     
The fishing is on year round in the Gulf of Mexico waters off Port Aransas, Texas, so when you get fishing fever, contact the Texas Charter Fleet to experience the finest in sport fishing charter boats in the state! Whether you go offshore deep sea fishing for a Blue Marlin or bay fishing with one of the local guides for Speckled Trout or Redfish inshore, we will provide you with the most experienced Professional U.S. Coast Guard Licensed Captains to ensure you have a great day on the water! Member of the Port Aransas Chamber of Commerce. 
Port Aransas Fishing Report
June 2, 2009 Port Aransas Offshore Deep Sea Fishing Report Summer is in full swing from the jetties out to 100 miles offshore for all the different types of fish that you want to catch. I will start out with what is happening deep offshore. There has been a persistent color change roughly 50 to 70 fathoms offshore of Port Aransas. The closest place to catch it has been heading off Hospital rock and keeping your eyes open. When it is ripping, you can't miss it. I have heard many experienced billfishers claim it is one of the best rips they have seen in years. One side is green and whitecapped while the other side is cobalt blue and slick calm. I noticed that the green water was moving south-southeast over the weekend, which is heading straight into the blue water. Reports were that the rip / weedline did not start to "turn on" unti late in the day. I know of a few blue marlin taken from it along with some sails and good size wahoo and dolphin. SO if you pass it early, check on it later, it could make a good trip into a great trip. The blue water does not start until you get to that color change, but there are plenty of fish inshore as well. Red Snapper season has started, and there are plenty of kingfish, shark and ling around too. The bill fish bite has turned on with some decent numbers of blue marlin and sailfish being caught by various boats. I have a video of the Cherokee's fish from last week, and some pictures and video of a little blue that was caught by yours truly on the Gloria II.
Moving nearshore, the water is extremely nice at the jetties with the calm weather we have been having. I was fishing with Rene Lopez last week at the south jetty and we caught trout (one lost at rock at least 25 inches), small grouper, 3 kingfish, jackfish, spanish mackeral, cero mackeral, mangrove snapper and saw some tarpon rolling. There was also bonita chasing bait everywhere. I mentioned that it was pretty enough for there to be sailfish around, and sure enough there have been a handful caught the last few days around the jetties. See pictures of one caught by Kay and Bill Culpepper today, June 2. The forecast is excellent for the week and it looks like we have a nice summer pattern going on right now.
June 2, 2009 Port Aransas Inshore Bay Fishing Report The fishing has been improving with the weather. The light winds are making for some great catches of trout in the surf and in the bay. The surf usually only happens in August and September when the light winds and small seas allow some of the guides to go hit San Jose Island with some good live bait to tear up the trout. The redfish have also been caught in large numbers by all the guides. They are even seeing jackfish in the bays and I am sure a few of the guides will hit the jetties to take part in the kingfish and unbelievable sailfish catches.
May 27, 2009 Port Aransas, Texas Deep Sea Fishing Report Wow. What a way to start the summer. The first good weather weekend happened to coincide with memorial day weekend. With seas 2-3 feet, most of the Port Aransas fleet made it offshore. On the longer trips, most charter boats and recreational boats hit the color change rip in about 50 fathoms that went from offshore Ant Hill up to Baker and on to Falcon. The rip was holding a lot dolphin, wahoo and even some tuna, with lots of a variety ofbait on and off the rip. This is a very good sign because the blue marlin, white marlin and sailfish will not be far behind. Last year, the hot billfish bite started Father's Day weekend and stayed extremely hot through June. Take a look at the archives to get an idea of what went on last year at this time. Some of the boats that I got reports from Peter Young on the MoAzul, which caught a good number of dolphin, wahoo and tuna and may have had a finicky billfish in the baits as well. The Ambush went out as well and came home with the same catch of dolphin and wahoo. The Caliente, with Captain John Brennan is still catching Amberjack, kingfish, grouper as well as the dolphin and wahoo. They even jumped off a blue on the rip as well. The High Bid had an inshore trip that produced a nice catch of ling, kingfish and shark. The catch of the week went to the Cherokee, and Captain Tray Clark. The Cherokee released a large Blue Marlin at the Dumping