# A Little Fresh II



## Capt. Chris Martin (May 22, 2004)

Last time we talked about tactics to use when the bays are full of fresh water. Letâ€™s build on that idea with some more changes you can make in your approach to an extreme salinity decline. 

One of the first things to consider is a change in the fish you target. You may be a trout junkie and consider anything else with fins to be trash, but leaving the trout for a few days or weeks as the tides reclaim the salinity levels we normally have may be the ticket. Redfish and Black Drum are much more tolerant of the fresh water than other species. Targeting these two and gratefully accepting the occasional trout mixed in can make a poor day a successful one quickly. 

I asked one of our guides here and Bay Flats Lodge what he did in fresh water conditions. His response was, run from it. Not bad advice. The closer you get to the gulf passes the more saltwater there is. Sounds simple but many people forget. If youâ€™re wondering if your close enough to the saltwater source try tasting the water. If it tastes like your shower thatâ€™s not good. Itâ€™s time to get closer to the incoming tides. 

I Know, I know Iâ€™m a hardware hard head like you, but on occasion using bait never hurt anyone. If not bait at least a scented soft plastic. Popping a live shrimp under a cork brings back great memories for me, and probably for you as well. Just until the salt comes back, I promise. And I promise I wonâ€™t tell anyone either of us did this. 

Looking out over San Antonio Bay from the lodge this morning there was still a great deal of fresh water to be seen. It will be quite some time before the middle and upper reaches of the bay are brackish again. The closer you get to POC and what is now Sunday pass the more salt youâ€™ll encounter but take a look at the pictures that accompany this report and you can see the Bay Flats Guides have dialed things in pretty quickly. There are plenty of fish to be caught in our part of the country.


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