Thirty inches of Baffin Bay trout on a slow-sinking twitchbait
Marcus R. sent this one in from the rocks off the Badlands at 6:40 Saturday morning: a 30¼” trout on a Corky-style bait worked “as slow as I could stand.” Water was 82°, wind light and southeast. Photographed in the water and released.
Reader report — send yours to dispatch@slackwater.app.
First cool-ish morning of the year on the upper coast — 71° at the ramp in Seabrook — and the trout noticed. This week: a 30-inch fish out of Baffin, the Galveston jetties turning on at the top of the tide, a wade-fishing walkthrough for the Lower Laguna grass flats, and the one number you need to know before you keep a trout this fall.
This first issue is a template with sample reports — replace every entry before publishing.
Galveston jetties: the last two hours of incoming is the window
Guides on the North Jetty are seeing the bite line up with the top of the flood — clean green water pushing in, bait stacked on the channel side. Slackwater’s forecast has the southeast wind easing to 8 mph by midweek.
Wading the Lower Laguna grass: topwater first light, then go subsurface
Capt. Elena V. walks through her morning on the flats south of the Arroyo — where to park the boat, how to read the potholes, and why she switches from a walking bait to a paddletail the minute the sun clears the horizon.
A wading belt that actually holds a stringer, pliers, and a box
Presented with Fishing Co. — we only feature gear we have fished.
We’ve been fishing this belt since June. The thing it gets right: the stringer clip sits behind you, not at your hip, so a fish on the stringer isn’t between you and the next cast.
Fall trout: know the slot before you keep one
TPWD’s statewide spotted seatrout rules are still the tighter post-freeze numbers — check the current bag and slot before your trip, and remember the oversize fish is a once-a-year tag, not a daily allowance. CCA Texas has a printable card. Handle big fish in the water, and skip the lip grip on anything you’re releasing.
Twice a week, Texas inshore only. Reports, conditions, tactics, and the occasional good product. No noise.