Rockport Fishing Report – December 10th

We are a bit behind schedule, but finally coming back around with another Rockport fishing report for early December. We apologize for missing our report last week. But we are back on top of things to keep you updated on what we are seeing while fly fishing in Rockport, Texas and the surrounding waters.

Since our last Rockport fishing report, things have been fairly slow. We’ve had quite a bit of cold weather, high winds and all that fun stuff. There were little glimpses of hope here and there, but most were very short lived. But clouds and stout winds were pretty much the norm for the past week. We did have a calm day this past Friday, right in front of a pretty solid storm. So we were able to get out then. But the rains and cold following kept us pretty mellow through the weekend.

This morning was the start of our climb out of this cold snap. When we grabbed the boats this morning, the air temps were right around 42 degrees. By 9am, we were running out to find some fish, with temps still below 50 degrees. Calm winds and clear skies allowed things to warm up fairly quickly out there though. So it wasn’t too bad, once you got to wherever you were going.

The water this morning was cold, really cold. We struggled to find water much above 50 degrees, right out of the gate today. Even in the later afternoon, as we were pulling the boats, it was still hovering around 53-54 degrees. That is pretty chilly for our redfish. Especially during those morning hours. But that was to be expected and we planned accordingly.

With the cold water temps, things were pretty slow early on today. Again, things that we expected. There were decent numbers of fish in shallow, but many were laying up or being very lethargic. And the few that were feeding a little, were incredibly spooky. That part was a little peculiar. We had many fish spook from our false casts at distances greater than 40′. Or run from a fly that would’ve been perfectly placed any other day. So we had to pick it apart a little bit this morning.

By the time the sun was up, around mid day, the fish were much more active. Small schools or pairs were seen tailing shallow, a steady number of shallow crashers working the banks and plenty of cruisers were moving around as well. Some of them remained a little touchy, but nothing out of the ordinary for a bright, calm day. But the fish were certainly snapping out of their funk a bit and participating for us.

With the colder water temps, our most active fish were found in shallow mud bottom. Especially if there was deeper water (4-6′) somewhere very nearby. There was plenty of bait moving around, and fish chasing them. So we stuck to some very shallow creeks and lakes in the afternoon, that provided us many shots at fish.

We varied our fly selection a bit today. Mainly during the morning hours with the fussy fish. A couple different toad type flies were snubbed early. A shrimp pattern got a follow or two as well. We ended up fishing a fairly light black and purple crab pattern with the most luck. Not so sure that it was the fly being the “perfect” choice, as much as it was just the fishing coming around and deciding to play nice a little bit. But either way, we had no problem getting a bunch of fish to eat it this afternoon.

Tomorrow is looking like it is going to be an outstanding day out there. Very similar to today, with clear skies and light winds. But also, a good bit warmer both overnight and throughout the day tomorrow. So we are expecting that to continue to snap these fish out of their little funk and getting them moving around much more aggressively. Fairly common to see smaller schools of fish moving around, coming out of weather like this. While we did see a few today, one could’ve hoped or expected a few more. Maybe tomorrow is the day???

Our weather continues to be pretty solid the remainder of the week. It’s looking like we will have plenty of sun each day, and our average temps in the mid 60’s. There may be a bit of wind to deal with later in the week, but hopefully that will change as we get closer. But with all the sunshine each day, we will see our water temps creep up a little bit as we go. Nothing too drastic really, but a few degrees warmer can certainly make a big difference out there. So we will be keeping an eye on that as well.

We are out on the water all this week. So we will do our best to keep everyone up to date with what we are seeing out there. We will try to get another Rockport fishing report out by the end of the week. And perhaps another video edit as well.

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 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.