I don't know Galveston well. I'll try to answer it from the perspective of where I fish and what happens here and I think it carries over in a similar way in Galveston too.
Freshwater inflows are a good thing long term but they do affect the fishing in the short term. When we have a large rain event it will move a bunch of fish around. All the fish hanging out up in the creeks and rivers and the end of the bay those flow into are about to be displaced. So what happens here is they stack up on the first structure they come to past the fresh water, or on the edge of the fresh/salt. If the inflow continues and pushes them off of that they will go to the next structure. When you find them you will often find a whole lot of them piled into a small area. The fishing can be really good. I have places I fish solely based on runoff. I know when the runoff hits the fish are going to be there. And if that place is fresh I know the next place to look. In my area we just never see a total flush. There are always areas of the bay that stay salty. It takes a Hurricane Harvey type flood to totally flush all of Galveston Bay. You aren't looking at that type of event right now. So it won't see a total flush. There will be fishable areas.
If your guide has been doing it awhile he already knows where those upper bay fish are going. He already knows where it will stay salty. Chances are real good you could actually have a super good day if the weather the day of the trip plays nice and lets you get out and fish the areas you need to fish. Some of the places around here that they stack up from flooding are deep open water areas and we need calm winds to get on them. But when we do it is awesome.
Very soon after the inflows slow the tide action will mix the salt and fresh water and it doesn't take long at all before the fish start moving back into the areas they were displaced from.
My theory is that the fresh water doesn't effect the game fish nearly as much as it does the baitfish and the gamefish are going to go where the food goes. So it pushes the food out and the fish follow the food. As soon as it starts to get a little salty again the baitfish head back and the gamefish follow. That is how I look at it.
Take redfish for example, they like freshwater. It doesn't mean a thing to them. They stack up under the dam on the Colorado River in droughts to have some fresher water. The only reason they leave is lack of food. They are going to follow the food. If they have enough to eat I don't think it can be too fresh for them. So long as the food source is there the fish will be there too. That is my opinion. So usually no sooner than it starts to get a little salty in the rivers and creeks and starts to just green up the fish are already back in there. It's amazing how fast it happens.
And I can't tell you how many times I have waded in nasty brown runoff so fresh you could drink it and caught good fish. At times and in some situations the freshwater will be in a layer on top with saltier water in a layer on the bottom and the fish will stay in it in some areas that would surprise you just by looking at them.
Talk to your guide and see what he thinks. Freshwater runoff doesn't discourage me at all. I just think about how stacked up they may well be after the runoff. When you hit it right it can be some of the very best fishing.
I can't say where to go look for that in Galveston but I bet you those kind of areas are there. That pattern has held true in East Matagorda Bay, West Matagorda Bay and Espiritu Santo/San Antonio Bay for me. They are going to stack up somewhere, it's just a question of where and for how long.
Freshwater inflows are a good thing long term but they do affect the fishing in the short term. When we have a large rain event it will move a bunch of fish around. All the fish hanging out up in the creeks and rivers and the end of the bay those flow into are about to be displaced. So what happens here is they stack up on the first structure they come to past the fresh water, or on the edge of the fresh/salt. If the inflow continues and pushes them off of that they will go to the next structure. When you find them you will often find a whole lot of them piled into a small area. The fishing can be really good. I have places I fish solely based on runoff. I know when the runoff hits the fish are going to be there. And if that place is fresh I know the next place to look. In my area we just never see a total flush. There are always areas of the bay that stay salty. It takes a Hurricane Harvey type flood to totally flush all of Galveston Bay. You aren't looking at that type of event right now. So it won't see a total flush. There will be fishable areas.
If your guide has been doing it awhile he already knows where those upper bay fish are going. He already knows where it will stay salty. Chances are real good you could actually have a super good day if the weather the day of the trip plays nice and lets you get out and fish the areas you need to fish. Some of the places around here that they stack up from flooding are deep open water areas and we need calm winds to get on them. But when we do it is awesome.
Very soon after the inflows slow the tide action will mix the salt and fresh water and it doesn't take long at all before the fish start moving back into the areas they were displaced from.
My theory is that the fresh water doesn't effect the game fish nearly as much as it does the baitfish and the gamefish are going to go where the food goes. So it pushes the food out and the fish follow the food. As soon as it starts to get a little salty again the baitfish head back and the gamefish follow. That is how I look at it.
Take redfish for example, they like freshwater. It doesn't mean a thing to them. They stack up under the dam on the Colorado River in droughts to have some fresher water. The only reason they leave is lack of food. They are going to follow the food. If they have enough to eat I don't think it can be too fresh for them. So long as the food source is there the fish will be there too. That is my opinion. So usually no sooner than it starts to get a little salty in the rivers and creeks and starts to just green up the fish are already back in there. It's amazing how fast it happens.
And I can't tell you how many times I have waded in nasty brown runoff so fresh you could drink it and caught good fish. At times and in some situations the freshwater will be in a layer on top with saltier water in a layer on the bottom and the fish will stay in it in some areas that would surprise you just by looking at them.
Talk to your guide and see what he thinks. Freshwater runoff doesn't discourage me at all. I just think about how stacked up they may well be after the runoff. When you hit it right it can be some of the very best fishing.
I can't say where to go look for that in Galveston but I bet you those kind of areas are there. That pattern has held true in East Matagorda Bay, West Matagorda Bay and Espiritu Santo/San Antonio Bay for me. They are going to stack up somewhere, it's just a question of where and for how long.
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