During the early part of fall, the emphasis turns back to the shorelines. Anglers wading or fishing from carpeted flat-bottomed boats or skiffs should look for tailing reds or fish cruising along shorelines. A way to increase the odds of seeing these fish is to wear polarized sunglasses, which take the glare off the water and allow you to see into the water much better.

Also during fall, the larger "bull" reds start to make their annual migration into nearshore areas, giving land-bound anglers a taste of offshore-style fishing. Anglers baited up with live mullet and crab can intercept these fish between the sandbars in the surf and in the passes linking Texas bay systems and the Gulf of Mexico. Strong incoming tides seem to bring the best outcomes.

Winter months see redfish action slow tremendously. The most consistent action is at power-plant outfall canals, where warm water draws the nearby reds.

FLOUNDER
Anglers wanting to target flounder during late spring and summer should fish the large stands of roseau cane in bay systems.

Roseau cane plays an even more important role in the life of bay-dwelling flounder than I once believed. In fact, anglers seeking flatfish can use roseau cane to their advantage in ways never before explored, at least in print.

As I've stated on numerous occasions, roseau cane's very intricate root system (not unlike a miniaturized version of the mangrove's) gives baitfish a place to hide on high tides. Conventional wisdom has it that batfish are in the marsh during periods of high tides, and that may be true for some forage species -- but certainly not all. Lots of menhaden, shrimp and other forage species are on the edges of the marsh, on the main shoreline of bays, and hidden in the roots of roseau cane.

Flounder have figured this out and, being highly opportunistic predators, gang up at the edge of the cane and wait for the falling tide to expose the roots, forcing baitfish to exit. Some are aggressive enough to prey right on the edge of the cane when tides are at their peak; most wait for the fall to begin.

Otherwise, flounder don't do much in summer months. Highly susceptible to changes in water temperature and dissolved oxygen levels, they dwell most frequently in the large cuts in a bay system or near deep water, where the water is cooler and richer in oxygen.

One of the savvier tactics for catching these fish involves locating schools of shad (a.k.a. "menhaden"). Many anglers make the mistake of relying on concentrations of mullet, which are easier to find, but too large for flounder to target easily. Once baitfish are located, start fishing the area in which the most shad gather. The "S-turns" in a cut are a good place to start, as are eddies that form near the mouth of a cut.

Fall flounder fishing involves concentrating efforts around passes joining bays and the Gulf of Mexico. Spots like the Surfside Jetties, Rollover Pass and the South Jetties near Aransas Pass become highways for flounder exiting the bays to spawn in the deep waters of the Gulf.

Live mud minnows or finger mullet rigged on a fishfinder rig are among the most-used and simplest setups to use on these migrating flatfish. A fishfinder rig -- a "Carolina rig" to bass anglers -- consists of an egg weight rigged above a swivel and attached to a leader attached to a hook. You want to drag a fishfinder slowly across the bottom, so as to give the sluggish flounder a chance to grab it.