Mansfield Report: October 2024

Greetings from Port Mansfield! All is well here and I am looking forward to seeing some cooler temperatures soon. That said, positive things have already begun to unfold, thus supporting a good fall fishing season. As of just a few weeks ago we were seeing numbers of redfish schools roaming the flats; they were easy to spot while cruising shallow water with calm conditions in early morning hours. The rippling of the surface was readily evident, clearly pointing out a school of redfish. This was quite common on weekday mornings, not so much on weekends, when increased boat traffic seemed to push them toward deeper water just off the break. I will say we had some epic topwater action during this period.

Our water is in great shape and things could not be better down here in the LLM, with one exception – the floating grass problem. I have certainly dealt with it in the past but it just seems worse this year. I touched on a strategy in my last article to help with this issue, such as looking for current lines and fishing the clean side, but that option is not always available. Sometimes we have no choice except to stubbornly work through the grass. This can be challenging and frustrating to even the most determined anglers. In any event, overall, it works to our angling advantage by making us better anglers; having to make accurate casts to land our lures between lanes of floating grass and the like. Also, we may have to adjust/switch out lures while working through the issue. Just remember that every day cannot be easy, we need to learn how to adjust and address issues we encounter in our careers, no matter if it is in the office or on the bay.

It has been a fun late summer season finding those pods of redfish along spoils and shorelines, and having anglers see them for the first time. This was just the case recently when first-time wader Catie Jackson was able to witness this firsthand. She was able to catch some nice redfish on surface lures and then was fortunate enough to be able to walk right up on a school of tailing redfish in ankle-deep water. Check out the attached QR code for a short video of her landing a redfish on a topwater.

We should soon see an increase in fishing activity once cooler temperatures begin arriving to the Lower Laguna Madre. We do not necessarily need a cool or cold front, just a few degrees lower average overnight and daytime temps to trigger an uptick in feeding activity on the flats. This means topwater action will pick up and you can bet I will have a Mansfield Knocker rigged up on my Fishing Tackle Unlimited G2 Green rod and Shimano reel. This topwater action will continue into the winter and even beyond so I am already excited. I will tell you that topwater blowups of any kind never get old. We will also be throwing more mid- to full-size plastics such as the KWigglers 4-inch paddle tails and the Wig-A-Lo. This is also the time of year when baitfish will be abundant all across our flats, with huge rafts of mullet becoming common in 1-2 foot depths. It will not be hard to know if there are gamefish in the area, simply because you will see frequent explosions in and around the mullet. Additionally, our water levels should be rising soon if they have not already, which will help a lot.

Our cover image is from last year’s Texas Women’s Anglers fish camp and boy, what a success it was. We are just finishing this year’s camp, and I cannot wait to point out the highlights in future articles so stay tuned.

I will be headed back to Brazil in a couple of weeks for another Amazon adventure and cannot wait to get after those big peacock bass on topwaters again. I know we have all witnessed big blowups during our wade fishing outings, but I have not found a blowup anywhere that comes close to the ferocity of the peacock bass. Following the Amazon adventure, I will be heading straight to Argentina with good friends Joe and Emily Meyer and long-time fishing partner Bobby Walker for some golden dorado action. I am confident after this marathon fishing adventure I will be anxious to get back to Port Mansfield just in time to chase trout that will have plumped up while I was gone.

Until next time, remember fresh is better than frozen.