Grounds. Considering the fact that they called it one of the better blue marlin that they have caught, you know it was big. I will have video up of it within the next few days. I have seen it, and it is a good fish. They also missed a couple of smaller billfish and iced down some good meat fish for the grill. Earlier in May, a group of us went to Puerto Aventuras, Mexico and fished with a good friend, Captain Bobby Johnson on the Solid Waste. It was a great trip with fishing taking place about 500 yards off the beach. The boats do not even get up on plane when leaving the marina. With the proximity, and various activities other than fishing, I highly recommend getting down there for a little R&R. Check out the slideshow on YouTube:
May 27, 2009 Port Aransas Inshore Bay Fishing As with the offshore fishing, the bay fishing has really heated up. The redfish has been very consistent, but the talk right now is that the trout have been thick on the calmer days. The guides have been using croakers for the most part and have been limiting out, according to Frank Eicholz, Larry Kelley and Mitchell Collins. Don Miller took his group out over the weekend and caught a limit of reds for them. I have heard of cut up skipjack/ladyfish being an excellent redfish bait, so give it a try. A good local fisherman and friend, Rene Lopez hit the North Jetty last week a couple of times and caught just about everything. He said that once you got through the skipjacks, there were trout, redfish, grouper, flounder and snook to be had. I am probably leaving something as well. He was using Yozuris and also had some live shrimp. On one day he even caught 4 snook on the Yozuris. I have not heard of Tarpon yet, but it is a matter of time. With this good weather, the kingfish are moving in close, with lots of report s of catches at the standpipes, and some small ling nearshore as well. Give a call if you want to get out there fishing. There will be a couple of boats doing strictly state water trips for snapper, kings and sharks as well.
March 15, 2009 Port Aransas Deep Sea Fishing Report Although the weather has been wet and chilly, the fishing is red hot offshore. Captain Nate Forbes on the Iced Down has been out a few times this last week and has reported excellent fishing. He has been bringing in good numbers of blackfin, large amberjack and he has left the wahoo biting. He even managed a good size dog snapper. The last trip out was a "two cooler" day. Meaning he had topped off both coolers with fish. Proof is in the pictures.
The High Bid with Captain Aaron Chambers went out on a quick trip and caught limits of kingfish and even threw in a 15 pound dolphin. The report is that the water is a shade of blue at the rocks. The Bounty Hunter made it out and caught 6 wahoo that totaled 290 lbs. The had one 40 pounder bitten in half by a shark. Captain Dennis Lugg also managed some kingfish around some rigs but he said he could not keep the red snapper away from the trolled ribbonfish on the surface. Overall, the offshore fishing has been excellent as long as the weather cooperates. Feel free to call if you have any questions. Tight Lines!!
March 10, 2009 - Golfito, Costa Rica Report. Wow, what a trip. A few of us went down to fish with the Muy Caliente of Rancho Tropical in Golfito, Costa Rica last week. We knew it was going to be good but what we got was beyond anything we had hoped for. Captain John Brennan and mates Keith Banks and Tico Jeremy put us on a great bite. We ended up releasing 77 sailfish and a couple of dorado over the three days of fishing. Day one had 14 releases, we did not find the fish towards the middle of the first day. We headed out at first light on day two, which is very unusual for charters to take out the customers so early, and it paid off. Captain John Brennan put us on the fish early and stayed on them all day, which ended the same way it started with a double header. That made the count for day two at 39 releases. Fishing continued to be fast and furious for the sailfish on the third day with 11 releases by 9am. We kept pace until noon until the anglers hit a spot of bad luck. It always seems that catching the fish can be so easy when the fish are aggressive, but when they are finicky, it can make any angler weep and want to crawl into the cuddy. Anyway we managed a few more before the bite turned off and ended up with 24 sailfish on day three. We also managed a couple a dorado for the barbeque and some gorgeous pictures. I can not say enough about how hard these guys fish, how much they enjoy helping and teaching and how smoothly they work the boat and the cockpit. Keith and Jeremy are extremely efficient and hard working and they have to be when Capt. John keeps them on the fish. Please feel free to call me or email if you have any questions about fishing Golfito with the Muy Caliente.
