Early-morning specks

Continued from page 9 redfish.”

Down in Corpus Christi, fishing guide Capt. Caleb Sumrall has been setting his anglers up with live croaker to catch trout along the Upper Laguna Madre. He said fish in the 17to 23-inch keeper slot range have been pretty scattered.

“I’m really having to cover several areas to catch keeper-sized specks,” he said. “Some days they hit the croaker really well, and on other days, they can be pretty finicky.”

Bouncing from spot to spot in search of grass and sand pockets in 4-5 feet of water has been the most productive for Sumrall lately.

“There are a ton of small trout out there in the 15- to 17-inch range,” Sumrall said. “You really just have to grind through the smaller ones and cover water to catch the bigger fish. We are catching a lot fish in the 18- to 22-inch range, with at least two or three fish over 23 inches brought to the boat each trip. Most of the larger trout are pretty skinny right now.” wasn’t good enough for a tournament prize.

From then on, no one caught another fish.

The Rodriguez team said quite a few others were fishing near the island jetty but left empty-handed.

Another group of nine anglers went all the way to the Port Mansfield jetty but none of them caught a keeper.

On a brighter note, seven youths participated in the tournament, and each won a prize for bringing a whiting to the weigh-in.

Port Mansfield area fishing guide Capt. Josh Garza reported an excellent bite on the Lower Laguna Madre as of late. He said focusing on areas north of the harbor with heavy grass and scatter sand pockets adjacent to chest-deep water has been the ticket.

“Here recently, it has been pretty normal for a group anglers to go out and collectively catch upward of 100 small trout in the 15- to 16-inch range on soft plastic jigs,” Garza said. “Within these schools of smaller specks, we are also catching good numbers of fish in the 17- to 20-inch range, and an occasional trout over 23 inches long.”

Garza said surface action has been limited in his go-to spots, as the trout have been hunkering down in the seagrass and staying tight to the bottom. Soft plastics in plum and natural colors have been drawing the most strikes in current conditions.