Texas Coast Drifting Tips and Techniques

Days of fall approach with the first signs of fading leaves, dying wildflowers, and falling tides. Drift fishing during the season, however, becomes anything but dead. From the upper reaches of the Texas Coast to the shallows of the Lower Laguna Madre, fall reigns as one of the best times to focus fishing efforts to drifting for speckled trout and redfish.

There are different fishing tips which are more applicable to fall fishing conditions. As temperatures cool and tides fall, bait fish leave their summer havens. This fall migration is something to watch for, since you'll find redfish and speckled trout feeding on these fish in waters which are great for drifting.

Typically when drifting for speckled trout and redfish, keying on fish attracting structure is a great starting point. Galveston area fishing guide, Captain Cody Maddox stays close to drops and holes within shell bottoms in upper West Bay

"When I talk about fish holes in the shell, I'm talking about drifting an area of about seven feet which has a shallow area around it, usually about three feet. Shell humps and reef points are also great places for drifting with brown lures," says Maddox.

When doing fall drifting, Maddox prefers soft plastic lures with ? to 1/8 oz riggings. However, he goes with a 3/8 oz head when he makes his way to deeper waters. Other than brown lures, he tells us that morning glory, plum and chartreuse and limetreuse tend to work well for him.

"If I have any great fall fishing tips to share, this is it," says Maddox. "I work my bait fast right over the bottom and then let it sit for a moment. If that doesn't get a bite, I try working it slower just off the tip of the shell - often with a weedless hook setup; sometimes just a little change gets results."

Captain Randall Groves, a Bastrop fishing guide says that he finds the fall drifting season preferable. "On the upper coast, it's all about working the water streaks." "Once the water gets clear and the temperatures drop, I actually do best in the muddy streaks."

Groves likes to drift in deep shell areas along with the muddy waters of bayous and creeks. "I do a lot of drifting in deep shell in the fall, but once the wind picks up, I tend to do best in the creeks and bayous instead."

Focusing on retrieval is one of the fishing tips Groves offers. "You'll hear a lot of people saying you should use a soft plastic and fish slow in fall and winter, but personally, I haven't found slow to be the best approach. I look for a reactionary bite instead of a hungry bite. You can get results by going slow, but I always do best working my lures faster in cold water."

"I like to use a really whippy rod like a Laguna Texas Wader III with soft plastics; I use ? oz or 3/8 oz lead heads. This setup lets me work through the water columns easily," says Groves.

"I use a trolling motor a lot to control my drift in fall," says Matagorda Bay guide Captain Dwayne Newburn. "A trolling motor especially helps when fishing around a group of working birds." Newburn refers to a common occurrence in fall when gulls are feeding on bait fish that are getting pushed up by feeding speckled trout and redfish below.

Another fan of autumn deep shell angling, Newburn says "I focus on the indentations and dips in shell pads when drifting in the fall."

"When drifting, I do well with DOA Shrimp and Cajun Thunder Popping Corks. I'm also a fan of Norton Sand Eel Jr. with laguna shrimp and Saltwater Assassins with new penny and native shrimp," says Newburn, who prefers 1/8 oz jig heads with his soft plastic brown lures in shallow water and ? oz heads in deeper waters.

Captain Danny Neu, a Lower Laguna Madre guide is an avid autumn fisher. "It's one of my favorite times to fish, especially for large speckled trout. The bait fish head out of the bays and there aren't as many of them around, so you've got to hug the shoreline for miles sometimes, but when you come on a cluster of them, you know for sure that you've got trout and redfish right there," say s Neu.

When out on a day of fall drift fishing, Neu offers the following fishing tips - "I start out in the morning checking deeper waters to see if there are any bait fish around. I'll move on to shallow waters once it gets closer to noon and they start to warm up."

When asked which lures he ties on in the brisk temperatures, Neu chooses topwater plugs hands down. "I'll throw topwaters from the boat all day for trout and redfish in fall; they flat-out work!"

"When I'm drifting in the lower coast area, I go with smaller plugs like the Super Spook Jr. I like to have a rod rigged with a red and white soft plastic and another with a Super Spook Jr.," says Captain Neu.