Fishing Report 02/09/2026
South Padre Island, TX
Capt. Dave Edwards 956-524-3002. 
Spring has sprung on the Laguna Madre out of South Padre. Really not much of a winter down here and the fish have been very active for my guests. Lets get the not too great news done first. I’m not seeing a lot of keeper speckled trout this winter. There have been lots of small trout hitting live shrimp or plastic imitation shrimp. Look along the Intra- costal waterway (ICW) just north of the causeway. The ICW west of Gaswell and also around north of Bird Island has a lot of trout to keep busy. If I was looking for a big trout I would be fishing the Shallow flats near Gaswell. Areas near the pasture are holding lots of small trout. I anticipate as February moves into March we should start seeing more keeper trout moving towards Long bar, Holly beach and into Gaswell Flats. Please remember our slot limits have narrowed and each trout has to be between 15-20 inches to harvest. Each angler can harvest one trout over 28 inches with their supplied tag on their license.
Black drums have been herded up all winter. Some pods my guests and I have ran into have easily been in excess of 500 fish. Dead shrimp on a bottom rig or on a quarter oz jighead have been working best for us. We have caught our drum in deeper waters north of the pasture all the way to less than a foot of water on the east side. The next few weeks should be good for the drum as the pods will slowly thin out until summer. Many of the drums are full of eggs, so if you’re not planning on eating them, just take a photo and release them for another day.
Sheephead are thick at the jetties and should be there until the end of March as they move in for their annual spawn. Live shrimp on a bottom rig will work best. You will find your best action on a moving tide near the north and south tips of the jetties. Careful with your boat near the rocks. The sheephead are schooled in the hundreds and are moving around so be patient as they should move under your boat.
Red fish have been on fire! With some of the lowest tides I have seen guiding in the last ten 10 years there are many areas no longer accessible by boat. These areas have forced the red fish to congregate in deeper waters. When I say deeper I still mean two feet or less of water. Cut bait and artificial swim baits have been our ticket to limits on almost every trip this winter. I will continue to work the shallow flats in late morning to mid afternoon on the incoming tide until mid March as this time frame has been consistent for me for the last 16 years. Please be careful of these low tides, they will change back to normal really soon!
Capt. Dave Edwards