Thursday, we hope was the beginning of some beautiful weather for fishing around Galveston. For a change, we are seeing warming temperatures, light winds and low chances of rain.

Warmer and more stable weather seem to be settling in, and, if Wednesday’s conditions are any indication, the remainder of this week looks great for getting in some fishing.

There is some good news, and that is spring officially begins today and it appears that it will start out like the old adage of coming in as gentle as a lamb.

An old saying among coastal anglers is that “fishing is least when wind out of the east.”

Again this week, and actually all year long, fishing will be guided by the weather. Two big factors are strong wind velocities and thunderstorms. Both play havoc with anglers trying to catch fish.

Today is St. Patrick’s Day and an occasion that we have mentioned often in the Reel Report as prime time for black drum. Over the years the annual black drum run or migration tends to start reaching its peak around March 17 and this year seems to be no exception.

This week’s last weekend of spring break is not ending like we had hoped. Early forecasts called for light to moderate winds under mild conditions. A fast moving norther changed all of that and now it looks like this weekend will see a return to winter conditions as we know them around Galveston.

If the forecasts hold, it appears that fishing will not be affected by the Ides of March today. Strong northerly winds likely will be too much for anglers to deal with as yet another cold front crosses the upper Texas Coast.

Earlier this week when discussing prospects for fishing it was mentioned that everything would be weather driven. Well so far this week that has been the case. While fog has been with us all week, the first part saw otherwise tolerable conditions for hitting the water.

Foggy conditions continue to prevail around Galveston; however, that has not stopped anglers from catching fish.

A reader sent a note on Sunday asking about Bolivar, since we discussed Galveston area fishing spots and did not mention anything about the Bolivar Peninsula.

First, I want to welcome our spring break visitors and especially those anglers who have called in or sent notes asking about fishing this week.

The annual spring break holidays are upon us, and Sunday marks the beginning of the two biggest weeks for the Galveston area.

The beach water temperature is gradually warming from readings in the 50s most of this week. That should be good news for weekend anglers as the warmer water will trigger more action.

Thursday NOAA announced the 2019 Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper Season for Vessels fishing in federal waters carrying recreational anglers for hire. The season will be 62 days long and begins June 1, 2019 and ends on August 2 at 12:01 a.m. local time.

The annual Houston Fishing Show is now taking place at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston and what a perfect time for it.

Winter is definitely back and fortunately for only a short spell if the forecasts hold. While no fishing to speak of took place Tuesday, with temperatures in the 30s under a biting and gusty north wind, we will address a frequent question from readers.

Recently I discussed fish patterns with a local fishing guide who is working the lower Texas coast during the winter months. I mentioned to him that it seems that fish, trout especially, have not been in the spots they used to frequent during various times of the year.

While the few reports that came in over the weekend indicated sparse catches by the limited number of anglers hitting the water, at least two stalwart fishermen found the action hot and heavy.