Texas Fishing-World Class Fresh and Saltwater Fishing
Texas' Fishing is fishing at its best. Texas has it all. From Walleyes in the Texas Panhandle, Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass, to Speckled Trout and Redfish and off-shore fishing along the Texas Coast, Texas has it all. Most are familiar with the world class fishing for largemouth bass and the outstanding Speckled trout and Redfish in the Texas Bays. However Texas offers a whole lot more in the way of fishing. Come see what Texas has to offer in Freshwater and Saltwater fishing. Texas 2015 fishing Conditions & Forecast Freshwater lakes and Rivers As mentioned on our home page, much of Texas has been blessed with substantial rain through the first days of June 2015. While the spring 2015 rains have flooded or raised most Texas lakes to normal pool on most Texas lakes, a few lakes such as Choke Canyon, Falcon, Amistad, in south Texas and Travis, Buchanan, and the group of upper Colorado River lakes in the San Angelo Abilene areas are running below normal but nuch higher pool levels . That does effect the fishing, but the good guides adapt and fish the lake conditions as presented. Lakes such as Fork, Amistad, Falcon, Toledo Bend, Sam Rayburn, etc will continue to offer great largemouth bass fishing, and other lakes will continue to offer good to great fishing for the other species of fish.
Saltwater Texas bays are holding very well with the exception of Baffin Bay & the Upper Laguna Madre. 2015 is turning out to be a great one for bay fishing for most of the Texas bays and we hope it can continue through the remainder of 2015. Offshore fishing is doing outstanding, again allowing for the wind calm spring, conditions have allow for good fishing on all boats. The biggest concern with offshore fishing for 20145 is trying to adapt to the convoluted and misleading actions of the NMFS regarding Red Snapper and other species such as Amberjack, etc. Texas state waters out to 9 nautical miles will offer good fishing, but as most offshore charters fish in the Federal waters of 9 to 200 miles out, the NMFS has jurisdiction and T.O.O., along with everyone else had to wait until published dates are given for Red Snapper, Amberjack, and other species. Regardless of the seasons and harvest limits posted by the NMFS, Texas offshore fishing for catching fish is shaping up to be a great year. You might be required to release most fish, but the action looks to be fantastic for the 2015 offshore scene in Texas. Update: Current NMFS Red Snapper Federal Season is June 1st through midnight June 8th for private boats so 8 days to catch your two snapper limit per day that way. For hire charter boats have a 44 day season, so fisherman wanting to keep their two federal water red snapper have until the middle of July to book a for hire private charter. NOTE: Texas Outdoor Organizers will not associate nor book any type of offshore charter with any offshore operation/captain that is aligned or a member of the Charter Fisherman's Association (CFA) organization. The captains aligned with the CFA have sold out their fishing rights to the Enviromental Defense Fund, an anti-hunting & hunting organization. Those captains that support and defend the CFA along with the EDF's backroom plan are long term planning to stop and destry the opportunity and access to fishing the Gulf of Mexico. T.O.O. will not offer any fishing options of those captains that support the CFA and their EDF bosses. Plan a freshwater or saltwater charter, whether bay or offshore, for 2015 and let T.O.O. take care of everything regarding the charter planning while you take care of your own needs.
Texas Freshwater Fishing Largemouth Bass Smallmouth Bass Striped Bass Hybrid Striped Bass White Bass White & Black Crappie Channel, Blue, & Yellow Catfsih Red Drum (Redfish) Alligator Gar
Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass The Largemouth Bass has the largest following in Texas, and for good reason. Lakes such as Fork, Sam Rayburn, Ray Roberts, Falcon, ChokeCanyon, and O.H. Ivie are noted for their outstanding Trophy Bass fishing. Any of the well known lakes can give you a realistic chance at catching a double digit bass. The chances of catching good numbers of bass in the 3-8 lb range are good on so many lakes that T.O.O. prefers to find out where you are traveling to in Texas, instead recommending a particular lake. If you are open to travel to any part of Texas, we can book a trip in the current hot lakes. Otherwise all regions of Texas have lakes that produce outstanding largemouth bass fishing. The Texas record is currently over 18 lbs.
