Went to Trinity Bay yesterday to check how things are after 2 (or 3?) year flood. Water is still 100% fresh, all muddy spots I knew are sanded in, can't find shell either; water was kinda sandy/muddy -- dirty but not too bad, had some visibility. Found 3 reds around islands (only 1 keeper) which is an improvement compared to August last year when I was skunked and haven't seen anything but gar and carp.
At the prime time (high tide, early morning) there was zero life in the grass. Reds are apparently present, but in low numbers and they eat smth else. No flounder. On shallows instead of pods of reds -- pods of carp. What happened to that place -- will it stay like this until next major drought? I did so well over there 3 years ago...
Trinity Bay, Anahuac pocket
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Re: Trinity Bay, Anahuac pocket
Thanks for the info. Glad you found some and glad the water looked good to fish this time of year. Thanks for sharing!
Re: Trinity Bay, Anahuac pocket
All I've heard from multiple guides and anglers this summer is that Trinity is not worth the trip
Re: Trinity Bay, Anahuac pocket
I didn't fish Trinity Bay before that major drought (2007-2012?). But if there is someone who did -- please, share your knowledge about how good/bad Trinity Bay was for fishing before drought? Was it always fresh like this? How many years we need to wait before salt returns?Yaklash wrote:All I've heard from multiple guides and anglers this summer is that Trinity is not worth the trip
Re: Trinity Bay, Anahuac pocket
What I've heard has only to do with speckled trout.
I haven't exactly been a Trinity regular in the last 10 years, but used to fish it a lot, from the late 80s through about 2006 and have a few friends who fish it and know guides that earn their living there. Over the years, the cyclical runoff making it fresh on top meant you had to go deep and bounce slowly on the bottom over well pads or even just open bottom. In saltier years, we had no trouble wading shell and catching numerous trout with a few topping 4 lbs regularly. In wetter years, we'd have to drift to get to the fish in 5-8 feet of water, but eventually, either later that season or early the next, the water would salt back up and things would go back to normal.
The preferred method for most plugger guides over the years has been wading shell or some of the flats with other types of structure. These are the spawning grounds - shell at the drop-off outside of Double Bayou or the Van Toons sic for instance. That is where they have consistently caught their better specks along with reds and they have not had much success over the last couple of years. Quite a few of them are fighting the crowds of croaker soakers in East Bay right now.
In the case of those wetter than normal years that I've witnessed, they have not been stacked on top of one another the way that they have been recently. The longer the water is fresh, the more time the trout have to get the F out of Dodge. Their instinct is to spawn in saltier water, near structure and tidal flow, so they're not going to spend an entire spring thru fall in fresh water and definitely not after 2-3 years of it.
The implications are scary. If you don't have a good spawn in a bay for a couple of years, how does that affect the trout population and how long will it take to recover?
Good news is there ought to be plenty of fat reds and flounder with all the bait the trout aren't eating
I haven't exactly been a Trinity regular in the last 10 years, but used to fish it a lot, from the late 80s through about 2006 and have a few friends who fish it and know guides that earn their living there. Over the years, the cyclical runoff making it fresh on top meant you had to go deep and bounce slowly on the bottom over well pads or even just open bottom. In saltier years, we had no trouble wading shell and catching numerous trout with a few topping 4 lbs regularly. In wetter years, we'd have to drift to get to the fish in 5-8 feet of water, but eventually, either later that season or early the next, the water would salt back up and things would go back to normal.
The preferred method for most plugger guides over the years has been wading shell or some of the flats with other types of structure. These are the spawning grounds - shell at the drop-off outside of Double Bayou or the Van Toons sic for instance. That is where they have consistently caught their better specks along with reds and they have not had much success over the last couple of years. Quite a few of them are fighting the crowds of croaker soakers in East Bay right now.
In the case of those wetter than normal years that I've witnessed, they have not been stacked on top of one another the way that they have been recently. The longer the water is fresh, the more time the trout have to get the F out of Dodge. Their instinct is to spawn in saltier water, near structure and tidal flow, so they're not going to spend an entire spring thru fall in fresh water and definitely not after 2-3 years of it.
The implications are scary. If you don't have a good spawn in a bay for a couple of years, how does that affect the trout population and how long will it take to recover?
Good news is there ought to be plenty of fat reds and flounder with all the bait the trout aren't eating
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Re: Trinity Bay, Anahuac pocket
The drought also killed a lot of oyster in trinity especially shallow Jacks Pocket, and the other side of the channel which is the Anahuac pocket. A lot of the reef further out is still intact but will have a high percentage of dead oyster due to the continued consistent higher discharge rates and almost zero salinity. In the deeper bay, on the bottom there will be enough salinity and oyster will be regrowing out there.
