Speckled trout are carrying the water in Rockport heading into mid-August, and carrying it easily. Boats working the grass flats and channel edges have been reaching four-angler limits before eight in the morning and catching well past that. Call it very good and mean it.

Conditions cooperate. Bay water is holding at 88.7°F at the Rockport gauge — August-hot, which is why the edges of the day matter. Winds run southeast at 8 to 15 mph Tuesday, south at 9 to 15 Wednesday and southeast at 11 to 15 Thursday, keeping the bays in a light chop. No marine advisories are in force.

A new moon arrives Wednesday at 12:36 PM, pushing the strongest daylight majors into midday. Tuesday’s 11:40 AM to 1:40 PM stretch is the best of the six, lining up with the afternoon high tide. Wednesday’s 6:00 to 7:30 AM window is the practical second choice — first light, moving water, no heat index near 109 to fight.

Trout are stacking on Aransas Bay grass flats, in Copano Bay and along the ICWW edges near Rockport. Redfish are good in pods on shrimp in the skinny water of Redfish Bay and the Aransas Bay back lakes. Flounder are fair and scattered on the drains around Lydia Ann Channel and Aransas Pass. Also active: black drum and sheephead are both fair on reefs and hard structure, taking fresh shrimp and cut crab on the bottom.

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