You never know what that next bite is going to be!
Offshore fishing in Port Aransas offers some of the most exciting moments you can imagine. From Red Snapper to Blue Marlin, our waters have something for everyone and the summer months offer the widest variety of species to target.
The last week of May and 1st week of June this year have been as good as any I can remember and it looks like we should have a great summer ahead of us! The water temperature has been increasing into low to mid eighties. Sargassum weedlines and rips are forming, bait is plentiful and the fish have been aggressive.
Leaving out from the Port Aransas jetty, we have been picking up Kingfish and Ling at the inshore rigs in 50-75 feet by drifting ribbonfish and trolling hard plastics. Red Snapper season opened June 1st and to no one’s surprise they are plentiful. I prefer using live pin perch or big chunks of cut Bonita as a way to avoid the smaller fish. The smaller fish will eat just about any dead bait or jig you drop down if you don’t mind weeding through them.
Further offshore at the rocks and rigs, in 200-300 feet, we have been picking up Wahoo and/or Dorado on a regular basis. The Wahoo have been smaller than what we were seeing in the Spring but we’ll take it. The Dorado have been ranging from 3 lb “chickens” to 40 lb Bulls. When the bite is slow on the troll we have had luck switching back to drifting ribbonfish for kings and catching all we want. Sharks have also been so thick offshore that it can be difficult to get a bait to anything else at times. If sharks are what you’re after then you should have no problems. They will probably find you first! The Spring Amberjack season is now closed as of May 31, but is scheduled to reopen August 1 and will run through October.
If the first couple of weeks of summer is a sign of things to come, we will be in for a great summer of offshore action… You never know what that next bite is going to be!