Conquering the Patterns During the Summer Doldrums

Part of my job as a fisheries biologist includes conducting creel surveys at boat ramps. During these surveys I often encounter many anglers, amateur and professional alike, inquiring where the fish are. As frustrating of an answer it may be, I regularly say, “It depends”. Biologically, many factors influence fish behavior on both the individual and population levels. Red drum, spotted seatrout, southern flounder, and black drum, four of the most sought after species on the Texas coast, all behave differently seasonally and daily. Since the weather here on the coast is starting to settle into more stable patterns, the fish will also become more predictable. However, the temperatures of August and September will also contribute to making fish more difficult to trick into taking bait. Also during this time of year the bays are full of bait after several favorable months of spawning by countless prey sources. Besides working in fisheries, I also spend much of my free time hunting reds and specks with rod and reel. I will share what I’ve learned over the past 17 years fishing Texas bays.


Patience is the number one key in successfully filling a cooler during the heat of the summer doldrums. If you know an area has fish holding potential…stick with it, and fish that area thoroughly. You should fish that area longer than you would if it were spring or fall. I’ll put it in perspective for those of you that regularly fish during winter. Because of colder temperatures during the winter months, successful anglers know they must fish slower and more thorough to catch fish. The same is true during times of extreme heat. Wade fishing will allow you to cover an area thoroughly than simply cruising over the area drift fishing from a boat. Look at this fact from a biological perspective. Metabolically, fish usually increase feeding activities as water temperature warms. However, a maximum exists with this relationship where fish reduce their overall movement during extremely warm temperatures because it is biologically impossible to maintain their bodies at such a high metabolic rate. Each fish species has different temperature thresholds where they slow down at high temperatures, but it’s safe to say that when water temperatures reach the upper 80’s most all species reduce their feeding activity and simply rest.

With all due respect to this fact, I have good news. Fish still need to eat. When planning an outing, fish the coolest times of day during dawn and dusk. The crepuscular periods allow fish to stay cool and hunt prey more efficiently. For example, my Dad and I have been fishing an area for years in the Upper Lauguna Madre that has been very consistent with producing limits of slot and oversized reds mid-day during spring and fall. This summer we decided to fish this area at sunrise for the first time ever. Five outings produced many limits of reds by 7:30 a.m. We were then able to focus our efforts on trout for the rest of the day.

The next variable that you must pay close attention to is water depth and the abundance of aquatic vegetation. Avoid fishing areas at dawn that are less than two feet deep with a lot of seagrass coverage. It sounds contradictory to not fish an area with prime habitat, but note that I stated at dawn only. Fish need to breathe, and seagrasses are primary producers of oxygen; however, after a long night without any sunlight, aquatic vegetation actually consumes oxygen. By the time daybreak is occurring, dissolved oxygen (D.O.) levels can be near zero milligrams per liter in extensive, shallow flats. For fish to maintain homeostasis (the optimum levels for reduced stress) they need a minimum concentration of four milligrams per liter of D.O. Now I’m not advocating going out and buying a dissolved oxygen meter (they are very expensive) and measuring concentration levels at all of your fishing spots. It is safe to assume that two hours of sunlight will increase the D.O. levels sufficiently for fish to move onto a flat. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. Areas with high abundances of vegetation that are two feet and deeper may hold fish 24 hours per day; as well as shallower flats with deep water immediately adjacent to them.

If you just couldn’t pull yourself out of bed early enough to fish sunrise it will be more difficult to fish mid-day, but you can still be successful. If you can manage to get out at this time of year when there is a rare breeze, drift fishing deeper water is where you’ll find the fish. Now by deeper water I don’t mean the main basin of the bay. Look to fish around four feet of water with a contour change, or patchy seagrass and sand pockets. These areas are ideal for predatory fish to ambush prey when they need a snack. Also, plan on covering as much water as you can. Quality fish usually aren’t concentrated this time of year, and tend to spread out. If you don’t get any keeper fish after drifting an area for ten minutes, move to your next spot. A decent wind to drift fish will be hard to come by at this time of year, yes even in Texas, so wading is the next best alternative for a mid-day excursion. However, you still need to stay near deeper water. Don’t infer that I mean wade out neck deep. In fact, you may not need to fish the deep water, but having it nearby is the key. Fish will move from deeper water to a flat to get a quick feed and then once they have satisfied their cravings they will move back off the flat. If you are unsuccessful finding fish on the flat, fish the drop off along the edge of the flat by casting into deeper water.

