Texas City Dike, TX

Best day of the run and it is not close. SE at 0-9 kt is the money direction, the 7:54 AM high hits 1.45 ft and falls eleven straight hours to 0.06 ft, and the major solunar runs 6:15 to 8:15 AM directly over sunrise and the top of that tide. Storm chance drops to 17 percent. Nothing is working against you here except water temperature. Lures and bait both produce - artificials early, croaker once the sun bakes it.

Clean water means natural and translucent. Bone or clear/chrome Super Spook Jr at first light through the whole major window, then a 1/8 oz jighead - go light, the wind is nothing - with a Down South Super Model in Texas Roach or a Sea Shad in morning glory. Long casts, slow retrieve, let it fall on slack line down the rock face. Do not overwork it in water this clear.

Live croaker free-lined off the deeper granite is the pattern once the sun is up and the water hits 88F-plus. Before that, live shrimp under a popping cork along the rock line through the sunrise major will get chewed.

Four days of unbroken S to SE flow has flushed the system with Gulf water. Both sides of the dike fish clean; the Gulf side is genuinely clear.

Sight-casting range for reds in water this clear - work the shallow rock with a gold spoon or a live shrimp. Flounder are on the sand edges through the long afternoon fall.

Biggest tide of the week - 1.5 ft high at 8:30 AM falling twelve hours to dead flat 0.01 ft. Wind is barely there, E at 0-4 kt, which means glass conditions and total lure control. Major solunar 7:18 to 9:18 AM sits right on the high. Only knock is the E turn slightly slowing the clean-water push and 26 percent storm coverage midday. Bait keeps its usual hot-water edge after 10 AM.

Dead-calm water calls for finesse. Bone Spook Jr or a She Dog in bone/chrome first thing, then go all the way down to a 1/8 oz jighead and a Lil John in Opening Night. Long casts, light line, and stay off the rocks - they will see you in this. Work the current seam once that big tide starts pulling hard after 9 AM.

Live croaker free-lined on the deeper granite - with a 1.5 ft tide dumping to zero, the current does the work. Live shrimp under a cork through the early major, then switch to croaker as the heat builds and the trout pull off the shallow rock.

The light E shift will not undo four days of S/SE - the water stays clean. The channel side may pick up a touch of sand as the big tide dumps out.

Big falling tide pulls reds tight to the rock line all afternoon - cut mullet on the bottom or a spoon. Flounder should be excellent on the back end of that twelve-hour fall.

Tide is perfect again - 1.48 ft high at 9:43 AM into a dead-zero low at 9:36 PM, twelve hours of sustained pull. Wind goes light and variable through N/NE at 0-4 kt, which knocks clarity down a notch but at 4 kt a north wind does nothing to this system. Later high means the sunrise window is a rising tide instead of a fall, so shift your timing. Lures work fine at these speeds; croaker still wins in 88F water past mid-morning.

Later high means the good water arrives mid-morning. Fish topwater early anyway - bone Spook Jr on the shallow rock at grey light - but the real window is the major from 8:20 to 10:20 AM sitting on the high. Use a 1/4 oz jighead with a Sea Shad in Chicken on a Chain and work the seam as the tide turns and starts pulling. Slightly louder colours than Friday.

Live shrimp under a popping cork through the morning rise and the major, then live croaker free-lined off the deeper granite for the afternoon fall. The croaker call gets stronger every hour past 10 AM in this water temp.

A light N/NE turn takes a little polish off the water but 4 kt is nowhere near enough to blow the bay out. Gulf side still holds the cleaner water; channel side dulls first.

Reds will follow the rising water up onto the shallow rock in the morning - live shrimp under a cork. Flounder come alive on the long evening fall.

Different shape of day - the high does not arrive until 12:11 PM, so the morning is a long slow rise rather than a fall. Wind starts W at 5-6 kt then swings back SE by afternoon, and at those speeds the westerly does no real damage. Major solunar 9:20 to 11:20 AM overlaps the top of the rise. Wind is a non-factor for lure control at 0-9 kt, so artificials are fully in play, but 95F air by 2 PM means the bait rod earns its keep after noon.

Skip the pre-dawn scramble and fish the rise into the midday high. First light is still worth a bone Spook Jr on the shallow rock, but the real bite is the major over the top of the tide. Run a 1/4 oz jighead with a Down South Super Model in plum/chartreuse where the west wind has put a little colour in it, and Texas Roach where the water stays clean.

Live croaker free-lined off the deeper granite through the midday high - at 95F air and 88F-plus water that is the only thing worth fishing after noon. Live shrimp under a cork covers the morning rise along the rock line.

A 5 kt west wind is not a blowout wind - it just softens the edge on the channel side for a few hours before the SE returns by midday and cleans it back up.

Reds push up on the shallow rock with the long morning rise - gold spoon or live shrimp. Flounder are better on the evening drop toward the 10:27 PM low.