Speckled trout are the story in Rockport this week, and the bite is about as good as it gets. Reports have fish stacked on the flats and along channel edges, with first-light topwater blowups under working birds and a popping cork and live shrimp drift carrying the morning.

Bay water is running 87.3°F. South winds hold at 5 to 10 knots Tuesday and Wednesday, shifting southwest and turning south Thursday afternoon, with bay and inland waters forecast smooth all three days. No advisories are in effect and rain chances stay near zero.

The moon is the difference-maker — it goes full Thursday. The strongest window is Thursday from 12:05 to 2:05 PM, when the moon rides underfoot through the middle of a slick, sunny day. Back it up Tuesday evening from 5:54 to 7:24 PM, as a 93-percent-lit moon clears the horizon just before sunset.

Trout are best worked over the Aransas Bay grass flats, Redfish Bay channel edges, and the deeper guts of Copano Bay. Redfish are cruising skinny in one to four feet through Redfish Bay, Aransas Bay sand pockets, and Copano Bay shorelines, eating topwaters and soft plastics. Flounder are staged on Redfish Bay drains and around the Port Aransas jetties. Also active: black drum are stacked on shell and mud, and sheephead are picking at rock and pilings.

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