Redfish are the headline act in Rockport this week — schooled up, shallow, and eating. Guides across the Coastal Bend are reporting bronze crowds of reds, with oversized schools in the mix, taking cut mullet and live mullet from shin-deep to waist-deep water under sunny skies and a light southeast breeze.

Conditions are about as friendly as late August gets. Bay water is running 88.0°F (Rockport — NOAA CO-OPS 8774770), winds hold southeast at 6–13 mph across all three days, and no marine advisories are in effect — just plan around afternoon heat indices well over 100. The waxing gibbous moon drops the primary solunar window right at sunrise: Thursday’s 6:30–8:30 AM underfoot period is the best bite of the stretch, with Saturday’s 8:10–10:10 AM window a close second on the week’s lightest winds. Afternoon moonrise windows from roughly 2–5 PM offer a secondary shot.

Redfish are Very Good along Aransas Bay shorelines, Redfish Bay, and Estes Flats on cut mullet, finger mullet, and gold spoons. Speckled trout are Good at first light over Aransas Bay and Corpus Christi Bay reefs with live shrimp and croaker before the heat builds. Flounder are Fair — bounce soft plastics along Lydia Ann Channel and Aransas Pass edges on moving water. Also active: black drum are chewing dead shrimp over shell, and sheepshead will pick around pilings and jetty rock.

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