Baffin Bay: January 25 - 26 

Here’s my report after running trips in Baffin Bay this past weekend. To start, the good news is that I didn’t see any dead fish following water temperatures in the 40s.

On Saturday, my clients and I were greeted to 47 degree water temperatures. Our strategy was to wade in waist- to belly-deep water with scattered seagrass beds and rock formations. Initially, we observed little to no bait activity until the major feed began. As the south winds picked up and the water warmed slightly, we finally spotted a couple of mullet jumping along a color change. It was a slow day, but we managed to catch five trout (the largest weighing 4.5 pounds), a black drum, and two redfish, including one undersized fish that weighed four pounds.

Sunday proved to be much more productive, with the water warming up to 52 degrees. We noticed multiple slicks and more mullet within just 30 minutes compared to the previous day. Although we initially tried to find fish in shallower water without success, we reverted to the same strategy as the day before. This approach paid off, resulting in over 20 trout caught, though surprisingly only three were keepers. In my opinion, it seems the larger fish had not moved up shallow just yet. As with Saturday, the best bite occurred during the major feeding time and quickly tapered off afterward. All our fish were caught using either a Ball Tail Shad or a Wig-A-Lo Jr., worked slowly along the bottom.

I just watched Caleb and Pat's wintertime tides and temps video. Excellent info for not overthinking the settings but "grind 'til you find" counsel.  The loon(-atics) portion was good as I see and fish near loons in Redfish Bay from park-and-wade spots. The loon photo Caleb shared is a Common Loon (truly the most common species along the Texas coast, and especially in winter although some do stay into the warm season). It is in full breeding plumage, unlike most of the wintering birds we have in Texas which are drab dark-backed with white sides and bellies, and was obviously a photo from far north as it's in full breeding plumage and holding juvenile pike or pickerel. I like the notion of using them as "bird dog birds" as what they eat is what the bigger trout are eating and the same size as many of our 4-6" lures we're also using.