Rockport Fishing Report – May 2nd

Here is the first Rockport Fishing Report for the month of May. April was a crazy busy month around here and seemed to fly by. The weather was good, fishing was good and things just seemed to cruise along. Now May is here and hopefully there is more of the same to come.

So far, May has announced itself with some authority. The past few days have been pretty rough around here. Winds each of the last three days have topped out above 25 mph. Throw in some clouds, some rain, some thunder and even a bit of lightening, and it’s been pretty darn entertaining out on the flats here lately. But it could be worse. The weather North of us is even more exciting. So I guess we shouldn’t complain. At least we are able to get on the water every day still.

Despite the weather, the fishing has remained pretty darn good. Although, it has had its moments. Most mornings have been very very good. Our best fishing of the day has come before 10 or 11am most days. There are schools of fish all over the place. Most are tailing and easily caught with anything put near enough for them to see or hear. Pulling more than one fish out of a school hasn’t been too tough either. They are digging around in the thicker grass for mud crab and other food, pretty much inattentive to everything else around them.

This has continued throughout most mornings, almost like clockwork. Although we did have a day or two where some weather began to blow in. Even without having much of a storm sit on top of us, the activity throughout the flats all but shut off. No mullett, dolphin, sheepshead… and certainly no redfish moving around. But these were just a couple of instances when some sizeable storms were passing through the area, even if not sitting on top of us. Things just got a little funky.

But sans thunderstorm, the fishing continues to be good into the afternoons most days as well. The tailing fish will decline, and instead cruisers will be the mainstay for the remainder of your day. Many are swimming around together. Pairs or small schools of 5 or so redfish are pretty common cruising around the flats. You can count on a few fish crashing the banks as well, as you are searching around the flats. All are plenty willing to eat if you get a fly in front of them.

We’ve been having a bit of fun casting at sheepshead lately as well. They are around in huge numbers. Over the course of your day, you will see plenty of schools, pairs, tailers and large solo fish cruising around. Especially if you are anywhere near some shell. The sheepshead have been really thick as of late. The good news is, they have been pretty cooperative for us too. Many have been willing to pick up a fly for us, which is always fun and a little something different.

A week ago, our water was pretty darn low. But after all these heavy winds, there is more than enough water out there this week. So we are fishing pretty far back into the marshes and lakes to find shallow water right now. Also, with the extra water coming in and warming water trends, there are a bunch of different fish swimming around the flats right now. Skipjacks are all over the place if you fish anywhere South of Rockport or Port A. There are still a few sharks being seen in areas of Aransas Bay as well. But we’ve seen tripletail, hardheads, ling, drum, bull reds, spade fish, sea turtles and all kinds of other fun stuff buzzing around the flats lately. So you never know out there.

Our fly selection has varied. These fish are crushing little crabs as they are rooting through the grassy areas. So our favorite black and purple crab patterns has worked great. A few tube flies hovered over the tops of shallow grass have been pretty lethal lately as well. With all the tailing fish, the topwater bite has been awesome. The Tube Top or Private Dancer have been our favorites in red and white. And if you are seeing schools of tailing fish in front of you, it honestly hasn’t much mattered what you put out there. They will destroy it the second its in front of them.

Since we’ve been spending a little more time offshore here in the past couple of weeks, we’ve had some folks asking more about that. But honestly, it’s been so damn windy this past number of days, that we haven’t really messed with it at all. But as soon as these winds back down a bit, we will be back out there looking for the schools of jacks, ling and whatever else swims by. We know the fish are there many days. But just haven’t wanted to deal with the conditions out there.

It’s looking like tomorrow is the last of our “tougher” weather. A little bit of wind and clouds all day will make it a bit of a struggle. But things are beginning to improve as we head into our weekend. It’s looking like the winds will ease up a bit and we should see a little more sunshine than we have the past few days. So hopefully that will keeps things rolling pretty well around here. Our water temps are in the low to mid 70’s in the mornings. They are topping out near 81-82 degrees on a sunny day. Not bad, but pretty warm already for May. So it’s time to start those trips a bit earlier maybe???

The weekends have been crazy busy around here these days. Fridays are just as busy as most Saturdays now. So keep that in mind when running around down here. Also, remember that it is tournament season this time of year. So you can pretty much count on some sorta stupid tournament going on somewhere in the area. Our advice… Find out which marina they are using, and go as far away as you can! They are always a nightmare both on the water, and definitely at the boat ramp. So keep that in mind when choosing a location to fish.

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 report 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.