Mid and Upper coast Salinity / Fishing Update

While there are still areas of water that are entirely too fresh. There are areas that are starting to mix in and anglers are catching redfish, trout, and flounder. Areas that recieve a good strong incoming tide daily have been the first to rebound (Except for Sabine and BigLake) those lakes with the flows they got and the small (relatively speaking) inlets there so only so much fresh can get out and only so much salt can get in. The good news is that the majority of Rivers and Bayous have normalized and are getting close to baseline flows again. Rivers that have flood control impoundments or lakes of any sort that are releasing that water at more than baseline flow rates are just going to take longer to get salty. The majority of the flats will be in good condition within a week more, maybe a little longer... The slowest areas to rebound like Trinity, Sabine, and Big Lake could take a month or more. That said, the rain and fresh inflows pushed a lot of shrimp into the bays and fall fishing is starting early along certain shorelines and in back lakes.

Still need to be on the look out for floating debris... everything from deck boards (which are the hardest to see) to playground equipment and logs of course.. be careful out there and keep speeds down and always best to navigate in the daylight whenever possible after a storm.

ya'll have fun.. feel free to PM me with any questions about anywhere and I'll try to fill you guys in with what I know.
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I'd like to take a trip to Powderhorn in the next couple of weeks. What do you feel the situation will be at the start of October? Thanks in advance.

west galveston bay hasn't seen the fresh water that some other bays have seen, but still getting a definite fresh/salt division. no debris here that i've seen. haven't had a chance to try anywhere else. helping some kinfolk that were flooded. living on stilts has some advantages.

What are the predictions for the Trinity and East Bays?

[quote=Bob Landry]What are the predictions for the Trinity and East Bays? ]
good question. we've been wondering what all the run off did to the fish. all that reservoir water that's being called toxic, is coming down buffalo bayou/houston ship channel to the bay. same with the san jacinto river/champion paper slug pits.

I was in West Matty and POC this weekend.

As for Trinity, Upper Galveston, and East. There are fish being caught on shell both sides of the ship channel south of eagle point with a preference to the Eagle point side (that report from Eagle Point Marina and they have bait). There's a few fish being caught on the deep reefs in east.. it's not 'lights out' or anything. Most of the fish found refuge in the ship channel and other deep holes holding salt and they're going to find where the shrimp and shad are and are going to eat to survive. The tough part over there right now is finding them.. don't let dirty water scare you off, you have to look for the signs and they are still making slicks as well. South shoreline East should come around a little quicker, then Upper Galveston. Trinity and the northern half of east will take the longest.

How long? For Trinity.. probably sometime late Oct or early Nov as long as we don't get more rain. Maybe not quite that long.

Reservoir releases and toxicity.. good point smooth move. While I certainly hate to hear of the toxic pits leaching its something Galveston bay has dealt with for a long long time. The reservoir releases will further dilute those toxins. While not good that its there it shouldn't harm the fish in the short term.. I mean other than the 'Glowing' and growing third eyeballs. ;-) all kidding aside toxin levels should return to normal after all this water blows out of the bays with the next several big cold fronts (when they come) and the return of good incoming salt flows from the jetty / ship channel and the pass.

I fished in West Matty and POC over the weekend. We found some trout and smaller reds on the south shoreline of west in water that was mid range salinity but the much better fish came from POC / SanAntonio bay in much lower salinity and dirtier water. We keyed on slicks and then pin pointed our cast to small amounts of surface activity from fleeing baitfish and shrimp. My buddy and I talked about it but most people that haven't read the water or know that skill would have overlooked the area.. we had several anglers park around us and leave pretty fast... we kept the bowed up rods low in the water to hide our catching. Report in Fishing Reports.