Lower Laguna Madre fishing conditions and tides
Texas · Gulf coast · 1.1 ft mean tide range · 38 ppt
One of only a few hypersaline lagoons on earth — clear water, seagrass and tailing redfish
Current conditions
Excellent
Fishing score 93/100
How this score is calculated
74°F against a 60–88°F band for redfish.
Outgoing (ebb) at 0.4 ft, moving 0.2 ft/hr. Strong water movement is positioning bait on structure.
6 mph out of the SE. Workable wind with useful chop.
1.7 ft at 12 seconds. Good working surf for beaches and inlets.
Good working clarity with some colour for cover.
30.05 inHg and rising.
56% illumination — neap tides with a smaller exchange.
Fall pattern is fully established for this zone.
What should I do today?
The highest-percentage pattern for this tide and this wind.
Backup pattern
Speckled Trout — topwater at dawn, soft plastic on a light head in 1–6 ft. Big trout sit in the potholes on grass flats — the Laguna produces some of the largest trout in Texas.
Right now
Current conditions
Tide
Outgoing (ebb)
0.4 ft, -0.2 ft/hr
Next high
10:35 AM
1 ft
Next low
4:23 AM
0.2 ft
Mean range
1.1 ft
Typical high-to-low swing
Water temp
74°F
-1.1°F / 3 days
Water clarity
Lightly stained
Salinity about 38 ppt
Swell
1.7 ft
12 second period
Wind
6 mph
Out of the SE
Pressure
30.05"
Rising pressure — clearing behind a front
Air temp
72°F
89% cloud cover
Moon
56%
First Quarter · solunar 12/100
Daylight
6:36 AM
Sunset 5:51 PM
Timing
Today's tides and fishing windows
- Low tide (0.2 ft) — tide change window3:23 AM – 5:23 AM
- Solunar major 26:11 AM – 8:11 AM
- Morning prime window6:11 AM – 8:56 AM
- Sunrise6:36 AM
- High tide (1 ft) — tide change window9:35 AM – 11:35 AM
- Low tide (0.1 ft) — tide change window3:48 PM – 5:48 PM
- Evening window3:51 PM – 6:26 PM
- Sunset5:51 PM
- Solunar major 16:11 PM – 8:11 PM
- High tide (0.9 ft) — tide change window10:01 PM – 12:01 AM
Targets
Target species in this zone
| Species | Activity | Depth | Best tide | Technique | Bait | Active temp | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Redfish | ★★★★★ | 1–4 ft | Light incoming with a calm morning | Sight casting weedless soft plastics and gold spoons | Live shrimp | 60–88°F | Year-round |
| Speckled Trout | ★★★★★ | 1–6 ft | Calm, clear water early | Topwater at dawn, soft plastic on a light head | Live shrimp, piggy perch | 58–84°F | February through May, October through December |
| Snook | ★★★☆☆ | 2–12 ft | Moving water at the pass | Twitchbait or live bait along structure | Live shrimp, mullet | 72–88°F | May through October |
| Black Drum | ★★★★☆ | 1–6 ft | Calm and clear | Shrimp or crab on a light jig cast in front of the school | Shrimp, crab | 58–80°F | January through April |
- Redfish: Tail and cruise over grass in 10–20 inches; schools push the sand between grass beds on calm mornings.
- Speckled Trout: Big trout sit in the potholes on grass flats — the Laguna produces some of the largest trout in Texas.
- Snook: Concentrated around the pass and the South Bay mangroves — a northern edge of the range fishery.
- Black Drum: Big schools push the flats in late winter and are easy to sight-fish.
Structure
Habitat and structure that holds fish
- Seagrass flat
- Sand pothole
- Spoil bank
- Mangrove shoreline
- Channel edge
- Land Cut
- Intracoastal spoil banks
- Nine Mile Hole
- South Bay flats
- Brazos Santiago Pass
Surf and beach notes
South Padre surf fishes on light south wind days with under 2 ft of swell, best in spring for pompano and trout.
Bait in the zone
Live shrimp is standard; piggy perch and finger mullet for bigger trout.
Patterns
Season-by-season patterns
Spring
68–80°FTrophy trout on shallow grass early in the morning; the strongest big-fish window of the year.
Summer
84–90°FDawn only on the flats; fish move to deeper grass edges and the channel by mid-morning.
Fall
72–84°FReds school up heavily and the wind is often lighter than summer — the best sight-fishing conditions.