February 9, 2009 - Deep Sea Fishing Port Aransas Texas - It looks like the year has started off with a bang last week when the Iced Down with Captain Nate Forbes made it out on a 12 hour trip and made it back with 800 pounds of fish for the charter. That is correct...800. The catch included 9 ling cobia averaging 40 pounds, a limit of amberjack for 5, and 7 wahoo taken around some floating debris. What a day for the private charter. Nate mentioned that the water was clean but not blue. I have noticed that the weather buoy 45miles offshore Port Aransas had a water temperature around the magical 70 degrees needed to turn the wahoo on. Other fishing reports have mainly been from the long range tuna trips, and the tuna have been cooperative. Most of the floater trips have been very successful for yellowfin tuna and some other species including dorado (mahi mahi, dolphin). There are a couple of new boats that will be available for offshore deep sea fishing charters out of Port Aransas, Texas this year. One boat is a 43' Viking called Caliente and will be captained by John Brennan who is currently releasing many billfish down in Costa Rica. Another boat that can get you out there is the Reel Insanity a 58ft custom for the high end luxury charter. It is a custom Carolina boat that is as pretty as it is big. I expect that Port Aransas boats will be very busy this summer with the unfortunate landfalls of last summers hurricanes in Port Isabel and Galveston. Fortunately for Port Aransas, we dodged the hurricanes and are ready for a great season. Call early to book your trip and I will answer any questions that you have. Inshore Bay Fishing Port Aransas - It has been quiet on the bays around Port Aransas, Corpus Christi and Rockport, but the redfish and black drum have been making some noise the last month. Mitchell Collins (aka Fish Pimp) has reported very low tides the last few weeks which has made it easier to find the schools of fish including one catch of up to 84 pounds of fish for one of his charters. Things are only going to get better with the rising temperatures and the arrival of the trout. Another new attraction to Port Aransas is the golf course. Newport Dunes opened last fall to rave reviews and has been well received here in Port Aransas. Ask me about the course and I can give you plenty of information.
August 20, 2008 - Deep Sea Fishing Port Aransas - It seems like the weather is cooperating nicely the last couple of weeks which has made for some good offshore fishing. The shrimp boats are out there and there are some good catches of fish coming off of them. Some of the ones out a little deeper are holding some blackfin tuna this last week. No reports of yellowfin tuna yet, but if the boats remain out there through the fall, there is a good chance to see some good yellowfin tuna. As far as trolling for billfish...it is either hit or miss. All of the boats I have spoken with have mentioned the large amount of weedlines from the inshore rocks of Hospital, Southern and Nailhead all the way out to the deeper waters of the fairway and near Falcon. Some of the rips have been described as "monster" size. It is a matter of time before some good catches come off of them. Captain Nate Forbes of the Iced Down reports that he has been thick into the blackfin tuna his last four trips this week. He has also said the fishing has been good out of Port Aransas for amberjack, ling, kingfish and dorado. All of the captains have been having tremendous success on the near shore trips too. High Bid, El Gato, Ambush and the Backlash are all catching limits of kingfish, red snapper, ling and sharks on state water trips. I heard a report that the Let It Ride had an excellent day this week for billfish. I was told that they were 3 for 5 on sailfish and might have released a blue marlin as well in one day. This is the time of year when it is important to keep an eye on that bottom machine while trolling. It seems that if you can find some suspended bait, you can raise some fish, it just takes some patience. There are still some reports of floating debris out there so keep your eyes open. There have been more bent props and shafts than I have ever heard of this year. Bay Fishing- The Port Aransas bay guides are getting into the late summer pattern. I have reports from the bay guides that they are coming across some huge schools of redfish around the Port Aransas fishing area. A lot of them were seen around the lighthouse shoreline. Just use common sense and cooperate with any others fishing the schools. Take your turn or move on to the next school and be courteous to your fellow angler. This is also the time of year that some of the guides get out into the surf on the calm days for some very good early trout action as well as redfish. I have seen some tarpon rolling around the south jetty and have heard good schools at the north jetty as well. The best bait is live finger mullet free lined to the area they are rolling. Don't be surprised to get cut off by a kingfish when the water is real pretty at the jetties, which it is right now. The Port Aransas weather forecast for the next 5 days is light winds and calm seas, so make a call and go out fishing before summer is over.
