South Padre: July 2022

I remember vividly, it was 1996 and I was in Mexico City, reputed to be the second-largest city in the world at the time. The city was incredibly congested and the traffic was horrible. It took me at least fifteen minutes to cross a main boulevard intersection that was only about fifty yards wide. That memory got me thinking whether our fish are about to experience something similar this month.

Many families will be enjoying and sharing the water this month. In addition, it's one of the most active months for fishing guides. Let's not forget to mention that several fishing tournaments will be held every weekend. It will be a busy month!

We’ve been finding small pockets of redfish, but that will soon change. With the increase in boat traffic they will definitely become more scattered and leerier. Trout will be found deeper and near the ICW during peak fishing hours. A suggestion to get on a good bite is to fish early morning or late in the evening when boat traffic is the lowest.  

July is also one of the hottest months. As I mentioned in previous articles, monitoring the water temperature is never more critical to success. By midday, fish will have moved to deeper water where temperatures are cooler and then return to the shallows in the early evening and through the night to feed once again.

Tides will fall drastically, as they do every year. With lower tides and elevated water temperatures, fishing deeper holes will pay good dividends, especially during the day's hottest periods.

Redfish catches have been fair to good and small schools can still be targeted on calmer days. Plastic baits fished low in the water column have been producing the most bites. Locating redfish in July should be easier as the mornings are often slick-calm and their tell-tale wakes are more noticeable in shallow water. Getting them to bite can be challenging, though. All fish become very wary when the flats are calm, so downsizing your offerings makes sense. I’ve become a believer in attaching a short leader and a fly to the rear hook of a small topwater under these conditions. Give it a try; you might get a pleasant surprise.

During summer, trout feeding is heavily influenced by water temperature and major and minor solunar feeding periods. Of course, boat traffic also plays a significant role. Unlike redfish, trout are more sensitive to elevated water temps. During summer we focus our efforts in depths of three to five feet and quite often along the edges of the ICW. Tidal movements will also influence feeding activity, especially during early morning and late evening hours. One of the most recognizable signs of trout feeding activity is the appearance of slicks on the surface that emit a distinctive sweet smell.  

Trout will take topwaters this month but soft plastics worked low in the water column are far more effective for me in July’s heat. The bite along the ICW can be steady but the trout tend to be much smaller on average. When targeting bigger trout, you may want to concentrate your efforts on flats that contain potholes or slight to deeper drop-offs. Remember that the deeper drop-offs are magnets for trout this time of the year.

I continue to be impressed with our flounder catches, even without targeting them. The East Cut seems to be holding a good number of flounder along the channel edges. The ICW alongside the shacks south of Port Mansfield has produced good numbers, and the flats with rolling elevations and sandy potholes have produced most of our incidental catches. We are not seeing doormats, but surprising numbers of sixteen- to nineteen-inchers. Let's hope their numbers continue to improve into the future.   

July is usually a month when we wish for a breeze to cool things down. Another negative impact will be the amount of dead grass on the surface. We are already seeing it. Dead grass on the surface greatly hinders the use of surface lures and sometimes even our soft plastics. Add this to the elevated water temperatures, lower tide levels, and boat traffic and we are facing a challenging month.

Again, I suggest fishing early in the morning and late in the day to get better results and hopes of getting your line stretched often. The busy season has arrived; use precautions while boating and fishing. No fish is worth the risk of endangering yourself or others. Best fishing!