Texas Road Trip

The mere size of Texas allows its waters and landscape to change dramatically across the state. Rolling through the low brush and pines of hill country, down to the sand beaches of Galveston and then to the muddy rivers around Dallas Fort Worth, the Lone Star state has more to offer than just large mouths.

The Fishbrain team had the privilege of seeing this diversity of fish firsthand. We’ve traveled between Galveston, Houston and Austin fishing all the way and below is our recap of each spot.

Galveston Bay

Galveston has all the feeling of an East Coast beach town, but with the grit of some Texas dirt rubbed in it. We passed by two-story beach houses silhouetted by the moon on our way to the docks. 

The Captain had the boat engine humming as we pulled up and dull green lights highlighted the water. 

It wasn't long before we ripped across the water with the cold air a stark contrast to the Texas heat of the afternoon. 

We started each rod with a live shrimp and a popping cork. A classic sea trout technique. As the sun slowly rose, flocks of seabirds flocked together attacking bait balls far off in the distance. It didn't take long before the first popping cork indicated a strike and the first sea trout was onboard and in the cooler. 

The variety of fish Galveston Bay has to offer is a special treat for Texas. We reeled in sea trout, redfish, black drum, sting rays and other species all morning. 

By noon the cooler was full, our limits of sea trout met and the wind whipped up enough to call it quits.

Back on the dock the captain cleared and filleted our fish with the speed of someone who spends most of their year on the water. 

After shaking hands and saying farewell with our Captain, we made our way to a local seafood shack where we handed over our bag of fillets, picked our seasonings and cooking style and sat at a table on the dock. Sea trout may not be on the list of most popular game fish to eat, but after pulling them straight from the sea, they ranked as an A tier with us.

Urban Houston

The fourth largest city in the U.S is a sprawling concrete maze mostly uninhabited by anything but cars and trucks blasting down the freeway near 100 mph. 

Pocketed throughout the city, however, and completely invisible to those on the freeways are over 160 lakes and ponds accessible to fishing.

While in Houston, we sent out an invite to all Fishbrainers in the area to meet at a body of water called Marchs Pond. Close to a dozen families met under a pavilion next to the water of the pond where we discussed Texas, the app and all things fishing. 

The heat of the day made for tough fishing. We used drop shot rigs, paddletails and soft plastic worms to work the weeds on the bottom of the pond.

The day started off slow, but based on our app data, we pushed on knowing it was only a matter of time before a sizable bass couldn't resist our lures. And we were right. Fishbrain’s own Jack Mckinney broke the day open with an unexpected hook set and a few strips of his drag. We all stood around as he worked the bass closer and a flash of green proved it to be a great fish. Jack worked the bass within ten feet of the bank when the bass changed tactics, by diving straight down into the thick weeds. The line instantly tangled around the weeds and neither fish, nor angler, could make any progress. 

With an audience of Fishbrain community members behind us, the pressure was on to land this bass. I then took it upon myself to double check with the locals about the lack of alligators in the pond and I waded in. Waist deep in, I could reach down and gently grab the line and unwind it from the weeds. The braided line did its part and held while I then gently pulled the line as Jack reeled in the slack and then the fish.

At a hair under five pounds and just over 20 inches the bucket mouth was the highlight of the day.

Austin

We left the sprawling urban hellscape of Houston and headed directly for the country. Right on the edge of Texas hill country sits Lake Travis. Not exactly a lake, Travis is actually a reservoir of the Colorado River spanning over 18,000 acres and with a max depth of over 200 feet. The lake is home to largemouths, blue cats, white bass and our prize for the day the Guadalupe bass.

Guadalupe bass are a rare species, only found in, and the state fish of, Texas and they were a bucket list species for us, but not for long. 

Fog hung on the early morning water when we arrived at the boat launch. The captain was waiting for us with his bass boat ready to hit the water. 

The captain didn’t have a chance to open up his engines, before we got to our first spot. He positioned us to cast swim baits at the base of tall, vertical cliff faces. It was the perfect example of a captain knowing the right place at the right time.

 On his First cast, Fishbrain’s own Jack Mckinney scratched out a name on the bucket list. 

The Guadalupe’s  broken up markings shone in the first rays of sun to touch the water and stood out distinctly different from a largemouth. Our rods spent the better part of the morning bent as we reeled in one beautiful bass after another. When the sun shone directly on our spot we reeled in our lines and bounced from spot to spot, seeking shade and deep, cool, water.

We also changed our lures, adding more of a drop shot setup to send the lures deeper, and went with a slower, gentler retrieve. The change up paid off as we reeled in and released largemouths, Guadalupe’s and the occasional white bass. 

At the end of a long day of one of the best bass days describable, the Texas BBQ in Austin was a welcome reward.

The Texas road trip was a success by every measurement and yet as we boarded our flights home, we knew we'd only experienced a fraction of what Texas has to offer. Redfish, stripers and alligator gar were still on our minds and we wanted to see just how big largemouths can get.

We knew we'd come back and a year later we were right. Stay tuned for part two of Fishbrain's Texas road trip.

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