Rockport Fishing Report – March 4th, 2018

March is finally here, so we are catching up with another Rockport fishing report. We will recap how we ended the month of February, and also what we have been seeing in these first few days of March out on the flats. It’s been a busy weekend around here, so we hope this Rockport fishing report sheds some light on what we expect in the week to come.

First and foremost, it is finally warmer around here. Thank goodness!!! A comfortable 75 degrees is now the trend most days on the water. This is far better than the crap we’ve endured throughout this unusually rough Winter. So we say the warmer the better. That being said, we are still struggling to convince the sun to stay out all day long. While warmer, many of our days are still starting a little on the cloudy or foggy side. Not ideal for spotting fish out there. But many days, the sun will give you moments of opportunity, or maybe burn off later in the afternoon.

A sure sign of Spring around here, is an increase in wind. We have had no shortage of that lately. Usually you start with a pretty mellow morning, then watch it escalate as the days go on. Lately, its just blowing hard right out of the gate. Again, not necessarily ideal for fly fishing on the Rockport flats. But there are plenty of places to hide and sometimes you just have to do the best you can. It’s nowhere near unbearable out there. But winds in the upper teens have been far too common for this Rockport fishing report.

On a happier note… The water levels are far more favorable now. We have plenty of water throughout all the bay systems we fish, from Matagorda to the Upper Laguna Madre. Our water is pretty much at normal Spring levels already, which is great. Maybe more than anything, its just a nice change. We’ve had unusually low water all Winter long, and we were kinda getting tired of it. So it’s been a lot of fun to get back into some of our favorite lakes and marshes again. This will be the new norm from here on out most likely and we are great with that.

With the temps and water warming up, the fishing has been improving as well. We are seeing far more fish each day than we were the past couple of months. Always a welcome sign. And with the influx of water back into the bays, they are occupying all of their usual haunts. Even the further most reaches, lakes, marshes and creeks are holding fish again. Some more than others for sure, but there are plenty of fish spread out throughout. We have been seeing a lot of over slot fish in the spots exposed to the Gulf. Especially the flats nearer to Port Aransas. Seeing a few really big reds each day has become the norm. Certainly not unheard of, especially this time of year. But there sure seems to be a lot of them around here in the last week or so. Good numbers of drum are around as well. Still a little on the lighter side for sheepshead. Although we haven’t really spent any time lately targeting them either. But not a ton where we have been fishing.

With the water warming up, we are finally starting to see some more food swimming around out there too. Plenty of baitfish around now and finally a lot more crab walking around the zones we are fishing. Not really any good surface action just yet, but it can’t be long before we start seeing more of that. But for now, our flies have all been subsurface offerings. Todays best was the good ol’ Crabcake Special. Yesterday we went baitfish mode, and tossed JJ’s Tube Sock all day. Earlier in the week, The Pronz was our fly of choice. So choose something and fish it with confidence.

With the weather constantly in flux from rain, to fog, to cloudy, to sunny, to whatever else, the fish seem a little unsettled on the flats. Our conventional anglers are still finding plenty of feeding fish out there. But some of our fish in shallow are choosing to lay up in the mud more than we would like. Some get up slow and will eat a fly while retreating. Others blow outta there quickly. But not all of the fish we are catching have been rushing to eat a fly. So be patient and make sure you don’t move that fly too quickly. We have had many good shots go sour, as the fly was stripped too quickly in front of a red that was unwilling to put in the extra work needed to chase it down. Just sayin’…

Capt. Jeff and Capt. Gibson will be up in the Dallas area again next weekend for the Texas Fly Fishing & Brew Fest. If you are in the area, swing by and say hello to the guys. They will have an even bigger booth this year and will be the only booth giving out free Sweetwater Brewing beer! So if that isn’t reason enough to swing by and say hello, then we don’t know what is. But this is a cool event that takes place March 10th and 11th in Plano, TX and is totally worth checking out.

We are on the water every day this week. So hopefully we can report back with what we find out there. You can always email any time if you would like any up to the minute fly fishing or Rockport 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.