Episode Details
Back to Episodes
Rio Grande Fishing Report: Lights Out Reds, Trout, and Flounder Action for October 28, 2025
Published 6 months ago
Description
Howdy folks, this is Artificial Lure coming to you with your Rio Grande, Texas fishing report for Tuesday, October 28, 2025. The weather’s starting brisk, with a cool north breeze after last night’s weak front—mornings are dipping into the high 60s, with highs topping out in the low 80s and that dry south Texas sun shining through. Sunrise is 7:35 this morning, and you’ll get good daylight til about 6:49 this evening, giving you a long window to wet a line.
Today’s tide times for the coast down at South Padre Island—closest big water to most of us in the Rio Grande Valley—are calling for a low at 1:36 PM at just under half a foot and steady incoming after that. That moving water, paired with the current phase of the mullet run, is a recipe for red-hot action in all the right spots, especially at sun-up and again as shadows start to stretch out late day. According to Tide-Forecast.com, use those hours on both sides of the low tide to your advantage.
On the fishing front: October is when the *fall push* really lights up fishing from the river to the surf. Along the Rio Grande, most of the local action has centered on *catfish* and *largemouth bass*, but for saltwater diehards, it’s hard to beat the scene over in the Laguna Madre and at the jetties. As Fishingreminder puts it, surf and jetties are drawing in waves of *bull redfish* hunting migrating mullet. In the bays, the *speckled trout* bite is turning on at first light over grass flats and potholes. *Flounder* are staging up in the cuts and deeper water, prepping for their late-fall migration—prime targets on soft plastics or live mud minnows bounced along the bottom.
The best success this morning came on topwaters at dawn for trout, particularly chartreuse or bone-colored Spooks and Skitter Walks. Once that sun’s up, you’ll get more consistent bites on soft plastics—think pearl or root beer paddle tails rigged weedless—and the old standby: live shrimp under a popping cork. For bull reds, cut mullet on bottom rigs worked great in the first gut just inside the South Padre surf, and don’t overlook gold spoons worked steady along the channel edges. Some lucky anglers trolled up Spanish mackerel where bait was stacked along the rocks, and a few solid *snook* were caught on swimbaits in tight to structure.
Reports from Captain Experiences guides this week have folks grinning—multiple 40+ inch bull reds landed at the jetties, inshore trips weighing heavy stringers of slot reds and speckled trout, and the flounder gigging crowd hauling in some real doormats on night tides. No monsters from the river this time, but plenty of channel cats coming to cut bait and chicken liver, especially below Falcon Dam and in the deeper bends just south of Rio Grande City.
Hot spots to dial in right now: the old standby Mexiquita Flats near Port Isabel for trout and reds, South Padre Island jetties for bull reds and mackerel, and the El Sauz cut on the Laguna Madre for a mixed bag with a shot at flounder. For freshwater, the public access near Sal Del Rey continues to produce cats and the occasional hefty bass.
Best baits and lures? Topwaters at first light, soft plastics as the day warms, and for the surf or channel, cut mullet or live shrimp is hard to beat. If you’re targeting flounder, bump Gulp Swimming Mullet or live mud minnow on a jighead through the edges of the cuts.
That’s the latest from your boots-on-the-ground and boots-in-the-water. Thanks for tuning in, and remember to subscribe so you don’t miss a bite or a tip. 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
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Today’s tide times for the coast down at South Padre Island—closest big water to most of us in the Rio Grande Valley—are calling for a low at 1:36 PM at just under half a foot and steady incoming after that. That moving water, paired with the current phase of the mullet run, is a recipe for red-hot action in all the right spots, especially at sun-up and again as shadows start to stretch out late day. According to Tide-Forecast.com, use those hours on both sides of the low tide to your advantage.
On the fishing front: October is when the *fall push* really lights up fishing from the river to the surf. Along the Rio Grande, most of the local action has centered on *catfish* and *largemouth bass*, but for saltwater diehards, it’s hard to beat the scene over in the Laguna Madre and at the jetties. As Fishingreminder puts it, surf and jetties are drawing in waves of *bull redfish* hunting migrating mullet. In the bays, the *speckled trout* bite is turning on at first light over grass flats and potholes. *Flounder* are staging up in the cuts and deeper water, prepping for their late-fall migration—prime targets on soft plastics or live mud minnows bounced along the bottom.
The best success this morning came on topwaters at dawn for trout, particularly chartreuse or bone-colored Spooks and Skitter Walks. Once that sun’s up, you’ll get more consistent bites on soft plastics—think pearl or root beer paddle tails rigged weedless—and the old standby: live shrimp under a popping cork. For bull reds, cut mullet on bottom rigs worked great in the first gut just inside the South Padre surf, and don’t overlook gold spoons worked steady along the channel edges. Some lucky anglers trolled up Spanish mackerel where bait was stacked along the rocks, and a few solid *snook* were caught on swimbaits in tight to structure.
Reports from Captain Experiences guides this week have folks grinning—multiple 40+ inch bull reds landed at the jetties, inshore trips weighing heavy stringers of slot reds and speckled trout, and the flounder gigging crowd hauling in some real doormats on night tides. No monsters from the river this time, but plenty of channel cats coming to cut bait and chicken liver, especially below Falcon Dam and in the deeper bends just south of Rio Grande City.
Hot spots to dial in right now: the old standby Mexiquita Flats near Port Isabel for trout and reds, South Padre Island jetties for bull reds and mackerel, and the El Sauz cut on the Laguna Madre for a mixed bag with a shot at flounder. For freshwater, the public access near Sal Del Rey continues to produce cats and the occasional hefty bass.
Best baits and lures? Topwaters at first light, soft plastics as the day warms, and for the surf or channel, cut mullet or live shrimp is hard to beat. If you’re targeting flounder, bump Gulp Swimming Mullet or live mud minnow on a jighead through the edges of the cuts.
That’s the latest from your boots-on-the-ground and boots-in-the-water. Thanks for tuning in, and remember to subscribe so you don’t miss a bite or a tip. 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
This episode includes AI-generated content.