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Texas · Upper Laguna / Baffin

Speckled trout are the hunt — look, do not grind — this water is clear and they see you. The wind is the tide. Work the leeward shore.

Hypersaline, clear, seagrass and serpulid rock. Trophy trout water. Land Cut, Nine Mile Hole, Badlands. Not Rockport — do not fish it like Rockport.

  • ⚠ This brief is for 2026-02-16, not this morning. Wind is a forecast. Observed water versus the table is a today-only instrument.
  • Tide · modeled — NOAA 8776604 quiet
  • NDBC BABT2 quiet
  • No salinity probe on this desk
  • No river gauge on this desk
  • Red-tide check failed — not all-clear
  • Sargassum check failed — not all-clear
  • Water temp quiet
7.5OF 10

Forecast

low confidence

Forecast brief for Monday, February 16. Back to this morning

Morning line

Baffin 7.5 on Monday, February 16. 18 mph ESE. Clear. YOLO day is Tuesday, August 25. Scores are 1–10, not a bite.

Mail it
-0.3-0.2-0.00.10.3LHLHLHLHMon 6 AMTue 6 AMWed 6 AMThu 6 AM
high slack · -0.11 ft · drag or hover for the clockModeled M2 clock — no NOAA gauge on this water. Not a buoy.

Wind

OPEN-METEO

NESW18MPH

From ESE · gust 22

Buoy

NDBC BABT2

Quiet

Baffin Bay did not report. Witness only — not the tide clock.

Sky

OPEN-METEO

Clear

Clear

A 20% shower chance is not a cancel. A soaker is.

Moon

0% lit

New

spring range · 0%

Water

No gauge

Water

—

48°92°

Today’s range 0.2 ft

high slack

-0.11 ft modeled

Coast

No live coast layer

Red-tide check failed. That is not all-clear — open the agency page before you wade.

Sargassum check failed. Not a GPS pin. Not all-clear.

Salinity / color
No USGS 00480 well on this desk. Do not borrow another bay’s river.

River

No gauge

No gauge

No USGS discharge gauge on this desk. Wind and the table still tell the color story.

Wind vs table

No live gauge

—

No live gauge this hour — the printed tide is the forecast.

Clock

NOAA 8776604

  • LowMon 8:00 AM · -0.11
  • HighMon 2:00 PM · 0.11
  • LowMon 8:00 PM · -0.10
  • HighTue 3:00 AM · 0.10
  • LowTue 9:00 AM · -0.10

Bahamas tides are modeled from lunar M2. Use them for windows, not a bar crossing.

Monthly YOLO day

Tuesday, August 25

Best remaining dry day this month with a real wind forecast. waxing gibbous · mid · tide range ~0.3 ft · wind to 17 mph · 2% chance of rain

Stay or drive · Baffin vs LLMOpen the calendarMorning dispatch

Next two weeks

Pulling the 14-day strip…

Where

This pip is that mark on this tide — not the day on the ring.

  • Baffin Bay rocks

    serpulid reef · field manual · mid

    7.5

    Serpulid rock — unique on this coast. Trophy trout water. King's Inn is the fried-shrimp shrine at Loyola Beach, not a waypoint.

    • — serpulid reef on a high slack tide is a workable match.
    • — In-play: Speckled trout, Redfish.
    skiffflyspin

  • Nine Mile Hole

    grass flat · field manual · skinny

    7.5

    Named water. Sight if the wind lays down. Do not treat it like a Rockport drain.

    • — grass flat on a high slack tide is a workable match.
    • — In-play: Speckled trout, Redfish.
    skiffflyspin

  • TX - Mustang Island SP bayside launch

    serpulid reef · saved map · skinny

    7.5

    Shamrock Cove reds year-round. · flats · GULF ATLAS! - FISH

    • — serpulid reef on a high slack tide is a workable match.
    • — In-play: Speckled trout, Redfish.
    skiffkayakwadeflyspin

  • TX - Bird Island Basin (PINS)

    grass flat · saved map · mid

    7.5

    Camp ON the Upper Laguna flats. Kayak launch on site. · flats · GULF ATLAS! - FISH

    • — grass flat on a high slack tide is a workable match.
    • — In-play: Speckled trout, Redfish.
    skiffkayakwadeflyspin

  • TX - Kaufer-Hubert Park (Baffin doorway)

    serpulid reef · saved map · mid

    7.5

    County camping + ramp on Cayo del Grullo. Trophy trout; mind the rocks. · flats · GULF ATLAS! - FISH

