Port Mansfield trip w/ Capt Prado 1/21/23
Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2023 2:16 pm
I organized a guided trip with Capt Joe Prado for a couple guys in my fly fishing club.
We arrived at the Sunset Motel in Port Mansfield Friday evening. The rooms are simple but clean. The Motel has a community dining room and kitchen where you can hang out and watch TV. Another group of anglers were playing poker. The kitchen is well stocked and we were able to cook our catch the following evening which is a nice addition to the motel. I will stay there again next time I head down to Port Mansfield.
Captain Joe Prado called in the evening to check in. He told us to put on new 30lb leaders and meet at the boat ramp at 6:25am. He wanted us to be the first boat out there.
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We were at the Port Mansfield Marina at 6:00 am. There is nice bait and tackle shop that has everything you need. We made a long run to an expansive grass flat where we saw a ton of bait and mullet jumping. Captain Prado recommended we throw topwaters in the morning. He likes to use white or pink Mansfield Knockers. I usually throw a Skitterwalk, but you can throw the Mansfield knockers a mile and they are light, so you can easily walk the dog without much effort. We had 4 guys throwing knockers and everyone was catching trout. One guy in our group was new to saltwater fishing and Capt Prado set him up with a Cajun thunder popping cork and gulp. He probably caught as many fish we did throwing expensive lures on expensive tackle.
When the trout bite slowed down, we switched over to corkies. I have never thrown a corky floater before, but it is perfect in shallow water with grass. I had a couple strong thumps on a plum nasty floater and I caught a fat 23 inch trout. We heard of someone in a different group catching a 28 inch trout, but the largest we landed that day was 24-25 inches.
By 10:00 am, the boat traffic was insane. Many of the guides work together and know how to approach a flat without disturbing the fish, but once a few others joined the party and ran over the flats the bite shut down abruptly. In the shallow flats the fish sense the presence of boats more easily and either leave the flats or stop biting.
Port Mansfield is an interesting fishery. There are expansive shallow grass flats that go on for miles, but there is little structure compared to the middle coast. It seems that with certain wind directions, there are not many areas to choose from and everyone ends up fishing the same spots. I don’t think there would be many options kayaking this area, unless you were able to mothership kayaks to the flats.
We moved to one other area and finished the day catching a bunch of 20 inch redfish. All in all we caught around 8-10 redfish and 25-30 trout. It was a good day, but no large trout were caught.
We arrived at the Sunset Motel in Port Mansfield Friday evening. The rooms are simple but clean. The Motel has a community dining room and kitchen where you can hang out and watch TV. Another group of anglers were playing poker. The kitchen is well stocked and we were able to cook our catch the following evening which is a nice addition to the motel. I will stay there again next time I head down to Port Mansfield.
Captain Joe Prado called in the evening to check in. He told us to put on new 30lb leaders and meet at the boat ramp at 6:25am. He wanted us to be the first boat out there.
............................................................................................................................................
We were at the Port Mansfield Marina at 6:00 am. There is nice bait and tackle shop that has everything you need. We made a long run to an expansive grass flat where we saw a ton of bait and mullet jumping. Captain Prado recommended we throw topwaters in the morning. He likes to use white or pink Mansfield Knockers. I usually throw a Skitterwalk, but you can throw the Mansfield knockers a mile and they are light, so you can easily walk the dog without much effort. We had 4 guys throwing knockers and everyone was catching trout. One guy in our group was new to saltwater fishing and Capt Prado set him up with a Cajun thunder popping cork and gulp. He probably caught as many fish we did throwing expensive lures on expensive tackle.
When the trout bite slowed down, we switched over to corkies. I have never thrown a corky floater before, but it is perfect in shallow water with grass. I had a couple strong thumps on a plum nasty floater and I caught a fat 23 inch trout. We heard of someone in a different group catching a 28 inch trout, but the largest we landed that day was 24-25 inches.
By 10:00 am, the boat traffic was insane. Many of the guides work together and know how to approach a flat without disturbing the fish, but once a few others joined the party and ran over the flats the bite shut down abruptly. In the shallow flats the fish sense the presence of boats more easily and either leave the flats or stop biting.
Port Mansfield is an interesting fishery. There are expansive shallow grass flats that go on for miles, but there is little structure compared to the middle coast. It seems that with certain wind directions, there are not many areas to choose from and everyone ends up fishing the same spots. I don’t think there would be many options kayaking this area, unless you were able to mothership kayaks to the flats.
We moved to one other area and finished the day catching a bunch of 20 inch redfish. All in all we caught around 8-10 redfish and 25-30 trout. It was a good day, but no large trout were caught.