Fished the outhern end of Mustang Island Wednesday 7-6-11 while doing more research/ editing.
Had another fisherman along, no experience fishing the surf.
Water was clean green, waves 1 ft at day break. light on seaweed.
Fished topwaters with no luck until 8:30 am then the trout went topwater crazy. Strung 4 solid trout, lost 5-6 after 10-15 seconds of fight after hooking up. Had a good many blowups and swirls on topwater for a good while.
Other fisherman was able to get back to fishing about 9:30 and free-lining live piggies caught solid trout right away, lost one trying to string it, and had a good many hits, missed them due to inexperience. He ended with 3 trout.
Bite was in the second gut until almost 11 am.
As mentioned last month, when the surf goes flat the trout are there, if we had fished live bait from the start we would had limits for both of us but I like topwater action.
Saw several small stingrays, and a bunch of swimming cownose rays.(?) One Portugese Man-of-War, and one 4-5 ft shark, looked like a Blacktip, so keep an eye peeled.
Forecast was supposed to be flat seas in the evening but the wind picked up a good bit, and fishing was awful in the evening.
Overall a great trip, caught enough trout and had great topwater action for a few hours.
Largest trout was right at 22", no trout under 18"

Good fish and good report. Congrats. Nothing like a topwater bite in the surf at dawn.

Nice.

I was down in Port A last week and saw several cow nose rays swimmin in the surf. Scared the women folk senseless when they saw em swimmin right next to them.

Great report, John. I stuck a bunch of trout and smacks on Wednesday...as you say, the surf was flat and they are there. Nice job sticking to your guns and fishing topwaters. The trout are nice and fat, aren't they?

Take care,

-Pat

If you don't mind, I'd like to ask a couple of questions or clarify a couple of things before we make our trip down there in a couple of weeks. We're staying at some condos off Hwy 361 a few miles south of Port A so I plan on doing some daylight surf fishing for trout, reds, whatever. I will mostly be using artificial bait but will bring my castnet to try and get some mullet too.

1) What topwater bait were you fishing? I've got some old chrome and also white colored Super Spooks, do those tend to work or are there better options?

2) Regarding the cow nose rays. I know sting rays can put a nasty hit on you that by all accounts hurts really bad. Do the cow nose rays pose very little or no problems? I read that they also have a stinger but according to Wiki, it is similar to a bee sting. Does that sound right? When we were at the surf last summer, I saw a couple of groups swimming by (4 to a group each time) and I assumed they were stingrays. But after looking it up, I believe they were probably cow nose rays, I'm not 100% sure.

I can't say for sure that those cow-nosed rays could hurt you but they have never caused a problem other than a nuisance for me. We were in Galveston last summer with them EVERYWHERE. Just to walk out in the surf we were kicking them, stepping on them, brushing against them with no effects - they'd just swim away. We even caught and released one in a cast net. They're pretty unnerving when you see them in the water, though.

thx for the report .. headed down there next weekend. got a question for you .. how was the driving on the beach?? was it 4 wheel only? or did you guys see cars out there too on mutang island ? reason asking we're taking a mini van but heard the beach was too soft to drive on unless you had 4x4 or high clearance . nice catch too !!

Last week I did not see any issues with travel on the beach. The lil P.O.S. maroon colored Constable car traveled the beach day and night without any problems. Heck I even seen a guy drive by pulling his brand new Majik flats boat.
Good chance I'l be down next weekend myself in the Port Royal area. Look for a "short old guy" throwing a red/white Mirrolure or may just bring the fly rod down and catch whiting.
See ya in the surf or hopefully less surf.

The cow-nosed rays won't bother you. You need to watch out for the sting rays that lay on bottom. Don't step on 'em or they might get ya. Shuffle your feet along the bottom rather than picking you feet up and stepping down.

BS, we have a beach parking permit, $12. All kinds of vehicles on the maintained beaches so driving is good for vans, compacts, etc.
The free beach areas are unmaintained and soft sand, folks drive close to the surf line to get down the beach.

Not sure if this was for Walleye or me but hope this helps:


I use a topwater not made anymore, bought up a supply of them I found a while back, so my stash is set for a long time.
A SS or SS jr should work just fine, as will a skitterwalk, topdogs series, and just about any other topwater that walks the dog, IMO.
The top I throw rides rear lower than most and seems to make hook ups a bit easier, 'course you'd not think that the other day, had several fish come unbuttoned and had a bunch of blowups.
Something that worked pretty good was letting the topwater lay when the small breakers came off the sandbar into the gut then start working it again as soon as the breaker went by, got some good action that way.


All the cow nose rays we saw were swimming, and spooked from us when they got near, don't see them as a problem. Those little sting rays laying on the sandbar were a different story, still can put the hurt on you.
Was half hoping the shark swimming 5 feet from me would hit, but no luck.
Was more concerned about those little bugger sting rays than the shark.

Aransas Hooligan: lol .. after reading reports here I think we're gonna take our chances at Mustang Island State Park .. if you see a tall muscular guy with a lifted 4x4 .. keep going .. that ain't me ..lol .. I'll be the fat bald guy trying to look like I know what I'm doing .. driving a maroon mini van with a roof (cargo) rack .. I'll be with my cousin, his wife and their daughter.. :-)