Port Mansfield Fishing Charters & Guides

Port Mansfield Fishing Charters

On the very southern end of Texas' coast is the small community of Port Mansfield. It was once a fishing camp named Redfish Landing. Today it is still a fishing destination thanks in part to the Port Mansfield Channel that cuts through Padre Island into the Gulf of Mexico. With only one road leading from the community into the mainland, getting to Port Mansfield is both easy and hard. Easy in that you cannot get lost since there's only one road. It's hard because it's quite a drive to the nearest large community. Anglers who are willing to make the trip say it is worth the effort to get there. At the community and just to the south are a mass of tidal creeks and small islands that gave this place its original name. The same creeks and points cover the bayside of the barrier islands. Redfish Bay is part of the much bigger Laguna Madre waterway.

Port Mansfield Inshore Fishing

Redfish is the No. 1 attraction here. Most of the bay area is shallow water. This makes the region one of the world's top locations for sight-fishing redfish. Shallow water reds are perfect for topwater action. You can see the fish zeroing in on your lure. It takes a steady hand and nerves to wait until you feel the fish before setting the hook. Jerk too early and you take the lure away from the red. These shallow redfish are also perfect for fly fishermen. The reds don't spook the same way permit or bonefish do and they are always in feeding mode. Reds also hammer grubs and jigs bounced along the bottom or fished weightless and pulled just under the surface. Live bait like fingerling mullet, small crabs, and shrimp will draw strikes from the most lockjawed redfish. The creeks and islands are an ideal place for catching redfish. When the tide is in, the reds will cruise the shorelines and run into the weeds hoping to flush something out. When the tide goes out, they can still be found in the same areas, but in the channels. This is also when they are easiest to see. Speckled trout are the No. 2 fish for Port Mansfield fishing charters. The specks are caught with the same rigs and lures as redfish and many times in the same places. Trout also like to hang out around the grass beds on the flats. The deeper inshore water here is the Mansfield Channel. At the pass, the current is quite strong. Bull reds and gator trout hang out here, picking off what the water sends past them. Small mullet and large pieces of cut bait work best here. You can also find black drum in the channels. Catching these fish requires cut bait or live bait anchored in place with lead. Black drum are not aggressive feeders and so rarely take artificial lures. When the water is deep enough, lures, live and cut bait can be fished under a popping cork. The cork's action and sound are an irresistible attraction for snook and flounder as well. On the Gulf side, croakers are found in the surf looking for a meal in the sand. Small bits of cut bait on small hooks held in place with a pyramid sinker will get you a mess of fillets. Croakers are regularly joined by blacktip sharks, a species known for acrobatics when hooked. Blacktip inhabit shallow water and readily take topwater plugs.

Port Mansfield Offshore Fishing

Once you get through the pass into the Gulf of Mexico, you can keep going to deeper water. Big reef fish and open-water species await you. Oil rigs, sunken boats and natural reefs are home to grouper, snapper, triggerfish, amberjack, cobia, barracuda, cobia and more. Wandering fish like king mackerel, wahoo, mahi mahi, yellowfin and blackfin tuna also show up in good numbers. No matter what fish you are chasing, jigging will bring them to the boat if you have the stamina for this kind of fishing. You can use big grubs, spoons and deep water jigs. Trolling is another time-tested way to find fish. Port Mansfield fishing charters will run surface lures on outriggers, medium-depth lures off the corner of the boat and a lure directly off the stern with a downrigger. This covers the whole water column. Even reef fish like grouper and AJs will hammer a lure if it is trolled by them.

Book A Port Mansfield Fishing Charter

Hearing the words "FISH ON!" is always an exciting moment. Get some excitement in your life by fishing with a Port Mansfield fishing charter. Fishing out of Port Mansfield in Redfish Bay, you just don't know what you'll catch. Let FishAnywhere help you find the perfect guide for the perfect trip.