Smallmouth Bass fishing in Texas is less widespread, but many lakes offer excellent Smallmouth Bass, Whitney, Meredith, Canyon, Texoma, and LBJ are among the best in the Southern U.S. The Texas record is currently just under 8 lb's. Most bass guides charge around $300 for a day of bass fishing. Striped Bass Striped bass, or Stripers, are a stocked fish with a couple of exceptions. Most striped bass fishing is done on large deep water lakes that have a huge forage base, mostly shad. Lakes such as Texoma, Whitney, Canyon, and Amistad and rivers such as the Brazos and the Guadalupe offer outstanding striper fishing. Depending on the time of year you can fish topwaters, work big jigs, or drift live bait to catch these tough fighters. The current Texas record is over 50 lbs! It was caught from a river, as were several previous state record fish. Most Stripers will weigh between 5-20 lbs, so a 5 fish limit can weigh between 20 and 100 lbs! Most Striper guides charge about the same as a bass guide usually about $300 for a day of catching and then eating some good fish. Hybrid/striper and White Bass Of all the freshwater fish to catch in Texas, these two species are perhaps the most fun. Generous bag limits, tough fighters, plentiful in almost every region of Texas, and tasty; these fish are the perfect beginners, travelers, and family outing fish to catch. Whether using topwaters, spoons, jigs, trolling, or live bait, Hybrids and White bass are an absolutely great way to introduce or reinforce someone to fishing. Most Hybrids will run about 3-10 lbs, with some reaching over 12 lbs. Most white bass will weigh between 1-3 lbs, with the larger fish caught usually during the spring run. Most Texas lakes have a 3 or 5 fish Hybrid-Striper limit, with an 18" minimum size. Most Texas lakes have 25 white bass limit. Most guides also charge around $300 for a day of red-hot action. Like Largemouth bass fishing, T.O.O. breaks down the Hybrid and white bass fishing into regions, if your from an area or going to a particular region, we can find the right lake and guide for you in that location. These fishing trips are perfect for the traveler who is coming to a particular city and would like to fish in the evening.
Texas Saltwater Fishing Bay/ Beach Front Speckled Trout (Spotted Weakfish) Red Drum Flounder Black Drum Snook Tarpon Shark Offshore Tuna; Yellowfin & Blackfin Red & other Snapper King Mackerel Ling (Cobia) Dorado Wahoo Amberjack Grouper Shark
Texas Bay/Beach Front Fishing Speckled Trout/Redfish/Black Drum The "Big Four" of the Texas bays are the Speckled Trout, Red Drum (Redfish), Flounder, and Black Drum. For many years the main focus of bay fishermen was the Big Three; "Specks", "Reds", and "Flounder". Over the last few years the Black Drum has been a welcome addition to those wanting to bring home delicious fillets from a guided trip to the Texas coast. More fishermen are practicing "CPR"; Catch, Picture, & Release on the Trophy Speckled Trout and most bay guides encourage this practice. Many guides recommend to keep only 5 trout per person on a guided bay charter, and to utilize the Redfish and Black Drum caught for table fare. Both drum species are outstanding table fair, as is the Speckled Trout and the drum species are very abundant in all Texas Bays. T.O.O. supports these measures if the fishermen wishes to practice the conservation of Speckled Trout when fishing with a Texas Bay charter guide.
It is common to bring a mixed bag of fish to the dock when using a Texas Bay guide for a fishing trip, with an ice chest having specks, reds, Black Drum, possibly Flounder and other quality table fare fish, such as Atlantic Croaker, Gafftop, Mangrove Snapper, and other species.
