Texas Coast Fly Fishing Report – March 18th

Here is your Texas Coast fly fishing report for Rockport, Texas and the waters surrounding. Week one of Spring Break is in the books, and all was pretty mellow. The upcoming week is another Spring Break week, but far more calm typically. So not much to worry about there. But we will fill you in on what we saw this week, and what we expect for the coming week as well.

We are still really struggling to find our Spring weather down here on the Southwest Texas Coast. This past week was another one filled with cloudy weather, showers and wind. Just as the past weekend approached, a full blown cold front ripped through the area again as well. This brought big North winds, temps in the 40’s and rain with it as well. Not so common for this time of year. And certainly not welcome.

With just a few hours of sunshine each week lately, this is really making things tough on us out there. The fish really aren’t very happy lately. And with this weather, we aren’t too happy either. It’s just been a tough early Spring out there. This time of year we should have plenty of sunshine, warm days and fish to cast at. Instead, we are bundled up to stay warm and covering a lot of water to get our shots in.

Yesterday (Sunday) was probably one of the nicer days of the week. We had showers in the morning, just as we were headed towards the water. But those gave way quickly to high clouds and pretty light winds. And as the afternoon went on, we did see a few glimpses of sun peaking between the clouds. This helped warm things up enough to get a few fish moving around out there, providing some good shots for folks. A random tail here and there would show. Or perhaps a crash on the bank. It’s just nice to see some activity out there.

The bulk of the fish population has still been very sluggish most days. Even with a little bit of sun yesterday, our top water temp was still only 60 degrees in the afternoon. That is still really cold for this time of year. So there are a lot of fish laying around or refusing to move, until you bump them with the boat. Others may be up and moving around slowly, but have been really skittish. They just aren’t acting as happy as they should be for this time of year.

The good news is, we are still seeing and catching fish every day. While they shots may not be overly plentiful right now, we are getting our shots in. Patience has been the key lately. The fish are there, just a bit less excited than we are used to seeing them. So moving slowly, covering a good bit of water and making the most of each shot are key right now.

Our water has been up pretty high here the past week or so. Even a few days of strong North wind couldn’t blow much of it out of here. So that leaves plenty of room to move around out there. Many of the shallower lakes are holding a bunch of fish these days. Most are laying around in the mud, but we are seeing tons of them pushed far back into these lakes, seeking warmer water. So long as the water stays up, these fish will remain pushed way back in there. We just need the weather to encourage them to move around a bit more for us.

We’ve been doing a few different things as far as flies here lately. Usually a crab or toad in the morning. Or anything else that is easily fished pretty slowly. Of course this will work all day as well. But we’ve been landing fish in some of these lakes that have a bunch of mud minnows in their mouth and throat. Very often puking them up all over the boat when we land them. So smaller bait patterns have worked as well. We’ve been doing well with the Reducer or similar. As the fish begin moving around a little better in the afternoons, we’ve been playing around with a topwater a good bit as well. Those fish crashing banks or tailing have been willing to chase it around a little bit for us, which is always fun. But the fish that are active have been plenty willing to eat. Some have been a bit touchy and spook easily. But if you make the right presentation, most will eat for you.

Our week upcoming is look a little better weather wise. We are on the slow roll this morning, waiting for it to warm up a bit before we hit the water. Our low temps were right around 49-50 this morning, with a light North wind. So things are pretty chilly still. But as the week goes on, its looking like we still start seeing the upper 60’s most days and possibly a chance of sun on Thursday. Keep your fingers crossed for that. But mostly, it’s looking like another week of overcast and potentially damp weather for us down here. Not exactly what we would like, but it is what it is.

We will continue to be out on the water every day this week. So we will keep the info coming as we have things to share with everyone. As soon as we can shake this cloudy and cooler weather, this water will warm up quickly. As that happens, we expect the fishing to pick up drastically as well. We just need some sunshine!

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 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.