Share your catch
US

Sabine Lake Fishing Report

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

A Texas–Louisiana border estuary at the mouths of the Sabine and Neches rivers, open to anglers licensed in either state.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
Low 9:33 PM
Air / High
79 / 82 F
Wind
NW 4 mph

Sources: NOAA tides 8770570, 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.

Sabine Lake lines up a genuinely fishable day across the board. Today brings clear skies, wind NW around 4 mph, steady pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 82. Tides: high 3:29 AM and 3:44 PM, low 9:30 AM and 9:33 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 9:52 AM-11:52 AM and 10:19 PM-12:19 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 →

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 →

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 8770570 (Sabine Pass North). Fish the moving water either side of each change.

Fri
HIGH3:29 AM1.8 ft
LOW9:30 AM1.0 ft
HIGH3:44 PM1.8 ft
LOW9:33 PM1.1 ft
Sat
HIGH3:35 AM1.8 ft
LOW9:59 AM0.7 ft
HIGH4:45 PM2.0 ft
LOW10:22 PM1.3 ft

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp79 F
High / Low82 / 69 F
WindNW 4-7 mph
Pressure1018.1 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:22 / 18:36
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 Sabine Lake this week

The best day on Sabine Lake this week looks like Monday Oct 26, at 5 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Monday, Oct 26 — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 — Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:52 AM-11:52 AM and 10:19 PM-12:19 AM
Minor period
4:14 AM-5:14 AM
Sun
07:22 to 18:36
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Clear, 10 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Sabine Lake: 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 Sabine Lake 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 Sabine Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 82 F, wind to 10 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

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 79 F, wind to 17 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

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 or Louisiana license on Sabine Lake proper under the 2023 reciprocal agreement (not tributaries, not the ship channel below Texas Point–Louisiana Point). Texas flounder: 15-inch minimum, 5 per day, closed Nov 1–Dec 14 (TPWD, valid Sept 1, 2026–Aug 31, 2027). Check TPWD and LDWF for seatrout and redfish limits.

Access

Miracle Beach boat launch, Pleasure Island Marina and the 275-ft Pleasure Island Pier (Port Arthur); 4 Pier boat launch in Sabine Pass.

About this water

A Texas–Louisiana border estuary fed by the Sabine and Neches rivers and connected to the Gulf through Sabine Pass.

Fishing Sabine Lake: the full guide

Fresh water meets the Gulf

TPWD notes that the Sabine Lake system gets the highest freshwater inflows on the Texas coast, about 12 million acre-feet a year. High inflows and low tides push salt water south toward the Gulf, while low inflows and high tides let it reach the north end of the lake and some distance up the Sabine and Neches rivers, which shifts where fish are found.

What TPWD samples

TPWD's Sabine Lake forecast, written from its coastal fisheries sampling, covers spotted seatrout, red drum, southern flounder, black drum, Atlantic croaker and sand seatrout, and uses May 15 to November 20 as the sport anglers' high-use season. The forecast is several years old, so treat it as a guide to the species mix rather than to current catch rates.

One lake, two licenses

Under the Texas–Louisiana reciprocal agreement signed in January 2023, residents of either state who meet their own state's license rules, and holders of either state's nonresident license, may fish the common boundary waters: Sabine Lake proper and the main channel of the Sabine River, inland from a line across Sabine Pass between Texas Point and Louisiana Point. Tributaries are not boundary waters, and the ship channel south of that line is excluded.

Flounder closure, launches and tides

Texas closes flounder harvest from November 1 to December 14; the rest of the year its limit is five flounder of at least 15 inches. Visit Port Arthur lists the Miracle Beach launch and Pleasure Island Marina on Pleasure Island, the 4 Pier launch in Sabine Pass and the 275-foot Pleasure Island Pier for shore anglers. The tide station on this page, NOAA 8770570, is at Sabine Pass North, south of the lake.

Common questions

Which license do I need on Sabine Lake?

A valid Texas or Louisiana license (resident or nonresident) covers Sabine Lake proper and the main channel of the Sabine River inland from Sabine Pass. Tributaries and the ship channel below the Texas Point–Louisiana Point line require the license of the state you are in.

When is flounder season closed?

In Texas, from November 1 to December 14, when the bag limit is zero. Louisiana sets its own flounder rules, so check LDWF if you fish its waters.

Does a Texas license cover the Louisiana bayous?

No. The reciprocal agreement names only the boundary waters; tributaries, including bayous that drain into the lake, are excluded.

Is fishing good at Sabine Lake 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

Sabine Pass11 miCalcasieu Lake31 miNeches River35 miGalveston70 miTexas City Dike72 miLake Houston78 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Tide predictions
NOAA CO-OPS 8770570 — Sabine Pass North
Harmonic predictions, datum MLLW, local time. 12 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 29.8860, -93.8420 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.