FISHING REPORT

FRESHWATER

AUSTIN: GOOD. Water clear; 48 degrees; 0.60 feet low. Fishing is holding true until the cold fronts roll in more consistently. The wind will influence the bite by pushing the baitfish, so look to windblown points to find fish chasing their food source. Largemouth bass are good on deep rocky banks with crawfish imitation plastics and early on topwaters and shad imitation swimbaits. Crappie are fair around brush piles on jigs and minnows. White bass are good trolling crankbaits and minnows in the green lights at night. Blue catfish are good on cut live shad.

BASTROP: GOOD. Water clear; 74 degrees. Fishing patterns remain consistent with weeks past. Largemouth bass are good fishing football jigs, crankbaits and purple or black Carolina-rigged plastic worms near rocks, brush and shaded timber. Crappie are good on minnows and jigs in brush piles. Channel and blue catfish are good on nightcrawlers and punch bait.

BELTON: GOOD. Water lightly stained; 59 degrees; 2.20 feet low. This week’s fishing steadily improved as we shook off the effects of the recent cold front. The best scenario was finding heavily schooled white bass still in under 25 feet of water and working the MAL Heavy Lure (white blade, chartreuse tail) with a sawtooth tactic whenever we could, or working a 3⁄8-ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab vertically when things were tougher. Catfish are good, scattered from mid to deep water in the river channel. Drifting using fresh-cut bait will put the cats in the boat.

BRAUNIG: GOOD. Water stained, 68 degrees. Channel catfish and blue catfish are good around the jetty and rip rap, on Big Marv’s Cheesebait and worms. Redfish are fair on live tilapia and cut shad around the dam area and discharges. Bank fisherman catching catfish on cheese bait and worms off the shoreline points with deep water access. Redfish also can be caught using live tilapia in the same shoreline areas.

BROWNWOOD: GOOD. Water lightly stained; 55 degrees; 1.32 feet low. Largemouth bass are good with perchlike crankbaits, brown or green Texas-rigged plastic worms, chartreuse bladed spinners and shaky head jigs near timber, rocky shorelines and docks. Crappie are good on minnows and jigs in brush piles and near bridge pilings. White bass and hybrids are good on slabs, swimbaits and live bait along the main lake channels, humps and ridges. Look for birds diving over feeding schools of white bass. Catfish are good on shrimp, chicken liver and live bait.

BUCHANAN: GOOD. Water lightly stained; 57 degrees; 4.80 feet low. Fishing is holding true until the cold fronts roll in more consistently. The wind will influence the bite by pushing the baitfish, so look to windblown points to find fish chasing their food source. Largemouth bass are very good throwing spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, topwaters and soft plastics on rocky banks. Crappie are good brush piles using live minnows. Striper, hybrid and white bass can be caught in the early morning on topwaters and later in the day drifting live shad. Channel, blue and yellow catfish are fair to good using chicken liver and cut live shad.

CALAVERAS: FAIR. Water slightly stained, 68 degrees. Red drum are slow but can be caught around the wall and north shoreline points using shrimp and throwing spoons. Channel and blue catfish have been good on Big Marv’s Cheesebait and cut shad off points with deep water access. Shoreline fisherman are catching mixed bags of blues and redfish toward the dam area using live tilapia and cut bait.

CANYON LAKE: GOOD. Water lightly stained; 56 degrees; 0.18 feet low. Look for birds diving over feeding schools. Striper fishing is good along the river channel edge with live bait. White bass are good with live bait, chartreuse jigging spoons and silver slabs. Largemouth bass are fair with football jigs, red or green Texas-rigged plastic worms and white-bladed spinners near rocks, timbers and roadbeds. Smallmouth bass are good on plastic grubs and small silver spoons along bluffs, rock ledges and rocky shorelines. Catfish are good with punch bait and live bait. Crappie are good with live minnows and jigs near the marinas, timber, and brush piles.

CHOKE CANYON: GOOD. Water lightly stained; 64 degrees; 18.23 feet low. Fishing is good as we head into the Christmas weekend. White bass are good in 18-25 feet of water. Black bass are moderate biting on red shad flukes. They are sitting on their beds getting ready to spawn. Crappie are good in the hardwoods. Catfish are good on cheese bait in structured points.

GRANGER: GOOD. Water lightly stained; 55 degrees; 1.30 feet high. Black bass are good on medium diving crankbaits, raspberry, and watermelon Carolina rigged plastic worms and pearl or chartreuse swimbaits near points, rocky areas, flats, and channel edges. Crappie are fair on minnows and jigs in brush piles. White bass are good on jigging spoons and slabs near main lake points, humps, ridges and flats. Catfish are good on nightcrawlers and cut bait. Yellow cats are fair with live perch.

