Gulf of Thailand: Late Tide Bite and Night Squid Action

This is Artificial Lure with your Gulf of Thailand fishing report. Along the upper Gulf from Chonburi down past Rayong, a light southwest monsoon kept things steamy today, with air temps hovering around the low 30s Celsius, scattered clouds, and the usual afternoon build‑up of showers offshore. Local marine forecasts called for gentle to moderate southwesterlies and a manageable chop, so smaller boats stayed comfortable close to shore. Tides today ran on the softer side of the cycle, with a modest morning high, a late‑morning fall, and another push late afternoon into evening. That late run of water lined up nicely with the bite window, especially around river mouths and channel edges where the current picked up just enough to get baitfish nervous. Sunrise slipped in early, just after 6 a.m., and the calm first light treated inshore anglers to some classic topwater action. Sunset came a little after 6:30 p.m., and the last light into full dark was the prime time for the night crowd chasing squid and big predators sliding up onto the flats. Inshore, the usual Gulf suspects showed up. Boats working the nearshore reefs and artificial structures reported steady catches of barracuda, queenfish, and trevally, with a few mangrove jacks lurking tight to rock and timber. Light‑tackle jigging with 20–40 g metal jigs in silver, sardine, and pink did damage on the trevally schools, while long, skinny minnow plugs and chrome spoons drew vicious strikes from cuda along color lines and current seams. Around estuaries and mangrove edges, especially near the Chao Phraya mouth and smaller river systems down the coast, anglers soaking live prawns and small baitfish picked up decent numbers of snapper and juvenile barramundi. The barra weren’t giants, but there were enough fish in the 40–60 cm range to keep everyone grinning. Soft plastics in natural baitfish colors on 1/4–3/8 oz jig heads, slow‑rolled past structure, outfished hardbaits once the sun climbed higher. Offshore, the weather let a few bigger boats push out to deeper water where currents meeting the Gulf’s muddy edge created color breaks. There, trolling small skirted lures and diving plugs turned up Spanish mackerel and bonito, with the occasional cobia cruising under floating debris. Slow‑pitch jigs worked vertically around any sort of mark on the sounder kept rods bent on mid‑water species. Squid action after dark around piers and lighted platforms has been solid. Anglers casting small egi jigs in glow, pink, and orange under green lamps are icing good numbers of squid, and those fresh baits turn into prime offerings for bigger predators on live or strip baits later in the night. For bait, it’s hard to beat live prawns, small mullet, and anchovy‑style baitfish right now. Cut squid and small pieces of cut fish are doing well for bottom species. For lures, pack: - Small to medium metal jigs, 20–60 g - Minnow plugs 9–13 cm in natural and chrome finishes - Soft plastics in white, silver, and olive on appropriately weighted jig heads - Egi squid jigs in glow patterns for the night shift A couple of local hot spots to keep in mind: - Nearshore reefs and structures off Rayong and Sattahip, especially where you find bait stacked up on the sounder and birds working. - River mouths and mangrove edges around the upper Gulf estuaries, where that late‑day push of tide pulls in bait and brings the barra and snapper on the chew. That’s the Gulf of Thailand report from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss the next tide change. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn