Texas · Gulf Coast & Mississippi Lowlands · hardiness zone 10a
Now
31°C · Clear
Today
36° / 28°
Sun
07:15 – 19:35
Moon
Waxing Crescent · solunar good
Warm water holds less oxygen. Fish the springs, the inflows and the deep water, and release quickly.
In the water now · September
The sport fish active near Brownsville, Texas in September — where they hold, how to know one on the line, and the tactic that usually works. Check your licence and the current limits before you go.

Pomoxis nigromaculatus
Silvery with irregular black speckling, a deep flat body and seven or eight dorsal spines.
Where and how to catch it →
Ictalurus punctatus
Deeply forked tail, scattered dark spots on young fish, and long whiskers.
Writing your field guide — reading the forecast, the moon and the map…
Overhead · Brownsville, Texas
The two clocks nothing on the ground can argue with: the length of the day, and the phase of the moon.
The sun
12h 19m of light
Sunrise
07:15
Solar noon
13:25
Sunset
19:34
A month from now the day will be 0h 45m shorter. Enough light for steady growth.
Right now · Brownsville, Texas
Nothing here is a guess. Each of these is read from this week's forecast and this location's climate record, and each one is pushing the season one way or the other.
Waxing Crescent · 11%
Waxing, 3 days old. Full moon in 11 days. Fishing outlook: good.
It moves water — in the sea, in a lake's edge, and, by long tradition, in the sap of a plant. Fish feed hardest on the days around new and full.
22 km/h now · 29 peak
A working breeze: it ripples the surface, drifts a boat at a fishable speed, and stacks bait on the windward shore. Anglers call it a walleye chop.
It pollinates corn and grasses, dries soil, breaks stems — and it decides where the bait, and therefore the fish, end up.
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Photo: Fishes of Texas team · CC BY-SA 4.0

Morone saxatilis
Silver with seven or eight unbroken horizontal black stripes, and a large mouth.
Where and how to catch it →Photo: Christian Back · CC BY 4.0

Sciaenops ocellatus
Copper-bronze with at least one black spot at the base of the tail, and an underslung mouth.
Where and how to catch it →
Cynoscion nebulosus
Silver-grey with distinct round black spots on the back and tail, and two prominent canine teeth.
Where and how to catch it →
Centropomus undecimalis
A sharp black lateral line running right through the tail, and a sloped forehead over an underslung jaw.
Where and how to catch it →Photo: José Francisco Colorado-Dapa · CC BY-SA 4.0
Also out there this month
Photographs are research-grade observations from iNaturalist, each credited to its photographer. Ranges and timing are typical, not guaranteed — 54 species are covered across Canada and the US.
The moon
Waxing Crescent
11% lit · waxing · day 3 of 29.5
Planting by the moon: New to first quarter: sow leafy crops and anything harvested for its leaves — lettuce, spinach, brassicas, herbs.
Fishing: good — feeding peaks in the days either side of new and full, and around moonrise and moonset.
Turn of the season
Fall equinox
Sep 22 · 7 days away
About 108 days to the average first frost (Dec 31).
Next moons
1.1 mm / 7 days
Only 1.1 mm over seven days. A garden wants roughly 25 mm a week — water deeply twice rather than lightly every day.
Sets the pace for everything: germination, fungal fruiting, slug nights, and how a river runs for the next three days.
33.5 °C
Hot soil: germination drops off above 30 °C and roots slow. Mulch, shade the row, and sow late in the day.
Seeds read soil temperature, not the calendar. Six centimetres down is where the decision gets made.
12h 19m
Losing about 2 minutes of daylight a day.
The one thing weather can't change. Plants count photoperiod to decide when to bolt, bulb, flower and go dormant.
350 frost-free days
Typically Jan 15 to Dec 31 here. Coldest night in the next week: 25.2 °C.
The hard edge of the growing season. Ice inside a leaf ruptures its cells — one night ends a tomato and sweetens a parsnip.