June 25, 2008- Deep Sea Fishing Port Aransas Wow! The fishing has turned on in a big way. The billfish have moved into Port Aransas and a lot of the charters and private boats have been having excellent catches. Most of the boats have been have been catching there fish on weedlines from 40 fathoms to 60 fathoms. One area that was holding a lot of fish was a blue water color change around South Baker. It seemed as if most boats had 2 or three shots at blues and 2-3 chances at sailfish. When they weren't catching billfish, there was plenty of billfish by catch, such as wahoo and dolphin. The best chance at coming across a good area is to run straight out the fairway and keep your eyes peeled for weedlines starting around the rocks. Some notable catches: Cherokee - Had back to back charters on Friday and Saturday of last week and released a blue marlin and a sailfish on each trip. Tray even managed to catch snapper, kingfish, tuna, dolphin, wahoo and ling. On Friday he was 1 for 2 on Blue Marlin and 1 for 4 on sailfish.
Mo Azul - Peter Young released a sailfish and a blue marlin over the weekend and had numerous shots at other fish "with a stick on the nose". Iced Down - Released a blue marlin and a sailfish on Saturday along with the usual wahoo and dolphin. Hit some snapper on the way in to top off the fish box. Paka - A tremendous day last week with 3 blue marlin releases in one day, along with a sailfish. The blues were estimated at 200, 350 and 500+ pounds. For some meat they caught wahoo and dolphin, with one of the hoos pushing 70 pounds. Meat Haul - The Meat Haul crew went out Saturday and were 1 for 4 on blues and missed a sailfish. They too caught a couple of 40lb wahoo and some good dolphin about 30 lbs. High Bid - Has been out catching their share of the fish as well. They seem to load up on snapper and kingfish and then troll for some wahoo and dolphin themselves. They also managed to catch a 72 pound ling. I heard of some white marlin being caught as well on some of the private boats. The boats that have been going after swordfish at night have also been rewarded with consistent fishing. I saw online that there is a possible new dolphin state record that was caught out of Port Isabel...65.7lbs. Congrats! Bay Fishing Port Aransas - The guides have been switching over to more trout fishing now that the weather is cooperating. Most of the guides are using croaker to get good numbers of trout, with lots of limits being reported. The reds are slowing down a little bit. A lot of the guides will head out into the surf to go after trout when the conditions are favorable. Whenever they get out in the surf, there is a good chance for other species not usually caught in the bays, species such as sharks, jacks, kingfish and maybe a ling. Larry Kelley had a trip last week in which he caught 20 trout and then proceeded to take the clients out the jetties and they were rewarded with a 46 pound ling. Not bad for a bay trip. There are also reports of kingfish and bonita at the anchorage. As always, call ahead of time to book your trip. It is summer and dates are filling up quickly.
June 16, 2008 - Deep Sea Fishing Port Aransas Quite a few boats have made it out the last few days with the improving weather. Overall the offshore fishing in Port Aransas ahs been excellent. The deep sea charters have been bringing in great catches on every trip. The shorter trips have been producing limits of snapper and kingfish, along with ling, shark, dolphin and barracuda. The longer offshore fishing trips have been seeing all of the fish already mentioned along with wahoo, amberjack, more dolphin, and even some billfish, mainly blue Marlin and sailfish. The El Gato fished Saturday out of Port Aransas and was able to catch limits of snapper and kingfish. Captain Butch Findley also caught some ling, mahi-mahi and shark for clients. The MoAzul made it out a couple of days and caught limits of snapper and kingfish, and missed a sailfish around the Aransas rocks. They did manage to release a blue marlin on the following trip. The Cherokee made it out on Father's day along with a good number of other boats. Captain Tray Clark caught their snapper and some kingfish and then decided to troll around some rigs in about 50 fathoms. They quickly hooked up to a good blue that wanted nothing to do with being brought in and unfortunately came unbuttoned after taking about 600 yards off the reel. The Cherokee did manage to catch a 65lb wahoo and some dolphin. Aboard the Iced Down, the clients have been treated to some excellent deep sea fishing. It seems like the norm right now is to get some good snapper in the box and then move on to do some trolling. It has paid off nicely for the Iced Down as you can see in the pictures below.
