Summer 2026 Check-in

So far, it has been an amazing summer of fishing! There have been plenty of trout over 22 inches caught and that is an amazing sign that the trout limits have been doing good on the trout fishery here in the Rockport area. Despite rain, severely low tides, and high winds, fishing has been great once you establish a pattern.

Summertime anywhere on the Texas coast will always yield showers, whether they are true pop up showers, or thunderstorms that you are hoping miss you while you are trying to find your next fish. Multiple times this summer we found ourselves either dodging to avoid rain, or hunkering down on the bank to get out of the storm the best we can. This provides plenty of opportunity that requires an optimistic outlook on a negative situation. When needing to run away from a storm, that provides a great opportunity to look at new areas that you may not have explored before. One time this summer we had to run north, to the point where we were closer to Port O’Connor than we were to Rockport. However, we were still able to find similar structure that we knew held fish and we were able to catch both reds and trout until it was time to go back to the ramp. Another time, when the radar was wrongly telling me the rain was going to go right around me, I got stormed on and tucked up under a bluff on the bank for hours. While the storm was coming through, the tide dropped 11 inches in an hour, resulting in water that I was previously fishing to become dry land- with the exception of some deeper potholes that were still holding 3-6 inches of water. These little deviations can make all the difference, these are great places for fish to hide and ambush when the water levels are normal. With all the rain that we have had this summer, it wiped out a lot of areas that I enjoy to fish with there being too much freshwater in the areas I traditionally fish this time of year. The positive to this is that this allowed me to try lots of new spots that I haven’t fished before and I learned a lot about what fish like, how they like it, and where they like to be. 

The structure I have been primarily focusing on this summer has been grass and sand, and shell reefs. On grass and sand, the areas of focus have been on edges of the grass and sand. Most of the time that is where you will find fish hiding, waiting for their next meal. Often times, the fish will tell you how they want it. This is true with lure speed and rhythm. 90% of the time you will see me throwing a Mirrolure She Dog in Bone/Chrome color. You can work a topwater a variety of ways: fast, slow, with lots of twitches or fewer twitches. Everyone has a cadence that they are comfortable with, mine tends to be slower with moderate twitches. I believe a tiny pause between twitches keeps the lure calm enough for the fish to check it out and eat it, while still being erratic enough to entice a bite. On shell, I have been finding areas of the reef that have guts or more water movement than other places on the reef. There has to be a reason for the fish to want to be in the area that you are fishing. These guts/breaks through the reef provide great opportunities for fish to stage near moving water that has bait coming through it. 

As per usual, there has been tons of bait in the area. Early in the summer there were tons of mullet, shad (menhaden), and perch. Later on in the summer there became more shrimp and crabs moving through the water. Identifying bait presence and location is critical, with slicks popping up being the icing on the cake. If I find a slick that has popped up in an area, I will sit in the area and wait, because that means that there is a big trout in the area that ate a big baitfish. 

With all the rain we have had, I think we are going to have an amazing fall/winter. Not to mention the cooler temperatures and less crowds on the water. Be safe and see you on the water! You never know if that next cast will be that fish of a lifetime!