Doctrine · not a honey-hole list

Seasonal fundamentals

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.

Texas

Texas — wind is the tide

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.

August. Same heat, slightly shorter days. Trout still deep. Reds on the first moving water. Flounder are a September story — do not force them.

August · peak

What is actually on

Mangrove / gray snapper

Lane snapper

Tripletail

King mackerel

Peak Present Off

Closures

No coast-wide harvest closure on the board. Still verify before you keep a fish.

Tarpon

Megalops atlanticus

Present AugustTexas

Thermal window

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72–90°F · best 76–86°F

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.

Leads the brief on Corpus.

Texas. Texas: treat as catch-and-release.

Official source

Same fish

Nets

Dock

Long record · Texas gill nets

Speckled trout per overnight set

Fall nets (September–November) Public file 1982–2019. Where is the bay system, not a GPS mark. Tap a bay to open that water.

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 · Texas dock counts

Speckled trout per interview

High-use dock (May 15–Nov 20) Parties that said they were fishing for speckled trout. Observed harvest on the clipboard — not expanded landings.

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.

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