# Matagorda surf seaweed report



## Dtrojcak (Jun 17, 2012)

Anyone been to Matagorda or Sargent lately?

I'm looking to head out in a few hours and was wondering how bad the seaweed has been.
I've heard reports of good, bad, and mixed up and down the beach.
I'm hoping I can find a clean spot.

Thanks for any updates.


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## chrismunn (Feb 9, 2013)

Was clean last weekend. Dealt with almost zero weed


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## Dtrojcak (Jun 17, 2012)

Hopefully it'll be the same for me. I'll find out in a few hours.
Hopefully the storm that just passed through there won't affect the fishing too much.


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## spencey820 (Oct 17, 2011)

went last night and there was a lot of seaweed


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## Dtrojcak (Jun 17, 2012)

It's spotty. Some places are solid, others are almost weed free. 
Been here since about 6pm and so far caught 3 hard head, a 14" trout, a 18" red, and some sort of fish with a sucker type mouth. 
Anyone have any idea what that one might be?
Cell service isn't good enough to post pictures.


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## Hogslayer5l (Feb 15, 2013)

Whiting? Kinda looks like a croaker with a mouth on bottom?


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## Dtrojcak (Jun 17, 2012)

I think so. 
The only whiting I've seen pictures of had black bars like a sheepshead. But google searching shows pictures of whiting without the bars like the one I caught. 
Good thing I kept it, lol.


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## TMB (Sep 23, 2012)

The only fish I know that has bars like a sheepshead is a baby/small black drum. Never seen a whiting with bars. I may be wrong


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## Timemachine (Nov 25, 2008)

We were there Friday. Seaweed everywhere and lots more visiblae in every wave. We hit the bay instead.


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## Dtrojcak (Jun 17, 2012)

This is a picture of one similar to what I saw on a poster at a bait house before.


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## spicyitalian (Jan 18, 2012)

There are two common types of Kingfish in the gulf, often known as whiting (not to be confiused with King Mackrel, aka Kingfish). Gulf Kingfish and Southern Kingfish. Gulf Kingfish are a lighter color, with almost no noticeable bands, Southern are a little darker and can have the dark bands on them. The picture above is a Southern Kingfish. They really look very similar and are similarly sized. The important thing to note about the two species is that they taste the same on the table or when used as bait.


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## Dtrojcak (Jun 17, 2012)

Gotcha, thanks for the clarification. 
I was fishing with a buddy last weekend on his boat, and he caught 1 with the bands. We had no idea what it was, so we threw it back. Back at the dock, there was a poster of Texas fish and there was a picture of the witing we had thrown back. 
I knew witing were good to eat, I just didn't know what they looked like. 
The one I caught last night will be part of supper tonight, along with the sand trout my son caught this morning.


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## Texsurfer (Apr 29, 2008)

The compadres I and headed out there Friday morning. LOTS of weed. Hit the shell bank and pitched camp. Caught one puppy drum, several hard heads and one whiting Friday evening. Saturday morning we woke up to a nice high tide and green water. Weed wasn't as bad in our spot as it was on Friday but still there. Buddy gave it a shot and landed two dink specks with a gulp under popping rig. Decided to hit Cleveland bayou mid morning and managed a couple of keeper flatties. 

Mid-afternoon in the surf produced one nice 40" Bull Red which we took pictures of and sent on her way. Storms moved in overnight and blew out the surf so we packed 'er up and headed home.


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## jimj100 (Dec 1, 2012)

Matagorda was virtually unfishable on Sat 7-20 because of the seaweed, as far as shark fishing yakked baits or cut baits in the guts. Lines with big spider weights just got washed in. On high tide, or outgoing tide. many folks packed up early and left. 
Let us know if it's getting better. Specifically, can you keep a line out for a while? 
Please update.
Thanks. Jim


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## Dtrojcak (Jun 17, 2012)

Nice red.

Are the roads to Cleveland Bayou good enough to drive a 4x4 diesel truck or did ya'll just walk across?
I was tempted to try fishing in the bay Monday morning when the weed got horrible in the surf, but I was a little hesitant about driving back there in my truck and didn't really want to walk that far carrying fishing gear in and hopefully fish on the way out.

I've been to Matagorda twice in the last month, so I'm still learning what I can and can't do as far as driving. I'm just a little cautious, maybe too much, when it comes to driving around down there. When I go, it's just me and my 14yo son. I'm work Wednesdays through Saturdays, so when I do go fishing somewhere it's usually Sunday evening when I get there. It's nice having the entire beach to myself, but it's also a little intimidating knowing there isn't anyone else to help me if I get into trouble.

