Normally.... I prefer the water a little more clear than what you see above, but at night you can collect with this clarity no problem.
When it gets really green and the wind is light N or NW....it's epic down there. So much fun!
I know some good places in Surfside too. Water is usually a lot more clear down there despite being only 1 hour away. Surfside has more consistent (green water) by far.
Matagorda sucks because of the Colorado River mouth, but makes for some of the heaviest surf just inside the jetty's. Matagorda has best wave (heaviest with power) from here to Bob Hall pier in Corpus.
Fish pass jetties near Corpus is epic for collecting. Padre is also great just about all year around, but it's too far. It will get brown from time to time, but it usually keeps good visibility. Better than anywhere on the Texas Coast. Of course all your Upper Texas Coastal areas are better because they're deeper and the rivers don't affect them as much.
I would rather make the 8 hr drive to Pensacola, Florida than drive to Padre. For another hour or 2 you can collect live sand, and many more species of fish.
If you were to "block off" all the river mouths in the Gulf.....Texas would look just like Destin Florida, Cancun, or Miami.
When I was a kid, from about 8yrs old to 15....I lived at the beach for about half of the year. I remember one time the water got so clear that you could stand on the end of Dirty Pelican Pier and see the bottom. It brought in the most insane fish and also a lot of stingray. There were Tarpon, Jacks, and Spanish Mackerel to name a few. It looked exactly like Destin Florida on a good day. I've never seen it that blue and clear again.