish water — work the beachfront side on a calm morning. For trout, the deep shell in Galveston Bay and West Matagorda Bay has been producing, along with the guts along the surf when the water is green to the beach. Kings are on the nearshore rigs and the bait pods out of Freeport and Port Aransas. Redfish are along the marsh shorelines and around the pass rock.
Tides & Conditions
Texas tides are small and wind-driven — this week’s light morning wind means clean, green water pushing to the beach, which is exactly what the surf and jetty fishing need. Water is 85 to 89 degrees. The southeast sea breeze fills by mid-morning and turns the surf brown by afternoon on most days. Afternoon thunderstorms are common inland. The morning window is short and it matters.
Tackle & Tactics
Jetty tarpon: a 6000- to 8000-size spinner, 50- to 65-pound braid and 80-pound fluorocarbon, throwing a big swimbait or a live mullet at rolling fish. Lead them and keep the retrieve steady. For kings, slow-troll a live hardtail on a light-wire stinger rig. Trout on deep shell want a soft plastic on a quarter-ounce head worked slowly, or a live croaker if you can get them — 15-pound braid and 20-pound fluoro is right. In the surf, a 9-foot rod with a topwater at first light is hard to beat when the water is green.
Local Intel This Week
The Galveston Yacht Basin and the Texas City Dike ramps give good access to the north jetties, the Bridge Harbor and Surfside ramps serve Freeport, and the Fisherman’s Wharf and Cove Harbor ramps handle Port Aransas and Rockport. Shore anglers are catching macks and reds from the Galveston jetty granite and the Bob Hall Pier. Fish are concentrating along the rock and the green-water line — the color change at the end of the jetty is the highest-percentage spot on the coast right now. Texas trout, redfish and flounder limits were revised in recent seasons; check current Texas Parks and Wildlife regulations before keeping any fish.
This Week’s Tip
At the jetty, fish the tip on the last of the incoming. That is when green Gulf water pushes up against the bay water coming out, and the color line sets up right at the end of the rock. Tarpon, kings and big trout all stack on that seam — and when the tide turns and the line breaks down, the whole thing shuts off within twenty minutes.
Planning a trip to Texas Gulf Coast?
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