South Padre Fishing Scene Ernest Cisneros

CAPT. ERNEST CISNEROS Arroyo Colorado to Port Isabel July marks the middle of summer and lots of folks will be hitting the water. Winds tend to be light, so light that we will sometimes pray for a breeze to cool things down a little. Lower Laguna tides are very high right now in mid-June but will drop to some live bait. You can find lots of fish with lures under birds but nearly all are undersize. The best strategies lately have been working slicks and deepjigging the edges of the ICW and other channels with KWigglers Ball Tails. Fishing on moving tides has been best, incoming or outgoing doesn’t seem to matter, just so it’s moving. Try 1/4-ounce jigs and cast out deep, then hop the lure methodically back up along the SOUTH PADRE Fishing Scene of the lowest levels of the year next dropoff. This method has been giving us a few decent trout and an month. And while tides fall the water occasional flounder or two. A Brownsville-area native, temps will soar. We wait all year for snook to make their way into our shallow bays. Capt. Ernest Cisneros fishes Getting an early start to your fishing I was very concerned how the snook might fare during the February the Lower Laguna Madre from day can be very important. I sometimes freeze but thus far I would say we are off to a decent start with my Port Mansfield to Port Isabel. recommend splitting the charter day; clients having already landed several trophy specimens. Wading for Ernest specializes in wading a few hours in early morning and then trophy snook is never easy and we sometimes fish all day with only and poled skiff adventures for snook, trout, and redfish. a few more in late-afternoon. Extra one or two bites. But, believe me when I say it is all worth it when a caution is advised when navigating due trophy linesider smashes a topwater and begins its acrobatic routine. Cell to the low tide levels we will be dealing If you want to target snook, look to the days with strongest tides and 956-266-6454 with in late-July. concentrate on the solunar majors and minors. Website Two important tips for July fishing Flounder are not especially plentiful this summer but if you put in www.tightlinescharters.com – Treat midday heat the same as some time working guts, the edges of potholes along the spoils, and wintertime cold. Fish will tend to move the dropoff on the ICW, there’s a good chance of landing one or a to deeper water for temperature relief, so work your lures low and slow couple, or maybe more. Keeping your lure in contact with the bottom to entice them to bite. Also of great importance is moon phase. Fishing as much as possible will always produce best, and smaller plastics will during full moon periods can be especially challenging, even more so usually draw the most strikes – especially paddletails. in the several days following the big moon. There are many theories If the fishing gets as hot as July’s weather we’ll all be in for a big about this and I’m not saying you cannot catch fish because there are treat. But in the meantime, think winter in the summer for effective always exceptions. What I find most effective though is fishing the lure presentations. Keep an eye on the weather, July thunderstorms late-afternoon and evening hours following the full moon. seem to pop out of nowhere.

Currently, our success with redfish seems to be turning toward a hit Best fishing! or miss situation and I expect it could get tougher as tides recede and the water continues to warm. Keith Letsos’ Matt Neaher with

Patterning them becomes difficult as they are in persistence paid off with this thirtya nice flounder; working soft smaller groups inhabiting smaller areas of our three inch South plastic lure slowly bays. The eastside sand flats are an exception if Texas snook. CPR! on bottom. you can be there before the sun gets high and they become spooky, but here again they tend to be somewhat scattered.

We are still focusing on sandy potholes along shorelines and spoil islands when the tide is high and some schooling is being seen as incoming tides push into back lakes. Naturally, the reds are following the bait that is moving with the tide. When the tide is receding we find them in and around marsh and back lake drains. As for lures; Kwiggler Ball Tails are great for probing potholes and weedless Willow Tails are a favorite whenever the reds are holding in shallow, grassy areas and also whenever floating grass becomes troublesome. And, it goes almost without saying – keep a weedless gold spoon in your wade box. View The Video Open Camera and hover over QR Code. When link

I wish I could say that trout fishing in the Lower Laguna is appears at top of screen tap to open in YouTube. everything we hoped it would be but that is just not the case. The Redfish love KWigglers Ball most consistent catches have been coming from deeper water and, Tail Shad – 12 pounder CPR! by far, the greatest numbers are being caught by fishermen using