Rockport Fishing Report – March 2nd

March is here, and a new Rockport fishing report along with it. Winter is over, not that it was that bad on the Texas Coast this year. But it had it’s moments. As February leaves, and March comes in, hopefully that indicates the last of our cold fronts for the year. And that means that our first Rockport fishing report for Spring.

The weather, and fishing, this past week has been pretty outstanding. With the exception of one cold blowy day from the North last Wednesday, where we had to cancel our boats, the week was amazing. The mornings were cooler, most starting out in the upper 40’s or so. But as the sun came up, things warmed up well each day. Winds all week were calm, again with the exception of Wednesday. So that made for some pretty pleasant days out there, once things warmed up.

The fishing each day started out ok. Most of the fish were a little sluggish right out of the gates. But that was to be expected with the colder mornings. But there were still a few shots to be had by 9am each day. By mid day, the water had begun to warm up pretty well. Most days water temps topped out right around 70 degrees in most spots. Around noon or so each day, it was like a light switch flipped on. The next couple of hours were pretty much insane. There were fish moving all over the place. While you were unhooking one fish, two others would swim towards the boat. Or if you missed one shot, no worries. Just cast at one of the other four that were in your range already. It was pretty fast and furious. But as the afternoon went on, things calmed down a bit again. Most days it started around 3pm. There were still a few fish around to cast at, but we were working quite a bit harder for them at that point. This continued right on through the weekend, despite the increase in winds. We still had our slow’ish mornings, few hours of very heavy activity, then it waned into the afternoon.

The fish were doing all sorts of different things out there for us. In the mornings many were laying up, but allowed a shot as they were moving off. Some would eat, some just swam away. During the busier period, they were all over the place. Some singles, doubles and a few small schools of 5 or so fish. Most were cruising in very shallow water, although there were a couple of tails each day for us as well. A handful of fish each day would crash the banks. But that was certainly not the norm. Just one here and there. But all were plenty happy and readily willing to eat a fly.

Fly selection was pretty standard. Crab patterns still did most of the heavy lifting. But we did play around with some other stuff, just because we could. Some new shrimp patterns worked well, as well as a couple unweighted bait fish patterns. When we were finding a few fish crashing in shallow, we pulled out the topwater flies. A couple showed interest, but we found that there just weren’t a ton of targets for that program. But it was worth a shot and we did get a few players out there.

Today (Monday the 2nd) was a bit different out there. Our winds were light enough from the Southeast. But we had a good bit of fog early and low clouds hanging around all day. Air temps were plenty warm, as it reached somewhere near 75 or so today, but it didn’t seem like it. Just a little heavier damp air out there all day. So we had a little later start, getting the boat in the water and to our spot around 10 this morning. By the time we started poling, we already had fish to cast at.

We found a bunch of fish out there today, despite the tougher light and bit of wind. Quite a few were cruising the mangroves in very shallow water. But the majority were a bit more out in the open flat digging and working up against the wind. So we had a good number of tails out there to help us out as well. Then there were the random smaller drum and sheepshead milling around as well. So plenty of activity out there. We started with a small mullet pattern, which was refused by the first couple of fish that saw it. Both looked, followed and turned away. So that ended quickly and we finished our day with a darker crab on, which seemed to make them perfectly happy.

Our tides have remained low around here the past couple of weeks. Not a big deal really, although it did make it a bit tougher this past weekend with the wind ripping a bit more. But not really a problem. We should start seeing a bit more water move in over the next couple of days, but not too much. Then it appears we have some more North wind later this week. So all in all, you can probably expect the water to stay a bit on the lower side, as it has been, for the next little while. So plan accordingly if you are headed out there on your own. We did see a couple of stuck boats this past weekend, and watched one Shoalwater rip their lower unit off in the flats. So make sure you know where you’re going in that skinny water!

We have one more cloudy day tomorrow, then things clear up again for us around here. So we are fishing every day this week, with the favorable weather. The North wind will be a little chilly later in the week, but not too bad. Mainly just a couple chilly mornings. But it’s looking good to get out all the way through this coming weekend. But it won’t be warming up too much just yet. It seems that we are just on the verge of things really being great out there. Just a bit warmer and we should start seeing bigger schools, lots of tailing fish and just a bit more aggression out of our fish in general. So keep your fingers crossed for some warm sunny days in the next week or two.

We will try and get one more Rockport fishing report out to you all at the end of the week. And of course 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.