    • — serpulid reef on a high slack tide is a workable match.
    • — In-play: Speckled trout, Redfish.
    skiffkayakwadeflyspin

  • Nine Mile Hole / upper Laguna back country

    grass flat · saved map · skinny

    7.5

    Remote ULM sight-casting. Shallow, skinny, low pressure. APPROX. · 4 - FLATS ZONES - NO WADE REQUIRED (green) · Texas coast — corridors, jetties, flats

    • — grass flat on a high slack tide is a workable match.
    • — In-play: Speckled trout, Redfish.
    skiffkayakwadeflyspin

When

When is moving water in a good hour — not the day. First light and last light are named when the clock is the story. Today’s ring mixes the best mark, the lead fish, and the best window, then taxes the sky. A strong incoming can sit under a weak day if the wind or the fish is off. Calendar cells are a third recipe: range, moon, and the day’s forecast.

  • Incoming water

    9.5

    Mon 10:00 AM → Mon 3:00 PM

    Moving water in the right part of the day.

  • Last light · outgoing

    9.2

    Mon 4:00 PM → Mon 9:00 PM

    Last light on outgoing water.

  • Last light · incoming

    8.1

    Mon 11:00 PM → Tue 3:00 AM

    Last light on incoming water.

  • First light · outgoing

    9.5

    Tue 5:00 AM → Tue 10:00 AM

    First light on outgoing water.

  • Incoming water

    8.1

    Tue 11:00 AM → Tue 4:00 PM

    Water is moving, but the clock is against you — heat or dark.

Launch and beach access

Cited to TPWD, Texas GLO beach-access plans, and NPS. 2WD/4WD is the county plan, not a guess.

  • Packery Channel County Park

    Nueces County / TPWD-listed launch

    Ramp both sides of the cut. Wade the bars on a moving tide.

    Official source

  • Malaquite Visitor Center — PINS

    NPS Padre Island National Seashore

    South Beach driving is 4WD, NPS permit, tires aired down. Closed sections shift after storms. Confirm nps.gov/pais before you drop a tire.

    Official source

  • PINS North Beach

    NPS Padre Island National Seashore

    North Beach is the easier drive. Still NPS rules, not a county 2WD corridor.

    Official source

  • Padre Balli Park / Bob Hall Pier

    Nueces County / GLO beach access

    Packery neighborhood. Pier, beach, county park. Confirm pier status after storms.

    Official source

  • Kaufer-Hubert Memorial Park / Loyola Beach

    Kleberg County / TPWD-listed launch

    The Baffin door from land. Ramp on the Laguna. King's Inn is the fried-shrimp shrine, not a waypoint.

    Official source

  • Bird Island Basin — PINS

    NPS Padre Island National Seashore

    Laguna-side campground and ramp. NPS fee. Windsurf and kayak water. Not the Gulf beach drive.

    Official source

Legal water

No-take and closed water cited to the agency that owns it. Only the Keys box is FKNMS.

No FKNMS polygon in this box. Mainland Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Mexico, and the Bahamas are not Keys sanctuary closures.

Why — and who

  • — Tide is high slack (modeled — NOAA 8776604 Baffin Bay did not answer).
  • — Clear. Sky is workable.
  • — Wind 18 mph ESE. This is a spin / structure / stay-home call.
  • — New moon — spring tide range. Sight water often prefers a moderate range and clean water over a huge spring.
  • — No USGS 00480 well on this desk. Do not read another bay’s river as this water.
  • — No USGS discharge gauge on this desk. Wind and the tide table still tell the color story.

Redfish

Sciaenops ocellatus

5.5

Thermal window

—

48°92°

Present, not peak.

Texas (Sep 1 2025–Aug 31 2026): 3/day, 20–28 in slot. One over 28 in per license year with a Red Drum Tag.

Speckled trout

Cynoscion nebulosus

5.5

Thermal window

—

44°90°

Present, not peak.

Texas: 3/day, 15–20 in slot. One over 28 in per license year with a Spotted Seatrout Tag (plus bonus). Soft mouth + slot = measure every fish.

Jack crevalle

Caranx hippos

3.7

Thermal window

—

64°94°

Bycatch and beach noise — not the reason you came. Off-season here.

Generally unregulated. Still, do not leave a pile.

Regs citedTPWD Outdoor Annual · Sep 1, 2025–Aug 31, 2026 · rolls in 7 days. Texas bag and season roll every September 1. The stamp is the book we cited, not a license.