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COASTAL FOCUS: Upper Mid Coast – September 2018

September Sustenance

September Sustenance

THIS YEAR IN THE NORTHER HEMISPHERE, autumn begins on September 23, 2018.

For some, it’s a time that’s both pleasant and regretful, but for others it’s their favorite time of the year. It’s the beginning of fall, when baseball season is coming to an end, and when football season is just getting underway.

Temperatures will start to lower, and nights will begin getting longer. To our north, the foliage will be turning vibrant shades of red and orange, and there will be a noticeable newness and freshness to the air that’s unsurpassed by any other time of the year.

For our southern portion of the country, however, this is when we look forward to relief from summer’s relentless heat, and we welcome some of our initial encounters with the year’s coolness. 

If you’re one of those southern anglers who likes to hunt redfish with artificial lures, then the end of August and the beginning of September is a great time of the year for you along the Texas Gulf coast.

Historically, the redfish action increases this time of the year, providing some of our anglers with personal-best catches. These fish are often located in the upper water column above grass patches in the sand in one to three feet of water.

The bait of preference is the smaller-sized top water lures, such as the junior size Top Dog, Super Spook, or Skitter Walk baits. By the time you read this article, some of the year’s most awesome fishing for reds may have already begun. Each passing day will bring reduced winds, with some of those being out of the north. These light winds will tend to flatten both the bays and the surf.

You can’t help but experience some fast action during the low light conditions associated with the first two hours of daylight in the fall. So make your plans accordingly.

The September forecast for Texas coastal fishing is looking favorable as long as we’re not dealt another extreme tropical weather system. However, a hurricane in September wouldn’t be too unusual for this time of the year, as some of the worst Texas hurricanes have decided to make landfall later in the month of September.

We’ll keep our fingers crossed in hope that we experience a somewhat minimal storm season this September. Regardless, locating both trout and reds this month will continue to include the necessity of first locating active mullet.

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September anglers should run across redfish feeding in knee-deep water along leeward shorelines of Espiritu Santo and San Antonio Bay. Within those schools of reds should be some really nice trout ranging from three to five pounds.

The taking of these nice trout, however, could prove to be a hit-or-miss opportunity for most of us. Hot summertime temperatures will have already placed us in a pattern we have gotten familiar with. We fish deep during low tides during an outgoing current, and fish tight to the grass during periods of higher tides during an incoming current.

Given these circumstances, anglers could certainly continue to recognize spectacular trout and redfish catches in adjacent bays like that of West Matagorda Bay, as well as Mesquite Bay. Sand flats surrounded by grass beds should also become most productive for the redfish. Although deeper shell located between waist and shoulder depth may possibly prove to be the ticket for picking up most of this month’s trout.

Southeast and southwest winds will start producing somewhat higher water, which will only become more predominant later in the month. This will boost bait activity along grassy shores where both trout and reds will begin to feed more regularly throughout the entire day.

The fish will once again begin lurking in camouflaged locations that were previously uninhabitable because of low tides. This includes places such as back lakes, marshes, sloughs, and coves.

So, before you spend an enormous amount of time and effort wading up to your neck out deep, think about all the possibilities of the shallows first. It was just a short time ago that we took the majority of our fish out of waters that were no more than two feet deep, and the bite was on from early morning through late afternoon. Good luck out there, and have fun!

 

Email Chris Martin at bayflatslodge@gmail.com

or visit bayflatslodge.com

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