By Captain Bryan Brawner
During the colder months, fishing can be good between fronts on Galveston East Bay. This year the salinity level is good and on higher tides, there is a good population of reds and speckled trout in the marsh canal and marsh drain areas all along the south shoreline area of East Bay. Little Pasture Bayou, Yates Bayou, back of Big Pasture, Refuge area, and all marsh drains are all holding fish in deeper areas with Big and Little pastures and Sun Oil marsh areas being the best now. The mouth of Oyster Bayou is also loaded and can be very productive all the way into spring, just watch your tides. Drifting marsh canals along the deeper pockets in the bends can be productive on some of the still -cold days using a heavy jig head and fluke like Saltwater Assassin or Down South in a chartreuse color. Also on windy days when the tide is up, the back canals of Laguna Harbor can be good and hold a large variety of fish. Having live shrimp for bait here is a plus but good luck with finding them on Bolivar. As late winter and early spring arrive, the outside areas of marsh drain canals like Robinson Bayou (ditch), Sun oil drains, Big Pasture, and Elm Grove can be full of specks and reds in high tides and beginning of outgoing tides. I have done better there using live shrimp under a popping cork allowed to move in with the tides to the grass. Also, the black drum and whiting will be good on reefs like Little Hannas and Pepper early spring and late winter using dead shrimp. This can be non stop excitement for kids and family trips. Weather permitting, Half Moon reef toward the dike will produce big boxes of whiting in the spring along with the beachfront along Crystal Beach.

Early spring can be outstanding for wading with the bull tides in areas of Rollover Bay where mouth of Rollover Pass was and the bay side of the islands at Rollover. Wading and drifting grassy shoreline and guts of far East Bay at Goat Island adjacent to Rollover Pass Islands can be very good early spring when bait is present. All this depends on a good salinity content remaining in the bay.

Late winter and early spring wading at Bull Shoals – (Hannas submerged island) with lures like corkys and mirror lures worked slowly can pay off with some big specks.

Some of the better fishing areas are still in Trinity and Galveston West Bay. Lots of fish are being caught wading the mouths of bayous and marshes and drifting the bayous like Cross bayou in the back of Trinity. The water has excellent salinity in Trinity and most of the bayous are loaded.

Good areas in Galveston are Lake Madeline for large speckled trout in cold weather. Offatts is also productive in cooler weather along with north and south Deer Island.

This will be my last report here as I have moved on to other adventures. I can’t emphasize how much I appreciate and value the friendships and clients I have over the years! It’s really great having y’all fishing with me and following me to my fresh water adventures at Lake Conroe. For those that have taken my classes, always feel free to reach out for fishing tips as I stay in touch with current conditions and have years of journal entries for East Bay fishing conditions and patterns.

Contributors and guides I recommend who will run out of the Peninsula:
Capt Alan Hall (281) 515-3193
Capt Steve Brown (713) 724-9939

[BB: Jan-2-2024]