The 3 years of floods has certainly kept the salinity too low for spawns in Trinity, and Like Yaklash said, the Smith point area has over time been a good spawning area, but the trout will annually adjust based on the salinity and do it somewhere else.. he he.. true though. The spawn biomass is primarily made up up all the 18 - 24 inch trout. Yes the big ones contribute to that but there are (or were) so many more 18-24 inch females that supported the spawn.
Some of the wells in the middle and lower trinity are producing a few decent trout but nothing stellar. During the drought, before the flood, trout fishing in Trinity was really good with 4-5 party trips limiting on trout from 18-26 inch trout for the few that really new how to work the bay.
The 3 years of floods has certainly kept the salinity too low for spawns in Trinity, and Like Yaklash said, the Smith point area has over time been a good spawning area, but the trout will annually adjust based on the salinity and do it somewhere else.. he he.. true though. The spawn biomass is primarily made up up all the 18 - 24 inch trout. Yes the big ones contribute to that but there are (or were) so many more 18-24 inch females that supported the spawn.
Some of the wells in the middle and lower trinity are producing a few decent trout but nothing stellar. During the drought, before the flood, trout fishing in Trinity was really good with 4-5 party trips limiting on trout from 18-26 inch trout for the few that really new how to work the bay.
Re: Trinity Bay, Anahuac pocket
Here is a link someone on this site posted a while back. Gives an idea just how fresh Trinity still is.
https://www.tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/o ... ty_nowcast
https://www.tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/o ... ty_nowcast
Re: Trinity Bay, Anahuac pocket
Well, I typically don't care about specks (though they are welcome bycatch, of course). I typically go after reds and flounder -- and I couldn't find any typical signs of their presence. Water looked completely dead -- no blowups, no slicks, no activity in the grass, not a single bird as far as eye could see, nothing. Only needlefish, gar and carp.
I tried fishing wells (in ~5 fow), but it is boring af... You bob in waves in open bay blindcasting for hours on end, hoping to stumble into a fish. I wouldn't be surprised that it was too dark on the bottom with water being so muddy. I can't imagine you can catch anything in these conditions (unless they are stacked up). Should probably wait for few windless days and check it again -- maybe when water is clear, it will be better.
By the way, check this out -- it shows the magnitude of changes that happened in Trinity Bay over last few years. I don't remember seeing this megastructure before.
Also, I spoke to few kayakers -- no one did well.
I tried fishing wells (in ~5 fow), but it is boring af... You bob in waves in open bay blindcasting for hours on end, hoping to stumble into a fish. I wouldn't be surprised that it was too dark on the bottom with water being so muddy. I can't imagine you can catch anything in these conditions (unless they are stacked up). Should probably wait for few windless days and check it again -- maybe when water is clear, it will be better.
No wonder those fishing deep reefs were killing trout in West Bay last 2-3 years...the trout will annually adjust based on the salinity and do it somewhere else..
Yep, I check it from time to time.Here is a link someone on this site posted a while back. Gives an idea just how fresh Trinity still is.
https://www.tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/o ... ty_nowcast
Whatever wasn't killed by drought was buried by sand. I was amazed to discover hard sand almost everywhere -- sometimes you feel soft mud under it, but everywhere I tried bottom with my paddle -- it was sand. I knew few spots with shell -- most of them under sand now.The drought also killed a lot of oyster in trinity especially shallow Jacks Pocket, and the other side of the channel which is the Anahuac pocket
By the way, check this out -- it shows the magnitude of changes that happened in Trinity Bay over last few years. I don't remember seeing this megastructure before.
You'd expect so, but this is not what I have observed. 3 years ago I always managed to pickup a flounder in that area (and I didn't know much about catching them back then). Last two trips -- not a single hint to their presence. Reds seem to be scarce too (but this might be attributed to august heat).Good news is there ought to be plenty of fat reds and flounder with all the bait the trout aren't eating
Also, I spoke to few kayakers -- no one did well.
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Re: Trinity Bay, Anahuac pocket
[quote="Crusader]
You are correct here Crusader. I've found that while there are some areas that hold flounder and reds under extreme low salinity (where it's consistent), I've found that flood flows from storm events change it too fast (too much fluctuation, and they won't hold there after it's gone completely fresh... especially shallow. Sounds like it's just to fresh up there right now.
You'd expect so, but this is not what I have observed. 3 years ago I always managed to pickup a flounder in that area (and I didn't know much about catching them back then). Last two trips -- not a single hint to their presence. Reds seem to be scarce too (but this might be attributed to august heat).[/quote]Good news is there ought to be plenty of fat reds and flounder with all the bait the trout aren't eating
You are correct here Crusader. I've found that while there are some areas that hold flounder and reds under extreme low salinity (where it's consistent), I've found that flood flows from storm events change it too fast (too much fluctuation, and they won't hold there after it's gone completely fresh... especially shallow. Sounds like it's just to fresh up there right now.