Summer 2012 in Port Mansfield TX

 | By Seamus on 8/6/2012 2:00:19 AM | Views (245)

Summer patterns were supposed to be easy to predict, but wait a minute; this is not your ordinary summer.  Port Mansfield has seen its ups and downs in the recent past. We have been through Hurricane Dolly (5 years ago), flooding, and a touch of red tide. One thing Port Mansfield hasn’t seen before is the fishing pressure it is seeing right now.  Nearly every weekend the two boat ramp parking lots are flowing over into the streets with trucks and trailers.  It truly is a busy summer in Port Mansfield.    The fish have reacted accordingly, that’s saying one day you get them and the next day it’s a grind to get a few fish in the box.  This is the hardest year I’ve ever seen to “pattern” fish.  Not to be discouraged, because the great days of fishing Port Mansfield still exist.  So what do we do?  Where do we fish?  As for us, we have “checked” the areas that typically produce fish in the summer.  If they are not there, move!  I did this very thing a few days back.  I checked all the typical summer time area sand had zero fish in the box at 10:00am. I moved on to the next “spot”, nothing there again, so I continued to move on and on.  Finally I thought of an area that I don’t normally fish and there they were. As we would bring a trout in we would notice there were several trout following the hooked trout.  This told me right away we were in an area where the fish were holding.  We stayed with it until we had a fair box.  At 3:00 pm we wondered what it would have been like if we would have been at this spot at 7:00am.     The water clarity is holding well, it’s clear to “trout-green” most of the time and we’ve been throwing the Kelley Wigglers Ball tail shad in Sand, Moonbeam and Plum Blue Metal Flake/Chartreuse Tail.  We are also using the Kelley Wigglers 2/0 black nickel 1/8 ounce jig head.  This small hook catches less grass, especially if you keep a small piece of your fluorocarbon leader extending past your knot to help deflect it.  In the shallow water (less than waist deep)we are throwing top waters and Kelley Wigglers paddle tails in Pumpkinseed / Chartreuse and Plum Blue Metal Flake/ Cool Tail.  For the most part using the 2/0 Black Nickel 1/8 ounce jig head, but these paddle tails can easily accommodate the 3/0 version as well.    As we head into the end of summer we should see the fishing pressure back off and the fish should respond by heading to the shallows, targeting the inside grass line instead of the outside grass line as we get into late August and September.  Top water baits should continue to produce good catches in these same areas.  Keep an eye out for schooling red fish as we head into August and September, as we are already seeing the drum schooled up in bunches of 30-50.         Good fishing   Captain Wayne Davis

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Catch Information

Species:
Pumpkinseed Sunfish

This Fishing Report was submitted on 8/6/2012 2:00:19 AM by Seamus and last updated on 8/6/2012 2:00:19 AM.

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