When a coast, a type of water, and a fish actually line up. If you elected Texas on the list, this page opens on Texas — Seychelles stays off the board until you ask for it. Filter by region, method or habitat, and species. The year bar is peak versus present. Limits cite TPWD and FWC — verify before you keep one.
Seven working bays, one printed table that is often a suggestion.
This coast runs from a brackish border estuary at Sabine to hypersaline rock at Baffin and the clear classroom of the Lower Laguna. The main event is the red. Trout live a foot deeper in the same bays. Flounder own the fall nights at the passes until the November closure. Winter belongs to drum and sheep on mud and granite. Corpus still sees a tarpon along the beach in mid-summer — Port A was once Tarpon, Texas — but that is a bay-boat job, not the skinny skiff. Do not fish Baffin like Rockport. Do not invent Rollover Pass; it was filled in 2019. Birds are GPS for trout. A hard norther empties the shoreline and stacks fish in the guts. Fly when the morning is honest. The gold spoon is what you came for when it is not.
April. Prime. Reds tailing, trout on bait, water not yet a bathtub. This is the Texas month people move for.
Type
Spin
Spin is not a consolation prize. It is what you do when the wind, the depth, or the fish does not allow the fly. Gold spoon in grass. Soft plastic when they will not come up. Live crab for a Keys permit that has refused every merkin. A 30-pound black drum in a Galveston channel is a day that does not owe you a strip-set. Carry both. Decide on the water.
No coast-wide harvest closure on the board. Still verify before you keep a fish.
Redfish
Sciaenops ocellatus
Peak AprilTexas
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Thermal window
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52–88°F · best 62–82°F
Texas and Louisiana main event. Tails in flooded grass, wakes on shell, winter schools on mud, bulls in the passes. Keys: backcountry only, not oceanside. Boca Harbor yes. Jupiter is a snook desk.
Fly. 8-weight. Crab or shrimp on bead-chain for tailers. Gold spoon when the wind wrecks the fly. 20 lb near oyster.
Spin. Weedless gold spoon, paddle, or soft plastic. Heavy spoon or big paddle for the fall jetty bulls.
Same bays as the red, a foot deeper. Birds are GPS. Heat drives them off the flat at midday. Cold drives them to guts and mud. Louisiana lives on this fish.
Fly. 7–8 wt. Baitfish and shrimp. Gurgler when they are up. Soft mouth — strip-set, do not trout-set a trout.
Spin. Topwater at dawn. Soft plastic on a light jig the rest of the day. Slow down after a front.
Fall migration to the Gulf when water drops a few degrees. Males leave first. Spring return. Texas closed Nov 1–Dec 14. Louisiana typically closed Oct 15–Nov 30 — verify LDWF.
Fly. Clouser or shrimp on the bottom. Slow. The eat is a weight, not a tap.
Spin. Gulp or soft plastic hopped on sand drains and jetty guts. Fall nights at the passes are the run.
Keys migratory peak Apr–May. Boca Grande Pass is the spring stack. Jupiter inlet and beach. Texas beach/passes mid-summer. Venice south passes in the heat. Bahamas: resident fish in bights Apr–Oct.
Fly. 10–12 wt. Cockroach, toad, or baitfish. Bow to the king on the jump. 40–60 lb shock.
Spin. Live crab or large swimbaits at passes. Texas beachfront July–early fall is a bay-boat game, not the skinny skiff.