Mansfield Report: September 2023

September is just days away and I couldn’t be more excited. Not because we will be out of the heat, that’s still a ways off, it’s more about what is rapidly approaching. September is all about transitions; reduced boat traffic, a hint of cooler air, and rising tides. We are already seeing schools of reds forming close to deep water and as tides increase they’ll become more noticeable on the flats. The bottom line is that fish just start to become more active as fall approaches.

The last couple of months have been challenging for the guide who likes to wade in knee-deep water most of the time. I cannot recall seeing the south/southwest winds blow so consistently for such a long period of time. During those hot days I’ve learned a lot and, to be quite honest, some of those days challenged my spirit. Needless to say, we figured it out best we could and pressed on.

That said, as the south/southwest winds eased and shifted to the southeast, you could feel the difference almost instantly. Fish started blowing up on topwaters more frequently and really thumping soft plastics. They seemed to fight harder, which I also credit to the shift in the weather, just as I did as an angler. I believe (hope) those pesky “convection oven” southwest winds are finally behind us and I am so much looking forward to fall-like fishing beginning to develop.  

Our smaller trout population remains very strong as witnessed by the numbers we’ve been catching in the 10- to 16-inch size range on just about every outing. The “emergency regulations” of 17- to 23-inches with bag limit of 3 trout will revert back to the prior regulations of 15- to 25-inches and bag limit of 5 trout, with one allowed over 25” per day – effective September 1, 2023.

I am personally quite disappointed to see this coming because it’s just now that we are seeing what the emergency regulations were intended to do for our fishery. We have protected a ton of trout between 15-17 inches and a lot of females over 23 inches. So now, unfortunately, those females we’ve been protecting will once again become candidates for the ice chest and those up-and-comers will follow suit; not to mention all those soon-to-be-trophy 25-inchers.

I’ve said it forever; just because the law allows it does not mean we have to capitalize on it. I sure am hoping that guides will continue to do their part moving forward by at least having the conversation with clients and reminding them of where we’ve been and where we are trying to go. Truth be told, we as guides are the very first to see what is unfolding in our waters and that’s relevant. I often express my observations to my colleagues at TPWD and Harte Research Institute to help keep them abreast of what the LLM looks like on a day-to-day basis. That said, and to keep it simple, why don’t we as anglers “Just Keep Three?”

Back to fishing. As mentioned, water levels should increase a bit and the flats will start to come alive. Through this current heat wave, a lot of fish have been holding deep but as we transition, they will be migrating shallower and making my life a lot easier. I won’t be forced to work “nook and cranny” spots as much as more open water areas with structure such as potholes and scattered grassbeds becoming the preferred target areas.

Flounder have been showing in encouraging numbers. We found an area recently that gave our group eight solid fish with one of 4.5 pounds during a short wade. (See photo with Mason Monroe). When you catch flounder like that you know you are living right!

Baits of choice have been the new junior-size Ball Tail Shad in the full range of colors. On that flounder session I mentioned, I took the opportunity to test the flounder’s willingness to take other lures and switched to the proven 4-inch KWiggler Paddle Tail. Surprisingly, even with my group hooking-up repeatedly, I found no takers. I stayed with it fully twenty minutes just to try and prove a point which didn’t work in my favor, but was nonetheless a valuable lesson. Not scientifically proven, but sometimes fish are specific in what they want to eat. Keep that in mind and feed ‘em what they want.