Rockport Late Winter and Spring

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texnomad
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Rockport Late Winter and Spring

Post by texnomad »

As a full time RV traveler, I have been privileged to spend October, November and December in Rockport since 2007 and got to know the area fishing during that part of the year fairly well. The big change for me is that I should be in Rockport for January, February, March and early April of 2019. If you don’t mind please clue me in on what I might need to know about fishing those months. I fish the bays from Fulton to Bird Island Basin. I fish the jetties of Aransas Pass and Packery Channel and the surf near them. I fished most of my life all over Galveston Bay and the Galveston surf so I fairly well know how to fish. However I do not know what is normally in this Rockport area during the late winter and early spring. And as usual for me, anything else you think I might need to know would be welcome. Thank you.
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Neumie
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Re: Rockport Late Winter and Spring

Post by Neumie »

Bird Island Basin, Kate's Hole, and Italian Bend are some of my favorite places to fish during the cooler months.

I throw a lot of pink, plum and strawberry during winter months. I also step my lure size. So most of the year I throw Norton Bull Minnows and TTF Killer Flats Minnows, but during the winter I'll throw larger Norton Sand Shads and Bass Assassins .
texnomad
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Re: Rockport Late Winter and Spring

Post by texnomad »

WOW Thanks for the info. I would have been in the right places but way wrong on size and color for the lures.
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TroutSupport.com
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Re: Rockport Late Winter and Spring

Post by TroutSupport.com »

There will be days with low tides and colder water... slow down the presentation and sometimes those days you'll also be keen to use smaller tails.. those are tough fishing days. However like Neumie said, use larger baits during periods between fronts when it's warmer. Good deep areas can be boat channels, harbors, and other areas like that. And don't just look deep.. when the tide comes back in to normal conditions you can still catch trout and reds on the flats, edges, and also in mud bottom areas of varying depths from 18" to 5'. Post frontal conditions are tough fishing.. better fishing will be on prefrontal, and just after the front passes.. just make sure you have a safe and protected route to paddle your yak. And use that PFD as well.. You've been around plenty long to know what you need to do to stay safe but it's always a good reminder to the others that arn't as experienced as you. I really wouldn't recommend any kayaker try to fish during a frontal passage with winds over 18 and gusting.. especially in water over 3'.

be safe, water will be cold that time of year.
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Re: Rockport Late Winter and Spring

Post by texnomad »

It sounds like it is just the same fishing as Galveston and West Bay further north. Reds and Trout being the main target. We also really liked to hit the croaker runs in East Bay. Those are good eating fish especially on a grill. I wasn't sure if the waters this far south would be similar in the late winter but it sounds like it is very similar as to the critters available to harvest. I first started using paddle powered craft in about 1958 around the marsh at the mouth of Highland Bayou. Now from the Google Maps images most of that marsh has disappeared due to a few hurricanes. Thanks for the help fellows.
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Re: Rockport Late Winter and Spring

Post by rockportkayak »

We still have some great fishing around Rockport during those times. St. Charles has some nice cuts that hold the trout and reds especially now that Harvey has dug them deeper. When you get down here give me a call and I can direct you to some nice spots.
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Re: Rockport Late Winter and Spring

Post by TroutSupport.com »

texnomad wrote: Now from the Google Maps images most of that marsh has disappeared due to a few hurricanes
we've lost most of the marsh due to 'subsidence' not hurricanes, there is some loss due to wave action on a regular basis but that is exacerbated by the subsidence. Every year our marshes get a little deeper as the bottom sinks due to numerous factors but typically not the hurricanes.
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Re: Rockport Late Winter and Spring

Post by texnomad »

When I left that area in 2002 for Washington State the subsidence was a real trouble in the petro-chem plants we did work in. It was causing lots of building and equipment mis-alignment trouble. I had forgotten about it.
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Re: Rockport Late Winter and Spring

Post by TexasJim »

I worked at NASA Houston in the mid-sixties. I remember standing on the Kemah boardwalk in front of Jimmy Walker's (now Landry's) and looking down in the water and seeing another boardwalk under that one, due to the subsidence. A friend's childhood home in Baytown and all their neighbors' houses flooded and had to be abandoned. Years later, at the Houston Yacht Club, I was on a pier, and I could see TWO piers under the one I was on. With all the subsidence, I was amazed that I could still run aground in Galveston Bay in my sailboat! Hopefully, banning using ground water in the industrial plants slowed that problem.
As a marsh fisherman, (Coastal Bend), I find lots of shallows. I hope the upper Texas coast is sustaining. TexasJim
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Re: Rockport Late Winter and Spring

Post by texnomad »

I used to hunt rabbits on what became the NASA complex down there.
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