Texas Outlook For Fishing and Fly Fishing This Week

How Do We Spell HOT?

This is another week of the killing kind of Texas heat. Triple digits are forecast for the entire week, with potentially a two-day letup the coming weekend. This kind of heat reminds me of those old weather reports from local TV weathermen that may have stayed on a little too long, and got really old while I was young. Remember them?

Texas Fishing & Fly Fishing Outlook

Week Ahead: July 27 – August 3, 2026

The story this week is stabilizing water after major weather.

Last week’s Tropical Storm Bertha produced moderate rainfall, rough surf, higher tides, and freshwater inflows into bays, but fortunately it did not recreate the catastrophic Hill Country flooding many feared. Inland, many rivers are finally beginning to stabilize after the earlier Guadalupe/Pedernales flood events, while coastal systems are transitioning into what is often one of the better summer fishing patterns. (AP News)

For fly anglers, this is a week of early mornings, moving water, and baitfish patterns.

Texas Fishing Conditions This Week

Moon

• July 29 – First Quarter Moon
• Excellent feeding periods:
  • Dawn
  • Late afternoon
  • Around moonrise
  • Just before sunset

Expect fish to become more aggressive beginning Wednesday and building into the weekend.

Heat

Afternoon surface temperatures continue climbing.

The best fishing windows remain:

Freshwater Fishing

• Sunrise until 10:00 AM
• Last two hours before dark

Saltwater Fishing

• First daylight until approximately 9:30 AM
• Evening incoming tides

Upper Texas Coast

(Galveston • East Bay • West Bay • Bolivar)

Tropical Storm Bertha Effects

Bertha pushed significant water through Galveston Bay.

Good fishing news:

• shrimp flushed into marshes
• bait movement increased
• oxygen improved
• reds scattered onto shorelines

Not-so-good fishing news:

• water remains stained
• floating debris near bayous
• avoid running unfamiliar back lakes at speed for another week. (Houston Chronicle)

Fly Fishing

Focus:

• marsh drains
• flooded grass
• shoreline points

Best flies

• EP Minnow
• White Clouser
• Kwan
• Black/purple shrimp
• Gold spoon fly

Conventional Fishing

Live shrimp under popping corks

Small paddletails

Gold spoons

Topwater at daylight

Middle Coast Fishing

(Matagorda • Port O’Connor • Rockport)

One of the hottest areas in Texas this week.

Fresh runoff should concentrate shrimp.

Redfish should remain aggressive.

Fly Fishing

8-weight

Intermediate line

Small shrimp patterns

Tan Gotcha

Spawning Shrimp

Small crab flies

Conventional Fishing

Mansfield Knockers

DOA Shrimp

Gulp shrimp

Gold weedless spoons

Lower Laguna Madre

Water stayed relatively stable.

Clear conditions continue.

Excellent sight-fishing.

Fly Fishing

This is a technical week.

Long leaders

Quiet presentations

Best flies

Charlie

Small EP Mullet

Craft Fur Minnows

Bonefish style shrimp

Conventional

Soft plastics

Topwaters before sunrise

Live pinfish around spoil islands

Hill Country Rivers

Guadalupe

Still recovering.

The river continues stabilizing after repeated flooding events.

Many access areas remain altered.

Expect changing channels.

Exercise caution.

Fishing quality improves every day but this is not yet normal summer Guadalupe fishing. (Iowa Environmental Mesonet)

Fly Fishing

Large streamers

Olive Woolly Buggers

Sculpins

Then switch to

small nymphs

Pheasant Tail

Copper John

Zebra Midge

Fish slower water.

Llano

Fishable in many sections.

Look for remaining stain.

Bass becoming active again.

Fly Fishing

Sneaky Pete

Dahlberg Diver

Clouser

Near dark:

mouse patterns

San Marcos

Excellent option this week.

Stable spring flow.

Cool water.

Good summer fishing.

Fly Fishing

Foam beetles

Small poppers

San Juan Worm

Damselfly nymph

North Texas

Possum Kingdom

Lake Texoma

Lake Ray Roberts

The thermocline has fish deep by midday.

Fly Fishing

Early:

white baitfish flies

Clouser Minnow

Game Changer

Later:

fish submerged timber

Conventional Fishing

Drop shot

Deep crankbaits

Flutter spoons

Night fishing improving greatly.

East Texas

Lake Fork

Caddo

Palestine

Excellent early morning bite.

Hydrilla producing fish.

Fly Fishing

Frog flies

Dahlberg Diver

Black poppers

Large baitfish patterns

Conventional Fishing

Texas rigs

Buzzbaits

Hollow frogs

Swim jigs

Central Texas Lakes

Belton

Stillhouse

Buchanan

LBJ

Bass moving offshore.

White bass schooling briefly at sunrise.

Fly Fishing

Fast stripping Clousers

Small Game Changers

Surface poppers first light

Conventional Fishing

Drop shot

Football jig

Flutter spoon

Best Fly Fishing Hotspots This Week

1. San Marcos River ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Best combination of:

stable water

good visibility

consistent bass

excellent kayak access

2. Rockport Flats ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Improving shrimp movement

excellent redfish

morning sight fishing

3. Matagorda Marshes ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Flooded shorelines

active reds

good fly opportunities

4. Lower Laguna Madre ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Clear water

tailing reds

excellent technical fishing

5. Llano River ⭐⭐⭐☆

Water improving

good bass fishing

excellent topwater action

Fly Box This Week

Carry:

White Clouser

Chartreuse Clouser

Olive Woolly Bugger

Black Woolly Bugger

EP Minnow

Craft Fur Minnow

Kwan

Spawning Shrimp

Foam Beetle

Small Popper

Game Changer

Pheasant Tail

Copper John

Zebra Midge

Best Times to Fish

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

5:45 AM – 9:15 AM

⭐⭐⭐⭐

7:00 PM – Sunset

Night fishing:

Excellent for bass.

Weekly Takeaway

The coast may actually benefit from Bertha’s effects. Minor freshwater inflows and bait movement should improve redfish and speckled trout opportunities over the coming week. Inland, however, anglers should continue to respect altered river channels and occasional debris left behind by the earlier Hill Country floods. Conditions are improving, but rivers like the Guadalupe are still in recovery rather than fully back to normal. (AP News)