Rockport Fly Fishing Report – May 9th

Welcome to the first Rockport Fishing Report for the month of May. Sorry we are a few days later than usual to update, but we’ve been busy out on the water every day. But we are catching up and here to fill you in on what we we’ve been seeing out on the flats the past few days and what we expect for the week to come.

Spring fishing is in full force here on the Texas flats. And it’s really darn good right now. Tis the season for schooling redfish. We’re talking big schools of fish going completely nuts pretty much all day long. All kinds of fun.

Most of the schools will have 25-50 fish in them. Not to mention the random trout, hardhead or skipjack. But it’s pretty normal to find a school or two each day with 100 plus fish in it. All digging feverishly for food. Again, super fun stuff.

Since our last report, we’ve had really high water, really low water, and now pretty average type tides. So that has made it a bit interesting. With the water up, the schools were still there and happily doing their thing. But finding grass shallow enough for them to dig in wasn’t easy. So many of them were doing their thing, but rarely getting a tail out of the water. After a big wind event a week ago, we blew a good couple of feet of water out of the bays. This focused the fish even more, creating even more schools that now were easy to find and waiving their tails out of the water. Which brings us to today.

Depending on your zone, it may even be schools or bust. As in, there are so many fish schooled up in an area, that you struggle to find singles or cruisers. Not a big deal, but certainly something to be aware of if you are finding lots of schools in an area. If you want to move into area free of grasses, like mud or sand bottom, there are tons of black drum around as well in all shapes and sizes. Never hurts to have a backup plan.

For flies we are on a similar program as our last report. While these schools of redfish have been large and happy, every once in a while they will be a little selective on what they are willing to eat. Anything shrimpy is a safe bet for sure. Darker colored crab patterns are working too, but they must be smaller. About the size of a nickel has worked well, and will keep you free of hardheads as well. Hate those things! But really they are eating most flies. Just keep them small in size and they will be willing. Topwater flies in and around those schools is a sure bet as well.

And as always, you can check out a few of our favorite flies here.

You can expect much more of the same for the coming days and weeks. Tails, schooling fish, bank crashers and pretty much happy fish for the next little while. Or at least until the dog days of Summer set in. We would like to see the weather stabilize a bit more than it has. A bit late in the Spring to be having this much random stuff going on. But the fish really don’t seem to mind and just keep tailing right on through the rain. So we can’t complain.

We have boats out every day this time of year. But still have the ability to get you out on the water. 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 other such stuff. 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.