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Rio Grande Fishing Report: Late Fall Bite Heating Up in South Texas
Artificial Lure here with your Rio Grande, Texas, fishing report for November 18, 2025.
We’re starting out the week with classic South Texas fall weather—expect thin high clouds and unseasonably warm temps pushing into the low 90s by midafternoon, as reported by KRGV News. Winds are light early but should freshen up by midday, so start early if you can. Sunrise hit at 6:51 AM sharp, and sunset is rolling in about 5:37 PM, giving you plenty of daylight to cast a line.
The tidal swing’s on the mellow side today near the Lower Laguna Madre and South Padre channel—expect the low tide around 8:09 AM and a high tide at 6:05 PM, based on Tide-Forecast.com. For best success, work the incoming tide this evening, especially in bays and around the jetties. That moving water has really been turning on the bite this week.
Fish activity is definitely heating up. According to the Rio Grande Fishing Forecast from Spreaker, recent days have produced strong catches of speckled trout and redfish, with slot reds especially thick around the flats. Folks wading mud/shell and drifting with live shrimp under popping corks are pulling in solid numbers, and the outgoing tide has provided some good flurries for those working soft plastics along grass edges.
Don’t sleep on channel and blue catfish in the deeper holes along the river bends and guts. Local reports mention several keeper catfish being caught on cut shad and stink bait—slack water pockets are producing the best, especially early morning before things heat up.
Black drum and sheepshead have shown up at structure—bridge pilings and deep dock cuts are the ticket. Best baits have been fresh dead shrimp and fiddler crabs fished tight to pilings. There’s also been some action on fat black drum up to 5 pounds.
Top artificial lures this week have been:
- 3-4 inch paddle tail swimbaits in chartreuse and root beer, slow-rolled along the channel drop-offs.
- Gulp! shrimp and curly tails on 1/8 or 1/4 ounce jigheads—shrimp and new penny colors are go-tos.
- Gold spoons have lured a few nice reds from potholes on the incoming tide.
Live shrimp is still the hottest bait across the board—under a popping cork for trout, free-lined for reds, and just off bottom for drum and sheepshead. Cut mullet and shad are working well for bigger reds and those river catfish.
A few hot spots worth mentioning:
- Boca Chica Flats: Trout and reds are working the shallows on early high tide.
- Arroyo Colorado mouth: The confluence with the Laguna Madre has produced reliable numbers of speckled trout at first light.
- The second spoil island south of Holly Beach: Multiple reports of limits on reds drifting with Gulp! shrimp.
Word on the sandbars is that O.C. Fisher Lake is at just over 15% full, so most anglers are focusing on river and bay action right now.
That’s the scoop for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in to the Rio Grande fishing report. Don’t forget to subscribe for more local insight and updates so you never miss what’s biting next. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
We’re starting out the week with classic South Texas fall weather—expect thin high clouds and unseasonably warm temps pushing into the low 90s by midafternoon, as reported by KRGV News. Winds are light early but should freshen up by midday, so start early if you can. Sunrise hit at 6:51 AM sharp, and sunset is rolling in about 5:37 PM, giving you plenty of daylight to cast a line.
The tidal swing’s on the mellow side today near the Lower Laguna Madre and South Padre channel—expect the low tide around 8:09 AM and a high tide at 6:05 PM, based on Tide-Forecast.com. For best success, work the incoming tide this evening, especially in bays and around the jetties. That moving water has really been turning on the bite this week.
Fish activity is definitely heating up. According to the Rio Grande Fishing Forecast from Spreaker, recent days have produced strong catches of speckled trout and redfish, with slot reds especially thick around the flats. Folks wading mud/shell and drifting with live shrimp under popping corks are pulling in solid numbers, and the outgoing tide has provided some good flurries for those working soft plastics along grass edges.
Don’t sleep on channel and blue catfish in the deeper holes along the river bends and guts. Local reports mention several keeper catfish being caught on cut shad and stink bait—slack water pockets are producing the best, especially early morning before things heat up.
Black drum and sheepshead have shown up at structure—bridge pilings and deep dock cuts are the ticket. Best baits have been fresh dead shrimp and fiddler crabs fished tight to pilings. There’s also been some action on fat black drum up to 5 pounds.
Top artificial lures this week have been:
- 3-4 inch paddle tail swimbaits in chartreuse and root beer, slow-rolled along the channel drop-offs.
- Gulp! shrimp and curly tails on 1/8 or 1/4 ounce jigheads—shrimp and new penny colors are go-tos.
- Gold spoons have lured a few nice reds from potholes on the incoming tide.
Live shrimp is still the hottest bait across the board—under a popping cork for trout, free-lined for reds, and just off bottom for drum and sheepshead. Cut mullet and shad are working well for bigger reds and those river catfish.
A few hot spots worth mentioning:
- Boca Chica Flats: Trout and reds are working the shallows on early high tide.
- Arroyo Colorado mouth: The confluence with the Laguna Madre has produced reliable numbers of speckled trout at first light.
- The second spoil island south of Holly Beach: Multiple reports of limits on reds drifting with Gulp! shrimp.
Word on the sandbars is that O.C. Fisher Lake is at just over 15% full, so most anglers are focusing on river and bay action right now.
