I'll be making my first ever trip to Port Mansfield early this coming august. try to get out with the kids and family and hopefully pick up a few fish. We've got a boat, was thinking we'd jsut focus along the edges of the Mansfield cut and jetties there, maybe see what it looked like back in any of those inlets on the south edge of the cut. Reds/drum/trout/anything works. would appreciate any advice or pointers in the right direction. we'll be there a few days.

Advice depends on what boat?
They're really catching good trout right now, should be outstanding in August.

Port Mansfield is a great place to fish. The boat you are in and your comfort level with bay fishing or ocean fishing will dictate the best place to fish. Offshore fishing is great out of Port Mansfield. Fishing just outside of the jetties can also be very productive for redfish and other species. Ladyfish are usually very abundant along the intracoastal and can be a lot of fun to catch. I really like fishing around the jetties, but you can also fish both north and south up the intracoastal. If you want an adventure, you can run north up the intracoastal to the landcut. The are some massive redfish up there. If you have a shallow running boat, you can catch lots of fish drifting the flats. There are many many options in Port Mansfield. One word of warning: the area just out of the harbor, where the intracoastal waterways cross, is one of the roughest places I have ever crossed when the winds and tides are bad. Pay attention to the weather conditions.

A proper flats rig gives you a lot more water to fish. Mansfield is shallow as soon as you get off the intercoastal. There are a lot of areas that are a bit deeper, but you have to get through shallow stuff to get to the deeper stuff.

Boats is a 24ft Carolina skiff. One of the newer versions. A dlx. Kids range from 5 to 12

August is known for calm seas and that 24' boat would not have a problem on days 2' or less. There are a bunch of rocky areas North of the jetties anywhere from 10 to 15 miles north of the jetties. Can catch good red snapper and other varieties around the North rock areas. It will also be shrimping season and often you'll find lots of shrimp boats close in that are willing to trade good shrimp for something like beer, soda, smokes, or cookies. Also, there is a artificial reef about 7 miles Southeast of the jetties that holds some snapper but it is heavily fished and the fish are generally small. I fish Port Mansfield often but opt for wave forecast 2' or less when going offshore and often go out more than 20 miles in a 21' boat. Good luck!

how do you find those rocky areas? i suspect that that will be farther than i can get the family to venture. but on the off chance that we're feeling adventurous. are they marked on maps at all? i've heard that as well that there can be some decent snapper fishing not too far out those times of the year. it would just be a new experience finding them.

Thank you for the info.

I purchased Rick Jacobsen's Book back around 2010 and it is the best 75 bucks I ever spent for fishing. Since then Rick has passed on but I believe that the book is still available from "redsnapperfishing.com" and has exact locations listed up and down the Texas coast and does list more that 30 spots for the North Rocks out of Port Mansfield.

interesting to know. Thank You

Find the flats get in and wade fish, i gone there twice and i caught a 36 inch red. the fish are real spooky when you run a trolling motor