Texas · Upper Laguna / Baffin
Hypersaline, clear, seagrass and serpulid rock. Trophy trout water. Land Cut, Nine Mile Hole, Badlands. Not Rockport — do not fish it like Rockport.
Forecast
low confidence
Morning line
Baffin 8.9 on Sunday, May 14. 9 mph SSE. Clear. YOLO day is Monday, August 31. Scores are 1–10, not a bite.
Wind
OPEN-METEO
From SSE · gust 17
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.
Glass
Open-Meteo modeled
29.96 inHg
1015 mb · no 3-hour change yet
Modeled mean sea level. Not a dock barometer. The glass is not a bite.
Moon
71% lit
Waning gibbous
mid range · 71%
Water
No gauge
Water
—
Today’s range 0.4 ft
incoming
0.19 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
Bahamas tides are modeled from lunar M2. Use them for windows, not a bar crossing.
Monthly YOLO day
Monday, August 31
Best remaining dry day this month with a real wind forecast. waning gibbous · mid · tide range ~0.3 ft · wind to 17 mph · 4% chance of rain
Next two weeks
Pulling the 14-day strip…
This pip is that mark on this tide — not the day on the ring.
grass flat · field manual · skinny
Named water. Sight if the wind lays down. Do not treat it like a Rockport drain.
grass flat · saved map · mid
Camp ON the Upper Laguna flats. Kayak launch on site. · flats · GULF ATLAS! - FISH
Nine Mile Hole / upper Laguna back country
grass flat · saved map · skinny
Remote ULM sight-casting. Shallow, skinny, low pressure. APPROX. · 4 - FLATS ZONES - NO WADE REQUIRED (green) · Texas coast — corridors, jetties, flats
pass jetty · saved map · mid
Reservable beach sites; Fish Pass jetty 1 mi up-beach; bayside kayak trail. · camp-surf · GULF ATLAS! - FISH
TX - PINS South Beach miles 0-5
pass jetty · saved map · mid
Free primitive w/ park pass. 2WD-friendly first 5 miles. · camp-surf · GULF ATLAS! - FISH
TX - Yarborough Pass (PINS mile 15.5)
pass jetty · saved map · mid
4WD primitive camp + cross-island Laguna access. Graduate trip. · flats · GULF ATLAS! - FISH
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
10.0Sun 8:00 AM → Sun 10:00 AM
Moving water in the right part of the day.
Outgoing water
10.0Sun 10:00 AM → Sun 4:00 PM
Moving water in the right part of the day.
Last light · incoming
9.7Sun 4:00 PM → Sun 10:00 PM
Last light on incoming water.
Last light · outgoing
8.7Sun 10:00 PM → Mon 4:00 AM
Last light on outgoing water.
First light · incoming
10.0Mon 4:00 AM → Mon 11:00 AM
First light on incoming water.
Same fish
Nets
Dock
Same fish · Upper Laguna Madre · Speckled trout
9.7/ set
In the nets. 87% of sets had one.
9.1/ trip
Across the dock · 17.6 in. 79% of speckled trout-seeking parties had one.
Different units. The nets count what is in the water. The dock counts the fish they named, on the clipboard — not expanded landings.
Late file: 12.6/set · 5.8/trip. Flip the years to put that file in the tables.
Long record · Upper Laguna Madre · gill nets
Spring nets (April–June) 1982–2019. Random shoreline grids in this bay system — not a mark on your map. Baffin / Land Cut. Clear water. Not Corpus.
| In the nets | Per set | Counted | Sets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black drum | 47.4 | 81,061 | 95% |
| Speckled trout | 9.7 | 16,538 | 87% |
| Redfish | 7.8 | 13,252 | 92% |
| Sheepshead | 1.0 | 1,707 | 37% |
| Southern flounder | 0.4 | 680 | 23% |
TPWD still sets spring (Apr–Jun) and fall (Sep–Nov). This public file ends in 2019. It does not update with the tide.
Long record · Upper Laguna Madre · dock counts
High-use dock (May 15–Nov 20) 1991–2023. Public ramps and wet slips in this bay system — the bay they launched from, not a honey hole. Baffin / Land Cut. Clear water. Not Corpus.
| Across the dock | Per trip | Counted | With fish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speckled trout | 9.1 | 126,494 | 79% |
| Redfish | 1.5 | 9,650 | 43% |
| Red snappergulf | 7.1 | 2,942 | 74% |
TPWD still interviews year-round, 10:00–18:00, about 1,000 survey-days and 14,000 interviews a year. This public extract is targeting trips, 1991–2023. It does not update with the tide.
PLOS One 1991–2023How the creel worksAsk TPWD for expanded landings
Sabine LakeGalveston BayMatagorda BayAransas BayCorpus Christi BayUpper Laguna MadreLower Laguna Madre
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 sourceMalaquite 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 sourcePINS North Beach
NPS Padre Island National Seashore
North Beach is the easier drive. Still NPS rules, not a county 2WD corridor.
Official sourcePadre Balli Park / Bob Hall Pier
Nueces County / GLO beach access
Packery neighborhood. Pier, beach, county park. Confirm pier status after storms.
Official sourceKaufer-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 sourceBird 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 sourceNo-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.
Sciaenops ocellatus
Thermal window
—
In peak season for this water. This tide stage (incoming) matches how they hunt.
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.
Cynoscion nebulosus
Thermal window
—
In peak season for this water. This tide stage (incoming) matches how they hunt.
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.
Caranx hippos
Thermal window
—
Bycatch and beach noise — not the reason you came. In peak season for this water. This tide stage (incoming) matches how they hunt.
Generally unregulated. Still, do not leave a pile.
Regs citedTPWD Outdoor Annual · Sep 1, 2025–Aug 31, 2026 · rolls in 6 days. Texas bag and season roll every September 1. The stamp is the book we cited, not a license.
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