Range from Freeport (change the home port above). 0 spots on the map; diamonds are open-water edges from satellite data.
How the picks are made
Every rig, deepwater floater, TPWD reef, reefed rig, wreck and natural bank, plus open-water edges and deep drop-offs found in today's satellite and depth data, is scored for each species: depth and structure it prefers, season off Texas, water temperature and temperature breaks, water color and color changes, altimetry (warm and cold eddies and their edges), Sargassum, current, bottom relief, season closures and recent reports.
The hour you pick adds daylight (trolling species are daytime fish; swordfish switch from daytime deep drop to night drift) and the forecast wind, turned into an estimated sea height for the run (no swell included). Satellite layers are the latest available, not a forecast.
Season rules checked 2026-10-16; they change, so verify with TPWD and NOAA before keeping fish. Positions are approximate: check your chart. A starting point, not a guarantee.
- TPWD: red snapper, amberjack, grouper, cobia, mackerel and billfish regulations
- TPWD: Red snapper biology (spawning depth and season)
- NOAA Fisheries: 2026 greater amberjack season (Gulf)
- Gulf Council: 2026 gag season
- Rooker et al. 2012 (TAMUG): larval billfish habitat, northern Gulf
- Kitchens & Rooker 2014 (TAMUG): dolphinfish larvae, northern Gulf
- SEDAR: yellowedge grouper and golden tilefish habitat
- Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine: Contemplating cobia; Strangers in the night (swordfish); Wintertime offshore
- Texas Fish & Game: Target dorado on weedlines; Tuna tips
- Cortland / Cat Sport Fishing: Texas deep drop and daytime swordfish
- Marlin Magazine: Texas offshore fishing (Port A spot distances)
- Salt Water Sportsman: Fishing edges (clean warm side for marlin, rips, weedlines)
- Marlin Magazine: Changing seas (Roffer, Hilton: break age, stacking signs)
- In The Spread: Upwelling and altimetry maps (eddy edges, Loop eddies on the shelf edge)
- Texas Fishing Forum: Cerveza/Boomvang (Boomvang 105 nm @ 159° from Freeport)
- Sport Fishing: Can't-miss blue marlin fishing in Texas
- NOAA station KEMK, East Breaks 165 (Cerveza Ligera position)
- Marlin Magazine: Texas marlin fishing history
- Texas Fish & Game: A look at Texas billfish (2026)
- Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine: Year of the sailfish; white marlin dominate Texas Legends
- NOAA HMS: billfish minimum sizes and reporting
- UTMSI: yellowfin tuna habitat and Gulf eddies
- The Hull Truth (Gulf Coast forum): Texas wahoo, winter Port A, Texas rig locations threads
- Salt Water Sportsman: Texas winter wahoo (Platt, Gueldner)
- Texas Monthly: Wahoo Winter
- Sport Fishing: South Texas kingfish
- Galveston County Daily News: offshore Reel Reports (charter catches vs. conditions)