Overall, it looks like the fishing season is in full swing with the arrival of the billfish and other pelagic species off the coast of Port Aransas. I heard of a lot of the fish being caught on a rip/weedline around the rocks from 190 feet to 240 feet. The marlin were caught on the rip, a couple were released at Southern and some hooked up near Baker. It is nice to see so many fish "in close" with fuel prices being what they are. Reports from around the Texas coast are indicating a good blue marlin bite this last weekend, so give a call and get let's get you out fishing! Inshore Bay Fishing in Port Aransas The guides have been having good luck with the redfish by managing to bring in a couple of limits on each trip. It seems that they have the best success recently when they have some good fresh bait, specifically menhaden. Redfish are not the only game in town, Captain Mitchell Collins went out over the weekend and limited out on some very nice trout. One of the speckled trout was 24 inches. Remember to book your trips early, most of the Weekends are filling up for both bay and offshore charters. Give a call if you have any questions about getting out fishing in Port Aransas. May 19, 2008 OFFSHORE Port Aransas- Well it looks like the sport fishing in Port Aransas is starting to heat up with the weather. All of the boats going out have done very well recently. I had one group go out fishing with the Cherokee, Bad Boy and the Mo Azul. They all had excellent catches including limits of kingfish up to 40 pounds, ling, snapper, barracuda, jackfish, amberjack , ling and bee liners. The kingfish are thick at the rocks and should be moving in closer every day. There was also a wahoo that came off while the Mo Azul was trolling. Nate on the Iced Down reported some excellent grouper fishing along with all of the above mentioned fish. He did get thick into the ling and he reports that the ling have definitely moved in. The water is still green at the rocks, but the fish are definitely there. I heard that a some private boats released a sailfish and that the Hale Yeah may have caught a couple of swordfish over the weekend. Time to get to Port Aransas and go fishing!!
INSHORE Port Aransas- When the winds let up, the trout fishing tends to improve. The redfish have been very consistent over the last few weeks in the bay. Things are looking more and more like summer everyday, the temps are heating up, the bait it coming in the jetties and I even saw some tarpon rolling at the end of the south jetty today. A few of the boats at the end of the jetty were catching numerous redfish with a few oversized redfish being released. Tray Clark went out on 5/18 for some flounder and sheephead and ended with 14 flounder and 16 sheaphead. There are a couple of guides that have been fishing down in the land cut and have been having some good success with the trout on live bait, croaker and shrimp. Captain Grant Coppin reported that it is mainly trout right now with 2 or 3 redfish thrown in.
May 5, 2008 OFFSHORE- Some of the boats are making it out offshore and are bringing in some good catches. Over the weekend a few boats made it out before the front came through. Captain Peter Young on the Mo Azul and Captain Jim Harmon on the Bad Boy made it out Saturday and got into a lot of fish. They caught amberjack, kingfish, baracuda, jack crevelle, ling and released a lot of legal snapper. One AJ on the Bad Boy made it to 40lbs as well as a 20lb ling. THey both reported numerous undersized amberjacks as well. Nate Forbes on the Iced Down had a nearshore trip yesterday in the blustery winds and caught an 80 lb sandbar shark along with some snapper. Word is that the water is green and that there are some decent rips starting to show up. INSHORE- It looks like the trout have shown up. Captain Mitchell Collins had a few trips this last week and was able to catch the clients both redfish and trout. He did mention that it was easier for the reds one day, and then slowed on the reds the next. The trout he was getting into averaged 18-20 inches. Captain Justin Cortez got took some clients fishing down to the land cut and brought home 27 trout, a black drum and a flounder. I know of a few guides that will fish the Laguna Madre, Baffin Bay and landcut so let me know if you want to get out down south. Tray Clark of Backstabber guide has been out flounder gigging and has been quite successful. He has been getting 20-30 fish when the weather cooperates along with some sheephead. Most of the fish are 2-3 lbs. April 04, 2008 OFFSHORE - Things are starting to change offshore. I have heard of a little bit of prettier water just inshore the rocks. There was a report of a big scattered rip between the 26 mile rigs and the rocks that had some wahoo on it. Nate