Happy Holidays to everyone, and welcome to your Christmas Eve edition of the Rockport fishing report. While it may be Christmas, it sure hasn’t felt like it down here on the flats of South Texas. But no complaints on our end, as we are just fine sharing our holiday season with some good folks, and a few redfish.
As we approach the end of December, and our year, we have been blessed with outstanding weather. Sunny skies, easy winds and temps in the 70’s have been the norm around Central Gulf Coast as of late. This had made for some very good Winter fishing. Water temps are great for the fish, air temps are great for the fisherman and all seem to be happy.
We’ve lost a good bit of water here in the past week or so. With a little bit of help from the wind, tides and full moon, we are now looking at some pretty skinny water out there. Not much of a problem, as the winds have been very low and allow us to fish most anywhere. Also, the shallower water has provided a good number of tails here in the past few days as well.
We’ve been fishing a good bit of different water here in the past week. Some of the lakes around San Antonio Bay are still holding enough water to pole around in, and are fishing well. Mequite and Carlos Bays also fished well over the weekend. Some larger fish have been moving around in good numbers down South a bit further. Corpus Christi Bay has provided quite a few shots at over slot fish in the past couple of days. A few of which may be swimming around with some flies we had broken off.
Fly patterns have stayed consistent. Dark colored crab patterns have worked very well. Black and Purple is the fly of choice most days. But we have thrown a few shrimpier looking flies as well. Mainly if we are seeing good numbers of sheepshead around as well. But the crab and the Swam Thing have been doing most of the damage lately. So we haven’t needed to change it up much. Haven’t tried the topwater bite here lately. But with the slightly warmer water this week, it may not be a bad idea. Especially if you are seeing them schooled up and tailing.
With the favorable conditions around here lately, the fish have been pretty receptive. They are plenty willing to eat a decent presentation. Many are charging the fly, once they see it. Fairly common to have that fish lunge a good 3 or so feet forward, once he notices that crab pattern crawling across the bottom. But with the skinny water, many of the fish are pretty skittish. Most of the areas we are fishing are really skinny. Many of the fish are swimming around with their backs out of the water, or very close to it. So be aware as you are making your false casts or presenting your fly. While they are hungry, they aren’t stupid!
It’s looking like we have a little weather for our Christmas Day down here on the Coast. Nothing much, but we will see some clouds, stronger South winds and maybe even a little rain. Small price to pay for all the nice weather we’ve been having. But it will be short lived as things go back to normal by the time we get our boats in the water on Thursday. Hopefully we can close out the year on a high note.
Again, we want to wish everyone the very best for the holidays. We hope you are able to spend time with friends and family, as are we. But if you are going to be 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 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. Need help selecting the right rod and reel?