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Matagorda Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The Colorado River's mouth at Matagorda: East Matagorda Bay, Matagorda Bay and the Gulf jetty within reach.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
Low 10:39 PM
Air / High
82 / 82 F
Wind
ESE 11 mph

Sources: NOAA tides 8773146, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Matagorda offers the kind of conditions this water was made for. Today brings clear skies, wind ESE around 11 mph, steady pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 82. Tides: high 3:25 AM and 4:42 PM, low 9:51 AM and 10:39 PM: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 78 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:01 AM-12:01 PM and 10:28 PM-12:28 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Redfish (red drum)Excellent

Spring and early summer put redfish on grass flats, shorelines and oyster bars; on the Gulf, fish below spawning age stay inside the bays (TPWD). Sight-cast to tailing and cruising fish or drift live shrimp under a popping cork.

Speckled troutExcellent

Spring brings seatrout back over shallow seagrass, and the spawning season (April to September in Louisiana and South Carolina) keeps them feeding. Popping corks with live shrimp, free-shrimping on the drift and casting to working birds are the main tools.

Tomorrow: Similar at 82 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Texas requires a fishing licence from age 17, from $30.00 for residents, and salt water needs its own licence here. What a Texas licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing redfish (red drum) here? Check the size and bag limits with TPWD before you keep anything. The season dates for Texas, read off the agency, are on the Texas seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

Tides

NOAA station 8773146 (Matagorda City). Fish the moving water either side of each change.

Fri
HIGH3:25 AM0.8 ft
LOW9:51 AM0.6 ft
HIGH4:42 PM0.8 ft
LOW10:39 PM0.7 ft
Sat
HIGH3:03 AM0.8 ft
LOW10:30 AM0.6 ft
HIGH6:44 PM0.8 ft
LOW11:44 PM0.8 ft

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp82 F
High / Low82 / 58 F
WindESE 11-13 mph
Pressure1017.8 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain1% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:29 / 18:45
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~78 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Matagorda this week

The best day on Matagorda this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 β€” good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:01 AM-12:01 PM and 10:28 PM-12:28 AM
Minor period
4:23 AM-5:23 AM
Sun
07:29 to 18:45
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Clear, 11 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Matagorda: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Redfish (red drum) illustration

Redfish (red drum)

Best: late-summer and fall bull run; inshore all year

Red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), called redfish across the South, is a bronze inshore drum with a black spot near the tail, fished on grass flats, oyster bars, marsh creeks and beaches from the Chesapeake around Florida to Texas. Spring and early summer put redfish on grass flats, shorelines and oyster bars; on the Gulf, fish below spawning age stay inside the bays (TPWD). Sight-cast to tailing and cruising fish or drift live shrimp under a popping cork.

Speckled trout illustration

Speckled trout

Shallow bays spring and summer; deeper water in winter

Speckled trout is the anglers' name for the spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), a spotted member of the drum family that lives in shallow bays and estuaries from the Chesapeake to Texas. Spring brings seatrout back over shallow seagrass, and the spawning season (April to September in Louisiana and South Carolina) keeps them feeding. Popping corks with live shrimp, free-shrimping on the drift and casting to working birds are the main tools.

When to come: the Matagorda calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Redfish (red drum)
Speckled trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 78 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~78 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Matagorda today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 82 F, wind to 12 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 81 F, wind to 13 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 84 F, wind to 15 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Texas requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Texas saltwater or all-water license package. TPWD sets coastwide limits for spotted seatrout and red drum: check the current Texas Outdoor Annual before keeping fish. Beach driving at the Nature Park requires an LCRA vehicle permit.

Access

LCRA's Matagorda Bay Nature Park, 6420 FM 2031: fishing piers, jetty access, beach and kayak trails.

About this water

The town of Matagorda at the Colorado River mouth, Matagorda County, Texas, between East Matagorda Bay and Matagorda Bay; NOAA station 8773146 (Matagorda City) gives tides.

Fishing Matagorda: the full guide

Two bays and a river mouth

Matagorda sits near the mouth of the Colorado River, between East Matagorda Bay and Matagorda Bay to the west, and TPWD reports the two bays separately in its weekly Gulf Coast fishing reports. In its February 25, 2026 report, TPWD had redfish good on mullet and trout good drifting mid-bay with artificials in both.

The river mouth park

On the Matagorda Peninsula where the Colorado meets the Gulf, LCRA's Matagorda Bay Nature Park has fishing piers, jetty access, kayak trails and beach driving with a vehicle permit. Adult entry is $5.

Common questions

Which bay should I fish?

TPWD reports East Matagorda Bay and West Matagorda Bay separately each week; read both reports before choosing.

Is Matagorda good without a boat?

Yes: LCRA's Matagorda Bay Nature Park at the river mouth has fishing piers and access to the jetty and Gulf beach.

Is fishing good at Matagorda right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Rockport81 miTexas City Dike81 miGalveston82 miPort Aransas89 miLake Fayette97 miLake Houston100 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Tide predictions
NOAA CO-OPS 8773146 β€” Matagorda City
Harmonic predictions, datum MLLW, local time. 11 high and low events returned for today and the next two days. A prediction, not a measured water level: wind and surge move the real thing.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 28.6900, -95.9700 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 5, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.