Winter
58–66°FCold fronts push fish into the deeper Land Cut and channels; sunny afternoons bring them back onto dark grass.
Outlook
7-day fishing forecast
| Day | Score | Water | Wind | Swell | First high tide | Best species | Morning window |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Today | 93Excellent | 74°F | 6 mph SE | 1.7 ft | 10:35 AM (1 ft) | Redfish | 6:11 AM – 8:56 AM |
| Tue | 91Excellent | 74°F | 16 mph W | 2 ft | 11:26 AM (1.1 ft) | Redfish | 6:11 AM – 8:56 AM |
| Wed | 98Excellent | 74°F | 12 mph NW | 2.5 ft | 12:16 PM (1.1 ft) | Redfish | 6:12 AM – 8:57 AM |
| Thu | 97Excellent | 75°F | 13 mph S | 2.6 ft | 12:41 AM (1.1 ft) | Redfish | 6:13 AM – 8:58 AM |
| Fri | 91Excellent | 75°F | 21 mph NE | 2.4 ft | 1:32 AM (1.2 ft) | Redfish | 6:13 AM – 8:58 AM |
| Sat | 89Excellent | 72°F | 4 mph SE | 1.3 ft | 2:22 AM (1.2 ft) | Redfish | 6:14 AM – 8:59 AM |
| Sun | 94Excellent | 73°F | 15 mph E | 2.7 ft | 4:03 AM (1.2 ft) | Redfish | 6:14 AM – 8:59 AM |
Trends
Last 7 days
Water temperature
75°F → 74°F
Wind
19 mph → 6 mph
Swell
2.6 ft → 1.7 ft
Daily score
89 → 93
Water temperature has been stable within 1°F all week, so the established fall pattern should hold.
The water
About Lower Laguna Madre
The Lower Laguna Madre is a shallow, hypersaline lagoon between South Padre Island and the mainland, averaging 3 ft deep with extensive seagrass and sand. Salinity runs higher than the open Gulf because evaporation exceeds freshwater inflow. The water is clear enough that this is genuine sight-fishing territory, and shallow enough that wind, not tide, controls access.
Local knowledge
Expert notes
- Fish the sand potholes, not the grass. In clear water, a lure crossing a white pothole is visible to every trout on that flat from 30 feet away.
- Wade instead of running the trolling motor whenever the water is under two feet. On a calm Laguna morning, boat noise clears a flat for an hour.
- Hypersaline water means dense, buoyant conditions — fish sit slightly higher in the column than they would elsewhere, so a suspending bait often beats a bottom presentation.
Logistics
Access, ramps and launches
boat ramp
South Padre Island ramp
Direct access to the flats and the pass.
marina
Port Mansfield
Northern access to the Land Cut and some of the least-pressured flats.
kayak launch
South Bay kayak launch
Shallow, protected water with mangrove edges.
shore
Isla Blanca jetties
Walkable jetty rock at Brazos Santiago Pass.
Rules
Regulations
- Texas fishing license with saltwater endorsement required.
- Redfish slot 20–28 inches with one oversized tag per license year.
- Seagrass is protected — uprooting it with a propeller is illegal in Texas coastal waters.
Always verify current regulations with the relevant state wildlife agency before fishing. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Transparency
Data sources
Where this data comes from
Conditions are modelled from each water's documented climate, structure and seasonal patterns. Modules marked “Live data integration pending” are not yet pulling from their API, so those values are clearly labelled as sample data rather than presented as real-time readings.
Weather API
PendingNOAA / National Weather Service — Air temperature, wind, cloud cover, rainfall and barometric pressure with a 7-day forecast.
Water Level & Flow API
PendingUSGS Water Services — Reservoir stage, discharge and 7-day level trend from the nearest gauge.
Water Temperature
PendingUSGS / NOAA buoys — Surface water temperature and its multi-day trend.
Tide & Current API
PendingNOAA CO-OPS — Tide predictions, current direction and speed for coastal zones.
Moon & Solunar
LiveComputed on-site — Moon phase, illumination and solunar major/minor periods are calculated from date and coordinates.
Water Clarity
PendingSatellite imagery + angler reports — Visibility estimates by lake arm, refined by submitted fishing reports.
Fishing Regulations
PendingState wildlife agencies — License, size and creel rules, linked to the official agency page for verification.
Map Data
PendingBathymetry + access point database — Depth zones, structure locations and boat ramps for the lake infographic.
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