Texas fishing reports
481 reports for Texas — what's biting, water temps, and where to focus.
Fall transition sets up dawn bite windows on Travis, LBJ, Buchanan
Late September has the Highland Lakes chain sliding into its fall turnover window, the stretch when surface layers start mixing with cooler water below and baitfish activity picks up. Wired 2 Fish's rundown on seasonal timing points to early and late low-light hours as the dependable play through this transition, a pattern that holds across Travis, LBJ and Buchanan as well. With a full moon overhead this week, expect that low-light bite to extend into the pre-dawn and post-dusk windows rather than concentrating tightly at first and last light.
East Texas reservoirs cling to summer warmth ahead of fall turnover
Sabine River gauges feeding the Toledo Bend and Sam Rayburn system are still running warm, with USGS readings of 87°F at gauge 08017044, 86°F at gauge 08017118, and 84°F downstream at gauge 08017095, while flow at the Ruliff-area gauge (08030500) holds near 2,260 cfs. Lake Fork Trophy Bass's September report notes fish beginning to shift into fall feeding patterns as the season's heat wave finally breaks, with the annual Sealy Big Bass Splash tournament also drawing attention this month. Tactical Bassin's early-fall content backs that timing, pointing anglers toward baitfish-focused presentations as water starts to cool.
Upper Coast snook active as Gulf waters stay summer-warm
NOAA CO-OPS readings this morning show Gulf water still running summer-warm across the Galveston-Corpus stretch: 89.4°F at station 8771450 near Galveston, 87.1°F at the Galveston Bay entrance (station 8771341), and 87.6°F at Corpus Christi (station 8772471). That kind of heat keeps snook active along the upper coast — Texas Fish & Game Magazine notes the species isn't confined to the traditional Lower Laguna Madre stronghold and shows up much farther north than most anglers expect. Sport Fishing Mag reports Gulf snook are feeding up ahead of the fall transition, with aggressive fish responding well to swimbaits like the Z-Man Mulletron and Diezel MinnowZ as they stage toward winter holding areas. Tonight's full moon adds extra tidal push, worth factoring into trip planning this week.
Full moon lands on Lower Laguna Madre still locked in summer heat
NOAA CO-OPS readings this morning show Gulf water still running summer-warm across the Lower Laguna Madre corridor: 87.6°F at station 8775237 and 90.5°F at the South Padre station (8779770), taken within minutes of each other. That's a wide spread for two nearby gauges and points to a shallow, sun-loaded flat sitting hotter than the main channel. Today's full moon adds a strong tide push on top of it. Texas Fish & Game Magazine notes snook aren't confined to the Lower Laguna Madre the way most Texas anglers assume, a reminder that the region's namesake gamefish ranges wider up the coast than its reputation suggests.
Snook push north as Gulf Coast flips into fall transition
Water on the upper Texas coast is still summer-warm, with CO-OPS stations near Galveston and Corpus Christi reading 86-90°F overnight into this morning, but the fall shift several writers have flagged is underway. Texas Fish & Game's look at the "Mystery of Upper Coast Snook" notes the species isn't confined to the Lower Laguna Madre and shows up well north of it, and Sport Fishing Mag's fall-transition piece has snook feeding up before pushing toward winter holding water, with swimbaits like Z-Man's Mulletron or a Diezel MinnowZ drawing strikes. Salt Strong's rundown of trusted fall lures backs that up, pairing bigger paddletails for redfish alongside snook as the seasonal switch flips.
Redfish and Snook Shift as Texas Coast Awaits First Fall Front
Water held in the upper 80s this morning, 90.3°F at the Galveston Bay entrance, 87.1 and 87.8°F at the two stations farther down the coast, still carrying summer's signature into the back half of September. The Galveston Daily News' Reel Report says South Texas anglers, like most along the coast, are waiting on a front, and its equinox column notes fall-like temperatures are coming but probably won't be felt until this weekend. The same Reel Report flagged real day-to-day inconsistency, describing a 'tale of two days' where Saturday and Sunday fishing swung despite similar conditions, while also passing along solid catches from Galveston Bait and Tackle's Capt. Billy Howell. A redfish tournament wrapped as part of that equinox coverage, keeping reds active in the mix heading into fall. Farther south, Texas Fish & Game Magazine's piece on Upper Coast Snook and Sport Fishing Mag's fall-transition report both describe snook shifting toward wintering water as days shorten, a seasonal move that typically sharpens the bite before it eases off for winter.