LBJ: GOOD. Water lightly stained; 50 degrees; 0.71 feet low. The wind is influencing the bite by pushing the baitfish, so look to windblown points to find fish chasing their food source. Black bass are good, with an early morning topwater bite using frog imitation baits and on soft plastics around shallow rocky docks. Crappie are good on brush piles using live minnows. White bass are good in the green lights at night, periodically schooling around shallow sandbars on the main lake areas during the day. Catfish are fair fresh cut shad and Danny King’s punch bait.

MEDINA: FAIR. Water lightly stained; 50 degrees; 46.15 feet low. Black bass are fair on topwaters early, moving deeper with crankbaits, spinners, worms and jigs. White bass are fair on spoons below black bass on deep points. Striped bass are fair cruising deep midlake. Catfish are fair on live bait, chicken livers and blood baits.

STILLHOUSE: GOOD. Water lightly stained; 57 degrees; 1.79 feet low. White bass are good using the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab, transitioning from the MAL Heavy lures as the water temperature declines. Some catches of freshwater drum, striped bass and largemouth have been mixed in.

TRAVIS: SLOW. Slightly stained; 65 degrees; 18.86 feet low. We are experiencing the typical winter bite despite the unseasonably warm water. Bass are scattered because the water is the same temperature from top to bottom. They are biting on drop shots and imitation crawfish jigs in 30-40 feet of water on main lake bluff walls and river channels.

SALTWATER

BAFFIN BAY: GOOD; 72 degrees. Inclement weather has kept some anglers off the water, but those who made it out found good numbers of trout. Trout are biting on live shrimp in 4 feet of water near the south shore in Baffin Bay.

No report of redfish or black drum.

CORPUS CHRISTI: GOOD; 71 degrees. Corpus Christi Bay still has nice trout on free-lined shrimp at the wells. Sheepshead, drum and trout have been biting live shrimp at the rocks near the T Heads around downtown Corpus Christi.

EAST MATAGORDA BAY: GOOD; 69 degrees. The cold front slowed the fishing, but it should pick up as the weather warms. Fishing under birds, drifting and wading are a;; working. The bay is holding shrimp, and they continue to migrate out of the marshes. Gulf and sand trout are scattered. The Colorado River continues to be good for redfish and trout.

PORT O’CONNOR: GOOD; 69 degrees. The fish have been dormant after the recent weather, and the water is muddy. Fishing should improve as we head into Christmas weekend. Flounder are in the bay. Sheepshead are good and big on dead shrimp. Tarpon are good using snook. Trout and redfish are good on live bait. Black drum have slowed.

PORT ARANSAS: GOOD; 69 degrees. The fishing has been great at Port Aransas near the Fina Docks, with lots of sand trout and a few sheepshead head mixed in using shrimp. Some really nice speckled trout have been caught there as well. Bull reds to eater reds are biting cut menhaden, perch and cut mullet. Tarpon are still being caught at the jetty on jigging spoons.

PORT ISABEL: FAIR; 72 degrees. Good mix of redfish and trout. When you find them, stay with them. Redfish have been really soft in their bite on live shrimp under popping corks and anchored using cut mullet. Look around the gas wells and near Three Islands. Heard of a good bite in the arroyo using cut mullet. Headboats are catching a lot of sand trout and some whiting. Sheepshead are being caught around jetties and both causeways. Be safe out there, the water is cold. Merry Christmas!

PORT MANSFIELD: FAIR; 65-75 degrees. Fishing is fair coming off the full moon, but things should improve next week. We had water temperatures drop to 56 degrees, which slowed the bite. Things have been picking up as the water warms using Kwigglers Wigalos rigged with a

1⁄16-ounce jighead.

ROCKPORT: FAIR; 70 degrees. Redfish are good in 2-4 feet of water in sand pockets on gold spoons and cut bait. Trout are good in 2-4 feet of water on bass assassins and topwaters early. Black drum are good on dead shrimp near drains on the outgoing tide. Flounder are good on Gulps on the edge of channels. Sheepshead are good on live shrimp near structure.

SOUTH PADRE: GOOD; 72 degrees. Good mix of redfish and trout. When you find them, stay with them. Redfish have been really soft in their bite on live shrimp under popping corks and anchored using cut mullet. Look around the gas wells and near Three Islands. Heard of a good bite in the arroyo using cut mullet. Headboats catching a lot of sand trout and some whiting. Sheepshead being caught around jetties and both causeways. Be safe out there, the water is cold. Merry Christmas!.

WEST MATAGORDA BAY: GOOD; 69 degrees. The cold front slowed the fishing, but it should pick up as the weather warms. Redfish are good in the lakes and reefs using cut mullet. Jetties are holding good sheepshead. The Colorado River continues to produce trout and redfish. Success is being had with live or plastic baits.