I tend to be a bait snob, and turn my nose up at the thought of fishing live bait. However, it’s not because I’m more successful with artificial. I simply find that using lures is more challenging, but in the end, live bait flat out catches fish. Whether you prefer a popping cork or fishing a bottom rig, shrimp, live fish, and cut bait are great ways to increase your catch rate by employing the above techniques. If I find it difficult to catch fish using plastics then I’ll switch to the next best thing and fish Gulp! with some sort of live bait rig, or even on a jig head as I do with plastics. Follow these common sense tactics, and I’m certain your next fishing trip will be a successful outing.

Sweet Redemption and a Visit from an Old Friend

John and his 30" red caught in the Upper Laguna Madre

This week I had an old friend, John, visit that I hadn’t seen in ten years. We recently got back in touch, and he currently lives in Austin. He and a couple of his friends (The Scott’s…ironically, both of the friends first names) came down from our capital city to get some fishing in. These guys are novice fisherman with John being the only one with previous saltwater fishing experience. In preparation for our Saturday fishing trip, Dad and I dusted off the spinning gear which hadn’t been used for at least six months, got the boat ready, dug up extra wading belts and boots, and debated whether or not we should rig them up with popping corks. I temporarily won that debate and left the gear rigged with plastics. I later called John to discuss our meeting time and place for the next morning.


Since our last trip the tides had begun to drop, and we gambled on our honey hole (same spot from my previous post “Lesson Learned”) as the first spot to fish. This spot is money during a high tide, but unpredictable during low tides. Granted, the tides had been unusually high, and the current low tide was more like our normal high tide…we figured the pattern hadn’t changed. I told my buddy John to meet us at 5:30 a.m. at a boat ramp very close to where they were staying.

When morning came I met Dad at his place as usual. We loaded up the boat and arrived at the ramp at around 5:15 a.m. I tried giving John a call on the way, but his phone went right to voicemail. I mentally prepared myself for this scenario the previous night after my conversation with John revealed the guys were still enjoying some cold beverages and fishing from the pier at 11:30 p.m. I told Dad that we would wait until 6:00 a.m. and then we were going to take off with or without them.

Now that sounds pretty harsh do to an old friend that I hadn’t seen in ten years, but we knew the bite was only going to last for a short time. We didn’t want to miss our window. Of course, six `o clock rolls around and still no word from John. I sent him a text letting him know we were out of there, and we would be back at 9:00 a.m. to pick them up.

After the short boat ride to the spot, John and the Scott’s had awakened and were slightly disappointed that they missed the bus, and so it goes fishing with two Ahrens’. Dad and I geared up and jumped in for the wade. We were right on time and figured the bite would be happening real soon. We nearly made it half way down our wade without a bite when I finally hooked into a red. It was a solid 25 incher. Several more yards down the wade I hooked and landed another one at 23”. Dad then lands and strings up a speck. After ten more minutes, Dad took a long cast, and a red inhaled it the second his bait hit the water. Seconds later my bait gets whacked and I’m yelling, “DOUBLE”! I strung up the final red for my limit at 7:20 a.m. Sweet redemption after our last outing…of course, I was using my old jig heads.

The bite shut down after only 45 minutes, but we did some damage. We had four reds and three specks. By then, it was nearly 8:30 a.m. and we decided to head back and pick up the guys. When we arrived at nine, the guys had been waiting at the dock for a half an hour to ensure not to repeat their misfortune. We decided to head to a flat where we picked up some reds the previous week. When we arrived at this spot we decided to rig the spinning gear with popping corks and Gulp after discussing the guys experience level…and so I was defeated by the old man’s experience, again. The Scott’s were blanked at this spot, but John managed to yank seven undersized specks from the grass. He had the presentation figured out.

After seeing several guides we know zipping back and forth looking for a decent fishing spot, Dad decided to head back to the honey hole and fish it hard until another bite occurred. John and the Scott’s hooked up with hand full of undersized trout and reds by early afternoon. When John decided to lose the popping cork and fish a true artificial rig. After a short time, he hooked into a nice 25” red and added him to the creel. He later lost another slot red only a few feet from getting it landed. Then, on our last wade he hooked into a lunker. The fish fought hard and John managed to land him…a thirty incher. Needless to say he tagged that puppy. One of the Scott’s even managed to string up a 22” red and a 17” black drum. By the end of the trip we had eight reds, four trout, and a black drum. It was a great day. We’re starting to get spoiled.

