Is speckled trout open in Texas?
Live status for · rules verified 2026-08-14
Know the fish
Sleek silvery body with a dark back, black spots on upper body/fins, two prominent canine 'fangs'. Galveston 'schoolie' trout run 14–18"; a good keeper is 17–20", and gator trout 24"+ are a trophy.
When they bite
Year-round but pattern shifts. Summer: dawn topwater over grass and in the surf on light green tides. Winter (Dec–Feb): trophy season — big trout hold in deep mud/back-lake channels, caught slow on soft plastics/suspending baits on warming afternoons. Historical catch records along the Texas coast peak in Feb, Mar, Nov (GBIF occurrence data, coastwide).
Where & how
Where: Grass and shell flats of West/Trinity/East Bay, deeper reefs and channels, the jetties, Texas City Dike, San Luis Pass, piers (Seawolf, 61st St), and the surf guts (green water) in summer.
How: Wade or drift the flats fan-casting soft plastics under a popping cork or on a light jighead; work topwaters at first light; drift live shrimp/croaker under a cork over reefs; slow-roll soft plastics and suspending twitchbaits in winter. Fish slicks and diving birds over shrimp.
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