Most TexasBay charter operations will be one of these types of trips. 1. Trophy Trout/Redfish trip. Most guides that offer Trophy trips are CPR trips, with the focus in catching large Speckled Trout with the goal for most fishermen to either catch a 30" long trout or on weighing 8-10 pounds or more. These charters and the guides expect to catch less fish than a regular charter, focusing on the quality of fish caught not numbers. These charters are not for everyone and the Texas bay guides offering these trips know this and expect their clients to be able to handle a day of catching only 5-10 fish, or even less. These charters are mainly planned in the late winter and early spring for Speckled Trout and the late summer/early fall time period of late August/September and into October for Red Drum. Few fish are kept on these charters for consumption, CPR is practiced on most Trophy Charters. 2. Mixed Bag Charters. Many Guides that offer Trophy Trips also offer the standard mixed bag type bay charter. This type charter will fish with live bait or artificial lures, or a combination of both and the clients can expect to catch Speckled Trout, Red Drum, possibly Flounder and Black Drum, and maybe other species that taste good as well. The "just keep 5" philosophy will still be recommended by many guides for Speckled Trout with the Red and Black Drum and other species replacing the Trout on the cleaning table. 3. Fast Action Charter. This type charter is identified by using live or dead bait for fast action all day with the intent to put the customer on as nonstop action as can be done. Whether all the fish are kept or not is the choice of the fishermen hiring the guide. Catching a limit and more of a species of fish does not mean the fishermen must keep the limit per person. Fish caught by live bait can be released safely just as easy as one caught on an artificial lure. This type of charter is ideal for the customer that includes inexperience fishermen, kids, and others that do not have an specific game plan on the total catch at the end of the day or catching large fish, just wanting a action packed trip caching a bunch of fish.
How to find the correct Texas Bay guide for your needs. Finding the right guide for the sportsman that does not have experience or time to interview every potential guide can be a frustrating experience. This is mainly due to the fact that there is such wide variety of fishing options of styles and methods to consider when trying to book a Texas bay fishing guide. A few things to consider when looking to book a bay fishing trip in Texas. 1. Trophy, Mixed bag, or Action Trip? The type of trip you want to experience will bring into play which type of guide you want to consider and interview. Make no mistake, you should interview the guide, you are potentially handing over $600-$800 or more for a bay fishing trip, it pays to make sure the guide can do what you want to do. There is no guarantee that the guide will be able to provide the exact wishes for your charter, but some guides are better suited for certain types of fishing and other guides are better at other types of fishing styles and methods. T.O.O. has very good grasp of which guides offer the right type of charter method and style in all Texas bays. 2. Wade, Boat, or both? Do you want to wade fish or do you want to stay dry in the boat? Some guides only wade, some only boat fish, some do either depending on the fishing charter situation, some do either most times. A wade fishing guide will usually be less efficient if your desire is to boat fish and stay out of the water. Most guides do offer the choice, but again make sure you know what you want to do and are willing to do before you interview a guide. 3. Artificial or Bait? This should be the next question after deciding what type of trip you want to do. Some guides only fish artificials, some use live and sometimes dead bait, and some guides will do either depending on the customer wishes. Most times, but not always, live bait will have more action overall, but often the catch will include other species of fish, so called trash fish. This is especially true with live shrimp. Getting a recommendation from someone for a reputable guide and not knowing he is a wade fishing, artificial guide when you want to fish from the boat and just catch a bunch of fish is time wasted. Again, T.O.O. has the database that allows us to eliminate the time researching which guide fishes the way you want to do it. We have the knowledge, let us work for you to find the right guide when putting a trip together.
How T.O.O. can save you Time, Money, and make your charter the best possible experience T.O.O. works for the sportsman and we know which Texas Bay guides offer the best fit for you fishing trip criteria. Contact Texas Outdoor Organizers at (210) 215-3877 or email us and give us with your criteria and we will provide a list of qualified, licensed, Coast Guard certified fishing guides for you to consider. We'll be there to answer any questions you might have and we'll be there from start to finish to make sure the trip planning is good as it can be for your group. You can trust that if you book a trip through T.O.O. that the guide hired will fit the fishing criteria you want, T.O.O. fits the guide to your needs, not the fishermen fitting into the guides way of fishing.
30" and 28" Baffin Bay Trout from a T.O.O. fishing guide list.
Ladies fish better than the men!
The Kozials from San Antonio with the results of a T.O.O. fishing guide list. Fishing with Captain Terry Panknin. To the right is Dr. Kozial with the 27" redfish from the same trip.
Dr.Kozial's big redfish
100+ Lb Big Eye tuna on the T.O.O. organized T.B.B. Big E charter
Mutt & Jeff?
116 lb Grouper TBB 06
Give us some room!
G.E.M. 06 charter Yellowfin Tuna
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