Hints and Tips for Fishing Mid-Bay Reefs and Riprap

It’s good to be back on my home water in Rockport. High winds and low tides have made some days a little challenging but overall our trout fishing is much improved over the past four years. I see great numbers of trout in the 17- to 22-inch class, with a few 24- to 26-inch fish from time to time. Redfish are saving the day when strong winds prevent me from fishing where I want to for springtime trout.

I like windward shorelines and spoils in the spring and spend most of my time on the southern end of the Aransas and Corpus Christi bay systems. This has been the norm for my fishing operation for over forty-eight years. In June I will head to what I refer to as The North Country and spend the summer months fishing mid-bay reefs, barrier island shorelines, ICW riprap and, of course, some area back-lakes and drains.

Deeper mid-bay reefs provide shallow feeding areas and also provide the luxury of quick deepwater access to help with quickly warming water temperatures. When on the reefs I concentrate effort on those that have good bait activity, moving water, and some type of pass or gut that allows access through the reef, versus just the points at the ends.

Reefs that show you bait fish stacked on the crown are typically holding predators in the deeper waters surrounding the reef. I remember fishing the reefs in Copano and St. Charles bays and literally only fishing reefs that displayed these types of bait concentrations. The late Robert Brooks and I would sometimes hit four or five small reefs before we found one that had the bait fish stacked the way we wanted them to be. Only then would we get out and begin to fish.

It was back in the 1970s and we threw MirrOlure 52MR baits in color patterns 18, 19, 28, 26 and 51. “Cold Steel,” is how Robert referred to the effectiveness of fishing with these lures. Robert was an excellent lure fisherman and we had a lot of fun fishing together. I learned a ton from Robert; he had so many small areas of shallow and deep shell that he knew well and fished regularly, some of which no longer exist today. We fished many reefs I didn’t even know existed until Robert punched the bottom with an old fishing rod he carried just for that purpose.

I sometimes fear that I failed to thank him enough publicly, so here goes. Thanks, Robert, for sharing your fishing knowledge and being my fishing buddy in the early years of our careers. I bet that Robert is guiding my dad and his dad, EG, right now somewhere along the Jordan.

Reef points are always good areas to find fish stacked, waiting there for wind-driven or tidal current to deliver their next meal. The smaller passes or guts in many of our area’s reefs allow for the passage of water from one side to the other, features that also function as pinch points that create easier feeding opportunities. I feel that larger fish take more advantage of the pinch points than do the smaller fish. Periods of low tide are excellent opportunities for us to make mental or GPS notes on areas within reefs where water will always pass through.

Most all our sanctuary reefs; Carlos, Cedar, Beldons, Ayers, and the Second Chain of Islands possess multiple passes or guts that bisect the main reef. I have several that I fish whenever the current created by wind or tide will be flowing most strongly through them. Generally speaking, the smaller the pass the stronger the water movement and the larger the fish. These passes provide opportunity for anglers to catch all kinds of fish – trout, reds and flounder are most common but on occasion I do catch black drum in the moving water.

It is my experience that the upcurrent sides of the passes and the tips of the reefs typically hold the largest trout. Reds seem to prefer upcurrent and down-current sides equally. As the air temperatures warm and water movement decreases, look to target the deeper water surrounding the reef.

I don’t like to walk on the reef itself if I can help it. My dad called it, “crunching them off,” when I would get up on top and push my way to the tip or a pass in the reef. Next time you are fishing a reef, walk up on top for just a few steps and listen carefully to the noise you’re creating beneath the surface, and then tell me whether you might agree that the reef’s residents are fully aware of your presence.

On most all our area reefs you have two transitions. One from hard shell to scattered shell and the other from scattered shell to sand or mud. In the later morning to midday hours, I find that the line where scattered shell meets deeper sand or mud bottom is a more productive area. If we can put the lure where the fish are holding, we can make them bite. I believe this with every fiber of my being and, if you don’t believe you can, then you have some work to do on your game.

This does require one to stay out and fish through some of the less desirable hours of the day, but if we do it is all in a day’s work for me. Do not kid yourself; everyone still loves to see a strong work ethic being displayed by their fishing guide. Mid-bay reefs can offer a full day of fishing without having to move very much, and the less time we running and looking the more time we can keep a lure in the water.

I also like fishing the riprap along the ICW, the areas where rock or articulated brick mats have been placed to prevent erosion. Riprap creates a wall and wave action converges along its lower edge to form a small, sandy-bottomed “fish highway.” Trust me when I tell you these “fish highways” are excellent areas to target. Trout, reds, and flounder alike love working up and down such structures. Add some scattered grass and perhaps a few clumps of oyster shell and you have an area that provides game fish with all they need.

Now, to all that I have described above, add the deeper waters of the ICW and the man-made tides created by passing barges and you really have increased odds of this area being productive for you. We need to position ourselves on a line that runs parallel to the riprap that allows us to fish at an angle to it and any bottom structures that might also be available.

I find that trout prefer the slightly deeper submerged grass beds and parallel guts, while the reds, drum, and flounder prefer to travel the lower edge where the riprap meets the sand. In most all the areas where this type of structure is available to us, one can position themselves to where you can fish all three types of structure. With increased barge and ship traffic, we can expect to see more and more riprap being installed in our bay systems.

Now, one more thing worth mentioning, we have some very large water lizards in the North Country that make the riprap their homes, so be aware of their presence. I am not afraid of them, but I do respect them.

As spring gives way to summer we will be forced to make some changes to our fishing game plans. For me, the change and the challenges these changes create are what makes my job rewarding. Fishing is hard, so catching them when most believe they cannot be caught is the ultimate reward.