Rio Grande Heat: First Light and Sunset Bites on Spec Trout and Reds

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Rio Grande, Texas fishing report. We’re starting the day with light south to southeast winds and warm, muggy air off the Gulf. Temps push from the upper 70s at first light into the low 90s by afternoon, with a heat index that’ll feel hotter. Skies run partly cloudy, with a chance of a stray coastal shower after lunch as that Gulf moisture builds. Sunrise is right around 6:30 a.m., sunset near 8:30 p.m., giving you a long window to work the low‑light bite. Down toward the Lower Laguna side and the Rio Grande mouth, tidal swing is modest, but the key is the moving water around mid‑morning and late afternoon. On days like this, that falling water coming off the flats into the guts and channels is money for speckled trout and redfish. Nighttime and first light have seen the best feed, then it slows through the blazing midday before picking up again toward sunset. Local anglers this past week have been picking off good numbers of **school‑size speckled trout**, a mix of **slot reds**, and scattered **flounder** along the deeper edges and spoils. A few bigger trout have come off knee‑to‑thigh‑deep grass with potholes, especially when the wind lays just enough to give a light chop. Drum and sheepshead are still hanging around the rocks and pilings for folks soaking bait. For **artificials**, think subtle but flashy. Soft plastic paddletails in natural colors—white, pearl, and new penny—rigged on 1/8 oz jigheads have been the workhorses. MirrOlure‑style twitchbaits in silver/black back or gold work well on the calmer shorelines early. Topwaters—Spooks, Skitterwalks—are drawing explosive hits right at daybreak along wind‑blown grasslines; once the sun’s up, drop back to soft plastics and slow your retrieve. If you’re fishing **bait**, live shrimp under a popping cork is still king for numbers of trout and the occasional red. Croaker, where you can find it, is producing better‑quality trout over shell and along channel edges. Cut mullet on the bottom is a solid bet for reds and drum, especially around current seams and the mouths of little drains. Couple of hot spots for you: - **Boca Chica / Rio Grande mouth area**: Work the sandbars and guts when the tide’s moving. Look for bait showers—trout and reds are pushing mullet and glass minnows up onto the bars. Wade if you can; boats should stay mindful of shifting sand and shallow cuts. - **Ship Channel and adjacent flats near Brownsville turning basin**: Deeper edges are holding trout, reds, and the odd flounder. Fish the drop‑offs where 3–4 feet falls into 6–8. Live shrimp or soft plastics bounced down those edges have been steady producers. Overall, fish activity is best in the first two hours after sunrise and the last two before dark. Midday can still give you drum and the occasional red if you hunker down on structure and soak bait. That’s your Rio Grande fishing rundown from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn