The wade-fishing can be excellent on the bay side of the pass, and you can wade as far as you dare. On high tides, reds will move out of the channel of the pass and up on the flats. That’s where you want to fish a soft plastic like a Stanley Wedgetail in white or chartreuse. A topwater like a Super Spook Jr. or She Dog is good, as well. The flats on either side of the back bay are 2 to 3 feet deep, and represent an excellent fly-fishing option. Night-fishing with topwater plugs can be awesome on those flats under a full moon.

On the topic of wading a pass, the backside of San Luis Pass is tough to beat. That’s where you’ll find a maze of sandbars and cuts. On a sunny day, when the tide is running green, you can see those sandbars and the dark water in the cuts. I’ve spent many a day and night fishing those flats. At night, some rather large trout will move up on those flats with an incoming tide.

Don’t wade too close to the San Luis Pass cut, where it necks down and runs under the bridge. More than one fisherman there has been sucked out to sea.

Another option: Put in at the boat ramp on the west side of San Luis Pass. From there you can drift the back-bay flats or anchor and fish live or dead baits.

And if you’re into pier-fishing, you can walk the planks of the 1,250-foot San Luis Pass Fishing Pier, which is on the west side of the bridge. First built in 1946 and destroyed by hurricanes in 1983 and 2003, the pier is sited where the pass meets the Gulf and, as you might imagine, is a great place for intercepting both trout and redfish on any given day or night. In fact, and this is based on personnel experience, the night fishing for trout under the lights can be very good from May through October.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION
For information on guided light-tackle and fly-fishing adventures at Port O’Connor, Sabine Pass and Galveston Bay, e-mail the author at [email protected].