When the Wind Blows
Some tips and techniques of where and how to successfully fish upper coast waters in blustery spring conditions.
Story and Photography by Robert Sloan
The unique thing about coastal fishing is that it’s all about escape, being at peace with the world and catching enough reds and trout to feed family and friends. Unfortunately that’s becoming more and more difficult to do with so many fishermen on the water. But April is a unique month in the world of saltwater fishing. Multitudes of anglers are not swarming the bays, yet. However, on the down side is the wind. It’ll likely be howling more often than not during the entire month of April. The good news is this — there’s a tremendous amount of water out there that’s off the beaten path, and offers a good escape from a howling wind.
I’ve been fishing with Capt. Jim West, who runs guide trips on East Galveston Bay, for years. And during that time we’ve had some God awful luck with the weather. But on one occasion, during a howling wind, he headed up Big Pasture Bayou, located on the south shoreline. The mouth of this bayou is just east of Yates Bayou.
“This is one way to escape the wind,”said West. “In fact, the channel leading into this bayou tends to hold a good number of reds during late spring.”
I had my doubts. Having been an outdoors writer for over 25 years at the time, I’d just about heard every syllable of guide speak known to mankind.
“We’re going to move from one point to another,” said West. “Most of the points in the turns on a bayou will have washed out holes. That’s where the reds will hold deep and ambush baitfish and crabs.”
We tied on a ¼ ounce jig heads attached to curl tail plastics. The water back in that particular bayou was a little murked up. Because of that we were using the curl tails for more vibration. In no time flat we had four slot reds in the cooler. The fish were there and the bite was on.
That particular bay is one the most heavily fished on the Texas coast. But on that particular Friday we didn’t have another boat to contend with, plus, we were protected from a blustery wind.
