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Saltwater Fishing Report
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TEXAS SALTWATER FISHING REPORT
SABINE LAKE: 85 degrees. Speckled trout are good on top-waters early and soft plastics. Redfish are good on the shell reefs on shrimp and soft plastics.
BOLIVAR: 85 degrees. Speckled trout are fair on live shrimp. Redfish are good on shrimp, soft plastics and top-waters. Black drum are good on crab and shrimp.
TRINITY BAY: 85 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are fair on the flats on shrimp. Flounder are fair around rocks using mullet and mud minnows.
EAST GALVESTON BAY: 85 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are fair to good on soft plastics and shrimp.
WEST GALVESTON BAY: 85 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are good wade-fishing on shrimp under popping corks and croaker.
TEXAS CITY: 85 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are fair on live bait.
EAST MATAGORDA BAY: 85 degrees. Surf-fishing is good for speckled trout and redfish on soft plastics and live bait.
WEST MATAGORDA BAY: 85 degrees. Speckled trout, redfish and black drum are good in the surf on artificials and live bait.
PORT O’CONNOR: 85 degrees. Speckled trout are good on live croaker and shrimp, especially at the jetty and in the surf. Black drum and redfish are good from the jetty on dead shrimp and Spanish sardines.
ROCKPORT: 85 degrees. Redfish are good in the surf on croaker, cut menhaden and cut ladyfish.
PORT ARANSAS: 84 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are good in the surf from Port Aransas to Cedar Bayou on croaker, cut menhaden and cut ladyfish.
BAFFIN BAY: 88 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are good in the mouth of the bay on live croaker and artificials. Back bays are slow.
PORT MANSFIELD: 86 degrees. Redfish are good on paddle tails, top-waters and gold spoons. Speckled trout are fair to slow on ball tails and top-waters.
SOUTH PADRE: 80 degrees. Redfish
are good on live shrimp and cut mullet. Speckled trout are fair on shrimp.
PORT ISABEL: 82 degrees. Redfish are good on live shrimp and cut mullet. Bull redfish are fair at the jetties. Speckled trout are fair but small on shrimp and soft plastics.
—TPWD
B A Y D I V I S I O N
August 28 6 a.m. – 3 p.m.
$50 PER PERSON
REDFISH, BLACK DRUM, & FLOUNDER
1st - $400 each species 2nd - $200 each 3rd s pe $1 c 0 D ie 0 O s e M A ach I N species
BAY GRAND CHAMPION: Heaviest stringer, max 1 fish per species $500 plus trophy
P O R T M A N S F I E L D , T E X A S S A T U R D A Y , A U G U S T 2 8
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O F F S H O R E D I V I S I O N
August 28 6 a.m. – 6p.m.
$100 PER BOAT
RED SNAPPER, KING MACKEREL, SHARK, LING, BONITO
1st - $250 & Trophy each species 2nd - $150 each species
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Florida angler wins at TIFT
Water still mixing
Van Wichers, left, and the crew of Quantified won the Texas Triple Crown Billfish Series, including winning at the Texas International Fishing Tournament, where they landed this dolphin. Photo by Tony Vindell, for Lone Star Outdoor News.
By Tony Vindell
For Lone Star outdoor newS
An out-of-state angler was the big winner of the 81st annual Texas International Fishing Tournament.
Van Wichers, a 25-year-old resident of Stuart, Florida, took the offshore grand champion spot at the tourney that had participation of more than 900 in the bay and offshore divisions.
“It’s awesome,” he said after being named top angler during TIFT awards ceremony held on Aug. 1 at the South Padre Island Convention Center. “This is my first time in a Texas fishing tournament.”
Wichers, who works on fishing boats back home, said he hopes everybody is OK with him having taken the top spot even though he is not from the Lone Star State.
He brought in the top sailfish, weighing 68 pounds, while fishing for team Quantified.
Wichers is the second out-of-state angler named offshore grand champion, as Dr. I. Henry Smith of Shreveport, Louisiana, took the same spot nearly 90 years ago, in 1934.
Wichers said he was also competing in the Texas Legends Fishing Tournament in Port Aransas.
Another highlight of the tournament was a 560-pound blue marlin that had to be disqualified.
The whopper was caught on July 30 on the first day of the tournament, but did not meet the 8 p.m. deadline to be checked in.
John W. Barrera, of Port Isabel, was named TIFT Grand Champion Bay Fisherman as his combined weight of trout, redfish and flounder caught in two days totaled 21.20 pounds.
The tournament was canceled last year, falling in line with most fishing events held along the Texas coast.
Kristi Collier, the TIFT director since 2014, said the tournament goals are to promote the Gulf Coast, to support conservation and to provide scholarships to area students.
This year, 19 students attending or planning to attend college were recipients of $2,000 scholarships.
Quantified was the winner of the Texas Triple Crown Billfish Series with the top score in the Lone Star Shootout, Texas International Fishing Tournament and the Texas Legends Billfish Tournament which ended Aug. 8.
Continued from page 9
The thermal stratification is a direct response to the unique relationship of water density and temperature.
“During the spring season, the first several feet of water begin to warm,” Driscoll wrote. “This warm water layer floats, as it is less dense than the cooler water below. As spring progresses into summer, the surface waters begin to warm faster and this warm water layer expands into deeper water. As this process continues to accelerate into June, the reservoir becomes stratified into three layers: 1) the upper layer of warm, less dense water of similar temperature, 2) the thermocline (small middle layer where the temperature cools dramatically between the upper and lower layers), and 3) the lower layer of colder, more dense water below the thermocline (usually having no oxygen).”
At East Texas’ two largest reservoirs, Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend, the thermocline typically begins to form at a water depth of 25 feet and can increase in depth to approximately 40 feet at mid-summer.
“Usually, anglers can find the thermocline with their electronics, as the density of water abruptly increases at this layer,” Driscoll said. “It may take manual increases of sonar sensitivity settings, but the thermocline will show up as a straight line of increased clutter, similar to a scattered school of baitfish.”
Fishermen should be looking above the thermocline level, though.
During mid-summer when the thermocline may be in 40 feet of water, oxygen levels typically fall to stressful levels below depths of 25 feet, which is where baitfish suspend, Driscoll said.
“Sport fish, especially bass and crappie, will relate to these baitfish throughout the summer,” Driscoll said. “Finding structure and cover at 20 to 30 feet will maximize catch rates when fishing deep during summer.”
Driscoll said as fall approaches, water temperatures at the surface cool and, due to increasing density, the cooler water sinks.
“When the upper layer temperature is equal to or lower than that of the thermocline, the entire water column is subject to mixing,” he said. “The mixing process is what is known as fall turnover, and can be relatively sudden, with an entire reservoir turning over in less than a week during windy conditions. Fishing can be tough for a few days during turnover due to the sudden change in water quality.”
