Finding Productive, Protected Water During Winter Most experienced Texas bay fishermen know winter can provide some of the year's best inshore action. For one thing, the fish are quite predictable during the winter season. However, knowing where the fish are and getting to them can often be two entirely different things. When harsh winter winds blow, anglers are often left scrambling for a backup plan. “Fishing has been really good lately,” said Port O'Connor guide Capt. Leonard `Capt. Mac' McPheters. “The problem is, a lot of what we're doing is open bay stuff. And, when we've got a lot of wind, getting to those fish is a problem. We can fish those areas on the calm days between fronts, but on windy days we've got to look for fish along the shorelines or in protected coves and back lakes.” Hard blowing winds can affect anglers on any body of water during winter. But, on expansive bay systems such as the sprawling Galveston Bay complex, it can turn conditions dangerous. “Everybody talks about fishing the deep reefs during winter,” said Galveston guide Capt. Michael LaRue. “But, there are days you just can't get out there. What a lot of people don't realize, though, is there is also a lot of fish in the back end of Trinity (bay) and up the rivers. The rivers are really overlooked. People don't realize how many fish move up there during the winter. And, you can usually fish the river regardless of how strong the wind is.” The key to finding winter fish isn't necessarily the water depth, but the bottom composition. “We fish the back end of the bays a lot in winter and fish muddiest, nastiest bottom we can find,” said Rockport guide Capt. Jeff Steckler. “We rarely fish more than waist-deep. The muddy bottom on shallow flats soak up heat, so the fish will naturally gravitate to those areas. And, the back ends of the bays usually aren't as windblown, so the water will stay a little warmer.” Of course, as LaRue pointed out, not all protected waters are within the bays. Port Isabel guide Capt. Eddie Curry, who unlike LaRue doesn't have easy river access for winter fishing, says when the winds howl across the Lower Laguna Madre, he won't even bother fishing the bay. “Our problem is our bay runs north and south and we really don't have many coves or back lakes like some of the other bays up the coast,” said Curry. “So, when we get a hard south wind before a front or a hard north wind during a front, the bay can really get rough. When it's blowing like that, I'll head up the Brownsville Ship Channel. “The Ship Channel's great for a couple reasons. One, there's a lot of fish up there. You can catch snook, trout, mangrove snapper, big jacks, flounder - pretty much everything is up there in the winter. And, since it runs east and west and has pretty tall banks, you have a good wind break from either a north or south wind.”