thinking of hitting east matty tomorrow (thursday). Have 18.5' Ranger RB190 cc. I've fished east matty many many years ago in others boats. first time in mine and haven't been there in over 15 years. Obviously its new territory so not looking to go WOT but it'll be a decent south/SSW wind

Here is a screenshot of the paths I plan on running. Any advice for each of these?

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1. There are a few reefs around Old Cut (your entrance at #1) to be careful about. They should generally be deep enough to not worry about scraping, but if the tide is low or the wind is out of the north you can bottom out. Stay centered between the visible reefs until you pass them.

2. South shoreline has several reefs, but they should be marked on charts fairly accurately. Stay away from the edge of the shoreline and for the most part you are just fine.

3. Pretty much the same as 2

4. Similar to the south shoreline, there are some oyster reefs and shallow areas as you get close to the marsh by St. Mary's bayou and the other bayous on the west end. Watch your draft and the wind. If you stay about 50 yards off the shoreline you are generally in 3+ feet of water and should have no problems.

5. No major issues until you get back closer to Gulf Cut where the shallow reefs and shelf is.

Boggy Cut may be an easier/better point of acces to the ditch versus Gulf Cut, but again - I don't know what the draft of your boat is. If it's a shallow draft flats type boat, won't make much of a difference either way. If it drafts more (1' or over) then just need to have updated charts showing the reefs to be sure you aren't bottoming out anywhere.

https://usa.fishermap.org/depth-map/east-matagorda-bay-texas/

I don't know about east Matty, but the last couple of weekends the Christmas bay system has been muddy as hell due to the winds. Water isn't visible much until you get right up on the shoreline.

Are you planning on wading? A friend of mine who fishes east Matagorda Bay often told me as of a couple of weeks ago the fish appeared to have moved into the mid summer pattern on the mid-bay reefs. There are several in your drawing. The oyster farm usually holds some fish but it can get hammered on the weekends.

Agree with the earlier poster. Most of the reefs are either marked or are deep enough to drive over. However, the reefs near the cut are shallow and there are some pilings out there. Stay with the channel markers going out the cut. Also have the "tripod" out in the bay over by your number 4.

Not going to wade... Going to troll or drift to cover ground
Using this as a chance to cover some ground and learn
I have lowrance units so not sure how updated the maps are
What is the tripod?

The tripod is a wooden tripod thingy by your #4 point. Set up drifts about 50 yards from it

If your maps are updated; you can also drift the mid-bay reefs. Be there early

Old Gulf cut is plenty deep to come through. As stated above, just stay in the center of the reefs. Most are marked with poles (See yellow). If you come straight out for about 500 yds, you are safe. Alternatively, but a bit more tricky, it's actually clear if you go to the right coming out. Note blue lines in the pic. Nothing much else to really worry about in the areas you marked. If the winds not too bad, you want to drift the mid bay reefs. You can't see them but they are marked on maps and most GPS.

If you are going this weekend, the boats will be thick as thieves. Good luck! If you run into trouble, I'm in the condos next to the bridge at the end of the harbor. We will be fishing west bay.

You definitely can hit Long Reef depending on tide levels...last weekend they were lower than normal. If you draw a straight line diagonally from your #1 to #3 and then about 1/4- 1/3 of the way from the #1 spot is where Long Reef will be. 3 Beacons is to the north of that probably 1/2-3/4 mile?? it's 2 posts that stick up about 1-2 ft above the water line - again depending on the tide levels.

Make sure you stop out at the mouth of the Old Gulf Cut past the poles the previous poster showed you and mark that spot for a return back...Once you get to the south shoreline area etc you won't be able to distinguish the cut from the rest of barrier island...just easier to mark it on the way out and then navigate back to it when you return.

Good luck...it's going to be crazy down there this weekend.

dahouse said:

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The tripod is a wooden tripod thingy by your #4 point. Set up drifts about 50 yards from it

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That's the second tripod. The first tripod is in Live Oak Bay to the east. Also a good place to set up and drift as there are a couple of holes that can be productive (or were a long, long time ago anyway).

dahouse said:

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The tripod is a wooden tripod thingy by your #4 point. Set up drifts about 50 yards from it

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I thought the tripod was the wooden tripod chingadera a lot farther east in the bay and closer to the ICW? Because there's another one that's maybe 500 yards into the bay off the ICW NW of Big Cedar.

Anyway, I usually come in from Sargent side and fish the south shoreline but have caught triple tail off the structure to the east of what you're referring to.

Tides in POC were super low last night. It didn't seem to line up at all with NOAA projections. I was intrigued and trying to figure out why?

See my post above

A friend of mine and two other fellas sent me a pic this morning of 3 limits of trout from East Matagorda Bay. I know he wades 99% of the time and I'm pretty sure he was on a reef. He is a retired GW so he knows the bay well and reefs that are not well marked. The pic was taken back at the dock at 8:11 AM so he was out there early. Earlier on this weekend the better. Be safe.