Snook Snap Into Fall Feed Mode Across Lower Laguna Madre
Water stayed warm overnight across the Lower Laguna Madre, with NOAA CO-OPS station 8775237 reading 87.4°F and station 8779770 farther up the system at 90.9°F early this morning. That's late-summer warmth holding into the fall calendar, and it's keeping fish behavior tilted toward feeding-up patterns rather than a hard seasonal shift. Texas Fish & Game Magazine notes the Lower Laguna Madre is the established center of Texas snook fishing, and Sport Fishing Mag reports Gulf snook are feeding aggressively on fall's bounty as they begin working toward winter holding water, with swimbaits like the Z-Man Mulletron or Diezel MinnowZ drawing strikes from aggressive fish.
Redfish tourney action heats up as fall snook push begins
Water temperatures are still running warm across the upper Texas coast, with NOAA CO-OPS stations reading 90.9°F, 88.9°F and 88.5°F, holding onto the last stretch of Gulf summer. Galveston Daily News' Reel Report tied its latest dispatch to the autumnal equinox and a wave of redfish tournament results out of the Galveston area, with Capt. Billy Howell of Galveston Bait and Tackle among the reporting captains. Fall's arrival is starting to reshape the pattern farther down the coast too: Sport Fishing Mag and Texas Fish & Game Magazine both flag the Gulf's seasonal snook push this week, with fish beginning to feed up and stage toward winter holding water as the days shorten.
Fall snook push builds in South Padre's Lower Laguna Madre
Water in the Lower Laguna Madre remains warm heading into late September, reading 87.8°F at NOAA CO-OPS station 8775237 and 90.5°F at station 8779770. Sport Fishing Mag's fall-transition report notes Gulf snook beginning to feed up as they stage toward winter holding areas, with aggressive fish taking swimbaits like Z-Man's Mulletron and Diezel MinnowZ, and Texas Fish & Game Magazine confirms the Lower Laguna Madre remains the recognized center of Texas snook fishing. Together the two point to a building fall pattern rather than a peak one just yet.
Early fall transition takes hold on Texas reservoirs
North Texas Catfish Guide, running trips on Eagle Mountain Lake near Fort Worth, describes the past few weeks as a classic late-summer grind: hot water, little wind, heavy boat traffic, and a stubborn 'ghost bite' that has anglers learning to read tiny taps before the hookset. The same report notes the first signs of fall finally showing up on the lake. Further east, a B.A.S.S. News column from a guide working Sam Rayburn Reservoir echoes the pattern — September still runs hot in East Texas, but the writer flags October through December as the stretch when the biggest fish of the year come out, a window guides there plan around every season.
Travis, LBJ and Buchanan ease into the fall transition
Travis, LBJ, and Buchanan are sliding into the early fall transition this week, the seasonal shift that pulls baitfish out of the skinny water and repositions gamefish along creek channels, bluff ends, and main-lake points. Cooling surface temperatures across Texas Hill Country reservoirs are the trigger for the pattern anglers wait all year for, and it typically plays out over several weeks rather than overnight.
Sam Rayburn guide says the best fishing is still to come
East Texas is holding onto summer heat this week, and a guide who works Sam Rayburn Reservoir well into the colder months tells B.A.S.S. News that late September is typically the slow lead-in before the region's real payoff stretch. Per that report, more big East Texas fish come off the water between October and December than at any other time of year, with the guide already looking past the current heat toward that window. No validated water temperature or flow readings are available for Toledo Bend or Sam Rayburn this week, so treat conditions as transitional rather than confirmed.