A Lesson Learned

It was going to be another day fishing the Upper Laguna Madre. I was meeting my Dad at his house. As I pulled into the alley he was waiting at the end of his driveway watching for me. He’s like an old bird dog that knows you’re about to go hunting…just anxious and impatient. I love that about him. We loaded up his things and headed toward the boat barn. While there, we would be meeting with the third musketeer, a family friend, Joe. Joe usually has little to say, isn’t necessarily the most accomplished angler, but has no problem grinding it out all day. After we got everything situated we stopped to fuel up, and headed off to the boat ramp. By this time I was day dreaming about my new secret weapon. It was going to help me to out fish these two old timers today.

I recently purchased some new jig heads for my plastics. Mind you I was pretty successful with the jig heads I had always used before, but I was looking for an edge to out compete the old man. My Dad is a pretty accomplished angler. He knows the water and understands fish behavior fairly well. He even guided for a few years before he got sucked back into the corporate world. I usually compete fairly well and even out fish him on occasion. On this day I knew I had an edge. We had been fishing jig heads of a certain brand that are clearly marked as 1/16th oz. While perusing the isles at my favorite tackle store, I found a new brand of jig heads that also weigh 1/16th oz, but they looked and felt lighter in weight than the brand we had been using. They had a longer shank which positions the hook point further back on the plastic. I immediately thought these new jig heads would stay in the strike zone better, and increase my hooking percentage due to the longer shank. After I bought the new hooks I tested them with great success on specks up in St. Charles Bay.

After our ten minute boat ride to our favorite fishing spot, we geared up and jumped in the water for the wade. Here’s a little background on our strategy for this area. My Dad has been fishing this spot for 20 plus years. It is situated between Baffin Bay and the Kenedy Causeway. Since it is located on the northern end of our fishing area we generally fish our spots down south (i.e. Baffin and Yarborough) during the morning and work our way north to this area over the course of the day. This specific spot produces limits of slot reds consistently over most of the year and nearly all year round when we have a mild winter. This area also has a deeper hole and gut that usually hold nice trout throughout the year.

Today we have a different strategy. We are starting our day at our afternoon spot. A week earlier, Dad and Joe fished it for the first time at sunrise and Dad had his limit of reds by 7:30 a.m. and Joe had two by 9:00 a.m. and caught his third by 1:00 p.m. So, my arrogance allows Dad and Joe to get in position ahead of me on the wade knowing full well I’m going to clean house. We are fishing a drop off casting over a seagrass bed on the retrieve. As we get about 40 yards down the wade my Dad hooks into a red, and it’s a nice one. As he battles it in and strings it up we realize it’s near the end of the slot and may be oversized. It’s a good start. After another ten yards Dad hooks into another one, it’s a mid-slot fish. Joe then realizes he doesn’t like what he’s fishing and heads back for the boat for a different lure. I then jockey into position behind Dad. I get a solid strike and set the hook. I fight the fish for nearly 30 seconds and the fish comes unhooked. I’m slightly disappointed, but I get over it. As Joe makes his way back to the drop off, Dad hooks another fish and strings up his third red. It’s only 7:10 a.m. Dad says, “I’ll fall back to the end of the line”, he’s smiling ear to ear.

This is when I turn up the heat and start fishing like a machine. Joe’s about 70 yards behind me and Dad is another 30 yards behind him. By this time I zone out any commotion from the old folks and just focus on my retrieve. I get a hit and set the hook. The fish is peeling drag, and I know it’s a nice red. Again, the fish comes unhooked…I’m steaming, but again, I get over it. Three casts later, I hook into another red. I battle this fish for about 30 seconds and again it comes unhooked. I’m completely baffled, and can’t recall ever having this problem. I immediately blamed the new jig heads. I started fishing back toward the boat to get rid of the things and change back to what I always used before. As I fished my way back I hook into a keeper trout and string him up. A few casts later I land an undersized red and let him go. As I pass Joe he has two reds on his stringer. I’m feeling pretty lousy by this time. When I get back to the boat none of us has had a solid hit for awhile and we decide to pack up and try elsewhere. All in all we had an awesome day. We finished with our limits of reds plus one oversized, which Dad caught and tagged, and six specks. In the end, I can’t help but refer back to the old saying, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”