Forbes on the Iced Down went out scouting this week and found some good Warsaw grouper and had a good trip overall. Looking at some sea surface temperature charts, the first push of warm water (74-75degrees) seems to be around the Dumping grounds about 75 miles from Port Aransas. I have noticed that this normally doesn't show up until May the past 5 years. It may be an early start to the season. Speaking of an early start...it seems that people are booking their trips early this year, so if you you are planning on getting out on the weekend, you may want to give Texas Charter Fleet a call to set up your trip. Inshore- Larry Kelley went out a few days this week and gave me the first solid report of trout. He caught a limit of trout for 2 people on Wednesday in about an hour and a half. The next day the wind picked up and the trout shut off. He also reported that the spring tides are here and that you need to check out some of the "new water" areas for the spread out fish. Flounder Gigging- Had the pleasure of getting out gigging with Tray Clark of Backstabber Guide service, once again he did not disappoint. In a quick hour and a half, we managed our limit of 10 sheephead and added 14 flounder. It should get better for the next couple of months as the flounder start coming back in the bays. As far as the sheephead, there were hundreds of them, so you can take your time and wait for some of the larger ones. As always, feel free to email or call if you have any questions or need to book a fishing trip.
March 24, 2008 OFFSHORE - The boats are starting to get into some fish out there, at least some good meat fish. The Iced Down made it out a couple of days this last week once the waves and winds subsided. He managed to get a mako shark on back to back days along with some kingfish and snapper the first day. On the second day, he went out further than the 26's and got limits of amberjack, 7 grouper, An African Pompano and some nice snapper to finish off the day.
All the fishing reports that I got said that the water was green and cold (66-67 degrees). Capt. Matt Haworth, who runs the private boat Madera, got into some blackfin at an early bite out deep at a rig and then pulled baits out to Dutra with no luck. He also managed some grouper. The Hale Yeah (Ronnie Hale) had a good weekend with a swordfish, tuna, and grouper. Congrats on the swordfish!! Inshore- I am finally starting to hear of some trout starting to show up with the warming water. Got some reports from the guides that they were getting into them around Traylor Island and redfish around Hog Island. Still a lot of black drum and sheep head out there too when the currents slow around the structure in the channel.
March 3, 2008 OFFSHORE-- Fishing offshore of Port Aransas has been good as long as the weather cooperates. This is usually the case for this time of year. I spoke with Capt. Nate Forbes of the Iced Down about his last couple of trips out. On the ICed Down, he was able to get some Amberjack, grouper and a 30lb ling. He did not have any luck on the wahoo but that can change literally overnight. He also ran a couple of party boat trips and they were able to get into some good numbers of blackfin tuna. He thinks that they should still be out there. If the blackfin tuna are there, then the possibility of hooking into a mako shark should be good. Inshore-- I got some good info from a couple of captains on the recent inshore fishing around Port Aransas. Capt. Frank Eicholz told me that there have been some good numbers of redfish and black drum around Hog Island, and plenty of sheephead at the jetties if th wind is not blowing too hard. These fish have been caught using shrimp. He said shrimp is fine to use due to the lack of pinfish (baitstealers). Capt. Ed Woodhouse said that the reds are showing up in the flats with the warmer weather/water. He has been able to trick them into biting with gold spoons, perch and shrimp. He is working areas of bait, mainly schools of mullet to catch his fish. He said there is a large amount of bait up on the flats. International--Just returned with a group from Quepos/Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica for a fun filled fishing week. The sailfish bite picked up as we were down there with the first two days releasing 3-4 sails a boat and seeing about 12-15. The sails weren't real excited to eat, but luckily some were hungry. The third day of fishing led to the release of 9 sailfish out of about 25 in the baits. There was also some yellowfin tuna in the 40-50# class range caught. The highlight of the fishing trip was the release of a black marlin estimated at 500lbs or better. It was a 2.5hr fight with only one jump. Below are some pics of the trip.
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