Matagorda “End of Summer” Surf Report

While not yet officially the end of summer, it is getting closer. With a cold front expected to push its way in this week and drop the temps into the mid 50’s, I’m calling it pretty dang close. We all know how Texas weather can be though, one day you are rocking shorts and a tee, the next a hoodie a jeans. For us surf anglers, that first cold front is going to blow things wide open on the beach front. Even dropping the water temp by just a couple degrees can trigger big changes. Giant schools of bull reds both large and small will start showing in great numbers, large surf trout, big jacks blasting through rafts of finger mullet and one of my favorite cooler water fish, the sandbar shark, should start making their trek southward from the east coast to seek out our warmer winters and escape the frigid waters of the north.

For us lately, the fishing has been great the past few months with some solid fish being caught on several of our outings. Some days the water conditions have been the typical chocolate milk we are used to seeing and others it has been as clear as it gets for our stretch of the coast. Bull sharks and blacktips were fairly consistent on chunks of cownose rays and large sections of whiting. While no true monsters were caught, I was able to land a respectable 7’5 and Matt nailed a 7’2 on back to back trips. Had several other good runs but, in true shark fishing fashion, just weren’t meant to be. Bull reds have seemed to show in greater numbers early and can provide tons of fun for anglers of all skill levels, both young and old. Using chunks of whiting, live mullet and cut lady fish seem prove to be most effective this time of year. Slot reds are ever plentiful on fishbites and also on the hordes of finger mullet that have been cruising the wade gut. Make sure to always bring your castnet, never pay for bait as fresh is almost always better. I was finally able to make it into the “dirty 30” club on trout this past weekend. Now, I am by no means a trout fisherman but it was cool to finally check that one off the list. With it being out of the surf zone made it that much cooler.

The driving conditions post hurricane have been phenomenal, hardly needing 4 wheel drive at all. That won’t last long I can assure you of that. Be wary of debris that has been buried by the storm if you do run down the beach, had a jagged pipe that was barely sticking up do a number on one of my tires.

These next 2 months are going to be a fun time to get out there and I’m definitely looking forward to the cooler temps. October has always been by far my favorite month of the year to fish so bring it on. Let’s get it!

See y’all out there!

-TPOTTS

Great Pictures and some beautiful fish!

wow
go big or go home
nice work
&
great photo's

Solid post and fish. Thanks for sharing.

Always enjoy your post and great photos. We're headed down there this Wednesday and staying till Saturday or Sunday, be camped out somewhere around the 17 mile. If you happen to be down stop by and have a cold one with us. PK