Fishing at Matagorda.....the Good Days and Others...
(Last updated 03/11/2001)
For Last Years Reports, Click here

Subject: Matagorda Surf, Texas Weather: varied.... Fishing for: Trout - Reds - sharks Boat: '85 Chev 4x4 captain: adc

Report:

YEAR 2001
March 11, 2001 - Fished the morning in East Bay with Capt. Jay. Really enjoyed his new Scout 240....What a Boat! Fish did not cooperate much...Jay landed nice 26 in. red on first cast. Rest of the morning produced 6 trout.

YEAR 2000:
Sunday, Oct 01 - Wed. thru Friday was some of the best surf fishing this year...green water right up to the beach....caught limits of red fish easily for three consecutive days.....Went back Sunday....NADA....strong East wind has muddy up the water but worse than that is the very strong sweep east to west...action slowed up alot!


Sunday, Sept 11 - LOTS of BULL Reds being caught of the pier and on the east side of the jetty if you have a boat and can stall the swells and waves....Water in surf is beautiful. Caught 2 bull reds from pier and 6 legal size reds in the surf from the beach....kept 3 eating size ones from caught about 10 miles down.

Friday, Sept 01 - Two nice reds and one fat trout despite hard SW wind and strong sweep to the east.....all caught on cut mullet fished in the wash out pools along the beach....

August 19 - Fished Thursday evening six miles down beach without any luck...tried a couple of spots that looked good but NADA......Didn't do any better Friday morning but did see nice 28" red caught about 6 miles down beach...Seaweed was pretty bad on incoming tide so stayed very busy just trying to keep two rods out and baited.

Posted 08/13/00 - Surf Conditions.....amazing what can happen in just a few hours...this morning Matagorda surf was pretty flat, but way off color......by afternoon the wind had picked up to at least 10 to 12 mph but the green water just kept getting closer and closer....Got really nice, especially 9 plus miles down the beach...managed several nice trout just beyond first bar on outgoing tide. Water was NICE even with 2 ft. waves....trout don't care!

Tomorrow morning should be GREAT if wind goes to around 5 mph tonight...Tropical depression in Gulf could become an influence, but from experience, fishing really turns on for 3 to 5 days after one of these goes inland...should just get better!

August 03 - Hit the beach late....8:45 pm...yes, at dark...caught plenty of big mullet in surf...drove down beach 6 miles to favorite hole....got lights set up and two rods out by about 9:30...Fished only in very first gut...hardly getting feet wet.
At 10:30 far rod went "slack" for about 3 seconds and then doubled over HARD...Ten minutes later a nice 41 inch bull red came reluctantly ashore. Measured the red and quickly released her. One hour later caught nice keeper red 26" long and that was it ...nothing for the next two hours...gave up at about 1:00 am and left.

July 07 - Lots of seaweed in close but those fishermen wading out chest deep were rewarded with lots of trout...not too sure about the size but some keepers for sure.

June 26 - Fished surf on Sunday, the 25th. Seaweed is bad again with a new batch coming in. Found a spot down about 6 miles with less west to east sweep and set out one rod with large tail end piece of medium size mullet. Tremendous hook up almost spooled reel. Finally had to tighten down on drag to save line and it broke at leader connection. Put on new leader and rebaited. Soon another good hook up.....after about a 20 minute battle, landed a 66 inch shark!! Hooked up two more times with one just coming off hook and other breaking line on another rod.....SHARKS were close in as I was not casting beyond first bar.

June 21 - Despite strong S winds at 18 to 20 mph I tried surf fishing. Caught good size mullet in bar ditch along road to beach. Beach driving is very difficult beyond three mile lake. Managed to find good spot about 6 miles down and set out two rods using cut mullet for bait....Caught nice speck....24".....right away. And then the BIG ONE.....beautiful bull red 44" long, 34 pounds. Great fight!

June 13 - SE winds in excess of 10 even though forecast called for less. Surf had 2 to 3 foot waves....Beach in great shape....tide was low this evening making driving easy....very few people on the beach during the weekdays...Fished several spots in surf and hooked up with several big sharks using big chunks of cut mullet....first two broke leaders, third one Ianded and released after pictures and measuring.... just over 51" long...Great Fight!!



June 3rd - S-SE winds continue just strong enough to keep the surf sandy and pretty rough. Saw one Bull Red caught in surf down the beach 10 miles....Bait was cut mullet...Red measured 39 inches. There were lots of bull reds caught off the jetty pier Saturday. Check out the photos. Beach conditions require 4x4. And the small sharks are still a problem!

May 29th - SW wind is all that seems to be keeping the greenwater from reaching the beach. This week should change that according to weather forecasts. Drove down beach 10 miles and fished several spots..no reds or trout , just lots of small sharks and whiting.

May 22nd - Surf conditions are AT LAST VERY MUCH IMPROVED...caught couple nice size mullet for cut bait in the ditch along the road to the beach. The wind from last week resulted in some very high tides and dispersed the seaweed to the dunes and made the beach driving much better.....love the wet sand, but won't last long with high temps in the 90's all this week....the green water was getting very close and the wind is in the SE and forecasts call for this to continue all week....This could really be the START of the good surf fishing for the summer. Caught one nice red, about 25" and three sharks.....saw a beautiful trout that was caught in East Matagorda Bay...went over 28"....great fish!!

April 28th - Surf continues to be very full of seaweed....you have to look really hard to find an area to fish and if you do, it soon gets full of the the stuff as it moves around in the surf. Water clarity was good and improving Friday as wind went into SE. I saw several nice trout and reds caught by a few fishermen luckier than me! Live mullet are not plentiful and local bait shrimp are small.

Friday April 14th - Caught mullet, drove down about 4.5 miles....beach still really slow to drive....tide was out just a little so that helped. Set out two rods....seaweed has let up some.....fished just over 2 hours and only bite was a three foot shark.....fun to catch.....had been a while!

Sunday April 09, 2000 - Late start, hit beach just before noon....surf muddy....went to 3 Mile Lake and caught three nice size mullet for cut bait. Beach beyond 3 Mile area really rough and slow driving. Lots of seaweed wash ashore and makes for slow driving. Not enough beach traffic to beat out a good road or set of tracks. Fished about an hour, continually removing seaweed from two rods that I set out. Didn't loose a bait.