Rockport Fishing Report – April 16th, 2017

Here is your Rockport fishing report for this Easter Sunday and mid April. And similar to the last, conditions changed quite a bit very soon after our last report. So this Rockport fishing report will keep you up to date with what we saw out there this past week, including the boats we had on the water today.

In our last report, we mentioned that we had a bunch of water blown out of the bays with a pretty stout North wind. Well, it didn’t take too long to get that water back… and then some. As of today, we have a bunch of water out there again. And it continues to rise very gradually. But that isn’t exactly bad news.

The fishing has continued to be outstanding in the mornings. Our best fishing has been from sun up to about 10am. Schools of tailing fish are predictable, every day. Even days that are windy with heavy overcast are productive, so long as you are in the right spots. We had boats in the waters around Port O’Connor, Rockport, Port Aransas and the Upper Laguna Madre this week. There were tails every morning, if you knew where to look.

On our cloudier days, they may continue until the early afternoon. But that is not guaranteed. Other days, we would come across another school of 25 tailing fish as late as 2pm. But again, not the norm. But the mornings are key right now. Also, with the water continuing to rise a little, finding shallow water where you can still see them tailing. Some of our favorite spots are a little deeper today, than they were just a couple of days ago. That can make it a lot tougher to spot those fish.

As the sun continues to rise during the day, the schools and tails have typically tapered off. Leaving you on the hunt for cruising fish. Some days were very solid all day long. Others seemed to get a little “tough” in the afternoon. Add our daily 15-20 mph wind, and that makes for a lot of work in the later parts of the day. But the fish are there. They may be a bit more spread out now, with all the higher water and they disperse from their schools, but they are there.

This weekend was very busy up and down the Coast Bend. With Good Friday being a holiday for most, and Easter weekend following, there was no shortage of traffic on the water. Another great reason to get out there early! But even still, we saw most of our boat ramps mostly full by 7am. But we were able to get away and find our water. But as the weather continues to warm up around the state, expect more and more traffic on the weekends.

As for flies and such… Similar to our last Rockport fishing report, the schooling fish are not picky AT ALL. Get anything in front of them and it will get eaten. They just have to see it. Crab, Shrimp, Baitfish or Gurgler, they will eat it all. So pick your poison there. The cruising fish have still been very cooperative as well. We have typically put a crab on in the morning, and not had a reason to take it off all day. But they have been eating other stuff as well; reducers, ice shrimp and random topwater stuff. The fish are so plentiful right now that if you have one refuse the fly, find another fish. If two or three refuse it, maybe time to change a fly.

The weather this coming week looks like much of the same. Typical Spring weather for the Coast Bend with sun, comfortable temps and a little annoying wind. But fishable every day. We have boats out every day and will continue to report back as we go, or if we see any drastic changes out there.

You can always follow along with us on Instagram, Facebook and even Snapchat for the very latest news. We try to post something most every day. Or of course you can email any time for additional info or ask about what we did and where we did it that day. There are no secrets. So we will tell you where we fished and what we saw, as best we can.

Spring fishing continues, but Summer feels like it is right around the corner. So if you are interested in getting out on the water before the real heat sets in, contact us soon so you can secure your dates on the calendar.