Real-Time Fishing Report from Port Aransas- Saturday, March 28th

Ok, I'm going to try something new with this fishing report. I'm heading to Port Aransas Saturday (tomorrow) morning and I had the idea to live report my day on the water. I'll do my best to convey what I'm doing and why I am doing it. Such as why I am changing lure colors or why I have decided to move on from one spot to the next. Also, please feel free to ask questions and I will do my best to answer them.

Where am I fishing tomorrow and what's the initial plan?
If you pay a lot of attention to the weather you'd know that Texas has (thankfully) been the recipient of a lot of rainfall. Rainfall = runoff. This nixes a lot of my favorite waters to fish due there being too much freshwater flowing into secondary bay systems (such as Copano and Nueces). To add to that we had a cold front that blew through Thursday afternoon. When cold fronts blow through I have "2nd day" policy where I'd prefer to fish the second day after a front. Saturday was shaping up to offer me the perfect conditions. Tuesday had forecasted light winds of 5-10 mph as it shifted from north to south swinging through the west. However, the forecast has changed slightly with higher winds of 10-15mph from a consistent SW.



According to the tide gauge at Port Aransas I should be expecting an incoming tide all morning long. The gauge is forecasting a low tide at around 5am tomorrow and hitting high tide around 3ish in the afternoon.



OK, given the information at hand I've decided I'm going to fish Shamrock Cove. I wanted to fish away from all the freshwater inflow and somewhere that had closer tidal influence to Port Aransas. As some of y'all know I had done well there earlier this year. And, full admission, it's a place I know well. However, tomorrow I've decided to fish a hole I have never fished before. It's a spot I've had my eye on to go explore, but haven't found an opportunity to do so. Until tomorrow. This hole is about twice as far away from the launch as I would normally paddle. Although the wind is going to be blowing harder, the SW wind should set me up for some nice drifts through this hole. I just need to remember to bring my drift sock.



Now, I have to gather up my gear, get the coffee pot prepped and my alarm set for 4am. I'll make tackle decisions tomorrow after I get my eyes on the water. Again, if you have any questions or comments feel free to post up.

Test

Dont forget your sock!

At the ferry crossing waiting on a ship to pass. Winds appear to be about 10 and and the water is looking good. Kind of wish I'd left Hallettsville about 30 minutes early.

Wind is definitely in the 10)15 mph range which means I'm going to have an easy paddle to the spot this morning. Lure selection are two gold standards; Silver Mullet Spook Jr & purple/chartreuse DOA CAL paddle tail. Just because there's a lot wind doesn't mean topwater won't work.

It's been 41 minutes since your last post. Where's the fish?

Lol, Todd, I just got to the spot. Also, water clarity is off at this location so I'm retying my lures to Spectrum Spook Jr and Strawberry/White CAL. One thing real quick, on my paddle out I came across a pod of cownose rays. Reds and cownose rays tend to travel together so it's always a good idea to make a few cast behind the rays see if you could get a quick hookup.

Wish I was there! Do you launch from Wilson's Cut Channel? It looks like a pretty good paddle to your target cove from there.

Catch 'em up! Island Jim

Jim, yes I launched from Wilsons Cut and paddled down. It is a bit of a paddle, but with a southerly wind it was pretty easy. Heading back to the launch is a different story. I just completed my first drift and strung up a 21" red caught on soft plastics. I had numerous blow ups on topwater (two very good sounding fish). This hole is deeper than I thought, and drifted across a spot close 6'. My standard protocol is to set up for 3 or 4 long drifts to pattern fish. I'll still work a topwater (especially around the edges of the hole) but will probably concentrate on softplastics given the water depth.

However, shortly after landing a 19" red this [censored]-shat motors up behind me and let's waders out before blasting back out of the hole. A little common courtesy would have been nice. Completely shut the bite off for about 20 minutes.

Literally dropped anchor 75 yds down wind of my drift.

Well, I have that drift a few more minutes until I was casting at the back of their boat before decided I was done with that hole. I hate to leave fish to find fish, but I didn't have much choice as I was squeezed out. It's a great hole that would awesome during the winter month. I then paddled over to the channel just east of that hole and had a rat red and 12" flounder casting along the edge. Conditions haven't changed much, still blowing outta the SW pretty hard. I have made a lure change and tied on a shallow water crankbait (Yo-Zuri 3DB) to drift over some of the shallower flats. Still grinding.

Show us the fish fool!

Fool look a couple posts up. I'm not going yo take time to snap a photo of a 10" trout to post up.

You're a better man than I am; I'd have been tempted to photograph the boat and registration, and posted that up with the tale of his (mis)deeds..........

Added two trout to the stringer. I've got about 15 minutes before I need to be off the water. Grind, grind, grind.

It's a blowing, and out of the SE.

Thank goodness there are a couple cold beers waiting for me at the trailer. Just a little motivation for paddling into a stiff head wind.

Thanks for the report. Wish I could be on the water today!

Whelp, that's a wrap. Couldn't snag a couple more trout so I finished with 2 trout and a red. However, talking to others on the water it sounds like I a had a fairly productive day. Either way it was great to get salty again, even with the wind.

Thanks for the on-the-spot report, Neumie. I can't wait to move to Rockport, hopefully in the Fall. I prefer to wait until the "Clouds With Names" go away for the winter. After being directly under six Hurricanes in 24 years, I'm a little gun-shy of Mother Nature's tricks.

I'm looking forward to paddling my red Pescador in your wake and learning some of your techniques and secret spots.

Catch 'em up! IslandJim

Awesome post! Thanks for sharing.

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

Neat report. Was the pro angler guy with you?

I enjoyed it.

Really enjoyed the report Neumie. Thanks for posting this. Those trout look delicious. Got a date with the salt in May. Cannot wait. Hope We do as well as you did. For me it will take some large measure of luck. Will be fun regardless. Thanks again for breaking it down.

Very nice report,,, I was checking it from time to time while I was working on my yard ... I need salt

No, he was not with me. When I pulled up to the launch there were about 8 vehicles already there; some had been camping.

When I plan on exploring/scouting a new hole I tend to do so solo, because I'm never certain how the fishing is going to be. I also make a lot more trips to the coast than the normal north Texas yakker, so it's easier for me to "waste" a day exploring and potentially not catch a darn thing.

A couple more things to add regarding the trip. The water clarity was either clear or cloudy. Basically, waters that were less than 2 feet or so remained clear while waters deeper became cloudy. Now, cloudy doesn't mean muddy or chocolate milk, in this case it mean I was only able to see about 18" into the water. When you have cloudy water and sunny, cloud-free skies I tend to go bright with my softplastic colors and thus the change from purple/chartreuse to strawberry/white.

I had left my GPS in FW, but here's an approximate trace of where I fished.


Some random notes regarding the day:
Wunderground's wind report was more accurate than NOAA this trip.

There were several Hobie guys who need to start paying attention to tide levels when deciding on where to fish.

When I had to cross to the ferry early that morning we were being held up by a passing ship. Since the tide gauge for Port Aransas is located in the Corpus Christi Ship Channel it recorded the effect of the ship passing by (circled in red):


Oh, the trout were 15.75" &' 16" and the red was 20.75". Not monsters, but I carved off a couple meal size fillets.

Nice report Josh! Could be a lot of fun on a really productive day...

snort beer through my nose

Okay...now on to the rest of the post.

Yeah...that.

I'm guessing that stopping to snap this pic cost you some more paddling over the same water.

Good stuff, Josh (in spite of Zombie on the balcony)...



Meant to meant to follow your report over the weekend.

Great Post !