I would really like to be able to see what exactly it takes to get my truck stuck in the sand while I'm with someone else who could pull me out.
I'm betting it takes a lot more than what I am thinking to get stuck, but I don't want to get cocky either.
This past Sunday and Monday when I was there, I could've probably driven anywhere I wanted to. The rain Sunday afternoon seemed to have made the sand nice and firm. Even the stuff that looked "fluffy" on the side of, and between the ruts was hard.


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## Dtrojcak (Jun 17, 2012)

jimj100 said:


> Matagorda was virtually unfishable on Sat 7-20 because of the seaweed, as far as shark fishing yakked baits or cut baits in the guts. Lines with big spider weights just got washed in. On high tide, or outgoing tide. many folks packed up early and left.
> Let us know if it's getting better. Specifically, can you keep a line out for a while?
> Please update.
> Thanks. Jim


It was spotty Sunday evening. Some spots had solid weed in the wash zone, other spots were almost clean.
We set up at the first clean spot once we hit the shell banks.
We fished from around 6pm to around midnight with minimal weed problems.
It was low tide and we were just chunking baits, no yaks, as far as I could while standing in about knee deep water.
Lines would stay out as long as you wanted.
I didn't bring my second bait bucket which had the cast net in it, so we were using bought croaker and shrimp. Nothing was biting on the croaker rigged on a double hook leader, so we started using shrimp on the top hook with croaker on the bottom hook. Caught a 14" trout, 10" witing, 18" red, and several hardheads. Cut up the hardheads for bait around 10pm with no bites. Weed started to clog up the lines around 11 or so. Gave up and went to bed around midnight.
Woke up to solid weed, so we packed up camp and used up the rest of the shrimp and fishbites off the jetty in the park, catching several 6" or so croaker and a few small witing, with a 12" sandtrout thrown in the mix.
Driving in from the campsite, there were a few spots that were relatively clean and probably would've been fishable, but still not as clean as they were Sunday evening.
High tide was Monday morning and a lot of the weed in the water was old weed being pulled back into the water, although there was a lot of new weed also. I would guess it was about a 60/40 split of new/old weed in the water.
I have no idea as I'm not that familiar with what affects the seaweed, but I'm guessing the north wind associated with the storm blowing for a few hours before I arrived on Sunday might have cleared the weed out for a while.


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## Texsurfer (Apr 29, 2008)

Dtrojcak said:


> Nice red.
> 
> Are the roads to Cleveland Bayou good enough to drive a 4x4 diesel truck or did ya'll just walk across?
> I was tempted to try fishing in the bay Monday morning when the weed got horrible in the surf, but I was a little hesitant about driving back there in my truck and didn't really want to walk that far carrying fishing gear in and hopefully fish on the way out.
> ...


I drive a silverado 4x4 (non Z-71) and when we drove back there we had no issues getting back to the bay from the beach. Only thing I'd say say is to err on the side of caution once out on the flats and stay out of anything that looks wet and muddy. Those diesels tend to be a bit heavier than what I've got and I'd hate to see some sinkage happen. The hard pack flats were nice to drive on and provided zero issues for me.


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

I have seen whiting with bars but mostly on the Galveston Bay side.


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## Dtrojcak (Jun 17, 2012)

fishingcacher said:


> I have seen whiting with bars but mostly on the Galveston Bay side.


The one with the bars was caught in the bay at Rockport.
The one without bars was caught in the surf at Matagorda beach.
Now that I know what they are and what they look like, and won't be releasing any decent sized ones.
They are good eating, IMO.


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## tammylynns (Jul 31, 2013)

Has the seaweed gotten any better? We were out there two weeks ago and it was HORRIBLE!!! You could see sheets of it washing in. 

We are planning on heading out Saturday.


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## spiwonka (Jan 29, 2009)

My wife and i Caught these saturday the 20th at Matagorda beach just after lunch at the shell! Trout was thick in the surf! It may be nice this saturday, but who knows the way this SW wind has been blowing. At the buoy about 25 miles in the gulf, its 1.97 ft right now and shows it suppose to be laying for the next couple of days.


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## spiwonka (Jan 29, 2009)

Down to 1.6 ft and 4 mph as of 1 pm at the buoy! Tomorrow through sat morning it's Suppose to be flatter!


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## MarkU (Jun 3, 2013)

Dtrojcak said:


> This is a picture of one similar to what I saw on a poster at a bait house before.
> View attachment 636749


The pic is a Southern Whiting. The one you caught is a Gulf Whiting. They're also referred in field manuals as a Southern Kingfish, and a Gulf Kingfish. Which is somewhat confusing. Since we all call a King Mackerel, a Kingfish.


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