Bar Talk

M ARCH MAY BE A TRICKY MONTH. With a colder than normal winter finally winding down, more moderate weather begins to settle over the Lower Laguna Madre.

Gamefish begin to become more and more active as they strap on the feed bag. However, a colder than normal winter may also mean that waters warm more slowly than in typical years. Still, trout and redfish will notice even a slight up-tick in water temperatures and get to eating.

One of the most popular bank-accessible wading spots on the Lower Laguna Madre, for example, is the Community Bar in Port Mansfield. Wade fishermen can gain access to the area via Fred Stone Park, which is adjacent to the King Ranch.

There is a pedestrian entrance set up on the ranch fence line that allows for fishermen to walk along the shoreline for the ¾ of a mile to the Bar’s general area (that’s just a good stretch of the legs for the average Texan).

Over the years, rainfall and floods have created a muddy, boggy ditch that separates the access point from the parking lot. Some resourceful fishermen place pallets and boards across the ditch, but it may be easier to wade in and around the end of the fence line and back onto shore. Then you can hoof the rest of the way on dry land.

Regardless of how you reach Community Bar (boaters can also anchor-up on top of the shallow bar and disembark to fish the edges), you can wade out toward the bar and start fishing.

Don’t head straight out into deeper water immediately. It doesn’t hurt to work parallel to the shoreline in knee-deep water, especially on a high tide. Redfish and trout will cruise close in during low-light conditions.

Work the area with smaller topwaters such as a Spook. One Knocker or the Mirr-O-Lure Mirrodine are also excellent choices for working the early morning shallows. Soft plastic aficionados can work weightless jerkbaits such as the Gulp! 5” Jerk Shad. After you’ve worked the area thoroughly, then turn your attention to deeper water.

There’s plenty of deeper water. Between the shoreline and Community Bar is a deep gut that speckled trout use as a migration route up and down Laguna Madre. The wide gut deepens until you are in neck-deep water, which can make a fisherman pretty nervous.

It’s easy to spot where the really deep stuff is, though, because local commercial crabbers set their traps at the bottom of the gut, and the white buoys mark where the really deep water is. They also make great fish attractors, so it never hurts to make a number of casts to them.

Set up in waist-deep water and fan cast into the gut to prospect for trout. The classic shrimp/popping cork rig is the top fish producer in the area, but many fishermen who would rather avoid lugging a bait bucket, switch over the either a Gulp! Shrimp in Nuclear Chicken or Glow. Both are very effective under a popping cork or Mansfield Mauler.

You can also use a ¼ ounce Gulp! Shrimp or Mullet in Root Beer or Red, or any of the classic patterns produced by Norton Lures or Down South, or Kelly Wigglers. Make sure your leader is 18-24 inches long, and that your rod is long enough (7 to 7 ½ feet) to facilitate long casts into the gut.

If you prefer to eschew the floats, shad tails such as the classic H&H Queen Cocahoe Norton Bull Minnow are good choices to fish the gut. The latter, especially the classic strawberry/white pattern, has literally caught millions of trout in LLM. The throbbing shad tail puts off plenty of vibration that can get a trout’s attention from a long way away.

Lipless crankbaits such as the Rat-L-Trap in gold/black are also excellent options for the gut, and they help you cover a lot of water quickly. Fan cast an area, and if you don’t find any fish, move a few feet to your left or right, and keep working the deeper water until you hit paydirt.

If the fish are ignoring artificials, then natural bait is an excellent choice. The usual suspects such as live shrimp, mullet, pinfish, or cut ballyhoo all work.

The most unique bait I’ve used with great success has been cut skipjack. The bloody, oily flesh seems to drive trout and redfish crazy. If you latch onto one of those slimy critters, stick him in the cooler and cut him up when fishing slows. It could pay off handsomely.

Some adventurous fishermen are willing to negotiate the deeper water to cross the gut and reach the actual Community Bar. Then they will either fish on top of the grassy top for redfish (with gold spoons being the #1 choice), or they turn around and fish the edge of the depth break. The latter method is quite popular because it allows you to fish the deeper water with the wind at your back—and there will almost always be a stiff breeze pushing off the Gulf of Mexico by the middle of the day.

Boaters need to keep a close eye if they are passing by the Bar en route to other part of LLM. Wade fishermen aren’t very mobile. Most boaters are savvy enough to give the shallows a wide berth in this area, but there is always an angler ignorant of the area’s popularity among waders.

Don’t let those boaters deter you though. The fishing around Community Bar can be quite good. Keep a sharp eye, and you’ll be fine.