View over looking Galveston Bay.
My wife Kasey sent me a text saying the in-laws would be in town at their Bay House in San Leon, TX and we were invited to stay the weekend. Their home in San Leon over looks Galveston Bay with a pier that extends out about 40 yards. At the end of the pier you will find a large halogen light that is used to illuminate the water at night. I have spent many nights fishing under the light catching speckled trout, sand trout and occasionally redfish.
Needless to say I was excited to spend the weekend at the bay. Kasey and I loaded up the truck, strapped the little one in the car seat and headed out. We arrived Saturday around noon and spent the day catching up with the family. I had the kayak and gear strapped in the truck and was ready to do a little kayak fishing at some point during the weekend. The forecast for Sunday looked promising as the winds were set to be less than 5 mph. I decided instead of fishing Saturday afternoon I would catch the early morning bite Sunday morning.
I've fished the open bay looking for slicks or near by oyster reefs in the past. This has proven to be good fishing for speckled trout. However I decided to change things up a bit and try a different location. Directly south of the bay house is the Moses Lake flood gate. On the outside of the flood gate you will find a small section of marsh grass. This is located west of the flood gate. I had scoped it out on Google Maps and decided that is the area I would fish.
I woke up bright and early Sunday around 5:30 AM to find glassy conditions. The calm conditions provided a nice paddle across the bay. It took about 20 minutes to get there however once I arrived I noticed an abundance of shrimp popping around the grass line. I immediately started working the grass shoreline throwing a pink Skitterwalk topwater. After multiple casts with no success I switched over to a watermelon Strike King Z Too jerk shad.
I heard some commotion further into the marsh so I paddled my way further in. I posted up and started to fan cast the area. Then I heard a loud crash and could see the wake on the water out of the corner of my eye. I flicked the Z Too in the vicinty of the wake and bam the red inhaled the lure.
The fight was on. I was surrounded by marsh and the tide was high so I fought hard to keep him away from the grass. More often than not when a red makes it inside the grass the lure gets worked loose. The combination of this red being a smaller slot and the use of Fins 30 lb braid gave me the ability to muscle him to the boat relatively quickly.
I continued to work the area a little more before finally deciding to head back to the house. This was a short fishing trip but I always enjoy fishing new locations.