Fishing at Laguna Madre Bay in South Padre Island, Texas

The tropical town of South Padre Island located at the southernmost tip of Texas has instituted a no tie-zone, requiring all visitors to remove their ties before entering this 31-mile island paradise. While the commercial fishing almost decimated the Bay by the 1970s, thanks to the efforts of the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) Texas and other conservation groups, the bay has been brought back to a robust fishery.

The lower Laguna Madre Bay, a hyper saline estuary bay system approximately 50 miles in length, has an average depth of less than three feet. These miles of crystal clear shallow water affords anglers the opportunity to sight fish for redfish, sheepshead, ladyfish, black drum, spotted sea trout, and flounder, as well as the occasional tarpon or snook. As Shane Wilson, President of the Laguna Madre Fly Fishing Association exclaims, “Most of our water is wadeable and gin clear. You can find reds tailing almost daily and big sow trout lurk in potholes to ambush passing flies. Flounder rip out your drag as they puff away with your clouser and Ladyfish can tear into your backing before you can whistle to your buddy that a fish is on.”

With generally sunny days and an average temperature of 70 degrees in the winter and 85 degrees, anglers can fish the bay year round. According to Captain Randy Rogers, the tides, winds and constant changing conditions greatly influence the fishability of a given area of the bay. Captain Eric Glass adds that some of these flats fish better on ongoing tides, while other flats hold more fish on the incoming tides. Usually, he can find a flat that has a lot of fish on it any time of the year.