That’s the scoop for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in to the Rio Grande fishing report. Don’t forget to subscribe for more local insight and updates so you never miss what’s biting next. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
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By Inception Point AiArtificial Lure here with your Rio Grande, Texas, fishing report for November 18, 2025.
We’re starting out the week with classic South Texas fall weather—expect thin high clouds and unseasonably warm temps pushing into the low 90s by midafternoon, as reported by KRGV News. Winds are light early but should freshen up by midday, so start early if you can. Sunrise hit at 6:51 AM sharp, and sunset is rolling in about 5:37 PM, giving you plenty of daylight to cast a line.
The tidal swing’s on the mellow side today near the Lower Laguna Madre and South Padre channel—expect the low tide around 8:09 AM and a high tide at 6:05 PM, based on Tide-Forecast.com. For best success, work the incoming tide this evening, especially in bays and around the jetties. That moving water has really been turning on the bite this week.
Fish activity is definitely heating up. According to the Rio Grande Fishing Forecast from Spreaker, recent days have produced strong catches of speckled trout and redfish, with slot reds especially thick around the flats. Folks wading mud/shell and drifting with live shrimp under popping corks are pulling in solid numbers, and the outgoing tide has provided some good flurries for those working soft plastics along grass edges.
Don’t sleep on channel and blue catfish in the deeper holes along the river bends and guts. Local reports mention several keeper catfish being caught on cut shad and stink bait—slack water pockets are producing the best, especially early morning before things heat up.
Black drum and sheepshead have shown up at structure—bridge pilings and deep dock cuts are the ticket. Best baits have been fresh dead shrimp and fiddler crabs fished tight to pilings. There’s also been some action on fat black drum up to 5 pounds.
Top artificial lures this week have been:
- 3-4 inch paddle tail swimbaits in chartreuse and root beer, slow-rolled along the channel drop-offs.
- Gulp! shrimp and curly tails on 1/8 or 1/4 ounce jigheads—shrimp and new penny colors are go-tos.
- Gold spoons have lured a few nice reds from potholes on the incoming tide.
Live shrimp is still the hottest bait across the board—under a popping cork for trout, free-lined for reds, and just off bottom for drum and sheepshead. Cut mullet and shad are working well for bigger reds and those river catfish.
A few hot spots worth mentioning:
- Boca Chica Flats: Trout and reds are working the shallows on early high tide.
- Arroyo Colorado mouth: The confluence with the Laguna Madre has produced reliable numbers of speckled trout at first light.
- The second spoil island south of Holly Beach: Multiple reports of limits on reds drifting with Gulp! shrimp.
Word on the sandbars is that O.C. Fisher Lake is at just over 15% full, so most anglers are focusing on river and bay action right now.
That’s the scoop for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in to the Rio Grande fishing report. Don’t forget to subscribe for more local insight and updates so you never miss what’s biting next. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
We’re starting out the week with classic South Texas fall weather—expect thin high clouds and unseasonably warm temps pushing into the low 90s by midafternoon, as reported by KRGV News. Winds are light early but should freshen up by midday, so start early if you can. Sunrise hit at 6:51 AM sharp, and sunset is rolling in about 5:37 PM, giving you plenty of daylight to cast a line.
The tidal swing’s on the mellow side today near the Lower Laguna Madre and South Padre channel—expect the low tide around 8:09 AM and a high tide at 6:05 PM, based on Tide-Forecast.com. For best success, work the incoming tide this evening, especially in bays and around the jetties. That moving water has really been turning on the bite this week.
Fish activity is definitely heating up. According to the Rio Grande Fishing Forecast from Spreaker, recent days have produced strong catches of speckled trout and redfish, with slot reds especially thick around the flats. Folks wading mud/shell and drifting with live shrimp under popping corks are pulling in solid numbers, and the outgoing tide has provided some good flurries for those working soft plastics along grass edges.
Don’t sleep on channel and blue catfish in the deeper holes along the river bends and guts. Local reports mention several keeper catfish being caught on cut shad and stink bait—slack water pockets are producing the best, especially early morning before things heat up.
Black drum and sheepshead have shown up at structure—bridge pilings and deep dock cuts are the ticket. Best baits have been fresh dead shrimp and fiddler crabs fished tight to pilings. There’s also been some action on fat black drum up to 5 pounds.
Top artificial lures this week have been:
- 3-4 inch paddle tail swimbaits in chartreuse and root beer, slow-rolled along the channel drop-offs.
- Gulp! shrimp and curly tails on 1/8 or 1/4 ounce jigheads—shrimp and new penny colors are go-tos.
- Gold spoons have lured a few nice reds from potholes on the incoming tide.
Live shrimp is still the hottest bait across the board—under a popping cork for trout, free-lined for reds, and just off bottom for drum and sheepshead. Cut mullet and shad are working well for bigger reds and those river catfish.
A few hot spots worth mentioning:
- Boca Chica Flats: Trout and reds are working the shallows on early high tide.
- Arroyo Colorado mouth: The confluence with the Laguna Madre has produced reliable numbers of speckled trout at first light.
- The second spoil island south of Holly Beach: Multiple reports of limits on reds drifting with Gulp! shrimp.
Word on the sandbars is that O.C. Fisher Lake is at just over 15% full, so most anglers are focusing on river and bay action right now.
That’s the scoop for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in to the Rio Grande fishing report. Don’t forget to subscribe for more local insight and updates so you never miss what’s biting next. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI