Here is your updated Rockport fishing report, just in time for the weekend. We will fill you in on what we’ve seen out on the Texas flats this past week. Also, what we expect to see the coming days.
Looks like Fall fishing is finally here on the flats of Texas. After a few more hot days earlier in the week, another front blew through and helped us out a bunch. Things are finally starting to cool down a little bit. Both with the weather and the water. All this is a very good thing.
Wednesday and Thursday this past week brought us our second little cold front of the year. Not that it was that vicious really. But every little bit helps. We had a couple days of clouds, North winds and rain showers up and down the coast. This allowed our water to cool off a great deal. Today, most of our guides were seeing water temps in the upper 60’s early. Then increasing to the low to mid 70’s by the afternoon. This is a far cry from the mid 80’s we were still seeing on Tuesday this week. It’s a huge improvement for us, and the fish around here.
Our reward today… a bit slower early morning fishing. But by 11am, as the sun began to warm things up a little bit, the fishing was lights out. And this continued throughout the day. Capt. Jeff did his full day trip today, then tacked on another half day’er with another client. The fishing from 2pm to 6pm was the best of the day. There were tons of shots at fish, and plenty willing to eat. This is certainly a huge difference from reports prior, when the fishing shuts off in the early afternoon.
As things have cooled, and will most likely remain this way for quite a while, we would expect the fishing to continue to be very good out there every day. Also, you can fish with confidence for the entire day, without worrying about the fish shutting down due to heat. But there are still a few minor issues out there.
The water is still very high. In fact today was the highest tide we’ve had in quite a while. Apparently all that North wind wasn’t enough to blow any of this water outta here. Or perhaps the full moon just wouldn’t let it happen. Our guess is that both were the case. Either way, it didn’t matter much. Certainly the fish are still spread out a good bit. Or you may be fishing water that is a bit deeper than the norm. This does make finding fish a bit tougher. But the ones we found were certainly willing to eat. So no worries there.
Due to the flood tides, some areas are still a bit off color as well. Most are still plenty clear to fish. But they may be a bit trickier during lower light hours, or in the wind. Add in the extra depth as well, and this can be a bit tough. But still not that bad. There is plenty of clear water out there still. It just may be a bit further off the banks than normal. So again, nothing much to worry about here.
Earlier in the week we were finding a good number of picky fish. Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was the cold front looming. Or maybe it was the full moon. But we had a bunch of fish follow, sniff, eyeball, refuse or even scoff at a good number of flies. Others ate just fine. But there were a few head scratching moments out there. Fishing during the front for two days, we were mostly finding smaller reds and drum. A couple trout, skipjacks and even a flounder were found as well. But all were eating a crab pattern well enough. Today, post cold front, the same dark colored crab caught a ton of fish. So there was no real need to try anything else.
Most of our fish in the morning today were solos, pushed way back into what would normally be dry land. As the day went on, there were plenty of fish moving around in groups of twos and threes. We also bumped into a handful of schooling fish. Most had 10-15 fish in them. Certainly the largest of the fish were solos and holding in a bit deeper water.
It’s looking like we have a pretty good run of weather coming this week. Temps are a little bit lower both during the days, and overnight. So this should keep our water temps right about where they are, which is perfect. Also, we have some fairly light winds for the next few days. So this should make for some very good fishing down here on the Texas flats.
We have boats out every day this coming week. So we will keep the info and images coming. If you are looking to get out on the water, you can always contact us any time if you would like to BOOK A TRIP or need any up to the minute Southwest Texas fly fishing or Rockport fishing report type news. We continue to post on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat. Or perhaps SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel as well. We continually are trying to add more videos and stuff there. We try to keep stuff fresh for those of you that are wishing you were on the flats with us. So be sure to follow us on all our social media stuff. And don’t forget to sign up for our monthly newsletter below.